Christmas is almost here! Jack asked this morning when we get to open presents! That's the first sign that he is getting excited about Christmas.

When we pulled out our seperate Christmas decorating stores we found we have many of the same types of ornaments and they all blended great on our tree. I have never seen the bubble lights that Jack has! They are really neat and add gentle movement to the lighting... not the strobe light action that triggers ecteleptic fits!

We're ready! All our packages have been sent. We've received presents from Florida (that's when Jack got curious about when we open presents.) and our little presents to each other are wrapped and under the tree.

Our BIG present to each other is a double recliner/rocker that was delivered last week! It has the central position in the family room where we can snuggle. If I watch a TV show, Jack watches a few minutes of TV, reads awhile, and naps. If Jack is "surfing" the 100's of TV channels as he calls watching TV, I read, work on my laptop, or watch the 45 seconds of each show as they flip by like a slideshow. We're togeather all the while! I love it.

I will start cooking tomorrow for the Christmas lunch we are having Dad over for. We have been invited to a big dinner at Pat's house and for dessert at Mark and Rebecca's. We will be eating ALL day. Good thing we finnished our YMCA radical body makeover last Wednesday!

I lost some body fat (about 7 pounds) but not any on the scales! Muscle weighs more than fat! So they say. Jack's results were simular. Our goal is to be in shape for scuba diving and we are headed in that direction. I am running this afternoon with Signe to keep up the cardio workouts and hopefully loose a few pounds before February 2nd!

Merry Christmas to all of you. Love what you do with the day!

The days go by quicker since I have no set schedule! Jack and I fill every day and are exhusted and in bed by 8 pm! We get up and go to excersize class at 5 am and seem to be going all day from then on.

Today I went for a 2nd interview for a customer service job in an insurance agency at 8:30 am and was there until 10. Jack's brother and his children came to Klamath Falls and we joined them at their Dad's and then went to lunch at the Airport. We are all admirers of a Good Hamburger! It was good to get to meet Jack's nephew and his wife who live in Arizona and to see his niece Kim again. It was a quick visit for them... the challenge being to get back over the passes before dark.

Jack and I went from lunch to the Passport office in our local post office and got my application sent off! We are going to the little fishing villiage in Mexico that I went to in 2001! I'll get the spelling and then tell you where it is! Z something. We made the reservations at Casa Elvira today and will confirm the flight reservations tomorrow for February 2 to the 12th! Whaahooo!

On this very productive day I have also uploaded the wedding pictures to Flickr!

Busy Monday! :-)

Here are some pictures of the new china hutch! It's filled with the remainder of Mom's Nortaki china and the pretty pieces I've collected over the years. The picture of the poppies on the wall next to the hutch was painted by Jack's Mom. And the flowers on the table are from our wedding night! They are staying wonderfully. All together the dinning room is looking very good, I think.

The job that looked so promising was offered to another so I am back to filling out applications and printing up resume's.

The holiday shopping is DONE! Yeah! Just have to wrap what we got. Brett did get his christmas package before Christmas! That is neat. We're thinking we'll make a trip up north to get the rest of the family their goodies.

Hope the holidays are going well for the rest of you all! Happy Holidays!

Jack and I made our first big purchase yesterday and I spent the biggest part of the day washing my pretties and putting them in it! It's a bueatiful china hutch! More boxes got emptied with this addition! I've spent this morning taking pictures of the house before I make to many more changes! Got to have the "Before" pictures!

I'm off to a woman's meeting.

These have been two busy days! Yesterday I did two rounds of interviews for an advertising/tech position and met with Jack's financial advisor. I'm rolling my previous retirement accounts into a personal IRA that I can manage from here.

Didn't here back from the company I applied to yesterday but I did attack the kitchen and just about have it done. There were canned goods that had expiration dates in 1992 in the cubboards! Jack was great about just dumping everything out. We purchased an additional pantry unit and I moved all the food in to the pantries where I can see what we have and have used the kitchen cupboard space for all the dishes, bowls, and kitchen gadgets that we have! I've emptied all my kitchen boxes and we have created several boxes of kitchen stuff to go to my youngest son Mike when he gets ready to move into his own place.

