Tuesday, March 24, 2009

Stacey's Underage West Linn Pancake Factory

While on the surface Stacey appears to be a mild-mannered mom, our secret photography shows that she may actually be the head of a white slavery ring...producing pancakes for the greater West Linn area. [Sister: This may be related to Hillsboro's Toast Factory.]

Witness her passing over to the captive the contraband "leaded coffee," when clearly his dinosaur jammies show him to be only 2 years old.
She stands by, ensuring the poor lad finishes this giant cup of liquid crack.
She then stands back and lets this cracked-up toddler do the hard work...cooking! At a hot skillet! With no protective footwear!! And yet, his deft spatula work shows he's clearly done this 11 or 12 times before...

We were able to capture this footage when she stepped out to the warehouse for more batter.

I suspect Taline might have been in the backyard tapping the trees for maple syrup.

Photography!

Yes, yes, Aunt A...what say we get out the old camera and capture a few of the "Moods of Addison..."


Let's call this one "Addison Does Debonaire..."

We'll call this one "Tough Guy..."

Blasted woman! Give me that camera! You can't be trusted to capture anything! I will begin working on my own self portaits...

Painting!

Friday I got the rare opportunity to hang out at Stacey's house and stay for a sleepover too! First on the docket: Addison, Taline, and I engage in painting fun!


Her mom would never partake in many creative endeavors with me, so its nice that Taline was eager to pick up a paint brush!





My painting. :) All sparkle paints, all the time, baby.







We sent Stacey out to chop wood while we got our creative juices flowing. ;)
Later in the evening, Taline and I relaxed with our respective electronic toys. Solitaire for me, Leapfrog for her.

Off to see Space and the Fam!

OK, this post goes chronologically before the parents' visit. Oops.


Sweet Sister was kind enough to drive us out to West Linn to see Stacey and her whole family!

As we so rudely only gave them about 30 minutes' notice, and it was 9 o'clock at night, this was the chaos that greeted us at the door!
So nice to see my friend! And their fancy new digs. This isn't the greatest pic of us ever, but the best of the ones on my camera.
I'm always a little shocked to see this pic of us at our high school graduation...but always happy when I see it. :) Especially as our 20 year reunion is this summer. That pic's been around for a while.
In 1986, when I sat by Jon at Stacey's surprise 16th birthday party, I never would have imagined the future might hold this little scenario. ;)
Tim and Sister, hamming it up.
And...uh...somewhere along the way...Max got really tall. So nice to see the whole family!

Thursday Out with the Parents!

Next up: Thursday with the parents, who were gracious enough to drive from the coast to their old stompin' grounds to get me for the day...as I wasn't allowed to drive the rental car.

First, brunch on the river at the Red Lion Inn at the Quay, where I spied mom's new cowboy boots! So fancy! I love the little red stars at the top. And at a wee size 4.5, she was lucky they didn't have balloons or rainbows on them!
Mom and I did our best to see most of the key shopping outlets in the 'Couv, where she secured some wee pants and I found a couple of dresses.
And discovered that my Dad is..."that guy." That guy who sleeps in the car in the parking lot with a toothpick in his mouth, while waiting for his shopping wife.

We waited for Jon to get off work and were off to Pal's Shanty for buckets o' steamers and Dungeness crab. Such a fun day out with the parents!

And this one's for you, Anita...while having brunch the next day, I was blabbing away long before I discovered the decor I was facing was...this little "gem."** :)
** Really only funny if you know Idaho is the Gem State.

Howdy, Vantucky!

After quickly dumping our ward with her paternal grandparents, we made it safely to the 'Couv...where we promptly found we were locked out of the office. After numerous phone calls, we got the secret code. After a little begging down the hall, we also got the secret code to the ladies room.

Mister N got the servers something-something hooked to the network something-something to transfer the data something-something...*
* Pay no attention to the fact that I'm pursing an advanced degree in information technology.
After the servers started chugging away on the data, we were off to enjoy a little Vitamin D...
And a little Vitamin S....Sister! Who graciously picked us up and took us to the McMenamins on the river. So nice!!
BIIIIG thanks to Art and Carolyn for housing Miss G for the long weekend, it was a BIIIIG help, and much easier on the old girl. :)

Spring Break 2009 Unexpected Adventure!

