Work, work, work


It certainly has been a busy week. But today it's raining, I'm forced to stay inside, so I figured I might as well blog.


I've been doing some serious yardwork. Stuff I haven't been able to get to for years. It feels great. I chopped back a vine real hard and have 2 more in front that I'm gonna chop nearly to the ground. I'm weeding and barking. I'm moving things around that just aren't working where they are. Yesterday I asked Denny to bring his little chainsaw over and trim and chop some things that are long overdue. There was some serious trimming on the 2 evergreens I have out front. Then we went out back and actually cut down 4 little trees, 2 were volunteers in the wrong place and 2 have been in their places since I've been here but all they've done is been something to mow around. We also trimmed up some trunks, removing low limbs and also some high limbs that were ripping up the playground my grandsons are now playing on. I was gonna proceed into the front yard today but, as I said, it's raining so it'll have to wait til tomorrow. I need a day to recuperate anyway, I was so sore last night I could barely move. Thanks goodness for that HOT TUB!


My dad is in California and has been for the last week. My mom's last family member died in June so the old house has to be emptied and readied for sale. He was an artist and a recovering alcoholic. I think he would have taken fair care of the place but he had a tendency to take in people who had no respect for the place, it wasn't
their family's house. Who knows, they may have not had respect for their own place, had they ever had one. They also had 4 dogs who supposedly have all died since my uncle's death, even though they went home with someone who was living there. Anyway, dad has been clearing out the trash and junk, filling dumpsters, etc. In a week he'll be heading home and my mom will be there a few days later to start painting and distributing the remaining stuff. Rick and I will be going down on a multifaceted road trip. We would like to spend a couple days in Utah, exploring the Arches area which he flew through with his daughter, Sarah, a couple years ago. I have a brother there whom we'll probably spend the night with and meet his family. Then we'll go to Crestline where my family has roots and see my sister's place. Then on to Lakewood (or Bellflower, whatever it's called now) to help with the house. We'll take a day and jet over to Thousand Oaks to see Rick's son's family. He has a new baby that Rick hasn't seen yet, his second grandchild. We may also have a dinner over at my father's house in Cerritos, just 3 miles from the house we're going to help paint, etc. Overall it should be a good trip. And I should come home with some goodies, artwork or something.


Oh, yeah, I'm somebody now! If you google either "photography auburn, wa" or "video auburn, wa" I have a balloon on the map! Yesterday I was "J" but today I'm further down, I'm "N" and "R". I wonder if that's because I made some changes and it pushed me down the list, I added a couple videos and removed my cell phone, it was showing as my main phone. Anyway, I hope it'll help get me some work.

What a Day!


When I was raising my family and only had 3 kids there was a day that stood out. Well, today I had a day very similar to that day - except my kids are all raised, now it involves my grandkids, does it ever end?!?

The day in the past I was actually babysitting a 4 yr old nephew, David. So Kevin was 4, Denny was 1 and Rach would have been 9. David had a fall and broke his front teeth out and was a big bloody mess. The rest of the kids were all just being kids. So I had to throw them in the van and rush them all to a local clinic to get David repaired. Kevin was in a clown suit, I think Rach was dressed up as well and Denny ended up with one of the biggest poopy messes ever! When everything was done I went home and David's parents showed up expecting dinner because I had planned a waterless cookware party, but had to cancel when their son fell. So I threw together some mac & cheese and hot dogs.


Today I was watching Joe and Shayne. We were outside in the pretty but cool and dewey morning, me weeding and they playing, everyone getting pretty wet, and a little muddy maybe. I went in the house to use the bathroom and heard the front door open. When I came out of the bathroom there was Heather and Hunter. Heather was a little frantic. Hunter had somehow gashed his head and she didn't know how to handle it. I looked at it and determined that it may need to be stitched. So I gathered up the wet, muddy little boys and piled 3 car seats in my little car. Then Heather and I each had a poopy diaper to change, Shayne and Hunter. We all crammed into the car and went to the urgent care clinic in Covington. I opted to stay, figuring it wouldn't take too long. There's a real nice playground there so I took the boys there for an hour or so. I found a granola bar in the back of my car and we split it. Then we got cold so we went in and sat in the waiting room and watched "Ice Age," pretty much from the beginning. Shayne finally fell asleep in my lap and Joe just watched the movie pretty much, good kids. People came in, got called back, got treated and left. Heather and Hunter had already gone back when we came inside and started watching the movie. The movie was just about finished when I finally asked someone if Hunter was still in there, if maybe I hadn't somehow missed something. They were coming right out. He had either 4 or 5 staples in his little head.
So it was probably right near 4 hours that we waited there. Joe fell asleep in the car on the way home and stayed asleep until Kevin showed up to pick them up.

