Interesting Results

Which Jane Austen Character are You? (For Females) Long Quiz!!! created with QuizFarm.com

You scored as Jane Bennet As someone who would rather see the good in people, Jane is a true pacifist and caregiver. At times, her shy temperament and naive outlook of people can land her in a compliant position, but those who know her love her for her positive spirit and cheerful view of what surrounds her. Jane Bennet 72% Elinor Dashwood 69% Elizabeth Bennet 56% Emma Woodhouse 53% Marianne Dashwood 44% Charlotte Lucas 19% Lady Catherine 16%

My Comment: Interesting. I doubt "pacifist" and "shy temperament" are very high on the list of terms most people would use to describe me.

Remodel Update Week 3

End of Day 12 - Second floor down

End of Day 13 - Second floor walls started & stairs built

End of Day 14 - Second floor walls up

End of Day 15 - Second floor walls up

End of Day 16 - Trusses delivered & beam installed

Remodel Update Week 2

End of Day 6 - Concrete forms done

End of Day 7 - Concrete poured

End of Day 8 - Concrete forms off. Windows and internal walls framed.

End of Day 9 - More walls and windows framed. Floor patched.

End of Day 10 - Windows & internal walls framing mostly done.

End of Day 11 (yes, they worked on Saturday) - 2nd floor joists delivered

The front driveway = lumber yard.

New Living Quarters

If you assumed from my previous post that we are NOT living in the house during the remodel, you are correct. Here is where we are living now (the little one is where I live).

We are NOT leaving all the stuff in front of the trailers for the duration. Most of the stuff in front of the big trailer is already taken care-of (the pictures were taken last week). They should be nice and neat in another week (I'll take more pictures then).

And in case you are wondering, the canopies are tilted on purpose to guide the run-off of rain water to one side.

The lovely little blue house to the right of my trailer is not for us...it is for the construction workers. Unfortunately, that was about the only location where they could put it to keep it out of the way of all the activity on the property.

We Really Remodel

One of the defining characteristics of my life is my tendency to do things whole-heartedly. As my friends and family can verify, I rarely do things half-way.

I will preface this next bit of information by stating for the record that the remodeling project was not my idea. I am not directly responsible for the scope and object of it. Therefore, please consider these pictures with that in mind. I have limited myself to two pictures per day.

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End of Day 5

Moving Continues

As predicted, last Saturday we set-up two travel trailers. All of the utilities are not yet hooked-up, but I hope to complete that task this Saturday.

My Dad proved to be a first-rate trailer parker. After trimming back some tree branches, he maneuvered the trailer right back into the tree line where it will be totally out of the way. It was like watching a virtuoso at work.

Then my Dad and sister worked on leveling the trailer (quite a job!) because one side was around 2 feet higher than the other. I will need a set of stairs to get into the trailer when I am wearing a dress. (We plan to take care-of that tomorrow too.)

Meanwhile, I worked on digging a ditch across the driveway so we can get data lines (phone, cable, and internet) to the trailers. Happily there was a guy there spreading gravel and as he was leaving, (per a suggestion from my wonderful Dad), he was kind enough to dig the ditch for me with his Bobcat. Much easier!!! Then I just had to finish off the ditch and bury the pipe.

The second trailer didn't arrive until after we had gone. But when I got back, it was there all set-up and leveled out.

I spent a couple of evenings this week moving gravel around. Boy I wish we had that Bobcat back for a couple of hours! Moving gravel by shovel (and wheelbarrow) is hard work! God was very good to me on Wednesday evening. When I went out to work on the driveway it stopped raining! And it barely rained the entire three hours I was out there. PTL!

Work was busy this week. "We" had a movie sneak peek for our new documentary Flunked on Tuesday evening. It went very well. We had around 700 people in attendance! This was our biggest event ever!

One of my good friends is getting married and I attended a bridal shower for her this week. It was nice to get to see so many friends and celebrate this special occasion. One of the games was new to me. Each attendee was handed a bingo-type card with empty spaces. In each space they were instructed to write-in a gift they thought the bride might receive at the party. As the bride opened her presents, they could mark-off their card if they had a match. The first one to get "bingo" would receive a small prize. This game brought a whole new dynamic to the gift-opening portion of the evening. The people watching were almost more excited and eager to see what was next than the bride! It made the usually semi-boring gift opening very interesting.

