Chicken and Sponge

Spring?

A couple of weeks ago, here in our area of Dallas Oregon, it looked as if winter was really going to try and settle in. My past experiences in Alaska was telling me to hunker down. But then realizing where we are, I knew that what we were getting was all there was and there wasn't going to be anymore. Now I look out the window and the usual rain and very seldom sunbreaks are all I can see. One huge difference is the temperature has risen about 5 - 10 degrees. We are now starting to get fluctuations in the temp between day and night too. With all those great observations(I'm being sarcastic), I came to the conclusion that spring is right around the corner for us. It has to be since I have already started seeds indoors for my ongoing garden project. I'm sure by the time they are ready for transplant it will be perfect conditions. How do I know this? Because I'm the keeper of the garden. They will be ready when I say they are ready. My sister thinks we will have a late spring but I bet she won't turn down that fresh spinach when I offer it to her in a month or so. Maybe I'm just bored and out of my mind. Hell I know the latter is true but I can feel the weather changing rapidly. I know you are supposed to wait until the fat lady sings but I choose to start while she is warming up. The one beautiful thing about gardening, there is no right or wrong. Just follow your instincts and everything will bloom and grow to your bleeding hearts desire.

Lifestyle

I think my last post stated that I was making some lifestyle changes and that I would let you know how things were progressing. I realize that it has only been a week or so but I want to share the one thing that a lot of us battle every day.Weight. I told myself that at the beginning of the year I was going to get serious about this problem I've had my whole life. I'm so sick of the roller coaster that it turns me off to go to the fair. Now if it was Disneyland I might have a change of heart! So as the new year came upon us I started eating like a normal person again. I have quit gorging on everything as if there won't be anything left for months and have done well at portion sizes. Fruits and veggies have made a comeback and the fats have mostly disappeared. Bread has been downplayed but not completely gone. The only dairy I consume is a little creamer in coffee and some yogurt for breakfast. Hell that isn't completely true cause I have had some mayo. I haven't had any cooked eggs but I'm not totally cutting them out. I'm really trying to stay away from the cheese and butter. Damn do I love cheese and butter! Who doesn't like cheese! My wife is doing well too as she is eating medifast food. Her food is packaged which I think makes it easier to do. At least you don't have to think about taking to much as it is portioned for you. So after the last week, drum roll please, I have lost 2lbs and my wife doubled me. It didn't seem like anything but then I calculated it over a few weeks and wow! Do the math people! As long as I keep this change up my goal weight will get closer and closer. It gets me excited to think of the journey one takes to get where they want. No longer will I ride the coaster. Just the slow boat to success!

Resolutions?

Why is it that when the new year arrives everyone starts thinking of all the resolutions that they are going to try. I say try cause if you think about it, how many have you made that you threw out the door in less than a month. We all do it. I know that we all have good intentions and all but it is very hard to keep up with our wants in this very fast paced society. It always seems that we run out of time for doing our resolutions thus dropping the whole idea completely, whatever it may have been. The sad thing is that we probably don't manage our time very well and this creates the illusion that we don't have any time left in the day. When in all reality we have plenty of time and maybe no get up and go. I choose to believe the latter myself. I say this through much personal experience. Every year I say I'm going to do this and that and every year I end up dropping the ideas due to sheer laziness. This year is going to be much different for me though. I know most of you are chuckling at me right now but honestly, I am going to change my ways. Being a stay at home dad offers plenty of time for me to do the things I need to get done. I just need to use good clock management. I was a fair B-baller in my younger days and remember the term very well. The one and only reason that I know I will be successful is that I am going to change my lifestyle. This way I won't get all gung-ho and burn out after a short period of time. Every day will be productive in some way and in the big scheme of things it will all start changing for the better. No matter what it might be I am going to make sure that I am making a positive out of what I made negative in the past. So for now things are looking really good for my new found ways and I will let you know in the near future how they are holding up.

My New Room?

