Thanksgiving Fades Into Christmas

I cannot believe how quickly last week flew by.  We had parent-teacher conferences on Monday and Tuesday which went remarkably well.  To be honest, I was a little nervous about the potential of having to hold conferences completely in Spanish.  As it turned out, I only had to have one Spanish conference, the rest were in English.  All were enjoyable.  We had Wednesday off, which was even more enjoyable.  Dan and I actually had a chance to sit down and sort through some of our wedding photos...5 months later.

We had a nice Thanksgiving too.  A lazy morning and then a leisurely drive out to McMinniville (a rural area, filled with wineries and farmland, about an hour outside of Portland).  My friend and co-worker Becky invited us to their family gathering at her husband's ranch there.  It was a nice little family gathering, but inevitably slightly awkward since it wasn't our family.  We enjoyed it though and were grateful for a place to go to celebrate the holiday.  

Friday I jumped right onto the holiday bandwagon.  I made Christmas cookies...plus a special one that reminds me of home.  It's still a Christmas cookie even if the frosting turned out more neon than holiday-ish right?  

Saturday I proceeded to make and put up the rest of the holiday décor. Like the boxwood wreath ($9.99 at Trader Joe's!).  I jammed some fake berries in there to make it a bit more colorful. 

 I also made this Pinterest find for the bookshelf in the living room.  I purchased some wooden (and cardboard) letters from Michaels and painted them with metallic paints.  I made the "O" out of the same fake berry garland that I used in the wreath.  It was on sale...don't judge me.

And I'm mildly embarrassed to admit this last creation.  I am officially a "crazy cat lady" because I made the cat a freakin' stocking.  Yep.  Not only does our cat now have her own stocking, but I put in the time and creative energy to hand sew the darn thing.  But come on, it's cute, right? 

I think it looks pretty good with our stockings too.  Disregard our strange Christmas Aloe...still deciding if we're going to get an actual tree or not. 

The Eye of the Storm

No this is not the calm before the storm.  Nor the peace after the storm.  We're enjoying a day or two of general solace after a hectic and confusing week and before we enter into more and more insanity.  

Let's begin with a recap of this past week, shall we?  At approximately 3:30 am on Wednesday morning, Dan decided that after hours of sleepless agony, we needed to go to the Emergency Room.  He was dealing with extreme pain in his abdomen, and we feared it may have been appendicitis.  After waiting at the ER for hours, we learned that it was not appendicitis, but we still have no clue what it was.  He now has a primary care doctor though (something I've been begging him to get since we started dating!), and we're working to determine what the source of the pain is / was.  That, on top of some stressful situations at my afternoon school (what else is new?), it's been a long week.  

This coming week I have teacher observations at my morning school, and preparation for parent-teacher conferences in the following week.  No rest for the weary.  

Dan's been working on the weekends lately, leaving me to my own devices.  Since we're trying very hard to save money, and it's gotten cold and rainy, I have limited options.  Basically, I have one option: baking.  This weekend's creation was a fancy gourmet treat.    

  

That, my friends, is a butternut squash, apple, and brie galette.  It is French.  Therefore fancy-shmancy.  Right?  Haha.  I saw the recipe when searching for ways to use butternut squash and decided I was up for the challenge.  It turned out pretty well too! 

I probably should've made something a bit more along the lines of comfort food, with everything coming up, but hey, it's got cheese in it!  And I love me some cheese.  Yum.  

Kitchen Aid

We didn't have classes on Friday and we have off on Monday as well.  I love having student-free days to get caught up on grading and work in the classroom.  You'd think I wouldn't have as much to do this year, considering I only teach four classes.  But somehow I managed to spend the entire day on Friday entering grades and fighting with the online grade system.  I'd hoped to get all of my report cards completed, but as a result of some technical difficulties, I wasn't able to do that.  I got home around 6:00 on Friday night exhausted and frustrated.  So, to cheer myself up, I decided to spend a good portion of the rest of the weekend using my new favorite toy: 

                                         

Isn't it so pretty?  As a wedding gift we received this beast.  It's awesome.  I've made quite a few batches of cookies with it so far, and am anxious to see what else I can do with it.  I started out by making some Snickerdoodles on Saturday.  

                                

                                        

They're half gone already.  Typically I'd blame Dan...but I've had more than my fair share of this batch.  They're just such a warm, autumnal, cookie.  

