Avoiding pinkness

In an effort to avoid pinkification (and take a break from blogging), I ran away and joined the circus. No, actually my husband's family had a big family reunion on the coast of Oregon - a place we had never been. It was a lot of fun and a nice get away to avoid over pinkification. I didn't mean to take a break from blogging but I had some technical issues as well.

It worked in the sense that we were off line and avoiding pink. But it was not without its ups and downs.

First I was very efficient and packed two empty reusable water bottles. And I left the better one one the plane. Second, I left the one of a kind charger for my tablet in the hotel in Portland where we were spending the first and last nights. By the end of our second day, my feet were hurting from RA so much I had to stay off them more for the rest of the trip. And our spare water bottle appeared to have sprung a leak.

It was a great time catching up with relatives and enjoying the Oregon coast. We even saw seals, sea lions, and whales. We did not see many signs of pink. To be fair we were in a small town and avoided the areas with chain stores. It was only when we ventured near them, were we assaulted by pink. Then on our last night, Sunday, we watched the Patriots destroy the Chiefs while wearing pink gloves, pink shoes, pink socks, pink towels, pink ribbons on their helmets, etc. I am not sure if the pink weakened the Chiefs but we were happy to see the Patriots win.

While watching the game, my husband suggested that instead of manufacturing all that pink crap (particularly if in some factory overseas), that all NFL players should donate 1 day's pay to breast cancer research instead. 32 teams times 53 players = 1696. Average salary is $1.9 million or a total of $3,222,400,000. So one hour's salary would be $368,864 or a day's salary would be $8,852,747. A tidy sum indeed. Why don't they just donate that directly and we can skip all that pink?

But I digress. We did successfully avoid pink by avoiding chain stores and chain restaurants. We also didn't watch a lot of television.

The views were from our windows at the Elizabeth Street Inn, Newport, OR. It was peaceful and relaxing.

Back to reality

While we are back from vacation, I am trying to stretch out the relaxed feeling for a few more days - until I go back to work Tuesday morning.

What is reality?

• Getting on top of my list of doctor appointments.
• Refilling prescriptions needed
• Return library books
• Catching up with friends
• Laundry
• Grocery store
• Unpacking
• Take care of outstanding volunteer work for two organizations.
• Making the cat understand we did not leave him FOREVER and are BACK for a long time.
• Taking the car for a very overdue oil change (don't tell my husband) 
• Planning for a visit from college friends from out of town.
• Thinking about upcoming medical adventures (yuck)
• Planning for my upcoming fall schedule of craft shows
• Making all my items to sell at the craft fairs
• Planning for our next trip out of town (family vacation)

Never mind taking care of my husband and my cat....

Its starting to come together. I am ignoring the weeds in the garden for now as well.

Sigh. I like vacation better than reality.

Back from our mini vacation

We had a great time. We stayed at a little beach front hotel on Cape Cod. The weather wasn't perfect but we enjoyed ourselves.  However my back is now giving me lots of pain so I will take it easy for a few days to see if it recovers.

Tomorrow I will go to the wake for a friend who just died from breast cancer. I had hoped to go visit her instead. I knew she wasn't well and under hospice care. She had been stage IV since January 2013 but treatment didn't seem to slow the cancer down. It will be very sad. She was only 55 and was first diagnosed about the same time is me.

Cancer really sucks sometimes.

The Best Laid Plans

The best plans have a way of falling flat and causing anxiety and indecision. Today is our anniversary and we had planned a few days on the Cape to celebrate. My husband took yesterday off from work and I planned to work half a day, go to a doctor appointment and the hit the road around 3 to beat the worst of rush hour traffic. Well that didn't exactly work out.

My doctor wanted both blood work and an x-ray, of course. The blood lab was standing room only so I headed to x-ray which was very quick. The blood lab was standing room only still so I waited close to half an hour, when it usually is a five to ten minute deal. Finally I escaped and we got on the road after four which means traffic and the it started to rain as well. We arrived after six, checked in and got the notice that a lost key is a $50 fee.

Three trips to the car in the rain and we are missing a key. I put a leaky water bottle in a bag on the bed which manages to leak all through my bag -my knitting is wet, my pill box was drowned so I might be short a few pills for a day or two (but not the important ones) and the water soaked through the bedding into the mattress..... and its raining sideways so our ocean view is tempered by sheets of rain pouring down. The rain should stop shortly and we will proceed with our day.

