'Twas grand

Here are some pictures of the adventure Logan and I had last weekend. We headed south "behind" (to the east of) Mount St. Helens to the Columbia gorge, it was a beautiful day.
This first shot is somewhere between Rainier and Helens, I don't recall where exactly.















We stopped for lunch at a boat launch on the northwest corner of Riffe lake.


















And here's St Helens from the west, it was so so pretty.

Logan took this flowery shot :) isn't it awesome?

When we got to the gorge we realized that is was Saturday and the great weather meant the old road with all the waterfalls was CRAZY busy so we only stopped at one (Bridal veil). That was special to me because it was one of the places we went on our honeymoon. And, of course, it was majestic and beautiful :D









Then we slept at Dad and Mom's house and headed home Sunday to see our kitties! Their eyes are opening up a bit more but I haven't taken a lot of pictures because I feel mean making flashes at them while they are just starting to see. Perhaps in a few more days (after Havoc stops moving them around) I'll take some so you can see how cute they are.

Say hello to Rowan!

Here he is, our little boy :)

I never did get around to scanning anything so they're just pictures of the pictures but they look alright.


If you can't quite make that one out it says "right foot" and his toes are to the left. He was squirming around so it looks like he's got about nine toes. Silly baby.

And here's his face shot, we had one other one that looked like he was pouting, I think it was because the ultrasound lady was shaking him around (he wasn't the most cooperative lad at times)

It was pretty cool to feel him moving and see him moving at the same time :) I think he's ADORABLE.

Tune in next time for the kitten adventures! Havoc gave birth to five little ones between Friday afternoon and Saturday evening I think they're pretty cute but not up to much yet. I'll update with pictures and everything once Chaos has hers. That's right they both got pregnant at the same time, I guess it's just a sister thing, eh Joylynn? The vet said we should have our second litter sometime this week or next. Max is so funny, I'm not sure he knows what to make of Havoc's babies he gets really concerned when they all start mewing at Havoc for milk and when he gets a chance to see them he stares but won't come very close. At least he isn't having kittens... I think that'd be one too many litters for me... not to mention creepy...

Yay hooray!

We had our ultrasound today and although at times our little one was a bit reluctant to cooperate we saw what we wanted to see :) arms, legs, hands, feet, face and all those other important bits. I haven't scanned anything yet so no pictures yet but I will. And since I know you're all wondering (if I didn't already tell you)

It's a boy!! :D

Ticker!

Thanks Linds! I went out and got myself a shiny new ticker! I'm trying to get it on here... If you don't see it hopefully sometime soon it will be over there on the right side of the screen with a cute little blue elephant in some grass. It wasn't exactly what I wanted to do but I don't know how to do HTML so I went with my second really cute choice. I'm glad I got the tip on where to find one of those because I wanted one but had only seen one website that had them and I didn't like any of them.

Anyway I hope you can see my new elephant countdown to our due date (Oct. 27th) and that my blog isn't stark white when you look at it, I tried also to add pretty colors. I guess we'll see if blogger is my friend or not...

good word

Besmirched has got to be one of the funniest words ever right now, I can't say it without at least smiling, it just sounds funny.

You'd be amused too if you could see me, sitting on my couch with the laptop muttering "besmirched" over and over and laughing to myself. I should probably be doing something productive...

Mice can't talk and they aren't my friends

My cats are great, they hunt and catch mice and moles... unfortunately my cats also think we'll be very impressed if they bring them inside and leave them laying around. We got home Sunday evening after running around a bit and settled in to watch our rented movie that's when we found two dead mice looking things (maybe moles?) under the coffee table! Fortunately Logan is big and brave and he threw them out and didn't even tease me for being really girly about it. Isn't he great?

The next morning we woke up to scratching noises in the corner of the bedroom which turned out to be Chaos. She had a live mouse in our room and she was playing with it! Logan threw it out the window. It wasn't moving much so he put on a glove and took care of it... and by that I mean he threw it against a tree. Later in the yard we found another dead small critter and also one in the bottom of the trash can (Gross eh? I think maybe it was just hiding from the cats.)

The WORST though was last night when I was walking to the bedroom and I saw Chaos calmly walking across the hall with a small animal in her mouth! I guessed a squirrel but when Logan went to check it out it turned out to be a little rabbit. It was pretty messed up and I wanted to just shoot it to put it out of its misery but we aren't really supposed to be shooting things in the city (even if it makes sense and isn't cruel) so Logan just put it back in the woods to die. I felt bad but I can understand not wanting to try and kill it with a shovel or something.

If my cats want to kill mice and moles I am all for it and we praise them for it... unless they bring them in the house. But catching a bunny just seems a little intense for a little cat to pull off... maybe she thinks she's a cougar or something.

The annoying thing to me is that I feel like I used to be a lot braver before I was pregnant. The cats at my parents' house used to kill things and I'd just grab a shovel and fling them off into the corner of the yard or whatever but now I don't even want to look at them. It's weird... maybe some psychological safeguard against any diseases I can get from handling dead things?

Oh! And we found out there are bats hiding behind our gutter and they don't like the heat from a grill. At least that solves the mystery of the weird droppings on the lid of the barbecue.

SOMETHING GOOD!!!

It's my Dad's birthday!!! Happy Birthday to my Dad!

Boo Cherise's impatience with my frequency of posting... Hooray Dad!

Something good?

Um... last night I watched Sabrina with my dad and my sister Cherise? Mom and Dad caught the basement squirrel? Logan built our bench? I just ate a cucumber?

Come on yourself Cherise... what do you want?

Mom... Courtney put real strawberries in my life!

The quote of the day! Cameron whined it this morning when without his consent, Courtney unceremoniously plopped slices and pieces of actual (not dried or candy) strawberries into his life cereal. Listening to the complaint from the other room before knowing what had happened was quite amusing.

I've been visiting my parents for a bit while Logan has been away at mountain warfare school. It's been a fun trip. I went out with Courtney today to practice driving which turned out to be less stressful than it may seem. We drove 'round and 'round the parking lots out at Jantzen Beach and only frustrated one motorist (who was driving like an idiot anyway) by driving a bit slow. All in all a good lesson we decided.

Yesterday I had an OB appointment which my mom accompanied me to. We drove my car from Portland up to Ft. Lewis and back, I was glad to have some company on the trip and she got to hear the baby's heartbeat! It was moving around a bit this time but we manage to catch up with it :) the growth of the baby and all that is just right but apparently I need to gain more weight. It's weird for me to get used to pregnant eating habits, I think I've been stuck in a pre-pregnancy mindset. Which is not the best when there is a small person inside of you who pretty much gets dibs on all the nutrients. The doctor was a good one and I think that her advice will really help me get on track with getting my body where it needs to be.

I'm super excited also because I just scheduled my ultrasound :D June 19th we should be able to find out if we'll be having a girl or a boy. Cross your fingers that the baby cooperates for us ;) I'm off to eat (good and healthy food of course) because that's what the doctor ordered!

a few more pictures

New car! yay!

Gas tank on the right ;)


roundy and cute, simple radio and a red button that I like to think would transform my car into a battle robot if the situation called for it. Though a small, cute battle robot won't be very intimidating... oh well, that'll be the enemy's downfall.

Fancy shifter eh? I only almost turned on the windshield wipers instead of shifting a couple times.

More roundy, manual locks, windows and a crazy little handle (the black circle).

There you go! All the pictures I told you I'd post

finally

PICTURES!!!

Here is our tree, it looks a little squirrelly but it's fun. The flowers are great anyway :)



Logan and one of his buddies worked for a few hours on the new laminate floor yesterday. I love it! Once we get the last bit in, in the closet and in the doorway, and the trim back on it's going to be amazing :D




car pictures after I get back from picking Logan up, gotta run.

