A Little More Rock n' Roll

Finally.  I've been running around trying to unpack, organize, take care of Tatum who hasn't been feeling so well, and get settled into this next (short) chapter of living with my parents for a month or two. 

Pant, pant, pant.

I asked my brother (who has been living in Oklahoma since August) what he thought of the place, and he said:

If Orange County is techno and hip hop, Oklahoma is a little more country and rock n' roll.

Great comparison.  And I have to say I'm enjoying a little more rock n' roll in my life.

When I walked to Walmart with Tatum in a stroller, four women stopped to oogle and fawn over her in the 10 minutes I spent in the store.  I hadn't realized in Seattle people hardly ever commented on her...it was almost like the stroller was invisible (especially in the mall on labor day weekend...yikes).

A neighbor came over with banana bread batter all over her clothes and asked to borrow a loaf pan.  I invited her in while I looked for one and she just chatted away and promised to bring us some bread before hurrying away with a "thank y'all!"  In the year and a half we lived in an apartment in Seattle no one ever borrowed anything...and I was too shy to ask to borrow anything myself.

Matt was in customer service workshops yesterday and said it was so refreshing that when a funny video clip was shown, people weren't too cool to laugh.  And I mean, really laugh loud.

So week one of Oklahoma living, and we're liking it a lot.  Its supposed to thunder and lightning today, which is awesome.  While Seattle may have had rain, I can count on one hand the times I heard thunder in nearly three years. I like me some weather.

Anyways, here's a couple pics of my Tater Tot...the camera has mostly been on the shelf this past week while we've been getting situated!

I am so blessed to have a husband who provides for me to be a stay at home mom.  Yesterday when she obviously wasn't feeling great, I could just sit in a rocking chair and hold her until she fell asleep, and then keep on holding her.  Last night Matt and I got our first real date night in 10 weeks, and I got to (tearfully) thank him for that. You don't get those moments back.

And so we're here.  Hokey Okies just rock n' rollin our baby, and loving it.

Hooray for Play!

Photo Credit Jonathon Isaac



I came across this article the other day in the New York Times about the importance of play.

At first I was really excited to see this! They said that the average kid spends over 7 1/2 HOURS staring at a screen! Going back to imaginative play that doesn't involve one-purpose-battery-operated toys or sitting in front of a screen? YES!

Then I realized how pathetic it was that we have to have a whole MOVEMENT to restore PLAY.

That just seems oxymoronic. Play is meant to be spontaneous, indulgent, creative! How sad that parents today don't want to deal with the mess of finger painting and building blocks and mud pies.

Maybe I have no right to say this, as technically I don't have any kids walking around and making a mess at the moment. But I think being a nanny for 4 years, some of those times being with the kids more of their waking hours than their parents were, lends me some credit. And being the nanny, you don't have the option to leave the mess until morning!

I started thinking about my childhood growing up, and how we used to play. Here's just a few of my memories:

Building forts. Lots and lots and lots of forts. In the garage, in the living room, in our bedrooms...we loved and lived in forts. Give us a sheet and some heavy books, or a big cardboard box and we were in heaven for hours. There were these big, colorful cardboard "bricks" we had and we could construct walls to keep out evil intruders. We even got to do sleepovers in them sometimes...which was beyond cool.

Dress up. Coming from parents who both majored in theater we had an ample supply of dress up clothes...and accessories to boot! When we were about 3, my best friend Chad and I would constantly have some sort of costume on. Mine usually involved a bridal veil and his always included a tutu and one sparkly glove -- Michael Jackson-style.

My brother, our neighbor across the street and I started a club. We met on our balcony, saved our quarters and bought some goldfish as mascots, decorated our bikes for the fourth of July parade, went caroling during Christmas, and developed a plan to save the world. I think I still have the outline somewhere...

