If I don't have this, I might die.

Look at this face! She is 16 weeks old, and she wants to live with me sooooo bad!

How? Tell me how! How can I possibly live without that????

Waaahhhh,.... I want a dog so bad!!!

"I feel pretty!"

Pretty fingernails may not solve all the world’s problems, but they sure help out with mine!

Yesterday I had a pretty rough morning. It was one of those days that everything that could go wrong did go wrong. I was feeling pretty crappy and very down on myself. I HATE feeling that way.

So… I went and got a full set of acrylic nails put on again. I haven’t had acrylic nails since last JULY! That's the longest I've ever gone without them. (I have been trying so hard to conserve money.) But dammit, I needed something to make me feel good. I needed to feel good about myself, and pretty nails always do that. So I splurged and got my eyebrows waxed too! Worked like a charm!

…doing my best Natalie Wood impersonation …

“I feel pretty! Oh so pretty!
I feel pretty, and witty and briiiiight!”

Parental fear is a scary thing!!!

Yesterday, I had an interesting conversation with my friend, Mark. Apparently, Mark’s son, ‘Eric’ is devastated because his girlfriends parents have decided ‘Jill’ can’t go to the Senior Prom with him. These two kids have been dating all through their senior year and are crazy about each other. Going to the Senior Prom is an important date in the lives of teenagers.

But apparently at Jill’s house, foolishness, fear, and oppression reign supreme.

The problem is, Jill’s parents want her to be a virgin when she gets married. Fine. That’s not actually the problem, the problem is how they intent to ensure that happens. Eric and Jill, despite raging hormones, have respected that all year. Both are good kids. They are in sports, have great grades, and thus far have had good respectful relationships with their parents.

But for reasons unknown,… perhaps they’ve heard the term, “Off like a prom dress!”, Jill’s parents are now afraid that if the kids go to prom, the dirty deed will happen. So in their vast wisdom, they have decided no prom. Yep! That’ll fix it!

"While you're at it, why don't you just put her in a burka!"

Am I missing something obvious here? That is the most foolish thing those people could possibly do. Do they think the prom is the only place or time that ever happens? Helloooo???

#1 - If those kids were going to do it, it probably would have happened by now.
#2 – If it was ‘planned’ to happen on prom night, keeping her home from the prom will just delay it. It will just happen the NEXT time the kids are together.
#3 – Telling two teenagers, “We won’t allow you to do this or that,” is the surest way to ensure it does indeed happen. Teenagers are programmed genetically to test their boundaries. Kids will rebel if kept under a thumb.

Eric and Jill have maintained their own discipline throughout their entire Senior year. If the parents think things are getting too cozy, stopping them from going to the prom is not the way to keep Jill ‘safe’. How about sitting the kids down and TALKING to them about these concerns. They could even write up a little contract and have the kids sign it! What it all boils down to, is you can’t tell a teenager “I forbid that.”

If you give kids the tools and the trust to make their own good decisions, it’s amazing how often they will do the right thing.

What a great weight loss program...

I have found that being single is certainly good for my 'girlish-figure'. A couple of years ago, while single, I got down to 121 lbs. Wow!

Well, in the 2 weeks that I've been in Portland, I've lost 7 lbs!

It's just an obvious fact that when you're in a relationship, there is a lot of cooking and eating going on all the time. It's such a social thing! But when you're single, wa-la!, no cooking, hence no eating. (Well, a lot less, anyway!)

Yep, I'm wearing a bikini again, and I've also died my hair blonde. I'm telling you, I am HOT now! It's amazing when I walk the beach how many people just stare. It's wonderful being the most photographed woman on the beach!

giggle....

I have ANOTHER job interview on Wednesday!
And since I already HAVE a job, I'll have the courage to fanagle a bit on pay.

...giggle...

Hootin’ mad!

Oh,…. I’m ticked!
I am ticked off!

I have been butchered!

Wait, let me back up...

A while back, My friend, Apryl, in Anacortes, (Grace Under Fire), gave me the best haircut I’ve ever had.

She cut my hair into a really cute wedge. Long on the top, with a short beveled edge around the back. This cut works great on me because my hair naturally tries to grow straight forward, and the wedge makes that work for me instead of against me. It suited my face and my busy lifestyle. Basically, it was the first, and so far the only, truly wash and wear hairdo I’ve EVER had. I loved it, and I received so many compliments on it.

Well, moving from Anacortes, I knew Apryl would not be able to cut my hair. So I asked a few girlfriends in the Portland area for a good stylist, and went to get my hair cut. I took photos of my cute wedge. Long on the top, with a short beveled edge around the back.

AAAaaaaahhhhhh!!! That nasty bitch apparently had never seen a wedge in her life!!! She just layered it all over like 90% of the short haircuts out there! My wedge is GONE! GONE I tell you! I am so pissed!

That does it! As soon as this cut grows out, (and that's gonna take at least 2 months!!!) I’m driving to Anacortes, and I’m going to have Apryl do it! I don’t care if it costs $500! (Well, ok, maybe I do…)

"Look at me! Look at me! I'm so ticked off,... I'm MOLTING!!! "

~ Iago from Disney's Aladdin

I start tomorrow!

Tomorrow I start my new job at Dennis Seven Dees Garden Center. I will be at the Cedar Hills location. There are actually 5 Seven Dees Nurserys. 3 'Dennis' Seven Dees locations and 2 'Drakes' Seven Dees locations.

They are starting me at a fairly good hourly rate, and the manager said if I live up to the rave reviews that my references, (past employers) gave me, I would probably get a raise soon. Yippee-skippee!