Update

*see original post below*

I found the cord, now the camera is MIA. Maybe tonight, after I can ask Logan if he knows where it is, I'll be able to put some pictures on here. Right now I've got errands. I'm out.

Happy high five day!

According to the Northwest Cable News channel today is "high five day"

The best part of today, so far, is that I got to high five the news guy. He put his hand up towards the camera and I put mine up too :) Long distance high fives are great!

So make sure you high five someone today, of course if you come across this news too late I'm sure belated high fives are always welcome.


... I also tried to high five my baby but seeing as I can't feel him/her yet I may have just smacked them in the head. Sorry baby...

hooray baby

Logan got to come with me to my first appointment today. It was all good news, the massive amounts of blood they took from me last time determined that I am healthy and that I am blood type AB positive, a rare type I'm told. Everything is the right size and looking good

AAAND

we got to hear the baby's heartbeat! :D That was exciting for us. It was really quick (160) but the midwife said that is just the way it's supposed to be with teeny babies. She said it was like a little bird, which I thought was pretty cute :) but I am pregnant and prone to sappy. No ultrasound this early, we're only about 12 weeks along, that will come in June :D yay.

I must have taken a wrong turn in Albuquerque...

I feel like I've been lost when it comes to blogging for that last long while. Our wireless internet went down, quite literally, I think one or both of our cats knocked the router from its perch atop the computer box. Logan smartly pointed out they were probably just trying to get warm, this revelation surely saved the kittens from a sound verbal lashing from me, how can you be mad at a little kitty for curling up somewhere warm?

This is the only conclusion I have drawn for our wireless router box has ceased its faithful functioning. Haha, I'm using fancy writing tonight. I think it's because I am subconsciously inspired to write better when I read good writing and tonight I read a short story written by Logan's mum which was wonderful :) If any of you can get your hands on a copy of a book called Chick Ink, a collection of short stories about women and their tattoos, be sure to read the one called Brothers in Arms. It's really neat :)

And now an important announcement:
For those who are finding out by reading this or heard through the grapevine, I am sorry, I wish I were able to travel all around and tell everyone in person. Of course, with regards to modern communication, I wish I were more inclined to use the telephone, cursed contraptions.... I'd say I am pretty good at chatting with my Mom and with Logan if we are apart but able to phone and perhaps my older sisters, but that's about it. It's a real stretch for me to call people up and talk, even with news as life changing as I have now. (So if I have ever chatted away with you on the phone for any length of time you're either so good at phone talking that you made me good or you should count yourself blessed because I really am horrible at phoning.) Anyone who hasn't heard has probably guessed by now that my big news, well... OUR big news (Logan's and mine) is that we are pregnant. :D :D :D :D :D Huzzah!

I haven't had any appointment with a doctor yet but I am off to the Army hospital on post to meet with a nurse to get all my paperwork and necessary blood work out of the way this Wednesday. We're about ten weeks along right now. So far I've been tired quite a bit, eating many small meals throughout the day, I've felt nauseous from time to time but haven't thrown up and I only almost fainted once. Apart from that I've been a bit moodier and my blood sugar levels seem to drop quicker. I would be most grateful, as would Logan I'm sure, for a healthy dose of prayer for patience and grace over the Godsiff home ;)

Again, I apologize for not being the messenger I feel I should be, hopefully this post reaches all those I didn't get to.
To all our friends and family I hope that you know you're in our hearts and thoughts and I hope that we will get to visit with all of you before our baby goes off to college ;) I'll try, now that the big news is out, to update this blog-thing more often, I'll also try to find our camera (which is MIA at the moment). Perhaps Cherise will post a couple pictures of the landscaping, eh? Cherise? She was here a couple weeks ago and took some nice shots of the yard. I guess we'll have to see if she can get a moment to do that between papers...

Until next time; stay clean, stay green and stray often. Goodnight.

Hooray landscapers!

Guess what! my yard doesn't look ignored!

We had a full house this weekend, Logan's parents and grandparents came to visit as well as Logan's older brother and his wife and our friends from Idaho :D It was all great fun. The guys landscaped our front yard, chopped down trees and put in lights to shine on the apple tree. Meanwhile the girls were busy helping me figure out how best to transform my apartment-like house into more of a home. I love houses with character, especially older ones. Unfortunately mine was built the 80s and to me it looks really boring and blank, the white walls and greyish carpets make me wish we had a lot of money so I could remodel the entire place. Luckily my family and friends are really good at helping me think of colors and game plans that don't envolve winning the lottery. Now I have a gallon of paint and a great starting place for our own extreme home makeover. :D

Sorry there aren't any pictures on this post. Logan took our camera to work so we didn't have it this weekend. Hopefully we'll remember to get it back soon so you all can see the wonderful work everyone did :D it's really great.

Lucky me

I have been reminded that I get to pick up Clyde today.

For those of you enticed to read on by my leading title and opening sentence I hope you're not too grossed out. Clyde was once some sort of wild ram, I'm not sure which but he has curly horns and rectangle irises. Now he hangs on the wall in the barracks where Logan works, or at least his head does, that is until around last Friday when someone rushed by a little too close with an enormous armload and he fell down. Luckily Clyde is well loved and we got him into Roger the taxidermist to be fixed.

Now I get to go pick him up since he's all better. Some of you would probably be a bit squeamish if you had to even look at let alone hold Clyde the ram head. To be honest that part doesn't bug me. The part that kinda creeps me out is having to go into the taxidermist's little shack of a business. It looks small and crowded inside and apparently the smell of the glue is a bit overpowering. When Logan came out after only being inside long enough to drop Clyde off he said he felt just a little bit dizzy and that Roger must be high as a kite. Anyway, small places that make you dizzy are definitely not on my list of fun destinations. However as I said Clyde is well loved and I will go, quickly as I can, this afternoon to rescue him from the dizzying confines of Roger's Taxidermy.

You guys are weird.... I love you :D

As I scrolled through the seemingly endless comments on my last few posts I thought of just how nuts my older siblings are

(Now I know Joylynn didn't comment but I know that if she had there would have been more than a couple of eyebrows raised in utter confusion.)

and I smiled.

I am proud to call you family, you three.
You guys have taught me many things. From the taste of trees to the cheat codes on doom, karate moves and a love of Tenchi Muyo to how to lip sync in ridiculous costumes to great songs and not make the CD player skip when you dance like a fool *sigh* good times. We've spent many an hour confusing the crap out of everyone around us and laughing hysterically at their bewildered faces. And so, in honor of floral fresh fish and Mom's face when she saw the snowman throw hung over the mantel held up by her Finnish glass candle holders as we happily sang Frosty the Snowman here you are...

literally.

what? huh? ... sorry, I wasn't listening

Ya know how when you're really tired you can be talking with someone but suddenly you realize you're staring off into space and you don't know what the crap they just said or when it was exactly that you stopped listening?

I feel like that.

Sorry I didn't answer your comment questions guys. Yes I have fast internet zoom zoom, we just got earthlink installed last week. It's pretty great so far :) I guess we'll see how it works out.

didja ever notice?

You never worry that you'll drop the sweater you're turning right-side out to wear until you turn it right-side out over a bucket of paint water.

holy cow, it's been a while

sorry guys, dial up has become my nemesis as it won't stay connected for longer than an hour (which is about how long it takes to visit two or three sites). So my blog has been more or less abandoned. Don't worry too much though, we're planning to get faster internet in not too long. Right now Logan and I are hanging out at his grandparents house up in Anacortes. They have fast internet :) i'm tired and my mind is bllllaaaaaaagh.......i'll write more later.

More to imagine

I have more decorations up now! (No more than the last time I talked to you Mom, but I haven't talked to everyone since I put them up) Realistic looking garlands around the top of my front door and my kitchen door on the inside with lights, snowflakes and red and green Christmas balls.