One additional thing from yesterday is I spoke to my friend N who I blogged about last week,  B is home on hospice and not doing well at all. We plan to visit on Sunday to see her one last time but it maybe too late. I want to see her and told her I would bring her a beer. She laughed and said she would let us know if she wanted a beer or a glass of wine. I said her choice.

At this point if she wants to open a beer with friends and take a sip or just wet her lips with it, does it really matter? She probably hasn't had a beer in a while and no one has offered her one because she's on hospice and is clearly dying.... but hell if it was me, I would be very happy to have a glass of wine with friends if it was one of my last days on earth.

I just hope Sunday isn't too late. I will get a call if anything changes in the meantime... but of course the weather and cancer coordinate to mess up our plans for some time a way.

PS As always, a note to burglars we have a house sitter  in our absence.

I'm on a yarn crawl, I'm on a yarn crawl!

No I am not at home. My husband and the giant cat are home to guard the house so burglars forget it. They are also supposed to be repainting the upstairs bathroom.

I left Friday morning to visit my brother who lives in Rochester, NY. I have to drive 400 miles in each direction. When you get to Albany, after over 2 hours in the car, the GPS says "Take I 90 west for 200 miles, then take exit 45". That's very depressing. I don't use the GPS any more until I get off the highway. (Just don't tell my brother I don't know how to get to his new place from the highway without directions.)

So with anticipation of this fun drive, even if I refill the CD player, I have decided to make a few yarn store stops. I have picked out two to stop at on the way there, two for while I am there, and two the trip home. That will be six total which is plenty. I will probably buy too much yarn but it will be fun.

For those of you who don't know, I knit and crochet scarves, cowls, and headbands which I sell at craft fairs in November and December. This keeps me busy year round and gives me some extra spending money in time for the holidays.

I am getting away for a change. I have had a lot of stress and too much to do at home so I need some time away. I think it is relaxing because in addition to spending time with my brother, I have fun with my nieces and nephews and the two new kittens. I am screening my phone calls as well as ignoring my email.

I return home tomorrow night. With a big bag of yarn. And will see a newly painted bathroom I hope. Maybe we will even be able to pick up our new car - which is another cause of stress in itself.

Back to reality

While we are back from vacation, I am trying to stretch out the relaxed feeling for a few more days - until I go back to work Tuesday morning.

What is reality?

• Getting on top of my list of doctor appointments.
• Refilling prescriptions needed
• Return library books
• Catching up with friends
• Laundry
• Grocery store
• Unpacking
• Take care of outstanding volunteer work for two organizations.
• Making the cat understand we did not leave him FOREVER and are BACK for a long time.
• Taking the car for a very overdue oil change (don't tell my husband) 
• Planning for a visit from college friends from out of town.
• Thinking about upcoming medical adventures (yuck)
• Planning for my upcoming fall schedule of craft shows
• Making all my items to sell at the craft fairs
• Planning for our next trip out of town (family vacation)

Never mind taking care of my husband and my cat....

Its starting to come together. I am ignoring the weeds in the garden for now as well.

Sigh. I like vacation better than reality.

I'm on a yarn crawl, I'm on a yarn crawl!

No I am not at home. My husband and the giant cat are home to guard the house so burglars forget it. They are also supposed to be repainting the upstairs bathroom.

I left Friday morning to visit my brother who lives in Rochester, NY. I have to drive 400 miles in each direction. When you get to Albany, after over 2 hours in the car, the GPS says "Take I 90 west for 200 miles, then take exit 45". That's very depressing. I don't use the GPS any more until I get off the highway. (Just don't tell my brother I don't know how to get to his new place from the highway without directions.)

So with anticipation of this fun drive, even if I refill the CD player, I have decided to make a few yarn store stops. I have picked out two to stop at on the way there, two for while I am there, and two the trip home. That will be six total which is plenty. I will probably buy too much yarn but it will be fun.

For those of you who don't know, I knit and crochet scarves, cowls, and headbands which I sell at craft fairs in November and December. This keeps me busy year round and gives me some extra spending money in time for the holidays.

I am getting away for a change. I have had a lot of stress and too much to do at home so I need some time away. I think it is relaxing because in addition to spending time with my brother, I have fun with my nieces and nephews and the two new kittens. I am screening my phone calls as well as ignoring my email.

