Blustery Fall

Wowza! Fall hit with a monsoon! Wind storm and buckets of rain, kinda reminded me of an Alaskan fall, one day all the leaves were there the next day they were all in my yard. Fall also came with that nasty complimentary cold (ie sinus and broncitus) that took forever to go away. I FINALLY kicked it with the 2nd set of antibiotics, but not after suffering a cracked rib from all the coughing. One week later I ran a stop sign and T-boned the nicest woman ever. She had just dropped off her daughter at school and I had just been honked at for stopping at a no stop sign intersection and luckily nobody got hurt. So my crazy life continues...! I was blessed to have taken my truck to a shop that had a loaner car (rental covereage on your insurance is a good idea...if you're me. I didn't have it.) The seat belt re-injured my rib so that it hurt both front and back. But now I am three weeks out from it and it's starting to improve somewhat, meaning I can sleep through the night, not that my job is allowing that! This week I was working both days and nights (reminder to self, insufficiant sleep is not healthy on any level!) It will pay off eventually :) Last weekend I went to Grandma's and got to spend some time with Grandpa and Uncle Bill and Uncle Dave and Aunty Phyllis. It was so good to just sit in his comfortable room and watch the Duck game. We also got to see Colt and Austin in a puppet performance the night before. I came home to a pumpkin carving, Young Frankenstien, Mulled Wine Party at my friend Abby's place and then finished the weekend off with breakfast at Gravy's with Sara dreaming up all kinds of new adventures. Inspired by travel talk I got through a bunch of boxes and got the basement ready to rent out. Now with a little sleep I will feel like I have a new lease on life. I'm settled in and loving my new little place. (And I do mean little!) Wasabi has decided to become an indoor cat much to my delight and surprise since we are down town and it is a city of 2 million people (and probably twice as many cars!) Buddy has two new cousins, named Blue and Bella, the four sisters officially each have their own dog, which makes me laugh really. Especially when one is a taco bell dog rat terrier mix! (there is something so wrong about this and yet not so surprising!) As for the book it is ready to buy! You can go online to Tate Publishing Inc and order one yourself or wait for me to do a book signing in your area (requests welcome!) I do not have any on hand immediately but hope to by Thanksgiving. I am going home for Christmas and can't wait to be terrorizing Alaskans for almost a month, Dec 15-Jan 6th! Other than that I'm just enjoying the random highlights of living in Portland like finding fresh produce on the road...an onion named stewart and a tomatoe named bob...they were both very yummy :)

So here's the story

So I've been in Portland for 2 weeks now. First week was taking care of the Garret kids and getting back into my work mode. I had been sick for a while but figured the antibiotics were kicking in and I was getting better. No such luck. By the end of the week I was so much worse and found myself looking at a weekend of moving with my mom (lucky me!) who was also unfortunately sick my nana and my two pairs of muscled men ditched me last minute. When I got the keys to the place on Thursday night the place was so dirty there was no way I could move my stuff in, new game plan, I called mom and nana if they would go straight to the house in the morning to start cleaning, Cindy had asked if I needed help in the morning so she and Ian jumped on board and I called Eric to see if he could help. Unfortunately he came down with something as well so Uncle Paul stepped up to the plate. Mom and Nana, Cindy and Ian and Uncle Paul came to my rescue! With out the fve of them it would have been impossible. So I moved in and the next week began, still sick! After litterally blowing though a huge box of lotion kleenex, I hit the weekend wanting to sleep. Of course we started with Friday night, the big ASL Comedy night at PSU...it was a hit, 500+ people showed up for the event, it was a smashing success, I saw so many old friends and lets just say on many levels was an inspirational experience. I got to bed at 1am smiling and exhausted. I spent the next day in bed and that night went to Shane and Christy Lambings to watch the new 007 movie with Christy. I ended up staying the night, and sleeping most of the next day. I talked to Tom for a bit who had just finished up a week of forced vaccation and then Jacquie came over Sunday night and we tried one of the Pubs on Mississippi Ave. Bratworst with horseradish sauce, definitely cleared my sinuses for a few minuets. It was so good to just sit and chat in the comfort of my own place with a friend. And then surprise surprise I went back to bed. Now I'm awake even though I'd rather still be in bed and have a Doctor's appointment at 3:30 (Lucky me!) and my evening gig cancled so I'll be back in bed soon. I hate going to the doctor with a cold, I am always afraid they are going to phoophooey me and send me home to rest. But it's been 5-6 weeks now so, I'm kinda tiered of being sick. So here I go...