Settling back in at the Old Homestead

A Portland garden.

Well, we are now caught up on sleep and just fine.  I am losing my cat sitter, she is allergic to cats. Rats.

Getting unpacked and organized and thinking I need to freeze all the last minute purchases at the Portland airport. Scottish Shortbread made with real butter. Biscoff from the Delta flight. Big Daddy did not eat the Salmon jerky from Trader Joe's, he can eat that at work next week.

I am not going back until Tuesday. I figured out I spent 2 weekends a month working on shit to take  care of Monday because no one working weekends will do so. So, I am never going back from a vacation on a Monday. Works for me. And there were some shitty emails I can't wait to hear about, on Tuesday.

Miss Curly, but she is too tiny to miss Grandmama yet. Gotta work on the photo's for the Great Grands. They want old fashion prints for brag books and refrigerators.

Figured out we cannot reasonably go to Vermont for Thanksgiving so trying to figure out where we can go or should we stay home. Ticket prices are high and it is such a short time frame. Gotta be an in and an out, no layovers eating at that precious time.

Portland is too damn odd.

Saw this and thought what a great way to exchange books. There were only children's books and toys. So I left Joan River's book. Oh, get over it.

This place is nutso.

And I am exhausted, red eye back and then a nail appointment.

Big Daddy and I are whooped. And the Country Cat at Portland Airport is not worth buying food from unless you are actually starving to death.

The flight itself was great, got a glass of red wine before take off and was asleep as we went up. Woke up 5 minutes from landing when the "Pilot" said to prepare for landing. They did not serve coffee so that was my first stop in the airport. Lone server at that time of the morning was not nice. Come on, your day is just starting and you are in a customer service position and can't be nice to one of your first customers?

We mostly slept on and off for the rest of the day and night. Hurray to Punkin Head for going to the Airbnb and fetching my garments left in the dryer.

Cat was waiting at the back door and is happy to see us, Sammy Dog is fine and all is well here at the Old Homestead.

Yep, still by the pool

We are having some odd jet lag, trying to work around the kids schedule to see them and Curly and the heat is a bit annoying. We are spoiled and very used to the air conditioner.

Went for a walk this afternoon and did not even think to take a picture. I will rectify that tomorrow.

We are still trying to figure out how to use the new camera.

Big Daddy went to TJMaxx to buy me a bathing suit as I do not own one that fits. He actually found someone to wait on him, which is unheard of, and she showed him the suits. The first one she gave him looked funny so he asked her where the crotch part was. Yes, you read that correctly, the crotch part. The sales person directed him to the crotch rack.

Tonight we are getting dinner from the Country Cat. Last night's dinner was so unremarkable I will not even mention the place.

No air in the Airbnb

But there is the private pool.

So we are living like the natives. It is not so bad.

Curly is wonderful, but I had to buy her a couple outfits today, at the resale shop. Everyone following the rules bought 6 months and our baby is really kinda small. So I got her a few things to stretch the wardrobe.

We went to breakfast at a great place Bread and Ink, Quirky yes, good food, yes.

Then the Woodstock Farmer's Market, we got a few things but the mushrooms I wanted would not keep to take home. We did get some dried shrooms and some powdered. And some fruit for the apartment.

We are in the jet lag mode so this will be a transition phase, but we have all the movie channels on demand. Hurray.

Axel Foley in my yard, or my version of Beverly Hills Cop

So I am sitting in the family room working on my computer, it is about 5 PM and I hear a police siren. No surprise, here in the Pointes they pull you over at 4 over. They seriously need the money for all the holiday and seasonal decorations.

Then I hear another siren, and another and now there are a whole bunch of sirens. I decide to go and see if something exciting is going on. As I get to the front door Sammy Dog decides he needs to go pee pee. I get him hooked up and untangled and turn around . . . to more cop cars than I can count.

And there is a huge refrigerator of a guy walking very briskly down the sidewalk towards my house.

About this time the choppers start circling the house, whooooop whoooop, whoop . . .

So I quickly backed inside, locked everything and started hollering for Big Daddy to make sure everything is locked down. He of course is not listening to me and when he finally gets tired of hearing me screech he wanders out and says I should check the back door.

By the way, Sammy is still outside because if it is me or him, who is gonna hurt an 8 pound poodle with a brown chest from coughing up crap.

It is way too late for BD's advise, I have checked everything and the criminals are all about the neighborhood.

We go back to the front window to check and Holy Shit, there is a guy all dressed in green with a rifle of some sort standing in my driveway. He could be in a movie he looks so sincere, swiping the rifle to and fro;then he walks into my backyard. Now I don't know of anything back there requiring a rifle to sort it out. WTF.

Finally Sammy Dog wanders up to the porch and we snatch him inside, just in the nick of time. Here come the Canine Units, You know the guys with the specially trained dogs to sniff shit and guess what color those dogs are? Yep Black. Big Black dogs. Sammy's favorite hate color.

Suddenly every one turned around and jumped in their cars and left.

And that is the end of the story, no closure. Until 10 PM when Big Daddy gets a text that says 3 armed robbers where caught very near our street.

Shiver me timbers.

This is it, Meet Curly

The one and only baby pic on the blog.

I do not cotton to putting pics of kiddies on the Internet and this one is very innocuous photo to anyone but us. To us she is the most gorgeous little thing ever. And she had to fight so hard to get this far. What a champ.

Her other grandma sent a video of her sitting in a baby seat. Who but a grandma would take such a video. It was hilarious, but sweet.

I went to the doctor today for the regular check up and left with more medicine. For a woman my age in very good health I seem to take a lot of pills. Now I have muscle relaxers because I am too tense. Who knew?

My company sends in parts that can cause major damage and problems and I am a little tense? I am forced to work with people who not speak English, and I am a little tense? The plant quality manager has devoted his life to making people cry and I am a bit tense?

I am down to 10 minutes now to put in my contacts.

Need to work out what to pack this weekend and I hear it is gonna be a scorcher in Portland. And I think we have air in the Airbnb. Will let you know.

Baby Toes.

Baby toes.

They took Curly's nose tube out this morning and she is appliance free. It must be liberating. Punkin Head and Wonder Woman have got to be excited. PH said she might be able to go home on Tuesday.

This has been the month from hell.

We had a yard hold that was very serious and a nightmare, followed by a trial from hell now followed by a new really ugly issue that everyone is ignoring. Great, that is one more thing I get to deal with on Monday.

I spent the weekend working with the Mexicans to convince them that yes, it is a big deal and yes, you have to respond in a certain way, and yes it is gonna cost a bunch. What a waste of my time and I had to talk to the boss man about the over time again. And this has nothing to do with the above, this is additional more bullshit.

 I am just counting the days until we go to Portland.

And the gal I work with that I recommended for the job and helped train turned on my like a viper this weekend and unloaded her version of everything I have done to persecute her in the last year. Who holds onto shit for a year without saying something. And what she was saying made no damn sense. It was the weirdest thing ever. Oh, and everything I ever told her was a lie because she checked. Sorry babe, when I am in a meeting with 25 other people that are all told the same thing it is no lie. I am starting to think she is super strange.

Big Daddy is home from China and I am feeling better. The animals are happy he is home too.