Tom & Jenn

Yikes! A busy year.....

2011-04-28T20:05:00.000-07:00

Well, it has been quite a year. It seems to have been almost that long since Jenn and I last updated this. There are really two events that serve as focal points and both of them have come to pass in the last week. On Monday, the 25th of April, Jennifer gave birth to Wyatt Manning Person. He weighed in at a hefty 13 pounds, 5 ounces. See his blog (littleperson2.blogspot.com) for details!

The second is that I will complete my cardiothoracic surgery training in June and have accepted a job in Erie PA. I will start there on August 1st and Jenn and I will spend the month of July moving the family. Yes, Erie is a might bit colder than South Carolina :^)

...and then he came home

2010-05-26T20:20:00.000-07:00

Interestingly (or at least I think so) Kobe was cremated at a funeral home for people. He was cremated on May 4th (also Sam's Birthday) and he was home with us again on the evening of the 5th. It turns out the funeral home is only a few miles away, on the way to one of my preferred grocery stores. I do have to say that the little blue bag with the papaya size bag of ashes just doesn't do justice to my big dog. For now it is sitting on the dresser in our bedroom where I can say goodnight.
Oddly enough, on the night of the 4th (when Kobe was being cremated) when we were taking our evening walk, the sky was just beautiful. The blue was intense and the clouds were lit from below by the setting sun. It was similar in a way to the last sunset sky Connor and I walked with Kobe - only richer. It sounds silly, but maybe that was his way of letting us know he's okay now. To give us a beautiful sky on a walk he always enjoyed. There may have even been a little of him drifting around that night.

In Loving Memory of "Big Dog"

2010-05-02T20:46:00.000-07:00

Sadly, our Kobe (aka Big Dog, Lumpy Dog, Kobius Maximus, Kobiashisan, Yosh and many other terms of endearment) was put to sleep this evening. We knew it was coming. It wasn't a surprise. But there is a great big hole in my heart where a big black dog used to be. I'm not sad for him. I know this. I'm sad for us - sad that I'll never hear that deep window shaking bark (after all the times I told him to shut up) and the deep guttural rumble he made when he played. He was like a small black bear - with the big fluffy hair behind his head and those long bear claws. I'll miss my "lake monster." I'll miss his big solid warm body and his goofy face, the one cocked ear and his sweet gentle disposition. He was also the biggest marshmallow you'd ever meet and of all our dogs, he was the best with Connor. He would never hurt anyone - and yet everyone who came to the door would ask "He won't bite - will he?"

Kobe would have been 14 on Sept 1st. He has been having more and more mobility problems and his breathing had become labored. It was difficult for him to get off the porch to go to the bathroom, it had gotten difficult for him to get up at all. More frequently he needed help to to get up when lying on the deck or if he laid on the hardwoods. More then once he took a spill on the hardwoods and ended up spread eagle and in pain. Going for a walk around the block (though he enjoyed it) was becoming to much. If we stopped to talk to a neighbor, Kobe's hind end would slowly start to buckle and fold in on itself. The same is true if he got a long drink or took to long eating his food. He could still climb stairs, but if he stopped for any reason he would start to collapse and slide back down. To top it off his hearing was getting pretty bad. He didn't hear the doorbell anymore, just Hattie and Sam barking at it.

Tom and I worked around and with him for over a year. We tried different cocktails of medication to manage his symptoms. We laid area rugs for traction and padding. We raised his food bowl off the floor. But the weakness continued to get worse. Either it hurt to much to squat or it hurt to much to go off the deck, but he started to have more and more poop accidents. I saw all of this everyday. More then Tom. Tom told me a few weeks ago that he thought it was time. But I would look at Kobe and see that goofy face and think one more try, let's try one more thing. This past week he seemed to get worse quickly and he started panting frequently for no reason. Wednesday night I called the vet and Tom and I talked with her and decided this evening would be a good time. I've spent the last several days chalking up "lasts" and saying goodbye. On our last evening constitutional last night, Connor wanted to hold the leash. I wish I could have gotten a picture of my little 11month old blond baby walking my old big black dog along the sidewalk. A memory.

Kobe had a whole ham steak last night and 3/4 of one this morning with two eggs and his last dose of medicine. Tom picked up some beef knuckles and chicken livers. After we took a last family portrait this afternoon Kobe spent about 45 minutes outside in the shade of a tree chewing a meaty beef bone. Then we took one last walk, all six of us, around the block. He was sagging when we got home. Around 3:30 he ate all 2lbs of chicken livers and had his second bowl of milk today (his belly was a little upset.) The vet was due at 4pm but was running a bit late. So I sat with him and pet him and told him again how much we loved him . I let him out front to go to the bathroom and he walked into the garage strait to the back of my car (broke my breaking heart.) When the vet arrived (he still managed one short deep bark when she walked in) I let him out once more and then had him lay on a blanket in his usual spot on the floor at the end of the couch. Even then I wasn't ready. I kept asking Tom if it was the right time. But he had said it the other night, "Jenn, when it hurts to bad to go to the bathroom, it's time" and he was right. I sat next to Kobe as the sedative took effect. Even then the vet said there was something wrong with his breathing (it was loud and labored) because usually they just relaxed at this point. Another indicator we were doing the right thing. Then she gave him a shot of pink juice in his hind leg. Not long after it grew quiet. It was peaceful and though I hurt, I finally knew we did the right thing. We sat with him a bit longer, I took a clipping of his hair and slid off his collar. Then we loaded him onto a stretcher. I helped the vet carry him out (the last thing I could do for him) and placed him in the back of her truck.We pet him a few minutes more before they left, and he was really gone.