In case you're wondering about the strange name, 'cuz I was curious about it so I asked:

Basically, Dad (back in the 40's and 50's), had seven kids, all their names started with D. So he named his nursery Seven Dee's. Well, Dad retired years ago, and only Drake and Dennis had an interest in the company business, so they took over, but quickly realized they have very different ideas of how the business should be run. So there are both, Dennis Seven Dees and Drake Seven Dees. ODD.

I HAVE A JOB! YES!!!

Yipeee! I thought I was too late, but I've been hired at a garden center!

Happy! Happy! Joy! Joy!

I don't know much on details, I just got the message on my phone last night. He wants me to come in this morning and fill out paperwork, and discuss the 'details'.

Sunshine! Butterflies! Birdies! MONEY!!!!!

It's at Dennis 7 Dee's Garden Center. It's a well-known center that has been around since the 50's. It's fairly close too.

Yipeeeee!!!

They say ya gotta spend money to make money....

Looks like I got to Portland too late to get a job at a garden center. It appears everyone is done hiring for the season. But maybe that's not so bad....

Oddly enough, I’ve found several jobs on craigslist for sewing and seamstress work. My seamstress business was just starting to take off when I left Anacortes, there seemed to be a need for it up there. But there seems to be a need here, too.

The tricky part is, REAL seamstress work requires a second sewing machine, a serger. I have enough money coming back from taxes to buy the serger. I feel like I should do this, buy the 2nd machine, and vigorously seek out sewing jobs.

What the heck, I’ve got a skill that not everyone has. I’ve got the equipment and tools (well, most of it!). And if I find a real job, I can always continue sewing for extra income.

But it’s so very scary trying to be self employed. Especially when you have to make ends meet on your own. I mean, sure I can still continue to try to look for a ‘regular’ job, while I do seamstress work.

I just don't know if I should spend the money. They say you have to spend money to make money. Oh, what to do??? To buy the serger, or not to buy the serger! It's not that expensive, and heaven knows I could use the work. I guess it’s the right thing to do huh?

But according to Kate, since when do I worry about doing the right thing? Butt-head.

It's time,...

I haven’t posted to this blog since I left Anacortes. I just haven’t had it in me "to explain’… But I want to get back to blogging, so here I go. (Pretty much everybody knows by now anyway.)

I left Anacortes shortly after Sid and I returned from our sailing trip on Quest. Things just didn’t work for us, so I’ve moved to Portland where I have a much better chance of finding work. I will miss Sid, Bo and Anacortes very much.

What amazes me is realizing just how much I will miss Quest. It breaks my heart that I will not see her again. I loved her so much. She is a beautiful, spirited boat. She taught me so much, and she was so patient with me. She and Sid made one of my dreams come true, and for that I will ALWAYS be grateful. I had SUCH a wonderful time writing about our adventure. I’m sure Quest will have a new ‘First Mate’ when she heads out this fall,… Be good to her for me.

Giving Quest a good-bye hug!

Now… on to new things….

Anacortes rocked last night...

Last night, about 12:30 am, I awoke with a start. I heard, and felt, a big exlosion. Something that rocked the whole house.

"Oh my gosh! What was that?"

It took me a minute to get my witts, (Hush, Kate! Not a word from you!), then I ran to our bedroom window to see if the world was still out there. What I saw shocked me. It's one's worst fear when living in Anacortes. I saw a large cloud of black smoke coming from the oil refinery that is just across Padilla Bay, about 5 miles from us.

There are two oil refineries at Anacortes. They are the largest employers in the Skagit County area. At night, they are very well lit, seriously lit - like Disneyland. There are always large soft plumes of white steam coming from the tall stacks. It's hard to believe, but the refineries are actually beautiful at night.

"Sid, I think there was an exposion at the refinery! There's not usually black smoke coming from the refinery,... is there???" As if in answer to my question, alarms and sirens from the refinery quickly filled the air.

We can see the refineries pretty well from our bedroom window. Our house is on a hill, so we can see, (although somewhat blocked by trees), out over the bay. But because of the amount of lights at the refineries, I saw no flames, just pitch black smoke rolling against the golden glow.

Then, amazingly,... after only about an hour or so, the sirens and the smoke both subsided. I returned to bed,... somewhat comforted by the the fact that, clearly, the emergency proceedures they have in place over there are swift, immediate and effective.

Well, sadly, there was indeed an explosion at the Tosoro refinery last night. Three workers were killed. Four were life flighted with serious injuries. They don't know the exact cause yet, except that routine maintence was being done on the naptha.

From the Associate Press: "The blast occurred in the naphtha unit of the refinery. Naphtha is a volatile, flammable liquid derived during the refining process, and the unit had undergone maintenance and was in the process of returning to operation — a "typically dangerous" step of turning up heat and pressure."

Again, I was impressed with how quickly the situation was brought under control. I have a feeling things could have been MUCH worse if not for the quick actions and emergency proceedures that are obviously in place there.

The little town of Anacortes will be buzzing, yet sad and sombre, for quite a while I'm sure.

I'm baaaack..... just in time for TAXES. Yipee-skippy.

I'm back from the 2 month shakedown cruise of our newly purchased 40 foot Island Packet sailboat. It was great fun and very educational.

So I will again be using this blog to keep you up on all the news that is 'Hoot-worthy".

I am currently trying to file my taxes. It's typically just the simple 1040, but I get to use the first time home buyers tax credit this year, so I'm trying to figure out the easiest and best way to achieve that. It's a special form I have to use. I guess I just have to print the form and mail it to the IRS. Geez, what if I do something wrong? What if it gets lost in the mail? Why does this seem so daunting to me???

I guess anything that says IRS on it can be pretty intimidating.