Today I tried my hand at a cheesecake.  Never before in my life have I made a cheesecake...and it shows.  I don't think I cooked it thoroughly enough so it's still quite goopy in the middle.  I was also rushed because I'd forgotten some ingredients, then procrastinated going to the grocery store.  By the time the thing came out of the oven, I was scurrying to get to a friend's house to watch the Timbers playoff game.  I didn't have the time to let it cool properly I just shoved the steaming creation into fridge and ran out the door.

  

It doesn't taste terrible, it just looks pretty pathetic. 

                            

It did however get the still-flea-ridden Futty's approval.  She started licking some off my hand and then tried to steal it off my plate.  

We hope to spend the day outside tomorrow because Dan has the day off as well and it's promising to by 60* and sunny.  Dan's got a few parks and hiking trails he wants to check out and I want to go to a spot where he said we could most likely spot some bald eagles.  Birds scare the bejesus out of me, but for some reason I really want to see a bald eagle!   

Drama

Flea Update: I think we've gotten Futty's flea problem under control-ish.  I cleaned all of her favorite spots to rid them of potential flea eggs and larvae and we got her some monthly medicine.  So far so good.  

In other news.  I received two surprises on Friday:

1) I was offered a full time teaching job at my favorite school

2) My dear sister Mandy went into labor (finally!) 

Surprise Número Uno: The Job

I've been helping out in the 2nd grade with some reading groups every morning.  I've enjoyed getting to know the kids a bit and getting to know their teacher as well.  It turns out that the teacher is planning to take a school wide position (School Improvement Specialist or something to that effect) and her job would be available within the next month.  I'd heard rumors about this, but didn't give it much thought, until Friday morning when the principal approached me in the hallway.  He walked up to me and said (more or less) that he couldn't bear the thought of losing me in the Spanish position, but that a full time 2nd grade position would be available and he would be remiss if he didn't offer it to me.  

Needless to say, I was pretty flattered and shocked.  After I found my "footing" again, I started to mull it over.  I've never seen myself as an "elementary" teacher, and am still not sure I have what it takes to be in a classroom of 20 some odd tiny people who are still trying to get the hang of school, though I'd definitely be up for the challenge.  But there was one thing holding me back from saying yes to the job. At the beginning of the school year, the Spanish students asked me if I'd leave them like "all the rest" of their Spanish teachers (according to the other middle school staff, they'd been through about 5 teachers by November last year...most of them scared out of the building by poor student behavior).  I had told them that unless I had some injury that precluded me from teaching, that I planned to be there until the end of the school year.  I can't go back on that promise to them.  It's not fair to them.  Plus, they're all doing REALLY well!  So, I had to tell the principal that I couldn't take the job.  

Surprise Número Dos: 

This one wasn't much of a surprise.  We've been ready for this to happen.  Mandy was starting to get pretty darn uncomfortable with the last few months of the pregnancy.  I got a text on Friday night that they were headed to the hospital.  I didn't realize what a harrowing night they were experiencing until the next morning.  Mandy was admitted to the hospital with labor pains, but was not experiencing much progress.  They discovered that the umbilical cord was wrapped around the baby's neck.  Twice.  They rushed her into an emergency C-section (all of which I learned after the fact, while sitting on my sofa drinking coffee).  They operated and got the baby out.  Luke says it was a total of 9 minutes between the time they rushed her into the operating room and when they delivered the little man.  

Luckily both Mandy and baby are doing just fine now.  I'm still having a hard time dealing with not being able to be there and hold the little dude right away.  I did get a chance to video chat with both of them and my mom's been sending me tons of adorable pictures.   The photos below are courtesy of a super proud grandma:  

Meet Ezra David.  He's the handsomest little dude in the midwest, that's for sure.

A proud big sister.  

Uh oh...

Sadly, our Sunday explorations were cut short this weekend.  We were lucky enough to get out to Kelley Point Park (beautiful outlook where the Wilamette River and the Columbia River meet) for an hour or so (pictures below).  But that was only AFTER the discovery that this little fluffy creature is not the only creature living in our house.  

She's got FLEAS!  Yuck yuck yuck!  