Kobe is on his way to be cremated. I know it sound frivolous, but I could think of only one last thing to do for beloved boy. Someday, we will take his ashes back to Oregon, and we will scatter him on Del Ray beach near Seaside. We have many happy memories there. He was such a beach bum. The way he used to jump after a Frisbee was beautiful (he used to shred them, too.) Our first trip to Del Ray beach was also the first time we let Kobe and Hattie off leash after adopting them. We were sitting on the dunes having a picnic and Tom threw the Frisbee for Kobe. He took off. Gone after it and jumped into dead air off the side of the Dune. The first thought through my mind was "He's gone! He just took off, we'll never catch him!" Tom and I dashed after him and he met us at the edge of the dune, the Frisbee folded like a taco in his mouth. His face was covered in white sand and there was sand pouring out both sides of the Frisbee. I think he will be happier there then anywhere. Certainly happier then on our mantel, he spent enough time stuck in the house.

Tonight was very hard. After Connor had dinner we took our evening walk, the five of us. It was painfully obvious someone was missing. It's safe to say that Kobe's absence is just as big as he was in life. The empty dog bowl, the lonely red collar on the coffee table, the extra leash and the empty dog bed in the bedroom (though it was often empty because he liked to sleep on the floor on Tom's side of the bed - I'd shag him onto his bed and then go in the bathroom and he would get up and go right back to Tom's side of the bed.) He always wanted to be close to us. When we first brought them home, Hattie and Kobe weren't allowed upstairs. So, Kobe would lay as close to the bottom stair as he could and for a while, that's where his dog bed was. When they were allowed upstairs, they couldn't come in the bedroom, so Kobe picked a spot in the hall that wasn't so much close to the door as it was close to Tom and I when we were in bed. His love was unfaltering. I felt so safe with him around. I can only hope he felt the same from us and that he was as happy as he could have ever been.

Winter Wonderland

2010-02-13T13:25:00.000-08:00

Meet a West Ashley snow couple!

You know that storm that left 14 inches of snow in some parts of Texas this week? Well it was kind enough to drop a little on Charleston on its way out to sea. It started sleeting around 5:30pm and had turned to snow in an hour. We took Connor for a walk in the snow before his bath. Then after he went down we watched the snow and the opening ceremonies to the Olympics. Tom headed off to bed and I was cleaning up the dinner dishes when the power went off a little after 10pm. It was out until some time after 2am. When Connor and I got up this morning the whole neighborhood was a flutter with kids and adults playing in the snow. Tom tells me there were several neighborhood snowmen on his way home. You can see in the pictures that they cleared a yard making walls of snow to have a snowball fight. Evan and Mariesa from across the street stopped by to take my snow. Evan informs me that it hasn't snowed in Charleston in 10 years. He's only 7, but I'll take his word for it.

I only hope our poor daffadils make it! They have not had a good life at our house. I bought them at Costco in the Summer of '08 and they sat in the garage until March '09. When we finally planted them, along with the tulips that had suffered the same fate, the daffadils never came up - though the tulips did. We were shocked to see them popping up last week and now they have been hit with overnight snow and temperatures in the 20's. You can see them under the tree in the frist picture below.

My nights with Harry...

