Sunday Morning

Just caught sight of myself in the mirror, scarey. Have been doing projects around the house this weekend and not taken the time to shower so Alex keeps circuling as to say what is that smell. I did a little painting and am now in the process of cleaning up my tiny bathroom. I painted the back of my open shelves a lovely golden yellow color to match some roses I have in the kitchen and then I displayed my little bits of china against this yellow and though I say so myself, I'm good. I took a photo and will try to download it but as I have just learned how to actually switch on the camera that mignt take a while...

I also dismantled an absolutely awful shower door thing that was attached to the bath, yuk. I hate things like that grime gets into the corners and I can never get it clean. The bathroom looks bigger already. I am going to do things in stages though as I overdid it Friday night and early Saturday morning because of course once I had done the painting then I had to wash everything I took out he cupboard then I thought I out to clean the living room then my bedroom could do with a rearrange did not get to bed until 3 then I could barely move on Saturday so decided "easy does it" for this project. Of course I went and bought the paint but forgot the gunky stuff to take off the sealer around the shower doors and the stuff to patch up the holes, sigh!!!! Its a hard life isnt it. LOL

Had a lovely chat with my sister on Friday (its was Saturday for her. I think one of the highlights of my year last year was spending a week with her - trying to cram 25 years into 7 days but we did it and even though the distances are huge I feel so much closer. God is good, my family is amazing - a little eccentric but so much fun.

Well, I can smell that funny smell now so think I will take a bath. No comments from the peanut gallery in North Baddesly, thank you. :)

Rainy Sunday and Monday

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Well its official my daughter tried to do me in. We had a lovely day or I should say the start on Sunday when we started out at the Japanese Gardens. So beautiful, tranquil and completely different from an English Garden. It was very green, sparse and tidy. The trees had been trained using bamboo sticks to help them grow a certain way. There was waterfalls, ponds and two lovely Zen gardens. We walked around for some time drinking in the atmosphere - got Em's gift and went on to the the next thing. Then we went to check out a futon store for Fi, looked very overpriced. Then we made the trek to Astoria, where Fi used to work. Well I thought we would be going in the daytime, but no by the time we set out it was dark and I am a bit funny this way but I hate travelling in the dark to somewhere I dont know and there are no street lights anywhere, it was pouring with rain and there was fog. Took us about 2 hours to get to there. I was getting more and more agitated and concerned that she was taking me into the back of beyond and I was right she was... Nancy, her exboss, built a house on a mountain with a half mile incredibly steep driveway so steep in fact we could not get the truck up. Now you have to remember it was pitch black, no stars even, and we had a dorky flashlight that barely worked. We left the truck at the bottom of the drive and started walking. It took at least 20 minutes to get to the top but felt like two hours. I had to keep stopping and of course was getting quite anxious, no drama there, and kept telling her we were going to die. Oh by the way the reason for the trip to the house was the magnificient view over the Columbia River. Anyhoo, we collapsed in the house when we got there had a cup of tea and went to bed. The house was magnificent built in the Frank Lloyd Wright style but so vast I had to yell at Fi from across the room. So silly we started to laugh. This morning I woke up in anticipation of a beautiful view and of course there was thick fog abounding and we could not see a thing. We decided that it would be good to head back to Astoria so off we went in the pouring rain.

Got to Astoria and had a look around the Maritime Museum which was fascinating told the history of the town including the canneries, coastguard. duck hunting even but all of it extremely interesting. Then we met Monica, another of Fiona's old employers and she took us out to lunch at a restored cannery restaurant - lovely had Clam Chowder home-made delicious. After visiting and laughing for about an hour we set off back to Vancouver, really wet, rainy and quite dangerous. Fi did great I of course hung on to the side of the car the whole way when I did not fall asleep. Took us 2 hours of driving in torrential rain to get back. Have no seen so much rain in years. Wow, its been a brilliant trip and I have enjoyed myself immensely. Too pooped to do anything tonight so staying in to watch tv and eat pizza.

Marvellous Saturday

Started out a little later than we anticipated but weather was wonderful, sun shining no rain. Anyhoo off we went to see the Chinese Gardens at the heart of Chinatown, unfortunately the Chinese New Year is today so as we headed to the Gardens the bridge was closed and all sorts of detours were in place but my daughter the intrepid explorer is also a great map reader, she does not get that from me, and after some back tracking we found this exquisite little gem. However, what we did not know was there was going to be an azaela sale so after we got our tickets we pushed out way past the azalea buyers and started to walk around the garden. Our enjoyment was a tad curtailed by the fact it was so crowded that it was hard to enjoy the ambience of the gardens - so I decided that when I come back again I will visit these gardens either first thing in the morning when it opens or about an hour before it closes. The Gardens are beautiful and even though not much was blooming the smells were wonderful, the waterfall and ponds delightful, definitely worth a visit every time I come here.

Took us a little while to get out of the center of downtown circled a couple of the same blocks a few times before a tourist guide set us right and we headed up to theArt Museum. Parked the car and set off to find somewhere to eat. Stopped in at Heathstone (?) Hotel had a delicious crab omlete, Fi had the best French toast and we were fortified for the Egypt tour.