In all my years living with a great big golden retriever, Abby, I have never encountered fleas.  I am so grossed out!  She's even an indoor cat!  The vet says that because our apartment complex has carpeted hallways, the flea eggs/larvae will  drop off any other unclean mongrel that lives in our building and then stick to Futty when she goes into the hall.  She does wander into the hall often since she's a bit of an escape artist.  At any rate,  it is NASTY!  I combed her fur on Sunday with a "flea comb" which has super fine teeth and it's mainly used to detect the "flea dirt" (a nice euphemism for flea poo) on the skin.  

"Flea dirt" is more or less dried blood bits.  In addition to a disgusting amount of flea dirt, I found nearly 10 LIVE fleas!  Blech!  

Dan, being the wonderfully helpful husband he is, ran out today to chat with the vet and get some medication for her.  Not to mention picking up a ton of quarters for laundry, haha.  I came home from school and did a complete cleaning of her favorite spots, and 3 loads of laundry (more to come tomorrow as I wash ALL blankets and rugs and any fabric with which she's had contact).  

We're dealing with it, and so is Futty cat.  And I suppose I just have a bit of motivation for some more deep cleaning, we all know how much I love that!  Luckily, despite the gross encounter, we were able to check out some pretty river views before our hectic week started. 

  

Sunday Explorations

Since Dan had Sunday off of work again this week, we decided to do a bit of exploration.  I wanted to do some serious hiking (like out at Mt. Hood or Mt. St. Helens) but Dan woke up with a cold and wasn't feeling too energetic.  I can't blame him since he ran 19 miles the day before, while I sat on my butt.  We decided to drive out to Powell Butte Nature Park, a nature preserve east of Portland.  We were disappointed to find that most of it was shut down due to construction, but we did find a little trail leading into the preserve and we decided to see where it led us.  We were pleasantly surprised to find some gorgeous vistas.  

Here I am with Mt. Hood in the background (taken on my new phone, FYI...check out that quality!) 

And another Mt. Hood view (which isn't quite as clear because I zoomed it in quite a bit) 

I've grown to look forward to seeing Mt. Hood every morning.  I used to be surprised when I saw it looming over the skyline because it seemed so sporadic.  One day it was clearly visible, and the next it would be hidden by clouds.  I've since learned the exact point on the horizon to look and nearly every morning I can see the outline of the beast looming in the sunrise.  It's like it's saying "Good Morning!" 

From our vantage point in Powell Butte, we were able to spy Mt. St. Helens too!  Her poor decapitated self.  Again it's blurry from zooming.  The iPhone isn't perfect yet.  Or maybe the user isn't perfect yet. 

Sometimes if it's clear enough, I can find her in the morning too.  But I haven't quite learned her spot yet, plus she's farther away. Two weeks ago though, Dan and I were driving along the St. John's bridge (the farthest north bridge in Portland) and saw her clear as day behind us. She scares me a bit though. She's unpredictable.  

Last but not least, and you'll have to use your imaginations for this one.  We could spy the TINY little tip of Mt. Rainier.  I promise, those aren't clouds, it's a mountain peak...it's just really far away.  Trust me.    

Fall Colors

When my parents were in town they asked, "Do the colors change in the fall around here?"  Dan tried his best to answer from his limited knowledge of Portland life.  But his explanation of "The colors change, but it usually rains too quickly and knocks down the pretty leaves before we can enjoy the colors" was SO wonderfully off!  Check out the gorgeous leaves here! 

All photos in this post were taken by my dear husband who is realizing the error of his ways.  I am excited to see what kind of pictures my new iPhone can take!  I'll share them with you once I figure the contraption out :)   

Rhythms

Settling into a new school year has been a bit slow, but I think I'm starting to feel the rhythm.  I just submitted my midterm grades for the first quarter, which means the school year is an eighth of the way finished already, so it's about time I start feeling settled! 

 It's been a strange transition from teaching in Chicago to teaching in Portland.  I'm learning that I developed some bad teaching habits in Chicago (putting off grading until the last minute, for one) which I'm trying to break.  With only four classes to plan for and teach, I definitely have more time to think and reflect, which is going to be really helpful in my habit-breaking.  It also has a negative affect on me, though.  I'm so used to having a huge class load to plan for and teach (13 in Chicago...yeah, that's not a typo, THIRTEEN), that I keep feeling like I'm forgetting something, or missing something massively important.  I'm not though...usually. 