I don't know why but I was just exhausted after that day! So I grabbed some clean clothes and went to Rick's and used his tub for a nice hot soaky bubble bath. That felt great. Then when I left his place Rach and Heather were ready for the hot tub so we did that for about 90 minutes.
As hectic and unplanned a day as it started out, it sure made up for it in the end.

Did I mention - I love my hot tub?

Catching Up - Again!

OK, there I go again - no blog for a good 2 weeks - darn!

Not that I'm being lazy, mind you. Quite the contrary, I've been very busy. Unfortunately none of the work I've been doing has earned me a single nickel yet. But it'll come - in time.
I managed to get my Craigslist items updated in a manner that will actually sell things, namely my Mitsubishi Montero and a computer I bought on ebay a while back. Those 2 items will net me over $3000, unfortunately half of that immediately has to be paid out for property tax, but the rest I can live on for a while.

My website has been growing. Last week I concentrated on a gallery of my photos for people wishing to order a slideshow DVD to be able to use for title and closing pages. It's been interesting learning to build web pages and using Dreamweaver. As bamboozled as I was at the beginning, I'm picking it up quickly now. This week I intend to create a "Contact Us" and an "Order Form" page. I flew through the other pages rather quickly once I caught onto Dreamweaver but the ones left have all special items on them that involve more learning. It's exciting, I'm already looking forward to my next website or two that I'll build for my other services, photo restorations and selling my photos or Photoshop-ing customer's photos into watercolor or other artworks suitable for framing.


The first week of October was cool, rainy and windy. But this past week has been gorgeous. So I've been taking advantage of the good weather and getting yardwork and other homeowner-related projects done outside. The biggest change has been a great clean deck and concrete thanks to the pressure washer I borrowed from Denny. The deck was very slippery when wet so my aim was mainly to remove the slime but the washing removed the stain as well, which is great, I'll restain it next spring. I've never pressure washed anything around here, the concrete walk to my front door and driveway look great. Denny has a trailer full of bark that we're gonna split, so I'll have to spread that once it's here. I also did a lot of trimming overgrown bushes and whacking down an unruly vine, everything is looking so tidy. I still have another vine to whack, even harder and some trees need trimming. Then there's just the usual perennials that need to be cut as they die down.


I've been enjoying my hot tub about 4 nights a week. I think it's been very therapeutic. I stay warm all night and my back doesn't hurt when I roll over in bed like it has for years.


Rick bought a new pickup this last week. He had one that wouldn't start about every other time he tried to use it so he threw up his arms in frustration and sold it. The one he bought is in very nice condition. Straight, no rust, only minor dents on the tailgate, upholstery is decent and the driver's seat still has plenty of spring. We spent time both days this weekend cleaning it, he used Denny's pressure washer on it as well. It really needed it since it's been living in dark woods for the past few years, lots of pine needles everywhere and lots of green. It's a '84 Chevy 1/2 ton plain jane pickup.


There's nothing new with the kids or grandkids. Same jobs, no pregnancies. I may not have mentioned but Tony moved back to Cincinatti early September and Rach will join him in the spring, if he hasn't come to his senses and moved back here to his bigger family that he still doesn't understand is HIS family as well as Rach's. We're all hoping anyway.


OK, we're about up to speed now.
Thank you for your support.

About Me

My photo
After 2 unsuccessful marriages I spent 12 years as a divorcee, only to fall prey to another man's wiles. We had a fun 5 years together and then he decided he wanted more freedom so once again I'm single.

So I'm freshly divorced at 57 and have 5 great kids and now 7 grandkids. My kids are still a major part of my life but I'm busy helping my aging parents on Kauai.

I've lived in California, Hawaii and Oklahoma before finally settling here in Washington. I love Washington and come back to visit family, friends and take care of my garden often but will be temporarily a resident of Kauai.

I've moved 30 times in my life (no, my parents weren't in the service, at least not since I was about 2) and finally planted roots when I got my little house that I've owned since '91.

My family are Jehovah's Witnesses, I've been one since '72.