The realtor showed my house a couple times but hasn't had any offers yet. Two weeks on the market is two weeks off the 90 days they predict it will take to sell.

I beat so am going to sign off with wishes that everyone is enjoying the holiday season!

Snow fell again last night and undid the tidy driveway and sidewalk's from yesterdays efforts. Jack broke out the snow blower today! It's like driving a rototiller in many ways! I only did one pass but it is something I think I will have to master if this weather continues!

I think I have the name changes completed. The new drivers license photo is the standard "worse possible" but it only took 12 minutes at DMV to take care of everything so I'm not to upset about the photo. Social Security took only a little longer. It is so nice being in a small town again. A long line is 7 people (except Black Friday).

I updated my resume's and handed out two today. I also got a call about another position that I called on. Things are already moving faster than they were in Portland!

Cheryl emailed me the wedding pictures from her camera but they are embedded in the email and I haven't been able to extract them yet! There are some very good ones but the neatest thing was seeing the Mike is in almost every one of the ceremony pictures - standing with Jack and I as we said our vows! I'll post them as soon as I can - stay tuned!

We made the rounds to the courthouse, social security, and DMV getting all the name changes done today. I drove in the snow for the first time today in 11 years. With snow tires it really wasn't to big a deal. I did see others having some difficulties on the hills and Caleb shared a tale of going backwards through an intersection on black ice this morning on his way to work. Portland is a sheet of ice whereas we get both.

Last night I finally got around to setting up the router so Jack and I can both be on the internet at the same time and while I was at it I tried setting up the wireless portion. My sister was right. It was easy and setting up the encryption was easy. So I'm upstairs at the diningroom table creating this post while Jack cleans up dinner dishes.

Finally I can upload the picture of my engagement ring that I've mentioned a time or two! I now have the wedding band which is twelve small diamonds! I'm inspired to keep up my fingernails!

I still can't hardly believe they are mine, they are so bueatiful.

We took some pictures at the ceremony with our digital camera but Cheryl, my witness took most of the pictures with her camera and has promised to email them. With the holidays she's been swamped with family and hasn't sent them yet. We don't have any pictures of Jack and I togeather but here is one of me and Cheryl and Rebbecka in front of the fireplace where Jack and I spoke our vows.

We'll say the same vows again during the family and friends wedding ceremony in the Spring. We each wrote our own and Lyle, the minister, shared some pretty special sentiments too. We're waiting to hear from Brett on if late May or early June would work best for him to come from Japan before we set a date.

It's not been a week yet and it must show because everyone accuses us of looking way too happy!

Today Jack and I enjoyed shoveling snow from both our and his dad's driveways about dawn and a late afternoon walk along the Link River trail with Mike. We have come to the conclusion Mike is a snow dog... he prefers his water frozen and on the ground. He absolutally romps through the snow! Coming back to us with snow up to his eyebrows! We don't think he'd really make it as an Alaskian sled dog though... if the wind rustles the bushes he goes in to a four point crouch and you can see the whites of his eyes.

The wind is blowing and snow continues to fall so we are all happily tucked in for the day. Hope each of you enjoyed some piece to the day!

We braved the early bird shopping crowds and got most of the Christmas shopping done by 10 AM! Fred Meyer wasn't as crowded and difficult at Big R and that was better than Staples (which we just walked through and left without purchasing anything) where the lines were from the registers to the back wall of the store at 6:30 am!

Jack called it "bonding with the masses" and was quite chipper. I was a little tense in Big R where the aisles were narrow and merchandise was stacked sky high! We got everything on our list though and figure we save over $100. I now have snow boots and a jewelry box!

I have so many new things - the best being a loving husband!

I've packaged Brett's christmas gifts up and Jack and I are off to the post office to see if the shipping out distances the gifts! Hope everyone else is enjoying Post-Tday!

Wedding Day! Began at 4:30 am with our regular coffee and reading then off to the YMCA for workout class! Now showered and ready to go to the Daily Bagel for a latte and breakfast. After that Jack and I are heading out to collect some pine for the hearth to finish out the decorations.

The remainder of the day I am going to use getting foo-foo'd up. Hair, nails, clothes etc. Six o'clock seems far away but I know it will come quick!

Hope everyone is having a good time preparing for Thanksgiving. I certainly have a ton to be thankful for!

