Spring

Spring in Oregon, always coming a bit later than desired.

Remodel updates

Here are some before and after floor pictures, an updated bathroom and bedroom. We still have more to do of course!

Memory Lane

Today, as I was filling out a job application and needed to know my CA license number, I took a little walk through my old blog posts and pictures. I also spent an hour yesterday talking with a friend from Davis and oh how I miss some things about it! I saw pictures of us moving in, camping trips, sunny days, bike paths, wine tasting, barbecues, wii playing and dear, dear friends. Now of course I love being back home in my house with my family close, that is what broke my heart in California. But those 2 years there it turns out were a lot of fun and we met a lot of great people. I hope we get to visit soon, I only wish everyone we call a dear friend was still there to visit. The nature of graduate school is of course that you all find jobs and move on. Hugs to Davis, there will always be a special place in my heart for you.

TIMBERS!

The boys, being Bob, his brothers and his dad, went in together on 2 season tickets for the Portland Timbers (Soccer). Bob and I toured the stadium and took pictures from the seats. The first game is this weekend, but the first home game is a month away.
In the seats
(We were pretty excited)








View from Standing









View from seated

Trip to the Beach

I've had a terrible cold and one day I woke up feeling even worse and Bob decided we needed to drive to the beach. It was beautiful for a March day!

Remodel update

I apologize for not updating this sooner, but the truth is, I want you to come and see it for yourself, or help us finish it, but I understand not all of you are able to do so.

Washington DC

At the beginning of the month my local, professional chapter (AIA) sent me to DC for a leadership conference. Bob joined for a little research. I hadn't been to DC since I was a teenager and a lot has changed. The buildings at the capital all have funny entrances and additions for security reasons. Not that I got to much of the capital because my flight was a day late due to weather and the conference was in a basement of a huge hotel. None the less, I
met with a Senator and some staff one day and Bob and I walked the mall one night.













We started at the Lincoln Memorial,










Then on to FDR (and his dog)










And ended with the Jefferson Memorial. What impressive men. We also saw construction has begun on the Martin Luther King Junior Memorial.

Hawaii

A brief trip to the warm island seems like it was only a dream now. We joined my family for a couple days thanks to their generosity. This wasn't our first time so we mostly hung out and it was wonderful not to have a plan every day except eating and going to the beach. We took turns cooking, shopped at a farmers market, tried some new
fruit and even saw turtles. Bob and I rented bikes to get around for a day.


Bob and Cait









Bob and I rode our bikes here










And Here










Looking for turtles




















Sunrise looking at one of the volcanoes












Last Sunset

NYE

From swords to...










Our annual game













How else do you cut onions?










Goodbye bad things in 2010


For the past 5 years or so a group of us have been spending the New Year holiday in Sunriver. Snowshoeing, playing games, wii, eating, drinking and last year we added a new tradition of burning effigies. This year's list included budget problems, endless remodeling projects and lack of jobs. If only those things would disappear as quickly as they burned...
But as always it was a good time with great friends.

Downer Blog

My apologies for the blog being such a downer. I need to post on New Year's and what we lit on fire this year, our trip to Hawaii, Washington DC and an update on our upstairs. Hang in there folks, I'll get back into it. I may have over-committed (don't tell my husband I admitted it) to a few too many committees this year...

The Unexpected

Bob and I just had one of the hardest weeks ever. We received a call last Monday morning that one of our dear friends had lost their dad. He was 62, Bob had seen him 3 days earlier, it was very unexpected. Bob went out to be with his friend and family that first day. We had breakfast with them on day 3 and saw them briefly on day four to dogsit while they headed to California. We drove down on day 5 (leaving the dogs with my parents) and stopped along the way visiting Bob's family. The service was on day 6, Bob spoke and was a pall bearer. Day 7 we drove back home, hoping to never have an unexpected funeral to go to again.
I'm not saying any funeral or death is ever easy, I've lost my share of family members and watch others grieve to know that, but the shock of this one makes it different somehow.
My heart breaks for them almost hourly as I wonder how I would get through the next day if I was them. I cried so hard seeing our friend and his sister lay their hands on his casket.
The memorial is on his birthday at the end of the month and they expect over 200 people. I am so glad our friend has this many people to love and support him through this.
So now the shock will settle into grief.

Unemployment

I've been getting some questions lately, so here is my two cents ++... More positive posts about the new year to come later, first a rant.

First I am grateful it exists, but it is poorly run and staffed. Thank goodness you can file online and have direct deposit so I don't have to deal with those people or I might hurt someone. Also, getting a check with the Employment department printed all over it and taking it to a bank, gets you a look of pity and makes you feel like you did something wrong. I didn't do anything wrong, I stimulated the economy last year!

I think I have already blogged about my initial trip to the local office for my interview, math and reading test so I won't go back to that day. I received an email around Thanksgiving about qualifying for extra job search support and was told to contact a person. I called, I emailed and nothing was returned, so I posted a question to the department and heard back promptly. Each week to claim benefits I have to answer a series of questions and every now and then submit my work search history (3 jobs per week) Well what if there aren't 3 jobs a week to apply for was my question (Since I'd like to stay in my field or one similar to it). The response was that there are over 700 unemployed architects in Oregon and I should consider relocating. WHAT? I am on 3 committees - at the professional, city and neighborhood levels, I own a home, my spouse has a job, how could I possibly relocate and start all over and hope for more networking opportunities than what I have? I know people in 3 of the major firms in Salem! I don't know who to send my complaint to, but I am still fuming after this response over a week ago. Things may be bad in Oregon, but I'm sure there are more unemployed architects in the rest of the country. Morons.
And lastly, while again grateful the check is there, it is less than 50% my salary, but still more than a minimum wage job so I can see why it is better for me to take the check than someone else's job. Does that mean I'm lazy for not wanting a $10 an hour blue collar job? Does that mean I'm abusing the system? Or just still holding out hope that something in my profession, in my town will pop up...