2010-02-11T20:29:00.000-08:00

I got a bit of a shock today. It involved Harry. We've been meeting every evening for a few months now. I'm talking about Harry Potter. Along Hermoine and Ron and the whole gang.
Tom had started slurping them up soon after Potter fever struck 'Tweens around the world. I think it was when book three came out that Tom jumped on the band wagon. Then as each subsequent book was released I would buy it for Tom and he would crack it open and not set it down until he was finished. He'd forgo getting dressed or getting sleep. If he had to work he'd go, otherwise he was hanging with Harry and the rest of the world be damned. That's just how Tom is. It's like Tom with water at restaurants. His glass is empty before the wait staff has filled another and he wants more... more! He'll latch onto something and he can't get enough. This has caused more then a few problems between us. He's the same way with video games. His current obsession is Eve. He can't wait for me to leave town so he can sit and play unencumbered when he isn't at work. He wanted me to get into Eve so we could play together. He has never quite grasped that if he isn't living in the real world and doing all the real world things that need doing, then I have to. This means I don't have time for video games. We tried it with Age of Empires, it really did not work.
I had never read the Harry Potter books. I had gone along happily enough to all of the movies, but I was always reading something else. I've been shocked at how dark the last few movies have been. To scary for J. K Rawlings readers I thought. Tom assured me the books were just as dark. Since Connor was born, I've been slowly working my way through the books. I just finished "The Half-Blood Prince" last night. I'm not nearly as fast a reader as Tom. I started off reading to Connor as I nursed him off to bed at night. I also reread "The Time Travelers Wife" like this. Then as Connor became more aware of the books behind him and every night this became more of a tug-o-war, I changed to reading while I pumped and reading before bed. I really want to get back to reading to Connor so I have a fall back bedtime ritual when the time comes for weaning, but it's as though that little hand has a mind of its own, then he gets more wired than relaxed.
I have been trying to get through the series in time for the release of the last movie. I was positive I had seen a commercial saying it would be out at the end of this month. I hadn't seen anything since though. So I went looking today and low and behold Part I of the Deathly Hallows won't be out until November and Part II in July 2011! I already said I'm not a fast reader, but I think I could reread the series before November. Oh well! I'll definitely be done before the next movie is released!
I really wish we were still in Portland to see it though. I've really been missing the McMinnamins pubs. It would be so great to see Harry Potter at the Kennedy School, sitting in the old auditorium eating Pizza while sitting on antique furniture. Somewhat Hogwarts-esqu.
Tom and I have really been missing Dim Sum as well. There is none here in Charleston. We so hope that Connor continues to be an easy kid to feed and we want to expose him to new flavors to get him a taste for them now. He's already had a little Indian. I really don't want him to be a burgers, fries and chicken fingers kid. I actually saw an ad in one of our local parents magazines tonight for a free kids meal at McDonald's (burger, cheeseburger or nuggets with fries and a soft drink) with the purchase of an adult mean on certain nights of the week. I was shocked. I honestly hope that Connor rarely if ever eats at McDonald's. I only eat there as an absolute last resort (I'm starving and on the road and nothing else is open.) If I have my way, he won't drink soda until he's in college (preferably never.)
I borrowed a book from the library called "Hungry Monkey" and it was written by a dad who wanted to raise an adventurous eater. The author was living in Seattle but had lived in Portland and mentioned Hot Lips Pizza and referred to a few other of our Portland favorites. It made me homesick for Portland. Or maybe just Hot Lips. We are asked frequently if we will be going back there when Tom is done. We don't know. It depends what jobs are available. I honestly don't know if I miss Portland, or the IDEA of Portland. I went through this same thing when we left Boston. I still miss Boston, but I don't' know that I would want to live there again. Guess I'll have to go back and visit, both, a lot - maybe that will help me decide!

How Time Flies

2009-12-31T22:27:00.001-08:00

WOW! I don't look like that anymore (previous post.) I'm more or less back to where I was before I had Connor. I'm still wearing Tom's jeans and still have some weight to loose.
Life is just plugging along and we're taking it day by day. To say that 2009 was a bad year would be an understatement. Connor was the only bright spot. In case I haven't said it, I'm sorry I've been so bad about getting back to people and I do want to stay in touch. I miss everyone and think about you all a bunch. I want to send a special thanks to Robyn Lui for teaching me how to chart and to Becca Thompson for my day of counseling and comradery. Thank you both for my baby! He is so beautiful and the absolute joy of my life. I love him and don't know how I ever got along without him. Though, I did have more sleep back then...just kidding!
I'm still saddened by the loss of my Grandmother in July. She passed away three weeks before 76th Birthday and getting to meet Connor. We made the planned trip to Massachusetts anyway so Connor could meet the family and we could attend her memorial service. I'm still heart broken that I never got to see her hold Connor. I know she is no longer in pain, but I've lost a bright light in my life. I just have to be content to know that she did get to see pictures of Connor. That has to be enough.
While I was in Massachusetts for Grama's service, Tom got news that the Ken Disler, his Grandmothers boyfriend who was as good as a grandfather to Tom, had had a stroke and he passed away a few days later.
It was sad to go through my book of old Christmas Correspondences and see Cards from Gram and notes from Ken. It's the little times like that that sneak up on you. It was really hard when I found an old birthday card from Gram. I will just be going along and think "Oh hey, I need to ask Gram..." and that hits hard. So many things I wanted to ask her, needed to know and they are gone. I'll miss her soft skin, her laugh, and the way she would threaten us (jokingly) with her cane. I'll never be able to smell Noxzema and not think of her.
Here are some pictures of our backyard a few weeks ago. This is our Water Feature=)

Eight Years and Still Going Strong

2009-05-22T13:42:00.000-07:00

Well, here we are! Eight years later, and what a ride it has been. I never would have guessed when I met Tom (just 9 1/2 years ago) where my life with him would take me. I never expected to leave North Adams. Now I've moved not only to Boston, where we lived a great year together and had a beautiful wedding, but also to Portland, Oregon for 7 full and fabulous years, and now to Charleston, SC. My life has been full in ways I couldn't have imagined. I still can't believe I have been to Italy, or that I got engaged there. I can't believe that I've learned to ski (mostly) and scuba dive. I became an Orthodontic Assistant all thanks to Tom's patience and persistence.

My life has been full in ways I never would have expected or predicted. I can only hope that Tom feels as blessed to be married to me as I feel to be married to him. We have had our rough spots, and at times it has been lonelier then I ever thought it would be, but being married to Tom has made me more independent and self reliant then I would have been otherwise. Our marriage has been a fine dance, one that I hope we keep dancing for many more years. Right now I am deeply in love with my husband, I can't imagine my life without him. I have grown as a person in his presence, and someday I only hope I can be half the woman he sees me as.