Site Plan Done

The site plan is done. It wasn't quite as hard as I thought. When I looked in the right spot I found the surveyor's stakes, so I was able to get accurate measurements for distance from the edge of the property. I found a description of the property which included dimensions--very helpful. Measuring the buildings was pretty easy. Of great help was the 200' measuring tape a neighbor let me use.

But my favorite find was the satellite photo with (drum roll please) elevation lines! Yea! All I had to do was copy them onto my version. Much easier than running all over trying to figure out when the ground goes up and down and by how many feet.

Every spare minute is spent packing boxes and moving things to the storage shed. Last night we got a bunch of stuff moved. The house is starting to feel empty. We're having an indoor "garage sale" March 28-29 to get rid of as much stuff that won't be used in the "new" house as possible. There is an amazing amount of good stuff we are getting rid of (linens, towels, household items, etc.). Makes me wish I had a house to furnish (not really).

This Saturday the travel trailers arrive. We will be running water, electricity, phone, cable, internet, and sewer lines. Boy are we spoiled in this day and age. We can hardly imagine getting along without most (if not all) of these things.

I Get Older (but stay young at heart)

I am blessed by God with an abundance of great family members, friends, and co-workers. And today they figured that, since it is my birthday, they would celebrate with me.

My house-mate started the day by decorating the kitchen and my place at the table. She gave me a wonderful book on tape that I'm really looking forward to reading.

Then my family called and sang to me; promptly followed by a call from a dear friend who did the same.

My co-workers really outdid themselves this year. My office was decorated to the hilt with signs and streamers. Two of them brought in doughnuts to celebrate. They ALL sang the "Happy Birthday" song to me (even those that abhor public singing). They gave me a very sweet card with lots of nice notes in it. And they gave me a gift card for Coldwater Creek. Then they told stories about me and asked me the traditional "what are you going to do in the next year" question. It was lots of fun!

Thank you everyone who made this day so special! Thank you God for making me!!!

I Learn To Survey

Or at least that's the plan. If we do the site plan ourselves, we will save $600-800. That is money better spent elsewhere.

I have directions for what the site plan needs to include. They are things like:
-The location of all existing and proposed structures and the height of all proposed structures.
-The boundaries, including dimensions, of the property.
-Setback distances from all property lines to all proposed buildings.
-The location of all existing and proposed public and on-site utility structures and lines (including those within 100 feet of the project site).
-All means, existing and proposed, of vehicular and pedestrian ingress and egress to and from the site.
-Topographic information for the entire subject parcel and a minimum of 50 feet onto adjacent parcels.
-Vicinity sketch, at a scale of not less than three (3) inches to the mile, indicating the boundary lines and names of adjacent developments, streets and boundary lines, and the relationship of the proposed development to major roads and highways.

I think I'm in for a learning experience.

More Moving Experiences

Currently moving dominates my spare time. I haul empty boxes. I haul full boxes. I research options for hooking-up two travel trailers. I sort. I throw away. I pack. I have fun!

We have the travel trailer situation more-or-less figured out. Now it's just the implementation that remains.

The garage has been cleaned and prepared to receive the packed household goods. Extra shelving has been purchased and assembled.

Stuff is being given away, thrown away, or packed-up.

Timelines have been established (not that we are depending on keeping them to the letter).

Decisions are being made.

I am grateful for having the most wonderful Dad in the world who has been an invaluable helper and consultant!

Moving

I am having a moving experience. The literal kind. I am moving.

However, I am not moving far.

The lady I stay with during the week is going to remodel her house. The serious, take off the roof, add another floor, and put the walls in all sorts of different places kind of remodel. The developer, designer, and project manager love her design.

Our current plans involve packing up the whole house, storing almost everything, and living with only essentials in two travel trailers. One trailer will be the "main" house. The other is a very small "bedroom" where I will sleep. I'm looking at this as an adventure. It will, after all, only be for 3.5 months. The only part of this adventure I am not really looking forward to is...regularly taking a shower in a tiny little space (sitting down) with a 6 gallon hot water heater.

Contacts vs. Glasses

In case you haven't guessed, things are relatively quiet here at work and I am actually taking a lunch break (and writing for my blog). There are still lots of things going on, but nothing that keeps me working straight through lunch.

Last Friday I went to the eye doctor and was "fitted" for a new pair of contact lenses. I wore soft contacts regularly from age 11 to 33. I stopped because of minor eye irritation issues. I only have one set of eyes and want to take care-of them!