I looped another garland along my ceiling between my dining and living rooms that also has lights, snowflakes and a few small Christmas balls. It isn't realistic looking but it does have sparkley bits and I put wonderful green jingle balls on it. Jingle balls are like jingle bells of course, just bigger.

I also found my angel and my little skating penguin. All the decorations I've gotten to far, except the lights around the inside of my front door, are from my parents. Hooray for Mom and Dad! Now I have a jolly holiday house :D Hopefully I'll find the cord that lets me put pictures on my computer soon so that all you guys can see it too.

On a less Christmassy note, I decided yesterday that if I was a vandal then I would paint on a sign by the Shopko down the road. It was a pedestrian crossing sign that said "Watch for" with a picture of that little walking guy and a bicycle. Which I understood to say "watch for bicycles chasing people" (*smirk* obviously, right?). So I figured, should I become a hoodlum, I would paint devil horns and a tail on the bike and scared lines by the man's head. That way the intended warning would be more straightforward. It would also be more obvious that enchanted, unmanned bicycles are dangerous creatures and should be feared.

I would also paint on the arrow tree near the 512 on-ramp right by Denny's in Parkland. The silly thing is on a two lane, two-way road and points left, right and forward which just cracks me up. I guess the guys who paint on the streets were bored or had a bit of extra paint they needed to use up. I would paint another triangle on the bottom to make an arrow pointing backwards and then write the word "ONLY"


hehehe, only...

it's been a month... only two more weeks

I miss Logan tonight, I hate when I can't remember vividly what it feels like to kiss Logan. That's one of the worst things about him being gone so long. That and I miss talking to him, I got to chat with my father in law yesterday and as much as I love our all too infrequent phone chats I felt sad because Logan and his dad sound so much alike. It made me think about how much I miss Logan's voice *sigh*. Ha ha, I'm so melodramatic. I can get pretty ridiculous when Logan is gone. I really have to keep my head and my sense of humor or these times suck more than usual, which is pretty bad.

Ah well, a deep breath, a few fruit snacks, and a glass apple juice and I'll be right as rain *gasp* I may even have a string cheese in the fridge! Thank you, my friends and family, for being so great, supportive and available to lend wisdom and insight (even if it's just about Christmas lights and carpet pads) Logan and I wouldn't be able to survive the army if we didn't have you. We love you all :)

Christmas is coming...

I put my outside lights up yesterday, I'll have to try and get a good picture to put up here. Until then just imagine the most beautiful string of white lights, a few blinking, many shining brightly for all to see and four burnt out but moved around so that they don't look weird that you've ever seen on my new house. Just be sure to imagine them strung along the gutter and half the fence on the left side of the house when you're standing in the street looking towards the house... oh, be sure to imagine that you're watching for cars too.

My pets are so cute. They hopped up onto the couch with me and curled into little fuzzy sleeping balls of cuteness. I'm feeling a bit sleepy myself but I'm too busy playing with my new and fancy dial up internet :D it's not the fastest thing ever in my life but it's internet and it's 10 bucks a month (yay) so it's pretty great.

Now I just need to get a garbage can and figure out how to make Chaos stop trying to attack the cursor because she keeps stepping on the keyboard.

But first!! Spuuumoniiii!! mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

futile effort

hokay so... I was going to do a post but I'm just too tired so y'all will have to wait until tomorrow.

Hey, I can be southern if I want :P shoot me if it makes you mad ...... but not in a vital organ ok? Maybe the foot... or a toenail... I mean if you HAVE to shoot me, those would be acceptable places.... I guess. Of course if you do you'll have to be prepared for the wrath of Logan which I don't even want to think about because it would be swift and terrible. So maybe if you're mad you should not shoot me... the more I think about that the more I realize how stupid it is, just get over it.



oh, Joylynn just so you know I mean swift as in deadly fast, not cool.


I guess it wasn't such a futile effort, at least this is a post... not informative in the least but this isn't a bulletin board it's a blog. How could anything called "blog" be that serious, really....

I am adventurous

Adventures on which I am to embark soon:

• vacationing in Portland awaiting house vacancy
• turning 21
• moving into our first house
• having kittens and a puppy
• job hunting

Adventures on which I am embarked:

• having Logan at school in Georgia
• moving out of my first living place away from home

More adventures to which I look forward with great excitement and anticipation:

• making my house mine with paint and decorating and all that fun stuff!
• Logan coming home for Christmas!!!!!

Hi guys

I bet you're all wondering what wonderful adventures I've been up to and why I haven't posted... or maybe you just assume that I am busy, that I have a life... hehehe, a life...

Well I'm not all that busy, unless you count preparing to move as busy. I guess I don't really because it's just one thing with a bunch of parts. I'm sure I'll feel crazy busy tomorrow and Sunday when we're actually physically moving everything out of the apartment. Then not busy because I'll be in Portland (yay!) then busy again in a week and a half or perhaps two weeks when we (being myself and whoever of my family and friends is free and willing to help) move everything into the house.

As for now I'm just sitting at home, about to maybe heat up left over Safeway soup from the fridge, and being really frustrated with this U Haul business. It's actually a great deal it's just that when someone from "my local" uhaul place called me this afternoon I forgot to ask which one they were and they didn't say :P so we know we have a trailer rented at a uhaul somewhere in or around Tacoma we just don't know where to go. On top of that we don't even know if we can get a hold of anyone this late. I found a number to call... I'm on hold... I've decided that voices that sound like an attempt to soothe any frustrated customers most likely only antagonize them to hang up or else be very angry once they do connect with a human being. They say things about how they're doing everything they can to get to your call as fast as they can, and that you'll be helped in no time and amazing flying ninja cats and turtles are racing through the streets of Tokyo helping everyone who called before you to make sure you can talk to someone soon!!! well maybe not the last bit exactly....

Hokay! I talked to someone! I talked to a national person (I guess) and they told me which uhaul I was supposed to get my trailer from. So I called Logan, who was about 25 minutes away (in good traffic) and he said he and his buddies would leave right away. I called the place just to make sure they'd be good to head over there and the faithful employee (who, by the way, didn't sound all too sure of himself but I'd like to think that he is a faithful and dutiful employee) said, "that isn't 'till tomorrow" :P but when I talked to the lady this afternoon SHE said I could pick it up today and she'd give me an extra day free! Alas, the proud U-haul employee informed me that they shut down outside operations at quarter 'till. So I guess we'll get it tomorrow...

In the mean time adventures shall ensue!! A couple of Logan's buddies are hanging out at our apartment tonight (fun!) and at midnight Logan and I are going to drive to the airport to pick up yet ANOTHER buddy! Why are we gallivanting around so late the night before we embark on a weekend of moving? You may ask... this may just be the flying ninja cats and turtles talking but it's be good times.

And that's just the way things go! In Taaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaacoma!

oh, one more thing. An update on Max, the poor little guy is hiding underneath the couch, he got neutered today (we have impeccable timing eh?) He'll probably just chill under a table or chair somewhere while everything is going on tomorrow. I'm not quite sure...

Adventures

Okay Mom, here's the whole grand tale.

On Sunday Logan and I were heading home from our weekend trip to Portland, everything seemed to be in order but something went wrong. Clearly, the title wouldn't be "adventures" if we just went home and drank juice. The first bit of irrationally dumb obstacles we encountered was the fact that I-5 was closed from SR 500 to the onramp from I-205. What compounded the madness was that when we were kicked off of I-5 (which I actually didn't believe would happen, I was sure that it was a mistake and that they certainly wouldn't close I-5 on a Sunday... but they certainly would) we didn't know where to go to keep going north! So we called my dad and he told us where to go. Of course just before we got onto 205 we saw a sign that told us people who were trying to go north on I-5 could get there on I-205... why there weren't ANY signs like that on or near I-5 we couldn't guess.