I return home tomorrow night. With a big bag of yarn. And will see a newly painted bathroom I hope. Maybe we will even be able to pick up our new car - which is another cause of stress in itself.

Avoiding pinkness

In an effort to avoid pinkification (and take a break from blogging), I ran away and joined the circus. No, actually my husband's family had a big family reunion on the coast of Oregon - a place we had never been. It was a lot of fun and a nice get away to avoid over pinkification. I didn't mean to take a break from blogging but I had some technical issues as well.

It worked in the sense that we were off line and avoiding pink. But it was not without its ups and downs.

First I was very efficient and packed two empty reusable water bottles. And I left the better one one the plane. Second, I left the one of a kind charger for my tablet in the hotel in Portland where we were spending the first and last nights. By the end of our second day, my feet were hurting from RA so much I had to stay off them more for the rest of the trip. And our spare water bottle appeared to have sprung a leak.

It was a great time catching up with relatives and enjoying the Oregon coast. We even saw seals, sea lions, and whales. We did not see many signs of pink. To be fair we were in a small town and avoided the areas with chain stores. It was only when we ventured near them, were we assaulted by pink. Then on our last night, Sunday, we watched the Patriots destroy the Chiefs while wearing pink gloves, pink shoes, pink socks, pink towels, pink ribbons on their helmets, etc. I am not sure if the pink weakened the Chiefs but we were happy to see the Patriots win.

While watching the game, my husband suggested that instead of manufacturing all that pink crap (particularly if in some factory overseas), that all NFL players should donate 1 day's pay to breast cancer research instead. 32 teams times 53 players = 1696. Average salary is $1.9 million or a total of $3,222,400,000. So one hour's salary would be $368,864 or a day's salary would be $8,852,747. A tidy sum indeed. Why don't they just donate that directly and we can skip all that pink?

But I digress. We did successfully avoid pink by avoiding chain stores and chain restaurants. We also didn't watch a lot of television.

The views were from our windows at the Elizabeth Street Inn, Newport, OR. It was peaceful and relaxing.

Back from our mini vacation

We had a great time. We stayed at a little beach front hotel on Cape Cod. The weather wasn't perfect but we enjoyed ourselves.  However my back is now giving me lots of pain so I will take it easy for a few days to see if it recovers.

Tomorrow I will go to the wake for a friend who just died from breast cancer. I had hoped to go visit her instead. I knew she wasn't well and under hospice care. She had been stage IV since January 2013 but treatment didn't seem to slow the cancer down. It will be very sad. She was only 55 and was first diagnosed about the same time is me.

Cancer really sucks sometimes.

The Best Laid Plans

The best plans have a way of falling flat and causing anxiety and indecision. Today is our anniversary and we had planned a few days on the Cape to celebrate. My husband took yesterday off from work and I planned to work half a day, go to a doctor appointment and the hit the road around 3 to beat the worst of rush hour traffic. Well that didn't exactly work out.

My doctor wanted both blood work and an x-ray, of course. The blood lab was standing room only so I headed to x-ray which was very quick. The blood lab was standing room only still so I waited close to half an hour, when it usually is a five to ten minute deal. Finally I escaped and we got on the road after four which means traffic and the it started to rain as well. We arrived after six, checked in and got the notice that a lost key is a $50 fee.

Three trips to the car in the rain and we are missing a key. I put a leaky water bottle in a bag on the bed which manages to leak all through my bag -my knitting is wet, my pill box was drowned so I might be short a few pills for a day or two (but not the important ones) and the water soaked through the bedding into the mattress..... and its raining sideways so our ocean view is tempered by sheets of rain pouring down. The rain should stop shortly and we will proceed with our day.

One additional thing from yesterday is I spoke to my friend N who I blogged about last week,  B is home on hospice and not doing well at all. We plan to visit on Sunday to see her one last time but it maybe too late. I want to see her and told her I would bring her a beer. She laughed and said she would let us know if she wanted a beer or a glass of wine. I said her choice.

At this point if she wants to open a beer with friends and take a sip or just wet her lips with it, does it really matter? She probably hasn't had a beer in a while and no one has offered her one because she's on hospice and is clearly dying.... but hell if it was me, I would be very happy to have a glass of wine with friends if it was one of my last days on earth.

I just hope Sunday isn't too late. I will get a call if anything changes in the meantime... but of course the weather and cancer coordinate to mess up our plans for some time a way.

PS As always, a note to burglars we have a house sitter  in our absence.