Blog 4 of October

Did I say October, I meant December.  Just kidding.  We did have our first official snowfall yesterday.  Being that it was a Sunday, you would think people would be able to take it easy on the roads, but no, it is the first snowfall and with it comes people who forget that your driving patterns have to change.  Thank goodness I didn't have to leave the house yesterday.
  We did keep busy on Saturday though.  I went to work in the morning, and then spent the rest of the day helping Ashley move into her new place.  I love this place.....love love love it.  It took everything in my power not to want to organize things..  Hopefully everything falls into place for her. She didn't have a great start to the move - flat tire; lost her cell phone (but found it). Lost her car keys (but found them) The lost cell phone was actually a funny story - maybe not to Ashley at the time.  I wake up Sunday morning to a text from Ashley (via Ethan's phone) that she lost her cell phone at a party the night before.  So it's about 8;30 a.m; Sunday and I decide to try phoning her phone to see if anyone picks up.  Sure enough this "baritone" voice answers hello.  I play "dumb" and ask for Ashley.  Baritone replies that he doesn't know who Ashley is, but he found this phone outside of a bar Saturday night.  I thank him and ask for details to come and pick it up.  He informs me that he has already made arrangements with someone to drop it off back at the bar.  He also mentions that he and his roommate have not appreciated being woken up all night by the ringing of the phone. (who wouldn't love hearing the minions from Despicable Me, argue back and forth)  I apologize for calling so early.  He is pretty nice though, and shows some concern for me.  "You must have kinda freaked out calling your daughter early on a Sunday and having some strange guy answer."  I think I surprised him even more when I replied "Naw, she was staying at her boyfriends and I knew she was going to a party the night before!"   Touche.... So I hang up and call Ashley (on Ethan's phone)  I exclaim "Wow, you found your phone." To my surprise she says "No, not yet."  So I go through my entire story, and as we are talking, her work phone rings, and it was the baritone stranger. (did I mention she just hung up on me).  I didn't find out the end of the story until later in the day when Ashley came home (do I still call it her home?)  They left right away and went to meet the guy and Ashley offered him $100.00 for finding her phone.  He wouldn't take the money; he too had lost his phone the previous night, and someone turned it in.  He wanted to return the favor.....Karma!!!!!!
  The lost car key story wasn't so funny, only because Bill and I were getting the blame.  Again, it's still Sunday and because of the snow, Bill decides there is no need to be moving stuff.  Ashley and Ethan pop over to pick up a few things and Ashley can't find her car keys from Saturday.  She is adamant that she left them on the kitchen counter.  By now I have packed quite a few boxes from Ashley's room (not in a hurry to get that room cleaned, or am I)  The elephant in the room is suggesting I must have packed them in a box or Bill must have moved them.  Now I have been known to forget some things (Rolling Stones concert comes to mind), but really, I know what her large lanyard with keys look like.  We establish that they must be in the house or at least the yard (she did move her motorcycle).  We also establish what she was wearing and that the keys were not in any of the pockets.  About 30 minutes later, Ethan returns from his truck, with said lanyard in hand.  Seems the sweater Ashley had on, was in the truck, and guess what was in the pocket?  It took some guidance but we did get an apology (for the elephant in the room)
  Anyway, I got way off track.  I had wanted to mention the concert we went to last Monday night.

Sarah Brightman.  (or did I already mention it)  Bill is a big fan and we had seen her once before at the Saddledome.  Her original concert was last March, but it was cancelled and rescheduled for October.  Well she is an amazing singer, but her production was a little less than exciting for me. (hopefully I won't forget this show)
  Off to run errands and get the hair trimmed.
Stacey

Blog 3 of October

Ooops.  Time does really fly!!!!! Halloween is almost here and my October blogs seem to be few and far between.  Lets see if I  can recap!!!!

Celebrated Thanksgiving at my sister's home.  Bill and I and Brian and Jane were invited to join the Samer clan.  It was a nice evening.  Food was delicious and the company was very enjoyable.

Bill and I spent a few days in Seattle last week.  We left on a Wednesday and came back on the Saturday.  It was only 4 days but we crammed a lot into those few days.  We love Seattle and I am always impressed by the transit system in that city.  For $2.75 you can take the sky train from the airport directly to downtown Seattle.