Cards

Once again we made our cards so we didn't send out very many - I apologize if you didn't get one. But here is what they looked like for both our Christmas and our Hanukkah friends.

Extended Family Christmas

This is my mom's family, 4 generations of us! Only one cousin was missing.

Tree hunting and birthday

Just some pictures from getting our tree and of birthday dessert.

Thanksgiving

Here are some pictures from our Thanksgiving in Sunriver. Chuck and Shannon joined us for the end of the weekend for some snowshoeing.Have I mentioned Lulu loves the snow?

9:45pm Tuesday Novemeber 30, 2010

My grandpa is now at peace. He left us just a few days after his 85th birthday. My mom called from her cell phone to tell me at 10:30pm Tuesday night and I knew it was probably the call. Even though we had been preparing for it, it still came as a surprise and it still hurt. I sat on the couch stunned for a moment, cried, hugged my husband and pets and then called my parents' house. I knew my mom had left to be with my grandma, but my dad was still home watching my niece. Bob, Lulu, and I headed to the house to watch her so my dad could be with my mom. I didn't want her to be alone. I spent most of Tuesday with my mom. We ventured out of the house to pick up my grandma and went to Cait's music program, which was cute and cheering - just what we needed. After wards the family came over to my parents' for dinner. It is occasions like these that make you happy your mom still buys frozen costco food to feed the masses. It was nice to see my cousins and uncles, but I wish it had been for happier reasons. I learned a lot in that one day though: Donating your body to science can be complicated and take a while, my grandpa's mom's name was Velvie, he was born in Kansas and he was the youngest of 12 kids. So rest well Grandpa, we'll miss you, we love you, and we'll take good care of Grandma.

Thanksgiving

This is Bob's favorite holiday and becoming one of mine as well. I take care of the food planning for 6 of us, for 5 days - and I love it! Bob and I do most of the cooking as well. This year the weather seems to be fighting us for traveling to our usual place, but we'll get there, just slowly.
I am very thankful for some things despite my lack of employment.
I'm thankful...
for my supportive spouse
for friends and family
for my house
for having great former co-workers
for my computer that keeps chugging after 8 years
for my pets
for my garden
for my cute little car
for unemployment checks
for internet job searching
for good health.

Davis

We returned from Davis last night. I even made it without crying, but knowing that it will most likely be our last trip down there was hard. Our trip to Ashland this summer was nearly perfect, but we needed to see a few more people and say goodbye to some dear friends one more time before they head off on their next adventures (Ecuador and Austria). The weather was amazing, the food yummy and the friends were awesome. From transporting us around to feeding us to great conversations and hugs goodbye, they were wonderful. Maybe it was easier to leave because I know that wherever they end up, be it spread out in the US or on 3 continents, we'll see each other again one day. But until then, thank goodness for the internet!

Fall

Fall in Oregon means...
beautiful colors












and this year it meant hunting for tasty mushrooms in the woods















and cider bottling.

Cozy Office

Bob and I are currently working in the same 12 x 12 room, our backs to each other. The french doors are closed keeping the rest of the house outside, the dog is on the rug behind me and the sun is pouring in the window. The buzz of our computer fans compete only with our keyboard tappings. He writes his dissertation while I simply surf for work. It was almost a picture perfect office until I mentioned that part.
I am grateful for spending time at home with my husband or with my nieces, in-laws and parents. I keep thinking about why I am unemployed, what the bigger picture is. Is it so I am compassionate for the less fortunate, is it to rely on something bigger to provide for me, is it humbling (yes, yes and yes) is it to discover some new potential (I hope), or is it something big in life will change and I will need this time (ie. a death or injury in the family is what I fear). then again, maybe I'm reading too much into this and it is just my turn.

I believe...

...only 60% of Americans vote and of that I think only 30% vote regularly and the other 30% are easily persuaded people that are upset (2008 democrats, 2010 tea partiers). Why doesn't everyone vote?
...health care is a human right, Pregnancy is NOT a pre-existing condition.
...the FDA and EPA need to have stricter standards.
...the wealthy should be taxed more, the middle class should be lowered.
...Clinton got us in trouble almost as much as Bush, but no one noticed because the economy was strong.
...the rest of the world is laughing at us because we can't fix our problems, yet we try to fix others.
...the next two years could be bad, but it is 2012 that really worries me.

Been a while

Sorry it has been a while, but here are a few updates.
Still looking for work, but staying busy most of the time.
Attic work is slow. I've done some painting with the help of my mother in law, Bob has put up lights, and we might get to the backerboard in the shower tonight.
I've been volunteering with the Kitzhaber and Schrader campaigns and calling voters is hard. 50 my first day and then 38 today.
Went to a class with my sister and dad last weekend about land management, garden pests, composting toilets and trees and much was learned.
I might be my professional board's (AIA) president elect next year. I've been secretary the last two.
I'm enjoying Pilates on Tuesday and Thursdays and hope to swim with Cait on Monday's.
This week I'm looking forward to a lecture Thursday about whales and critter cams that are attached to them and a tour of the State Hospital on Friday.