Kingfisher Cove

Universe, Please Grant Me…

…the ability to suffer fools without reaching for my machete.

(I still reserve the right to fantasize, though!)

Oh, HELL, the Business Development conference. 1-1/2 hours to get there and 1-1/2 hours to get home these past two days. Horrible drive in horrible traffic (not to mention a very difficult location to find in the labyrinth hills of Sammamish with dark windy roads that change names a half dozen times midstream. I would have been forever lost without my Google Maps voice navigation app on my iPhone, although it certainly did drain my battery).

Honestly? The conference itself wouldn’t have been bad at all, as it was a training workshop for project managers on marketing proposals and presentation skills, presented by an excellent speaker who absolutely “gets” A/E marketing. He was wonderful! And I do believe he opened some eyes!

“No, ‘We are pleased to submit’ is never ever how we begin a proposal cover letter.” “The proposal is customized, conversational, and never begins as a ‘save as’ from a previous proposal.”

[I’ve talked until I’m blue in the face about these things, but it obviously takes an ‘expert’ who also happens to be a MAN for these engineers to hear it].

But I’m telling you, Chucklehead was insufferable. He kept interrupting the (awesome) presenter with inane, stuttering, blather and his inappropriate fake-giggles. He added not one grain of sand worth of value. My imagination certainly became an expert at wielding that machete!

The (misogynist) guy I just spent the past two weeks working with on that godawful proposal for the Port of Seattle attended the workshops, and he had an unsurprisingly difficult time grasping the creative elements the awesome presenter emphasized (i.e., “enough with bullets in PowerPoint!”) He didn’t understand the art of using metaphors or analogies, of telling a story in lieu of listing facts and data. And when the presenter said, “Take an hour to prepare about a 5-minute presentation from one of these three topics,” this guy was completely wrapped around the axle about HOW LONG everyone’s presentation was and he even had a STOP WATCH. I was totally head->desk.

That said: I was very impressed with what these hard-headed and mostly baby-boomer engineers came up with in a very short period of time for their 5-minute presentations. They dared to step outside their narrow “engineering box” for the most part, and they delivered! (I didn’t present, but I did help one guy with his presentation and he received excellent feedback! He was very appreciative!) 

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When I (finally!) got home tonight, THIS was waiting for me in my in-box!!!

It’s the fireplace flue! Holy moly! (click the pic to embiggen). I LOVE IT!!!!!

Productive / NOT Productive

We left Harstine this evening with me having done NOTHING around the house all weekend, leaving dust and grime every-damned-where, and I won’t be back down there for two full weeks. I spent the entire weekend buried in working on the Memory Book for the class reunion, and it blew me away what a time suck it was. I worked on it ALL DAY LONG Saturday, and was up past midnight. Then again most of today, with an added request: “We also need a title page or two.” God, what a nightmare. Too much with a hella demanding full-time job and a house being built and TWO houses to maintain and mountains of laundry to do. And tonight my mood is in the toilet because I have to drive to ISSAQUAH tomorrow and Tuesday morning for the annual Business Development conference. I remember from last year what a horrific drive that was, dealing with I-405 during the commute. I’m just dreading this beyond belief. I also remember dealing with Chucklehead last year (and will again…):

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It was led by Chucklehead.

“So-so-so-so-so, we’re gonna deep dive, right? so we can leverage our value proposition, right? and takeaway our learnings, right? And-and-and-and we’ll determine from the big pitcher [yes, pitcher] if our brandscape has headwinds or tailwinds, right?”

Yesterday, after I came *this*close to stabbing my eye with a fork, I took the opportunity this morning between 8:00 and 8:10 a.m. to draw hashmarks in my notebook to count the number of times the idiot said the word “right.” In that ten-minute period of time, he said it

                    47 times.

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Yeah. Stab me with a fork.

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John slaved away all weekend on his shingle art for the fireplace. It took him a long time and incredible brain power to achieve this. This photo was taken from standing on a stool and looking down on his work table. He has begun to install the shingles on the fireplace, but he stopped at the point where the art is to be installed, as his helper, Lee, will be there tomorrow to lend a hand. It’s extremely tricky to install!

