road trippin' across the oregon coast

been all over the past two days. Yesterday, we went in to coos bay, charleston, north bend, and coquille. Neat little towns. North bend is the only one bigger than bandon. But charleston has a yarn store. Ooh - i broke down and bought one of those colinette afghan kits. It's amazing what one can justify expending while on vacation. I couldn't resist - the yarns are so beautiful. I bought the "rustic" colorway - thought it would go well on our couch at home, all greens, golds, reds and browns. So exited. Anyway. I digress.

we drove off the beaten path of all these little 30-second towns, and found some real charm. Hubby's grandfather grew up in coquille, so we drove around to find the high school, hoping we would be able to go in and maybe find some memorabilia or yearbooks. But there wasn't anyone there except for the practicing football team. Oh well. We wondered in to some "treasure" stores, and spent some time in a used book store. I found some great old pattern books and leaflets.

also, in coos bay, we found what thought was an adorable little park. Mingus park looked a little like oak knoll park from the street. There was a pretty man-made lake with a lot of ducks. A nice-sized playground with REAL swings. We decided to walk the path around the lake. We were very surprised to find that the park was the mouth of a gorgeous forest of walking paths. So we spent an hour wandering through parts of it, finding an asian-themed garden with a bridge and pagoda, beautiful flower beds, and lots and lots of trees. Which, after all, is the majority population of oregon!

Today we drove south on 101, and headed out to langlois and port orford. half way there we decided to take a detour to cape bianco. Hubby likes to look at lighthouses. Another beautiful view from the landing. We actually got to go up in the lighthouse, and learn about its history. The history was interesting, but not so much my thing, but the view was spectacular. Nothing but blue sky and white-crested waves to see. How horrible is that? Then we went to the hughes house, which is the house that the lighthouse keepers lived in way back when (yes, if i'd been paying attention, i'd be able to list the exact date). The house was a 7-bedroom/1-bath victorian, with its very own chapel room. Interesting to see, but none of the furniture or decor was authentic. Oh well. Off to port orford.

We walked along the beach at port orford, which is much smaller than our bandon beach (and a lot smellier). But the weather was lovely, even down by the water. We thought about going out to gold beach, near the oregon/california border (only about 30 minutes from where we were in port orford), but there was some road construction, and we decided to turn back. But we were driving along the highway which overlooked the ocean - absolulely amazing.

We're home now. Late afternoon, just hanging out. Last time we came to bandon, we stayed in bandon, didn't do much of anything (do we blame that on the rain? Or on our own laziness?). This time we're trying to take little day trips and see and do stuff.

My kool-aid dyed yarn is hanging outside to dry now. I accidently felted some of it while trying to make it dry faster. Oops. Oh well. It's not ruined - just a little thicker than it was before. Valuable lesson in patience there. I was concerned that it wasn't drying due to the moisture in t he house. It wasn't drying because it's wool and takes a long time to dry. Lesson learned. Am hoping to take it up to the yarn store when it dries to wind up.

okay. Off to sit and do nothing. Or sit and knit. Would love to get my round rainbow ripple shawl done while we're here. Not sure if that'll happen or not, but worth a shot. Off i go...

what a colorful world

so we're here in bandon, oregon, hubby bubby and i. Absolutely gorgeous out here. Came out on the 18th, and here until the 26th. So absolutely love this place. Virtually nothing to do. We took a long walk on the beach this morning. Hubby got lots of great pix. I actually climbed up on a couple rocks. Did some exploring. Saw lots of starfish and jellyfish. Picked up some cool rocks. Oh - yesterday we went to the Safari, this huge petting zoo right outside of town. I made friends with some goats, deer and rams. Saw some beautiful un-sheared yarn (aka: sheep). Pet a baby black bear. Saw tiger cubs snoozing. Almost got spit at by a llama. All in a day's work. Also had my first taste of fish and chips. Don't know why i've never had them before. Just relaxing. The view from this house is so amazing. I could just sit and watch the waves crash into the beach all day. The weather is beautiful - mid-60s/70s. Such a nice relief from the melt-your-face-off 100s of stl before we left. It's a completely different world out here. We keep talking about moving out here. But don't know that it'll ever happen. Now we're thinking maybe portland. It's a (much) bigger city with more opportunities. Only six hours from bandon. We'll see. Wouldn't happen for a few years yet. We were looking at real estate costs in bandon, and it's ridiculous. Anything that we would even remotely consider is way out of our price range. So portland may be the better option.

