Hello from The Vale

Well, it is almost the end of September.  Wendy’s birthday is Sunday.  The granddaughters are all three playing soccer and the weekends get really busy with three games at least to attend.  Heather coaches the youngest girl’s team.  John is the Head Referee and has to make all the refereeing assignments.

Wendy had an interview this week but has not heard back.  I had two today and have another scheduled next week so hopefully we will have something to report work wise next week.

In the meantime, remember to keep your meditation breathing going in times of stress.  Take a few minutes each day to just relax and provide yourself with a little “down time”, time to just take care of yourself.  Do something that you want to do, not what everyone else wants you to do.  You will not only feel better but whatever you attempt will be accomplished in an easier manner.

Well, I am sorry that it has been more than a week since I posted but we have been busy settling in and applying for various jobs.  Had an interview this week but they chose someone with PR experience.  Probably a much better fit for what they wanted.  Darn it!!  I will keep trying.

The granddaughters are involved in soccer so Saturdays are very busy with games.  Especially since Mommy coaches one team and Daddy referees.  Evenings are also busy between soccer practices, 4-H groups, Scouts, school activities…..and the girls are only ages 5, 8 and 10.  Just think of what it will be like in a couple more years when the oldest gets to Junior High.

I have found a social networking site and if anyone is interested in joining a social network please let me know and I will set one up and let you know where to find us.  This will be different than MySpace as it will be geared toward our interests and draw on the “mature” crowd rather than the kids.  We will still be able to host pictures and videos as well if we so desire.

Just leave me a comment and let me know of your interest.

Well, the trip from Port Angeles to Albany Oregon was very interesting….to say the least.  We were originally going to caravan with three cars and the U-Haul truck.  Well, then the plan changed to be that one of the vehicles would go back the night before to finish some things on the Oregon end of the trip before the rest of us got there.  That did not happen.  What finally happened was that the U-Haul and one of the other vehicles started at 10:30 from PA and the other two vehicles were to catch up shortly.  Well, the best laid plans…..

As we started out of the 101 from PA heading toward Sequim, the Suburu exhibited some problems with the brakes.  We stopped in Sequim and had them checked.  It appears that the rear brakes were “cracked and melted, glazed right over”.  It took them about 3 hours to determine what was wrong and whether or not they could get the parts to fix them that day.  By that time, Wendy was so frazzled that there was no way she could face driving another 6 hours, especially if we could not leave until after 5:00 p.m.  So after much discussion, we rearranged the load in the two vehicles so that all five of us could get into one vehicle, left the Suburu to be worked on and we headed down the road.  Trudy was to pick up the car the following morning and take it to her place for later pickup.

The three granddaughters were ready for dinner by the time we got to Silverdale so we all had dinner at the Olive Garden there before continuing on down the road.  The three girls were very well behaved all the way south.  We made one more stop at the rest area at mile marker 54 (Toutle River Rest Area) and headed down the freeway.

I could not believe we had all three girls in the back seat they were so well behaved….until we reached Salem.  Then they were getting so close to home they reverted to normal behavior.  We arrived at the house about 10:45 that night.  Got the girls to bed and worked on partially unloading the truck into the garage.

Thursday we all got up early and started unloading the truck again.  I had arranged with a friend to come over from Lebanon to help us get the piano out of the truck so I went and picked him up when he called that he was awake (he works nights).  Had the truck totally unloaded and delivered Grimm back to Lebanon by 4:00 so that he could get a little more sleep before going to work that night, picked John up when he delivered the U-Haul truck, came back home and we all finished getting everything into the house and garage.

We are still fixing up the bedroom but we have our beds and dressers so we at least have access to clean clothes.

What a ride.  Now to find jobs.  Will post again later.