Extra Dirty

It's been awhile since I last blogged. I thought I'd update my loyal readers with what I've been doing in all my free time. After careful consideration, I've come to the conclusion that 2 is definitely better than 1.

A Goonie Filled Weekend

Throwing in the towel

after holding out for sometime now, i finally took the plunge and created a myspace page. once i got going on it, it was fun. the downfall? it appears i only have 3 friends. so i'm requesting that all friends check out my page, offer suggestions, and for goodness sakes-add me as a friend so i don't look so lame!

all roads lead....

...home for a snow day. it's amazing how 1" of snow shuts this city down.
icy road conditions and closures have left me stranded at home and i'm gearing up for the possibility of more snow and ice tonight. i say bring it on!
my plans for this snowy day? well, i think it's a perfect excuse to hunker down with a good book and video games in my new bed.

Late Arrival

Well, when you can't get a full snow day, late arrival is the next best thing! With an inch of snow and ice on the roads, I'm postponing my commute 3 hours today. Not a bad way to start the week.

Part 2

Dreading huge car expenses, I started my Saturday with a mood that matched the weather-gloomy. After dropping my car off, I trekked home in the rain and spent my day awaiting the "dreaded call". When that call finally came, it turned out to be a great call! The expected ~$1400 car repairs dropped to $0. Turns out the first "estimate" was nothing but racket. I was truly almost taken for at the pretty price of $1400! Now, I must step up onto my soap box. As a woman I can't help but wonder if I was truly almost taken advantage of due to gender. I used to be cautious, but now I will likely be paranoid for quite awhile. Should I just take this in stride and rock on? HELL NO! Instead I will take action. After doing a bit of research, it seems the first step is contacting the WA state dept of consumer affairs. I encourage all individuals seeking car repairs to always seek a second opinion-it may just save you some coin, like $1400.....

And to think I almost traded dear Sherona in for a new model!

Tits up?

How do you know when to throw in the towel? After getting an estimated cost of $1400 for car repairs, I started weighing my options for beloved Sherona. She's been a good girl and is in pretty good shape for being 11 years old. Other than preventative maintenance, she's never really required much attention. The aging process is hard on all of us, but especially my pocket book. So do I trade her in for a newer model? Do I invest a bit in her to keep her on the road a bit longer and avoid a car payment for as long as possible? Hopefully I'll have an easy answer to these questions once I receive word on the second estimate....

GO SEAHAWKS!

Millie made herself comfy for the big game yesterday.
Go Hawks!

Port Townsend

It was an action & adventure filled weekend in the quiet town of Port Townsend. Just a short ferry ride and drive from the city, Port Townsend offered impressive local fare, wine tasting, a cozy hotel, and a lovely hike along the beach and through the woods. A nice way to re-coup after the holidays.

The Anti-Santa

It seems that there are a few scrooges running around these days. Upon returning to my car last night, which was parked on a relatively empty side street, I found a note under my windshield wiper blade that read, "learn to park douche". Now seriously. I can't say this little nasty gram didn't piss me off, but I trust this individual will receive a lump of coal in their stocking. Or maybe I'll get lucky and be able to chuck a piece of coal at them....
Anyhoo, luckily my drive home took me right past one house's holiday light extravaganza and my cheer was restored.

Santa Come Early

I'm convinced the kitties are peeking at presents when I'm not looking.

Hustle and Bustle

With 8 more shopping days to go, I set out to get some shopping done today. I expected the worst-long lines, no parking spots, cranky shoppers. However, I was pleasantly surprised to find that Seattle-ites are filled with holiday cheer! So with the bulk of my shopping done, I popped in a movie and got to wrapping up my gifts. My mistake: ribbon on the gifts....a kitty's dream come true.

Christmas Cheers

The office holiday party: a time to mingle with co-workers from other sites, talk about non-work subjects, celebrate the holiday season together, and of course, exchange gifts. The rules were simple: you can either choose a gift from the gift table (in order of lowest-highest seniority) or steal a gift from someone else. Gifts can be stolen a maximum of 2 times. The theme to last night's gift exchange was coffee and booze; a therapist's favorite things! So as you can imagine, by the end things got a bit ruthless. I'm happy to report that I came home with a hot toddy gift set. Now that's what I call holiday cheer!

Christmas Kitty

It seems Mo has caught the Christmas bug. Here she is hanging out in her new favorite place with pals Ruby the Reindeer and Frosty.

Snow Day!

It seems appropriate for December 1st that a little of the white stuff would fall. The *official* snow measurement here on Queen Anne is about 2". The white flakes, x-mas music, and decorating my x-mas tree have definitely put me into the holiday spirit.

'Tis the Season

I woke up this morning and realized the holiday season is officially here. It seems my neighbors all got the memo, as the surrounding homes are decked out in wreaths, lights, blow up lawn decorations; the whole nine yards. Even the space needles has its x-mas tree up already. I decided it's time to dig out my holiday decorations and get into the spirit. While I love real x-mas trees, I don't love the mess or the end results of my felines eating pine needles. So, I'm thinking of investing in a small artificial tree. Other plans to help get into the spirit: walking the neighborhood at night to enjoy x-mas lights, perhaps a bit of ice skating down at the seattle center, and taking a stroll down candy cane lane. Oh, and shopping for x-mas gifts-hopefully mostly online.

Happy Monday

It seems so hard to start the week sometimes, even when it's a short week. As I sit here surfing the internets before heading out to battle traffic, this flow chart found on www.reddit.com
seemed to sum things up:
http://projectsidewalk.com/flowchart/

Bumpercarts

While the car carts designed to keep kids entertained seem like a good idea, one would hope the genius who designed these would have made them regulation width in order to allow more than one cart in an isle at a time. After a long week working with the littles, I stopped by a local market to do some shopping. Engrossed in this week's 10 for 10 deal in the soup isle, I didn't see the tricked out cart coming at me, nor did the well-intentioned (likely desperate for a diversion at 6:30pm on a Friday) parent realize the width of the beast they were pushing around. And just like that I was smashed up against the soup cans and the carts became jammed. Well, the aspiring race car driver wasn't in the mood for a pit stop....and so the tears began. My next stop was the wine isle.

bring it on!

as time takes a step back, so does 'ol DL. back in the day this chica would have been at the par-tay until it shut down. but a girl has gotta grow up....that is until they find the par-tay to be at on a random november night. so when one gets invited to a rooftop party in the heart of caphill, one must party like it's 1999 (at UW frats).

the setting: rooftop clutch view of the city skyline, $10 all you can drink PBR, $2 jello shots, $2 jose, $2 wiener roast. really, need i say more?

what needs to be said is: yes, much PBR was consumed, no jose was consumed, and yes, i did actually throw in the towel when appropriate (read: no after hours).

the take home message: poor choices are not always made, but good times are always had.

2 more days...

....and counting. that's right. just 2 more days until the big guy's new movie.
don't miss it-fred claus comes out this friday!