Oct 29, 2013 | life around portland
No lie. This was posted on the Community Bulletin Board in my local supermarket yesterday. I read it when I went past, then doubled back to make sure I read it right, and that it did, in fact, say ‘mini-goat’.
It did.
And people are so nice here that this lovely dog-walking citizen took it home to care for it until its owner is found.
Safe to say, I am pretty sure I have only ever seen missing cat or dog posters until this. However, I would love nothing more than to find myself a mini-goat on a stroll around the neighborhood. But really only so I could see Kenny’s face when he came home from work and saw a GOAT in the backyard.
Hahahaha. It would be amazing. (Of course, I would probably be a little afraid of it, so I have no idea how I’d get it to follow me. Lol.)
Good news, though. If we ever decide goats are our thing, we can get up to three as domestic pets without a permit here in Portland. And if we got some gals, we could make our own goat cheese, which is at the top of the list of things Kenny loves to eat.
(It’s totally not. I am pretty sure it ranks up there with orange cheesy snacks, sour cream and mayonnaise as his favorite things to eat. But it could make a nice little stand at the Beaverton Farmer’s Market. We could also sell our figs. Clarks Domestic Farm Featuring Homegrown Figs and Homemade Goat Cheese. Ahh…I hear my entrepreneurial spirit luring me away from Corporate America as I type. 😉 )
Oct 25, 2013 | moments & memories, moving across the country...in stories
Today marks our two-year birthday as Portlanders! I should have gotten a cake or something to celebrate. What a slacker.
Two years. Kind of hard to believe.
In fact, I still consider myself as “new here” and “just moved from Philadelphia”. At the same time, I definitely consider my house here in Portland home. But I still say I am “going home” in reference to trips back to Philadelphia.
Clearly, I am confused and suffering from a slight identity crisis.
I once described the word “home” as a feeling vs. a place. Two years into this crazy journey, and I can say that still stands true. Home, for me, is really any place or point in time where I feel the nostalgia of my youth, or the comfort of being surrounded by family, friends and familiarity. Sometimes that’s Portland, sometimes that’s Philadelphia. Very situational.
I still get a ton of questions about living here, and figured today – our two-years-as-Portlanders birthday – was a good time to sit down and reflect.
Do I like it here? Yes. I love our neighborhood, and our house and the relaxed pace of the West Coast. Folks are nice here – very friendly and helpful. I finally have friends. Thank goodness.
The Portland weather isn’t that bad to me. Yes, it rains and is cloudy in the Winter. But we also have beautiful sunny days all year round – just like Philadelphia. I like the more moderate Portland temperatures. And while we seem to have a cooler Spring, we also have a cooler (but still quite warm and sunny) Summer. And we really never get freezing temperatures…or snow. (Ok, I kind of miss the peacefulness of snow days.)
Our kids are very happy here, and that makes me happy. (Kenny, too, but he’s generally happy with living here except when I have periods of homesickness. Hahaha. Poor Kenny.)
There’s still so much to explore here. We’ve been slacking on taking in everything the Pacific Northwest has to offer.
I will say it’s funny to think that my kids are “Portlanders” vs. “Philadelphians”. They both have little-to-no trace of a Philadelphia accent, which makes sense because the only two Philadelphians they are around are Kenny and I. (And, let’s be honest, I think Kenny considers himself a Portlander.) The rest are Oregonians. They both say WAH-ter instead of “wooder”. And, dang it, I have caught myself saying WAH-ter because they do. We moved when they were four and three, so I am mostly just thankful they are both happy in Portland AND still remember – and look forward to – visiting our “Philadelphia family” as they say. (Grace likes to tell people she has a dog, but he lives in Philadelphia. I’ve gotten many puzzled looks with that one. But, she’s right – our dog is still in the Philadelphia area with my parents in Mays Landing. And they love me for it.)
Do I want to move home? Yes, sometimes. But not when it’s summer. I do not NOT NOT miss that humidity. It’s still tough living so far away. I am not sure that will ever change.
It’s still really easy to get homesick and I miss not being able to see our family or old friends who know so much about us, they are practically family. I think about them all, every day. For real. I don’t do nearly as good a job calling home as often as we should, but we talk about our “Philadelphia Family” all the time here in Portland. Sometimes I physically miss sitting on my mom’s couch, or at my mother-in-law’s kitchen table. And Grace often says, “I can’t wait to give a giant hug to <insert Philadlephia Family member here>!”