Recently Samantha has decided that she would like to sleep next to her mother again. I guess she is in love with having a bigger bed and room. So for now she has kicked me under the carpet(or should I say tile)and put me in her old room in her double bed. I really don't mind it but Vicki is the one who has to suffer through the tv on all night and sometimes unwanted volume. Actually it is kind of cool thinking about having my own mancave. Maybe I will start setting it up to my desire. Who the hell am I trying to kid! Sam will take one look at the change and everything will go back to where she had it. That trait of autism has not changed at all. So I guess Sam has two rooms that she controls for the time being. We are thinking about painting the house in the near future. Do I need to figure out a color scheme for my new room? Are you kidding! Vicki and Miranda(our oldest)will not give me that luxury. Neither one of them think I have a lick of sense when it comes to colors or anything that might be related to design. I on the other hand think differently. If it was up to me we would paint everything in plaid. It would be like living inside a field and stream flannel shirt. Pretty cool huh! According to my wife,not! So for now my new room will remain just as Sam has left it and hopefully she will get tired of her new domain and move back to her old room.

Back to Blogging

It's been over a year since I worked on this site and there have been many changes in the meantime. First, I have to express some disappointment in Typepad, the host of this site. When I first signed up, I had a professional blog. I was able to customize the look of the site, but honestly, the free Typepad had so many design choices, that if I hadn't had delusions of quick grandeur and income, I would have gone the free route. After a year and a half, I'd made approximately $21 with my professional blog. I didn't want to renew the pro contract for obvious reasons. When I decided to start blogging again, I was sorely disappointed by the complete lack of design choice.

I quit blogging after I had to find a real job. I tried for about six months. I would come home, eat dinner and then write for a couple hours before going to bed. I was unhappy with what I produced, but I was also unhappy with how little I produced. I was writing a novel, The Woman Who Fell Off the Edge of the World, and it looked like I would never finish it. I was stretched too thin in all ways but the corporeal body. To my disappointment.

So I quit. I said good-bye and quit blogging. And I finished the novel, if one actually ever truly finishes such a project. I submitted it to a writers' service and it was accepted for their full-service service. It has been submitted to 52 literary agents, and one big shot agent (truly, he is) has asked for the whole manuscript. Which I sent. And so far, that's the end of that story. Many rejections. Many I'm still waiting to hear from and in the meantime, I try to not feel like a big loser.

That's difficult.

I've discovered 2 things recently. I feel like crap when I don't exercise and I feel like crap when I don't write. And writing ISPs (individual service plans-- in the DD community) just does't cut it.

I don't know if blogging is the answer, but it may be the answer to a different question.

So this is a column that currently says just about nothing.

Let's catch up on the family:

Mick and I no longer have the Wheelwatch, our only connection to Pelican, Alaska is our friendship with our old neighbor and that friendship has endured. As it became obvious the Pelican was not only on the brink of financial ruin, but in its death throes, we had a choice to make. Here (Oregon) or there. We chose the place closer to family and where our kids could get the education and services that they need. No regrets there. No, the only regrets are the amount of money we put into the bar, just so it can now literally rot as no one takes care of it. Of course, the other regret is that we waited too long to try to sell it. But that's done and over.

I now work as a house manager for a non-profit agency who serves the needs of the developmentally disabled community. It's an extremely challenging job that leaves me exhausted, frustrated, and sometimes doubled-up with laughter. But for the sake of confidentiality and the dignity of others (I don't worry about my own dignity), I will leave it at that.

Mick, too, worked in this field, different agency, different position, but a year and a half ago Mick suffered conjective heart failure and has joined the pace-maker-dependent community. He's now a stay-at-home dad/ househusband. If this change, unwelcome though it was, hadn't happened, it would have been very difficult to accept my new position.

Mick is now the one who gets Sam off to school, chauffeurs Miranda (now 16 who is probably going to have to be forced to get her driver's license), makes me breakfast, usually makes me dinner (oh, the bitter disappointment when it isn't waiting for me), takes care of our growing menagerie of pets (currently an English bulldog, French bulldog, 2 exotic shorthair cats, three regular cats, and a miniature pig named Buffy whom I feel sorry for and have been letting sleep in the house) and struggles to keep up with laundry. Since Mick doesn't like to fold laundry and sometimes forgets about it mi-way through, I still struggle with laundry, too. Not to mention mending. Sam's picking obsession continues, but has lessened.

