Home Again, Home Again

Jiggity jig.... LOL!

As you can see by the title, we are home from our four blissful days in Waldport. We stayed in a cozy little cabin on the cliffs just south of Waldport proper. The views were amazing when it wasn't completely socked in with fog. I really didn't mind the fog though. We were thankful to be out of the valley for this last little heat wave. I guess on Saturday it was 101 degrees here.

The original plan was we were going to be at the cabin Sunday through today, but things changed. It always amazes me how quickly my life goes from great but a little stressful to fantastically awesome (and I proceed to check corners for the backlash) and vice versa. When I last posted (around mid-morning Friday) my husband was not employed (to my knowledge), and by two that afternoon my husband was gainfully employed with what we hope will be an awesome tech place in Portland making more than he did at his last job. What a spectacular way to begin my vacation!! The only downside being that they wanted him to start today, which in turns mean I spend a chunk of my vacation alone. Hmmm.... Unemployed husband with me for entire vacation, or money-making husband who only gets to spend six of nine days off with me? You guess which I would prefer....

The new job is essentially what he was last doing with Hollywood, but from the sounds of it way easier (I think). AND (this part really excites me, almost more than the paycheck) hopefully he will get weekends off with me!!! We aren't 100% certain about all the details of the job because it is a contract to hire position. (this could be because he is my husband but...) I don't see how he could not get hired on permanently.... He is just that awesome.

With that amazing news, I knew my vacation was going to rock! We just had to scramble a little to get all of our stuff packed and ready to go a day early. We got the truck loaded and left Salem around nine Saturday morning. We went south to Corvallis and stopped in to visit my brother (who is now a wild land firefighter for a private company). It was good to see him and catch up with him a little. We went to a little bar/restaurant he likes nears his house, and then walked over to the Book Bin (in ninety degree weather!) to pick up some books. We took Joshua back to his house and then beat feet for the coast. It was insane that just before noon and it was already in the mid-nineties. As we neared the coast, like within about ten miles of being there the temperature plummeted to the mid sixties. It felt awesome!

Sunday we went for a nice long walk on the beach and got some awesome pictures of some sandpipers, the Alsea Bay bridge, and the beach itself. We spent a good chunk of the day reading and talking. Late afternoon we were feeling a little restless and opted to go for a drive. (Shockingly, even though I grew up on the coast I had never been south of Waldport) We went down to Florence and stopped at A & W and then went and saw Inception at the Florence Cinemas. The movie was great. The theater left something to be desired. First, the bathroom was like something horror movies are made of. It was clean, but over half the lights were out (Cah-reepy!!). Then there was the auditorium we were in. Maybe it was just this one auditorium was shitty and we had ended up in it. But the seats were insanely uncomfortable. By the time we left the two and a half hour long movie my ass was asleep on one side and cramped on the other... Ridiculous... Plus, like in any coastal community, there was stupid crackhead drama. Before the movie started some chick was yelling at someone on her phone about how "They better hope the cops don't get called or they were going to take away her kid". Presumably this was a child other than the one she had brought to the theater with her and all of her crackhead guy friends... I don't know maybe I am just biased... But if it walks like a duck...

Sunday night was an adventure all in itself. We got to the cabin from the theater around eight-ish. We made dinner and read for a bit and then decided to go crash. At around 1:30am something woke me. I opened my eyes and saw light on the wall coming from outside and heard voices... I was barely cognizant and heard someone say something about how his mom knew he was going to be here and then another voice said they thought someone was inside. I started smacking Collin's arm to get him awake. I had recognized the voice and figured it would be best for Collin to deal with it. It was his younger cousin James, Carol's son. Carol had mentioned that he was planning on spending a night at the cabin but as far as we knew it was going to be like Thursday or Friday. WRONG! Turns out his key had broken off in the deadbolt and so he was going to go through the bedroom window (that we had left open a little for air and the sound of the ocean). Thirty seconds more and he would have come tumbling into the room where Collin and I were sleeping. Part of me, after realizing who was at the window, had wanted to scream, "AHHH!!! Aliens are trying to abduct us!!!" But I refrained. Collin offered the upstairs portion of the house to James and his three friends but James opted for them to sleep outside since they planned on being up a while longer drinking and such. They were on their way home to Olympia from San Francisco.

