A Yard for Percy

Update 6/1-6/7

I'm going to apologize for any confusion because of my delayed updates.  Debina was particularly perturbed by the erratic information she was getting.  Hopefully, now that I'm actually catching up, it'll make more sense. :)

A condo had gone on the market on Saturday, but because of how busy the weekend was, I wasn't able to go see it until Monday at 11.  At that point there were already 3 or 4 offers, and all offers needed to be submitted by 5PM.  I honestly thought about not even going to see it because I didn't want to end up liking it when the chances were slim that I would get it.  I met Jason there at 11 (we got there at the same time as another couple.)  I spent about 10 minutes in the place, and then told Jason I wanted to put an offer on it, and then went back to work.  By 6 that evening, my offer was accepted and I was on my way to being a homeowner!

I had texted Dawne telling her that I had put an offer on the house, and she and Lucas went over there.  Not knowing that someone was still living there, she peeked into the window.  When she was seen, she ran away.  :)  When I got home, I picked up Percy and said told him "I might have just bought you a really expensive Percy Playground."  It's smaller than all the places I had been looking at, but the yard is really awesome, and I think it's perfect for me and the Percy boy.  

I can't remember if I told this story or not because it happened over a couple of weeks, I'm just going to tell it now.  Flashing back to Aug 2010: http://www.sweetandsarcastic.com/2010/09/7-in-2010-final-chaper-or-2nd-12-of-aug.html

"Peter had lost his luggage so I offered him some clean T-shirts, but he refused one saying “I can’t wear a shirt with a GIRL on it!” (It was a beer and scotch festival T-shirt btw)

Then, at the 90th birthday party, he complained about having to wear Yankees and Albany T-Shirts, so naturally I said: Look around you Peter. I’m the only one out of every one here who even offered you a clean shirt."

Eva had brought this moment in May:

(the answer was citrine btw).

And then the other day I saw a pic of Freddy's 2nd Birthday:

In the move, we went through some of the puppy accessories and found clothes that were too small for our pups.  I brought a couple cute outfits for the owner of Percy's Daycare because she has a little poodle.  Doesn't she look abfab?

The rest of the week was kind of a blur of surprise and work.  It all had happened so quickly that it was hard to believe that I didn't have to house hunt anymore.  On Tuesday, we had game night at Zach & Tristin's.

Nathan: Do you recycle?

Tristin: We are going thru a phase where we hate the environment.

We played a new version of Werewolf that I really liked because I could sleuth the werewolves out.  When I was complemented on my deduction skills, I simply responded with, "I have watched Elementary." 

When I got home, Lucas was outside taking pictures.

Lucas: I wonder if I can take a picture of the cloud.

pause

Lucas: I just called the moon the cloud.

I watched Maid in Manhattan again, trying to catch up on Monday emails, and seriously couldn't believe that J-Lo could fall for Voldemort.

The weekend was kind of perfect, filled with Sunshine, pool, and some of my favorite friends. Jordan made Dawne and I pancakes in the morning and Dawne practiced doing Rosie's make up on me.  She would later do Rosie's prom make up, but in the meantime I looked fabulous and ready for the pool!  

Kelly came over and we hung out in the pool, had a couple adult beverages, and ate some quesadilla's.  Everyone was scheduled empty the driveway at 2, but then Rosie's hair appointment changed, so Dawne did her make up at Maya's house.  The reason for the exile from the house was because Jordan's neice Rosie asked if a couple of friends could come over to take pictures by the lake.  When we found out that we didn't have to leave until 4:30, Kelly did the only logical thing; we took a nap.  Waking up just in time, we took the pups to the park.  After the park we went to the Malt and Vine until we were allowed back into the house. 

Guess how many people showed up for the prom pictures?

I'll wait. 

Nope!

There were 30 kids, and over 60 adults plus siblings.  Who know where they all parked, but Jordan described it as an "Invasion of glitter and spandex."  Later, when Dawne told Lucas about it, his response was, "aren't you glad none of us were popular?"