We finally got going where we wanted to be going all along, north. We stopped at a rest area for coffee and the obvious. But when we started out the truck made terrible noises. It was kind of like a clunk, but not a normal clunk, it was like a clunk on steroids, with super powers trying to rip off our front axel... but only when we turned the wheel. Nothing was obviously wrong, which was extremely frustrating. So we called parents for advise and Logan looked under and around the truck but we couldn't figure out what the crap was wrong so we called for a tow.

The rest area was just about exit 54, nearly halfway home. Unfortunately, the closest tow company Logan's insurance found for us was in Longview. So after waiting for an hour or so the tow guy got there and took us back to around exit 36. Grrr... at least the tow guy was cool, Max went from barking at him when he first picked us up to standing on his lap trying to look out his window, it was funny. When we got to the Midas that we'd be told about by the insurance company it was closed, luckily they had a early drop off thing with envelopes to put your keys in so we put our key in and shoved it under the door (we couldn't find a mail slot). Then we called around to try and figure out how we were going to get home. After messing with the truck some more and just kind of sitting around in Longview we got a hold of my Mom. She came up and after some debate we finally decided to head north, she drove us to Centralia I think we got off around exit 82 (after getting stuck in heavy traffic due to an accident :P) and were met by one of Logan's buddies. We went to Fort Lewis and borrowed another buddy's car to drive home (relishing the heated seats :D ) On a good day it takes a bit more than 2 hours to get to Tacoma from Portland, on Sunday it took 9.

The next day Midas called and told us our transfer case was stuck in 4-wheel drive and we needed a new one. A new t case from the factory would run about $1,200 and labor would be about $200 on top of that. Fortunately the Midas guys (who were GREAT by the way) called around and found us one in Chehalis (just south of Centralia) for $450 and said if we could get it to them by around 3 they'd put it in for us same day! So Logan rented a car on post for cheap and we drove to the wreckers where the part was. We were running a bit late but were hoping we could pick the part up quick and get south by around 3:30. But no :P the wreckers said they would have it out by 5 (the Midas in Longview closed at 5:30) so we left grumbling and got ice cream. We finally did get it at 4:45 and got to Midas just before closing. On the way down I had a grand idea, I would stay the night in Portland if we could meet my parents somewhere and then perhaps have my Mom drive me up the next morning, which was when the best Midas employees ever said they'd put it in for us. The other option was Logan and I driving home to Tacoma and then back to Longview in the morning just so we could drive home again in two vehicles. So we called my folks and they said that'd be good.

So I slept over at my parents' house and in the morning we went to Midas and I got my truck all fixed and good and headed home. I only had one stop to make but it turned out to be a messy one. After getting lost and having to turn around at the next exit I dropped our old t-case off at the wreckers to get a deposit back. What I didn't realize when I got there was that they would take it out of the bed for me if I had only backed up to their gate. Instead I heaved it out of the truck and into the shop, the employees there had a chuckle and I just about covered myself in motor oil and dirt :P After leaving I decided I would stop by the Home Depot near our new house to get an application, I got all turned around again and THEN they told me they do all their hiring online. Fine, I'll apply online stupidheads.... Anyway, I was all flustered and annoyed because I'd gotten lost and I was covered in muck so I didn't write all this yesterday.

So there you go... more or less anyway... pretty long...

His name is Demetri Martin and he amuses me

This is my new favorite quote from a comic:

"To me swimming is a confusing sport because sometimes you do it for fun, but then other times you do it to not die... and when I'm swimming sometimes I don't know which one it is... I gotta go by the outfit *looks down* pants.. uh oh"

My dog is scared of the foot-locker lock

Logan bought me an airbrush kit a bit ago with paints and everything so I decided to paint his helmet. I've never used an airbrush before except to try it out when we first opened it and all that consisted of was red splotches on some scrap paper. Anyway, I was just playing around with it for a couple hours and this is what came out.


On this side I painted a side view of Pointe Du Hoc, it's where the 2nd Ranger Battalion scaled cliffs on D-Day to take out enemy artillery.






Here's a little detail of the spiderwebbing or whatever you want to call it. It was probably an accident that I thought looked cool, I'm not quite sure.






I didn't get a good picture of this side, if you guys really want to see it I guess I can get another shot and post it. It's supposed to be New Zealand but the angle is off because the islands were seperate stencils and Stewart island is too big. Logan said it's ok though and that he can tell it's New Zealand.



So there, my first attempt at airbrushing. Not all that amazing but I think it looks cool and the design incorporates two big aspects of Logan :)

I like art.

Good news!!

I didn't kill the keyboard! I just forgot to put part of it back in when I put it back together :) and I found pictures of Logan!!






here he is walking with little Max,




















and here he's playing with a slightly bigger Max, :)














no Max here, just Logan. My slow camera skills that day failed to capture him "boarding" down the rocks. Unfortunately rock boarding is fun for the briefest moment then your board stops and you don't. Nonetheless I've heard it's a good time.






So there you go! Turns out I didn't need ninja skills at all :D

oops.. my bad

ok... sooo.... I would put a picture of Logan on here but... I'm on the laptop and there are only old pictures of him on here. There isn't anything wrong with the regular computer itself I just kind of... sort of.... killed the keyboard. I tried to clean it and now it won't work... we may have to get a new one.

I guess I'll have to just take a new picture and put it onto this here lappy, hey! :) Good plan! No worries 'Rise :D I'll get you a picture of your brother in law, and it'll be a GOOD one, rest assured, even if I have to whip out my mad ninj4 sk1llz :D

Logan is gone, my only company for the past few days has been the dog... so I took pictures

This is my dog,
Mad Max,
he's a cutie.

and here he is licking the futon... I can't assure you whether it is a delicious futon or not. Perhaps if I were a bit more tired or if Logan were here (just to weird him out and get a laugh at his confused face) I may do more extensive research but alas I am no where near 3-in-the-morning tired and Logan is somewhere being fantasically maggotish, probably in the woods, and probably marching*. So, without further ado or knowledge of the tastiness of my couch, I leave you to gaze upon Mad Max licking the futon.













*I put the little starry next to marching because sometimes it's not really marching. It's just walking long distances with a lot of pounds of ruck sack on his back and a gun in his hands... sometimes.

Hungry hungry Alyssa... breakfast shall be soon :)

Update time!

The party was fun, we missed everyone that didn't get to be there. I'm sad that we couldn't be more accommodating by giving people a bigger heads up but life is crazy, especially when you're in the army. I just hope that we can hang out with everybody who didn't get to come soon. I will post a picture or two when I get them, we didn't take any on our camera but there are a few on my Mom's.

What are we doing now? Not much; vacation is over, Logan is working while I chill out with the dog whilst deciding where I should work when we move. Making many plans of painting, building things and decorating at the new house :) plans are fun but I'm a little bummed that we can't move until November :P stupid lease. Oh well, all in God's timing which is perfect and right and good and all that. Praise God that we get a house and can move at all :D Yay God!!!

Now it's time to eat! Hooray breakfast!

sorry for the delay

TA DAAA!!!







































































There you go, pictures of the front, the living room, dining room, kitchen, hallway and the back. I like the trees, the little window in the kitchen above the sink and Logan, cause he's hot :) the yard is fully fenced and is about 1/3 acre :D yay.

house house house

This morning Logan and I met up with Tony the inspector and took a good look at what will be our new place, hopefully, in about a month and a week. As long as nothing crazy happens... like rampant moosen...

That particular instance not seeming to be immanent we're in high spirits. Unfortunately blogger is being a butt and I can't get the pictures to load :( sorry guys. I'll try later and if that doesn't work I'll try tomorrow again... and if THAT doesn't work I'll print some out, stand on my balcony and hold them up reeeeally high. I'm sure if you have a good pair of binoculars you could make them up... I mean out, make them out... yeah.

hi guys

yeah Cherstuieseybug (that's a conglomeration of nickname, there, for ya) I'm in Portland. Logan and I drove his brother down here yesterday so we're hanging out for a couple days then we'll head back because Logan has to work. So... yeah, that's about it. Oh, and Mike Birbiglia is funny stuff.