I think the homesickness is compounded by the fact that I work from home – which can be isolating when you are in your hometown, let alone 3000 miles away! However, I am very thankful and appreciative that I have a good job that offers this flexibility, so, like anything, there are trade-offs.
It’s also really hard not having that built-in support infrastructure when, say, you have a cold, then pneumonia, then strep throat and your husband is on the road for two weeks. Or when we need a break from the monotony of the day-to-day and just want to grab a last-minute night out sans kids, and Gram is just a car ride away. 🙂
I miss East Coast conversations. I am pretty open and say what’s on my mind for the most part (in case you couldn’t tell by reading this blog). I chose words carefully so I don’t offend, but I love to crack one liners, even if they are self-depricating. I find myself hoping that people here get my sense of humor a lot. Hahaha. I know how crazy that sounds – but people here are so sweet that I sometimes long for the quippy back-and-forth of an East Coast conversation. And then I promptly text one of my brothers or best friends.
I want to move home every time we spend a ton of money on plane tickets and car rentals to go home. Hahaha. Seeing our family and friends used to be free, save for gas. Now, not so much. But it’s totally worth it.
I frequently say if I could move my family and friends here to Portland, it would be a perfect situation, because overall, I like it here. It’s beautiful. We have a nice community. It’s a good place to raise our kids. Just a little far from “home”. 🙂
I took a little walk down memory lane in honor of our moving day. Man, that part of our lives was such a blur. It was fun to re-live it, and I am glad I started blogging this so we’ll always have the memories. Here are a few links to posts from our first few days here in Portland:
So long, Philadelphia! Hello, Portland!
First Impressions of Temporary Housing
First Day of School
A New Time Zone
New School. New Food. Two Tired Kids.
Halloween is a Tad Bit Different in Portland So Far
Trick-or-Treat-and-House?
Heating the Apartment
Things I Miss So Far
Oct 18, 2013 | moments & memories
Despite my crazy whirlwind of catching almost every contagious illness out there over the past month, our candy lovers and dress-up aficionados have been getting ready for the big day at the end of the month – Halloween. (I am talking about Gavin and Grace – not me. Or Kenny. Although, Kenny does love candy. But not dressing up. And I know I didn’t catch every contagious illness out there, but it really felt like it! Haha.)
They love decorating for the holidays, and it’s a great activity to keep them busy on weekend mornings. It’s fun to watch their excitement as they tear through the Rubbermaid boxes that carefully store our holiday treasures until we need them next. (Ok, the fact that I just referenced my Halloween decorations as treasures is hilarious. They are totally not treasures. But you know what I mean. I apparently have a lot of pent up flowery language since I haven’t blogged in a few weeks.)
They also love making decorations. This is another great activity to keep them busy on weekend mornings or rainy afternoons at home. It’s especially awesome because it makes them so proud to see their creations adorning the walls, helping create some holiday spirit. And bonus – if the kids are making decorations, you don’t have to store more decorations to get an extra holiday vibe boost. It’s totally recyclable (Portlanders, stop reading this sentence here) or trash-able once the season ends.
Sometimes, I stress myself out about seasonal kids crafts and feel like I have to get all those foam kits, etc. from Michael’s or Target or wherever. This year, thanks to the plague, I just handed them a pack of construction paper that I got during back-to-school clearance sales and told them to have at it. And have at it they did! They raided their art supplies and made a ton of fun stuff – spooky houses, a paper pumpkin patch, foam bats, cats, ghosts, and so on. We even let them tape everything to the walls however they wanted. (Hmmmm. I am beginning to think that I can keep crafts simple – they did a GREAT job using their imaginations and stuff we already had on hand! Woo hoo! So glad I caught on to this six years in. Typical. :))
I tried a number of different things with the mantel this year. I was determined to use a burlap garland of some sort – I think it is so Fall. I tried making one, but it was SO heavy, I had no idea how I’d secure it to the mantle short of nailing it in. So, I made up my own drapey thing. And I think it works.
Luckily, I made a special trip to the Paper Source in early September (before I started getting sick) and scooped up a Happy Halloween banner. I added some ribbon to add additional interest. It still looked a little plain, so I added some burlap accents this weekend.