Mick and Miranda are up in Snohomish, Washington, along with friend Jon, working on the little house I inherited this summer. That is a tale all its own to be told another time. So Sam (now 15) and I sit at home. She mercifully has a head cold and hasn't been asking to go everywhere. I have some sort of internal, abdominal mystery going on. I no longer have a gallbladder, but it feels like I do. Phantom pain, like with an amputation...?

Dallas, Oregon is socked in with fog. I've managed to keep our woodstove going. An now I grow bored. So for now, I will say so long and I''ll be back--perhaps once a week.

Finally?

I think my wife has finally finished her novel. I know for a fact that she has submitted a couple dozen submissions because I mailed them for her. Now it is just a waiting game for a publisher to want to publish it. She will continue to submit her manuscript until that happens which I think won't be that long. I'm very excited for her.

This past weekend we made another trip to work on the house in Wa. We managed to get alot of primer put on ceilings and most walls. Old flooring got ripped up and now ready for new underlayment. One more weekend visit and we should be ready to start with the finish painting. I'll keep you posted on progress.

Miranda is in her last week of cross country running. This saturday is her district meet. She ran varsity all year and now has developed an injury that will prevent her from running varsity for districts. She is a little bummed but I keep reassuring her that it is not her fault for being injured. Doing her best is what is important and I think she is going way beyond the call of duty considering she is hurt. Most kids wouldn't even run.

Sam is still autistic and home with me this morning as she has developed a head cold. You wouldn't think she was sick with all her energy but that is not a guide to go by with her. She has been doing well in school this year and has suprised many staff that work with her. We are all very proud of her.

Well that is about it for our exciting lives. It always seems as if we aren't doing much and sometimes I feel that we should do more. But when I take a moment to reflect on the days progressions and what we are dealing with as a whole, I realize that our plates are overflowing and we are trying to gobble the whole thing at one sitting. Maybe we should go on a diet!

The other half

Weekend carpenter

I owe all my semi-pro carpenter skills to a friend that used to be my next door neighbor in Alaska. If I learned anything from Jon I learned that "paint and putty covers a multitude of sins". And with my abilities that is the gospel truth.

I have been trying to go to Snohomish Wa. every weekend that is possible. We inherited Vick's aunts place and are in the process of renovating it so we can rent it out. There was minimal structural damage but Gladys was a heavy smoker and if I was smart I would have taken stock out in Mr. Clean! This weekend I just got done washing the whole house for the second time. We are now ready for a primer coat.

Right now I'm in the process of tearing up the living room flooring so I can replace it. Once the underlayment is down we will cover it with a laminate called Allure. It is a vinyl laminate that is waterproof and we can put it down in the whole house including kitchen and bathroom. As far as styles or colors go, that is Vick's department. She gives me the token input but in all reality she will have the final say in the decor scheme. Actually that is fine with me.

So if by chance you try to get ahold of us and we aren't around, you will have a pretty good clue of where we are. We will be busy faking that we are carpenters while we mix the putty in Snohomish Wa.

The other half

Big plans

This year when the growing season was approaching I had visions of growing enough crops to fill our freezer full for the winter. Being the professional amature gardener that I am, my ideas are always bigger than my capabilities. I did manage to get one crop into the freezer. My broccoli was a huge hit and I put 12 gallon ziplocks of broccoli in the freezer. I think I gave my sister about the same for her freezer too. That isn't counting all the fresh broccoli we got to munch on during the growing season. If I would of been a little more on top of it I would of had more but it got away from me and bolted. Oh well, it made the bees happy. After all , they need to eat too.

Another crop that was successful was my cabbage. I harvested 11 heads and they all weighed in at 10 pounds or more. Once again my sister was the recipient of some and we ate cooked, slawed and fried cabbage for a couple of months. I'm sure glad cabbage will last a long time in the fridge. It gave us many a side dish.

This year I tried brussle sprouts and they grew fairly well but not as good as the broccoli. I got a few meals out of them but that was about it. Miranda cooked some for me one night and boy were they delicious. She poured maple syrup over them after they had been sauteed. Talk about melt in your mouth.

I had grown some cauliflower in the past but this year was a total flop. For some reason it bolted on me right away and the weather was perfect for growing them. Maybe I didn't water them properly or something. Anyway it was a bust.