Yay fourth

:) Hey guys, sorry about that silly pity party, (see: south and sad) it happens sometimes. But I'm better, thanks largely due to getting to be here in Sisters for some days hanging out with my Godsiff family (including a soon to be). Just so you know guys, they're best :D I love hanging out with them, especially when Caroline and I get to eat our best friends and get directions from nice landscapers.





I'll have to get a picture of the rest of these cool people at some stage but for now just the girls. Here's Caroline and I riding horses (superfun) you'll probably guess immediately who the photogenic one is eh. *cough* Caroline! *cough* *cough* I was riding Jesse and she was on Misty and all except for Misty being a bit shy we all look sensational!!! Yay us




I'm not sure what we're all doing down here today. Maybe finding a rodeo, maybe seeing fireworks.... if it doesn't storm on us... we'll see.

south and sad

I'm in Sisters now. I love Sisters, it's a great town. All except for the fact that I'm here without Logan. :P I don't know why but I'm being pouty about Logan being gone, it'll be at least 55 days (8 weeks) until I get to see him. I haven't figured out which description sounds like less but they both make me feel like I want to cry. Stupid school.... in stupid Georgia.... where I can't stupid see my husband....

I think I'm going to go curl up in a ball and be sad....

We are wicked mega

I would just like to say that Hayden and Cameron are great and happen to be braver than me... well, at least on carnival rides. This one was sort of slow but went high. At the tallest part I held on whereas Cameron, while being smaller (ie. less strapped in) and on the outside (ie. he went higher) stuck his arms out like Superman through many of the very high bits of our flight. And of course Hayden is absolutely bogen, though the ness of this was cleverly hidden during this photo. I enjoy the rides that jostle a bit more while feeling more secure with locking lapbars and such, like the scrambler or that crazy one Hayden and I went on last year..... that was great. Thanks for the fun guys, can't wait for the next time we can get on rides and try to get so sick we puke! Or at least talk like we're going to... gotta love big talk at the waterfront villiage :)

HURRAH FOR FATHERS!!!

This year I get TWO fathers to hurrah!














Here's Dad and us chillin' by what we recently learned was a mower. Thanks for all the lessons Dad, from figuring out what the big metal thing at the side of Grandpa's driveway was to learning how to be a good spouse, you've always been there with wisdom, guidance and love :) Thanks, I love you!

And HURRAH to Dads in law! I just realized I don't have many pictures of my father in-law. We'll have to remedy that at some stage I suppose. In any case I'm so happy to be a Godsiff and to be in the wonderful family that I am. Thank you, my dear father in-law, for being great :) I look forward to many an adventure and many many a dumb joke to which I will dutifully and heartily laugh... provided they not be too dumb ;)








oh, and thanks for raising that husband of mine right and good :D

Oi

These kids in the next building are driving me nuts.

I wish I knew when they sleep that way I could avoid them if I need to. I walked out my door today and before I even saw the little buggers (I don't know if they saw me or if they saw the door close or what) one of them yelled, "Hey! Max!". I can't get him to do his business if those stinking kids are running up and waving at him and yelling his name over and over. A couple of them followed me all the way around my building today. I finally told them they had to leave and they needed to listen to me because I am Max's mom. I actually tried to find them so they could run around with him a bit after he was done but I think that I may have scared them inside, or at least away. Muahahaha.... I mean.... ;) I'm just kidding I don't want to scare them. The older ones are usually cool about it, I just tell them that Max won't go if they're around and they can't play with him until he goes so they leave until he's done. The little ones are another story, they're probably 3 - 5 years old and don't listen very often, there are maybe 4 of them that live close to me. They're the ones that follow and wave, of course if Max ever does pay attention to them they scream and/or giggle and run away. Then, of course, Max tries to herd them.

*sigh* crazy kids and puppy

When it rains, it pours

and by that I mean when it sucks it can REALLY suck. It seems like everytime something goes wrong involving the truck I lock my keys inside along with my spare set and my dog, except this time the lights are on.

I was backing out of my parents driveway, normally I don't park there but Hayden, Courtney, Cameron and I washed my truck and that's the sensible place to do it. Anyway I was an idiot and rammed into a (nice) car parked across the street. Luckily the guy who owns it was close by (I don't know if he was inside or not) so I didn't have to knock on someone's door and inform them that I'd just put a gigantic dent in their front bumper. Anyway, I was all emotional and scared and stuff so I parked and got out of my truck right away. Unfortunately my habit is to lock the door when I get out of it instead of remembering to take my keys out of the ignition. I heard the dinging noise but assumed it was only the lights and I was willing to leave them on for a second while I apologized to the man. So now I'm waiting for my dad to get home and help me get into my truck to save my dog and my battery, then I can get my insurance information and call the man who turned out to be pretty understanding and nice about it. Though I'm sure that me fighting back tears the whole time I talked to him may have persuaded him in that direction.

I sure wish this "first" could have waited until Logan was here too. It'd be nice to have that comfort, but at least I'm here in Portland, not stuck outside my truck with a puppy and a draining battery inside out in the middle of nowhere at some truck stop or something. Hooray for adventures.

Yah church

I went to church called Grace Fellowship this morning, it was really cool. It's a little church down the road that I didn't even know existed until this morning. I found the address online. Unfortunately I won't be back for a couple weeks because of siblings graduating, Kids Camp stuff and Ty and Caroline flying in. In any case I am excited about going back when I can.

I was talking to Logan and the minutes on his phone ran out :( I don't know when I'll get to talk to him next. Maybe later today if he gets a phone, maybe in three weeks... I hope I get to talk to him again today *sigh* we'll see.

HEY! My friend Jasmine is coming to my house today!! :D :D :D yah!! (haha, sometimes I like to use spellcheck even when I spell words wrong purposely, words like yay!!)

time for bed

I'm tired and feeling terribly boring... I'm going back home to Tacoma tomorrow. I need to pay rent... I'm taking Courtney and we'll probably hang out and watch movies a lot. I dunno. I guess we'll have to wait and see.


By the way, Logan is my favorite boy ever. I love him very much and I can't wait to see him in about 84 and a half days.... just so you know....

Bye Logan

I dropped Logan off at work this morning, 4:15AM is a quiet time on the roads... especially on Sunday morning of Memorial day weekend. We watched UFC 60 last night, a bunch of Logan's buddies came over. It was fun but only one was really rooting for the guy who ended up winning the main event. There were some good fights on the show and some dumb ones that lasted too long :P but all in all I liked it and I'm glad that it was done before 10 so Logan and I got a little time to just chill together and then SLEEP because we had to get up so early. So here we are, a few hugs and kisses, prayers, goodbyes and a lonely drive later *sigh* of course... only three months and I'll get to fly to Georgia and watch him graduate! :) As for today I'm going to sleep some more and probably drive to Portland, I was thinking about driving across Washington to Walla Walla but I think a six hour drive is a little much for my first long drive alone, but I think I might go to Walla Walla still... from Portland... maybe...

so pretty much separation pay = gas money

A little late, but only online

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD!!!
I LOVE YOU! I MISS YOU! I WILL BE BACK IN PORTLAND SOON!! RIDE FAST!! BUT NOT TOO FAST! DON'T RIDE IN FRONT OF ANY FAST MOVING FISH!

I DON'T KNOW WHY I'M YELLING, PROBABLY BECAUSE TACOMA IS SO FAR AWAY FROM PORTLAND!

ok.... I guess I'm done yelling. I hope you had a greatly and wonderful birthday, I like your new sweet pacman shirt.