I love Eqyptian history. When I was 16 I was lucky enough to go to Egypt with my school and my claim to fame is that I got to be one of the last people to go actually inside the
Great Pyramid at Cheops. Its a fascinating country and this tour only goes to certain cities in the USA and Portland is one of them. We got their a little early so we took a walk around the buddist exhibit - exquisite decorations and statutes. Anyhoo, off we went into the exhibit..lovely but tell me why parents bring children in strollers to something like this. Ridulous it was already crowded and these idiots used the strollers like weapons. Shesh, I must be getting old and crochety.....The tour was fabulous - took about an hour and half to walk around some of the most amazing statues. It is so amazing to me to see how artisans in the oldest times using only hammers and chisels made the most beautiful works of art. One beautiful piece was off a couple Thuya and Sula (I think those were the names) and the detail in the wigs alone was enough to fill me full of awe. Some of the coffins had the most amazing colors still left on them and a boat to take the pharoah into the afterlife looked like it could have been made yesterday. Great exhibit and what was even better because of my walking I was able to do all of this and not collapse in a heap until later on last night.

Drove out of Portland and came back to house for cup of tea and then we decided to take off to Red Lobster for supper. Delicious.

Came back to apartment set up the futon for me to lie down on, Fi lay down too, it was like the old days before Scot when we all ended up in my bed watching tv together, lovely memories. Of course, I fell asleep before the movie, Dune, ended but all in all a wonderful day.

Hello From Vancouver

Its my second morning and really enjoying myself so far. Arrived late on Thursday night did get to bad until 1 which is late for me woke up at 7 went back to sleepuntil 10. Fi had left hours before for work so i was on my own with a vaccum cleaner. Ah bliss... I dusted and vaccumed once I had fixed it - she had somehow managed to suck a pen into the vaccum which was blocking the hose and compelely stopped the suction whats sacrey is that she had vaccumed before I came and thought everything was working well. Oh, my.. Anyhoo, I cleaned, watched tv, had a lovely day then Fi got home around 4 ish. We had a cup of tea in the new teapot and cups I gave her and set off to find the Indian restaurant. Lovely both of us had not had Indian food in a long time. Decided to go to the movies and picked Pan's Labyrith. Fascinating in a dark sad disturbing sort of way. Could have heard a pin drop in the movie theatre when we left - thought I might have nightmares but know slept really well.

This morning sun is shining and we are off to see the Chinese Gardens and then the Eygyptian exhibit at Portland Museum so a full day ahead of us.

Oh nearly forgot Feng Shuied her little apartment or rather just tweak it. Both my children have their own inate sense of style and we just needed to streamline rather than completely redo.

More later...oh before I forget got my deposit check back from Holiday Village yesterday but they spelt my name wrong and addressed it to a completely different never heard of address, oh well not the sharptest tools in the shed...

Have a marvellous day everyone.

Remote Control

Yes, yours truly managed to program the remote control for the tv last night. I spent some time, had to put new batteries in and then read the directions which as made for martians I am afraid. However, I persevered and finally found the right code for my tv. You actually have to be ambidextrious to do this as you have to push a set button until a red light comes on while holding the book of instructions and to make matters worse I am left-handed and short-sighted so when the little red light thing clicked on I had to change hands to program the tv. Sigh.... and of course I could not program the DVD because I must have bought a brand that no-one has heard of. There were some instructions as to how I could "find the code" but, lets not go there! Anyway I was more than happy to sit on my couch flicking from channel to channel....

Monday Morning

Well I have new hair but its not quite what I thought. I thought we would be bleaching my hair white so that the regrowth would grow through, not quite... We did bleach my hair but that was solely to get the red out apparently the hardest color to reverse, then we colored my hair a soft brown and highlighted it so that when the regrowth comes through it will all blend but it will take some months of cutting to get the white look.
Had a very productive weekend for a change. Did my taxes - not bad owe about $276 which I can pay on a monthly basis, I think I am going to get Pat to check my withholdings to see if I should be taking more out. Hate owing the IRS money. Washed the car - had Alex with me when I washed it and he got terribly upset at the water, probably the sound but I never thought - he calmed down at the end of the wash and gave a couple of growls just to let the water know he was in charge.
Went down to Prospect Lake with Alex for a walk as it was such a lovely day - sidewalks still not cleared though and a couple of times nearly fell on the ice but lots of people out.
Watched Monk on tv last night, really enjoy that show - I watched it because my tv channel changer is broken and I did not want to keep hopping up and down to change the channel. I have bcome soooo American.... :)

Friday and really really cold

The end of the week, thank goodness. Been quite a roller coaster regarding housing etc. After my disappointment regarding the mobile home situation, talked with a lovely lady called Peggy who is a mortgage broker who looked at my credit - my life history before my eyes, not a pretty site, and actually its not bad considering everything that has gone on. I have a plan. Her thought was that for the next 4 months buy nothing unless essential, continue to pay down my credit card and on time, bring up the rating which will make me eligible for all sorts of stuff including low interest loans as I am a "first time" homeowner which means I have not owned a home in the last 3 years. Talk about lightening my heart - I am now in the tunnel, might not be able to see the light yet, but at least in the tunnel and not in the ditch which is where I thought I would end up living in a cardboard box.....
Took Alex out today to do his business and normally he plays around making sure that everyone in the neighborhood knows he is out and just warning them off - in case. Not today, peed and then ran immediately back in doors looking at me as if to say - what the heck. I walked out to the garage to turn on the car and my nose hairs froze.
Looking forward to tomorrow when I get my hair "reversed" for want of a better word. My hair is now growing in white so I have decided to let it grow in that way to see if it looks good which means I have to have the color taken out so that when my hair grows out I dont look like a badger with a white stripe down the center of my head with the rest of my red hair. Still could be different, sort of punk, or is it puke!!!