My bush beans grew great but I didn't plant enough of them. Next year I will compensate for that.

I tried sweet spuds for the first time and and they never matured big enough. We ate what was there but it wasn't much.

Usually my tomato crop is overflowing and we end up freezing a ton. This year I started them to late and now I am paying the price. A few are ripening but not nearly enough. Looks bad for them as this is October already.

My pepper plants always give me high yields. This year was no different. I need to send a box of them off to my friend in Alaska. This year I want to pickle some. That is a good way to keep them for extended periods of time. The corn I planted was also late like the tomatos. It won't get full grown and I am contemplating picking them for baby corn. Bigger than the baby corn in the can but just as tasty. I might try pickling some with the peppers. I bet that would be good.

So you can see that my big dreams this year did not pan out. Most every year my dreams don't pan out. That doesn't mean I won't keep dreamin' though. After all, what would I do if everything went perfect. I would have to quit gardening and that is something that I get great pleasure out of doing. So as long as I am dreaming, my garden will continue to be a work in satisfying progress.

The other half

Know when to give up

A couple of months ago we added another reciever to our directv account so Sam could have her own in her bedroom. We figured that this would allieviate her from using our bedroom as her own little teenager cave. Not surprising she still uses our room but not quite as much as she used to. I guess we only change sheets once per day now instead of multiple times. We also don't have as many dirty dishes laying around in our room but now I have to retrieve them from her room instead. All in all I would say that nothing really changed except for an increase in our tv bill. After all, isn't that the american way!

Last night Vick informed me that one of her friends from work was coming over for a social visit. What the hell! Social visit! Come on and tell it like it is. Cocktails for the girls! Being an ex-bar owner I am used to being around people having drinks and listening to them puke everything out of their mouth that they didn't want anybody to hear. Actually I rather enjoy it. Makes me want to start drinking myself. Not! If anything, I will fake it and just nod my head or jump in the conversation if the right topic warrants it. I'm not figuring on the latter as there won't be any sports talk or fishing or anything of the sorts. That is ok though. I have the last two division series games left to watch tonight so I will be plenty occupied. I'm glad Vick has some new found friends to come over and do the girl thing. I certainly can't fill those shoes. Miranda does a great job but she is expected to fill the void in my eyes. Takes the pressure off of me.

So as the girls get deeper into conversation tonight and the ugly truths start to emerge, I think I will tiptoe out of the room and find a spot where I can watch the games in peace. After all, what are all those tv recievers for if not to watch baseball.

The other half

Making a comeback

Even though I'm not the real author of this blog, I have permission from her to post a guest appearance. Hell if she said no i couldn't, I would just quit making her dinner and having her glass of wine ready for her. Anyone that knows me knows that is a big fat lie! I guess I could threaten. It has been a long layoff for this blog but I'm pretty sure Vicki is going to be at the helm again soon. In the meantime you can read my bullshit and get the true skinny!

Samantha, our autistic one, is still autistic and keeping us on our toes constantly. Not only us but anyone that watches her. For instance, my sister babysat for us last weekend. Sam had been in our bedroom while Cheryl was reading on the couch in the living room. After about 5 minutes Cheryl went to check on Sam in fear of something being wrong. Something was wrong alright! The bedroom window was wide open and no Sam in the room. In a panic and being pissed that she lost her, Cheryl jumped in her car to go look for Sam. See Sam has crawled out our window before and tried or succeeded in escaping. So you can feel Cheryl's panic. By the time Cheryl got to the end of the road she calmed and took a minute to reflect on the whole situation. Maybe she should check the whole property before driving around the neighborhood to no avail. So she turned around to look for Sam hiding somewhere on our acre. Walking back into the bedroom Cheryl still didn't see Sam but for some reason looked out the opened window and low and behold there she was. Big grin on her face and twirling around in our hottub. One of those shit-eating grins that lets you know that she knows you were in a panic. Don't tell me that Sam isn't aware of what is going on. So many people think that autistic people don't understand the everyday way of life but if you were to ask Sam what she thinks, I'm sure you would get a complete answer in her own words.

So if you would like Vicki to start blogging sooner rather than later again, send a message and with a little encouragement I'm sure she will oblige us with her witty intuition.

The other half