So... they did total our car. We're getting a lot more for it than we expected, but we still might hold off on buying a new one for a bit. We're under a lot of financial stress lately, so hearing that they were giving us literally twice what we expected helped a lot. I'm still stressed, but it feels less apocalyptic. Anyone have a recommendation on ( Read more... )

Word about today's horrific shooting in Connecticutt spead quickly amongst the parents and teachers in my daughter's preschool class as we came to pick up our children today. Everyone hugged their kids harder than usual, tried not to cry and faked smiles for the children. Moms mumbled about home schooling and avoiding movie theaters and malls. A ( Read more... )

I haven't posted in... too long. So, here's things ( Read more... )

Thus far today (at 8:15 in the morning) I have:
Laughed my ass off at my daughter's commentary about genitalia 
Walked up to get coffee
Found missing cat (that I couldn't grab) on the way to get coffee
Randomly ran into the owner of missing cat while walking back from coffee (she saw me staring at the sign and came over)
Went grocery shopping
Discovered ( Read more... )

So for months I've driven past "no parking - filming" signs and food service trucks and funky lighting equipment on the way to take Dan to/from work. This isn't totally unexpected because I live in Portland and they film a handful of things here - most notably Leverage and Grimm.

Now, I had been hoping it was Grimm (it's right next to a gothic ( Read more... )

I've been so achieve-y today! Spent a few hours cleaning this morning and got about half the house done. Walked with the kids up to the resale shop and got some great deals on cold weather kids' clothes (because while Ava has like four dozen shirts, only two of them apparently are long sleeved). Walked over to Pizza Schmizza for lunch and let the ( Read more... )

My grandmother is doing worse than they'd thought and will need longer rehab than the hospital can provide, so they are sending her to a nursing home. This has the whole family freaking out because no one wants her in a nursing home (her least of all). While I'm grateful that it's finally widely acknowledged that she cannot live alone (thank you ( Read more... )

So, Friday, shortly after hanging up from talking to my mother, my grandmother slipped and fell in her kitchen. She broke her hip and couldn't move. Now, my mother (her daughter-in-law) calls her daily, but since they'd just spoken, it was over 24 hours before my parents called my aunt and asked her to run over and check on her. By then she'd be in ( Read more... )

I'm so excited its actually ridiculous! We got that triplex rental! It's more than we have been paying but less than they wanted to up our rent to at the apartment. Three bedrooms instead of two, fireplace, laundry ROOM with oodles of shelving, fenced yard with a fair bit of grass and a nice sized wood deck, vaulted ceilings in the living room, can ( Read more... )

So, yesterday should have been awesome but mostly wasn't. The plan was to be at a free car seat safety check thing when they opened and go straight from there to the free multicultural fair (complete with bouncy castles). Since the kids had stayed up late to watch the opening ceremonies, I'd thought they'd sleep in a little. Alas, they were still ( Read more... )