Today I Will Wear PURPLE......

And this is why.....

What is Spirit Day?

The idea behind Spirit Day, first created by teenager Brittany McMillan earlier this month, is a simple one, not dissimilar to the idea of "Spirit Week" held in many high schools, and can be summed up in three words: Everyone Rally Together.

Spirit Day honors the teenagers who had taken their own lives in recent weeks. But just as importantly, it's also a way to show the hundreds of thousands of LGBT youth who face the same pressures and bullying, that there is a vast community of people who support them.

Purple symbolizes 'spirit' on the rainbow flag,

a symbol for LGBT Pride that was created by Gilbert Baker in 1978.

As one of the event's Facebook pages says: "This event is not a seminar nor is it a rally. There is NO meeting place. All you have to do is wear purple."

Wearing purple on October 20 is a simple way to show the world that you stand by these courageous young people and a simple way to stand UP to the bullies. Remember those lives we've tragically lost, and show your solidarity with those who are still fighting. 'Go Purple' today!

http://glaad.org/spiritday

So today I wear Purple.
Here are a few "purple" pictures that I have taken.
And a special one with a message from me.....

Today I am wearing purple.
Be kind...
Peace

Fall is Here....

It's a beautiful day!

A little cold this morning, but the sun is out.

I had to stop and take a picture of these trees.

So beautiful :-)

SO.......On the first weekend of October, my sister and I took our mom to Leavenworth for her 70th Birthday. We asked her what she would like to do, and that is what she chose. It's a long drive, 5-1/2 hours, but worth it. Leavenworth is such a fun Bavarian themed town. We had a really nice weekend. Stayed at a hotel that has a "special" room. They bought an old church and moved it to their lot and turned it into a private room.

We only had someone try to come in twice! Once when the door was locked and then when we were preparing to leave on Sunday, someone walked up and looked in the door. When they saw us in there, the hurried and left. I can't believe that people were actually trying to open the door when it was closed. There is a sign right there on the door that says that it is a private room and to go to the front desk to inquire about staying there. But no....people still have to try to come in. On the way out of town, we stopped at a really nice orchard and took all kinds of pictures and shopped in their store. I bought some really tasty vegi chips. The drive home was long, but we were making good time. We stopped at the replica of Stonehenge in Goldendale in the gorge and took some pictures. We decided to cross the river at Biggs and go home via I-84 in Oregon instead of the longer drive along SR14 in Washington. Good thing. The truck broke down. We were so lucky that it broke down where it did. We were in Portland and right at the split where you either go south on I-84 or merge onto I-205 north to head back to Washington. I was driving along in the center lane watching for the split to 205 when I felt something in the steering wheel. It felt tight all of a sudden. I tested it a little in the lane, trying to move it slightly, but it wouldn't. I had no steering. I was thinking that I needed an exit and that I had to call Katie, who was driving in her car in front of me. But how was I going to call her and keep my hands on the steering wheel? I was afraid to let go of it. Just then my cell phone rang. I grabbed it without even looking to see who it was and handed it to my sister in the back seat and told her "It's Katie. Tell her I need to take the next exit." It was Katie. She was calling to tell me that I was dragging something. Unfortunately, there was no exit at that portion of the freeway, so I had to just pull over to the side of the road. Which was pretty difficult. I had no steering and brakes. I had to push really hard on the steering wheel to be able to switch lanes, and press down hard on the brakes. I think the cars behind me knew something was wrong because they all slowed down and backed off. Katie and I got out to look at the truck. Water was pouring out and something was hanging down underneath the engine. It was a belt.

