Midsummer Musings

The past couple of weeks have been a time of adjustment and change...

I love my new "job" as a housing consultant. Since technically I am self-employed, it's hard to call it that. But in fact I am working for another consultant. I am probably working about 35 hours a week, and also am taking an online real estate licensing course for Washington State. Yes, I know...I never thought I would need a real estate license again, either. If I had ever dreamed I would be where I am today, or that the kind of work I am doing is even possible, I would never have let my license lapse in the first place (I was licensed to sell real estate from 1999-2002, and worked at Windermere Real Estate in West Seattle).

The person I work for, Linda Lane, has two other people also working for her. Right now I am working on relocation studies for individual families required to move due to circumstances out of their control. One situation is the building of the third runway at SeaTac airport. Many of the communities required to move are mobile home parks. Many will be able to move into stick-built homes in the general area, or other manufactures homes in other areas (such as Auburn). We also are representing the City of Newcastle in a road widening project (Coal Creek Parkway). We interact with all of the land owners affected and handle the purchase contracts for full or prtial acquisition of certain pieces of property. A few families are losing all of their land to the road widening project. In these cases we are also contracted to assist them in relocating. I am doing a lot of field research - both to figure out what the person's "benefit" is, that is, the amount of money they should get, often calculated by the difference in the appraised value of their property and what it costs to find a similar property in the area. Market prices are often above appraised values, so some people are walking away with hefty checks. We also help locate a new home for them if they would like us to - altho some choose their own real estate agent to work with.

We fostered an Italian greyhound named Lily for a week - but I requested she be moved to another foster home because she was not used to cats. She was so scared of Cheerio and Havana that she spent most of her time on our bed. She was a happy little dog, otherwise, very eager to please (and very food motivated). She was rescued from the Oregon Humane Society where the owner of 6 years turned in Lily and her brother Jack because she said in her notes that she was not home enough. The rescue group in Portland tried to get them at the beginning of June, but instead OHS allowed Lily and Jack to be adopted by a young couple with two small children living in an apartment. They were returned to the shelter three weeks later (so sad! IGs are SO sensitive, and shelters are loud nosiy places to be!!). This time OHS let the rescue group have them and since there were not any foster homes in Oregon, they were brought to Puget Sound. I took Lily - and she and Sophia got along great after the first couple of days (Sophia even tried to comfort Lily by going and sleeping with her, their bottoms touching). Jack was sent to another foster home in Gig Harbor. Often breaking up sibliings like this allows the submissive one a chance to flourish - and that would be Lily. Her and Sophia took very little time to make friends and everything would have been great if it were not for the felines in our household. I thought it best Lily went to another foster home although I knew another change would be hard on her. I felt staying in a house with cats would be harder! I know Lily will shine and blossom and find a really great home! I'll keep tabs on her thru my work with the rescue group.

Continued 7/19/06
It's street fair season...and that means one thing. ELEPHANT EARS. Steve and I went to West Fest (the annual street festival in West Seattle) Saturday morning and ate ears for breakfast. We left the dogs at home since two are too difficult to handle, especially one that is not used to crowds (Lily). Lily was picked up Saturday afternoon. So we went back on Sunday morning with Sophia because our favorite pet store, Next To Nature, had tables out in front of the store as part of the street fair and they had the right size of rain jacket for Sophia but in red (she already has a yellow one). One can't have too many rain jackets, especially in the Pacific Northwest. Steve had buried the jacket at the bottom of the box - but someone else had found it and made off with it. But I found the most adorable handmade turtleneck sweater for her - it's burgundy and has butterflies and flowers crocheted on the neck, and it's long and covers her whole behind. It's tres chic and with holes for all 4 legs a little hard to get on her (she is a stubborn teenager you know), but once on it covers her whole tummy and will keep her quite warm.