I can't get pictures to load into blogger on this PC! I took pictures of the flowers last night but can't get them posted here! I'll post them on flickr this weekend.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Flowers and candles are all in place in the livingroom for tomorrow evenings ceremony. We will be married in front of the fireplace at home by a minister and two friends will be here that will be our witnesses. Jack and I spent some time in seperate parts of the house writing our vows to each other. Lyle, the minister, will say the standard vows but we both wanted to say specail things to each other. I feel incrediably blessed. Once again it is proven that nothing happens by accident and God always has something even better in mind than I an imagine!

This ceremony is for legalities. We will be having a wedding celebration ceremony for family and friends in the Spring or early Summer and will say the same vows for you all to hear but will dress up and there will be music and dancing! Jack has agreed to a tuxedo and a wedding waltz! We will be taking a ballroom dancing class this winter! :-)

Well, I'm to excited to think of much else. I can't think of anything else right now anyway! Thank you to everyone that has wished us well and will be sending us loving thoughts tomorrow night at 6 PM!

Sis has been after me to update my blog so I really tried to last night but could not connect to the internet with my wireless card - I kept getting a message that the sevice area had to be updated and then it would "fail". Today I spent an hour on the phone with tech support with the results being - there is no service in Klamath Falls. The end of the wireless card. Now I am on Jack's computer and it is very nice to have a big screen and keyboard again!

I am in Klamath Falls now. Lock, stock, and barrel. I took my last final on Wednesday and we drove to Klamath Falls Thursday with all my stuff. We had spent Wednesday loading the Uhaul before I went to class so we were free to have dinner with Caleb and Kelly after class and were ready to go at 5:30 am Thursday.

Many great things have been happening. Here is the most beautiful ring in the world which Jack slipped on my finger last Friday! I have a picture that I'm trying to upload but keep getting an error so it may be tomorrow before I get it posted. Stay tuned!

Winter is HERE! Cold, rain, grey skies, wind. I almost didn't go to class for fear of the roads icing over and then after class wanted to drive to Klamath Falls! I called Oregon Highway Patrol and confirmed that there was patches of ice on the passes so I stayed in Portland.

I'm so tickled with life! I find myself singing the "Sugar Pie, Honey Bunch" lyrics that come over the radio. Silly I know but I'm enjoying it! And behind the scene is the knowing that this person is willing to commit to a permenent relationship - and understands that there are holes and bumps along the way! We did our own little version of speed dating while I was in Klamath Falls - and were very honest about our desires, hopes, and values. I figured if he got scared, better now than later. He didn't flinch - in fact he responded in like kind! When a 15 year oldtimer and a 20 year oldtimer get "honest" it is pretty awesome. A lot of truth and sincerity that I don't think the average people get to for many many dates!

Today is Signe's real birthday ~ so happy birthday to my very best friend! I hope it is full of good stuff!

Two more weeks of school and then I am on the road to Klamath Falls to a new vision of the future!

The drive to Klamath Falls Saturday afternoon was gorgeous. The sun was shining and the trees are all very brightly collored now. The is something about that big sky country! I know there are huge barren spots in that high mesa but where there are elm and pine it is bueatiful. I didn't get a single sinus headache for 3 days!

Signe and Jack's birthday party was a huge sucess! Susie had about 30 people there and tons of food! Jack met me with a big hug and a offer I intend to take him up on! I was the unofficial activity director so after cake we played Black Magic and then Worse Case Scenario, a survival game. There was a tarot card reader and we all had our turn having our cards read too.

Sunday Leo, Signe and I went to the morning breakfast meeting. Jack was there and asked me to dinner immediately - which I accepted. During the afternoon Susie, Signe and I walked our dogs on the hills over OIT and discussed our readings of the night before. Afterwards Leo, Signe and I went out to see the work Leo has done on the old house. He accomplished his goal of bringing it back to life and making is a very modern looking! At six Jack came to the door with a long stemmed red-rose for me. At dinner we talked until the resturant employees started standing around and we got the feeling we should go! We walked downtown Klamath Falls and I got to see all the changes that have occurred on Main street since I lived there 9 years ago. It was amazing! It feels like Jack and I have picked up where we stopped 10 years ago! We dated after my divorce in 1996 but went our seperate ways because we had different agendas as far as relationships were concerned. Seems like we've arrived that this space and time with the same idea! I returned to Signe and Leo's with my head swimming with all that Jack and I had discussed!