March has been Busy!

2009-03-22T18:10:00.000-07:00

Along with more doctor appointments and getting the house as squared away as we can before Peanut arrives, March is just slipping away!

Tom had an out of town conference in St. Pete Beach, FL from March 12-15. Luckily I got to go along (with some convincing from Tom.) It was really nice. Our hotel room looked out over the gulf of Mexico and we had a beautiful beach to walk on. Tom was only in conference from 8-noon and all meals were included, so we were pretty carefree! We really needed it, too. Tom has been working so much that he was pretty beat down and I really needed to have some time with him. It was nice to just spend time together.

It had the added bonus of revitalizing Tom, too. When I asked Tom about getting some yard work done yesterday, he was quite willing, which was a big help to me. I've been starting to worry about how I'll get everything done before the baby comes. We got bulbs planted and mulch put down and the yard mowed. Honestly it makes the whole place feel a little more homey and more like our own.

Other projects are starting to fall together now, too. We had the roof replaced at the end of December and the new heating/air conditioning system goes in on Thursday. Both were unexpected expenses, but I suppose it gets chalked up as the joys of home ownership. I had a guy out to do a "tune -up" on the HVAC system in December and he more or less delivered nothing but bad news which included the inside of the air handler being covered in mold. Since the system is 9 years old and we will likely be moving again in the next few years it only made sense to upgrade and clean it up. It especially makes sense with a Baby on the way and because Tom got sick back in December and it really didn't clear up until we put him on Claratin at the end of January. I would chalk it up to the mold. Hopefully the souped up filter system we're having installed will mean he can get off the Claratin.

I also had some of the gutters fixed early this month. Then once the HVAC system is replaced I can have ALL the carpets and living room furniture cleaned. We never managed to do it when we moved in, but honestly I'm just as glad now that I found out about the mold. Now we can clean everything at once. When the carpets are cleaned I can finally put the crib together and start getting ready for Peanut to come home. It really feels good to be marking stuff off the list.

Spring is definitely in the air here in Charleston. The trees are budding and the flowers are blooming. The bugs are buzzing. I've already seen a large Palmetto Bug skittering across the garage floor and with all the outdoorsy stuff I've been doing I have been eaten alive. My forearms are just bug bites on top of bug bites.

A Table for Four!

2009-03-01T15:45:00.000-08:00

When we moved to Charleston in June we had our dining room table (for the dining room) but no table for our eat in kitchen. I have been searching and searching for a table that would work and FINALLY today I found one! It was the perfect shape, size, has the right chairs and is a pedestal and comes with a leave to make it oval if we need more room. I found it on Craig's list for a reasonable price (I thought, but Tom wanted to haggle - and he's sore that I didn't let him) and it was still available when I called on it. I told Tom the ONE and only thing I can think of that would have made it better was if it had had a drop leaf so that we could have the extra space, but not have to store the leave somewhere else.
I was so frustrated with the whole situation I was about to give up. Tom had mentioned at one point how great it would be if we had a couple of recliners in the kitchen so he could stretch out and relax while talking to me when I made dinner. I told him on the way to look at this table that if it wasn't what we wanted I was seriously temped to make a little sitting area there with our love seat, a small coffee table and an area rug and call it good. Once I saw this table, however, I knew it was the right one.
Craig's List in Charleston doesn't work as well as Craig's List in Portland. In Portland there were rules about posting and your ad was removed after 7 days to keep if fresh. Here you'll see the same ad placed day after day and people don't go in and remove their ad's once the item is gone. There were many times I got all excited about a table only to find out it had sold several days before. I can't believe I found one that was so perfect and mine for the taking.

Life's a Beach

2009-02-01T22:07:00.000-08:00

When we were in Oregon going to the beach was a very fun thing to do. We would load the dogs in the car and some toys and water, towels and bowls (all the necessities) and drive the hour and a half to Del Ray Beach on the coast. You could drive right down onto the beach and we could just open the back of the car and let the dogs go. They would run and play and wade in the waves. The one downside seemed to be the bath when they got home.

Well after months of living in Charleston, we finally made it to the beach with the "kids." We loaded the car and drove out to Sullivan's Island this morning and walked and played on the beach. During winter months you can go from 5am-noon and let your kids romp and play. During the summer I think it's only until 10am. It was a little harder with the time restrictions. Even though it is a shorter drive (25 minutes or so) it is a longer walk to the beach. It's a pretty walk, but it's very hard to walk calmly, without pulling when you're an overexcited Brittany named Sam. He'll be 6 in May, but he doesn't seem to realize that he should have mellowed out a bit by now.

Much fun was had by all and it was good to get out and do something. I think even the dogs would agree, even if it did mean a bath.

Christmas In A New House... State...Culture

2009-01-01T16:14:00.000-08:00

WOW! What a difference between Charleston and Portland! First off I must say that I am highly jealous of everywhere else in the US that is getting snow, because we certainly aren't! Portland got a complete dump for Christmas and I think they are expecting more. I on the other hand was sweating my buns off and fighting mosquitoes while trying to hang my outdoor lights.