We built huge marble shoot tracks that spanned from my brother's bunk bed to the door. I planted in my garden that was a whopping four square feet. We swam in our pool until our hair turned green. We had lots of crafty-toys like a mini potter's wheel (never made anything worthwhile but it was sure fun!), a paint-gyroscope thingy, Lincoln logs, legos, bead looms, chemistry sets, an Easy Bake oven and a homemade perfume mixer.

My mom would make play dough on the stove top, we played slip 'n' slide in the yard, I made mini schoolbooks for my dolls and taught them lessons, and my brother would do crazy gymnastics on a giant red bouncy ball.

It wasn't like we were a no-TV household. On the contrary, just about every night our whole family would watch something together. Its still one of our favorite things to do as a family, because we discuss whatever we're watching all the way through and afterwards (True Grit over Christmas provided a LOT of discussion!).

But I think the proportions were a lot different than they are today. We spent 7 1/2 hours playing instead of playing Nintendo or being on the computer or watching TV.

All that to say I'm glad I played a lot growing up. And I think its good to still play as an adult.

Last night I took Roy for a walk while it was snowing fast and thick. I skidded in my galoshes as he romped around, taking a running scoop of snow into his mouth that sent him into sprints of ecstasy...and dragged me along for the ride! We spun and ran and frolicked and for awhile I felt about 7 years old again.

So go play today. And let your kids play. And then teach them to clean up the mess, hah!



Folk 'n' Roll

Here's a brief (or not so brief) photo tour from last Thursday and Friday.

best friend who dropped everything to meet us at Souplantation

Nana and cousin Amanda with her boyfriend 

i love the craziness in this picture

a little more normal...but we're still a bit "off" (pun intended)

my brother. as only he is.

Corona Del Mar

my Daddy

and my Mama.

my bro and my and my faux bro

make new friends, but keep the old, one is silver and the other gold

Jamie...the Auntie to all...

Mark, creator of my parents' picture sign, made this one for my Dad!

Aunt Wendy's caption for this was the best: My parents get REALLY excited for Trader Joe's stuff!

Jamie's quick actions put our the sparks on my mom's girls...

to the laughter of all...

then it was family portrait time...

and extended family portrait time!

Jamie made the PERFECT marshmallows

a

Then J gave us an awesome folk 'n' roll concert

then he broke a string, got another guitar and the show continued on...

and then I took this cool pic.

The end!  I'm finishing up the pics from Heatherly's wedding so check back in for more like this:

We Finished No Spend Month! (Albeit a bit early..)

We finished!

Okay, so we actually finished on Wednesday, July 28th because then I was headed out of town and my husband was hosting his parents and we didn't want to have absolutely nothing in the cupboards...but overall we did pretty good!

From July 1 to July 28th we spent $192 on food. (the last post said we were at $193 but looking over the accounts I saw one of the Safeway charges was actually for batteries) We were fortunate enough to get our CSA box of veggies so we ate a LOT of greens this month!

I actually found out I can only make 4 payments per billing cycle so we've just been putting money in a savings account and when August 6th hits we will be able to pay off ALL...did you hear me? ALLL our credit card debt! 

HALLELUJAH!!!

To bring you up to speed on the semi-interesting things in my life, Thursday morning while flying to Orange County I sat next to an interesting young man on the plane ride.

He looked to be about 12 with that gawky gangly hands-are-too-big age, but then I looked closer and he had the attempts of a beard. On his lap he clutched a big, fresh Bible. The whole plane ride he didn't read it, just sat clutching it like a talisman against anything bad happening. Turns out he was headed to LA to look at a Bible college so he must have been older than 12, but I still wanted to get him a sippy cup and pat his head and tell him things would be just all right.

After my parents picked me up we headed somewhere I could get a little taste of home cookin'...Souplantation!!! In however many years I've been going there, their Chinese chicken salad, focaccia bread and clam chowder tastes exactly the same. J met us there for lunch, and sometime during the course of discussion we talked about making your bed and whether or not you like the sheets smooth when you get in.  According to my brother, the best method is to never make your bed so you can get in and "scrinkle" the sheets up around you. My brother, the wordsmith.

