Some rambling and The Horror!

I have been suffering with congestion, headaches, sore throat and general malaise since January. At first I thought I had a cold, flu or some sort of weird jungle-froo froo sickness. But then as the weeks and months went on, I realised that I am most likely suffering from allergies. It's worth noting that Native Americans refer to this area as the "valley of sickness," and for good reason too. The Willamette Valley is a great place to grow things since rain gets trapped between the two mountain ranges enabling plants to grow and pollinate. Also, air gets trapped and circulates the "poisons" over and over. It's not a fun place to live if you have problems with pollen.

When I moved to San Diego, I was tested to see exactly what I was allergic to. Results showed a severe reaction to dust mites (hence my goal to remove all the old carpet from the house) and a few trees but they were So Cal trees so I'm not sure if there's anything here I'm allergic to. The test didn't indicate any real problems with pollen so I thought I'd be ok moving to The Valley of Sickness. OK yes, I had some mild allergies when I last lived in Oregon but I didn't really experience them until we "went to town" to buy groceries (we lived out in the mountains and only went to the Willamette Valley occasionally - those were exciting days). Funny thing is, in my little kid mind I had convinced myself that I was allergic to shopping carts. It made sense to me since every time I touched a shopping cart I got a sore throat and congestion. Oh yeah, I did have some problems in college but I was drunk a lot or staying up all night so obviously, my health wasn't really my first priority.

Digression aside, I'm fed up with feeling like crap all the time. I've taken numerous OTC meds for colds and allergies and nothing seems to really be working, not even the "special" Sudafed I brought with me when I moved from California (I think all the meth heads know what I'm talking about here).

The other day I noticed that since I stopped eating Cheerios and milk every morning, my congestion has decreased. So on a hunch I stopped eating our 50 calorie fudgesicle dessert (so yummy) and noticed again that I seemed to be better! I have decided to experiment and cut dairy from my diet (unless it's already cooked and in my food, like butter or chocolate hahaha!) and see what happens.

I'll be sad if I learn dairy is the big problem. But at least I'll be able to sleep through the night and I won't wake up with crusties around my nose or discover used tissues under the blankets.

So, I thought I'd put it in writing. 'Cause if I don't, I'll get weak and eat some cheese.

Oh my God, that means no pizza!!!

One more step towards responsible home ownership

It's safe to say we have let our back yard go. It hasn't been mowed since we moved in and is looking a bit wild. In this photo you can see how the composter's are almost buried in tall grass while clumps of funky grass threaten to take over. Believe it or not, there's also a patch of strawberries growing in this photo. After they're weeded, I'll plant the other strawberries (sitting on the deck). And once the yard is mowed, I'll finally be able to find a place for the poor raspberry plants. (If you're wondering about the rocks on the deck, the people who lived here last seemed to collect river and other assorted rocks. I've been collecting them for future landscaping we'd like to do some day.)

Anyway, after weeks of research (Apollo laughed at this when I read what I wrote because it's actually been months), I finally found a lawnmower that met all our needs for a great price at Sears.com. After I put the lawnmower in my shopping basket, I found a $5 promo code. $5 isn't a lot but it will buy a couple Lean Cuisines so it's worth it. Then I saw that the website automatically applied a $25 discount for shopping online! $30 is more than enough to fill my tank so I was definitely pleased with that. If I had walked in the store to buy the mower, I wouldn't have got that $30 off!

When I got ready to pay, I pulled out a gift certificate I bought from James for $130.00. I got lucky with this one because there was actually $173.00 on the card. James knew about the extra $43 but he didn't care, he just wanted the cold hard cash. So this brought my savings to $73.00. And because I bought the gift certificate about two months ago, it was as if I spent only $97. Yay! This means I got a $300 Craftsman for $227 with only $97 actually charged to my account.

Apollo is happy that it has a 700 Platinum Series Briggs & Stratton Engine, is power propelled with rear wheel drive and has a wash system. Oh and that it's black! You know, because that makes it extra manly. GRRR! And because, "It's black like me!" (He wanted me to add that.)

We can't mow the lawn yet because it's raining and we decided to leave it this way until after Easter, just in case our neighbor brings over his kids to find Easter eggs. Don't you think this is the perfect yard for Easter egg hunting? In fact...that's the reason we let the yard get all crazy! Yeah!

Miscellaney

The washer and dryer I bought back in November came in a week early and will be delivered tomorrow afternoon. This means that for the first time ever, every single piece of clothing, all linens and blankets will be clean AT ONE TIME. I can't wait! I've heard that I need to use special HE (High Efficiency) detergent, which I'm totally unprepared for but I'm sure that can be remedied. I'm not even sure if this is true or is just a marketing ploy.

