Just Curious...

Is anyone reading this?  I know that I'm an avid user of Google Reader, and I certainly can't be the only one.  I'm toying with the idea of beginning to blog again, but let's be honest....I'd prefer to know that there would be at least a few people out there reading it if I'm going to do it.  :)

So...if you see this, feel free to post a comment and let me know.  :)

Alki Beach

My mom came to town on Thursday morning.  Unfortunately, both Shawn and I had to work on Thursday and Friday, so we haven't been very exciting for my mom.  Having her here is definitely giving us lots of practice helping Satchel learn that he shouldn't jump on people! 

Our plan for today (Saturday) was to do some things in Seattle that Satchel could also do.  Unforunately, though, we couldn't leave in the morning since we had to take Satchel to the vet at 11:30.  (Poor guy has what I can only imagine is a rather unpleasant infection...I'll leave it at that.)  So while Shawn was at CrossFit, Mom and I chatted and played with Satchel.  At one point, he left us alone in the living room, and after a few minutes, I realized it was very quiet.  Too quiet.  This is what I found:

I'm pretty sure that Satchel was stuck under the futon.  He didn't come out when I sat next to him, and he didn't follow me when I left and called him.  I even got a treat and held it out, and he still didn't come (and I'm pretty sure I heard a whimper at one point).  Fortunately, we've taught Satchel the "ninja" command.  It's basically an "army crawl" on his belly when we say "Ninja!"  When I gave him the command, he ducked his head and crawled on out.  I think the issue before was that his collar was getting caught on the futon frame.

Anyways...after the brief vet visit, we headed out to West Seattle and Alki Beach.  We went to Spud for fish and chips (which is also where we ate on Valentine's Day this year), and we wandered along the beach for awhile.  This was definitely the nicest day we've ever been to Alki...normally it's been drizzly and/or cool when we've been there.  Today was sunny and in the upper 80s, so it was actually pretty crowded.  I only took a few pictures, but here you go!

And finally...for whatever reason, this sign on the road that runs next to Alki Beach always makes me laugh:

Quick Weekend Update

I know, I know....3 posts in less than a week!!  I figured I'd give a quick update of our weekend.  You know, now that it's almost Wednesday.  :-)

On Saturday, we had grand plans to be super productive.  My mom is coming to town on Thursday, and I have a long list of things I'd like to get done before she gets here.  We ended up doing pretty much nothing all day.  It was a gray, cool, drizzly day, and we spent lots of time watching TV, playing with the dog, surfing the internet, and playing video games (Shawn...not me).  It was pretty darn nice, if I'm being honest.

Saturday night, we headed downtown and went to our first baseball game of the season!  I'm a bit ashamed that it took us this long to get down there, but it's hard to get downtown during the week, and we often do have other plans on the weekend.  I knew that the Mariners were home this weekend, so we decided to just get the cheapest tickets available and enjoy a little baseball and a hot dog.  Our tickets were $10 each, and really, the seats weren't that bad!  We agreed that we'd be okay getting those seats again (bleachers in center field).  Since it was a rainy day, we even had our first experience watching baseball under the roof.  If you didn't know, Safeco Field has a roof that is normally kept open, but it can be slid across the stadium if/when it's raining.  The stadium isn't completely closed when the roof is closed, so the wind can still come in a bit...but all of the seating areas are covered by the roof, and it would have to be a pretty strong wind for the rain to blow in (which really doesn't happen all that often here).

The game was quite the battle of mediocrity...the Mariners lost to the Kansas City Royals, 2-1.  But we enjoyed ourselves anyways.

On Sunday, we did some cleaning, and I did some grocery shopping.  Our next door neighbor had organized a potluck/party for everyone on our street, so we headed to the other neighbor's driveway in the afternoon.  Not a whole lot of people came, but it was nice to have a chance to get to know some of our neighbors a little better (including the Sheriff who lives down the street...not a bad guy to make friends with!).

And that's about it for our weekend!

Summer Catch Up

Okay...I'm going to try to limit the details here, since I have no idea if anyone is actually going to read this.  :-)

In early June, Shawn and I went to Denver!  The main reason that we went was to watch a rugby tournament, so we spent most of Saturday and Sunday doing that.  There was a lot of good rugby, and there was the added bonus of getting to watch the matches with a bunch of good friends.  I still had to work while I was there, unfortunately, but that gave Shawn some time to hang out with Jarid in the mountains, and I did have the chance to meet up with a few good friends, too.  Our last day there, we spent a good chunk of time with Shawn's mom.  She volunteers at the Denver Botanic Gardens, so she took us there and basically gave us a private tour.

We found what I think may be our new "go to" hike not too far from here.  It's the Lake 22 Trail, and it's beautiful!  It actually reminds me a bit of Colorado once you get to the top, where there's a lake (hence the trail name).  There was even snow to play in on the 4th of July!  Satchel enjoyed the snow.

The downside of the summer happened in June.  I found out on June 15th that I was pregnant, but I confirmed the following week that it was another early miscarriage.  (The first was in January.)

But anyways...we had a fun party at our house in late June with a bunch of our friends, and we did another hike in July.  This hike was rainy and cool (of course), but it was still really pretty.

In late June, I learned that I had 5 vacation days that I had to use by July 31st, or I would lose them!  So we planned a couple things.  Shawn, Satchel, and I took a 4-day weekend and explored the Olympic Peninsula.  We spent the first two nights in a beachfront condo, and we did some "car camping" (in a campsite) the third night.  It was cool and foggy most of the time we were there, but we still had a great time!  Satchel was able to go off-leash on the beach, and he was ecstatic!  We're very fortunate that he doesn't seem to have any intention of running very far away from us.

For my other vacation days, I left Shawn at home.  :-)  I went to St. Louis to stay with my friend Jane...and all of the other Hydra members decided to come to St. Louis, too!  So I basically got 5 days to hang out with my best girlfriends from college.  It was awesome.  Since we were last together (for Shannon's wedding last summer), there have been two new additions...Rachel's Libby is on the left, and Shannon's Kateri is on the right.

Jane's daughter Theresa was my little buddy for the weekend.  I spent a large part of my time hanging out with her, carrying her on my hip, and flipping her upside down.

Unfortunately, Jane's youngest, Lucy, got sick over the weekend.  The last night all five of us girls were together, I didn't think to take a group picture, so the closest I got was four of us.  :-(  But we all had a great time, and I'm looking forward to our next reunion...probably in a couple years.

I think that's actually more or less gotten you all caught up!  Work was absolutely crazy for me for a couple months there, and Shawn was pretty busy, too.  But the summer session is winding down for me, and Shawn's big project was completed...so hopefully things will slow down for us now!

I know I've said this before...but I'll try to get back to posting more often.  :-)

Hey, guess what?!

I'm still alive!  :-)

I'm embarrassed that it's been more than two months since I last posted.  I'm technically "on the clock" for work right now, but I have every intention of doing a "catch up" post...at some point. Maybe this afternoon, once I get some grading done.  We've had a pretty busy summer!  We've even managed to wear out Satchel from time to time.  :-)

What I've Been Reading

I think that one of the reasons I've been doing fewer posts is because I haven't been posting any reviews of book I've been reading.  And part of the reason for that is that I haven't been reading nearly as much this year!  (It's amazing how much less "free" time I have now that we have Satchel!)  By this time last year, I'd already read 24 books.  So far this year, I've read 9.  (In my defense...I wasn't working at all from January to mid-March last year.)  I figured I'd give a brief run-down of those nine books.

1.  Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout:  This collection of short stories won a Pulitzer in 2009.  I liked the fact that the stories were all tied together by the fact that the character of Olive Kitteridge was in each one, although in some stories, she was a very minor character (like she and her husband might have been eating at the same diner as the central characters in a story).  I gave it 3 stars.

2.  Cesar's Way: the Natural, Everyday Guide to Understanding and Correcting Common Dog Problems by Cesar Millan:  Have you heard of the "Dog Whisperer"?  This is Cesar.  He's a god among men, according to dog training types.  I got this book the day after we got Satchel.  Truthfully, I thought the book was interesting, but there were very few actual techniques listed in the book, which disappointed me.  I gave it 3 stars.

3.  Sag Harbor by Colson Whitehead:  I don't remember why I chose this book, and I definitely didn't love it.  I gave it 2 stars.  It's the story of a boy who spends his summers on Sag Harbor (outside NYC).  The book jacket claimed that it was funny; I didn't think it was.

4.  Bel Canto by Ann Patchett:  This was an interesting concept.  Terrorists crash a birthday party, and the book tells the story of the "standoff"...which doesn't go the way you might imagine.  I gave it 3 stars.