Monday I went to Roseburg and looked at the house. There was some holes in the walls but other than that a paint job is all that is needed. Rod, Wanita, John and Jack are going to help me get that done next Tuesday and Wednesday so hopefully the place will rent pretty quick.

I got to get my 20 year coin from my Wildlife homegroup Monday evening! It was good to see familiar faces in Roseburg!

Tuesday I came back to Portland and prepared for todays interviews. One was a bust and the other is still and unknown. I am ok with not getting them because I want to return to Klamath Falls. I think the Portland chapter is near it's end. I'm looking at the job listings in Klamath Falls now. :-)

After getting home Tuesday I called all the people that had helped with the keys deliema and let them know I'd recovered my keys and thanked them for their help. Yesterday I took the spare key back to Kelly and Caleb's house so there will be a spare somewhere! It was such a relief when Kelly said they had one! All things seem more possible when you can get in your car!

Yesterday I recieved the CMA on my house in Roseburg. The renter that had been in the house for 3 years gave notice last month and there hasn't been any one interested enough in renting it to fill out the application through the property management company. Murphy's Law in play once again. When I can least afford to pay that mortgage I have to.

So I'm looking at selling it. Since it is the biggest single investment I have I want to price it right and not pay to high a realtor fee. It isn't something I wanted to have to figure out right now. I'm really just wanting to get a job and finish school!

I haven't heard anything on the job front yet... but it's only Thursday.

Everyone in my world seems to be sick with sinus, cold, flu right now. Kelly's voice is gone, Caleb was home from work yesterday with a terrible sinus headache, Oliver came home from school with stomach problems, Nissa cancelled Sunday's walk due to flu like symtoms, Joey and Emma are just recovering from serious colds and I have a reoccurring headache centered in the sinus areas! Joey showed me a pressure point in my hands to relieve sinus and neck/back pain. I've tried it and it seems to be working... my sinus's started running! I think that is what was needed so the headache can stop!

Today I'll focus on school work as I wait and hope the phone will ring with the job offer!
Hope all is well out there!

The past two days have been pretty wild. Monday morning I got up resolved to get my Programing lab done so I wouldn't be behind in that class - by Noon I'd exchanged several calls with one of the recruiters and had a job interview set up for Tuesday at 9 am. It is on Swan Island. (OK, where is Swan Island!) Whip out a map and find it's, an area not really an island, in north Portland.

I packed up my car with my books for school and went off to check out the location of the job interview. It took about 40 minutes to get there in moderate traffic so I decided I'd leave in the morning by 7:45 am to assure I'd be there on time. At class I got my grades and found that I've got an "A"! That makes me a straight A student at this point!!! I guess I'm not as dumb as I've been feeling.

Home by 10:30 Pm I get my clothes ready for the morning and go to bed to get a good night's sleep. This is a good job opportunity and I'm doing everything I can to be prepared. Organized, prepared, and collected, right?

So here is how today went.