Went to the lys today. Yes, they actually have one here. Was very excited to see that it was still in business from the last time we were here. Wasn't sure if it would be or not. So we went in there after lunch. They have a very nice selection, and fair prices. Saw a couple books that i've never seen before, so might go back over there later in the week. My wonderful hubby bubby is so good about sitting an waiting on me while i oogle yarn. He got to play with the shop dogs (baby chihuahuas) while i looked around. I went in with a specific purpose in mind: inexpensive white wool for hand dying. A while back, think when i went to the knit out in minneapolis (feb 16-18, 07), i got a hand-out on how to dye yarn using kool-aid. I've never had time to really try it. But out in bandon, there's nothing but time. So i brought it with me, and just finished dying my first hank of yarn! I bought two hanks of white cascade 220. Omg - this is so much fun. I bought five packets of kool-aid at the store yesterday (cherry, lemonade, lime, blue raspberry, and grape)just to start with. Plus, i couldn't decide on a starter color combo! And of course when it came time to decide today, i couldn't. Asked hubby bubby what he thought, and he says "i like all of them." so i have rainbow/tie-dyed yarn. So far it looks pretty cool. And soooo easy. Now hubby says all i ever need to buy again is white yarn! Hmmm.... Knitpicks sells different weights of white wool specifically for dying. They also have actual dyes, as do other places, but if the kool-aid is working... And there are so many different things to do with kool-aid. So this is so simple. My first dyed hank is cooling right now. I've got the second hank in the pre-soak bath. Just about ready to dye. Already planning on buying more yarn and kool-aid!

and i think to myself, what a colorful world....

ghost

just when i think that things are okay, BOOM! comes out of nowhere. i know I'm over-exaggerating. but I'm upset, and I'm allowed. hubby bubby and i talked about our earlier conversation, and worked through it. but when he came home and told me that they didn’t talk about the gift amount, it made me angry. then, while moving his bday presents from his dad off the dining room table so we could play backgammon, i saw the bday card from his dad. just made me sad. made me feel really small and insignificant since i’ve become invisible since this whole thing began. no bday cards, my grad school graduation was ignored, and last xmas i didn’t exist. serious. there was nothing for me. and of course we couldn’t have xmas with his family like we used to do. but it was a huge slap in the face to be ignored. just hit me again tonight. now I'm all sad and melancholy. gotta snap out of it.

birthday blues

so yesterday was hubby bubby’s bday. it was a bust. ended up badly. this thing with his dad has just gotten out of control. it’s been well over a year and nothing’s changed. every time we make an overture at amends, it gets rebuffed. it sucks. it sucks more for hubby bubby. we tried at xmas to rebuild the relationship, we tried at father’s day. nothing. nada. zip. his dad doesn’t want things to change. then, his dad asked him about his bday plans, and wanted to have din with him last night. hubby said that he was having din with me. talk about putting hubby in a bad spot. let’s see... please choose between your father and your wife. that sucks. he chose me. but then... my parents called and asked what we were doing, and if they could take us out. hubby bubby said sure, and named the place. great dinner, everything good. then guess who walks in? oh it was horrible. so fake. bcs of course he brought the witch with him. then his dad had his feelings hurt. and hubby and i got in to it bcs feelings are still hurt. and he’s going out to din with his dad tonight, and i am not included in those plans. it’s ridiculously stupid. family events are strained. we don’t know what else to do. we keep extending the olive branch, and he keeps chopping it away. so hubby and i kinda got in to it last night. he’s angry. i'm angry. no bday sex was had. enough said?