So I wasn't dragging anything, the belt had fallen off and was hanging there. (Robert thinks the cars behind me could see the water pouring out and that's why they backed off) I called Robert and he started researching where the closest Dodge dealer was. We decided to take it to the one in Gresham. I didn't want everyone else staying on the side of the freeway with me. It's so unsafe. I will risk my own life being there, but not everyone elses. So Katie loaded everything that she could into her car, and took mom, Terri and Missy with her. Robert headed out to come get me. I called AAA and asked for a tow, and then sat there and waited. And tried not to panic because of the cars and semi's whizzing past me. I had things going through my head like "Where is the best place to be in the truck in case someone rear ends me going 60 mph?" I decided to stay in the drivers seat with my seat belt on, but moved the seat back away from the steering wheel and the air bag. I didn't want the whole force of the airbag to hit me square in the face! I was sitting there, waiting for my tow, going over my conversation with AAA in my mind, when I suddenly realized that I told them I was sitting on the freeway EAST bound on I-84, when I was actually WEST bound! Oooooopsies..... I called them back and told them about my mistake. She said that they would call a different truck to come assist me since the other one was headed the wrong way. My bad. Robert showed up about then and we loaded all that we could into the Miata. Only had to leave the cooler and 2 bags of board games in the truck. The tow truck arrived and he told told us that it looked like the water pump went out and that caused the belt to fall off.

Now this truck in only 4 years old, and this is the second water pump to go out! WTS? Something is definitely wrong with the pumps they are using. Fortunately it was covered under the warranty, and the truck was repaired at no cost. We only had it in the shop for 2 days. Good thing, because we were going camping that next weekend. There are so many things that could have been really horrible with this breakdown.

1. It could have happened in some podunk Eastern Washington town with no cell coverage.

2. It could have happened hours away from home.

3. It could have happened on the hills in Eastern Washington between Ellensburg and Yakima. HUGE HILLS!!!!! That was the only time I got choked up over this. Saying something to Robert about "What if this had happened on the hills? I wouldn't have been able to stop or steer the truck from going over the side of the cliff."

4. It could have happened on SR14 if we had not made the decision to go I-84. SR-14 has a section of very narrow lanes near cliffs overlooking the Columbia River Gorge.

5. It could have happened the next weekend when we were pulling the trailer.

I know you should never play the "What If...." game. But I did. I don't know if that is my way of preparing myself for the "What If's..." the next time something like this happens or what. But I will go through all the other scenarios of what could have happened and what I would have done in those cases.

Lets just hope that it won't come to that :-)

well....ok...i can handle this....