Yes, it was quite an adventure decorating the outside of the house. An adventure in Folly! Now Tom and I haven't decorated the outside of the house in a few years and we've obviously never decorated the outside of this one. So it started with the idea of getting some net lights to drape the bushes in front of the front porch. We bought one that sounded like it would be the perfect size. However I assure you they are not as wide as they claim. The one we bought was enough tho cover the end of the bush and I had to go by two bigger ones to cover the rest of the bush.

Then I found these cute little prelit saplings to flank the driveway. However the cord that runs between the saplings is about 2 inches off the ground. The HVAC guy walked through and killed the first set and I walked through and killed the second set and the third set I bought just plain didn't work. I bought another brand through Home Depot which were bright white LED lights and you could have landed small aircraft with them. So we'll just have to find something else next year.

Then I was trying to find time for Tom and I to decorate the front porch and garage together, but one way or another it didn't happen. So, I did it myself on night, and as I said it was warm, muggy, and buggy. I got it done about 10 minutes before Tom came home. So I said " I got the porch, you get the garage!" Well then none of our ladders worked because they were to short. When we did manage to get Tom on the roof, he felt it was to steep. So I have two unused strings of icicle lights that never managed to make it onto the peak of my garage roof to finish to look I was going for.

Then came the Christmas Tree hunt! I saw a tree at the local fruit stand we liked. It was gorgeous and would have cost us $60-$70 in Vancouver. I almost died when I saw the price tag - $250!!! We didn't get that tree, and it was still sitting there a few days before Christmas. We did visit tree farms in the area, but their idea of a Christmas Tree down here is Leland Spruce, or larger versions of what I grew up thinking of as a shrub cut into Christmas tree form. We were getting very discouraged. We did find a lovely tree - from North Carolina - at Chik-Fil-A (think the Burger King of Chicken breasts.)

Happy New Year EVERYONE!!!

Was that an Alligator?

2008-11-01T23:42:00.000-07:00

So, Tom has this weekend off and we spent today running around to Home Depot and Lowe's and Costco. Now, all three of these stores are much closer to our current house then they were in Portland. If you don't count the 3 minutes it takes just to get out of our development, it's about 2-3 minutes to Home Depot and Lowe's (they are directly across the street from one another and about 5-6 minutes to Costco. The whole reason I describe how close the stores are to us is to illustrate how close the Alligator was to our house.

Yes. Tom and I saw our very first wild South Carolina Alligator on the way home from Costco. (I had Tom take a picture with my cell phone, I'll have to see if we can get it onto the computer.) I was driving and we were passing a pond just a little ways away from Lowe's, and I just had the vague sense of seeing an Alligator shape on the bank of the pond. I told Tom and we decided to turn around and check. Sure enough! It was about 4-6 feet long and it was sunning itself on the bank.

Of course the joke on the way home was me telling Tom that I hadn't seen the 3 local Ducks that hang out in a pond in our development. Tom just turned to me and licked his lips.

Vacation!

2008-10-24T23:33:00.000-07:00

Tom has had the last week off from work. We didn't know he was going to have a vacation in October until we got his call schedule on October 1st. So since I was supposed to work, we didn't really have a chance to plan a getaway. This hasn't been Tom's best vacation, I'm sure. However, it has been productive. Tom has built his workbench in a corner of the garage and wired in outlets so that he can start putting his tools away. They have been hodge podged on a table in the middle of the garage since we moved in. We bought some cabinets at the ReStore for $30. He just needs to put the pegboard up on them to hang his screwdrivers and wrench's and he'll be happy.

We also got our gardening stuff organized with a clever little shelf with hooks to hang tools from on the bottom. Slowly but surely the garage is emptying out and it looks like Tom might actually get his wish. He is determined to park in the garage by the time he goes back to work.

So, for those of you who haven't looked around at the rest of our blog and noticed our blog links - WE'RE PREGNANT!!! I got really excited and when we resolved not to tell everyone early on, so, I started blogging so that I wouldn't pop. This is our first pregnancy and we tried for over a year, so I wanted to tell everyone, but deep down I knew it was a good idea to wait until the first trimester had passed. However my best intentions have gone awry and I think more people know at this point then don't. So we are 10 weeks pregnant, very early I know. Our first appointment is next Wendsday, so hopefully I'll have more info to share then. Feel free to visit our "Little Person" page to see what's been happening so far.

Other good news is that I have found great terryaki beef or "beef on a stick" for the first time since I lived in North Adams and we also had a really delicious Thai dinner the other night. Talk about Mango and sticky rice! It came in a huge bowl and was warm and coconutty sweet! Mmmmmmm! Oddly enough the restaurant that makes the good Terryaki also makes other good Chinese food and sushi, too!

We had torrential downpours all day today and by this evening a large portion of the back yard was under signifigant water. It was deep enough that it actually covered the tops of our solar lights along the back fence. I hope they work once they've dried out. At one point the edge of the water had made it about a foot past the base of my birdfeeder. (You can find a picture of the backyard in my last post.)

Life in Charleston

2008-09-21T00:31:00.000-07:00

IS BUSY!

