greetings from OP!

I have only a few minutes left online while at the library here. 
To sum it up, we worked our butts off the whole first ( and then some) week that we were here. In no time at all we will be headed back home. That would be on sunday morning.
The weather has been beautiful, in the mid 70’s the whole time. 
Beach, kites, Sunny running leashless on the beach, crab-eating. 
gotta go, 
I’ll try tomorrow to get online again.

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We’re outta here!

ON VACATION at last.

I talked with Sherrie yesterday, and other than the %^&^&^ witch, things are fine for a couple of weeks. When I get back, no doubt I will be busy.  Julie will cover any other things that they need while I’m away.

Happy trails

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48 Hours

from now we will be on the road somewhere north of here ON VACATION. I’m having trouble sleeping, I think because I’m anxious about leaving.

Saturday afternoon I delivered the last gown and all of the remaining alterations to the studio, and for all intents and purpouses I’m done ( barring any last-minute rush items ) . I feel so happy to be able to do a few errands and pack in preparation to go. 
Today, among other things I will drop off my machine for an overdue service, which can happen while we’re away. I am taking my backup machine along for the trip.  Mom went with me to drop off the stuff Saturday, and I gave her a mini-tour of the wardrobe house. I think it was overwhelming – a complete mess.  We left there and went to Ikea for a couple of things – mainly the curtain panels that will be the ‘wallpaper’ in the bedroom.  On Sunday, Richard and I went back to Ikea and bought a dresser – in boxes- which will go with us also.  Mom and I made lampshades of some fabric and trim that I had here to put on a couple of floor lamps that I had bought at a yardsale a few months back, that will also be in the bedroom there. Yesterday we also stopped by the audio book rental store and much to my dismay, the suggestions that roseupton had made were either checked out or not available. Boo.  But, we ended up with “The Devil Wears Prada” which should be amusing, and Grisham’s “The Broker”.

Today I have some more errands to take care of, then we will finish packing the truck tomorrow.  We’ll be leaving at o’dark-thirty on Thursday, and spending two nights on the road on the way up, getting to the house on Saturday sometime.

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closer still…

to the end of the dress project. Last night I delivered four of the five gowns to the studio, along with the finished alterations. Sherrie seemed really happy with the finished products. yay.   It was like a huge weight was lifted off of my shoulders. I did pick up a few things to be altered, but those won’t take but a couple hours. I  plan to finish the last gown today, along with the new stuff, and get it back to the studio later today or tomorrow sometime.  Then I can begin to ready stuff to take ON VACATION. 

Last night we had a funny thing happen: For the third time in about a week a helicopter buzzed around and around in circles somewhere above the house for what seemed like forever. After nearly 45 minutes, at 10:15 I finally called the non-emergency police phone number to inquire about what was going on, and if, as a citizen I should be concerned. I was told that there had been a burglary, and that they were trying to catch the criminal and this was for our and the officer’s safety! When I remarked that it seemed late to be buzzing about, for the third time in a week, the person on the other end of the line began to berate and yell at me – letting me know that criminals don’t go home at 6:00 p.m!!!   Then he went on to say that there was someone shot ‘the other day’ about ten miles away, and that the police are out there to protect us, yelling the whole time. I was always under the impression that dispatchers were supposed to be calming, and I told him I didn’t appreciate being yelled at. He quickly told me that he needed to answer an ‘urgent 911 call’ and hung up. Odd thing was, whin five minutes the helicopter was gone. gone! Maybe it was just a concidence, or they caught the bad guy. 
( I have never known the police to use a helicopter – in the dark without a light – for just a burglary ) We do have a womens’ jail about a mile and a half from here, and there are transients who live in the river bed about a mile away, but again, I am amazed that a burglary would generate such fuss.  We have had stuff stolen from one of the trucks a few years back, and they wouldn’t even come out to take a report. We had to mail one in.    
We all kept expecting a sherrif’s car to pull up outside after it was all over, for the next hour, until we went to bed. 

I’m off to the smachine and the Saturday fare of NPR. Lets hope there’s something interesting on today.
    

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Closer….

to the end of this dress-making project. I now have four completed gowns, and one left to do. I so do not want to make another one, but, since I have the time and the materials here, why not.  Julie is coming tomorrow to finish the alterations, then I’ll be totally caught up.  There was talk the other day of the fashion show shoot to be moved up to week after next, which would have been while I was gone ( meaning that I wouldn’t be able to go!) . I thought Sherrie ( not to mention me ) might have a total meltdown. Turns out that they couldn’t get the location that they wanted, so it is back to the second week of July. whew!  
I picked up Mom yesterday about 11 am, and we went to lunch. Then came back home so I could get to work. ( the last gown i did gave me nothing but trouble – needing to re- sew everything at least once. I don’t know if it was because I am distracted with the impending VACATION or what, but after revising a few things, finally finished it up this morning.)

