Raincharm’s Weblog

This weekend we decided it was the right time to pack up the Christmas ornaments and move the tree back outside.

Moving the tree back outside was well timed with our yard-waste pickup on Monday morning.
They do have restrictions on size, so I took the loppers (spell-check please) and de-branched the trunk. The branches went into the yard-waste bin, and the trunk remained out in the cold.

Adding the tree debris to the yard-waste made our compost happy.
During the winter our yard-waste bin can become an interesting stew, since it is almost always just compost. I have to believe the yard-waste haulers don’t always appreciate this stew when they dump the bin. But since most of the dump is done by the truck, I don’t worry too much.

As I was finishing the tree chore, I recalled Carl mentioning that I had not pruned the raspberry bushes yet. This is traditionally a January chore. It was cold (by Seattle standards) with frost on the lawn, but it was also sunny. The raspberry bushes were in the sun, and I doubted I would get another sunny, dry weekend day in January, so it was a chore calling my name. I pruned and pulled, cut down an interloping tree, and added a few nearby blackberry bushes to the bin.

Yesterday was a bit more focused on continuing the move into the house. We took a print we had acquired several years ago to be framed. (WOW – matting and framing was a BIT more expensive than we guessed.) We also put together the pantry since the shelves had arrived. Also spent some time trying to figure out what type of pavers to use on the side of the house for a sidewalk that is shared with our neighbor. Once this has been decided probably the last real part of the house project of 2013 can be completed. (That is if you don’t count putting the door hardware back on the doors. Some things just linger.) ((Oh, and hanging artwork on the walls.))

And for good measure I started working on taxes today.
I don’t have TurboTax yet, but gathered car and work information that I will need for Carl’s self-employment figuring. The big change this year could be trying to count our sales tax expense instead of using the standard deduction. I know you can add in big expenses for cars easily, but don’t know if that can be done for contractor payments.

Yes, I made it to midnight.
Carl only made it to 11:45.
Luckily, we were at home, and in bed by then.
Some old Twilight Zone episodes were helping us pass the time, but were not quite enough to keep our eyes wide open. (We did turn to the station showing the Space Needle party for a bit, but I find network personalities trying to party with the crowd really awkward.)

There were some local fireworks in the neighborhood, and I opened the bedroom blinds to see what we could see from our house. On certain occasions we are able to see the top of fireworks from the city show. I am not sure whether the Space Needle New Year’s event would have flown high enough into the air to see from our house.

There was no way this year.
Even the TV show did not really show all of the fireworks.
In a word FOG.

Luckily there was quite a display coming off of the legs of the Needle as well, and those were visible.
I wonder what it was like for those at the top of the Needle.
There own private show in the clouds?

Today I was planning to work on a chapter for work.
I really was ready for this work, but I don’t seem to be able to long on remotely.
Now the decision is whether to drive in to work or take the day off.

Update: I did drive in to work.
Remote was not working because apparently my password expired yesterday. Why it did not alert me yesterday at work, I do not know.
Reason that “Work” knew I needed to go into the office, was that our phone system did not go onto Holiday mode, and was just ringing with nobody there to answer. I was able to get it into “Night” mode which pages our on-call people. This is necessary because if anybody called in something important (like a main break), they really should get an answer.

Resolution?
I don’t generally make these specifically, but I do want to just keep moving more this year.
And I don’t mean moving domiciles.

What I did for my Christmas Vacation:

Crosswords

Bananagrams

Quirkle

Jigsaws

The Desolation of Smaug

Prime Rib

Potatoes au Gratin

Pizza

Macaroni and Cheese

Family & Friends

Yes, we are squatting.
Look – the books are “unpacked”

I was the last one out of bed on Christmas.

This is full circle from my 4-year old (maybe 5) rising at 4:30 AM.
I even got dressed before I went to wake Mom & Dad.
After that year we had a 7 AM limit.

This year we even made coffee and ate breakfast before heading to the tree.
Santa was very nice, along with various and sundry relatives.

We crossworded and generally hung out during the day.
Ashlan took the lead on dinner, prime rib, potatoes au-gratin and roasted brussel sprouts.
Quite good. (And I helped)

There was a bit of a Dr. Who marathon in the evening, but I have to admit that I missed a bit of this by dozing.

One of my favorite parts of the day was when I went to bed and could listen to the sounds of the family in the house.
I miss having those sounds around.

Boxing day has been spent with a bit of cleaning, the kids are out shopping (Rey is getting some shirt and ties thanks to financial assistance from grandparents, and choosing assistance from Ashlan.)

And now it is time to finish the Christmas Card!

It’s beginning to look more like Christmas.

I should have written that the day it snowed.
Carl made his requisite snowman, and then another.
They both tipped over almost immediately.