Because we can't sit still, we then headed to Mark & Char's to help the bride-to-be "Shop at Char's." She was able to find nearly every single centerpiece item she needed within the boundaries of the house and yard. Amazing.

Then we were off to my Aunt's house for a BBQ and good times all around.  The best moment of the night came from when I was relating our No Spend Month to my Nana.  I mentioned having to make a few "creative" dishes and my brother, being curious about what we had managed to make, asked how I would rate those meals. With a tone showing just a bit of pride I said, "I'd say out of the whole month of meals, only two meals were about a 5 on a scale of 1 to 10."

Without missing a beat, Nana responds, "Despicable!"

I think we almost wet our pants laughing at that one. Nothing but the best for Nana!

That's all for today, stay tuned for Pics from the bonfire and J's "Folk n' Roll Concert!"

Oh..and that lovely wedding...but more on that later!

The Vision

I started another blog today.

I know, why do I need another blog when I have this one?

Well, originally it was to use as a tester blog while I fiddle around with the background and templates for this one.

Then when it came time to pick a url I wanted something that maybe someday I would use.

Matt and I have this Vision, you see.

One day we'd like to own a house with some land, a big garden, maybe a small vineyard and a place where we can host weddings and parties and whatknot.

I wrote more about it in my first post, but the Vision is called Thursday Farm.

Its not going to have recipes or funny stories about Roy or tips on living frugally or anything like that. Its just about us and the journey. Read if you want, skip if you want. Its more for me than anything else, but I thought I'd share it with you.

http://thursdayfarms.blogspot.com/

Pumpkin-Applesauce-Flax Bread?

Okay at first glance that may sound gross.

But this is what happens during No Spend Month. You get creative.

I had a can of organic pumpkin that I really wanted to use, so I pulled up a pumpkin bread recipe in one of my favorite cookbooks, From Portland's Palate: A Collection of Recipes from the City of Roses.  This was a gift from Matt's aunt and uncle for our wedding, and I have used the heck out of it!

I love cookbooks...I even tried to pare down my collection during our last move when we uncluttered a bunch, and I still have 15 cookbooks and a handful of pamphlets I've picked up traveling. I love being able to take the flavor of a place with me.  Like this one from Scotland:

I love the pictures in it, even though I'll probably never try to make Tripe Stew or some of the other more daring recipes in there.

The charcoal sketches make me want to stoke a fire and eat a bannock.

Or this one I picked up on an east coast trip with my parents and Matt. We were in Vermont and overnight the leaves brightened so drastically it look like God had used Photoshop.

This little pamphlet is chock full of little drawings and quotes from New England poets and authors.

Back to the Pumpkin bread.

It being No Spend Month I had run out of vegetable oil. It was a lazy Sunday morning and we weren't wanting to have to go to the store for any. 

That morning I had already made blueberry pancakes with flaxseed meal in place of oil. That was on a smaller scale, though. 

FYI, if you want to use flaxseed meal instead of oil the ratio is 1:3. For one tablespoon of oil you can substitute 3 tablespoons of flaxseed meal. The first time I tried it I was expecting it to be dry and coarse, but instead it was still moist and fluffy! The pancakes needed a bit more milk, but once you get the consistency right its all good from there!

The recipe for pumpkin bread called for 1/2 cup of vegetable oil.  That's 8 tablespoons of oil, or what would be 24 Tbl of flaxseed meal...that's a lot!

Then I remembered we had applesauce, too. Replacing applesauce for oil is a 1:1 ratio, but sometimes that can come out dry.

So for this I did part applesauce, part flaxseed meal and the result was delicious! We're running low on unbleached flour and whole wheat flour so I used a cup of each.

That doesn't look too dry now, does it? A little dollop of butter and a cup of coffee and it was de-lish! (Not that it needed either, but they completed it...like Dorothy completed Jerry Maguire)

I would have taken a picture of the top of the bread but I had already eaten it...

