I'm so proud

Complex thoughts escape me. Apparently.

Snow!

Since we left Maryland three years ago, we haven't seen but a few snowflakes. And none in the past two years. But last night we got a nice dusting of snow, and Zippy was overjoyed to wake up to it this morning. There wasn't enough to make a snowman or anything, but some snow is better than no snow!

In a year or two, you may need to remind me that I was once happy about snow. Try not to rub it in too hard, please.

Lovely Anonymous Commenter

I just had an anonymous comment posted in response to my "really good things" post. In case you missed it, here the comment is, in all its glory:

"Oh great, another California Libber coming up to screw over/Californicate Oregon."

This is exactly what I'd dreamed about when I uprooted my family and moved to a smaller town - that people would be open and welcoming, and would judge me on my own merits, instead of having preconceived notions about who I am and what my goals are based upon superficial information. I mean, really, what better kind of welcome can a girl hope for? (I'll tell you what kind - the kind of welcome I have received from 99.99% of the people I've talked to here. The kind where people are nice for the sake of being nice. The kind where folks you've never met before meet you for a beer to welcome you to the new town you've set your hopes on. I'm glad that most people have been wonderful, but then again, we wouldn't have picked Bend for our future if people here hadn't been so darn nice.)

I don't know what it would mean to "Claifornicate" Oregon, but I'll tell you what -- we lived in California for the past two years and were done there after about the first ten months. We wanted to live in a quieter place, but not so quiet that you have to drive an hour on a regular basis to find things. We wanted a family-friendly town, where there was a good sense of community, and where there were parades and other fun family-centric events. We wanted a place with a sense of humor, a sense of history, and interesting people. And we found all this in Bend.

I know there are people here who wish for the quiet town of 15,000 people that Bend used to be. I can understand that longing -- I can imagine the town with more open land and fewer cars, and wish I had been here to see that. I'm not thrilled with what I see as over-development here -- the houses so close together, crammed into the avaialble space. I don't know why it's so hard to find a 12,000 SF lot here, but it's close to impossible to find one. It's funny - we moved from Southern California to Bend and have 4,000 fewer square feet of land under our house. I don't get that at all. I imagine that it was amazing here before everyone encroached on the natives. So I get it. At least I think I do, at least kind of.

But I personally don't get the animosity toward me, the person. OMG, I'm a "libber" (I can't figure out if that means Women's Libber or Left-Wing Liberal. Whichever, both fit pretty well, although I do think I'm somewhat moderate. In any case, I don't see it as an insult. Call me closed-minded if you want to offend me.) But let's be clear, I'm not a California Libber, I'm a Maryland Libber (and Maryland is a much more liberal state than California. Heck, we lived in Orange County, California. I think I was one of three registered Democrats in the county.), and I'm proud to be me. I'm happy to be here in Bend - in fact, I'm thrilled. I felt the weight lift off my shoulders within days of being here, and am in love with this area and what it holds for my family.

I don't really have much else to say, except that you, anonymous poster, are a grumpy-pants, and maybe you should try to not be the grinch this year and should instead make an attempt to understand why people would want to move here. It's certainly not to screw up "your" town. Because it's our town now too.

Studded

Studded tires are on the Subaru. I feel safer already.

Thanksgiving

This was our first Thanksgiving ever without extended family around. It was weird that we didn't have anyone else's time table to adjust to - we just did what we wanted when we wanted. We missed all of the family, but had a nice day nonetheless.

I spent the day cooking - prep work on the turkey at 8, had it in the oven by 9. Zippy spent her day watching and helping me cook - she loves to be in the kitchen, and had a lot of fun helping me measure, pour, and stir the various side dishes we made. She's a whiz kid in the kitchen, and it amazes me how much she really does help.

We made our traditional side dishes -- hominy casserole, dressing, green bean casserole, mashed potatoes, and sweet potatoes. I'd made a chocolate pecan pie the night before, and should have made the pumpkin pie at the same time, but didn't, and then the oven was full and busy all day yesterday, and at the wrong temperature for baking a pie... The crust was ready, but by the time I could have put it together, Zippy had eaten a fair amount of the crust I'd pre-baked. So no pumpkin pie at Thanksgiving this year - I'll make one soon, though.

After dinner, Burger kindly kept Zippy at home and Mr. LT and I went to a friend's house to mingle for a few hours.

All in all, we had quite a satisfactory Thanksgiving, and were most thankful for getting to spend the day together. I hope all of you also had a wonderful holiday.

really good things

Leonie has offered up an invitation to list five really good things in my life, and I've decided to take her up on it. Couldn't have done this a few weeks ago when I was in the "my house will never sell" funk, but right now it's a fun, simple task! without further ado, my really good things:

1. Fifteen years with Mr. LT. Yes, I already posted about this, but it's a really good thing. Our friends all thought we were insane when we got married after only knowing one another for a few months (and living 6,000 miles apart during that time), but we knew, and we still know.

2. My girls, Burger and Zippy. You both bring me so much joy.

3. Our new town. We're thrilled to be in Bend, and we've never felt so welcomed in a new place. Thanks, Bend. You rock.

4. Less than one year until the General Election, and less than 14 months until the current clown leaves the White House. This would be a really, really good thing if we could significantly reduce both those numbers.