As far as our normal (non-school) lives, we're settling in there too.  Dan's been getting nearly 40 hours a week working at the store, but a lot of those hours are on the weekends.  We're trying to make the most of the time we both have off work.  Yesterday afternoon we actually had free time that coincided.  We were able to go for a drive around town and explore different neighborhoods we hadn't seen before.  We also got a bit excited talking about buying a house, haha.  NOT for quite a while, we know, but it's fun to think about nonetheless.  Especially because poor Futty-cat has started to get a bit strange cooped up in this box.  In Chicago we were able to take her out and explore outside a little bit.  Here, being a much larger apartment complex, she's stuck inside and has very limited views of the great outdoors.  She's started to "run laps" where she jumps onto the built-in bookshelves in the bedroom then streaks across the apartment to the top of the toilet in the bathroom.  She repeats this circuit about 10 times before settling on chasing her tail...seriously.  She's crazy.  But, I guess she has her own rhythm now too, just a very different drum.         

Visit From Mom & Dad

My parents came to visit! 

They flew in on Friday while I was still at work.  They toured around Portland a bit on their own, stopping by the International Rose Test Garden (a guaranteed way to please my dad).  

After I met up with them, I took them to see my morning school.  After that we went out to dinner at the Kennedy School.  It's an old school building turned into a collection of restaurants, bars and hotel rooms all while maintaining most of the "school building charm."  One of my favorites is a bar where there are still chalkboards on the walls.  The "Detention Cigar Bar" is pretty funny though too.  I think my parents liked the "Boiler Room" the best.  It is decorated with all kinds of pipes and pieces of machinery.  It looks pretty wild.     

Over the next few days we did some serious exploring.  Cannon Beach, where we froze our butts off, but watched the tide for a little while nevertheless.  We went to Columbia River Gorge to see some nice views and waterfalls.  

And Willamette Valley wine country.  Where we did some fun tasting...

we may have gotten a bit out of hand...  

(those are grapes we found on the ground...don't judge me.)

It was really nice to hang out and show them around a bit.  It's been hard knowing I'm so far from them, so it was really nice to have some time showing them our new home.  I'm still not recovered, a week later...being a tour guide will wear a girl out!  But it was worth it :)  

Problem Solving

If you watched the tour of our apartment, you saw our awesome clawfoot tub.  I absolutely love how it looks (painted claws and all). It warms up super quickly for baths and it's remarkably easy to clean too, since it's set off the ground and has no tile walls surrounding it.  The one issue it has is with the shower curtains.

Because it's independent from the wall we need to use two of the plastic shower curtain/liner things.  We have one for the wall side, and one for the curtain side.  This dual curtain thing leaves a "small" gap  (or gaping hole, however you choose to define it) at either end of the tub.  The end opposite the shower head isn't a problem since it rarely gets wet.  But the side by the shower head is a different story.  Every time we shower, a large puddle develops on the floor where the pipes enter the floor.  Sometimes it's more like a small pond than a puddle.


I still can't determine if I naturally came up with this idea on my own, or if I gleaned it from somewhere else and forgot where, but at any rate: I have solved our problem!

Binder clips!  The photo is slightly blurry (apologies, my camera has never worked well after it got dropped in the Andes Mountains...oops!), but you get the idea.  

There's another one for good measure, haha.  It is such a simple fix!  I've put 5 or 6 of these little guys on the seam of the two curtains.  And it works, yay!  The floors have stayed MUCH drier and I'm sure the downstairs neighbors are happy about that.  

First Day of School!

Tomorrow is our first official day of school!

Things are shaping up in the classrooms.  They look like classrooms now, which is promising, haha.  I've had my hands full trying to attend two schools worth of in-service meetings, learning the policies of two schools, getting two classrooms ready and not to mention keeping all the people straight!  I think I'm feeling ready though.  Which is scary, since I rarely feel that way with the beginning of a school year.  

I always have a problem getting any sleep the night before school starts.  My mind is constantly racing and I wake up in the middle of the night fearing that I haven't planned enough to fill the time or that I'm missing some important piece of paperwork.  Luckily I don't have a "homeroom" to worry about this year, which makes it about 20x easier, but I've still got the nagging worries.  My old principal used to take Benadryl the night before school to help her sleep.  I prefer the glass of red wine approach.  So, with that, I shall leave you and go pour myself a glass of Malbec...a small glass...don't nobody need no hangover on the first day of school! 

