Driving through a new ‘hood March 28, 2010

Here’s a short, claritin induced blog for you all!

Yesterday I went to look at houses. I am tired of living in the ghetto, and house prices are dropping like mad, yet again. I found a beautiful house in Snohomish, 2500 Sq feet, 4 bedrooms, one acre, victorian. It was amazing, and bank owned so it was in the neigborhood of 310K, assessed at over 450K. It needs a little work (like taking down the rose/flower wall-paper).  So I am thinking about it, and making a possible offer. Not sure, as Snohomish is so far, and a lot of my Tacoma friends are so far away and hesitant to drive this far north already.  

The other two houses were nice in their own ways; one property was 6 acres with a great bar and a creek. One had an amazing bathroom, but over all they were just to small, and not what I wanted.

After re-reading the last post, I need to start taking some risks and making a future for myself and where I want to be. I need to do what I want, and move forward with my goals. Its good for me overall, and its good for me to feel like I am taking action in my own life. Its no kid, but dammit, with an acre, I can get a goat or chickens, which is about as good 🙂

The rest of the next few weeks will be camping (next weekend) and knocking out house projects so I can get this house on the market and out of my life, when the time is right…any of you know how to lay tile? I’m willing to pay in beer or wine!  🙂

‘Til the next  adventure.

Driving Around in Circles March 22, 2010

I’m in a pissy mood today. Chalk it up to the change in weather (boo to rain) or the germs that are still invading, or other things, but I am pissy. Plain, unconsolably pissy.

Lately, I have been talking stock of my life and trying to figure out who and what I want to be. I have a job, its challenging, but not so much that I hate every minute of it. I have room for growth and the days pass by fairly quickly. Is it what I want to do long term? Nah. But there’s one of the things weighing on me…Do I stay or do I venture out and do something else? Right now, its the safe decision.

I have a house, I can afford the payments on my own, its relatively structurally sound, and its near my friends and places I like to do. Is it where I want to stay forever? No, but right now, its the safe decision.

I’d like to get married. Its been a while that I’ve been engaged. Its been 14 years that I’ve known my boyfriend. Its not a huge change, but again I am not tied down to anything. Where I am at is the safe decision.

Also, kids. Most people that know me, know that I want a family. I want children and a family. I want to mold a life into a well-adjusted, happy adult. There’s that side of me that thinks, oh dear god. What if I turn into my mother. What if I am a horrible parent. What If… So staying childless is the safe decision. (See a trend yet?)

I also want to go to gradschool. I want to get my masters in Psych, eventually do more than I am doing with my degree now.

So that’s the life list:

1. Either move up or move on at work
2. Get a bigger house, preferably one with more than 3 bedrooms. If its not asking for much, I’d also like it to be a craftsman or victorian on land. I’d also like a goat.
3.  I want to get married again.
4. I want to start a family.
5. I want to go to grad school

I know what you’re thinking…well, possibly…Either, wow-shut up! or why don’t you just got jump on those goals. Which leads me to where I am at. Its a waiting game lately. Will I get a promotion at work? I am working as hard as I can so we’ll see. I also need to wait for a position to open. Marriage, well, the BF isn’t sure about babies now and why get married if you cant have a family? So that knocks out 3 and 4, until decisions are made on his end. And house-wise…well, the money I have is either going to a bigger house or grad school, and again is dependent on 3 and 4.

So….circles. For now, its sticking with the safe decisions and not thinking too hard about the reproductive system which is slowly drying up.

On a positive note, status quo is easy to maintain and leaves plenty of time for other distractions: Art shows, crafting and beers with friends. There’s always a silver lining!

Driving to the Doctor March 18, 2010

I hate being sick. Seriously.

I have been a germ factory for 5 days now, and this sucks. My nose goes from being plugged up to running like a faucet.  I understand the biological principals that are at work in my body, it just doesn’t mean I like them (no sir, not one bit).

I had to leave work yesterday, and took a sick day today. I have done nothing. Absolutely nothing. As we all know, this doesn’t jive well with me. I hate being confined to my house, sick, and bored. And to make matters worse: Yesterday was St Patty’s day. 😦 I still managed to get my corned beef, cabbage and guiness in, just couldn’t taste much of it.