It’s going to be STUNNING.

Needed This (But Really Didn’t WANT It)

At Harstine for the weekend (as always!) and I’ve worked for HOURS today on this %#[email protected]! high school reunion Memory Book that I (stupidly) agreed to do. It needs to be finished (and printed!) in time for the reunion, which is a week from today! Jeeze. But, that huge block of time—which I just haven’t had—really helped. I now feel a little more in control and I can see a bit of a light at the end of the tunnel. Holy crap. I’m hoping that somebody from the reunion committee can handle the printing, because I just will not have time. Work has been horrendous and will continue to be so next week. Ugh.

I’m still reeling from this past week. It was just awful. It poured down rain all week long (and I’m just not accustomed to that after such an awesome summer). Besides the gloom and the gray and the dark; and the crashes and stalls and idiocy galore during my commutes, I wanted to haul out the machete. It would have also made a great tool at work. Dealing with that horrible misogynist asshat for a Port of Seattle proposal who goes ballistic whenever I dare question anything outside of his narrow box of HOW WOMEN SHOULD BE SUBMISSIVE. I’ve never known anybody who is more bullheaded and anal retentive, and I’ve known many of them in the engineering field over these past many years. There was a time I actually was one of those “submissive” women-workers when I didn’t want to upset apple carts, but since I’ve become an old(er) fart, I no longer give a crap. I will say what needs to be said, and it’s based on experience and knowledge. There are certain types of men (certainly engineers) who DON’T GET THAT.

C’mon Universe. Free me up to quit this shitty job. (So depressed).

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But here at Harstine, life is great! Even during all those hours wasted spent working on that Memory Book, I’ve appreciated the sunshine outside the window and the antics of the silly cats and dogs. It’s such a healing place. John has been working on his art for the fireplace shingles. Like the starfish, the seagull in flight, and the kingfisher that he created for the outside shingles, this is maxing out his brain power. He has more spatial ability than anybody I know, so the mental effort he’s exerting says a lot for how challenging this artwork is to construct. And I think this one is beyond the pale.

Here is the outside seagull he did:

And here is his pattern for the seagull for the fireplace (click to embiggen to be able to see the pencil drawing better):

Taking into account the layering completely messes with my head. And the fact that it messes with HIS head says a lot! He is a million miles away when he’s in the figuring-out process of creating these. (My head physically hurts just thinking about it).

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Neither of us have been happy with the lighting fixtures for the dining room “thingy.” As soon as John lit them up after connecting them, I was deeply disappointed, but figured I should keep my mouth shut for a while (because hooking them up was not easy). We later discussed it and were both on the same page. He had ordered three pendant fixtures for the guest bathroom several months ago and we decided that that they would be perfect for the dining room instead. So back in July I ordered a 4th fixture and it took until this week to finally receive it! Today John changed them out and we are DELIGHTED! Absolutely over the moon with how perfect they are. They now completely tie in all the woodwork and the planned pony wall tile, that will have an aqua glass strip. My photos are frustrating because they just show “glowing orbs” instead of how they actually appear with the teal/aqua color when they are lit up. So here are a couple of photos with the lights turned off.

  

Turned on, they look just like that, only…bright! Holy moly, they are stunning! So glad we did that! I also ordered—and finally received—a table lamp that matches them for the living room. Absolutely love it!

(I am so ready to have this place looking like being a home!)

Butt-Kicking

Yeah, that’s me—butt-kicking tired, that is. Never-ending work hell and traffic hell. (Also class reunion Memory Book hell). And now the rains (and darkness) are back. A lot of people seem to like the season change, but I’m not one of them. While I love the Pacific Northwest and could never imagine living anywhere else, we are now entering Tonya’s Difficult Months. My S.A.D. lamp will get a workout, as usual. I miss the light and the color already. This past summer really spoiled me! (2nd warmest in history, with an emphasis on warm, not overall oppressively hot. Lots of sun! And color! It was stellar!)