Me to Kelly: I told Dawne I would take this food to a food drive so she had one less thing to worry about.  But, I don't know where a food bank is.

Kelly: It's all in your car?

Me: Yeah, but it's mostly diet shakes.

Laughing

Me: They are totally meal replacements - it says so on the packaging!

Tristin and Zach came over to the house to make us bacon wrapped Jalapeño poppers. 

Kelly: Should I ask him if he's already started cooking or if it's going to be 3 hours?

Me: No, don't ask.  You know it's going to me 3 hours - we'll just order pizza. 

There were two jalapeno incidents within those three hours.  First, Zach didn't wash his hands and then wiped his eyes.  Then, Tristin and Zach didn't remove the seeds from 20% of the poppers.  So on Tristin's 3 popper, he was very unpleasantly surprised by the fire that consumed his mouth.  Kelly and I were very happy that we ordered pizza.   Oh, and I watched Anchorman 2 (without watching Anchorman so I have no way to judge if it was better or as good as the first.)

On Sunday, I took the pups to the park and then met Dr. Rach and Anders for brunch.  I told them that Lucas had bought a Fuji insta camera.  Rachel said, "If anyone had ever been born in the wrong decade, it's Lucas."  We stopped at the "Lil' Store" for some beers, and then spent the next 5 or so hours in the pool.  Dr. Rach is so tiny, you'd never know she was a week out from her due date!  I accidentally questioned her going on the boat, not actually knowing anything about being pregnant, but knowing that Jen stopped going on the boat after a while.  The doctor's both decided to stay in the pool with me, but agreed that as soon as she was full tern they'd be back for boating, trampolines and any other activity that would encourage little Anderson to arrive. (Oh, yeah, I don't think that's actually the kids name - they haven't figured that out yet - but it is the literal description of the situation.) 

Tree Climbing Otters

5/25 - 5/31

Me: I just got a Trenta iced coffee. I feel awful and awesome at the same time

James:  Story of my life.

Monday night I met Zach, Jordan & Dawne for dinner and Splendor at Mox.  As I was reading my email I saw a 4 bedroom, 3 bath house in Redmond for 300K.  This was when we seriously considered purchasing a meth den and flipping it.  When I told Jason, he was both surprised and supportive.  We had at least 12 hours of thinking this was a brilliant idea until I did some research on what you have to do to decontaminate a meth lab, if it was indeed a meth lab, like pulling out all the walls ceiling, and plumbing, and vent/heating system.  I guess what I'm saying is it was a little more effort than we thought, and so the house hunt continued. 

Jordan was negotiating with Dawne about getting a designated spot in the house for his modeling. 

Dawne: You can do it on the kitchen table... if you clean it up every day.

Zach: I'm pretty sure I could count the models you made on one hand without any fingers.

Jordan: I used to model all the time!

Zach: You had an entire craft room in the yellow house and never used it once.

Jordan: I made that Pirates mast!

Me: Yes, but that doesn't really count as a model AND you did that outside in the driveway.

Dawne: I do have photographic evidence... of when you were 4, and I'm pretty sure that your dad made it.

Dawne threw a tea party for Sandy's birthday this week.  An hour before people were set to arrive, Dawne let the pups outside.  Casper was desperately barking down by the water.  When she came closer to see what cause was, she saw Casper pushing a small dog along with his nose.  Dawne suspects that the dog was stuck outside for over a week.  It was a little Maltese, with bites on his legs, severely dehydrated, and just in awful shape.  I'm not sure how Casper found/saved him, but Dawne washed the pup up, fed him and then brought him over to the vet where they scanned his chip and found the owners right away. 

Lucas got a new Fuji camera with insta "polaroid" like functionality.  When it arrived he was very excited. 

Lucas: Look how cute!

Jordan: It is so cute it's basically saccharine.

The big event of the week was a visit from Dawne's best friend Terri and her daughter Alyssa.   We went to Kirkland for dinner on Friday night where we tried out a new Vietnamese restaurant in Kirkland.  It took about an hour to get food and drink, but when it arrived it was delish!  The following day we spent in the pool and on the boat.  Talk about glorious.  Lucas and his lady friend came back from the library toting some books.  Lucas had a 100 page book, and Eliza had an art text book that looked to be closer to 700 pages.