6:15 am Alarm goes off - shower - dress - eat yogurt and have cup of coffee (so the stomach won't grumble!)
7:45 am Get in the car (which I gassed up and ran through a car wash last night) and head down the route I'd scouted the day before. Traffic is light. Skies grey but no rain. I get to Swan Island at 8:15 am.
8:20 am I decide to go into the Deli in the industrial park about two blocks from the business I have the interview with to have a cup of coffee and kill 30 minutes reading a library book I'd brought with me.
8:45 am I dash out to my car because it has started to rain and fumble the keys when I go to unlock my door and they drop into the storm drain below my car door.
8:46 am I dash back into the Deli and explain what has happened. They are Japanese and don't understand I'm not asking them for my keys I'm explaining I dropped my keys in the storm drain and am asking them not to have my car towed away while I am in my interview. A young man came from the back that understood - finally and I ran out the door to get to the interview.
8:55 am In the few minutes it took to run the two blocks (in heels) I am more than DAMP. Standing in their pre-foyer I worked on swiping the water off my suit jacket and shake it out of my hair while I wait for the Recruiting agent to get there and walk in with me.
9:00 am We walk into the Reception area and Geof introduces us and asks for the hiring person. I am being as calm as possible and tell Geof what just occurred while we wait for Keith. He was pretty amazed that I wasn't more upset. First things first. Do the interview and then figure out the rest, I tell him.
9:00 to 11:00 am The interview went well I think. I explained briefly why I was wet and turns out another employee had that happen about a week ago and the city came out and pulled his keys out with a big magnet. He called the person to see who I should call for that service. That guy went out to the drain while I was interviewing and tried to fish it out with a wire but couldn't see the keys for the water, leaves, and muck. Reported back two pieces of bad news, he couldn't get the keys and the property is private not City or State so they won't be available. On with the interview... I would like this job. I liked everything about the place, what they do, and the people I met. The situation is simular to CSO network wise when I started there so I feel confident I could do them a good job. They will be filling the job within a week so I'll know soon.
11:00 am It's not raining so I walk back to the Deli. Again the language barrier - they didn't have a phone book according to them so I called my State Farm Agent - in Roseburg. They didn't have a Portland phone book or list of locksmiths that bill State Farm directly. They suggest calling information. I do - they connect me to the nearest locksmith. They say the soonest they can be there is Wednesday and I should call someone else (ya think?)

I try to call Caleb...just in case he is home for the day for some reason...no answer, I try Joey - my roommate - no answer. Finally I call Kelly at work. I know she is sick and barely has a voice but I was hoping she could look in a yellow pages book and give me some numbers to call. Kelly was wonderful! She knew where they had a spare key for the car! And she went home to get it and bring it to me! What a relief that was! So now I settle in with a second cup of coffee to read my book until Kelly arrived.

11:45 am Looking up from my book I was surprized to see Kerry and Janet from Northwest Rafters Association in the Deli! I wasn't sure at first but then saw their dogs outside and knew it was them! So I went over and said "Hi". It was a nice to connect and we exchanged phone numbers. Kerry works next door to the Deli and he knew where who the property owners are and that they were right there in the industrial park.

12:20 pm I got to introduce Kelly to Kerry when she got there . When I opened the car I gave Kerry a copy of my resume which he had offered to hand off to the people who do their network!

12:30 pm I walk in to the business that Kerry had directed me to and they sent one of their guys over to the Deli to get my keys. I guess this happens relatively often - they had a nifty magnet thing and I was on my way to the Job Fair in Canby buy 12:50!

I'm feeling good about the interview, happy to have connected with some fellow rafters, grateful for the help from unexpected places and glance into the rear view mirror to check my makeup.... YIKES!

I'm looking like a MIME! And probibly have since my mad dash in the rain! Keith had taken me around the business... I'd been to two other businesses since then!

The job fair was a bust like the other one I was required to attend but it was uneventful and I was just glad to do the walk through and head home.

Good day? Bad day? Lots of good things happened in between the difficult things! If I get that job it will be amazing... I sure didn't have that organized, professional "thing going on"! :-)

I'm happy to be home and am going to bed!