First off, let me apologize for not posting in a while. This is my second attempt at this blog. The initial page sort of froze up and none of my links worked anymore. I tried to have our friend, Jonathan, help me trouble shoot the problem with me, but it was working for him. So I just decided to start over and transfer everything old to the new.

Tom is very busy. Really he is hardly ever home. They are keeping him very busy at MUSC. I'm lucky if I see him 10 hours during the week. I feel bad that he is SO tired all the time. Of course I also get frustrated when he comes home and wants to eat and go to bed and I just want a few minutes with him when he is conscious. I try to be patient and hold out for the weekends. I get at least one weekend day with him all to myself.

I also have a job. I was hired in July by Dr. Zetz at Crescent Moon Orthodontics. I'm working as an assistant along with another dedicated assistant and then one who has been out sick since right after I started and another who is often out sick due to chronic issues. It makes it interesting. I find it somewhat frustrating that I came to this office from an office where I felt like a valued member of the team and I was confident that Dr. Brown trusted me and wouldn't be mad about decisions I made, but here I feel not quite so appreciated or confident. I only work Thursday and Friday for the most part, so I just go and do my best try not to worry to much the rest of the time.

The vast majority of our things are unpacked and have a home in our new house. The Office still needs book shelves so I can finish unpacking boxes in there, but it's only now getting so it's comfortable to work in the garage after 10am. We also need to finish arranging the garage. It needs shelves and a work bench. I also need to by a table and chairs for the kitchen.

We have a lot more wildlife at this house then we did on Mall St. Just this evening I had two rabbits in the backyard. The birds are eating me out of house and home. The neighborhood has residential ducks and Hattie and Sam are enthralled with the frogs we encounter on our walks. We also have a couple different lizards running around the house, definitely Anoles and I think the other is a Skink. The best part is the wildlife we don't have. For those of you who had to listen to me wine about Skibby Man and his noisy neighbor in the apartments behind us (over our backyard) in Portland, WE LOVE OUR NEW BACKYARD! It is SO quiet. There is a house behind us, but it has a large backyard so it's a ways away and the only noise I hear is when they are mowing their lawn. It's GREAT!

We are still trying to find restaurants we really like. We have a few we can go back to, but we aren't in love with several of the places we've tried. The supermarkets are lacking as well. I finally made it into Earth Fare a few weeks ago and was so happy to smell that "natural food store" smell. In general the other grocery stores are okay but lacking basics like good frozen vegetables and buttermilk (in the south! Isn't that crazy! I thought buttermilk was as much a staple in the south as Okra and fried chicken! No cornbread, either!)

We did go to see Fort Sumter in August. We also visited Fort Moltre again as well. My sister Lisa and my brother-in-law Kenny came to visit us in mid-August. Kenny is very into history and the civil war and the like. So while they were here we took the boat out to Fort Sumter and had a tour (in the pouring rain, it started just as we got off the boat.) It was very interesting to see the fort and hear about the battle. I didn't know that the fort is actually built on "northern" soil. The land the Fort Sumter sits on is fill brought down from Massachusetts! The aircraft carrier you see here is the Yorktown. It's located at the landing where the boat back and forth to Fort Sumter docks. There is a submerine there as well and you can take tours of both.

Getting Settled

2008-07-11T22:00:00.000-07:00

Well Tom and I are in South Carolina
now and getting pretty well settled in.
Our last little bit of time in Portland
(or at least my last little bit of time in Portland) was hectic and bittersweet. My mom and her friend from Tennessee flew in at the end of May and puttered around (packing and exploring) while I finished up my last few days working for Dr's Brown and Doleac. My dad flew in on June 5th and Tom's parents drove up for the weekend to attend Tom's graduation.

Everyone helped pack and Bill and Molly were nice enough to take on packing the last of the paintings. Bill even built a crate for the largest ones. Packing and loading the truck took a lot longer then we had expected and actually took a lot more room, too. We had the 24' truck (that dad drove) fully loaded with Tom's car on a 4 wheel trailer in tow ( a scale along the way confirmed that out truck with a weight limit of 26,000lbs was carrying over 31,000, I don't remember how overweight the trailer was) and then rented a 5'x8' trailer for me to tow with my car. That still meant having our bikes shipped and we had to leave our lawn furniture behind. We just plain ran out of room! I thought I had done so well culling down and donating and selling stuff, but there was still so much!

Our little Caravan left Portland on June 9th at about 3:30pm. It was a much later start then we had expected, but we ended up with a lot of extra stuff to do that day. Considering the kids climbed in the back of my car and refused to get out (as if to say "YOU are not leaving US!") about four hours before we left, they did great that day and I was impressed with their behavior the whole way. They acted as if they had lost faith in my ability to find the beach, but they slept most of the way and when we stopped they were very good about doing what needed doing, getting a drink, and then they wanted right back in the car.

