You are what you eat?

That makes me a little bit dried grapes (wrinkles) a lot of crunchy apples (no nonense attitude ), a slice of banana or two (kind of soft around the middle) and a sprinkle of granola on top (gray hairs). Oh yeah, the orange juice represents my childhood - growning up in the groves where my sister and her friends use to chuck oranges at me (I don't know if this is true but I know they use to chuck oranges at something).

Side note - the word "chuck" is kind of funny.

The worst part about a good book is.....

that it will end.
This was the epiphany that I came to when I realized I was more than half finished with a book that leaves me thinking every time I put it down.
On a whim, the cow purchased the book "Educating Alice: Adventures of a curious woman." The author, Alice Steinbach, is a former Pulitzer Prize winning reporter/feature writer for the Baltimore Sun. Now - let it be known that I am not recommending this book to all of my friends like Oprah does, but I am saying that a book that makes you think is always a good thing.
What is it about this book that strike a cord?
Well, if it isn't obvious, the goal for the author is to travel to various locations around the world and LEARN something that is part of the culture of that country. For instance, she was trained in the ancient tea ceremony in Kyoto, Japan. So far, my favorite chapter has been her travels in Havana. It is here that she meets a woman selling single sheets of toilet paper to passersby as they enter the public toilets. Her is a brief synopsis of why I think of what the author has written well after I put the book down:
"I saw one Cuban's answer to supplementing her income. As I walked by the entrance to a public lavatory a wizened old woman wearing a threadbare brown dress, black ankle socks, and men's shoes sold toilet paper, sheet by sheet. 'Two pesos please," she said, handing me the paper. When I gave her two dollars instead of two pesos, or ten cents, she shook her head, thinking I had misunderstood. 'No, two pesos,' she said with dignity. I lied and told her I was leaving Cuba and had no pesos. I folded the money into her gnarled hand and she said, in perfect english; "I hope you are enjoying your stay in Havana. Please come back. I will be right here."

Packing Day - One of many

The life of a cat is grand. You can tell how much help Tamil was while packing the kitchen. She had her eye on the birds outside and every once in awhile would jump in a box or drawer and then fly out of it and scare me. I was pleased to have her as company - sometimes they are the most understanding of beasts!
Yes - She is sitting in the rooster bowl that Karaleen gave us.

How many times can we move in one year?

It really is finished! I was doubting the fact that this place would be ready for our walk-thru today. Not only was it finished there was really nothing we could find that needed to be fixed. It was very exciting getting inside and seeing everything done. We had a bright sunny morning to look at the place. I really like the floors on the main level and the stove (we think they made a mistake with the stove). Our place as you can see could use a splash of color but we have already decided that the tones we choose will be more muted than our normal bright (how does that sound KP?). After a new perspective on life and knowing we will be moving in just a couple of weeks we stopped and had a cup of coffee at the Ugly Mug - it is about 7 blocks from the new casa. We will be moving the weekend of April 7 & 8 and should be ready to live life to the fullest by the 9th! Summer is going to be great. We have NO yard, the bike trail is about 1 block from the house and the river is the same distance. Hope you all will help us enjoy the new place.

10.6 mile walk

Saturday afternoon the cow and I walked to Caldera. It is restaurant bar at the base of Mt. Tabor - get it, Caldera. Before we ventured off we checked their opening time. Ah! 4:00pm perfect. We took off up the hill and made it to our desintation in about a half an hour. Behold- the place doesn't open till 5:00pm. We stroll around the neighborhood and arrive back to relax on the porch when the owner/bartender walks up and invites us in off the porch. Nice place, good drinks and lovely bar.
We walked home after a couple of drinks and decided we would do a couple of chores before we walked to the Farm Cafe for dinner. I don't know if it was the drinks we had prior or the brisk night air but I became very melancholy and quiet. The cow thought something was wrong but I was just lost in my thoughts (although at this time I can't remember what they were).
We arrived to a darling house just off of Burnside packed with hungry people. We only had to wait a short while and we got the best table in the house. The cow ordered tempeh and I had the seared/grilled tofu with garlic mashed potatoes (southern cooking with tofu who would have thought). We shared a bottle of Pinot Gris and a marscapone cheesecake. Once finished we strolled home by the light of the silvery moon.
The next day I was a bit tired but we didn't slow down. We got on our bikes to check out the construction on our new place.
On Monday, the cow e-mailed that we had walked 10.6 miles to and from drinks and dinner. No wonder that southern cookin' tasted so good.

Wondering what happen to SH?

If you have been contemplating what has come of sinisterhaley well let me tell you a story. Once upon a time there was a crazy notion called work. Notice it has four letters. In the lives of most adults, work consumes a very large majority of each day. As the individual racks up hours, upon hours, upon hours, they receive pay - which in a perfect world the number of hours worked and the pay received would be equal to what the person believes they are worth. This is NEVER the case.
Here is my story. The last two weeks has been consumed with Portland's Rose Festival Ambassador nominations from each high school. This is what is called a "time honored tradition" because it has been around since 1907. Each high school has an ambassador court of Senior Females. These young ladies must give a memorized speech to the student body and answer an impromptu question. Then the student body votes and really the person that looks the best in their evening gown wins -Scroll down - Grace Neal was CHS ambassador.
On Friday, March 17, 2006 - I was in charge of the entire event at CHS. Not only did I make the programs for the assembly, I created a Powerpoint presentation of each you lady. We practiced two nights with their escorts on stage. I invited two volunteers to the practices to critique speeches and the young ladies listened and actually changed some of their words at the last minute.
The ambassador chosen to represent the school receives a $3,500.00 scholarship, clothes and has the opportunity to be named Rose Festival Ambassador for the city of Portland in June.
I worked my ass off during this event, I had nightmares and headaches. I picked up and delivered flowers in that lovely Portland rain. I am very glad this event is over and I made exactly what the school thought I was worth.
Come on.......take a guess!