So I was sitting there at my desk last Tuesday, trying to figure out what was going to fill the rest of the week...



Blam! An e-mail from Mister N: "Wanna go to Portland?"


Uhhhh...sure! Part of our Spring Break adventure meant we had to transport some servers or other such nonsense across state lines, but with some dark glasses and a rental car, no one would be any the wiser...
So we got up at 4:45 and pointed our Chevy Cobalt west. With a little caffeination, we were making great time. [Not to be used as a nutritional supplement.]


In case you were wondering, there's still snow on the pass.

The little old lady in the back seat didn't know what the heck was going on. But yelled a lot at the gas station attendant.


OH GLORIOUS OREGON! Bless you! And bless your create one-more-job gas pumpers! I'm allowed to refuel like a queen: from the warm comfort of my auto.

There are more windmills in the gorge than last time we were through.


Spring Break Adventure, here we come!!

One Year in the Chicken Ranch!

Last Thursday we marked ONE YEAR in the Chicken Ranch! Can you imagine? A whole year.





Despite this landmark, remodel work continues. In fact, we spent an entire weekend painting. Both of us. In a 6x8 bathroom. With a ladder. And a vanity. And other assorted fixed fixtures.

And we didn't get into a fight. Not even tense words.
It's important to stay out of the way whenever possible. Note the item I'm sharing the tub with: the tank of said fixed fixture.
We went with "pearl," an iridescenty color that looks sunny in the morning and a little like khaki when the sun goes down.
Happy one year! :)

Saturday, March 14, 2009

Work, School, and Life Continues...

Last weekend we continued our favorite (ha ha) activities: the remodel and the schooling. But, as I was able to push off my homework onto one day, I was able to apply the first coat of Kilz in the main floor bathroom. Nothing takes sheetrock to "a room" like a coat of latex to tie it all together.

Mister N brooding on the work that needs to be done in the laundry room...as the plumbing ties into the new basement bathroom...he LOVES plumbing!! ;)
After a day of hard work, I tried my hands at another bout with the culinary arts...despite rumors that the tough Idaho winter would kill off my rosemary, there's still some just outside my door. Hooray!
I stuffed it inside of and used to tie up the legs of these tiny game hens...no, they weren't hunted by my husband, just gathered by me. :)

And tasty.

Thursday, March 5, 2009

15 MORE Minutes of Fame!

Another year of volunteering for Idaho Public Television has come and gone! Such fun!

Last year the food offering was awesome Hawaiian-style catering...teriyaki chicken and mac salad.

This year it was Little Caesars. Well, economy and all...

This high-end technology has a cord that's plugged into...a wall...?

I took four phone call during my 2 hour shift, for a total of $950. One nice gentleman gave up 500 clams! He was 82 and kept saying "You guys are doing a great thing there." I imagine he meant the public TV folks.


Sister often says I have the smallest lips ever. This photo leads me to believe she may be right.
SO many bright balloons! When you take a call for $125 or more, you get to use the push pin on your phone and pop a balloon!
But check out the following videos outlining the great balloon debaucle. Paula and I are apparently balloon-string challenged...

The Great Balloon Incident of 2009...Part 1

The Great Balloon Incident of 2009...Part 2

Oh HAIL no!

There's been some weird weather again. In about 15 minutes' time we went from blue sky, to fluffy clouds....
To ominous rain clouds...

To socked-in snow clouds...

To a hailstorm that covered the ground in white!
This is actually hail, not snow!

Can We Hit Print?


Well, it's lookin' like we're going to actually get this beast out on the street. OK, at least maybe to legal review...

As I didn't take too many big projects on in Portland, this is the largest thing I've done for this company!

Here's its current size.

I'm officially listed in Appendix B: Preparers and Contributors, as Number 19.

My favorite graphic. :)

And this was my favorite typo. Prior to passing under my eagle eye, it said "National Resister of Historical Places." Hahahahaha!