So the first day we drove about 300 miles and spent the night at a Super 8 in Baker City, OR. We left Baker City the next day about 9:30am and had one of our most nerve wracking days of the trip. Everything went fairly well until late evening when we were getting close to stopping. We were driving from Utah to Wyoming and I had about a 1/4 tank of gas. We'll be stopping soon, no problem. Except there was a lot of construction and none of the exits had services and I started getting really low on gas. So while I'm trying to find gas, Dad is behind me driving the truck and it just dies as he's going up a small incline. Up until then I hadn't been panicking. I figured if I DID run out of gas, he would pass me, stop, and we could drop Tom's car and I could run up and get gas. So, now the panic sets in. I'm figuring not only am I going to get stuck way past nowhere, but dad is going to call Budget and they'll send out a new truck and we are going to have to move everything from one truck to the other. I'm ready to cry because that took all weekend in Portland. Turns out it was just a hose that came loose and all they had to do was put on a new clamp and refill the coolant. I also made it to the next exit which was where we were staying anyway. I do have to say that I have never before unscrewed my gas cap and heard a vacuum! So, that was how we arrived in Evenston Wyoming! About 500 miles.

We stayed in a Motel 6 that night and needless to say it was nothing to leave the light on for. When I mentioned our disappointment to the front desk staff the next morning they took note and we received a letter of apology and a 100% refund in the mail! Those were some expensive pillows we didn't get!

When we woke up the next morning, June 11, it was 32 degrees and started snowing as we finished filling up and were getting on the road. We had the whole gambit of weather that day; Snow, hail, REALLY strong winds. We got to Goodland KS that night and it was in the 70's. This was also the night there were several tornadoes in Eastern Kansas and some Boy Scouts were killed at there camp. 641 miles for the day. We left Goodland, KS on June 12th and it was hot and humid and in the 80's all day. We hit a lot of rain and several thunderstorms throughout the day, and were chased into Missouri but another Big storm that his Eastern Kansas that night. It was a 620 mile day.

On Friday the 13th, we left O'Fallen Missouri at 8:30am and drove 597 miles, making it to Mom & Dad's house in Tennessee around 10pm. All in all we drove though OR, ID, UT, WY, CO, KS, MO, IL, KY, and TN between 3:30pm on June 9th and 10pm on June 13th.

We got to relax for the weekend before making the final leg and getting into Charleston on June 16th. I signed the papers and we got the keys to our new house. Palmetto Bugs and all!

WOW!

2008-05-24T22:00:00.000-07:00

I went out and mowed the lawn today and when I came in my Weather Channel Desktop was going nuts talking about thunderstorms. It was still sunny and beautiful outside so I didn't pay any attention. Well a little while later Kobe came in off the deck and he was wet. The sun was still shining, but it was raining; big fat drops outside. A little while later I turned around and WOW! What a gorgeous sunset. It was still raining, and there was some thunder and lightning, but the whole sky was just alive with color.

Been a While?

2008-05-23T23:22:00.000-07:00

Life has been so busy, and so much has been happening, I haven't had time to sit down and update for so long. First big accomplishment: Tom and I celebrated 7 years (yesterday) of living together in "more-often-then-not" wedded bliss. We had dinner at Castagna on Hawthorne in Portland and then came home for cake from A Piece of Cake on SE 17th. I had a small 6" chocolate cake with raspberry filling made. It is very similar to our wedding cake, except that it is covered with chocolate ganache and not roses.

We also go a late start placing our house on the market, so it didn't actually go up for sale until the beginning of April. Even with that delay, we had an offer in 8 days and got more or less full price for it. We had to give them some money to deal with an unexpected sewer complication, but at least they are dealing with it. That means we can just enjoy what little time we have left in the house. Of course my crying when I do yard work has just gotten worse over the months. I love this house so much; I keep telling Tom I wish we could just pick it up and move it. Oh if it weren't for impossible dreams!

We also have had our offer excepted on a new house in Charelston. It is really a lovely house and I think it is a good compromise for everything we were looking for and what we needed. All it really needs is some refencing for the dogs and a little bit of yard work to perk it up. It really has a bare minimum of landscaping right now.

We have also been doing a mad dash around Portland, visiting our favorite

places and seeing the things we haven't managed to see in 7 years. We are

really going to miss all of the Mcminnamen's establishments (Edgefield, The Kennedy School, The Barley Mill Pub and the Bagdad) I keep telling Tom we should franchize one in SC. I finally saw the Portlandia statue.--------->
Who knew Portland had an imitation Liberty Bell right in the middle of downtown!?

So no luck on the baby front, yet. That has been really hard. However, as so many people have told me, I am still young, and maybe if I just relax, things will happen - when I just stop thinking about it. Please pardon me while I go excise my tongue from my cheek. To my credit, I normally manage to keep a smile on my face when receiving this "advice" from those people who A) have children and B) never had a lick of trouble popping a bun in their oven. Seemingly, most of the people who shower me with such advise are the ones who wake up one morning and say "What is this bun doing in my oven, I didn't want another/anymore bun/s right now!" Oh, and by the way, being told by everyone and their 2nd cousin to "relax" really doesn't help achive the goal, it really just pisses me off.