There are a lot of benefits to flaxseed. Two tablespoons of flaxseed meal has just as much fiber as 1 1/2 cups of oatmeal! It can also lower bad LDL cholesterol and packs a lot of omega-3. 

So here is my modified Pumpkin Bread recipe, should you want to try it out.

1 cup dark brown sugar, firmly packed

1/2 cup granulated sugar (I used evaporated cane juice and it worked well)

1 cup canned pumpkin (I used a can)

9 tablespoons of flaxseed meal

5 tablespoons of applesauce

2 eggs

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 cup whole wheat flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon ground ginger

1/4 cup water (I just realized I forgot this...maybe the extra pumpkin made up for it...no one's perfect, right?)

Optional:

1 cup raisins

1 cup walnuts or pecans

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Grease a 9 x 5-inch loaf pan.

In a large bowl, combine sugars, pumpkin, flaxseed meal, applesauce and eggs. Beat until well blended.

In a separate large bowl, sift together flours, soda, salt and spices. Add the pumpkin mixture and mix well. Stir in water, raisins and nuts if using.

Turn into prepared pan. Bake in a 350-degree oven for 1 hour and 15 minutes or until a knife comes out clean.

Spread with luscious butter and make yourself a Morning Cup and you're ready!

For more tips on eating for cheap, check out my article on Frugal Fine Dining.

Condensing

It starts.

That period during a move where nothing will be tidy, neat or uncluttered.

For a while.

Sure the bed can stay made and we work on keeping the bathroom counter clear, but this morning I woke up with wonky hair and when I went to grab a Velcro roller to fix my wayward bangs I found I had packed all of them. I packed bobby pins too...so my hair looked a bit "off" today.

I like everything to have a "home." The bottle opener, for instance, lives in a nice cozy slot in the far right hand drawer of the kitchen. The pens live in their pen cup on the desk, the keys hang on the rack by the door. But what happens when I pack the bottle opener, the pen cup and the key rack? I need a pen and it's lying haphazardly around just waiting to get lost! Dear me...

Its times like these I need to plop myself down on our temporary futon-couch littered with throw blankets and a dog toy and remotes, pour myself a glass of wine in a cup I haven't stowed away, prop my feet up and ignore the mess my house is for 2.5.

So hi, y'all.

Let me clue you in as to a few of the things I've learned over the past week or so. About downsizing.

Its not that we're moving to that much drastically of a smaller place (was that grammatically correct?). Its more about wanting to live with less. Less clutter, less stuff taking up less space on walls. So I looked around at what could go.

I spotted our DVD stand.

Hmmm. Those boxes take up a bit of room...what if I got rid of the stand altogether and put the DVDs in...a case?!

Look at that! We only had the top three shelves full of DVDs but it filled up two garbage bags of their boxes! And all the DVDs fit nicely in that black case you see perched there on top. That case now lives in the entertainment center. And the DVD rack? Sold it on Craigslist...

Let me tell you of another revelation.

We have a coffee table ($20 at the Value Village, baby) with storage in the middle. I've been wanting to use it to keep our board games in, but they all just wouldn't fit! Then I read somewhere that you don't necessarily have to keep the boxes every single game comes in.

Whoa. Heavy stuff.

I got out some ziplock bags, tossed out a few over-sized boxes and all of our games and cards fit in the coffee table with room to spare.

Yet another shelf is emptied!

That's all my pearls of wisdom for the day. 'Till next time, this is the Packing Palmers, signing off!

Things We'll Miss...And Things We Won't...

As we're beginning to pack up my truckload of books, I realize there are things I'm definitely going to miss about living in our current place. One is the view we have:

I mean, seriously, who get a view like that in their early twenties?! Oh wait, I guess I was spoiled and went to Point Loma where I had an ocean view for 3 out of 4 years...what can I say I'm used to it now?