It’s also lonesome during these week nights with John at Harstine. We do talk every evening, though. And I cracked up when he sent me these photos yesterday before he called:

What the hell is that, you ask? Here’s a close-up (albeit a little blurry):

The subject line of his email with these photo attachments? “There’s gold in them thar hills!”

So, two things: John is a big fan of the television show “Gold Rush.” And, the fellow who did our siding and who has been helping John a lot with many other tasks around the Harstine house (Lee) goes “sluicing” pretty regularly as a hobby. Yesterday, the two of them opted for a day in the hills near Olympia and they were quite excited about this find! Heh. Worked their asses off to get it, too. Shoveled lots of gravel and were utterly drenched and exhausted afterward!

I thought it was so cool that they did this! They have forged a strong bond, those two. (Lee is very skilled in the construction trades and is a great worker—plus a wonderful young guy. He’s actually a year younger than Nate). Apparently there’s not much gold in Washington, so I guess this really was quite a find!

Sunny Sunday in September

Listening to the Seahawks game streaming through the local radio app via Bluetooth to our Boze stereo docking station. Sounds complicated, but it’s awesome! I love listening to Steve Raible calling the game! I still tear up when I hear his audio highlights from the heart-attack-city NFC championship game against the 49’ers and the Super Bowl. So far, we’re ahead! Sure hope it stays that way (last week’s loss was painful!)

Aside from that, sort of a mundane day, but a mundane day here at Harstine is a gazillion times better than any day anywhere else. Period.

John continues to slave away on the house. Here’s a bullet list of recent accomplishments and current activities:

• The decks and the entry stairs are now all stained! They look great!
• Preliminary work has begun on the retaining walls required around the entry and driveway. John poured a slab this morning at the top of the entry stairs. Much more to come and we’re looking at nice block (in lieu of concrete) along the driveway.
• John’s been working a bunch in the master bathroom, which has been the most unfinished, skeletal room in the whole house. He’s framed in and sheet rocked stepped-down walls around the toilet area and the walk-in shower that will accommodate glass block (ignore the color—it’ll be painted the same color as the surrounding walls). He’s also preparing the shower floor for tile.

• Tile will be the next BIG project. Tile floors, countertops, and backsplash in the bathrooms; tile for the bath/shower walls; tile on the bottom part of the fireplace; tile on the dining room cabinets’ countertops; and tile all along the outside of the kitchen pony wall. Oh, and kitchen backsplash tile! Whew! That’s a lotta tile!
• The fireplace is finally enclosed! We had to wait for the inspector to sign off on the installation of the flue beforehand, and now it’s ready for tile on the bottom and then cedar SHINGLES for the top angled part. Yep, shingles! John’s thinking of a small seagull in flight for the shingle art.

As for me, I did some cleaning today. Ugh, construction dust is still a big issue (especially with the bathroom sheet rock) and every weekend tends to be a re-do from the weekend before. I was particularly upset after mopping the kitchen hardwood floor last weekend to discover a sort of “film” left behind that looked like crap. Today I mopped with nothing but warm water and thankfully it broke that film. I’m thinking I hadn’t diluted the hardwood floor cleaner enough that I used last weekend. I’m so relieved we have the “gleam” back!

(Seahawks are still ahead, but this 2nd half has been yukky! Jeeze, Seahawks, put us through it!)

{{{INTERCEPTION!!!!}}} Hey, I asked for that and they listened! Unless something horrible happens, it looks like we have this! (This has been the Super Bowl rematch against the Broncos).

Nothing more exciting than reading football play-by-play in a blog post, eh?

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Seahawks Update: WE WON IN OVERTIME! HOLY CRAP!

Beautiful! (And Rather Productive!)

Combated a dark, foul mood last night as we crawled our way (in the dark) to Harstine Is. in horrible traffic. I’m sort of blaming that foul mood (and general malaise) not only on the traffic (which is MY LIFE), but also on this week’s flu shot. They do tend to kick my butt for a few days, and yet I’m all for having them because I tend to NOT get colds (or flu) when I do. It also didn’t help matters that one of the smoke detectors in the master bedroom at nose-bleed height was chirping every few seconds signaling a low backup battery, and I thought I just might go insane. The work-week was insane as it was; the constant chirping just about sent me over the edge. I even heard it throughout the night even though we sleep clear over on the other end of the house. John remedied the situation today, but it involves scaffold PLUS a ladder on top of it to access the stupid thing.