That was on Friday morning, and we still have a small pile of snow in the front yard.
We are prepared to declare it a WHITE CHRISTMAS!

The real looking more like Christmas is the tree.

The tree itself is one of the best shaped trees we have had for several years. It finally made the journey from the deck into the house on Monday, and this morning (Tuesday) it got lights. A few ornaments have been added, and I think we are now officially ready.

We don’t discriminate – any kind of decoration may make the shelf.

Other momentous events since the last posting.

• Rey arrived home on Friday night. (The airport was so busy that the side-highway to the airport was backed up to I-5. We took Hwy 99 instead. (Why did I check traffic at 11 PM??))
• Ashlan arrived home on Saturday night. (The airport traffic was only backed up on the approach road. And she arrived 45 minutes early. We were driving home before she was supposed to land.)
• All three storage units are empty of our stuff!
  The last two items were disposed of through the Craigslist free site, posted yesterday – gone today.

It has been really nice to have a few meals around the table, chatting with the kids. Sort of like old times.
And their arrival hastened a bit more unpacking that might have taken longer. And they helped crush the rolls of cardboard floor protection to put out with the recycle. Interesting folks, and helpful too.

I hope everyone that might read this has arrived safely at their destination for the holidays, and good tidings.

Today the season is finally starting to hit home.

I braved the teeming masses and went shopping.
Malls, neighborhoods, parallel parking, brand new parking structures, and closed roads.

It was going fairly smoothly, until we found out Hwy 99 was closed approaching downtown. That resulted in an incredibly roundabout and frustrating half hour – at the end of which all we ended up getting was coffee.

This should have been taken as a sign, but we pressed on back north to the NORTH MALL.
Our recent experience helped us make quicker decisions and we did not even make it into the parking lot.

Finally we got to the fun activity of the day.
The Green Lake Pathway of Lights.

2013 Luminaria

I did not take too many pictures, deciding to try to just enjoy the sights as they came. Click here for some better pictures than I would get anyway.

Jazz at the lake

Green Lake 2013

We have done this most years over the past few decades.
This year it was 50 degrees and not raining.
That resulted in one of the most crowded walks in recent memory, with the usual singing groups, lit-up outfits, lighted kayak parade, dog walkers (try to see a leash leader in the dark), crying babies and complaining kids. [The walk is about 3 miles, and I bet that most of the complaining comes after mile 1.]

One of our enduring memories of past walks is from when Rey was probably 2 and Ashlan an infant.
Rey wanted to stop at every bag with a candle and look inside. It was one of our longer duration walks.

We also used this excursion to pick up a Christmas Tree.
This is Green Lake Elementary School’s annual major fundraiser.
Last year we only had a short tree from the grocery store. We were in the middle of packing the house and wanted to keep it simple.
This year we have kids coming home, and are moving back in.

One of the highlights of the Christmas Tree lot was being helped by Max.
Carl took care of Max here and there when he was very young.
Max is now a high school senior, taking running start classes (community college – can count for both high school & college credits), with a possible focus in biology.
It was good to catch up a bit.

2013 Nobel Fir (with blue spruce topper)

When I first looked at this picture of the tree, I thought the top had a bend to the left.
Turns out it is just our blue spruce trying to get in on the holiday action.

Today was a day of visitors to our house, so I stayed home to work and welcome them all as they arrived.

The visitors included a garage door guy, some delivery persons, an unexpected delivery person, and the general contractor.

Between these I was supposed to be working from home.
The last few times I have worked from home have been pretty productive.
Today – not so much, but work did get done. It just took longer to hit my stride.
I think it was all of the little interruptions along the way, including an adorable 2-1/2 year old that wanted me to play with her.

So now we have a full bed – with box springs to try out.
We have a garage door almost installed, but not quite. (Our 1926 garage door opening includes a wall that is slightly canted inward on the side with no extra room for adjustments.) More parts are needed so the installer can continue to improvise his way around our less than square opening. So it looks like a new door. Just not one that can be opened.
And we have a plan for our side yard side walk. (Now we just need to see the cost estimate.)

And I did finally finish reviewing the chapter that was primary on my to-do list.
Still have to review the figure that goes with the map. Something to look forward to for tomorrow.

And for dessert – look into the unexpected delivery.

Rogue rocks in fact.

This past year I have experienced Spinning Room sensation a few times.
The first time was at the cabin in the summer.
There was some other time, and then a few weeks ago.

My spinning room is whichever room I happen to be sleeping in, because it happens when I am getting out of bed.
No alcohol is involved.

A week or so ago I was putting a bin on a closet shelf, and suddenly I thought the shelf was falling.
It was not. Nor was I, but I was holding the shelf up with all my might.

The spinning has decreased a bit, but I can feel the sensation starting when I roll over in bed or look high above my head. So I decided it was time to get a real diagnosis.