5. The people in my life who know me, know my flaws, and love me anyway. Or at least tolerate me with good humor. Thanks. I hope it's worth it.

I'm not going to tag anyone, but I'd love to hear about your really good things. May there be many.

Happy 15th

Mr. LT and I have been married for 15 years today. There's so much I could say, but really, I just smile thinking about these past 15 years, and really don't feel the need to elaborate. Thanks for growing up with me, honey; I'm looking forward to continuing the journey and growing old with you.

Infinity squared. Always.

Fitting in in Central Oregon

One of the first things we did upon our arrival in Bend (after unloading the insanely ginormous truck) was to go visit the Subaru Guru to buy a Subaru. We've had a Subaru before, and knew that we wanted another. We managed to get a fantastic price on an '05 Legacy Wagon (turbo, even!) and we've been happily driving it all over town.

Last night, I was talking with some friends, and they were telling me about their new neighbors, who have a two-wheel drive Chevy truck and a Mustang convertible. I'm worried for the new neighbors, as those are about two of the worst vehicles one could drive in snow. Neither is stable, neither is front wheel drive. I hope they don't have to actually leave the house most days! (yes, i'm feeling a tad superior here. i'm sure it'll bite me in the ass soon)

One thing I'm mulling over - should we go ahead and get studded tires now, or should we wait until we're up the proverbial creek before doing so? I'm guessing we should just break down and buy 'em, but gosh, I'd love to not spend that money...

Deadbeats

There are lots of things I've done since moving to Bend - including getting a new cell phone. Unfortunately, Tabitha, who apparently had my new cell phone number before, is a deadbeat, and I'm getting between one and three calls every day from folks trying to collect money from her. Tabitha, if you're out there, do the right thing, and send the nice people their money. Because I really am not thrilled with the conversations I'm having to have.

Woot!

I'm dead tired, but wanted to quickly note that I went out tonight for a few hours and a few beers with a few fellow bloggers here in Bend. It was FANTASTIC to get to meet these lovely ladies - I felt like I'd known them all for years (next time we really should get a table. Maybe then we wouldn't get ignored) and I had so much fun hanging out!!

Thanks to my new (real, live) friends for a great night, and I look forward to doing it again soon!

I should be at WoTech tomorrow, but won't make COWPU. Next month I'll flip the two. Or something.

Jen, Julie, and Elise -- thanks for making me feel so welcome!

We Made It!

Long story that I'll tell a different day, but we made it to Bend around noon on Tuesday, had the truck unpacked by 7:30 or so. We're all great, Burger even started school today and hasn't said that it sucked entirely, so there is hope. While the truck is unpacked, little else is. Sigh. Mr. LT is busy in the garage trying to make at least a little space, I've been spending my time unpacking boxes in the kitchen (I probably have more kitchen stuff than anyone rightly needs, but I do love it all and am hoping it will (for once) all fit into the kitchen! We're both probably about 40% finished with our respective tasks. All involved love the new house. More later, just wanted to let you know we made it here safely and are THRILLED to be here!!

Filling Boxes

I think boxes should be packed as fully as possible, and all little spaces should be filled with small things. We've now reached the point where we're very very close to not having any small things left, and I think it's going to drive me insane.

Burger has abandoned us for a friend's house today - and now she wants to spend the night over there. We haven't given her a yea or nay yet on this request, but we'll probably let her because we think we suck a little for making her move again.

Zippy has been a gem today - she has been keeping herself busy and trying to help. Only one almost-meltdown, and I nipped that in the bud by feeding the poor child.

Other than that, Mr. LT and I are in good spirits and looking forward to the long drive north on Monday. It looks like Mr. LT will drive the truck with the girls and the dogs, and I'll be in my little Alfa all by my lonesome. I'd love company, but I think it's best if Burger is in the truck to help with the puppies and I'm not super comfortable with the safety aspect of Zippy riding 800+ miles in the Alfa.

Right now we just have boxes in the moving truck. Tomorrow all furniture will get loaded. My back already hurts, so I expect tomorrow to kind of suck. Whatever, we're so outta here.

Now comes the packing

The sale of our house here in SoCal has closed, been recorded, and is done. We're now living in someone else's house until we can move our things. The moving truck will be here on Friday, and we'll spend our weekend stuffing it full of our memories (and some other, more practical things). We've been about 60% packed since mid-August (constantly heard around here, "that's in a box") but there's still a lot of work to be done. We should be extremely proficient at packing by now (we're pretty darn good), seeing as how we've spent the past few years moving from state to state. I'm hoping that we'll be able to get everything in the truck this weekend and can get on the road on Monday morning.

If we can be out of here Monday morning, we'll be in Bend late Monday - it's only a 13 hour drive, but we'll have the four of us and four dogs (two puppies - we're bringing an additional puppy as a gift to our realtor in Oregon, as she's amazing) which means that we'll have to stop on a regular basis to let the dogs out of the car. Not to mention Zippy.

Burger alternates between being excited about moving and complaining that we're ruining her life. I think both of her reactions are reasonable points of view for a 14 year old. I hope the kids at her new school will be welcoming, because it's so hard to come in to a new school part way through the year. 14 sucks as an age, and I feel for her.