Monday morning we had plans to come up the coast to good ole LC for the day, so we let James know and left the sliding door to the deck unlocked so they could come in and use the bathroom and kitchen and what not. When we were in Lincoln City we went to the mall, and got some shoes. Collin needed a good pair for the new job and I happened to find a new pair of Vans to replace my four year old pair. Then we went to the park on Devil's Lake past the mall. We went and had coffee with my two favorite girls, Kristina and Emily! There was a wasp in the coffee shop that would not go outside, so that made the "atmosphere" a little tense, but it was great to see my girls! After coffee we picked up my sister's birthday cake and grabbed some lunch before heading out to my dad's. It was a great visit and then we headed back down to Waldport, picking up a pizza as we went through Newport. We finished out the day with pizza, beer (Mike's hard lemonade for me), and a movie.

Yesterday we got everything packed up and cleaned up the cabin. We also walked on the beach again and walked down to this ancient stump on the beach that I decided should be called "Das Stump". We spent a nice chunk of time reading some more, and were both able to admit that we were feeling a little homesick (we missed our little furry hellion). We started to head home around two. It was almost as though the onshore flow followed us home because it was only 81 by the time we got home at 4:30pm. Turns out the high here yesterday was 88 as of noon... Oh and as we pulled into our garage our crackhead neighbor was in it....

The background on this: The cottages we live in are old. The two back units (ours and the crackheads [I just call them this because of their behavior]) each have a garage attached the the back of them. Our circuit breaker box is located in the garage attached to our house, and the crackheads circuit breaker box is in our garage, which is attached to their house. Apparently, Monday afternoon the geniuses had lights on, their A/C unit running, and the chick decided to blow-dry her hair in the bedroom where the A/C is. All of this overloaded the circuit and tripped a breaker. They do not have access to our garage and since we were out of town they didn't have a way in. The maintenance dude with the spare keys was gone as well. In an act of desperation, since they didn't know when we would be back, the dude crackhead as guided by the landlord or something, had climbed into the attic area and found the access hatch into the garage, climbed down and flipped the breaker just as we came home. He told us it freaked him out when the garage door opened just as he flipped the tripped breaker back on.... I don't like them... They are drama and they do not mesh with the rest of the quiet peaceful tenants here. But, oh well. We will see how much longer they are here.

Collin started his new job today, and I have spent the day doing laundry and editing and uploading all the pictures from our trip. I might pick out a few to have actually printed. I might even do one or two as poster prints, we'll see. I am going to go work out here in a few minutes... While we were at the coast I was kind of lax on the healthy and mindful eating and exercising. You only live once though right? And it's not like I veered so freakishly off track.

Ick... Four days until I have to go back to work. Maybe tomorrow I will go visit my mom, if she's around.

AHA! I Am Not The Only Slacking Blogger!

Time seems to just be getting away from me. Sheesh, it has been almost a month since my last post. There really hasn't been anything to terribly exciting to share. Work is still work (said in utterly depressed tone of voice), and home life is still awesome! I love having my hubby home on the weekends!

One fun and exciting thing to share is that I am finally taking some time off from work! The entire next week to be exact. There should be some fun and exciting adventures arising there.

I am thinking of talking to the powers that be about "upgrading" my title here at the office... I am thinking I would like to be referred to as the "All Knowing Office Goddess".... Okay, no. Seriously I am thinking I should be considered Office Coordinator at this point since I do just about everything here.

In a week and one day, Collin and I will be celebrating our fifth anniversary. It's weird to think how time has flown and that we have been married that long. At the same time (and I mean this in a good way) it feels like we have been together forever.

Sadly, I really don't have much to post... Just letting you know I didn't fall off the face of the planet. Just been busy and tired.

Oh, here is one fun little factoid:

I never thought I would EVER be able to say this, last week two employees (I wasn't here when it happened but I had to help with the disciplinary actions) engaged in physical combat, in the hallway, during work hours, with pens... I was utterly disgusted when I heard about this. Combat may be an excessive term to use, but it was just insane. Two middle aged people, fighting AT WORK with pens... Pathetic. And no, neither party was fired but they were both put on notice.

Now I am going to go get the mail... Yay for time killing activities...

Is it 4:40 yet? (that's when my vacation officially begins!)

Peace out bitches.