Life at Raven House

Ok, I admit, this first picture isn't up at the house, it was taken out the window at work. But it's pretty! :)

This was taken out the back door:

I think this picture was taken on the day with the most snow. It was so pretty outside...

Eddie and Dakota got new tennis balls and you'd think it was raining peanut butter, they were that excited. Eddie will play fetch for hours (as evidenced in the next picture - he and Jordan are best buds) but Dakota will take her ball and go sit with it somewhere, perfectly content.

All toasty in front of a nice, warm fire

I head home tomorrow but it sure has been relaxing up here! I probably won't sleep as well as I have in this bed until I move out of my apartment. (Which is another post entirely - things are coming together with Dorothy. I officially took the job this week.)

Totally stressed out... but with internet!

Ciel and I have been in e-mail contact this week and I mentioned that I wasn't able to get online, but oh well. She wrote me back and told me where she thought I could find the code to the internet. I came home and aside from the folder being a different color than she had though, it was a piece of cake to find. YAY!

Now I won't be quite so secluded for the next two weeks!

For some reason I feel really stressed this week. I think part of it has to do with the weather, part of it lack of sleep and part of it the Big Decision.

It has been snowing off and on for SEVEN DAYS! That has got to be some sort of Oregon record. It never snows that much! Today it snowed another half inch or so up on the hill which was enough for me to shovel the driveway when I got home. I was finally able to take my chains off and park in the garage yesterday which was a total relief. I was so tired of driving 25mph everywhere and listening to kthunk, kthunk, kthunk the whole way.

I need to go to bed way earlier tonight. I have been sleeping SO good out here, just not enough. I will never be able to get used to my apartment again after this. My sister and I went by my place yesterday to pick up a couple of things and it was SO LOUD!! When I turn off the lights to go to sleep out here there is no porch light streaming in the windows, no TV or hacking downstairs, no road noise... It's wonderful.

Big Decision. I think in the back of my mind, I've pretty much decided. However, I need to realize that in the rest of my mind. I've been almost forcing myself not to think about it because I REALLY hate the idea of moving again. I don't like the idea of deciding what to put in storage and what to keep out. I don't like the idea of asking my friends to help me move again because I know they're getting tired of it. Ok, it's time to do this:

Cons:

• Packing everything I own (when I just unpacked my very last box a month ago) and moving for the 6th time in 2 1/2 years.
• No longer living alone. (Oh, how I love living alone...)
• Feeling like I might have a lot less time for Steve and Jordan.
• Having to tame my social life a little bit and becoming a little more of a homebody. (This could actually be considered a Pro as well.)
• Worrying about Jordan not adapting well to the situation.
• Living with a dog again (I just may train that soft, furry guy).
• The whole thing being somewhat temporary (and not knowing exactly how temporary).
• The end being terribly sad.

Pros:

• Gaining a new friend through Dorothy.
• Being there for her to help her however she needs and to ease her mind about who's going to cook for her, etc.
• Living in a great place rent-free, with a stipend.
• Living in a quiet neighborhood.
• Having this be a learning experience for Jordan (in a lot of ways).
• Blessing someone beyond what I probably realize.
• The spiritual impact that several people have said they think this would have on me.
• Expanding my cooking skills.
• Growing in numerous ways.

I think I'm gonna do it.

Oh gosh, yikes! This means I actually have to think about the moving part...

Adventures on the hill

Before Ciel left for her trip we checked the internet at her house and determined that I would not need a password to use it. I was all excited to do lots of blogging while I'm up there.

I got up there yesterday and went to sign on...

You guessed it.

Password protected.

GRR! I tried to find the passcode on the internet box but to no avail. I have AWFUL cell phone reception up there, and now no internet. Guess I'll be doing a LOT of cross stitch in the next two weeks! Which is actually good because I had planned to do that anyway. :)

Here are a few (poor quality) cell phone pictures I took.

Eddie (bottom), Dakota and I watching a movie last night:



The back deck! It snowed hard all night and there are now about 9 inches up there. I had no problems getting to work today with the chains on my car so we'll see if it keeps snowing and if I have any trouble getting home. ;)



This is the patio of the hospital cafeteria this morning. So pretty!!



I'm hoping to take some more pictures of the yard in the daylight today. I'm also hoping to shove enough snow off the hot tub lid to open it and hop in. :) (All this after I chop some kindling to build a nice, warm fire. Mmmm...)

I tell you what, I slept SO good last night! No porch lights coming through my window, no road noise, no coughing neighbor... I feel so rested!