Jordan: A little light reading?

Eliza: I got the art history book, used, for ten dollars!

Nater: When were crayons introduced?

Eliza: 1903

Nater: Is that in that book?

Eliza: Oh no that's a different book.

Nater: It's like New Testament & Old Testament.

Nater was gracious enough to run out and get us some buns for our BBQ.  In the meantime, Jordan told Lucas he should make some guacamole with the ripe avocados, so Lucas called Nater.

Lucas: Can you pick up cilantro, jalapeños, tomatoes, limes and onions?

Nater: That's the whole recipe!

Lucas: It's five Ingredients.

Nater: I'm not doing that.

Except, he totally did. :)

Zach: Know what's crazy? For it being their defining quality ,how little the three musketeers use their muskets.

Jordan: I've often thought about that!

We finished up the evening with a bonfire.  I took one bite of my s'mores and was not pleased.  I was convinced that the grahams were stale, only the box was new.  That's when I saw that they were low-fat.  We decided that the only logical thing to do was to feed them to the baby ducklings that came to check out what we were doing.  That's when we saw some bats, a raccoon, and an otter.  Dawne was telling us how we have two river otters and they sometimes come out and climb the trees and jump from one to the other.  Terri and Jordan did not believe her tale, and proceeded to use the internet to get the "real" story.  What they got was photographic proof that Dawne knew what she was talking about.  Just you typical Saturday evening 'mallow roast.

The next day, we drove down to the Northwest Trek.  We were under the impression that none of us had ever been there, but Zach emphatically argued that Dawne and Terri had been there.  Dawne and Terri didn't remember any of it.  That's when Zach also remembered that Terri's boy had gotten into a big fight after they had arrived and then they all went home.  That sounds about right. 

Zach: He's a good house cat size compared.

Me: What?

Zach: I mean, compared to the other cats I want.

On the tram: If you attempt to touch the animals we will ask you to leave the park.

Zach: I'm willing to take that risk.

Oh, and we got to see all of the animals from our backyard, including the River Otter! (He wasn't climbing any trees, though.) 

I left the party after lunch, while I sent the rest of the crew to a Fairy Festival in Tacoma. Only I guess it was actually the day before so I ended up looking like a real jerk.  They still had a good time. When they got back to the house, suddenly we were doing impromptu interviews for one of Terri's schools up until the point that they had to leave for their flights.  Zach and I finished up the week by vegging on the couch - one of my favorite activities.  Oh yeah, and we played some game that I can only imagine is called “Chair.”

Flashback Friday

5/18 – 5/24

My week started with this note from Maureen sharing a paper written by Patrick.  It's a little blurry, but warning: if you can make it out you might get a case of the aww's.

Followed by my friends sharing with me this little internet gem that amused me greatly.

http://seriouslyforreal.com/funny/i-want-to-party-with-chris/

Dawne was trying to garden a bit (I’m not entirely sure why) by pulling some weeds.  A lot of them were very difficult to pull so just as she was going to get a shovel, Percy ran over and dug it out for her.  She proceeded to point out which ones she needed removed, and he systematically dug out only the weeds.  Percy is finally earning his keep around here!

This is a bit of a flash back Friday for you.  When Evivova and I were little, we were constantly trying to make stuff and then sell it.  Neighborhood newspapers, tickets to carnivals (we did donate that money to Guiding Eyes), informational books, lemonade, you name it.   We even transformed all of my books into a library when John C Hart was under construction.  I did it because I genuinely thought people needed access to book, but I suspect Evivova was in it for the late fees.  One day, we decided to make wet towelettes (scented and unscented) and I swear to you they looked exactly like this the image below.  We were sitting on a goldmine Trebek! 

http://todaysfreestuff.org/free-evas-toys-antibacterial-hand-wipes/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=tfs

In response to my email, I heard from Kathi, and because she’s hilarious, I’m going to share.   Lucky you!