During the last few years I only wore my contacts for special occasions. However, my eyes seem to dry out by the end of the day, so I really hadn't considered going back to them full-time.

Because I will be doing more video stuff, I decided to ask my eye doctor if he had any suggestions. Not surprisingly, there have been many advances in the area of contact lenses. He suggested I try a different type of lens that is designed to let in a lot more oxygen than what I had been wearing. So I got a pair to try out.

I like them! Wearing them takes me back to my many years of wearing contacts and now I remember why it seemed so natural. Having the right "tool" for the job makes such a difference.

It is kind-of funny to be around people who only remember me in glasses. It took me a while to adjust to being in glasses. Now I am going through the reverse process, with the exception that it isn't taking me any time at all to get used to wearing contacts again.

SFAD

This year Valentine's Day reminded me of past years celebrating this day as a single female. Several years ago some single female friends and I decided to start celebrating SFAD (Single Female Awareness Day) instead of Valentine's Day. It is ironic to me that most of the attendees to these celebrations are now married and most have more than one child.

In memory of those bygone days, here is a copy of the invitation to our first SFAD party:

Dear Fellow Single Females,

At this time of year when everyone is celebrating the glories of love, it is time to celebrate the glories of being unattached. It is time to recognize the singular benefits we realize by not having someone else's dirty socks on our bedroom floor, by not needing to care about who won the Super Bowl, and generally by being footloose and fancy-free.

To this end, we invite you to a celebration of Single Female Awareness Day at our house (yes, we are now on our own). We shall eat garlic & chicken pizza to ward off suitors. We shall eat chocolate to remind ourselves that romance is a pallid substitute for chocolate. In addition, appropriate games will be played.

###

The appropriate games included Old Maid and one of those "you get so many safety pins and lose one every time you _____." For us the _____ was saying any masculine pronoun or name. It was lots of fun. I also find it mildly ironic that I won Old Maid even though I had never played it before.

I attempted to get together another SFAD party this year, but few were available.

The Closest Book Meme

1. Pick up the nearest book (of at least 123 pages).
2. Open the book to page 123.
3. Find the fifth sentence.
4. Post the next three sentences.
5. Tag five people & post a comment here once you post it to your blog, so I can come see.

Here goes:
Kenneth C 11339 Prairie Court SE Olympia 98512....456-1751
Odell & Heidi 297 W Steelhead Ln Elma 98541.......426-2117
Paul 4224 Kyro Rd SE Olympia 98503................459-1586

Yep, you guessed it, it's a phone book. It was the only book on my desk actually.

If you are reading this and haven't done it yet, consider yourself tagged.

What Time of the Day Am I?

Not that it is 100% true, but since I took time to take it I thought I'd take the extra few moments to post it on my blog.

Why I Am Busy

Being busy does not distress me at all. In fact, I generally enjoy it. And currently I am generally enjoying myself very much. Why are you so busy you may ask? I'm glad you asked.

Because I'm producing and co-hosting a TV Program! I'm also more-or-less the director.

Now doesn't that sound like fun? If you say, "that also sounds like a lot of work," you would be correct.

In addition to preparing for the first program on January 24, which will be broadcast live over the internet, other parts of my life continue moving forward. I am tutoring two evenings a week. (Although last week I did it three evenings--I learned how to do a sudoku puzzle.) This week I had a month meeting on Monday. Sometime this month I'm supposed to speak to a local club at their monthly meeting, but they didn't confirm the date with me so I'm not sure which Thursday morning it is (I have inquired since I found out at last night's meeting that I AM their speaker this month).

Except for staff meeting lunch today, I have spent all my lunches working at my desk. I have taken my little bit of spare time to read my friend's blogs so I can keep up on their lives, not to update mine. But tonight I thought I'd take a couple of minutes to do just that.

And that's all for now folks!

Alive and Well

No I'm not dead. Yes I'm doing fine. Yes I've had a busy December. Yes I had a great Christmas & New Year's vacation. No I'm not going to try to fill you in on ever detail of my life since I last blogged. Yes I'm going to give you a summary and some pictures. Any more questions?

The theme of my Christmas outings this year can be summarized in two words: "The Messiah." This is a concert we went to in Bremerton. It was VERY well done. Standing in the center front row (holding her book very straight) is our very musically talented and gorgeous voiced friend who participated. I attended this concert with my sister and good friend KD.