Finally!

I finally got a job! 

 On the count of three, everybody take a collective sigh of relief: 1, 2, 3.....ahhhhhhh.

It's not exactly what I was hoping for, but it will definitely work.  I'll be teaching part time at two different schools.  In both schools I will be teaching middle school Spanish.  There will be an introductory level course for 7th graders and then a more "advanced" introduction for 8th graders.  Basically the kids will get exposure in 7th grade and then choose if they want to continue with the class in 8th grade, where they can potentially earn credit for high school by taking an Advanced Placement style exam at the end of the year.  The nice part is I'll be teaching the same thing at two schools, so I really only to plan for two classes, just teach four of them.  

Altogether the four Spanish classes count for about half time, and so in order to qualify for 75% time (leading to more benefits and tad more pay) I will be filling in as a certified aid for 1st and 2nd grade at the first school.  I'll be working with small reading groups and doing testing and whatnot.  Basically I'm their "Jack Of All Trades", or gopher, or whatever.       

Although I'm not terribly keen on teaching Spanish again (or working with the tiny elementary people...why are they always sticky?), it's way too good of an opportunity to pass up.  I love the first school (have yet to learn much about the second, but I'm sure it will be nice too) and the principal has been more than generous in helping me get my foot in the door.

Now that I am gainfully employed, I can afford to treat myself a little bit.  Although I may not go this far: 

But I may need to buy some Manchego cheese and a bouquet of flowers or something.  Treat Yo'Self!  

Tour!

I got a call from HB Lee Middle School yesterday, and I (again) did not get the job.  To console myself, I made this silly video.  I rarely use iMovie, so don't judge me too much.  

I've also created a pathetic attempt at a floor plan to help explain the layout of the place.  It's clearly not to scale, and I'm sure I forgot to draw some doors or something, but it works.   

There! I told ya I'd do it! :) 

Busy Busy Busy

I had an interview at HB Lee Middle School on the far Northeast side of the city yesterday, we'll see what happens.  I'd like to get the job, it seems like a decent place; although I'm not as gung ho as I was about my previous interview, but I'm sure I could be happy there.  In the mean time, I've been applying to more jobs although most of them aren't teaching jobs.  I'm working on substitute teaching applications, but I'm starting to submit some retail stores too, we'll see what happens.  

As I wait to hear on jobs, I'm discovering a bunch of dirty spots in the apartment that I apparently missed the first time around.  This concept baffles me, since I was certain I'd wiped down every surface of this place, twice.  But this grime is a force of nature.  It appears to grow on its own. 

Case and Point: 

I hard core mopped the floor the other day.  I'd mopped with water before, and wiped down parts, but this time I used a combination of hot water, vinegar, baking soda and castile soap.  And the key: a scrubby sponge.  Although it's hard to see in this photo, that water was  BLACK.  So filthy.  Blech!  The water was saturated with grime.  And that my friends, is only from the kitchen floor!  I had to use four different buckets to clean all the floors.  It was bad.  

Now, this is the upper portion of the bathroom door.  Somehow I managed to miss this spot when I was scrubbing the walls and doors.  This is the mystery goo that was on nearly every surface of this place.  Let's play a fun game: Name That Substance!  

Another view of the goo.  See how it's just splattered on the door?  Gross. Gross. Gross. 

Luckily my go to multi-purpse cleaner of vinegar, castile soap and water works well and cleans it off.  

I'm in the process of creating a video tour of our place, so keep checking back to see it.    

Week-aversary

We've officially lived in Portland for a week.  Now that the apartment is more or less clean (yes, it has taken me this long...I thought I was done, but I kept finding more!) we've been starting to put our home together a bit.  We've made countless trips to Bed Bath & Beyond (Dan's favorite...NOT) to get essentials.  We discovered a Target, Bed Bath and Beyond and an IKEA all quite near one another.  Dangerous!  We've only been to IKEA once so far and walked out with one $60 item, so we're doing well.  The whole no-income-flow thing helps with the self-control a bit.  Once we felt like we were on a roll piecing together the house however, our kitty decided she needed some attention.  