Meanwhile, I just ate a whole quart sandwich bag of frozen blueberries. I eat them in lieu of other high calorie or fatty snacks. My stomach is already grumbling.

Today Aimee and I went to the local library to pick up a couple books. The drive to the library is always a trip down memory lane since we have to drive right by the tiny house we lived in during my first through third grades. Nearby is the big scary church we used to run by on the way home from school (not so big nor scary now) and the alley we walked down and magically found toys in the mud puddles (we honestly thought it was a mystery).

Anyway, we spent an hour or so at the library picking out our books and went up to the counter to check them out when we discovered that even though we live in the city, our neighborhood doesn't pay city taxes! We pay county taxes which means we have to pay out-of-city fees! There isn't a county library, so we're stuck paying either $7 a month at our city's library or $10 a month a neighboring library. Aimee paid the fee for one month, we're going to reevaluate later to see if we'll even use the library that much.

Erg, my stomach.

I forgot about the cold

I don't mind the rain, that's not a problem at all. But nobody warned me about the cold! (Or maybe they did and I was oblivious to it all.) And fog - there's a log of fog around here too. It will just take a little while to adjust to. And by little while, I mean the fall and winter of '08 - '09 and maybe 2010. The cats have stopped shedding and are busy growing their winter coats for the first time in their lives.

Yesterday Apollo and I drove to Joël's in Waterloo. It's a cute community not far from basic amenities. Rather than taking The Five (known as I-5 around here) we drove through several small towns like Sodaville and Brownsville via a shortcut recommended by our Garmin. Apollo was nervous while we drove the 25mph speed limit through those small towns. The kind of nervous that is accompanied with the sound of dueling banjo's in the background. Obviously we will not be taking that route again.

Well, I think I'll head on back to my place where we have a wood stove burning. Aimee's home is cold because she's a regular Oregonian now and is numb to it all. I, on the other hand, will probably take a while to acclimate and am freezing cold. You'll know when I'm acclimated because I'll stop complaining about it. Now, off to knit some wool socks that I suddenly have use for!

Settling in

Phew! We made it in to Oregon where it's cold and raining, just like everyone promised! The tree's welcomed us with a display a of beautiful yellow, orange and red leaves. I was stunned at their magnificence and kept talking about them to everyone. They've started to fall now and we're joining the neighbors in endless raking of leaves off our lawn and onto the street into large piles, since the city is going to start picking them up. This has yet to happen but nobody has given up hope and continue to add to the piles.

I'll be honest, both Apollo and I are homesick. Apollo more so since he can't just walk down the hall or street an hang with someone he knows. I didn't think I would miss apartment but sometimes I do a little. Just when I miss the camaraderie of people near by I remind myself of all the noise and lack of privacy. That usually does it. Just the same, I admit that I am a bit scared at night. It's strange being surrounded by darkness. Our streets don't have any lights which makes for a very dark night.

We also don't have any furniture other than a dining room table, a couple chairs and matching dresser and bed. I splurged and got a Sealy bed with a pillow top. It's a lot more comfortable than the air mattresses we spent our first two nights on but then again, anything would be more comfortable than rolling off cold air in the morning. I also bought a bed frame which we expect to be delivered Thursday or Friday.

That's it for now. I need to get back to the Main House and make sure the wood stove isn't out of control. Photos and more regular blogging to follow when we have broadband!

At least I smell yummy

I'm putting the finishing touches on my memo and just found chocolate smeared all over the side of my hand. At first I suspected it was cat poo, I know, don't ask me why. Well, except that Zoe is sleeping right next to me. But then I realized that the chocolate mess was much bigger than I thought. It's melting into cracks in my laptop! While investigating, I found a HUGE clump of chocolate that had melted into my shirt. *sigh* I have no idea where this much chocolate came from. I ate a chocolate chip cookie about half an hour ago but don't remember clumps of chocolate chips falling all over the place! ARGH! Well, I guess the damage is done.

Still, no reward for the wicked, even if that does mean washing up. Must get back to memo. My goal of finishing by 5pm has sadly not been met. :(

Bad Day indeed!

It's 10:40pm and I'm in the LA airport. I should be in the air right now but my flight scheduled for 9:10 was delayed to 11:49pm. I forgot to mention that we've been here since 5:20pm-ish. It's been a long day. At this point we'll get in to Eugene at 2:30am. Which is better than the alternative: sleeping in the airport overnight. *knock on wood*

The good news is that I was able to work via wireless from a sports bar at the terminal. So at least the entire day wasn't wasted!

In other news, I have two inflamed zits forming on my face. Yesss! I just heard that song "Bad Day" and thought of Faythe.