I think we’re done with Halloween decorating. Gavin doesn’t. He told me this week that our house looks pretty good, but it’s not spooky enough from the outside. So he wants to make some ghosts for his bedroom window. Good for him. And us – another Sunday morning with happily busy kids ahead! 🙂
Sep 20, 2013 | trying to raise humans
So, here we are…at the end of Grace’s second week of Kindergarten.
And it’s ending with a note from the teacher to me letting me know what a character she is.
Hahaha.
Oh my. She really is the opposite of her brother. At the end of HIS second week of Kindergarten, he came bouncing off the bus with a certificate saying what a good role model he is and thanking him for always doing the right thing. Grace? She’s a character. That can go either way.
Hahaha.
So, the email requires a bit of build up so you can get the true picture of how her first two weeks went.
Last week, she loved it for the most part. Happily got on and off the bus each day. Gleefully recounting her days. Telling us all about her new friends, and what playground equipment she’s been conquering at recess. Giving us updates on how her outfits and hair dos are going over. (For real. She really does this. Unprompted. And I am not even good at doing her hair, so this trend is worrying in more ways than one.)
Last Thursday was Back to School night. Her teacher mentioned she was crying as she came into the classroom, and upon asking why, Grace informed her that her stomach hurt. For Grace, this means anything from I need a trip to the ladies’ room to I am scared or nervous or otherwise uncomfortable to I ate too many noodles to my stomach really does hurt.
The last two weeks have presented a lot of firsts for her, so deep down I knew she was probably just nervous, but I still worried that she was sick or had a food allergy (Haha. This is how my mind works. What can I say!). My deep down feelings were right – we ultimately found that she’s pretty much saying her stomach hurts when she’s nervous or is otherwise too embarrassed to explain her tears, so we’ve been encouraging her to use her words vs. crying wolf about sore bellies. This week, it’s been a great way to get her to open up and talk about what’s on her mind. (And we’ve found out that one time she missed Daddy, another she didn’t like Gavin’s plan for who was sitting with whom on the bus, and still another that Gavin didn’t say hi to her teacher, he only waved. I can’t make this stuff up.)
Since last Thursday, we’ve had two emails about classroom tears, and a few updates on how frequently she asks to use the bathroom. One day, she asked to go eight times. EIGHT TIMES! Hahaha. Oh my word. We checked in with her old pre-school teachers to see if this amount of ladies’ room frequenting at school was normal for Grace. It isn’t. We figured. She’s probably just testing the boundaries to see what she can get a way with. (Ok, “we” didn’t check in with the pre-school teachers. Kenny did. And being Kenny, he explained the situation and asked them ‘is this normal, or should I worry that she’s sneaking off with the second graders for some smoke breaks. Really. And then we wonder why we have ‘characters’ for kids.) Once we get her consistently using her words vs. ailments to express herself, we’ll be working on dialing back the tears and bathroom visits and using words to explain catalysts for those incidents, too (and hopefully cut back on both in the process!) Ah, Gracie. She really does keep things interesting.
All this to share the icing on the first two weeks of Kindergarten cake.
Yesterday’s email was entitled “Today”.
And it read: “Your Grace is quite the character! I introduced a game today (4 corners). Grace was the winner. I turn around and she is doing a victory dance. Then she says she needs to take a victory lap and goes around the desks. Cracked me up! No mention of tummy troubles and only went to the RR 3 times.” Signed, Grace’s Teacher.
OH DEAR HEAVENS.
It’s going to be a long 13 years for Kenny and I, we fear.
Send vodka. And Tums.
Hahaha.
(P.S. I will say that I love that her teacher is working with us and keeping us informed on how things are going. Overall, she said Grace is great, really seems to love school and has a cute personality. Yeaaaaaa.)
Sep 17, 2013 | life around portland
Oh yeah.
This happened. Drove right by us on Barnes Road.
Gavin remarked that it looked like the bus from Scooby-Doo. Sort of. But it’s more like a super-fan or funny guy who painted his VW bus that way. Maybe he farms himself out as Shaggy and does kids birthday parties?
Anyway…I present to you Portland’s version of The Mystery Bus:
The Mystery Machine in PDX
(BTW – how cool is it that a six-year-old in 2013 can share the same pop culture references his grandparents had in 1969?!)