Around Wednesday or so we noticed that Futty cat wasn't acting herself.  She was really lethargic and quiet (she normally meows constantly and will actually have a conversation with you...did I just admit that I talk to the cat?).  She started sneezing a ton, and her left eye seemed extra watery and kinda goopy (pleasant, right?).  We called a veterinarian and got an appointment.  Yes, this means the cat has a doctor, but neither of the humans do.  Meh, priorities.  We took her into the vet on Friday to discover that she has herpes.  Yeah.  Gross.  Apparently it's very common in shelter cats and there's no cure.  She'll most likely deal with flare ups her whole life.  The vet said that when a cat is stressed, the herpes often shows itself in the form of an upper respiratory infection (which Futty has).  

The vet gave her a bit of medicine to help with the infection, but we basically need to let the virus run its course.  We have some vitamins that we're giving her now to help boost her system against the herpes and prevent flare ups.  She seems to be on the mend and was hunting flies today.  Although she still doesn't want to be too social

Once we get more of the artwork up on the walls (or in the storage space downstairs, which is a Godsend), I'll share a tour of our tiny space.  

Home Sweet Home?

We're finally done driving (sound of raucous applause)! We made it to Portland around 4:00 on Friday afternoon.  We were assured our place was emptied, cleaned and prepared for our move-in, so we stormed in, guns-ablazin'.  We quickly discovered that the apartment was indeed emptied, but not cleaned...at all.  

We moved everything in (since the idea of our earthly belongings spending one more vulnerable night in a truck on the street scared us)  and started to clean around it all.  And here I am, finally coming exiting my haze of cleaning products and into the fresh Portland air.  I'm still not convinced the place is clean to my standards (which make me look more and more like the F.R.I.E.N.D.S character Monica Gellar every day) but it's close to livable now.  I still need to sweep and mop, but that will have to wait until the key to our storage unit arrives and we can move those items out of the way.  

The total tallies of cleaning products used:

10 Mr. Clean Magic Erasers (not even kidding..TEN)

2 Large bottles of Goo Gone

4 Rolls of paper towels (rags were filthy after the first wipe and I couldn't clean them fast enough)

1 gallon of vinegar

1 container of dish soap

1 box of baking soda

1 bottle of hydrogen peroxide

2 cups of bleach 

Seriously...it's clean now, I swear.  

Aside from being excessively grimy, the place seems like it will work.  It definitely feels much smaller than we were hoping, but I guess that's what you get when you sign the lease sight unseen.  It's in a building from 1910, with an Otis elevator from 1889.  Don't try to do the math, it's illogical any way you  look at it.  I like to imagine a large elevator towering in the middle of the block, then someone built the building around it.  The apartment living space is small, but the closet: Narnia!  It's insanely huge.  It's more than "walk-in."  We have two dressers in there, and that only takes up a quarter of the space.  We also get a storage locker in the basement which seems to be about the size of our old bathroom.  The neighborhood is pretty fun too.  We're definitely not in Pilsen anymore.  There's a ton of restaurants and bars on our street.  Two blocks away there's tons of shopping.  Paper Source, Pottery Barn, Trader Joe's, hip clothing boutiques and the "Best Ice Cream in Portland" apparently reviewed as such by the New York Times, although I can't find the review, haha.  Anyway, it'll be a fun change of pace.  We're still waiting on our own internet, and getting things in their place, then photos will be shared.

Saddle Sore

Day four is done and I'm starting to get a bit tired of the driving.  Good thing we're planning for tomorrow to be our last day.  We're starting out pretty early and expect to make it to Portland by nightfall.  

Tonight we're in Missoula, MT.  Many of our friends suggested we stop here for a night, so we're excited to see what all the hoopla is about.  Dan's currently out for a run (his favorite way to explore a new town) so I'm sure he'll have spied some places he'll want to check out.  I'm sitting in our hotel room.  Definitely the grossest place we've stayed so far.  There's magenta carpeting.  And curtains.  And bedspread.  Don't get me started on the nasty stains and marks on the wall.  I keep telling myself that it's better than any of the hostels I stayed in when I was in Argentina.  I'll live.  

Today's Superlatives: 

Most Exotic License Plate: British Columbia (these Canadians!) 

Most Disgusting Roadkill: I'm pretty sure it was a porcupine, but who could tell, it was all squashed.  