5.  The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer:  I really liked this book.  It's written as a series of letters among a journalist from London and people from the Island of Guernsey who formed a "literary society" during the German occupation of their island during WWII.  I gave it 4 stars.

6.  The Guinea Pig Diaries: My Life as an Experiment by A.J. Jacobs:  This is a funny little non-fiction book.  The author literally spent a year involved in all sorts of crazy experiments, and he explains them in this book.  For example, for a month, he outsourced his life to a team of people in India, and he spent a month practicing "Radical Honesty."  I gave the book 4 stars.

7.  Hardboiled Wonderland and the End of the World by Haruki Murakami:  A friend sent this book to me (she had read it for a literature class), and it was odd.  But good!  There were basically two plot lines going on simultaneously, and they were both a little sci-fi and mystical (although one storyline also felt like it may have taken place in the past).  I wanted to give it 4 stars, but I stuck with 3 because I didn't like the ending.

8.  The Adoration of Jenna Fox by Mary E. Pearson:  This is a young adult book that definitely brings up questions of ethics and science.  It begs the question...just because science has figured out a way to do something, should we necessarily do it?  I gave it 3 stars.

9.  Firefly Lane by Kristin Hannah:  I think this was probably my favorite book so far this year.  It follows the stories of two best friends over 3 decades.  I thought it was fun that large portions of the book were set in Snohomish, Washington, which is only a few miles from here.  I gave the book 4 stars.

And there you have it!  All 9 books that I've read so far this year.  Looking over the list...I need to pick some better books!  I'm currently reading Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett, and I'm enjoying it so far...it's good for what it is.  I have a few more books sitting here that I'm looking forward to, too.  I'll let you know what I think.  :-)

Exciting Night!

Satchel has the adorable habit of keeping an eye out for Shawn to come home in the evenings.  Once he sees the car (from looking out the living room window), he gets super excited and runs down to the front door.  Usually, I'll let him go outside to meet Shawn.

That's what we did tonight when Shawn came home from his CrossFit intro class.  Almost as soon as I got outside, though, I heard a weird buzzing sound.  I eventually figured out that it was coming from our neighbor's house...smoke detector.  I didn't think too much of it; Lord knows I've set off my share of smoke detectors while cooking!  (Actually, now that I think about it, I think I've only set off the smoke detector twice.)  But I mentioned it to Shawn, and I also mentioned that I could smell something odd.

Being the nosy good neighbor that he is, Shawn went next door.  He tried looking into our neighbor's living room windows (they also have a split-level, so those windows are upstairs), but couldn't see well, so he knocked on their door...but no one was home.  I went over, too, and we agreed that maybe it looked a bit cloudy inside...or maybe their windows were a bit dirty.  So then Shawn scaled their fence so that he could unlock the gate and let himself into their backyard.  From their back porch, he told me that it definitely looked smokey inside, so he called 911.

Literally as Shawn pushed the dial button on his phone, the smoke detector stopped going off.  But he went ahead and explained the situation to the 911 operator, who sent the fire department.  In less than five minutes, we had two fire trucks, an ambulance, and the Sheriff on the street outside.  The firemen broke the neighbor's window to get in, and they discovered that a pot had been left on the stove (with the burner on) and had been smoking.  Fortunately, that's all it was!  We felt a little silly for calling about that (especially since our neighbors now have to replace a window!), but we had no way of knowing that's all it was.  And who knows...eventually that pot/food could have ignited and caused a much bigger problem!

We were a bit worried about how our neighbors would react when they rounded the corner of our block to discover a fire truck parked in front of their house!  So Shawn went to chat with all of the neighbors (many of whom were outside their own homes, watching), hoping that someone had the neighbor's cell number.  (No one had it.)  During this process, though, Shawn learned that one of the houses on our street (just a few houses down) actually burned to the foundation 3 years ago...and that was started by a grease fire on the stove.  So apparently all the neighbors thought that Shawn was smart for calling the fire department!

When the neighbor came home, Shawn talked with him...and he was apparently in good spirits (considering he came home to firemen in his house).  He was glad that Shawn had made the call, and he admitted that he was the one who left the house in a hurry and apparently forgot to turn off the stove.  And he didn't seem too upset about the window (which was our big concern...we felt a bit bad for that).

So...that was our exciting night!  I was going to take pictures to post...but I felt a little strange taking pictures of the firetrucks from our living room window.  :-)