Dear weather,

I just read on weather.com that it's supposed to start snowing tonight around 8:30 and continue off and on (with a 100% chance that it will snow continuously from midnight tonight until 3am) until FRIDAY AFTERNOON!

I would like to say thank you for this. I do love the snow! I love sitting at my desk at work and watching the flurries outside. I love the silent, beautiful flakes. I love tromping through the snow in my boots.

Just so you know, you can snow just as long as you would like. As long as I can still get up the hill to the house where I will be staying, I am all in favor of that powdery white stuff.

Quite happily,

A snow lover

P.S. A white Christmas will get you MAJOR bonus points.

The adventures of snow and ice

What a fun day! And by fun I mean crazy!

Last night it started snowing and I thought, ooh, how pretty... I love snow. It's beautiful. I looked outside when I went to bed at 11 and it had stopped but there was probably about an inch already accumulated. Here is the view from my porch:



This morning as soon as I woke up I looked outside to see how much more it had snowed and from my bedroom window (which doesn't overlook much) it looked like it hadn't really snowed any more. I got ready for the day, got all my stuff together, bundled up in my coat and boots and scarf and gloves and headed out the door.

WELL! There was a LOT more snow than I had thought!

I tramped through it to get to my car, went to stick the key in the lock and it wouldn't go in. The lock was completely frozen. Joy. I fiddled with it for a minute and got nowhere. I tramped back inside and set all my stuff down. I got some hot water (I hate using hot water on frozen cars but that lock was STUCK) and tramped back down.

After pouring water on my passenger side lock a little at a time, I was able to get the key to turn. Now to get the DOOR to open! (More pouring of water around the edges...) I climbed through and shoved my driver's side door open. (By now it's 7:10 and I'm way late but I had called my boss twice and she didn't answer so obviously she was late, too!)

I tramped BACK inside, got my stuff, locked my apartment and loaded my car. I started the car, turned on the defrost and started scraping the windows, making sure that I always had at least one door open at all times so I wouldn't get frozen out again!

At about 7:25 I finally rolled out of my driveway. I drove about 15mph all the way to pick Stephanie up (who had called me by then to make sure I wasn't in a ditch).

Steve had told me I shouldn't bother even going in because Hospital Hill was so bad that one of the buses had slid partway down the road. But I go up the side that is much less steep so I wasn't too worried. The only obstacle we had was a semi parked in the middle of the road, debating whether he should continue on. (Obvious answer, if you ask me.)

After work we trudged back out to my car. As I pulled out of my parking space Stephanie asked me if the pavement was slick for driving. I said, "I dunno, let's check." I accelerated to about 6mph and then hit the brakes. We slid about 5 feet. I looked at her and said, "Yep, pretty slick!" She had a look of total horror on her face and said, "I am SO glad you're driving!"

I fishtailed twice after dropping her off, once taking off from a red light and another time on a slight incline. I got home and there was a car slightly smaller than mine trying to get out of our driveway. They tried and tried and kept sliding around. Finally they waiting for a big break in traffic, backed waaay up and then gunned it, fishtailing all the way up to the road. I thought, "Wow, sucks for them" CLEARLY not thinking that I was intending to leave again in about 15 minutes!

Sure enough, I came back out and the same thing happened to me. I gave it about 3 tries and then gave up when I ended up off to the side of the driveway. I realized that it's probably going to be even worse in the morning so I backed into a parking space and got out my chains. (Thank you, honey!!!)

Since I used them once last year I'm a "pro" at putting them on and it only took me about 15 minutes. I tried the driveway again. Piece of cake!

Moral of the story: I love chains.

I'm at my parents' house now but am heading home in about 15 minutes. I offered to pick up another coworker in the morning so that he doesn't have to try to navigate the awful roads. Stephanie is a cat lover and calls me "catbus" because I pick her up every day. After learning that I had chained up she said, "Ooh, tomorrow it will be catbus supreme!"

Thursday Thirteen - 13 things I am thinking about a lot lately

(Who likes my Pieces of Flair 13 today? :)

1. The upcoming storms that we're getting weather advisories on! Apparently it's supposed to be VERY COLD for the next week or so (some days the HIGH will be around freezing).

2. Puppy sitting! I'm anxious for next Thursday because I can't wait to be at that nice quiet house. :)

3. Caregiving. I get to go meet Dorothy and see her house after work today and find out more about what she's looking/hoping for. Keep praying for me!

4. My stinky apartment. I've started documenting when the smells/noise are really bad so that I'll have something written in my rental file.

