Just Thinking Out Loud Here

I know I've already griped about this, but I'm tired of being cold at work. I'm thinking back to last autumn and winter, and thinking "Nope."

So maybe it's time to start looking around.

The silver lining is that my black Birkenstock clogs are roomy enough to accommodate fleece-lined tights AND these nifty huge comfy socks I bought at Goodwill yesterday:

Still, I'm bugged that I'm this cold. It's not even winter yet.

Later: Hubby texted and said, "We're going to the pumpkin patch!" Yay! He picked me up from work and we went to meet the kids at Sauvie Island. 

So fun! 

Was Blind But Now I See

I had a fun and interesting morning at the eye doctor's office today. I am now wearing contacts, the 30-day disposable kind. Before today I had no idea of this, but apparently my left eye is my distance eye and my right eye is my close-up eye. It'll be fun to see how this affects work tomorrow, such as when I'm threading needles or trying to match stripes on striped binding. 

I will also be cutting my hair because that was the first thing I noticed, how out-of-control my hair looks right now. It hit me just how blind I've been, doing my hair and putting on makeup without glasses on. It's so funny how life-changing this is, and yet not.

After the appointment, I came home and played with Baby R and watched Law & Order SVU with Maya. I took the baby and ran a quick errand to Starbucks and then to the ATM. I dropped her off at home, then went to the post office and Goodwill. I'm looking for big sloppy warm shirts and sweaters to wear over my clothes for work, since our workplace is unheated. I have no idea how this will go, but last year in our old space, with a non-working furnace, it was stinking cold and layers were our life savers. Yvonne says that everyone in production also put heating pads on their chairs. Last winter I was in shipping, and ran around all day with cold hands and feet - I can't imagine having to sit and sew and just freeze the whole time. Not my thing. I scored some nice things at Goodwill, all blue. I can't seem to get away from that color.

Speaking of blue: I cut layers in my hair (thanks YouTube):

Put together a new bullet journal with new stickers:

I made R lunch and we watched a couple of episodes of Yar together. She suddenly had a hankering for carrot cake, so we drove to Safeway and bought treats for her, Bella and me.

After picking Hubby up from work, we went to REI and he bought some Danner hiking shoes for his birthday. Yay!

Home again:

Lunchtime Sunshine

The old Birkies need a polish. No judging.

I'm fasting from social media again, except Reddit, which I find uplifting, inspiring, and motivating, and bonus: anonymous commenting. It's more "media" than "social".

Last night I had a strange, unpleasant dream and woke up from it with the words "calm" and "slow" in my head. Like, I need to slow my life down. So much is happening right now, to me, my family, and our country (covid-19 and the Biden vs Trump presidential election). It's a challenge to be positive or hopeful right now and I'm trying to think of anything possible to get and/or stay happy. It's another reason for my fast. 

Also, I'm going to turn off my phone when I get home from work, try to take Baby R on a walk every day, and focus on my people and home and projects as much as possible. 

So if you are reading this, you know the plan. I'll see you when I see you. Keep in touch. ❤

Evening update: I was joined in the bathtub by this fellow.

Yes, his tail is in the water. I've never seen two cats more unafraid of water. It's so funny. 

Today was my payday, so Hubby and I bought ourselves some Costa Vida for dinner, since everyone else was out or feeding themselves. After dinner we spent some time with Baby R in the front yard, Hubby mowing and both of us pruning. We watched some Rick Steves, and now here I am, with my hair turning the water blue.  

I just heard from Carla that our new piano will be delivered on November 2. Color me thrilled. 

Goodbye, Old Friend

This morning we took the old piano over to E's house. I wore my sushi socks for this important occasion.

E and I in the truck:

C caught a nap while waiting for us:

Later: Sunday dinner was breakfast burritos. We were happy to have H come home and eat with us.

Day Trip: Finishing Highway 101 in Washington State

 Raymond, WA: Wild Man Brewing Company

South Bend, WA: Pacific County Courthouse

Seaview, WA: Cape Disappointment

Willapa National Wildlife Refuge

Longview, WA: Lake Sacajawea Park

Birthdays!

I'm rich ❤

Blue-Haired Old Lady

I spent my day off mostly in bed, gobbling pills and Halls Breezers, trying to stave off illness, but I did a few other things as well.

1. Took a bath. "I'll be your candle in the bathtub...."

2. Shopped for flights. Found a good one. Talked to Hubby. BOUGHT TICKETS! San Diego in January, baby!! 

(Yes, I know this says December 2)

3. Got sick of my hair. Drove to Walgreens. Bought hair color. DYED MY HAIR BLUE.

What a big dang mess it made! 

But I love it.

10/12/2020

Today's lunchtime "shoes on porch" pic

My blizzard-making baby

Sellllllfieeeeeee

Breakfast with Chantell

The place: Breakfast at Valerie's

The time: today around 9 am

Chantell is my friend and former bonnet shop co-worker, whom I hadn't seen since before the pandemic started. We had a great time - lots of laughing and reminiscing. After recovering from, simultaneously, a cancer diagnosis and being fired from the shop, she's working from home at a cushy job and doing quite well. Maybe her boss will hire me next. 

We joked about Boss Lady's beloved Pope t-shirt being the shirt she wore while firing Tami last month, and that I'll have to buy one to wear when I quit*. Good times.

After breakfast: there was playing with Baby R, then shopping at Target (new tank top and fleece lined tights for the olive green polka dot skirt) and WinCo (stuff for Sunday dinner and R's continued recovery from oral surgery AND a cold).

*hypothetically speaking, of course

Vernonia Trip

After taking Bella to Katie's for D&D and getting the oil changed, we were off to Vernonia, Oregon. I've been wanting to see the town for a long time, and today became the day. 

Impressions: a tiny, cute downtown with a few restaurants to try; more people smoking cigarettes than I've seen in a long time (I think it's funny that I'm so unused to seeing people smoke that this was something worth mentioning); hardly any public restrooms; one supermarket, currently charging $6.59 for a package of Halloween Oreos. WHAT IN THE FREAKIN HECK. We want to try out the Banks-Vernonia Trail, possibly with our bikes.

Bunny in front of the town engine:

Crossing Rock Creek while walking through town:

Looking at our road atlas, we saw that we could finish part of Highway 47 if we took it all the way to its northern terminus in Clatskanie, so we went that way. We are slaves to the atlas.

Some old growth forest

A lovely autumn bend in the road

At this point of the trip, I was having quite a great time being with Hubby in this beautiful setting, and the lyric "You fill up my senses like a night in the forest*" popped into my head, where it stayed for the next two hours. Except, my brain being 12 years old and addicted to Weird Al, it kept changing the lyrics. Eventually Hubby got sick of my singing another new set of lyrics and turned on the radio, which led me to start texting them to him instead:

After reaching Clatskanie, where we said we would be okay living someday, we took Highway 30 east and South through Rainier and vicinity. We took a peek at the Columbia County Courthouse in Saint Helens (Hubby once testified for a case there) and got McDonald's for "linner" in Scappoose.

Then, before heading home, we colored in more highways and made plans for next week's jaunt.

*Annie's Song by John Denver

At Loose Ends

The day began innocently enough. It stretched out before me like an endless-seeming pile of light blue double-pom wool bonnets which needed their ends sewn:

After work, Hubby took R and me out to eat at The Old Spaghetti Factory and visit H. Hubby checks out his phone; H, in the red mask, is on the left:

R is still hurting from her wisdom teeth extraction and could only eat certain foods (I just have a pleasantly full face):

And so the day ended happily, with me eating my feelings.