I keep thinking that when these gorgeous weekends hit, that that will be “it” for the year. And here we are again with yet another stellar one! They’re calling for over 80° tomorrow! (Isn’t that unusual for us Washingtonians in late(ish) September?)

We piled the weenies in the truck and headed for Olympia this morning. On the way, we stopped at the Olympic Bakery after crossing the Harstine bridge but just before hitting the highway and picked up coffee plus a couple of naughty delights. It had been a while since we’d been in there and they also had an interesting wine and cheese case and tasting bar. It was too early to taste some wine, but John scoped out an interesting cheese that this fellow opened up for us to taste on those light, thin crackers. Num! (“Coastal White Cheddar” from Britain). THEN, he added an intriguing level of NUM from a jar of “Fresh Walnut Artisan Preserves” that are whole walnuts soaked (somehow) in a sweet brine, shell and all, and you would actually not even know that they were walnuts. He cut one in half and placed each half on a slice of the cheese on top of the cracker and I’m telling you, it was a widen-your-eyes and party-in-your-mouth kind of moment! Unusual, but the combination of that sweet, soft walnut and that cheese was amazing! That’s the kind of salesmanship I appreciate. Let your tongue decide. (And yes, I bought some cheese and jar of the Fresh Walnut Preserves). They’ll make a fun hors d'oeuvre when we have neighbors over some evening for wine on the deck.

Anyway, we drove to Olympia to a furniture store that John had scoped out earlier—he had seen a dining table and chairs set that he really liked. And as it turned out, just before we left, he actually found another set online by the same manufacturer that he liked even better. At the furniture store we learned that the first set had been sold, and even though I liked it and appreciated the quality, (it was still there on the floor to see) it was very “mission” style, which I don’t dislike, but it can appear to be a little more rustic than what we’re going for. The store actually DID have the other style that John had scoped out online, but hadn’t noticed it before because the floor “model” was in a very light, natural wood that wouldn’t have caught either of our eye. BUT, it comes in a dark(er) amber stain. The wood is hickory. And here’s a decent photo of it. (Click to embiggen):

Everything about it is STURDY and I love that the table has TWO LEAVES and the mechanism is excellent! We ordered a total of 8 chairs, and if ever there is a time that’s not enough, we do have other chairs! (The table fully leafed out, seats 10). With all the furniture building that John has done, this definitely fits right into the style and quality that he can (and has) done himself. We are really excited! It won’t arrive until mid- to late-October, but that’s OK. I’m seriously thinking now that we can have Thanksgiving here! Maybe! We’d have to also move down at least our couch from Des Moines. (Not so sure we’d have our TV here and hooked up to the Direct TV satellite  for football games yet, but…maybe?) We’ll see. One day, one week, one month at a time.

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Phone update: I had to restore it anyway because the upgrade pooped out mid-stream. That wasn’t terrible as I automatically back up “to the cloud” regularly, but I had to wait until we arrived last night to plug it into my laptop to reinstall all of my apps. The restore also automatically installed the new iOS8, piece of cake. If you’re considering upgrading, I’d recommend waiting at least a few days because I’m sure the reason it was so flakey was because of the huge rush on the new iPhones and iTunes just couldn’t handle all the volume. The one main feature with the upgrade that intrigues me the most is being able to finally “share” music with John’s iPod. He’ll need to upgrade before we can do that, though.

Things I May Have Posted on Facebook If I Had My Phone With Me

After setting my iPhone to upgrade to iOS 8 last night, I noticed this morning (after OVER NINE HOURS) that the upload had barely progressed. And when I decided to abort it and try again later, a message popped up saying that I would need to "restore my phone," which I really didn't want to have to do. So I didn't go there and had to leave my phone at home. (I sure hope it continues to upload. Like I said, in 9 hours it had barely progressed...)