And I found out that I have rocks in my head.
Otoliths.

And they are not staying where they are supposed to stay, moving into some ear canals and mixing it up with the cilia, who in turn whine to the brain, which starts things spinning.

To fix this issue apparently I need to train my brain to ignore these whiners.
We do this by trying to make the spinning start often enough that the brain just gets tired of responding.
If that doesn’t work there is a nurse that specializes in head contortions.
Or maybe acupuncture.

I won’t worry about that until we find out if I can manage to stop this on my own.

For those that want to know, it is Benign Paroxysmal Positional Vertigo.
I like the Benign, I get the Position, and I understand the Vertigo.
Paroxysmal – I thought I associated that with laughing, so maybe this is a laughing matter, or I have an entirely different word in my head. Along with rocks.

Today and yesterday were days to shift things here and there and everywhere.

We have company scheduled next weekend, so we are making a big push to get the house somewhat looking like we did not just move in. I don’t think we will achieve that lofty goal, but we might have fewer boxes to walk around.

The continuing to move has required shifting of stuff from this spot to that – just to have room to work on the room de jour. But that usually results in at least of few of the shifting boxes being unpacked as well.

Today we moved our (Carl’s) albums (records, LPs, vinyl) from the middle of the floor to spaces around the edge of the dining room.  I am not sure this will be their final resting spot, but it did get them out of the main walkway.

Art was unpacked and is now scattered around in different rooms, trying to find a home.

Bedding has been mostly unpacked. And some of it left our home to find homes with other people who need blankets. I got a few new blankets to fill the void, and a couple of bedspreads for the finishing touch.

There are still a few more boxes to unpack, but the number is definitely decreasing.

The Recycle Truck is getting quite a load from us tomorrow. We piled all of the boxes on the lawn, filled an extra garbage can and of course put out the regular recycle bin.

Recycle Overload

Sorry about the dark picture, but it is dark out there. The pile doesn’t look that big in the picture. Perhaps I should have had Carl lay across the pile for scale.

And curtains were purchased for the room with the computer. Not hung yet, but the curtain rods were also obtained today.

And we took a walk – used the walk to do a little Christmas shopping.
This year has been a bit hard to get started on the seasonal stuff, but hopefully it will all come together in the end.

And the last storage unit is down to items that we hope will not see the inside of our house again.
But we need to find somebody willing to take them off our hands. Craigslist – take them away …

Sort of stream of consciousness here, and I am sure I have missed a thing or two or twelve.

time to do some laundry.

From the prior post you should know that the bed frame was successfully put together.

Yesterday’s activity was to have the box spring and mattress delivered and installed.
Carl was present for this activity – or at least the attempt at this activity.

In an earlier episode of our move back home we attempted to carry a dresser up to the second floor.
This involves going through the doorway and turning 90 degrees – all while going up a step or two.
After about 5 minutes of jockeying the dresser, including removing the feet, the neighbor on the uphill side of the dresser said, “This dresser did come down the stairs on the move out, didn’t it?”. At which point we realized that no, it had not in fact ever traversed the staircase because it was in a downstairs bedroom before.

The dresser is now upstairs, after having been taken apart and put back together in the new location.

So the box spring effort brought back those memories.
Unfortunately, it is not easy to just take apart the box spring and reassemble it at the top of the stairs.

Fortunately, this was are not the first house where a bed delivery has encountered this problem.
They make box springs that come in two pieces.

Also fortunately, the mattress did make the journey upstairs successfully.
Mattresses squish and bend.

The whole incident resulted in several phone calls during which at least twice people were on two phones between three people, at the same time

• Carl calls Jay to tell her about the situation.
• Jay calls Macys to tell Jan (Yan) about the situation. (It took several minutes to get to Jan, going through customer service, their 2 attempts at a transfer, (during which time Carl called Jay and Jay tried to carry on two conversations),
• Jay is finally transferred successfully to Jan and we are finally talking about the situation, and getting the split box spring order started – when the phone line goes dead.
• Jan calls Jay (on the home phone number) and Carl answers.
• Jay, using her work phone, calls Jan and “furniture” answers, telling Jay that Jan is on another line. (Jay explains Jan is trying to talk to her)
• Jan transfers to Jay’s call.
• Carl calls Jay on Jay’s cell phone, which Jay answers – now talking to both Carl & Jan for at least a moment.

The result is that the bed is now half made.
Literally. After spending the night on the new mattress (wonderful night of sleep) the covers are a bit disheveled.
I had always tried to be good about pulling up the covers on the water-bed, because they keep the heat from escaping and running up the energy bill.
I don’t have that same issue now, and should make the bed just because it is neater.

This morning I was actually moving in that direction, but the phone rang.
I blame the current state of the bed on the Boy.