5. My parents.

6. My cousin's bridal shower this weekend. :)

7. Christmas! I am not huge on gifts, only because it gets so expensive and overwhelming to buy a gift for every person who means something to you. I tend to stick to my immediate family, plus a couple of very special people (who are also family, actually). I have all the gifts decided on and about half of them bought. Yay!

8. My great friends.

9. The possibility of moving. Again.

10. Visiting a cousin and a friend in January, on two different weekends, one of them in Washington.

11. My upcoming very special date with my wonderful boyfriend.

12. Menu planning

13. Blogging. Have you noticed the amount of posts this week? I'm hoping to keep it up. :)

Thursay Thirteen - 13 things I love about the fall/winter season

1. Driving in the rain with the heat on full blast and the worship music turned up.

2. Sitting on the couch with a good book, watching the rain come down.

3. Good TV shows.

4. Thanksgiving!

5. Inspiration to write. (I started a work of fiction recently.)

6. Storms!

7. Sleeping with the heat on.

8. Christmas!

9. Sweat pants and big sweatshirts and soft socks.

10. The sound of raindrops on the roof.

11. Big, warm blankets. I love them.

12. Holiday food that only comes around once a year. (English toffee!!!)

13. The rain in general. I love it. I love Oregon.

Eight random things

Carrie tagged anyone who wanted to do this, so I decided to do it. (And Tessa is bugging me to post more blogs. See, I do have fans.)

The tag goes like this:

List eight random things about yourself.

That being said...

1) I have to drink milk when I eat ice cream. If I don't, it feels like something is missing. It would be like eating spaghetti with no sauce.

2) Like almost every girl I know, I have been dreaming about my wedding day since I was little. I've always wanted to put together a notebook with pictures, ideas, etc. that I like or would want to incorporate into my wedding. Today I finally started that notebook.

3) I firmly believe that you can never have too many books. Sure, my apartment only has so much room for books, but still. We have three bookshelves in our living room alone (and the room is not that big), plus another half-bookshelf in the "hallway" and one in my bedroom. Someday I want to live in a house with a room just for books. Not a "study" or "den" but an actual room with bookshelves everywhere and a big huge comfortable chair. Ahh...

4) I'm getting excited about moving next summer. I could go on and on about why I don't want to live here anymore, but I do that a lot, so I won't. Let's just say, I never want to own a dog and I really don't want to live anywhere with communal laundry facilities either.

5) I still love my new job. I got "scolded" for something on Thursday which had me almost in tears because my supervisor scolded me in front of other people and did it in a rather harsh way, which was extremely embarrassing for me. It was good that she told me what she did, but I would have preferred it if she'd taken me aside, or into her office, and told me what I did wrong. I'm still learning, I don't want to be embarrassed in front of others.

6) Thanksgiving is going to be WEIRD this year. We usually have 45-50 people (all relatives) and we rent the fairgrounds because there are just too many of us to fit in a house. This year half the family is not coming. Seriously. We are expecting 28. I was not looking forward to it because the fairgrounds is huge and cold and dirty and loud and the cousins that I am closest to will not be there. A couple of days ago my mom sent out an e-mail and said that she was able to cancel our reservation at the last minute and get the deposit back and we're having Thanksgiving at my parents' house! I'm thrilled. It's still going to be weird to not have half the family there (in fact, it'll be a lot like the normal gatherings that we have throughout the year with the "locals") but it'll be wonderful to have real (not public) bathrooms, internet, couches, and the comforts of an actual home. I can't believe it's only 5 days away! I love Thanksgiving.

7) I'm thinking about making a list of things to complete before the end of the year. Things like creating a rough-draft budget for next summer (moving), reading certain books, cleaning out certain closets/corners/cupboards, etc. (Have I mentioned that I cannot wait to get out of this place?)

8) I'm shrinking. My tight jeans are no longer tight. The most likely reason I can come up with is that I'm constantly on the move at work. I rarely sit down for more than 3 minutes at a time. I run stairs, I walk floors, I drink a ton of water. Sure, it feels healthy to do all that, but I don't want to shrink any more! Yes, I know, I know, enjoy it while I can. It's the buying new pants that I hate (hopefully it won't come to that). And yes, I still eat like a horse.

Hmm, this 8 things about me is totally not what I expected it to be. =) Well, hope you enjoyed it. I'm hoping to post again before Thanksgiving, but I also expect to be busy with grocery shopping, cooking, house-cleaning, etc. So if you don't hear from me before then, a VERY happy Thanksgiving to all!