We stayed at a different hotel once again.   Parking is very hard to find at the downtown hotels or when you do, it is extremely expensive.  So when we drive to Seattle, we stay just outside of the core.  When we fly, we stay right in the middle of downtown so that most things are within walking distance.  This has probably been the best hotel we have stayed at so far.  It was called the Belltown.  The room was smallish, but there was a queen bed, large desk, table, and small kitchenette with a microwave and sink.  The bathroom was small as well, but really, other than a sink, toilet and tub/shower , what else do you need.

The hotel lends out umbrellas for the rain; bikes for getting around downtown, andan  internet service center on the mail level.  It is only 4 levels high and you can go up to the roof and sit and enjoy the weather. (they say to enjoy the view, but we went up and the view at 5 stories is not that spectacular. )

Only a block away from our hotel was one of the neatest things I have seen in an inner city area.  It was a dog play park.  The park was usually busiest at night.  I could sit and watch these dogs play and socialize all day.

I'm not sure of the exact size, but the dogs had lots of room to run and chase toys.  There were well placed tree's etc. and benches for people to sit.  There was a fence around the entire area, and two sets of gates so that dogs couldn't sneak out.  I wonder how long it would take for Maya to clear out a place like that.  We would sure have to work on her socialization skills

An acquaintance of Bill's (some work connection) was kind enough to pick us up at our hotel on the Thursday  and give us a morning tour.  We went out of town to Snoqualmie Falls Park.  

When we first arrived the fog was so strong, you could barely see farther than the falls, but as the morning warmed up, the fog lifted and the view was inviting.

We finished off the morning tour at the Seattle Space Needle.  This is the first time we have actually gone up to the top of the needle.

Here we found a spectacular view of the city (unlike our hotel view).  Owen, (our tour guide) then treated us to lunch.  The menu seemed fancy; for example, cooked chicken on romaine.  But when the waiter brought the meal to Owen, he asked,  "Who is having the Caesar salad with chicken."  Nobody answered because we were waiting for the cooked chicken on romaine.....  Needless to say the prices matched the fancy names.

We thanked Owen for our wonderful morning.  Our next adventure came late afternoon.  We headed down to Pike's Market and sat on the pier to watch the sunset.

We were not disappointed (by the sunset)  Bill however, was annoyed at himself.  He had brought a flask of tequila with him (trust me, it was a lot less conspicuous than the "weed" smoke and the people drinking wine out of brown paper bags), and when he started taking pictures of the sunset, he laid his flask down, and forgot to put the lid on.  Half of the tequila spilled on his lap and pant leg.  Thank goodness alcohol drys fast.

 After the sun had left the sky, we headed over to the alley beside Pike's Market.  We had signed up for a Ghost Tour. Hopefully they wouldn't notice the sweet smell of Tequila following  us around.

There are different tours you can do in Seattle.  The city has such a history and a wonderful character about it.  We have done the Underground tour before.  There is also a Ghost Underground tour and a Ghost "Adult" Tour.  We chose the Ghost Alley tour.  We met at the Ghost Alley Expresso.  (It's right next to the famous gum wall.)  The buildings around the market are quite old.  One of them was the Butterworth Mortuary.  Today, there is a restaurant there, and many stories are around about the ghosts that live among the walls.

Friday we revisited Pike's Market and the pier to stroll around and of course give Bill his Seattle craving - no it's not the famous coffee, but his sourdough bread and clam chowder soup.

For some reason, except for Seattle we have never been able to find the double sour dough bread.  And yes, it has been suggested I start making my own sour dough bread.  I'll add that to my list of things to do.

Friday night was the reason we came to Seattle in the first place.  Jazz Alley

Bill is a big jazz fan (he wishes he could play the saxophone) and Jazz Alley brings in some pretty big names.  You can order dinner and watch or just come in for drinks.  This picture is from the entrance, atop the stairs.  Our seat was right in front on the stage, second table.

The group playing was "FourPlay".  Bill has most of their CD's and of course he purchased their latest and got it signed at the end of the show.  They were all fantastic musicians, but the two gentleman in the center were amazing guitarists.