The downside of this view is cropped out though - the train yard in Interbay. When we first moved in I think I got heart palpitations from the thundering BOOOMS of trains joining up. Three in the morning and I would think a bomb had gone off in Interbay.

Or there's the braking...I'm not sure which is worse. The brakes emit a long, super-high pitched EEEEEEEEEEEEEEE that's comparable to fingernails on a chalkboard. Either one I won't be missing much...

As of this morning we've already sold our couch and overstuffed chair, a DVD rack, and our headboard and footboard. And technically we've sold the futon although our friends Stephanie and Peter are letting us hang onto it until we get closer to the move date so we actually have someplace to sit.

For the first week we just bummed it out on the floor.

Roy thought it was just a giant bed for him...

And speaking of my Roy Boy, let me tell you of a little adventure we had in the elevator the other day.

First let me introduce Theo. Theo is a stout, medium-sized terrier who lives one floor below us. The owner is the nicest lady, and when Roy's not around Theo is great. But Theo has something against Roy...and the lady never keeps him on a leash. One time Matt was walking Roy into the parking garage and Theo just charged. Luckily Matt was able to avoid a scuffle, but for whatever reason Theo just does not like our Roy.

That said, I was coming back from a walk and waiting for the elevator. It opened and there was the lady and Theo...luckily the lady was holding onto Theo's collar but he went all savage on us and began barking and growling and all that stuff. I smiled and waved and said we'll catch the elevator on the way back and the lady smiled back.

A minute or two later a gentleman had joined me waiting for the elevator and it opened and we got in...me constantly trying to teach Roy some elevator manners. Namely not poking his nose into grocery bags. The man got off on the fourth floor, and right as the door was about to close to take me to the fifth Theo bolts into the elevator.

Theo and Roy went nose to nose, absolutely silent.

Oh crap, here it comes...I thought.

Then Theo charged, teeth bared. Instincts kicked in and with my left hand I swung Roy around behind me into the corner of the elevator and with my right foot I caught Theo by the throat.

I stood like that, balancing on my left foot and fending off Theo with the right all the while keeping my 85-pound dog cornered behind me and my right hand waving in the air to keep my balance.

How the HECK am I doing this??? raced through my mind.

Then the elevator began to close.

no no no No N0 NO

What could I do? The way I was standing the buttons were behind me. Do I drop the foot keeping Theo at bay to hit to Open Door button? I strained with my right hand for the button still balancing on one foot as Theo continued to savagely growl and lunge and just before the door closed...

...an arm stuck inside and the lady wedged herself into the stubborn door and grabbed Theo by the collar, apologizing profusely.

Phew.

And that's one more thing I won't miss.

Going to Golden Gardens dog park and seeing the Sound at sunset. I will miss...but we can always drive over there.

For the next couple of weeks the Morning Cup is going to be mostly about the Big Move. As we've been preparing we're realizing we don't need all this stuff. Its clutter, and to be cheeky its cramping our style. I mean, do we really need everything that's crammed in our closets? Quite frankly, no. So we're downsizing. I had five large bags of clothing to give away. And my closet still looks full!

I actually gave away books.

Please pick your chin up from your desk.

My reasoning was if it was something I picked up for 50 cents and wanted to read "someday," but its been sitting around longer than a year...chances are I can find it for 50 cents somewhere else when I really decide to read it. Or I can check it out from the library.

It went like this: red leather copy of Pride & Prejudice I bough in Wales? Keep.

Circa 1970's paperback version of Virgil's Aeneid I bought for a dime 5 years ago? Give away.

I've been obsessively reading every simple life and uncluttering blog and website there is, and maybe I'll even share some of the things I've learned with you.

That's all for today, folks! 'Till next time: Less stuff more life!

The Two-Year Quilt

And two years later I finish the quilt from my bridal shower! Hallelujah! I really wanted to finish this in time for the holidays so all my family can sleep under it! I didn't have enough fabric to make the back one solid panel so I decided to take inspiration from filminthefridge.com and patch a back together...