Kathi: Soo...did you include these Dave Matthews stories to hurt my feelings. I might have taken some sharp breaths when I read this on the train. People possibly turned to find out where the wheezing came from....

I am also glad Caspar survived...I will have to do the same thing for my plants when I go on vacation. Otherwise Hendrik will kill all of them.

Speaking of which...I think you and I should go on a vacation again. We were in France last week and I had to think of you and me and us a couple of times. 

Especially when we finished Versailles in 45 min. 

Hendrik: Wow this was pretty epic. We finished Versailles in under an hour

Kathi: Not as epic as when Tiffany and I finished London in under a day.

Before that we were also in London earlier this year.

Hendrik: Is there anything you want to see in particular?

Kathi Nah...Tiffany and I did it all XD

I would like it noted that we’re only able to do that because of Kathi.  Sure, I may have said, “We have a whole day, we can totally see all of London!” But it was Kathi who mapped it all out so we knew exactly where all the tube stops were so we could accomplish it all with ease.  Hash tag the importance of a good travel buddy.

Lucas was telling me that he had a friend who was really into this old Window’s Dog game that was a little bit like the Tamagotchi’s where you would feed and take care of it.  Sadly, when Windows upgraded, he could still see his dog, but you could no longer feed or interact with it because it wasn’t compatible.  Naturally, when the dog ultimately died, he put it on a floppy disc and buried it outside. 

Lucas had a picnic date, and he put together the most adorable basket that was very matchy match, and then prepared a little meal for the both them.  So cute.

As I may have mentioned, the yellow house was sold, and as we drew closer to the closing date, every weekend has been all about moving.  Marc, Lynn, Raymond, Michelle and the girls all came on Saturday to help.  Mind you every DAY has been about moving for Dawne, but she’s stronger than all of us. In fact one day, I was sent this gem of Zach and I looking like we were on the red carpet AKA Luke’s Bar Mitzvah.

The weekend before, Lucas and I were emptying bottles into the sink and we had some trouble with the sink, so Dawne had spent the week trying to fix it.   She then asked me to empty the rest of the bottles to test it.  20 minutes later, she was downstairs and the sink literally exploded with the most foul smelling liquid all over her.  (Disclaimer: All of the plumbing was fixed by a professional prior to closing.)  I didn’t take a picture of the explosion, but I did snap one of these fun bottles that Jordan had been collecting (so he could remember them after I threw them out.)  Similarly, I snapped one of Lucas’ Tick art work in remembrance of the many many times Lucas put that image on things when he was little. 

Jordan: We are going to see if we can change history and have the Hindenburg come down safely. 

I went down to the basement and found to my dismay that the downstairs fridge had never been cleaned out.  There was a mysterious bowl of  something left there for over a year, which I tossed b/c it went with the set of dishes I took anyway, and yucks.  (Did I mention that Dawne found a whole load of dishes in the dishwasher that we almost forgot too?)  Anyway, it pained me, but I emptied these bottles as well because that’s what happens when you’ve been moving for two years.  I found it funny that I was tossing out Guinness next to a sign that said German’s Only.  Kind of reminded me of that same trip with Kathi, when I went to Ireland with all of my German friends.

I can’t remember if I ever shared this weirdo thing that I did from 2008.  When I moved back to NY, I didn’t bring everything back with me (assuming that I would take a road trip with all of it later.)  So, left this note on the door of my room.

Do you remember when we sent out a spreadsheet of our activities instead of a newsletter for Christmas back at the height of activity when we had 14 people living with us.  I miss those days (and not just because Gilmore Girls was still on the air.)

Or back when we used to have epic Halloween parties like the Dead Celebrity party.  This was also the party that Maureen came and when we were getting changed up in my room she said, “Uh, there is a guy on the balcony breathing fire.” To which I replied, “Oh yeah, that guy.  He’s always there.”  Later, after the rubber ducky race, she would find that he was a part of a performance down by the pool complete with synchronized swimming.