I have "snapped" in every one of my classes! Saturday the mid-term test was started with inappropriate remarks by the young men in the class about how better grades can be achieved by women in the class - graphically discussed with a great deal of laughter until I pointed out that comments like that will get a person fired in the real world. The instructor hadn't seen fit to "shut it down" until after I said that. I told him after class I will not sit in a classroom and listen to that kind of stuff... it is not a locker room.
The Monday night mid-term (same instructor) was much longer and included writing a Virtual Basic program. The 50 questions only counted for 50% of the grade - the project was the other 50%. Not being one of the quickest I was still working on my program when most of the class was finished. Having finished their midterm several of the other students proceeded to stand/sit around and discuss their favorite games, online gaming strategies, their "charactors", etc. Trying as hard as I could I could not just shut their chatter out and felt very annoyed until they finally left 30 minutes or so later. About that time the instructor told the few remaining students we only had 20 minutes left. With quiet my mind started clicking and I got about 2/3 of the program written and working but then was out of time! I felt sick and told the instructor I really felt it was rude of the students to "hang out and chat" while others were still trying to finish midterm tests. He seemed surprized! I wasn't the only student still working on the test when the others were socializing but they had all left by then. I wonder if they finished or gave up. Anyway he apologized and said he'd make them keep it down "next time". He also warned the final is much more difficult - I'll bring earplugs!
Then tonight's class! Progress grades where handed out. Time was taken as students addressed their individual lists and it was topped off with a particular student that had been asked to not play games on his laptop in the front row becuase it was distracting to others, and only has attitude to contribute each week complained that his test scores were so low he didn't want to finish the class - the snap point for me was when he went on to complain that the guy he'd gotten his answers from for the last quiz (who had been sitting next to him) got a higher grade than he did on the test! And the instructor continued to console him! Telling him he can do make up work... I exploded - I suggested that he read the material in the textbook, not play video games during class, and quit using classtime to whine about his grades and then I looked at the teacher and asked how much we were paying him an hour. (He'd given us a figure of $50 a week or so ago. ) He asked if I felt there was any value to what was going on between him and the other student and I said absolutally NONE. I said I would like to be reviewing some kind of material in class and that may be one or two others would too. The instructor qued up his PC and went on to cover some of the points of Excel and Access which was this weeks subject according to the course outline. It's the most actual material thats been covered during class time in the 7 weeks I've been in that class.

I guess I expect to much from college too! I'm wondering why I am paying so much money to do coursework like I'm taking an online class (studing the material alone , taking tests, waiting for feedback) and going to classes filled with people that don't want to discuss the material, act like a bunch of kids in high school, with instructors that don't seem to be in touch with teaching!
Am I from some other planet? Is this ok with everyone? I don't get it!

Caleb and Kelly lent me their digital camera so I've been getting pictures to accompany my posts! My little piece of home is here. Mike and I venture out to the kitchen and bathroom but mostly we eat, sleep, and study here. Most of my stuff is still stored away. What I have out are the things I "need" - books, pictures, clothes, and dreamcatcher!

My bookcases serve as my dressing area screen. It's small but cozy. Most of my studing is done at the table by the window. So anytime you wonder what I might be doing just picture me at my table... working on the computer or on the bed with books and papers spread out around me. If I'm not in class or walking the dogs that is about where and what I am doing.

Everyone knows Mike, my chocolate lab, but Gizmo has been a mystery. Here he is! Looking very mellow which he is NOT. Being 8 months old he has tons of energy and is very vocal. Not always barking either. He has an amazing range! Sometimes he looks me right in the eye... about 6 am while I think I should still be sleeping and he "talks" to me. It is fasinating to watch his mouth move while he makes sounds - I know he is very patiently explaining I have been asleeep long enough and he needs some attention now. If I don't respond he will let out a couple of sharp barks and then talk to me some more. It's fun except when I am tired, sick, or trying to do something else (sleep, study, watch TV). He'll grow out of it one day and we'll miss it so I try not to shut him down to harshly.

I've tried to upload other pictures but they just aren't making it! I have to take the dogs out for a walk and then head off early for school. I'm taking advantage of the tutoring for Visual Basic. I did not do well on the programing part of my mid-term and the instructor has already let us know the final is going to be much more difficult.

I'll work on uploading pictures to flickr this evening or this weekend while I am house/dog sitting for Caleb and Kelly. Hope all is well out there with all of you!

Distinction between Disassociation and Detachment 101. The definition helped and I believe detachment is what I want to achieve since it sounds like that is what will allow me to have both a love of life and the ability to feel but not be so impacted emotionally when unexpected or unwanted things occur.

I can be dealt some really difficult relationship situations and handle them with clarity and a reasonable amount of serenity and then some minor thing occurs like a broken lunch date with a friend and I find myself feeling totally heart broken and rejected. It's like being really smart and then all the sudden you can't figure out what a familiar word means. The fact that it even happens makes me question what is wrong with me. Where is the illogical leap? Why do I jump the track and crash? Displaced grief? That is my current line of thinking. Another point for assigning grief to it's real source and feeling it at the time it occurs rather than avoiding it.

Enough self-examination for today! I have a mid-term exam tonight that needs my attention now!

I am more and more aware of how much like a little kid I still am. I get happy, and I get sad. I expect to much from life - want life to be more than what it is. When I quit doing this I will quit being diaappointed and disillusioned. I'll continue to work on accepting life on life's terms in hopes that I will attain that level place where things are just all good. Thats what I want - the ability to accept things just how they are - and the serenity that gives a person.