Most Interesting Car/Driver: The gawdy red sports car with flames and a fake racing number on the side.  This guy was classy, I tell ya.  

Stupidest Billboard Ad: "It only takes once to get hooked" with a creepy yellowing syringe...more disturbing than stupid 

Strangest Town Name: Anaconda Opportunity.  Seriously!  What?   

Most Offensive Sight: This carpeting. 

Portland tomorrow!  And probably no internet until Monday.  

Happy Trails To You...

Day three of driving done.  We're hanging out in Billings, MT tonight.  Futty had another great day, she crawled into the litterbox (Booda Dome for the win!), turned around, meowed and laid down.  She seems to have gotten into the traveling groove.  Our drive today was MUCH more pleasant.  We got off the interstate and drove along US-212.  It was beautiful--sorry I don't have pictures.  I stupidly packed my camera in the back of the truck. 

We pulled up to our hotel (The Dude Rancher Lodge...haha, not quite as rustic as it sounds), and saw a tour bus parked out front for Dale Watson.  It meant nothing to me either.  But Dan got really excited because apparently Dale played at Dan's brother Jay's wedding.  No encounters so far, but we may get creepy and try to hunt him down to say hi.  

Today's Superlatives: 

Most Exotic License Plate: Arizona (not terribly exotic, but there wasn't much traffic on US-212), or North Carolina, considering how far away that is.  I also saw another Saskatchewan today...those folks get around. 

Most Disgusting Roadkill: Half an antelope with a vulture eating it.  Seriously.  Real vulture.  Gross

Most Interesting Car/Driver: All of the strange farming equipment we passed by. 

Stupidest Billboard Ad: "Broadus, the Wavingest City in Montana" complete with a picture of a cowboy waving.  

Most Offensive Sight: Nothing terrible today, although I drove past the battleground for the Battle of Little Bighorn....and tasted a Custer's Last Stout beer tonight...so that's kind of a whole mess of oppression in one spot.  

Tomorrow we're headed to Missoula, it'll be another short trek (5 hours).  Then we gear up for the long stretch to our new home!  We're hoping we can get into the apartment late on Friday night (we're technically not supposed to move in until Saturday).  We shall see! 

Oregon Trail (You Know it Was Bound to Happen)

We're on the road.  We left around noon on Monday after loading the truck.  Thanks to Annie and Grant it was a very speedy process.  We all went out for one last meal at Perez and then (after another tearful goodbye) loaded into the cars.  

The drive is going well so far.  We stopped in Minnesota last night and are currently just outside of Rapid City, South Dakota for the night.  Futty Cat is doing remarkably well, thanks to her awesome "Booda Dome" cat litter box.  She really enjoys hanging out in there while we're driving.  So far it's working well.  She seems to enjoy exploring the new hotel rooms.  She's currently lounging by the window, checking out the hills of South Dakota. 

I've developed a game to keep us entertained throughout the drive.  I'm not sure Futty enjoys playing with me, but I'm entertained by it.  And I think Dan is putting up with it, haha.  I call it "Superlatives" so, today's "Superlatives" are:

Most Exotic License Plate: Saskatchewan      

Most Disgusting Roadkill: The half of a coyote I saw...not sure where the other half went

Most Interesting Car/Driver: The truck I saw towing a trailer filled with life-size plastic horses

Stupidest Billboard Ad: "You Should Corn-Sider Stopping by the Mitchell Corn Palace" (which we did NOT do, FYI...once in a lifetime is plenty for me...that place reeks!).  

Strangest Town Name: Luverne (it's not really that strange, I just laughed for some reason)

Most Offensive Sight: Wooden cutouts of Native Americans "attacking settlers" in 1880 Town...seriously, I gasped out loud.  

I'm sure the list will grow as the game evolves, but that was today's round.  

Déjà vu

Well, here we are.  Less than 24 hours until we pick up our rental truck and say goodbye to Chicago for the last time. 

My parents graciously came to Chicago this weekend and tirelessly helped us prepare the apartment for our move out. Our landlady has a 17 point "addendum" to the lease which stipulates, in painful detail, all of the charges to our security deposit if we don't follow the instructions to a tee.  We cleaned out behind the stove and refrigerator, filled in (and painted) nail holes, and bleached the living daylights out of the shower (not to mention lost a few brain cells in the process, man...bleach is strong!).  And don't forget, we packed and reorganized every earthly possession.  