Okay okay

geez, here's a post... man... :) just kidding. I just haven't thought of anything very exciting to post about. I've just been chillin with the puppy and/or the hubby lately :) fuuuun stuff. Today though Logan didn't come home, he's been put on a 24 hour duty *bleeeeeeh* so that means I have to wait to get him from work until tomorrow morning. Then he can come home and sleep. The up side is that he gets the rest of tomorrow off because of having to work so long AND he gets Friday off because... I can't remember why... for Memorial day I suppose. Though he'll be in Georgia by then. Yup he's off again soon. But it'll be ok I'm meeting people and making friends with the other wives. Anyway, today I kept myself occupied by playing with Mad Max, watching TV/movies (A League of Their Own is GREAT it made me cry) and drawing! Check out my barn :)


This one had the best (most true to life) color, the flash made a couple pictures I took too shiny. It's oil pastel and pencil. The lines are a bit off I think but it's ok it was just a whim to draw a red barn kind of skewed like it was in a children's book or something the sun was a way to sort of balance the layout since the silo is on the other side... yeah I'm an art geek. So what? :P My next picture is going to be AWESOME, I'll have to post a picture of that one too. Tune in next time! Same time... actually it probably won't be the same time... but it will be the same place.... so, SAME PLACE!











STEVE HOLT!

IIIIIT'S HERE!!

It's here! It's here! It's here!... well, not HERE here but here in the sense that it's in the U.S., not only THAT but it's in Washington and not only only THAT buuuuuuuuut it's in TACOMA!!! Oh boy oh boy oh boy! I'd tell you what "it" is but Logan may read this before he should know what it is and oh crap I just remembered I need to go to the store! Bread now!!! GO!

clipful pedals

Today Logan bought me some fancy pedals (they're called spd clipless pedals) that I can clip into with the fancy shoes he also bought me... which raises the question... why the crap are they called clipLESS pedals? They seem pretty clipful to me... anyway I guess I'm doing ok with them, better than others Logan's seen try them... or so I've heard.

I'm getting the hang pretty quick I only fell three times but the last time wasn't because I'm not very good at using my clipful pedals. The first time was on the grass and I just slowed down and kinda spazed when my feet seemed stuck to the pedals, the next time I was in too high a gear to go up the hill I was riding so I slowed again and fell down on a bit of concrete, that one hurt, just a bit of blood. The last time was the most impressive, I learned how to bunnyhop (jump the bike so both wheels are off the ground without the aid of a ramp) so anyway, I bunnyhopped up the edge of a driveway onto some grass, unfortunately a new sidewalk was recently put in next to the grass and there was a gap between the grass and the sidewalk, my wheel went into it and I didn't have time to even think about twisting out of the pedals. I hit pretty hard and got my knee cut up a bit more but it's all good.

Unfortunately all three spills were on my right side :P I'm going to be soooooooooore tomorrow.

crazy hotness

as my husband would say... well, that or wicked mega...ness ;)

Logan learned a new trick yesterday, it's called a suicide no hander... I think, yeah I'm pretty sure that's it. Anyway it's sweet, I got a few pictures of him doing it.

Check 'em out, he was definitely rockin'





















P.S. Brandon, check out the pics on pinkbike. Logan put another one, maaaaaaaaybe two up on there also including these. Under freeride/DH and dirt jumping/BMX somethin-or-other.

Mad Max! The road WARRIOR

Hey guys we got a puppy! He's a toy Australian Shepherd (should be about 12 or 13 inches mature) and we named him Mad Max. His namesake being a character in a series of three Australian movies made in '79, '81 and '85 (respectively) starring Mel Gibson as Mad Max. I've only seen the second, Mad Max the Road Warrior. Which turns out to be, I think, a cute coincidence since the day we got Max he rode with us to Sisters and within about a week or so will ride to Portland and then home to Tacoma a few days after that. He's totally a road warrior, or at least he will be :) At the moment he is crying in his kennel resisting naptime but he's calming down a bit. He's a good puppy.


Here are a couple pictures I took this morning. He's a bit of a hard chap to get a decent picture of, apart from him wiggling and jumping and being all-around adorable the flash makes his eyes look weird and no flash means any movement Mad Max makes becomes a reddish brown blur.

Praise report

This morning I prayed for Logan and thanked the Lord that HE is our strength, especially when we're feeling weak. And I am happy to report that Logan did indeed pass his PT test despite being sick yesterday. Praise the Lord!

:( poor bubby, new puppy :)

Logan came home sick yesterday, I felt sad because all I could do was go and buy him lemonlime sodapop (yes those are both words, they're compound words like doghouse and iloveyou) and also be nice to him but mostly I just sat or stood around being perplexed and sad. I wanted to help so badly but you just can't make a throwy-up person be better. So we sat and laid around enjoying our new cable TV service and calling people about puppies. We figure he just needed sleep because he didn't get much the night before last (my fault, I was watching a movie) but he was in bed last night before 8 so that was good and this morning he just felt a bit weak because he obviously didn't eat much yesterday. And he has an important PT test this morning, it's a good thing though that God is our strength when we are weak eh?

About the puppy :D :D :D we're going to get a toy Australian shepherd puppy in the next two weeks, I'm mailing the deposit today. He's a bit more expensive than I ever thought a dog would be but he's less than the $1500 one so that's good. Granted I had never researched getting a dog through a breeder, let alone a rareish one. I guess mini and toy aussies aren't too common. He's supposed to get to be about 12 inches high when he's full grown (I also never thought that I'd get a small dog like that) but I think it's good to get a small dog if you live in an apartment, cooping up a big dog inside is just mean. At least to our little guy it'll be huge ;) I'm super excited. I think we're going to call him Max but we'll have to see when we meet him if the name fits.

This is his mug shot from the website, I'll be sure to post some more pictures once we get him.

but isn't he just the CUTEST thing??? :D

Yay

I did it! I installed our cable modem and a firewall :D I guess I know a little somethin about computers after all eh? I'm excited because now we don't have to wait until whoever had the other wireless network in our building turned theirs on to check email and such. We got our TV cable too and better still we are getting our couch between 12 and 4! Huzzah!!

Or, huzzoo!! ...as SOME would say...

I'm a Washingtonian guys!

Hello friends! Logan and I now live in our apartment up in Tacoma. Yay us. We don't have much, a few pieces of furniture borrowed and a couple bought. I'm excited for my today project, I'm going to put up a rooster wallpaper border in my kitchen because we get to decorate and paint what we want :) We have to put it back to white when we move but that's ok with me. Here are a couple pictures, they aren't the best of my life but that's mostly because I can't back up far enough from anything to get a really good shot.






Here is our mantle with a shelf the wonderful Overstreets brought over for us in the background. And of course my candles that I'm SO happy with, being all decorative and stuff :) and there's a front shot for you with the wood we bought at Safeway. Logan was a bit miffed, this being the first time in his life he's ever had to BUY wood but we have a fireplace, I wanted wood and I think they'd be a bit upset if we went chopping down the landscaping around the complex. Oh, and the little ornament there has a buddy that will go on the other side of the pillar candle I just forgot it down in Portland. No worries though, we're headed down south today :D yay!





Hmm... well guys, blogger is being a weirdo so you just get fireplace shots today. I'll post again when we get our couch :D yay couch. Oh, I just remembered! I was going to post about one of the best labels I've ever seen. Logan and I were browsing around our local Goodwill, which, by the way is the tidiest Goodwill I've ever been in ever. I was relieved to see toys on the floor in the toy aisle or it would've been like Stepford Goodwill or something. Anyway, we were checking out the furniture and every piece had a white paper label taped on it. I was dumbfounded by one in particular for a while before Logan came by and pronounced it "trash can". I couldn't figure it out at all until it was said out loud, it was spelled C-H-R-A-S-H C-A-N. We assume that whoever wrote must've been told that trash is spelled the way it sounds. I had never seen is spelled like that... it was pretty amazing.