Maybe if I were a 14 year old crack addict, that advise would come in handy. However, I assure you I am a 28 year old wife of an employed professional. I haven't thought of anything else for about 12 years. I had to wait 6 years for Tom to get on board (because that is what good wives who want their relationships based on trust do) before even getting to the "trying" stage only to still be childless without even a glimmer of hope on the horizon 10 months later. The bitterest pill is standing there, every night, and taking "the pill," even though YOU aren't the one who doesn't want to get pregnant - only to find out that you really didn't need to do that because, HEY! you can't seem to get pregnant anyway. Pardon me, but the optimist in me is going to step out of the room now for this "truly,life sucks" moment. The only thing worse was having to smile and cutely say "No, not yet!" when being asked if we have children or were we trying.
Wow, I guess that's all I had to say about that. Really it's not, but I'm sure you're sitting there making the "movin' on" gesture with your hand, so I'll do just that.

I also took a three week trip to the East Coast in March. I rented a car (I still can't get the smile off my face from driving THAT car!) and drove round trip from Greeneville to Massachusetts where Mom, Colby, Amanda, and I got to spend time with Gram-Gram and Pa-Pa, and see uncles and friends and extended family while we were there. We stayed a week before heading back to Tennessee, only for mom and I to head to Charleston to initiate the hunt for the new house.

My Mom will be here on Memorial Day with her friend Anne. They are coming to go exploring around Portland and help me pack. We are signed up to do the 2nd Annual OHSU Tram run/walk on June1st. It's Mom's first organized event, so this should be fun. Then Dad arrives on the 5th, we pick up the moving truck and Tom graduates on the 6th of June. Bill & Molly will be driving up from Truckee for that momentous evening. Then Mom, Dad, Anne, and the kids (read dogs) and I will be leaving sometime around the 10th of June. Tom will have to stay on in a rented room in The Pearl until June 21st. Crazy month, huh? To top it off we already have social engagements in Charleston. So the fun only begins when Tom arrives.

Happiness in a New Place

2008-02-12T23:10:00.000-08:00

We have been working away on our home, trying to get everything cleaned up and pianted and all the projects finished before it goes on the market at the end of the month. I've been having a really hard time with the thought of leaving Portland. Last night I was reading through a guide on moving (yes, it was Martha Stewart) and got all teary when the line "Take a final walk through after the movers have finished to make sure nothing is left behind." This is our first house - and I'm simply having a hard time leaving it. We had Toms' apartment in Boston and our apartment when we moved here; but this has been the first place we owned, the first place we could put our mark on. It looks great, too. It is so hard to think we're leaving it just as soon as we have everyhting we (I) wanted to do, done.

I was going through my email today and found a link through my Sierra Club "The Green Life" Daily Tips that Really made me feel so much better. CHARLESTON RECYCLES! Go Green Charleston has tips, comments and general information (even about reusable bags and what grocery stores sell them) about living green in Charleston! I am SO Happy! Going to visit Mom and Dad in Tennessee has been so hard because they don't recycle ANYTHING! Some people in Tennessee are now trying to get a bottle bill passed to reduse litter on the roads, and that is the one thing my family has been saving to recycle - soda cans. But otherwise it is just so difficult to watch all the cans and glass and paper that goes into the trash when I'm there. I feel like one visit there undermines all of my green effort for the year. At home I recycle everything! We barely have one full bag of trash each week, otherwise it is seperated and recycled, I even have a bin for taking plastic bags and #5 plastic to New Seasons. I also got a new resturaunt recomendation and a list of farmers markets and a herbry in Charleston. I have been excited about starting a new herb garden. All these links from one little tip!

Welcome to Our Blog!

2008-01-08T21:00:00.000-08:00

Well here we are in the new year - 2007 seems to have gone by so fast - I really can't believe it is 2008 already! It seems like 2007 was all consumed with moving - and that isn't even happening until June of this year. First we had to decide if we wanted to move, then we had to rate the places that we might want to move to and then we found out where we were moving to and finally, I know I spent the rest of the year digging in my heels and trying to soak up every last experience I could out of our current home. Tom came home one day just after I had mowed the yard and found me sitting on the front walk crying. I was going to miss our yard, we had worked so hard on it for 5 years, and it was perfect, and such a joy, and now were were leaving. He had a lot of strange moments like that with me. Then in October we started tearing the house apart to replace the floors and molding to get it ready to sell this spring. Needless to say it took longer then we thought and our last Christmas was not all we had hoped it would be. We didn't get the outside decorated for Christmas and we barely got the tree decorated in time to take it down. I feel as though I've been so obsessed with the move, that I haven't really been able to enjoy the time we have left.

All that, mixed with our attempts in the second half of the year to start a family, along with our failure to do so have really been hitting me hard. Of course everyone is well intentioned and just keeps telling me to "relax and it will happen." When you want something like this for as long as I have wanted this and as deeply as I want this, it seems impossible to relax or, better yet "think about other things..." Hopefully with all the moving business that will start really happening in the next few months, the timing will be really inconvenient and one day I'll wake up and find out I forgot to worry about it and... hey! It Happened!

Anyway, we have started talking with a real estate agent and he has a picture of what the house looked like when we bought it. He is supposed to get me a copy, so when we put our house on the market I'll post both as a before and after. He was pleasantly surprised when he pulled up and the house was no longer baby blue. Lucky for him he is talking about selling just as the flowers are popping in early March, So that will really showcase the front of the house.