And then they left and I relived those terrifying moments my freshman year of college when they drove away and I realized, standing there in the parking lot, how utterly alone I was.  I wanted to force myself to be independent and adventurous and I had no clue how to accomplish that.  I was thrilled at the prospect of living "in the city" (psh, Palos Heights) and living an exciting life on my own.  Now, ten years later, I like to consider myself a fully independent adult.  I've lived on my own for the past ten years and am still in one piece.  I've had a stable job, I've purchased cars and furniture (albeit from Ikea, but it still counts),  I'm freakin' married!  Come on!  Yet my heart aches just as much as it did that day.  I know I'll see them soon, but it won't be nearly as easy.  I won't be there for the birth of my newest nephew and it kills me.  I won't be able to meet my mom in Michigan City and go shopping.  I won't be able to go out for coffee with my dad when he drives through town.  I won't be able to be there for every one of my niece's birthdays and they're already growing so fast.  I won't be able to go out for breakfast with my grandparents and chat about life.  I won't be able to call my mom, in tears because I'm sick and be surprised when she shows up on my doorstep three hours later with chicken soup.  Don't get me wrong, I can't wait to move to Portland and I'm excited about starting a new phase of life with my wonderful husband.  But for now,  I'm just gonna sit on the sofa and bawl like a baby and realize that inside, I'm still a terrified 18 year old who has no clue what she's getting herself into.            

Living In a Cardboard Fort

You know how when you're a kid and your parents get some new appliance and let you play with the box?  Maybe that was just my parents, but seriously, I made a wicked mini-house out of a refrigerator box attached to a dishwasher box when I was like 10.  It had wallpaper, window treatments, picture frames, I'm pretty sure there was even a shelf or two.  

My life right now feels like the box fort, but I can't leave the fort and go to a normal sized house.  Our apartment is about 650 square feet, so there's very little "unused space" to begin with.  We have a total of about 10 square feet of floor space that is NOT covered with boxes or furniture we're trying to sell off.  

Seriously, I mean look at this!

  

And that photo was taken while sitting on the couch!  

Less than a week and the real test comes: can it all fit into the truck we rented?  

In other news, I had a job interview for a middle school Language Arts and Social Studies position at one of the Portland Public Schools today.  I'm really excited about the possibility of working at this particular school, it seems like a really good fit for me.  I think the interview went really well.  It was a phone interview (thankfully not a video chat, so no one else would have to be subjected to the horror of the box fort).  They said I'd hear about it tomorrow already, so cross your fingers!  

Last Weekend...The Goodbyes Begin

Our last weekend (well, the one not filled with packing/loading trucks/cleaning the apartment) in Chicago is over.  We chose to spend it in the best way we knew how.  Pitchfork Music Festival.  This is my fifth year going, and Dan's been three or four times himself.  It's always hot, sweaty, dusty and full of good music.  This year one of our favorite bands, Belle and Sebastian played.  Since we rode our bikes there,  I was not about to lug my heavy (good) camera with us.  So we'll settle for Google images. 

We were really excited about Belle & Sebastian and Toro y Moi.  Dan was excited about R. Kelly, and we both were simply intrigued to see Björk.  Belle and Sebastian definitely lived up to the expectations.  To see people skipping and dancing around, singing in the rain, it was heartwarming.  The rest, I don't think I'd say heartwarming (nasty R. Kelly), but they were pretty fun to see nonetheless.

Belle & Sebastian, love em.

Now it's back to packing and saying goodbye to tons of people.  We've got dinner plans nearly every night this week.  

Licensed!

The past few months I've been obsessively checking my teaching license status with Oregon state Teacher Standards and Practices Commission.  It's been one hoop after another that I've had to jump through.  The most annoying being the fingerprinting process (apparently Oregon is very picky about evenly distributed ink on fingerprints, psh).  Since the end of June it has said "We are not processing applications for this person at this time" when you search my name.  Paranoid, I decided to call today.  I explained my situation and after being put on hold for 5 minutes (WAY better than the four days of hold time I dealt with from Illinois last summer) the woman comes back to the phone and says, "I'll issue that today."  I was shocked.  A simple phone call!  I am now licensed to teach in the state of Oregon!  Whew!

Now...who wants to hire me?