the miata got hit.
again.
this is the third time.
do people not look around when they are driving?
what is up with that.
its like once they got their drivers license, all common sense went out the window.
here is a tip for driving....
DRIVE DEFENSIVELY!
you should always pay attention to your surroundings.
last friday i decided to go get a burger for lunch. i have not been eating crap like that for a while, and it sounded good. and i was hungry. and there was nothing in the house. how convenient :-)
burgerville is close, so i went there. for those of you not from our area, burgerville is nationally ranked for their burgers because they use local, fresh products. they are kinda spendy for fast food. growing up we called their burgers *shit burgers*. not because they were shit, but because they used a special sauce that made the burgers kinda sloppy. but oh so yummy! these are just the regular ol little burgers, not their newer big ones like the tillamook cheeseburger. i skip those. way too big. they do have a yummy turkey/bacon sandwich on a wheat roll that is really good too. anyway.....i pulled into the drive thru and it was backed up. there were about 5 cars still to place their orders. i was sitting there for only about 2 minutes or so, when i see the big bronco in front of me start backing up. backing up fast! all i could see were his tail lights! i honked but too late. he smacked into me. who the hell backs up in a drive thru? if you pull into the drive thru you are committed to go through! we got out of our vehicles, saw that his big steel bumper put a dent in the front of the car, so we pulled over into the lot. i got his info, shook his hand and told him that it was alright and we would get everything taken care of. he half jokingly said "its not alright. i just insured this truck this morning now i gotta pay to fix that." well dumbass....guess you shouldn't have backed up in the drive thru! i called his insurance and now i just need to get the quote.
we have been hit so many times.
in different cars that we have owned.
the first time was the ford escort. robert was at work and someone didn't set their break. their unoccupied vehicle rolled and crashed into our car.
#2 - ford probe. i was in the car and there was a long line of cars sitting at the light. i was going to turn left. i was driving slowly in the turn lane past the stopped cars when a guy decided to pull out the the line of stopped cars. he crashed into the back right side of the my car. idiot.
#3 - nissan pathfinder. this one was a 50/50 fault. me again. i was on my way home and got to an intersection that has a no stop right hand turn, into your own lane. then you would need to merge over. an old lady was in a station wagon in front of me. we were taking the turn slow. i turned my head to look to the left to see if anyone was coming so that i could merge left, when bam. i hit her. she had made her turn and then stopped instead of continuing in her lane. we were both covered by the same insurance company, so we were found 50/50 at fault. her for stopping when she didn't need to, me for following to close and not paying attention to her. ooopsie.
#4 - nissan pathfinder again. it was roberts 30th birthday. we were headed to portland to pick up food for his party. traffic was stopped on the freeway, so we had to stop. all of a sudden robert goes "HOLD ON!" . BAM! we got hit. i think it was a woman. don't remember. she was not paying attention to the traffic. she must have started to break because the damage was just a dent in the bumper. we didn't even get it fixed. we bought new tires. needed those more.
#5 - miata - this was the first time the miata was hit. robert and someone from work, ken or someone, were sitting at a stoplight when they were rearended. big booboo. kid was insured on his parents policy. car was fixed up nice.
#6 - miata again. i was in the downtown parking garage because i went to a movie with mom. when we came out, some had turned into the parking spot next to me, hit the car, put a huge dent in the rear side panel, and took off. jerks. since they left the scene we had to pay our deductible as if we had been hit by an uninsured motorist. not fair. but we got it fixed.
#7 - dodge ram truck. this was a scary one. robert was leaving his office in portland. i think it was dark and raining, or at least it was dark. some woman tried to beat the traffic in the intersection and turned in front of robert who was going through. she was going super fast. her car was totaled and the truck was damaged quite a bit on the front left side. if he had been in the miata instead of the truck that night, he may not have walked away from that crash. where she hit the truck, that would have been the driverside door of the miata. she would have gone right into him. that one scared me.
#8 - back to friday and the miata.
eight times we have been hit. 7 were somewhat minor. one bad. but in all of them, no one was hurt other than a stiff back from a couple of them.
guess you can say that we are lucky in that sense!

happenings since the last time....

lets see.....

last i was here was aug 18.

since then lets see what has happened.....

nothing on the 19th.

the 20th was my 27th anniversary! we celebrated w/friends and fake journey.

since the real journey is in the studio, we went with beth & les, tim & sandy and katie & mara to see a journey tribute band. what a fiasco. the doors opened at 7pm. we got there about that time, and almost all of the tables were taken. mostly by one person holding the entire table for 12 for other people. we were getting a little pissed. have your whole party there, or most of them. not one stinking person. we finally found a table with only 4 people at it that was NOT being held for more! so we sat with them. the music didn't even start until something like 9. maybe later. i don't remember now. but mara and katie both had to leave before the journey tribute band came on. and that was the only reason we went. they finally came on at 10:30 and played until midnight. they were ok. it was just nice to hear the songs.

on the 21st, robert and i went to see american idol. i have to admit it, but they were not good. at all. boring song selections. boring performances. we only went because it was free. i sat there the entire show waiting for crystal bowersox and lee dewyze. crystal was the only one who was good. lee.....sucked. i was so disappointed. maybe his voice was off because of the long tour. but he was not good. at all. so sad.

on the 22nd we went to a classic car show that was being held down here on officers row. really fun! some of the cars were very cool. there was a car here worth $600,000 and one that was worth $2,000,000! it was a hemi cuda. not my favorite car. it was orange and kind of like a muscle type car. i think it was a 1970. it was a very rare car though, so that is why it was worth so much. my favorites are the british cars....the mg's and the austin healey's. love love love those!