Some ideas are better when you're drunk!

Let me explain the title. Saturday afternoon say about 4:30, the cow and I found ourselves with time on our hands. This hasn't happened in a few weekends because of selling a house, buying another, job fairs and classes that I had to take. So, at 4:30 we set off to the Lucky Labrador. We had read in the paper they were having their "Barley Wine Extravaganza." We walked about a half an hour and grabbed ourselves two tastes each and plowed through some peanuts in the shell. Since it was so early we decided to have a beer/glass of wine. We sat and talked and watched people. It is a great people watching place because it is big and well lit (not to bright though).
I mentioned we should walk over to this little pub I had noticed when we first moved, but the cow decided it was Langano lounge time. This place has NO words to describe it. Except maybe crappy. But MAN o MAN could Julie mix a drink. I ordered my standard whiskey sour. Julie grabbed a shaker glass, a sugar cube, an orange, 1/2 of a lime and started her magic. We were the only people in the place - except for the guy that noshed down his Ethiopian food in about 1 minute. Did I mention that Langano lounge is in the basement of an Ethiopian restaurant. Well as you probably know - mistakes start to happen here. Mistake number one - I had a second whiskey sour. It was even better the second time around. After we chatted with Julie about the Airstream that she and her boyfriend are restoring from the frame up, we decided it was time to walk home and go find some music (mistake number two).
I have been wanting to see Calvin Johnson (deep, sexy, sultry voice). I got word that he was playing about one mile from us. We walked home and headed on down to see him. Remember by this time it is only 8:00. We finally found the place and again we were told to go to the basement to watch the concert. It was an all ages gig with no booze and Calvin wasn't the opener he was at the end. Age sets in and we decide we are hungry. We need to decide if we are going to go back to the basement after dinner or call it a night.
For once I was the one who had energy. Let me just say, the cow had a couple more glasses of wine at dinner and his eyes got really small and we were home and in bed by 10:30. It is just sad when you realize you are getting old. Calvin, we will meet soon.

Bag of Shoes

Martens Galore! We attended our first Doc Marten's warehouse sale. It is very interesting. You enter their warehouse. They give you a huge plastic bag. They describe how to figure out american sizing from english sizing . The price for each pair is $30.00 smackers.
The young man in the picture "Matt" was buying work boots. He said he had about 15 pairs of boots and he was so excited that he was getting such a good deal.
The cow and I probably tried on 20 pairs each. We ended up with the bag above - 3 pairs each. I will definately go back next time, but might try to see if I can leave with only ONE pair.

Waste Not Art

SCRAP and DISJECTA? The cow invited me to a benefit called the "Waste Not" Art Auction. Here is the skinny.
SCRAP is the School and Community Reuse Action Project which promotes creative REUSE and enviornmentally sustainable behavior by providing programs and materials to the community. Here is what I call SCRAP - they promote reuse of discarded property (literally the idea of one man's trash is another man's treasure). On this evening - artists created various items out of JUNK!
DISJECTA is an outlet for artists of all disciplines, they offer emerging artists a place to work and are located on the inner east side. They basically help artist make stuff out of whatever medium the artist wants.
The auction was held in the TAZO tea warehouse. It smelled like spice-heaven all night! Tazo was also promoting their products and every time I turned around I grabbed a few more tea bag.
We arrived a bit late - and at this auction late was not good. Literally all of the good stuff was gone. We did get a couple of glasses of wine for our donation and we watched the crazy bidders bid on the prize winning pieces. Actually, a few well known local artist donated work to promote the cause. The BLAH, BLAH, BLAH print had interest to us but the starting bid was 500.00 (and I had told the cow that was my max). When the auction started for that piece the ARTIST himself made the first bid. That is just weak and rude!
Had a great time, I would go again next year and make it a bit earlier to get a good piece of junk!

Home Sweet Home!

The Great House Swap is going so smoothly we are getting extremely excited about our new place. We heard the model was finally open at the Trolley Barn and went to check it out. The exterior of the first group of homes looks fabulous. Ours will be an end unit and near the color of the dark green one above. When you enter you are in the quaint living room. It has very tall ceilings and I didn't get a shot of the fireplace but there is a gas fireplace also. You go up a few stairs from the living room and you are in what I would call the bar area. This will allow for a nice cocktail party because everyone ends up in the kitchen near the food. I think my favorite room will be the kitchen. The cow and I have always talked about a kitchen where I (and friends) could sit and chat while he is cooking. This is the perfect kitchen for friends hanging out while the cow finishes the goodies. It has a bar area on the opposite side of the sink where three stools will fit and it also has an island where you could put two more stools. Right behind the island is where the dining room table will be. As a side note, we did not upgrade to everything in the model so when you come to visit do not ask what happen to the cool range or the stainless dishwasher.
I did not take pictures of the upstairs but it goes something like this. Master bedroom and two small bedrooms - one will be used as an office- and there are two bathrooms on the upper level (one for me and one for the cow). A really great feature is on the very bottom floor. The builders call it a bonus room. The cow calls it our guest quarters. If you look closely at the exterior picture you can see below the main entrance a door. The door allows for outside entrance to this "bonus room." This is a pretty large room and in our unit there is a full bathroom. When people come to visit they will have their own living quarters. So if we don't feed you enough you can sneak out, walk down the street and have a snack.
We are looking forward to being in our new place. I wish I could blink my eyes and have everything there and set up. Anyone who wants to come and work some "Jeannie Magic" please feel free!