So I am sitting here, sniffly, dry skin all around my bright red nose in pajamas with big hair. I am not a sexy beast, but rather have been demoted to a hot mess. I’m excited for the weekend, so I can relax with out work looming over me. I can’t wait to sit in the sun and blow my nose in the sunshine. Dammit, if I have to be sick, I am going to be sick outside in the warm sunshine!

Here’s to hoping you all are healthy, happy and germ-free.

The Road Less Travelled March 13, 2010

I love winter camping…I think I have said this before, but its worth noting again! Winter camping is awesome. The fees for camping are lowered, if not free. The sites are empty except for a few troopers who had the same idea as I did. It’s lovely.

We went to Elwha last weekend with Jen and Sol-its in the Northeast corner of the Olympic National Park, and was just lovely. We got there Saturday afternoon and set up camp, spending the rest of the night drinking microbrews and eating delicious steak cooked over a fire. It was a good time.

Sadly, the park isn’t very dog friendly. Apparently, dogs are to cougars in the same vein that girl scout cookies are to me: Delicious. So we did short exploratory walks in the upper roads only to find that we couldn’t proceed further for the warning signs (Boo).

We headed back into town Sunday afternoon, got Chinese and hit the ferry home. It was a nice escape after a hard week, and I was able to relax a bit. After getting rid of my car and having to deliver hard news all week, it was worth the short excursion cost!

Carless March 8, 2010

So I took the step to being a better Seattleite and got rid of my car. Yep. As of 3/5, I am carless.
Ok, so that’s not ALL true. I don’t care about being a better Seattleite, I like having more money. My Subaru was a lot of issues in a shiny blue body, and I LOVE the idea of having over $600 extra a month in my little hands.
So now, and until I crack under the having to bike and bus it pressure, I share Conors vehicle-a giant ass Dodge Ram full-sized, you can fit a prius in the back seat, truck.
And it is GLORIOUS.

For now, I am planning to go the summer sans car. Will I make it?! Will I cave under the pressure? Who knows. I have a bike, I have 3 busses in my ghetto, I should be fine.

But just in case, I have been kicking around the idea of what to buy.
Pink Glitter Scooter
Slug Bug (the old school one)
Karmann Ghia
or some other old car

Some days I really miss tinkering on my cars. I envision myself in overalls or something maybe cuter, working under the hood of my old car, bitching at it, but secretly enjoying every moment shared with it and my Chilton guide.

So hmm…Will I last through the summer carless, or will I break down and buy an old car? Will I give up and go buy a sport-ute? We’ll see. For now, I am content to not have that G-D car payment.

New road trip blog to follow later today, so come back soon!
Raina

Test Drive March 1, 2010

Its about this time of year when I decide I need to get active. The sedentary winter times have played havock with my mood, and I usually notice I am not as fast as I would like to be walking up the hill ot my house. Conor and I decided it was time for a test hike-where you see how well you can hike, and how quickly you recover.

We hit the road again this past weekend, and got in a good hike. We had initially planned a snow camping trip in addition to this hike, but at the last minute decided that sleeping in was more important. So was shopping and grabbing a burger at Dicks in Wallingford.

Sunday however, we decided to go to Twin Falls Natural Area to hike. This hike was listed in the “60 hikes within 60 miles of Seattle” book online. It seemed to be a good hike, and would be less crowded than Tiger on a nice day.

Initially, when we started, it was an easy stroll, with youngsters and tiny dogs galore. I kept thinking: “Wow. This is so not tough. Poor Conor is going to be bored!”. We then opted to make it more challenging. We walked down to the river, climbed over rocks, walked up game trails to get to the top of areas.

I learned that I am not as in shape as I was last year.

Towards the middle of the hike, you run into the elevation gain, and we realized we were hiking up, while everyone was hiking down. It was a nice hike and by the end of it I was done. It was a good hike to see how in shape we were for our trip to Yosemite, and it was nice to get out and about (as well as hike loops around couples our own age).

We rounded off the trip to Snoqualmie Brewing for a couple of pints and sammiches. Overall, a good hike, pretty easy too. It was a good marker to see that I need more physical activity, but I am happy to note that today I do not hurt at all.

There’s hope for me yet!!