Service with a capital S

i just have to give a shout out to the good people at 1800contacts. every single time i call to order they are fast, extremely helpful and not frustrating. they have what seems to be good equipment and databases because it doesn't take them 5 mins to bring up the 10th screen that has the one piece of information you need. i've never spent more than 30 seconds waiting for someone to pickup and they all seem college educated, meaning I don't have to constantly repeat myself of dumb down my language in order to get some understanding. thank you 1800contacts. you gave me a few minutes back instead of sucking my life away like the rest of the customer "service" departments in the world (i may or may not be talking about bofa, qwest and every health insurance provider in the country)

my feelings on "krab"

first i totally feel the pain of the fish who's previously tasty flesh is then smashed and filled with food coloring and then given the embarrassing name Krab.

but it is kinda cool that no one can say the word "Krab" without using hand gestures.

i once wanted some crab but when i walked up to the seafood case at my local Whole Foods and saw the outrageous price I thought, "Oh, well I guess I'll have to have Krab instead." so I marched up to the nearest seafood counter worker and asked where the "krab" was and oh, my god! the look on the man's face was that of confusion, hate, disgust and pity. I then realized what I had just done.

I asked for krab in the most anti krab place I could.

i kinda want to do it again...

you know how when you get a fresh crab from the truck on the side of the road on the coast and take it home and start cracking it open to get to the yummy meat out and then your fingers start stinging. it's like putting whiskey on an open wound.

Well i think we should only eat krab to save the poor workers from having to work all day with painfull crab juice on thier hands.

nice topic jordi

work

is swallowing me.....vacation can hurt you in the aftermath.

wish i was drinking wine on the porch with you both.

i am having a good hair day though. and my tanned skin makes me look like i come from the priviladged class.

the Bachelorette party

remeber this ladies? this always makes me happy.
the Bachelorette party

vacation

we're going to tropical Minnesota this weekend.
we'll be there 12 full days.
i need the break really bad. and how lovely to see my friends and family and spend all day every day with my secret agent loverman.

oh! my replacement camera just came. now i can illustrate this blog with photo's

you guys all visit soapboxgirls don't you?

the doing

hi citrus

i started my back"yard" landscaping project after you left. i must have dug 300 rocks out of that 10 x 8 space. can i just say that i hate the contractors who "landscaped" this poor little yard. i think what they did was take a big cement mixer added 1 part filthy dirt (not to be confused with soil: the life giving product of mother earth) .5 parts trash ( it is really exciting to pull pop cans, nails, bandaids and plastic bags out from under the rocks and dirt. it feels a little like wining a twisted raffle.) 2 parts small rocks, 2 parts big ass rocks. Then they mixed it together, poured it behind the retaining wall and covered the whole load of crap with bark.

but it's been fun to get up there sweating my ass of making something really lovely. we've built a smaller retaining wall in a half circle shape about 3/4 of the way back and have moved some of the existing bushes. i love it. almost homey. oh, and we tied that lovely smelling tobacco plant up so it stand tall and proud. it still smells great.

remember all of the outdoor projects we used to think up and spend all day or week working on? everything we did was for the experience of doing it. it never mattered what then end product was. we always felt completely pleased with our selves for taking on such impossible tasks and loved to recount them to anyone who would listen.

Here's some that I remember. You weren't part of all of them.Sometimes i had to hang out with the neighbor kids. What do you remember?

• living outside for a week. showering in a wheel barrel. peeing outside.
• cobble stone steps down a 20 ft incline to the creek.
• building a 100 ft frankenstein head only visible from an over head plane. we called the paper to get them to come and take and aerial shot. they didn't.
• building complicated forts that cover every bit of real estate on the lawn
• tying everything that had wheels together for the ultimate kid vehicle.

We didn't make it to the KEXP bbq (are you listening yet?) but here's a cool picture. i like it. this is the time we live in.
photo by: william anthony

Sewing

i bought a new sewing machine. it's really the first one i've ever had. i've used my mom's and friend' on and off though out the years, and then a couple years ago i bought one from my grandpa, but me and that machine could never figure out how to work together.

i'm extremely excited to contribute to A Month of Softies. The ladies here are so inspiring. I am going to try and do July's sock monkey theme. wish me luck.

dear readers

of which i have maybe 3 or 4. i've moved to this very fru-fru weblog neighborhood.
i think i will be very happy here and bring lots of new playmates for you.

i've been reading online journals and other types of internet publishing since 1999 and i have to say that it has actually contributed to my life in a positive way. i will probably go into more detail about this in the future, but for now i would just like to say that i am happy to finally be here and i look forward to hopefully putting something out into the world that will change something/one at least just a little.

you know what they say about the power of prayer....
i wonder if blogging is a similar phenomenon?

*this image is from the local library website. i thought it was pleasing to look at and appropriate.

the big S

this is the time of the year when it is time to get on with things. you know that it's summer, it's been kinda nice... then not. some sunny days, you may even spend all day indoors because you know there'll be other sunny days. july 1st always gets me a bit panicked about being wet, moody and wrapped in a flannel very soon, so I'd better stop anything that doesn't allow me to fully embrace Summer with a big S.

so this weekend i'll be in oregon camping on the beach with my family. i hope to build sand castles, run trails, drink whiskey and learn something new about everyone there.

we finally got those folding camping chairs that everyone has. the kind you get for $7 at the drug store or $25 at REI (which do you think i got?) i love them because they keep you off the ground. this staying out of the dirt thing took me a while to figure out. I thought, "what's the point in going camping if you don't get dirty?" but you know what, it's often moist and damp here in the NW and the dirt becomes mud even if just for the few hours before the sun dries it out. i am also a more active camper now that I am off the ground, I can just hop up and do something, instead of pointing and grunting when I want another marshmallow.

happy summer everyone.

oh, check out this photographer. awesome.
http://www.chromasia.com/iblog/

Currently listening: Freak Out By 311 Release date: By 12 November, 1992

12:40

Sorry dear readers. I've been so tired. How does this happen. I hope to be myself again. Just came from Jadrea's b-day. What a lovely lady. I love going somewhere where everyone knows my name. To the guy who did a terrible dye job on my hair....i hope you take a swig from an expired jug of milk and spit it all over your new leather jacket. night night.

Currently listening: Let It Be By Replacements Release date: By 03 September, 2002