I feel nekked without it here at work! I've actually had to (gasp) people-watch (and dog-watch) while on my breaks.

• Some guy taking random photos of building windows, street signs, sidewalks, and tree branches with a point-and-shoot camera. Seemed odd (and a little sketchy).
• A long-haired red mini-dachshund on a leash. Made me think of Bailey. (Bailey came *this* close to getting hit by a car(s) yesterday—a woman stopped to tell me as I drove in the driveway that she'd been running all around 1st Ave. So., which is a very very busy road! In all of her 12 years, Bailey has never done that! Neurotic because John's not around during the week? Jeesh. Needless to say, John is building a Wiener Fence).
• A beautiful (and slender!) basset hound on a leash. (Usually they tend toward chubby. This guy was stunning).
• Numerous bicyclists running the 4-way stop signs and coming within a hair's breadth of mowing over people on the pedestrian bridge. (But always rockin' their expensive bike duds). 
• A GOLDEN RETRIEVER PUPPY ON A LEASH!!!
• Someone triggered the fire alarm in our building during lunch hour (don't know if for a valid reason) so all 1200 people spilled out onto the sidewalks. My chowder got cold. :(
• I don't wanna be here!
• Help! Set me free! Save me from idiocy! 

 

Resting My Eyes

Which I know is actually very ironic because…HERE I AM!! ON THE COMPUTER!!

Last night kicked my butt eyes, though, because I’ve finally finally begun working on this godawful 40th high school reunion Memory Book that I stupidly agreed to do (“Ah, no big deal!”) way back last winter or so. What the hell was I thinking? I am up to my eyeballs at work, constantly on the computer for hours upon hours, and then I spent another five hours last night on top of that having to type scanned PDF narratives and forms, trying to figure out how to separate photos that people had embedded in emails (instead of sending separate image files), and tediously creating an Excel spreadsheet to capture contact information and keep track of who provided what and be able to sort everything alphabetically. (By last name? Maiden name? I dunno). I haven’t even begun the actual layout and design of the damned thing yet.

And the reunion is just two weeks away. Printing it? Ha! Who knows how in the world that’s going to happen.

I’m taking a pass on the Shutterfly photo book. I just don’t have the time nor the energy. Jeeze, why didn’t they just go the route of Classmates.com or some other reunion service? I talked to a woman the other day who works in our building for the Holland America cruise line and she’d been to her 35th reunion this summer and she said it was all handled by Classmates.com and the cost per person was even less than ours is. She said everything worked out great!

I haven’t even been able to look forward to the event with this hanging over my head.

I probably would have worked on it again tonight, but I got home late from getting my hair colored and trimmed. And I’m disappointed. The thing is, since I’ve been “embracing my curls,” I’ve made a point to educate myself about curly hair. I’ve read a lot and I’ve watched a bunch of YouTube videos about different care methods. And I’ve learned so MUCH about the techniques. There are several different types of curls that range from slightly wavy to spiral to corkscrew, and with variations in between, all which require different aspects of care. (I’m a “cherub” with fine, various-defined curls). I’ve learned that curly girls need to stay away from shampoos with sulfates and conditioners with silicone. We need to also always stay away from combs and brushes, as they damage the fragile hair shafts and negate the curl. And while I’m still experimenting with the quantities of the product line I’m using (to avoid too much product-heaviness, or not enough to define the curls to my liking), I really DO like the product line itself and how healthy it has made my hair look and feel. I’ve been on the Curly Girl Method forums and learned all kinds of tips and tricks, even including the best way to CUT curly hair, which is when it’s dry so that the hair stylist can see the “curly” lay of the land and cut based on how the curl falls.

My hair stylist knew NONE of these things. NADA. She cut my hair wet, used a brush, used sulfate sudsing shampoo and silicone conditioner, had never heard of the Curly Girl Method, used the hair dryer MUCH hotter than she should have (although she used the diffuser, which I haven’t been able to get the hang of) and she’d never heard of the product line I’ve been using these past three months that is renowned among Curly Girls. She DID mention how healthy my hair was (well, duh!) Even after I described my routine, she basically just shrugged it off. And tonight, my hair feels sticky, stiff, pokey-outy instead of curly—PLUS IT’S NOT BLONDE!!!! It’s much darker than she has ever colored it, and when she’d asked about the color, I said, “Definitely blonde! My reunion is coming up!” AND IT’S NOT BLONDE.

My only hope is that it fades/brightens in the days to come (which it has been known to do).

I’ve been going to her for years. At least 10! Maybe longer. And I am quite sure this was my last time.

Of Dogs and Friends

WOW, what a fun day yesterday was!

Several years ago I came across a blog that I immediately fell in love with. Its author, Carol, was so open and refreshing and local (about a half-hour north of our Des Moines house) and I totally connected with her. We’re close to the same age, moms (she with 4 adult kiddos!), and with similar life experiences. We met up at Bellevue’s Daniel’s Broiler a few years ago for drinks and appies and hit it off, as we both knew we would. Since then, Facebook has also contributed a lot to our online friendship.

Margaret also connected with Carol, and she set in motion an opportunity to finally meet her that evolved into all of us getting together here at Harstine. As it turned out, Margaret has been fighting a bad cold so she wasn’t able to come but Carol and her husband, Tom, plus their two Golden Retrievers (Shasta and Quinn) made the trip south yesterday to meet up with us and see our house. (They are considering building a retirement house themselves in the next few years).

We had a ball! We had so much to yap about that we ended up having a (very) late lunch, but I think it worked out fine. I made this (with a few minor modifications, but with REAL crab, NOT imitation gag me) and berry salad and it was yummy! I didn’t think to take food pictures, but between us we did get a number of pretty decent OTHER pictures!

Here is our “halo selfie,” thanks to John’s long arms!

And Carol and me (and Shasta!):

The dogs saw that water and really really wanted to PLAY in it, so we hit the beach (and they hit the water!)

And the husbands connected! (They both “know” power tools, Arrh Arrh Arrh!) And are both doggie magnets.

Here’s kind of an odd shot of the house from the beach with the sun screens down. They look opaque, but actually they aren’t at all. It is a good view of the finished deck rails—and the deck is now stained! Woohoo!

And speaking of “odd shots…” Carol took this of me in the kitchen as I was preparing the quiche and I must’ve been in mid-yap:

I’m still “finding my way” around that kitchen! It’s just…BIG! And crazy-amazing!

The time flew. Why are such fun times such whirlwinds? And now I’m facing yet another hellacious week back in Day Jail. *sob*

Last night’s lovely ending to a great day:

A Ditty About Tree Frogs

My dad worked nights, and when I was around 10-11-12 years old (one of those, I think!) I’d come down with the stomach flu and fell asleep on the bathroom floor, cuddled up to the porcelain throne. Dad woke me when he arrived home from work in the middle of the night and he whispered, “Hey. Come look at this.” I followed him out to the family room where he pulled back the drapes that covered the glass sliding door. And I swear I’m not making this up.

The entire outside of that glass sliding door was covered in tiny green tree frogs. I remember their itty bitty suction cuppy feet latched onto the glass and there were hundreds of them! It was a sea of little green splotches everywhere! He explained that they’d come down out of the woods right behind us seeking the warmth of the house and they stuck themselves to the glass to absorb that warmth. I was amazed and delighted at the sight! I’d never seen such a thing before (or since), and it felt oddly magical. Odd, for sure. But definitely magical!

I recently thought about tree frogs one day peering at all the fir trees on our Harstine property, and I wondered if they’d become scarce. I hadn’t seen any for years. We’ve had the property for nearly 11 years now, and never once have I seen a tree frog there.

Today, John sent me a couple of photos of the Harstine “wildlife” as he was working on house projects:

(Also a fuzzy caterpillar!)

That memory of the delight I felt that night I was sick so many years ago came rushing back to me.

It felt really good to giggle!

(I tree frogs!)

(Caterpillars? Not so much. Better than the big-ass spiders I’ve been seeing lately, though!)