then we were talking earlier this afternoon about his dinner with his dad tonight. i think my feelings are hurt that he’s not fighting harder for me. i was not invited to this dinner, but hubby didn’t say anything to his dad about me joining them, or checking with his wife about it. he just took it for a given that i was not invited. AAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHH

i feel bad for hubby. this has not been easy on him. not been easy on us as a couple. he just feels so powerless. meanwhile, we’re selling our rental property to his dad. hubby has this laisez faire attitude about it. meanwhile, since I'm the one who handles all our money and financial stuff, I'm pushing for details. hubby’s just like, it’ll get done whenever and for whatever amount... huh? this has been in the works for six months now. it was supposed to be done at the end of may. we’ve been losing money on it ever since. his dad’s been taking his sweet time on it. it’s finally done. should be by tomorrow. but after the sale of the house is final, his dad will be gifting us money to cover the rest of the house cost (the official sale price is a lesser amount to avoid pesky sales and personal property taxes). but the kicker is, we don’t know what the gifted amount will be. i think this is important information to have. hubby just says that we’ll know when we see it. uh, no. doesn’t work for me. i guess they’re gonna talk about it tonight at dinner. hopefully things will be better after that.

oh, i’d rather be knititng...

when the lights go out

good movies i’ve seen this summer in the theater...

- harry potter and the order of the phoenix (speaks for itself)

- knocked up (absolutely hilarious, could not stop laughing, almost [almost] made us rethink the mini)

- i now pronounce you chuck & larry (almost as funny as "knocked up")

- ocean’s 13 (better than 12, almost as good as 11)

- the simpson’s movie (spider-pig, spider-pig, does whatever a spider-pig does, can he swing from a web?, no he can’t cause he’s a pig, look out!, here comes the spider-pig... need i say more?)

- bourne ultimatum (omg! so good)

- hot rod (almost as funny as “anchorman” and “talledega nights”)

time wasted

so aggravated with time lately. There's either not enough of it, or on rare occasions, too much of it. Having trouble finding that balance. I think my trouble lies in the patience of time. So maybe i'm not really aggravated with tiem, but with my lack of patience. Know that that i'm absolutely aggravated at my lack of patience, which, of course, just makes me more aggravated. I've noticed over the last few weeks i've had less and less patience for people who waste my time. It's not that i feel like my time is more valuable than any one else's. I just feel a generqal loss of respect from people in terms of wasting time. Mostly it comes from my clients. I've had several clients as of late who have shown a blatent disregard for our time together, which i feel is disrespectful to me personally. This morning i waited 45 minutes for a client to be ready to go. I was there on time. He wasn't ready, and took his sweet time. It wasn't a personal attack towards me, but i was angry. Yesterday, a client was in her pjs eating breakfast (at noon) when i arrived, and it as almost two hours later that we were finally able to leave. Yes, i was angry. But the thing is, i can still bill for that time, and it ended up as a consequence for both clients later on in the appointment since there was not enough time to do what they wanted to do due to their tardiness. This gets me. I feel like i bust my ass to get where i'm supposed to be on time, and i have very little patience for people who are consistently running late. I feel that it's rude and disrespectful. And i've just hadd a lot of it lately. Then i have to remember that my clients have a mental illness that might prevent them from being on time, blah blah blah. It's a huge balance between what i can toleerate perrsonally, and what i can tolerate professionally. Sometimes it's hard for me to diferentiate between the two, especially when it comes down to time.

I just don't feel like i have enough of it lately. There are so many things that i'd like to be doing, but there are not enough hours in the day. I want to write more. I want to knit and crochet more. I want to spend more time with my husband. i want to do my work paperwork better. i want i want i want