We watched ” The Bituminous Coal Queens ” last night. It was an interesting peek into the life of a small town in the heart of coal country, and the events leading up to the 50th anniversary pagent.  There were definately some ‘Waiting for Guffman’ moments, but this was a real documentary. ( btw, I just ordered that on dvd, along with ‘Big fish’ and ‘O Brother Where art Thou’ which will go with us next week on VACATION.  If anyone has a suggestion for a book that we could listen to on the drive up, I would love it.  It has worked out well to pass the miles for the twenty-some hours that we are on the road each way.  I can rent it next week.
As of today it is looking like we will leave as planned on the morning of the 15th, and return on the 1st or 2nd of July. something like that, anyway. Because the time has been shortened somewhat, there won’t be a trip to Seattle this time around. boo. Which means that if anyone wants to, come see us at the beach!  
Ryan ended up going down last weekend for a couple of birth-days; Gretchen and Tom and a couple of their friends are there this weekend.

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a little input please,

Here’s the deal: I’ve decided to not buy Ryan’s laptop and am now looking at a refurbished sony from either costco.com or sonystyle.com. There are a lot more options on the latter, obviously, but the prices are a bit higher too.  I want to keep the grand total under a grand, so there you are. We would be using it when we travel, mostly, and want the ability to do the little messing around with the programs that I use ( Illustrator, Photoshop, dreamweaver maybe, and the home design program) We don’t really play any games, but want the ability to burn a cd and watch a dvd, since there’s no tv at the house in washington. so screen size is an issue.  I know that there are a couple of you that can help steer me to the bargain that I’m looking for.  
Thanks for the help!
I’m excited that I get to pick up Mom tomorrow morning. yay for that!

p.s. note a whole ( thought short ) entry with no mention of sewing or work. ha!

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work, work, work…….

that’s about my whole life right now. I’ve completed two of the five gowns, and I’m most of the way through the third one. So, I’m halfway done with that project. I am happy with the results thus far.  By today’s end, I will have started on the next one.   Thank god for Julie coming on Friday and yesterday to help out, as we’re nearly caught up with the alterations ( for now at least) with only a couple of things left on the rack.  
We watched “The Weatherman” last night. Ugh. Like so many others, it almost could have been good. I think the summation of ‘mediocraty at it’s finest’ fits. And, more excess scenes that really had little, if any relevance. 
The last week has seen the onset of hot weather. Today, thankfully, is much cooler, and so far, overcast. With no a/c, being in a room with one or two machines running and an iron on when it’s 90+ degrees sucks. Having a fan on helps, but it tends to blow the patterns and stuff around. I do close the windows before it gets too hot out, but there’s only so much you can do.  
Yesterday the highlight while sewing was listening to “This American Life” on NPR. It was an exceptional show this week ( the theme being ‘us vs. them’) , and if you have the time, I would recommend podcasting it.

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The big monkey

Well, last night we finally watched King Kong.  As roseupton said, it is a movie that I probably should have seen on the big screen. It did go by quicker than I had anticipated, though my big complaint was that nearly every scene was run into the ground.  Rather than the usual ninety seconds on a particular shot, it seems like five minutes was the norm, often longer. And by the end of the film, I was sick of Naomi Watts gaped-mouth stare. Can we move it along already??  Never before have I seen someone have so much screen time without dialogue. ( well, maybe Lost in Translation, but that was different – it was good, and fitting ) And the whole drawn out thing with the big bugs was just too much.  Can I say that I would have liked the movie? If… if…if.  Oh well. I can forget the whole mess now. 
The other night we watched ” The Jacket” – really quite the thriller. 

After a fitting with Bo yesterday morning,  then conferring with Sherrie about the gowns; and shopping patterns and fabrics, I am now in posession of enough materials to construct five gowns for the fashion show. I met with her again to show my fabric/pattern and sketch choices and she was thrilled with what I had come up with. Now, if I can get all of them done – that would be wonderful.    I have Julie coming tomorrow and  again on Sunday to work on  alterations, while I sew on the gowns.  With some luck I can finish all of them before we leave in two weeks.    
I also got a call from Sal ( my boss on V. Mars) and it seems that the film project that he was going to do while on break won’t start until the end of this month. So, essentially, he gave it up. Fine with me, not like I have time to devote to another project.  But, the bummer is that V.Mars is now scheduled to start shooting on the 15th of July instead of the 25th. Which means he wants me available to do fittings and alterations and whatever else ( a possible build ) by the end of the first week of July.  

There is a chance that with all of this work that I may go for a week to Washington, then hop on a plane out of Portland and come home early, leaving Richard and Sunny to drive back. We’ll see. 
Time to relax for a bit tonight before the onslaught hits tomorrow.

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