Too lazy to write?

There's kind of a lot going on these days and although it is exciting for me, I don't know how exciting it will be for you.

Biggest news, I suppose, is appearing in the post below. Cute as a button, we got ourselves a new family member. Cara is our new dog, almost 2 yr old black Lab that is as sweet as pie and fairly well-trained even. We had been looking but no decisions had been made - since M had his heart set on a white golden retriever like he used to have. Finally one day, M decided we could stop by a shelter on our way home from camping. We came close to a golden retriever but it had a few more problems than we were ready to deal with. Then we went to a lottery for 2 puppies available in a town nearby. We were one of two people who put our names in for one puppy and still didn't get it! Obviously, it wasn't meant to be. So we had put off thinking about it for a couple days until M (who was also looking for a used SUV) found the vehicle he was looking for on cra1gsl1st and we decided to head down to P0rtland to have a look. We stopped at the 0reg0n Human3 Soc13ty and found Cara. Oh, we bought the truck too. M had to go back during the week to pick up the dog. So she's almost been with us a week and she's great! E keeps calling her "Bella" which is the name of our friend's dog (who is also a black Lab). She doesn't realize (I don't think) that's it's a different dog. I keep saying "it's Cara" but she keeps saying "Bella, bella, bella" all the freakin' time! There's no hope and I'm thinking we might have to change the dog's name to Bella. LOL

A week ago I had my first ever mammogram. It took about 5 minutes, which basically means it took me longer to drive over to the clinic than to be seen by the tech doing it. I'd heard all sorts of stories about what it feels like and yes, as a matter of fact, it does feel like placing your boob between to steel plates and pressing them together. Fortunately for us mostly boob-less population, it wasn't too bad. I will find out the results in a week or so.

That same day I had scheduled my flight - the instruction that M got me for a birthday present. He drove me over to the local airport (not the international but a littler one that we can see from the freeway when we drive that way) and I met up with my instructor. Do you remember ever having a dream, something you've always wanted to do but as the years pass and it sits on the back burner, it truly didn't seem like something you always wanted to do? Like you've forgotten how much you wanted to do it? That's what flying is like. I always wanted to fly a plane. It seemed so out of reach, cost wise, I don't know I just never thought of doing it for myself.... Anyhow, I was reminded of it when we were taking off from that little airport in the 4-seater DA40 plane. The talk from the tower was Japanese, I hadn't a clue who or what they were talking to but I tried. I concentrated but it was definitely not to be. Fortunately, my instructor knew and we took off to the north and flew over Seattle on the gorgeous sunny day that it was. It was a perfect day. As we turned to the east, I could see my 'hood to my left, ferries down below, and the Pug3t S0und out in the distance, I don't know if I'd even seen it look so beautiful. When he actually let me "take the wheel" and I turned and dipped the plane a bit, oh my god, what a rush! A bit like driving for the first time, where you know you are behind the wheel of a powerful vehicle but you still have to find out what it can do. Scary and exhilarating all at once! The flight was only an hour but definitely the best way to see our city on a beautiful day. Who knows if I will take lessons - just not ready to give up that much time with E right now? But it's definitely on my mind and maybe in my future! :) Oh, did I mention that he let me land the plane as well?! Eep!

Our new addition

Don't have time to say much but meet Cara!

Happy Labor Day!

I haven't written lately. I've been busy. Working even. ;) I'm a big procrastinator when it comes to work projects - not enough daily satisfaction to sit well with me. I've had a looming project, I've slowly been working on and I've now moved into the most challenging part - coordinating cable broadband installation in an area where we have limited support but really need it. The cable company will only bring the cable to the offices and at that point, we have to network our office computers. Having the office employees do this would be next to impossible, having me travel down there to do it would be painful.... So, I'm working on coordination... I've got the contracts signed and am now waiting for the installations to take place. It's been keeping me busy.

This weekend has been a challenge. I have the munchies, a sick husband and a child that also wasn't feeling great/napping for the last few days. I've let myself eat a bit even though I went to yoga today and only burned 100 calories! Why does the class feel so hard yet you don't burn anything?! It was relaxing and I needed that too. I'm up to 30 minutes of running in my 5k training - the run is at the end of September and I'm fairly sure I will be ready. After that, I think I will set my sights on a 10k (it's been a few years since I've run one). I don't know if I can train for a 10k on the treadmill so I may have to move it outdoors - which at 5:30am is not going to be easy. Brr!

I've had a challenging weekend with the girl. I think I've mentioned before that I find it hard when she's sick. She's more demanding and needy of me. Yes, I know she is my child. But that doesn't mean I have to handle it gracefully each time she needs me more than normal... I'm only human! :) Anyhow, because she wasn't feeling well, she hasn't been eating much - it's normal, I've seen this before. She is going through a phase where she wants to open the fridge, pull herself up on the bottom step and stand there indefinitely, then ask for something that eventually she eats two bites of and hands back to me. Usually she eats like there is no tomorrow. Anyhow, getting used to the change always takes me awhile and then once I get used to her eating little bites, she's usually fine and eating again.... I know, my problem, not hers. :) I also know she's not well because I could not put her down for a nap yesterday -she cried or talked for over an hour- before we decided to go and look at an open house. She had a lot of energy, running around and having fun in the empty houses, only to fall asleep for almost 2 hours after we got back in the car. She was zonked. And still went to bed last night... I think she is getting a tooth (or two or four) - not sure. I was hoping to her move into her big girl bed this past weekend but with being sick.... well, it just doesn't seem like the right time. We have to kind of hurry though - the crib belongs to a friend whose brother is having a baby either in late Sept or October, I can't remember which.

I'm still managing to lose a bit of weight even though I haven't been right on plan (in fact, I've recently exceeded my alloted food points for the week the past 3 or 4 weeks) but with working out, I manage to stay even. I really have to be organized and sometimes that can be hard... now that the fruit season is starting to fade too - the blueberries taste a bit crappier and the strawberries get furry a lot faster than they were.... fortunately, I've been okay with vegetables and keeping my meals smaller. I made a mean green curry chicken dish - a recipe that I got from ww - although it needed a bit of red chili paste to make it the way I like it - spicy. Still the flavor wasn't bad!

We have one last summer camping trip next weekend, provided that this sh1tty weather we've been having improves a bit. We are going to Deception Pass State Park again - we were there a few weeks ago and had a lovely weekend and pretty nice weather. E truly seems to love camping and we finally have our bikes working and were able to take advantage of them around the campsite. I honestly can't wait until E is old enough to ride her own bike and play with the other kids in the campground... I wish I could say that it would be nice for her to have a sibling to play with but we all know that ain't going to happen. But, suffice it to say that I contemplate it a lot more than I have in the past two years. We better hurry and get a dog, is all I can say!

I'll leave you with a few memories of our last trip...

Building a fire with dad:


Practicing our "Cheese" for photos:


A shot with Deception Pass bridge in the background: