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ok true believers – I’m switching over to a new named blog: TheNif.wordpress.com (The continuing adventures of Nif!)
enjoy….
ok, so I sent some of you the notice about Dr. Horrible (which now will cost a whole $6! if you missed it).
Here’s some other laughter:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FiQJ9Xp0xxU
aka “Why I’m voting Republican”. I laughed so hard I cried, thank you Ricomatic.
There’s also “The Guild”:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=grCTXGW3sxQ&feature=rec-fresh
Thanks to CJ on that one.
And then there’s the photos of the moose my mom sent me. They’re just wrong. I refuse to contribute to the spam, so if you want to see it, email me & let me know – I’ll forward it to you.
Enjoy! (Yes, we’re still busting our asses carrying insanely heavy things up 3 flights of stairs… ug.)
walking to the Park
at The Park
S got us a desk, we borrowed a monitor from A&L, got internet at home today – so though we don’t have our stuff yet (long story, the boxes just left nola yesterday, 2 weeks late. I swear, I am so SICK of Good Sister’s presence on most of our endeavors in nola, arrghh!)…
we are actually ONLINE AT HOME, yay! Tho I’m having to learn to love S’s new Mac, but it’s pretty cute & user friendly so that’s alright.
L has fallen in Love w/the Spyderwick Chron, we’re on our 3rd viewing this week & every trip into the woods involves running from/chasing goblins. Which is fine, could be worse (like spongebob that I put my foot down on).
I can’t get over how beautiful it is here – whenever things get stressful, we head across the field for a walk in the woods & pick berries, I breathe in the fir-scented air and just feel better. Wow. I didn’t realize how frustrated I was in nola, since I loved my buds there so much & enjoyed the convenience of urban living & all the stuff going on… but not having access to “safe” (non gator/snake/mosquito nature trails) was Really Hard. I guess because there were so many plants/trees, I felt I should be fine, not the concrete jungle like NYC… but it wasn’t enough.
No luck yet on the job front, but considering we’re sleeping on air mattresses & wearing pants I got out of the goodwll bins last weeknd, we’re doing Great. S already applied for a job but didn’t get the interview, bummer. L still likes school, enjoy the storytime at the library today and everytime we come back to the apt, he sings out “Ooli, Hari, we’re home!” 
He misses his friends (esp D, who’s in CT anyway), but said he’s happy about the move and “our New Home” here. He loves all the forests, woods & having the River Beach close by. We finally pointed out the sno-covered volcanos successfully, so that will likely be our next field trip.
Pix soon, I took some great ones today in the woods while we nibbled on thimble & blackberries, chased big kids, spit cherry stones into the creek and otherwise gamboled about.
We’re going to go the SCAdian newcomers picnic on sat to see if we can make some friends – it’s also in a part of the metro area we haven’t visited yet, so that will be an adventure.
As soon as our stuff gets here next week, we’ll get more settled, & I’m going to contact the doula agency to see if I can freelance for them while I look for more significant work (or we launch some entrepreneurial enterprise). So we might as well do the field trips while we can!
We’ve also started going to the aquatic center in Hlsbr on sunday ams for $7.25, we’re going to teach L to swim (or at least, S is going to. I’m just working on wearing him out & getting his face wet.)
Pix will follow soon when I figure that out – in the meantime, stay tuned, true believers and keep those thoughts & feedback coming!
Ok true believers – a real brain-thumper for ye!
We should be able to move into our new “Apt Home” at Hidden Creek tomorrow or Wed (yay!) And I’ve stumbled onto an amazing opportunity right next door – the city of Hlbro is putting in a $400 MILLION rec complex in the fields – the 2 lit soccer fields and parking lots are completed, still to come is the concessions area and the fountain. This is in the middle of many new developments & apts on the fringes of town (ours is 80% intell employee occupied… large contingent of foreign workers, yay for diversity.)
BUT….
There’s a retail plaza just beside the rec area. It currently has a bar, a coffeeshop, a martial arts school and a new pizza place opening (and maybe a convenience store? need to double check). It also has at least 3 more OPEN SPACES. So tell me… what on earth could we open there as a business, to market to families (with kids using the sports fields) or foreign workers (playing futbol)??? It seems like there should be SOMETHING that would brilliantly fit in – not an exceptionally affluent area, but not a depressed one either.
Ideas, I’m looking for ideas! Throw them at me, eh?
In the meantime, I’ll be popping over to the chamber of commerce to get a better sense of my demographic later this week.
Whee, I LOVE Portland! (We saw dinosaurs at the zoo today, went to a beach on the columbia river this weekend, had supper at a mcmenimins pub… it’s all SO good!)
View from our balcony of hidden creek apts!
oh dear – the link didn’t work. well, look up “hidden creek” in hillsboro or for a picture of the new bldg!
And wow, was it ever an epic journey! Worthy of the early pioneers, I’m telling you! (Actually, I’ll tell you more in detail at a later time, since I’m at the library on a limited time-frame). We made it, caught up on some of our sleep deficit and after a few hesitations (based mostly on exhaustion and frustration-related communication issues), we found a temp home today!
Whew.
It’s out in hillsboro, only about .5 miles from L’s preschool (also biking distance to the Max station, walking distance to two playgrounds, biking distance to the amazing Noble Wds Park and a couple of miles from hlsbro proper, which has an actual downtown, a weekly farmers market and international food.) So I think it’ll work nicely for us as a homebase for the next 6 months. It’s totally different from nola – 2 bdrm, wall-to-wall carpeting (about 980 sf?), fireplace, very modern, on the 3rd fl of an apt complex. I’ll take pix when we move in.
Which we hope will be early next week, have to get the background check done first. Once we’re settled, we’ll get some of the containers delivered and unpacked. Then L starts his weekly music class at his new school, we get him signed up for swim lessons and have inquired into horseback lessons… and then I’ll contact the doula agency to sign up with them.
No, I didn’t get the job at RP – they liked me, but gave it to someone willing to relocate to Oakland. For $45k. Phooey. I can make do on that in PDX, but not in CA (we saw gas for $4.79. Really.) So back to the drawing board for the job situation, but I’m not worried yet. If I don’t get any doula work and S can’t pick up anything decent in 3 months, THEN I’ll worry!
Stay tuned, true believers – we should be online again sometime next week, and I promise I’ll update the Tale of the Travels with Pix, have pix of our new locale (email me for the addy, ok?) and all kinds of commentary on how wonderful it is here. Yes, L & I are a bit <ahem> chilly – but that’s because silly Mama didn’t pack the right clothes in our suitcases! We’ll be fine once we unload the containers… and hey, there’s great indian food just down the road at oren.co stn, yum!
Signing off for now…. xoxoxonif
ok, while waking up this morning, I thought of all the things I want to do in NOLA WITHOUT children (a very different experience):
eat b-fast at Lil Dizzy’s
eat lunch at cafe reconcile
eat dinner at Commander’s
Go to the Ogden Museum Happy Hour
Attend a day of Jazz Fest
Watch the southern decadence parade
Drink a hurricane at Pat O’Brien’s
Go to all the museums at Jackson Square
Go to the voodoo museum
See the bellydancers at Byblos on Magazine on thursdays
Window shop on Magazine
Meditate at the Audubon Labyrinth
So despite all the wonderful things we been to and done in the past few years, NOLA still has more wonderful things to offer (especially if I visit sans L!)
Ok, off to b-fast and more packing – the boys will be going to the insectarium tomorrow for Father’s day while I clean (my offer), so we want to get the packing finished up today… and you know, I think we might do it with some strategic help! (namely, childcare and about an hour of strong backs/longer arms)
Signing off for about a week, true believers – the computer IS getting packed today (and we’ve sold the old laptops already.)
Tune in again in a few weeks for an account of our mad cross-country journey and our adventures in apt-hunting….!
back from CA. Lovely seeing C’n'C. Decent interview – did my best, enjoyed the questions. Still hope I get the job, it’d be a great fit.
Liked seeing SF & Oakland, hadn’t been since age 13. Very bright/sunny, not many people smiling (recession anyone? or just urban life in non-nola?)
At 4:45pm today, got a call from city hall – our first refund check is READY to be picked up… (don’t say it, true believers – no loud snorting noises of disbelief.) Of course, we’ll have to go down on monday am before closing to collect it, and then won’t have a bank account to deposit it in until we get to PDX… but still, I’m thinking “miracle”.
Packing is way behind. Must go deal, on 7 hours sleep in past 2 days (love to fly/travel, HATE what it does to my body.)
i missed my guys. i got kisses when i got home (and L asked if I’d had fun at the airport).
Ok, my time is now officially at a PREMIUM – I fly out tomorrow for the RP interview on thurs afternoon, so I have to cram all the rest of my packing and saying goodbyes into tomorrow am, fri pm and sat/sun. <pant>
L soared thru his last dental visit/cavity-fill today: he even got a shot with no wiggling or biting his cheek, etc. What a brave guy! I’m so glad he likes the dentist, I hope we can find a pediatric dentist this good in PDX.
Packing is coming along, but we’re a bit behind sched now. However, we now have reservations at all relevant hotels, our route mapped out, and many things on craigslist. I also took a load to donate today. Whew.
Now I’ve got to scramble to rip some cds for the trip, mow the yard, help S make pizza for dinner and oh yeah – do some research for my interview and PACK for my 48hr trip (being hosted by C’n'C during their last weeks in SF, thankyouverymuch!)
And I have an info interview on Tues the 24th when we get up there.
True believers – I’ll try to log back on Frid & let you know how the CA trip went, but no promises.
Stay tuned……
We Must be patient and understanding with each other. even when we’re tired, bored and feeling completely exasperated with everyone’s choices and approach to life.
How are we going to manage a 5-day car trip in this state, you might ask? (As well you might.) Well, certainly better prepared than we were for the evacu-vacation. We’ve gotten L a portable DVD player (Red!), we’ve got a luggage carrier on top of the car for extra room, I’m ripping some copies of Audio books (jeeves et al went a long way towards the sanity last time)…
Wish us good luck.
In the meantime, we have to figure out how to fit the rest of our stuff into these containers, finish packing said stuff, entertain L and wrap up house things here. At least we’ve solved the “Find a new Tenant” puzzle – lease was signed on Friday. Whew. And the Charming Ladies at City Hall were pretty firm that my first refund check would be sent out in a few weeks, and the application for the 08 refund would also be sent out in a few weeks.
Ok, off to face my <yawn> monday. L had a hard time this weekend saying goodbye to friends… I suspect this move is going to be pretty tough on him. Poor sweetie! And though I keep talking about how things will be better in PDX (music classes, swimming & horseback riding lessons have been promised), he’s still pretty down.
Patience. We must have patience. It will, after all, take several months to make new friends up there. That’s ok/to be expected. It may also, given the economy, take several months to put together a job/child-care situation that works.
sigh.