That was our 4 days in a nutshell.  We arrived home Saturday night, and Sunday, it was back to work at my Card stores.

Will catch up more later.
Stacey

Blog 2 of October

I looked outside this morning and there was a layer of frost on the vehicles (all 40 of them........)
  Been trying to get caught up on the laundry.  The sad part of that, 95% of the clothes belong to me.  I guess I have too many clothes like my son (or I have been just wearing the same thing all week)
  I have also been watching a lot of "late night talk shows", but not on the television, on my IPad.  I split my relaxing bed time routine between reading and catching up on guests I really like to see.  If you get a chance to watch a You Tube video, try Jimmy Fallon where his guests are Joseph Gorden Levitt and Stephen Merchant. They do a lip syncing competition. It is so funny.    I am becoming a big fan of Mr. Levitt.  I remember him at the gawky boy on "3rd Rock from the Sun."  He has turned into this fine young actor and what would appear to be a gentleman as well.  But my new discovery is Stephen Merchant.  Now those of you who are savvy probably know him as a writer/creator from The Office.  I personally never got into that show, but love Steve Carrell.  So after watching the Jimmy Fallon episode I googled (probably would have never found him in the encyclopedias) Stephen Merchant and watched his stand-up comedy routine.  It was also very funny.  Will be following both of those gentleman's careers.
  It's going to be a relatively quiet weekend.  Bill left for Houston (yes De, Houston Texas)  He's gone to watch some car racing stuff..... So the house will be a little quiet for a couple of days.
  Ashley, Ethan and I are making pan fried dumplings Saturday morning.  I'm hope to recreate the same ones that Lora taught Anne and I to make last weekend.
  And this afternoon, I ordered tickets for a great concert coming to town.

Yup, Chicago is coming to town.  Love their music and the sounds should be awesome in the Jubilee.
  Better get the clothes out of the dryer (wouldn't want to have to rewash them again.)
Enjoy the weekend.
Stacey

Blog 1 of October

Ahhhh, say it isn't so.  October 1st.  Where did that month come from?  Seems like I just blinked and September was out the door and now October is here.  Shoot I just realized it's Tuesday and the first Tuesday in October.  I guess I missed another 10% Tuesday at Safeways.
  Had a busy weekend.   Friday night, I spent the entire evening making Won Tons.  Ashley had asked for them a couple of weeks ago, so I thought I better get some in the freezer.  I had thought she would be home in time to help me make them, but turns out, she wasn't.
     Saturday I spent the day in my Reiki course.  I have officially taken my level 1 Reiki.  I have been faithfully practicing on myself since Saturday.  One thing I have noticed and was talk by our instructor that it could happen, is the weird and vivid dreams I've been happening.  One seemed so real, I almost called my sister-in-law to talk about it, and then realized it was only a dream!!!!!
  I rushed home Saturday, after my class finished at 5:45; changed and headed down to the Jack Singer center to meet Bill.  We had tickets to "Whose Line is It?"  We went with another couple.  What a  blast.  The improv lasted almost 2 hours and the cast included:

Ryan Stiles;  He was one of the original cast members from the show in England and the U.S.  He can be seen currently on 2 1/2 men and Judith's husband

Greg Proops:  He is also one of the original cast members from both shows.

Jeff Davis:  He was on a few of the newer shows and I believe he participates in the show from Vegas with Drew Carey.

and Joel Murray.  I have never seen Joel on the show before, but I do remember him from Dharma and Greg, where he played Greg's best friend.

We were in the second row, but unfortunately Bill didn't get called up on Stage (which was my dream).
It wasn't a really late night, but I was certainly tired from the long day.
  Sunday, Anne and I got a cooking lesson from Lora (cousin visiting)  She talk us to make sticky rice (without the leaves) and pan fried dumplings.  Ashley and Ethan want to learn the dumplings so hopefully we can get together in the next couple of weeks to make them again. (and hopefully they turn out as good as our teacher's)
  I'm hoping to spend the day tomorrow getting my paper work together for the new job.  I still don't have a start date (mid October), but better to be ready.  I can hardly wait to start working with little ones again.

I better get my desk cleared off and ready for bed.  Lots of reading to do.
Stacey