For a little trip down memory lane, while I was in Africa my mom had pre-cut and sent out squares of this quilt called Mandarin Maze(unknown to me). During my bridal shower, I received all of them as a gift...which led to many tears...

So I would not forget who all had contributed to this quilt, I took a picture with the name of the quilter with the block...

http://docs.google.com/File?id=dfhvcx2b_432dp6kbcfz_b

That's not all of them, but just a sample...so those were the building blocks for this...

Which then after adding a border, a back and...a dog?

Well, I'm sure there are a few Roy Boy hairs in there even though it's been washed....anyway this is now what it looks like...

sorry it's blurry....had trouble with the flash being overpowering....

and the back...

and there you have it! Only took me two years to complete! Thanks again to all the lovely ladies who lent a hand!!!

In other news, a few weeks ago I received a letter from my best friend Charissa. Well, maybe not a letter in the way you'd expect. See, all she had was post-its, and as I read through the stack I lined them up on my mirror...

Such a thrifty gal...she's in Peru and loving it, by the way.

On to other things...what other things? Oh last weekend it was storming, I took Roy out to do his business around midnight (Matt was sick, he usually takes him out at night for all those dads who worry about me), and as we stood there everything went WHITE. I froze, not knowing what happened but a second later a thunder CRACKED and shook the ground so hard car alarms went off! Somewhere VERY close lighting had struck near Roy and I! I felt--pardon the pun--electrified...all the hair on my body felt on in and everything felt charged. I just froze there, Roy and I staring at each other with BIG eyes until at the same moment...we RAN towards the garage! Not a second after we took cover it began to pour! The lights in the garage flickered and my heart was pounding wildly. Then was a difficult choice. I had gotten overly ambitious the previous week running with Roy and had hurt my knee...should I climb 6 flights of stairs in case of a blackout or should I risk the elevator? The lights flickered and I could hear the wind howling in the elevator shaft...my cell didn't even work in there. Oh well, what's life without a little adventure, right? I held my breath the entire way up and though the lights kept flickering, the power stayed on. When I got in the apartment it was louder than I'd ever heard it and then I realized why...it was hailing!

Pea-sized hail covered my patio! It was crazy! Anyways, now we've got another storm upon us and tonight we're supposed to see gusts 60-65 mph! Wowzers!

Roy's found it a bit chilly at nights, now, too...

he likes to use the curtain as a blanket...

If you're wanting to try a quilt but are a little sheepish to start, read my article on Easy Quilts to Make for a few good starter ideas!

That's all my exciting news for now! This weekend Matt and I are headed off to Bainbridge Island for our anniversary weekend!

American Idol Auditions for My Bro

Sorry for no funnies yesterday...I was in suspension all day while my brother was at American Idol auditions. For those of you who don't know, Jeremiah auditioned at the end of june with 12,000 other people in Pasadena. When we found out he was audition (through a fluke--Matt's cousin and his girlfriend were there too but J had wanted to keep it a secret) we quickly spread the news of what he was doing. He and about 200 other people made it through that round which seemed quite grueling, but we were sworn to secrecy because producers want people to think the audition all takes place over a few days. So sorry to those of you who thought he didn't make it through the first round, but we didn't want to risk him getting disqualified.

He went back for a second audition in July and sang in front of the producers and executive producers and made it through that round with about 60 other contestants. 12000 to 60 is pretty darn good if you ask me!!!

Anyways, yesterday was the big audition in front of Simon, Randy and Kara. I don't have all the details yet, but basically he wasn't prepared to sing a second song and didn't make this cut. Maybe next year he'll have a whole slew of songs prepared just in case, but we'll have to wait until then. At least it was affirmation that people other than us think he's got talent!

Now to make you smile since it lowers blood pressure makes you prettier and a whole other slew of things I'm sure.