Some other gems:

(That’s my grandpa!)

Another example of us being so tired of moving that we started eliminating even our cherished belongings:

Dawne: What should we do with these swords and shields?

Boys: Just get rid of them.

Dawne: Really?  This is the only thing [Zach] asked to be shipped to college – maybe I’ll give them to Theresa.

Me: I’ll put them in my storage – you can’t get rid of those. 

Nater (Picking up one of the swords): So… how bout it?

The thing about the many many events we had over the years, we don’t have one thing, we end up having 25 dodge balls, lite brites, easy bake ovens etc.  Here is an example of 20 trays, b/c one day we decided to have everyone over for TV dinners and a movie in the theater.  We left them for the new owners.  I wonder if they will figure out why the “need” them.

As we were trying to get something very unwieldly around a corner, I heard Jason yell, “Pivot! PIVOT!!”

This was actually the day before when we were being crafty in how we got furniture into the little blue house. At one point the camera falters because I got scared.

https://youtu.be/uTOx70Ir7P8

And lastly, for other reason than it made me giggle:

Pop Tarts Are Not Vegetarian?

5/11 - 5/17

Another week filled con mucho trabajo.  I had made plans to meet baby Amelia, but then I ended up having only 15 minutes to gush over her, catch up, and snuggle with Sparky.  Worth the trip though for sure.  

Zach had accidentally lost his car keys while he was over the weekend before so he couldn't give Dawne her Mother's Day present: A book of funny dog pictures.  Dawne thought it was hilarious, here she is giggling away. 

Dawne and Jordan got me a new big mug from Disney.  Dawne spend a couple of days in a row pressing the largest cup size and getting really frustrated when it was only half full, so she would press it again.  I had to finally pour the "half" cup into one of the Mickey mugs to prove it was just a really big cup.  I do love me a big cup of Joe. 

The big thing that took up my week was putting a bid on a condo, and then not getting it.  Briana told me when I put the bid in that it if doesn't work out, it wasn't meant to be - and I am realizing it really is true.  It makes the process a lot less stressful, so I probably should have called her much earlier!

On Friday, Kelly came over so that we could play Defiance.  Two Xboxes, and a discovery that I have two active gold accounts, we gave up on trying to play and just watched a youtube video of someone else playing.  We then watched the show, but just the first episode mind you. 

As we were watching the video choose in the beginning.

Dawne: They aren't switching weapons, they are switching people.

Zach: I don't see race mom.

Afterwards we sat around helping Zach respond to ladies on Tinder. 

Zach: What about this girl with a Golden Retriever?

Kelly: Ask her if that's Air Bud and then you'll know if is still in high school or not.

Me: Ask her if that's her Seeing Eye dog.

Zach: What should I say to the 1 year old?

She had a picture of herself with a cake with one candle on it. 

Saturday, I rented a UHaul so I could put a bunch of furniture into storage.  It was a really really big Uhaul to after driving it home, I asked Jordan to drive it. 

Saturday evening we did a little bonfire.  Kelly keeps wanting to do a bonfire with us, but has never actually joined us through a series of poorly placed naps.

Me: Hey, your parent's friend has a new boyfriend.

Lucas: Ugh don't let me get emotionally involved in people you aren't willing to be.

Lucas: I was marveling over how you can have one person in this show and they are a completely different person in another show.  And that's when my grandpa said, "It's called acting, Lucas."  But I still think it's pretty cool.

Me: Accept for Aziz who is Aziz no matter what. 

Lucas: Did you know that Pop tarts are not vegetarian?

Me: WHAT?

(looking it up)

Me: Oh, Gelatin and Lard.  That's fine.

Lucas: Why is that fine?

Me: Those are horrors I've already made peace with.  I was worried it was something new. 

Later I was telling this story to Kelly, and that led to an overall discussion about vegetarian lions, and Kelly saying, That's like what Pumba and Timone did to Simba.

Speaking of the animal Kingdom, here is Percy winning “Capture the Bully Stick” with Casper.