Making Home Habitable
I was touring a bunch of trailer parks in Auburn late last week wtih my boss, looking for double-wide mobile homes for sale for a client she is working with. I noticed so many of them had air conditioners! I grew up in a single-wide mobile home out in the woods, I know how hot it can get (altho trees provide nice shade). Now this may sound snooty but it's my blog and I don't care - if a bunch of trailer trash people get to have air conditioners, then I see no reason why I can't! I called up Steve and said you know Steve, since you are home all day right now, we should get some air conditioners so your brain doesn't fry. He said no, I'll be ok. I said hey! I am working at home some of the time now, too, and I won't be able to concentrate if it's 90 degrees out! So he checked them out and bought two at Home Depot - and they weren't even that expensive! We bought a small one for the bedroom (we have a lot of trouble sleeping when it is too hot), and a larger one for the livingroom - it even has a small remote control! Ok, so I didn't get one for the office...I'll use fans to blow in cold air from the other parts of the house. We used them only a little bit over the weekend, but THIS weekend is predicted to be 90 degrees out so you can bet we're going to have those babies humming!

Other improvements around the house include another upgrade to our guest room. It's current nickname is "The Sun Studio" since we got rid of the bed in there and I have it all set up for yoga and exercise ball and band work. It's sweet to have all that open floor space. Then my friend Katie asked me if the offer to put up her folks was still standing...I said sure except for one problem, no bed! So we made a deal - her folks are buying the Aerobed I wanted to get for the guest room (just at a later time). They'll have someplace real comfortable to sleep (so much better than the broken down full size bed we had in there), and it will still be there in October, when Katie's mom is going to visit again after the birth of Katie's first baby. And we'll have it for anyone else who comes to visit. We bought sheets that match the pale blue feather duvet and pillow shams I purchased last year, and we removed the patterned rug (which really threw this room off) and replaced it with a neat blue solid carpet. The bright yellow 70s dresser has been repainted (sorry mom...) an amazing blue "crackle", pale blue to match the bedding with dark blue crack lines throughout. It looks fabulous - pictures coming soon!

Big doings planned
This weekend is the big P-Patch Trust family picnic - at my house! Everyone on the Board lives in Seattle, but no one has a yard like ours. I included family and small dogs in the invite so it should be a lot of fun! And the food - I am anticipating amazing stuff! Everyone is a gardener so no doubt there will be an amazing array of fresh veggie and fruit dishes! Steve is planning a cast iron dutch oven dish for the potluck. This is the first purely social gathering of the Board of Directors since I joined. We otherwise meet once a month, have conference calls (thanks to my AccessLine, www.accessline.com), and have a planning "advance" in January. (It's what other companies would call a retreat - we just prefer to be more forward thinking.)

There is an Italian Greyhoud Midsummer Picnic in Lacey on the 29th, so we took it as an opportunity to try another camping trip, this time at Millersylvania State Park, about 15 miles south of Olympia. We've camped overnight only one night so far this year (remember the 4th of July holiday weekend and the killer mosquitoes?? yeah...) Sophia acts sort of bizarre ever since whenever she senses or hears a bug around her, she whips around and tries to catch it in her mouth. She's a little afraid of the whole camping thing right now. So we thought we better get out camping again before Labor Day weekend (when we are scheduled for a resort spot on Moses Lake). We go down Friday afternoon, go to the iggy playdate/picnic on Saturday, and then return home on Sunday. It should be a nice, easy, relaxing trip.

We threw together an impromptu weekend to San Francisco upon hearing of Steve's Great Aunt Lil's 90th birthday celebration in Pacifica, CA (just south of SF). It's one of those things - we just had to be there. We've been married almost 9 years and have not once visited his mom's family in CA, despite the warm correspondence between us over the years. I was going to ask my friend Tracy to housesit, but Steve suggested we drive down and take Sophia with! What fun! So we are taking a "leisurely" drive down and will go along the Oregon coast and through California's Redwood Forest (someplace I have never been!!). We booked dog-friendly lodgings for the whole trip. We'll overnight in Oregon one night, CA for two, and then we haul ass back on I-5 all day that Sunday. I am really looking forward to it! Oh, and we are taking a unique approach to our transportation. Steve joined FlexCar for free (something arranged through King County for unemployed job seekers), and for $50/day rental with FREE GAS we're driving a Honda Element. So based on 1,800 miles for the trip, which would cost us about $200 in gas, we're getting a larger vehicle for the same, and saving the MINI Cooper wear and tear in hot weather. There will be lots of room for the dog, our things, and a cooler full of food!

Well, that's it for now. I need to head home and take Sophia for a walk, and go to a Board meeting tonight (Sophia is going with...) I will put up pictures of the guest room as soon as it's done!