Next I attended a "The Messiah" sing-along. I had never head of such a thing before! It was tons of fun. I found out about it the day before and hope to attend again next year. If I had had more warning I could have invited some friends along. As it was, I took along the 13 year old I have been tutoring. It was very educational.

For Christmas we went to Grandma's house. This is the best picture ever, because they have torn down all the houses around her house getting ready to put a parking lot there for the Bible school next door. She gets to keep the house till she dies, so she has the biggest yard in town for the rest of her life.

When Grandma opened up her Christmas present (a portable DVD player) she wasn't sure what it was. She was a bit uncertain about it until we showed her how it could play picture slideshows and DVD messages from her family. She can keep it handy next to her bed and it is light enough for her to hold easily. She's pretty alert for 97.5 years old!

And last but not least, here's the small portion of Grandma's family that was there for our official "Christmas." I don't have a group photo of the additional family that showed up later on for a nice visit (sorry Steve & crew--but we were delighted to have you there).

We were very grateful to the Lord for helping the car to run well all during the trip (about 800 miles each way) and for the good roads (very little snow and ice on travel days). We enjoyed our visit and it was one of the most relaxing Christmas vacations we have ever taken.

Christmas Parties Begin in Earnest

Saturday night was my friend's annual Christmas party. We always have a delightful time dressing up and eating lots of good food. After lots of time to eat and chat (and get caught up on the year's activities), we have a Yankee Gift Exchange and play games (Guestures, four-on-a-couch, and psychiatrist this year). It was lots of fun.

Of course, I took the opportunity to get a bit of a "baby fix." Rose was such a sweet little baby. She is 11 months old in case you are wondering. I also enjoyed hearing about people's year and getting to know some friends better. Altogether it was a very successful evening as far as I am concerned. I was sorry my sister couldn't attend (she was recovering from the stomach flu), but everything else went well.

If you have never played psychiatrist, it is lots of fun--especially if there is someone there who has never played it before. And there was. The first round we did the "easy" version. Then we did a good and hard one; many thanks to Kristen who was a great sport in her role as psychiatrist and did finally figure out our problem.

Estimating

It started as spelling lessons and quickly included math. Now we are including science and social studies. Everything as a matter of fact. I must admit that I am enjoying myself tremendously. Not only do I get to review all the stuff I only vaguely remember learning in school, but I get the joy of teaching it to a young lady who goes from being bored to being interested. And seeing her go from a D in math to an A is wonderful.

Then there is the first-hand look into what kids are being taught in our schools...not that I didn't have a clue before. Why take the time and energy to teach kids how to estimate in math when you can teach them how to figure it out for real? It really isn't that much (if any) harder to teach someone that the circumference of a circle is (pie)2r than to teach them to draw a box around the circle and use 2r as both sides. And it would be more accurate.

I hope they (the kids) don't expect to use estimating in business. Sure, estimating is great for getting a rough estimate of your grocery bill as you walk through the store, but you want the "real" number when it comes to paying for it. It seems to me that it would be much easier to teach them to do it right now, and let them figure out how to estimate on their own.

We Get Some Rain

Every once in a while, western Washington lives up to its reputation for lots of rain in a grand style. The past few days, the weather decided to go whole hog to celebrate December.

On Saturday and Sunday it snowed. An unusual thing for us, although common enough in many other parts of the country. The snow did stick, but it stayed very wet. Occasionally it turned from snow to rain, just to keep us guessing. The roads in our area never really got bad.

Then it started to rain in earnest. If you haven't heard about the rain in Washington, you probably aren't watching any news. We set all sorts of records. Record flood levels, record rain fall in 24 hours, etc. Our office parking lot sprouted a couple of large ponds, one large enough to really get wet in if you tried. I took some pictures to document the occasion. (You might be able to guess that we were a little short on parking yesterday.)


Some employees couldn't make it to work because of closed roads. One employee raced home early afternoon yesterday when we heard that they were going to be closing I-5 (the main freeway) between us and his home. He made it safely home before it closed, but he won't be able to come back to work for several days. There was 8 feet of water over the highway in places! (We are talking about a major, 4 lane highway!)

We don't have any real problems at my home, other than general sogginess of the ground, etc. However, one does have to be very careful about branches and trees being down in various places. There were very high winds in some places.