This one's for Ammah who refers to graduates as "gradu-idiots"

A young man hired by a supermarket reported for his first day of work. The manager greeted him with a warm handshake and a smile, gave him a broom and said, "Your first job will be to sweep out the store." "But I'm a college graduate," the young man replied indignantly. "Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't know that," said the manager. "Here, give me the broom....I'll show you how."

Hardey har har.

and this made me laugh today

Hope you all have a wonderful Labor day weekend! And if you missed my last hub on Eating well for cheap here it is again

http://hubpages.com/hub/frugaleating

I looked at our grocery bill from June--YOWSERS! August's groceries were less than HALF that! Woo hoo!

Love to you all

K8

The Move

Well here it is ladies and gentlemen! Your first “fix” of Matt and Kaitlynn Palmer. It’s your morning cup of us! Kudos to Matt for coming up with the name! I thought of “Drizzle Scribbles” but that sounded too depressing. So go fix your morning drink just how you like it and cozy on up to your computer for the latest update from the Seattle Palmers!

We’ll start at the beginning. We rented a sixteen foot Budget rental truck and a car trailer which we then jam-packed and carted all the way from the Mexican border to the Canadian border. Matt drove the “Beast” as we affectionately referred to it at (his car was on a full trailer, adding at least another 15 feet to the back of the truck) while I followed behind in my trusty 4Runner named “Max.” We loaded up on Saturday with tremendous help from my mom and the muscles of two hired movers, and then did the shortest jaunt up to Orange County. Sunday night we had our going away party during which I got to see most of you wonderful people. Monday morning we began the long haul.

We had two-way radios (I’m still a kid and called them walkie-talkies) and got to talk to each other the whole way up—and boy we did! Getting to talk to each other definitely made the drive go a lot faster. Our first adventure was in LA (of course) when in the middle of the street there was a twisted metal HULK of…something! Neither of us had time to swerve and both of us ran over it. There were some tense moments of waiting to see if any tires had blown or if anything was majorly damaged, but our guardian angels must have been with us and everything was ok!

We made our way up the Grapevine nice and slow (35 mph slow!) but managed to avoid any overheating, and cruised our way into the San Juaquin Valley and its nice boring stretch. We stopped in a truck stop south of Los Banos and when we went to turn on Matt’s headlights for night, the backlights—including the ones on the trailer—weren’t working. We called Budget and they said change fuse 21. Simple enough, right? I mean, I don’t want to brag but I did take auto shop in High school…so I should know how to change a fuse.

Well I did…but that didn’t solve our problem. To make a very long, tiring story short we were at that truck stop for 3 hours and the Budget Company had to sent AAA and they had to tape off a light that was short circuiting everything else. However, we got to enjoy a truck stop diner and its variety of vomiting kids and chicken fried steak.

Monday night after a lot of energy drinks and stupid jokes on the walkie-talkies we rolled into Paradise (a small town near Chico, CA) at 2 am and absolutely crashed at Matt’s aunt and uncle’s house (for those of you at our wedding, Uncle Chris Reid was the man who married us).

Tuesday was our rest day, although I have to find it somewhat humorous that we still spent 3 hours in the car to go see our cousins’ apartment in Chico, drive through the park, drive to a covered bridge (which we spent 5 minutes at), and drive back to Paradise. We did have a great surprise that morning in that when I got out of the shower I heard a voice that was very familiar. I walked out and sure enough Beth—Matt’s mom—was sitting on the couch! It was a wonderful surprise!!! We had an awesome meal with all the Reids that night, and really got to enjoy them. I know I married into the right family when they make brownies and hand me a spoon to lick the bowl with.

Wednesday we make our second big trek from Paradise to Vancouver. I have to say that I’ve driven through New England in the prime of its fall colors…and Oregon may actually be a rival! We kept cutting each other off on the walkie-talkies saying “WOW! Did you see that tree? It’s so RED!” or “It’s so darn beautiful!!!”