my favorite austin healey

had a massage on the 26th. have to skip next month though....ummmm..that would be THIS month :-) we need to make the catering deposit for katie's wedding this month, so no massage.

went camping in the cascades on the 27th, 28th and 29th with scott and jody. fun times! got a few laughs in at robert's expense, which is usually how it goes. this time it involved fire, melted marshmallow, a napkin and both hands. i think you get the picture :-)

kite surfing in stevenson, wa

and now we are at this past weekend. spent saturday making cards while robert was out doing yard work with our rent-a-son colton. they got so much done, including removing many blackberry vines and an approx 10 year old fir tree growing between the fence and some bushes. it was crazy huge. you don't realize how big something is until you get in there and take a good look. it was big. on sunday, katie and tim brought over salmon and we cooked that on a cedar plank. i'm not a big fan of salmon, but it was good.

rent-a-son colton

that's a big tree

grilled salmon on a cedar plank

and here we are at today.

consider yourself caught up :-)

someone left their heart in San Francisco.......

Robert, Bryan and I took Celina down to San Francisco this past weekend. She will be there for 8 months to a year going to Grad School. Smarty pants. We drove her down along with the few belongings she took with her. Poor Bryan kept getting disappointed the more she pulled stuff out of boxes...."You took Lord of the Rings?" "You took Harry Potter?" He was more concerned about the movies then her living away from him! He was just kidding with her. He would say something and she would get upset and say "You said I could take it!" It was funny. We unloaded all of her stuff from the truck Friday and she and Bryan put together the futon bed that night. Then we walked around her neighborhood trying to find a place to eat. Saturday we went back to her apartment and they put together her dresser and bookcase. After that we decided to go down to the pier for lunch. They figured out where to wait for a cable car, and we walked a couple blocks and waited. And waited. And waited. Finally one came. And it was full. He said there was another one right behind him. So we waited. And waited. And waited. And then it came. And it was full. So we decided to take the bus. We crossed the street to wait for the bus. Now while we were waiting for the cable car, 3 or 4 buses had come by. Now we were waiting for a bus. And a cable car came. But it was full. Still no bus. Lots of taxi's though. Robert wanted to take a cab. I hate cabs. We decided to walk down. I suggested that we just follow the cable car tracks. So we did. There were a lot of hills. Not very many were up hill though, so it was not a bad walk. We got down to the pier, had chowder and sour dough bread for lunch, then walked down to the Boudin bread store and then back over to Ghirardelli for chocolate. The plan was to take the cable car back up to Celina's neighborhood. But it was going to be a 2 hour wait. Robert and Bryan got in line and Celina and I sat in the park. After several minutes, I thought that we should have bought the tickets to ride the cable car already, so I asked Celina to say something to the boys. They both decided they didn't want to wait 2 hours, so Bryan called a cab. Bleck. But it was actually a great idea. The cab showed up within minutes, took all four of us back to Celina's super fast and it was only $6.00. The cable car was $5.00 per person. I insisted on buying Celina groceries before we left. I was not going to leave without her having food and cleaning supplies. Good thing we did it when we were all there because she would have had to walk a couple blocks up hill with all that stuff by herself. We left early evening so that Bryan and Celina could spend some time together. Then Sunday morning we went back to get the empty suitcases and large cardboard that we told her we would take back for her...and Bryan. Robert stayed with the truck to load stuff in back that Bryan and I brought down. Then I went up to hug her and say goodbye and quickly left before I started to cry. I sent Robert up to say goodbye and he came back down a few minutes later and said "Thanks for sending me up there when she is bawling her eyes out." Which is what I was trying to avoid myself, but didn't even think he would have to see. I felt so bad leaving her there, but I know it is the best thing for her to do to finish school. It will all be good. Hopefully for Bryan and Celina it will go fast. They already have plans for when she is going to Seattle and for when Bryan is going back down there.
And they always have text messaging.