I wonder how people do it without disassociating... that is the only way I've ever achieved the attitude of not caring. I hate roller coasters - real or emotional.

Signing out for now.

Plans, and more plans...the outcome is in other hands!

Signe and Leo will be in Portland today! They'll be in "town" until Sunday so I am sure I'll see them atleast once! I have my mid-term for Operating Systems tomorrow morning which I'll study for today and then after the test I'm going to just enjoy the day - as much with Signe and Leo as I can.

Sunday I'm going to go to a celebration for Mary Paige and her business, Sober Princess. I've seen a fleece jacket that she designed and it was very tastefully done so I am really curious to see the rest of the line.

Monday is the mid-term for Programming, Tuesday the Clackamus County Job Fair and getting together with Nissa for dinner. This is my idea of what is going to happen over the next couple of days. :-)

This morning I got up and dressed and off to a 7 am meeting! After the meeting I decided to take Mike for a walk at Laurelhurst Park. It was foggy and crisp - kind of fit my early morning mood - so I was enjoying the walk. We were in the off-leash area so Mike was running free amoung the trees and bushes enjoying himself too. Somehow I slipped and went down on one knee - hard. Ripped my nylons (I'd dressed as if I were getting ready to go to work - just to keep in practice!) and the skin off my knee.

Funny how we look around to see if anyone saw us when something like that happens! I just that! No one was and I was relieved to limp back to the car without meeting anyone. Why a bloody knee and ripped nylons made me feel so stupid is a mystery but it sure did! Anyway, now I have a throbbing knee and a back ache! Friday the 13th?

Hmmm.

Fall is here in a bueatiful way! Slightly brisk mornings and nights - warm days. I do job searches, school work, and study most of the day but try to take atleast one walk (which Mike and Gizmo really appreciate) a day.

Yesterday I went to the Clearlake Rhododemdrum (you know what I mean... the plant) Garden located about 3 miles from where I live. It is a wonderful place! Six acres of paths that wind around the lake, bridges that cross streams that feed it, the sounds of little cascades, songbirds, ducks and geese. Another place to share when someone comes to visit! Another free thing that can be done in Portland - atleast on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. I took Mike and Gizmo with me but will not again. People were outspoken with their fear that the dogs would go in the water after the ducks. Not Mike! I discovered Gizmo is equally adverse to water so there wasn't any real danger for the waterbirds - these two waterdogs aren't in to it! To maintain the serenity of the place I'll go dogless in the future.

The garden is right accross the street from Reed College which I have been attending meetings at. The campus is great just to walk through! Many of the buildings have been there for a very long time and the new ones have been built in keeping with the rest of them. Huge open lawns and wide, well lit walkways wind everywhere. The parking lots are limited to the fringe of the campus so you have to walk a lot. It is neat to wander amoung old, well maintained buildings.

Brett and I instant messaged this morning and he asked if I could act as a tour guide for the daughter of his Japanese Mom when she comes to America next month! Ayumi expressed a desire to see Crater Lake and Brett thought of me instantly. I do love to act as a tour guide - and love Crater Lake! So I have another bright spot to look forward to in the near future!

I've also received an invitation to a birthday party on Oct. 28th in Klamath Falls to celebrate two of my friends birthdays! I've already made the arrangements to make that trip! Thank goodness for my little Metro. Gas prices don't prevent me from going.

So, once again, many things change in the course of a day or two! I heard back from the property management company and the renter did pay Octobers rent (first relief). I let them know I want to rent it for more this time... so it will cover itself instead of being a drain on my income...and it is on their list of available rentals at that rate. I received the rent check yesterday and it being in the bank my account looks much better.

Time to get back to the books... midterms begin tomorrow!

Things do change!

• There is a chipper in front of the house and the remainder of the apple tree is getting topped. I've been parking accross the street so my little red car isn't in the "fall zone" since the original collapse of the house side of the tree. I don't feel real great about parking on the street... it is my only vehicle and errors in judgement occur often in the late night hours! So this evening I should have a space back next to the house. A little slice of piece of mind.
• I received a notice from the property management company that the renters in Roseburg have given their 30 day notice. The envelope did NOT include a check for October's rent. I have a call in to the company requesting the status of that and what to expect for re-renting the house.
• I had to transfer funds from savings to cover an oversight on my part in the checking account. It was a pretty big chunk of what I had in savings.