We stopped in Ashland, home of the Shakespeare Festival, and had a marvelous lunch right by the river. We felt we were in some quaint novel of yesteryears where people still greet each other by name and return the cow when it gets out of the pen while offering a suggestion on the latest New York Times crossword puzzle.

Heading north, Oregon was absolutely beautiful and I’d love to take a weekend to go visit a bed and breakfast there. If you’re contemplating a fall drive…I’d highly recommend it!

However, we had quite the adventure that night when we pulled off near corvalis, to get gas. Matt missed the gas station exit, but there was not a good place to make a u-turn. Instead he took a highway road and then another country road to hook up with interstate 5 again, but took a road titled “tangent” road. Of course this went over the 5 but had a “school bus turnaround” sign. This meant a turn out with a ditch, with another small road opposite it. To 

make a long story short, Matt had to back the rig up across a country road onto another small driveway and avoid the surrounding ditches. So much for an easy gas stop! But it all worked out at we were on our way to Portland.

Perhaps our biggest scare was when we were in Vancouver on our way to Matt’s relatives when we came to an incredibly confusing intersection. Matt ended up turning left thinking it was one way when it wasn’t, and so we drove on the wrong side for a moment, but no cars were around so it turned out fine.

That night brought us to Matt’s Aunt Ruth and Uncle Richard’s house in Vancouver. I’d only actually met Ruth once (at our wedding!) but it was nice to see them, meet Richard, and get to know family a bit better. This morning (We’re up to Thursday now…) Richard made us a great breakfast, and it turns out he’s quite the cook and their wedding present to us was a cookbook I use ALL the time so we hit it off about recipes and cookbooks right away. They’re glad we’re up here since it will mean Dave and Beth will visit more, and we’re glad cause it I can get the recipe for that amazing lentil soup they had ready for us when we got in late at night!

Today (Thursday) we made it to Seatte! After nearly 1,300 miles from San Diego northwards, we hit our final destination in Queen Anne, Seattle. Not to say that the last part was easy! 

You try maneuvering that rig in streets that really should be one lane-ers with cars parked on both sides! First of all, we missed our exit…twice…and had to wander around construction zones and tiny streets and through downtown to our little apartment perched on the side of a hill amidst one way lanes! I have to say…I’ve been through a lot but I think that today was the most “stressed out” I’ve ever been! Breathe…I kept telling myself!

We met our realtor, saw our place, got our keys, and began the adventure of returning the trailer/dolly with Matt’s car on the back. Only thing was we needed to be going the opposite way, and making a u-turn wasn’t an option and streets there aren’t as simple as making four turns!

At one point in a tiny corner of streets we were trying to go left and got to a point where we couldn’t make it without hitting a van. Then came the humbling moment of turning off the truck, going up to the quaint, gingerbread-looking house and knocking on the door to ask them if they could move their car cause (lousy us) we couldn’t make it through. Thankfully everyone in Seattle so far has been exceedingly gracious and kind and she had no problem moving (in the rain, mind you), or telling us the best way to get to where we were going.

After many heart-palpitating turns and curves and steep hills we made it to the drop off point and unhitched the trailer (I nearly kicked it), and I got in Matt’s car and we headed back “home.” He commented on the radio, “Well, if we can make it through that without being at each other’s throats I think we can make it through anything.” And thankfully, I have to agree. We got back, unloaded my car with our basic inflatable bed and overnight necessities, and went out for dinner. “Somewhere very very close” was what we agreed on!

We ended up at the Village Pub in Magnolia, a place that despite the flat screens at every table (yes, Dad, every table) was a pretty quiet, family place. We had steamed clams, big jugs of beer, and big bowls of clam chowder for our first Seattle meals and giggled that we were actually “Seattlites.”

A stop at Albertsons for some basic necessities and we headed home, gazing at the Seattle

skyline from the Magnolia bridge and shivering at the brisk 47 degrees as we carried our groceries indoors. We lit a fire in our fireplace, poured some wine, and for the first night in nearly a week, took a deep breath and sighed that we were home.