Jigitty jig

He's home again :D huzzah, and we have an apartment (huzzah x 2) or at least we will as of tomorrow when Logan fills out the rest of the paperwork, aaaaaaand the Army will pay for us to move so if we get any furniture this weekend we can rent a uhaul and get reimbursed for it :D (hip x2) + hooray!

Yeah I know I'm a dork

It's really exciting but at the same time scary because it's the first time I've ever moved that I can remember clearly and I haven't gotten my license yet. I wish making a behind-the-wheel driving test appointment wasn't so ridiculous. Oh well, I'll have it soon and then I'll be more freeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee! I think we're going to need another vehicle though... probably.

I will never forget you ghettobees

Tonight was pretty much my last day at work. At least I think so... I may be back in a while to work whilst Logan be away again. But we'll see, in any case all my coworking friends there got me a cake and a card and a couple of them even got me flowers. I didn't cry until right after they'd all cheered and presented me with my cake and card, then realized that we were still open and working so I was left pretty much alone at the table with a cake that said, "We'll miss you Alyssa" on it. Well that did it, I realized that I was really leaving and I cried a bit but didn't bawl because I was still working. In any case the cake was chocolate and yummy and I love all my friends at my Applebees (affectionately known as ghettobees) I told everyone not to worry because I would be back for visiting since my parents live right down the street and all... :) besides we have to have a montage party! Or at least I want to... we'll see :)

Good last night at work. Good friends. Good time to hit the sack. Goodnight all.

TWOOOOOOOO!

Happy Wyatt's birthday guys!
He's a good one!

A message to my favorite Walla Waller

HAPPY
HAPPY BIRTHDAY CHERISE!!!!

You're twody-two!
Way for you!

I get to see you tomorrow! Huzzah!

Diabolical really is a great word, don't you think?

I guess I should tell you all about that fantastic adventure that never did, but should have, happened at work. WELL, the whole tale sort of came together in pieces and not in order so I'll just share the fancier version first.

Hokay, so. First of all, we (being Rami, Allan, Bridget, Andy, everyone else I talked to about it, and me) would have tee shirts, and they say "rebel alliance" on them. Except Bridget's, hers says "Rubel allowance" and if anyone else other than Andy wants to know why, it IS the rubel ALLOWANCE, duuuuh. Anyway, so we'd have our tee shirts, then we'd tape a hokie to the ceiling to distract the eeeeevil. THEEEN we'd all sneak into the kitchen with our ninjaness and free the creature that had been enslaved by Applebees to clean the dishes, the one that'd been wailing for many-a-moon and release it into the wilds of Lloyd Center! And we would be victorious.

The reason behind this valiant quest was really nothing more than water pressure... or so I was told.... Our dishwasher at work was making this weird noise for at least a day last week, it sounded like a ship's horn or a moose or something. Actually the hokie on the ceiling came about first, before we (we meaning... me, rolling silverware at carside, waiting for someone to come pick up their order, having many more minutes to contemplate nonsense than I should have been allowed) even thought about rescuing anything. I just thought it'd be a good diabolical plan, and being as amused by the word "diabolical" as I was... I sort of ran with it :)

bored now... tired....

I went puddle jumping on my bike today :) fun stuff. If you're curious that's just me riding around and randomly stomping my front tire into puddles :D I want to go with Logan sometime, he'd probably think it was ridiculous but :P IIIIIIIII think it'd be fun! Rather I think it IS fun! :D I'm supposed to write out the fantastic adventure that should have happened at work tonight but I'm tired so I'm going to tell you all about it tomorrow. It's a great story, all about taping hokies and wailing creatures and a rebel alliance (with tee shirts!) :D oh yeah, that's right TEE shirts.

his name is Aaron Shust

I heard a song on the radio this morning, the chorus went like this:

My savior loves, my savior lives, my savior's always there for me, my God he was, my God he is, my God he's always gonna be.

It really touched my heart. So I went online to see if the guy had a website and/or a CD out, he does :) The three songs on listen page are good ones, you know, GOOD ones. Check them out!

http://aaronshust.com/v4/listen.html

HUZZAH!!!

I am done with winter term! :D yay spring break! My final projects turned out pretty darn well I must say. Check 'em out!

This is my ART 116 (color theory) final. I took a photo of Hayden, Cameron and myself and created an impressionist painting. Paying attention to the "temperature" of the colors, warm being foreground and cool being background. This photo had a GREAT lightsource so the shadows were pretty easy to figure out and that orange tank top of Cam's is fabulous. I could have gone a bit more abstract with this but I wanted to recreate the picture pretty faithfully, so I did.

Here's my ART 231 (intermediate drawing) final. The medium was open, I decided to use acryllic paint. We were given two guidelines 1) make a drawing based on a dictionary word (we were given a formula using our birthdate to find which word to use) and 2) don't illustrate it (i.e. if your word was apple you shouldn't literally draw an apple). My word was Galahad, which is "a noble or gallant man", it also refers to a knight in the stories of King Arthur, but you knew that ;) Anyway, in some stories Galahad had a white shield with a red cross, and of course, of all the men I know Logan has got to be the most noble and gallant of them all, at least to me. And of all the noble and gallant things Logan has done for me waiting to kiss me until our wedding is pretty much at the top of the list, right up there with being a soldier and protecting our way of life and our freedom. :D

Both my instructors said my projects were done well and everyone seemed to like them, I got a little bit of constructive criticism which is cool because it's good to get different opinions and suggestions. All in all I had fun and I learned quite a bit about drawing and color :) which is always a good thing. Now I get to keep myself busy with other things until my hubby comes home again :D Not too long now! :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D

Pretty good night

carside went well tonight, the wonderful details definitely outweigh the not so happy ones. Not so happy was me forgetting to put in an order until the lady showed up to get it and not getting the phone number of my last order who was late so I stayed an extra half hour. Wonderful was Kevin pouring apple juice instead of pineapple juice on accident so I got to drink sweet appley goodness and getting over 10% tips for pretty much the first time I can remember on carside :D

Oh, another goodness was when a little family came in and the three kids had New Zealand hats on. When I asked if they'd been visiting there recently she said her children were born there (her accent made it obvious she hadn't been) and I thought that was just great! They're from the Taupo area which is a lake that my brother-in-law just spent his birthday at :D Although for about 30 minutes after they'd gone I was whining to my coworkers that I wanted New Zealand babies, that is, I would love to go to New Zealand, have babies, and if they happened at the same time that would be pretty darn cool as well. At one point I said I wanted kiwi babies, I got a strange look for that. I really wished that I could call Logan at that point because I could just imagine how the first words of the conversation would start

Logan: hello
Alyssa: hooooooooneeeeeeeeey
Logan: whaaat?
Alyssa: I want baaaaaabies, New Zealand babies

I'm not quite sure what he'd say to that but I'm sure it'd be an interesting conversation. One of my coworkers asked me what if they came out Asian, after a long hard split second of thought I told him that that just wouldn't do. (assuming of course that he meant what if I had babies while I was in Asia... Any other meaning for the question is just really weird...)

it's snowing again!

I got up this morning to the kids running around yelling that it was snowing. They were huge flakes and it didn't stick anywhere, anyway it stopped for a while now it's snowing again and I am working carside tonight. Whoopie... woopy?..... whoopy? ..... huzzah. I hope that it doesn't do this all day tomorrow because I've got a double. *shrug* oh well, if it gets bad enough that these silly Portland drivers are impaired I won't have to work at all :D

chillin in Sisters

I just watched Girl With a Pearl Earring with my Mum-in-law, it was a really pretty movie. The whole movie was sort of muted and the lighting was amazing. Almost every scene looked like it could have been if it wasn't already a painting. Beautiful, but apart from that I wasn't thrilled with it. It was a good movie and all but the ending was a bit odd to me and there were a lot of parts that left both of us tilting our heads and asking, "huh?". I guess I'm just not artsy or intellectual enough for those sorts of things. I like movies like The Rundown (or as it was apparently known in Australia and the UK "Welcome to the Jungle") starring Sean William Scott and the Rock. Oh yeah, shoot 'em up, make dumb jokes, fight some more and blow stuff up. Now THAT'S a good movie ;) throwing in the hero aspect is always good too, save the people, save the girl, save whoever, then blow more stuff up :) gotta love a good mindless action movie.


Well.... I guess you don't HAVE to.

mmmm cha! cha! cha!

I went out to lunch with a friend from work today. It was fun I rode my bike up to a Mexican restaurant on Broadway, one of the best parts of the day was riding down 17th. It was great! I don't think I've never been south on that street before, I saw houses I'd never seen in a neighborhood I've never been in (except maybe in a vehicle). I felt very happy :) I want to ride more places that I haven't ridden, or perhaps even been, before! Another best part was teaching the bible lesson to my 4-6 year olds in Sunday School (well, TECHNICALLY I suppose they were 4-7 year olds but the one 7 year old is fluent in Portuguese but not so much in English.) We learned about Jairus' daughter. I started out just talking to them but all I got were blank stares so we acted it out going between walking/running in place (being Jairus) and laying on the ground (being his daughter). They got it then so when I got to the point when they got to the house they were putty in my paws... haha, not really, I just said that because Logan likes to say it. But they did listen to the rest of the lesson intently. Which is not easy with 17 preschoolers let me tell you. In the end they learned about God and I made a new buddy! Bradley is a four year old who was new tonight, well new to me anyway. My favorite was when we watched Veggietales at the end of class, when the bogeyman song came on and he hunched his little shoulders, made creepy fingers and sang along, it was SO CUTE!

bittersweet sucks

I heard from Logan through one of his buddies but he can't email me right now. At least I know he's ok.

I hate this sometimes.

A dream is a wish... second verse

A dream is a wish your heart makes
When you're feeling small
Alone in the night you whisper
Thinking no one can hear you at all
You wake with the morning sunlight
To find fortune that is smiling on you
Don't let your heart be filled with sorrow
For all you know, tomorrow
The dream that you wish will come true

No matter how your heart is grieving
If you keep on believing
The dream that you wish will come true


This is my song again, no word from Logan since Saturday....

I'm grumpy

I got off a stinking 8 O'CLOCK then I had to go and eat. I'm such a dork :P

So it was really slow tonight right? right. So I got off really REALLY early but my bloodsugar was really REALLY low so I ordered food. Well, I got to talking with (listening to) my friend and ended up not leaving work until 9 o'clock and I'm so frustrated and mad I don't even WANT to try and get homework done even though now is probably earlier than I'd be home on any normal work night. I want to puke I'm so frustrated and I want to cry because I'm sad that I didn't leave right when I got off :P I'm too emotional, I shouldn't have let my bloodsugar get so low. Stupid.


And I haven't heard from Logan in any way for a few days.... that makes me grumpy too but it's ok because I'm only really grumpy about it when I'm tired and he just doesn't have time which is understandable, I mean, he is in a war. I try to cut him slack and not be impatient or spoiled... I just miss him... :(

Not much goin on

but it seemed about time to post, so... here you go.

I've been at Art Media just about a bazillion times in the past week :P I keep forgetting things or just figuring I won't need them but it turns out that I do indeed need them so I have to go back. :P I need to finish my 2' x 3' drawing by Monday, I don' t think it'll be too bad but I'm already a bit stressed. And I need to be painting TODAY and I got up an hour late.... so..... I'm sitting here blogging instead of doing homework.... sooooo.... I'm going now to draw and paint like mad before work.

Yay valentines day

I had to work on valentines day and I ran into a lot of hostility towards the holiday in my coworkers. It was a bit depressing until we got so busy that I all but forgot that it was a holiday, except for the fact that it is one of the busiest day of the restaurant year, yes even at Applebees and especially at carside. It was crazy, but we got through and made a little cash in the process. Then I went home and found these on the table :D


They came with a very sweet card that Logan wrote and then communicated to his Mum who picked out a bouquet. Then the florist in Sisters, contacted the florist here and delivered the flowers to ME :D I like them so so much. My man is the best ever! There are roses and daisies and alstromeria and a bunch of other things I don't know the names for. In any case they're beautiful and I am happy :)


^This is my artistic shot of them^

stupid drawing class

I feel like an idiot. We had our critique in drawing class today and I got ripped up for putting that stupid, liney, grey background on there. Well... I guess it wasn't that bad I was just really embarrassed and felt like I was the only one in the whole class who would make such an obvious and stupid mistake on my drawing... the instructor even liked the animal and said that the background distracted from the beautiful drawing I just felt so stupid about the charcoal that I wanted to cry. Now I am crying and I'm sitting in the library and I feel like more of an idiot because it's just a stupid drawing and I shouldn't be so worked up....

I almost forgot!

I was going to post pictures of my art projects for school.

This first one is for my drawing class, we were supposed to first combine at least three animals into a new one, I combined the head of a fox, the neck of an ostrich and the body of a parrot, which will be much more exciting when I do the next drawing which will be in color... and the outside of the body, this is obviously a bone and muscle structure drawing. My teacher wanted to see how we changed and/or connected each animal's different skeletons and we had to put some muscle somewhere, anyway here's my fox/ostrich/parrot


this other project if for color theory class, the picture is a bit blurry but I'm too tired to try and get a good one with the dying battery camera right now. Anyway, our assignment was to paint at least three color scales using complementary colors (colors opposite each other on the 12 step color wheel) we were given free reign on how we could present our scales the only criteria is that they be complementary colors, saturated on the ends and that they be at least eight steps long. There's another part but I'm afraid what I've already explained is flying over a lot of heads and is probably too long and boring to explain to anyone but an art major. So without further delay, here she is, I call her Sa.


She's a fox with teratology! :D

hahaha, that's what the spellcheck said should be there instead of the word "dreadlocks" maybe I just don't know how to spell it, in any case I have no clue what teratology is... silly spellcheck.

have you heard about the 3 legged giraffe? ... me neither....

Oh my goodness, work was crazy tonight, I was busy for most of the night and the funniest thing at work since I've been working there happened. My buddies Kevin and Janessa were bartending tonight and at some point I walked over to the carside station to see the liquor closet door partially open, the light was off but I could hear Kevin and Janessa inside thumping around which is amusing enough by itself but then I thought I heard Janessa saying, "I can't find the baby, I can't find the baby!". Well that was it, I was done it was so funny I just busted up laughing and I couldn't stop. I was laughing to hard it looked like I was crying so a bunch of people were asking me what was wrong so I kept retelling the story and finding it hilarious all over again so I didn't stop laughing for a good ten minutes, by the end of it I thought I was going to throw up.

It was so SO funny, I can't believe how funny that was. It turned out that they were really looking for the Baileys and the light was off because it's burnt out. In any case that was just about the funniest thing of my life.... or at least the month. So so funny.

Almost like summer

I went to Panda Express yesterday with my Mom. It felt like summer.
Outside it was a bit cold but it was sunny so sitting inside by the window I was warm enough to take off my hoodie. Panda is in the place where the market used to be and I don't know why but it still kinda smelled like the old building, of course it's the same building technically, but I'm talking about the market/bibo/torre building, the good ol' days.

The part that made it most like summer was drinking an Arnold Palmer, Panda has the BEST iced tea and sweet lemonade to make my favorite Arnold Palmer in the world. IT'S SOOOO YUMMY! Mmmmmmmmm... summer.

incase anyone else is wondering

If you want to find my bug picture just click on the "my husband is a genius" title on the list over there to your right. It's hiding :)