I do what I can about each situation and then "let it go" to resolve the way is needs to. It is a walking in faith excersize!

I have shut out the "what if's" from running wild in my mind so far. Now I will return to the computer programming lab that I am struggling with for tonight's class until I hear back from the Roseburg property management company.

Such is this MONDAY.

I'm beginning to think I need a nail biting recovery program! Ever since I removed the artifical fingernails I've been finding myself chewing off the thin whisps of nails that have been trying to grow! My thumbs and indexfingers nails are torn back so far into my fingers that they are painful. I'm keeping bandaides on them! I don't think I'll ever remove them myself again. I scraped the nails to thin I think! That is if I ever do the fake nails again anyway.

Nothing else is new. I didn't go to breakfast Saturday becuase I have a class Saturday morning - I'd forgotten when I told the ladies I'd join them. I need brain food! I am taking Vitamin B-12 already but either need high doses or some additional stuff!

I've several chapters and labs to do for this evening Computer Programming class to this post is done for today.

I haven't had any employment inquires yet....

Mike and I really hiked yesterday! First we walked around Westmooreland Park where Mike launched a few hundred ducks. He could care less about them but they all took to the water as soon as we approached. Mike hasn't a clue he is a "bird dog". He just trots around smelling things. And water? Forget about it! Those ducks are SAFE! There seems to be a thing at that park that I suspect may be an outdoor ice skating rink in the winter... will have to check it out then. It is a nice sized park with lots for everyone but I was really thinking along the lines of woods, trails, something other than paved paths. So we took off in my little red car and went in search of a map again.

Thanks to the nice ladies at Sellwood Community Center I now have a map and got great directions on how to get to the Thurman Street Forrest Park trailhead in NW Portland! It is a wonderful shaded path with many side trails leading off from it. We saw joggers, mountain bikers, fellow walkers, and mom's with strollers during our 5 mile hike! Not all at one time and everyone was very pleasant. It was great. I got to reflect on the reading from Cherokee Days about how we are like trees... when the terrain is rough deep roots need to be put down and then we streach to the sky for nourishing sunlight and rain. Just our being replentishes good elements back into the environment.

Mike and I both had to take asprin at bedtime! I figure we put in atleast 6 miles!

Today was Operating Systems class, a brief visit with Caleb,Kelly and Oliver, and then back home to attach homework. Lots of that!

Now I'm wrapping up the day - At midnight!

Yesterday evening, about 5:30 pm, while I was studying in my room there was a huge crack outside and the window in my room filled with greenery! Running outside we were shocked to see that a third of the apple tree in the front yard had broken off the trunk and fallen in to the house and the power lines to the house! The tree is heavy with apples and the added weight from the rain that had been falling all day was too much. The split revealed that the entire trunk of the tree is rotten. The rest of the tree is likely to come down soon. The landlord came and viewed it with us as we waited for the power company to come and remove the tree from the power lines. The landlord said he will pay to have the rest of the tree cut down and it all removed. The power company dropped the lines and restrung them over the fallen portion and got the power back on. I am parking my car on the other side of the street until the tree is removed... the rest would come down right where I was parking if it falls.

Today was Job Fair day. 50 employers at the Forresty Center. I was required by WorkSource to go so I dressed to interview, printed 18 resumes and toured the tables. Only two had positions open in Network or IT departments and they wanted .Net developers. The good news is that is what we are working on in my programming class. Over all it was depressing. There were tons on people in suits looking for work... looking much more professional than me. And I'm assuming more qualified.

I went to a Noon meeting and then home to nap before this evenings class. Class went well and now I'm home in my cozyly made up room. I'm not feeling like I'm doing so well this day for some reason. Maybe just to tired. Seeing so many people looking for work was shocking. And I still haven't had any responses to the resumes I've sent out. One minute I think that is good - I am working hard at getting "caught up" with course work. Then I am sick that time is passing.

Tomorrow things may look different. I hope so.