Chrome Molly at Louie G's

The band is going strong. The next month or so is pretty busy, with only two weekends off between now and the big Halloween gig.

Jess got to come home for this one... man, why didn't I get a picture of that? Too busy doing my job photographing the band I guess. I actually pulled a pretty big crowd for Aaron at this one: Dave and Marcy even came all the way from Carnation, a good hour drive at least.

Louie G's is fun because it's an all age pizza place, so everyone can come for dinner and a good time and they have a great light show they put on while the band is playing. The bad thing though is there is a stupid $10 cover charge and it is insanely loud so you can't visit with your guests at all.

We still had a great time though, and it was fun having Jess home for the weekend!

The Humor In Jean Shopping

Apparently it isn't just us females that have a hard time finding that perfect pair of jeans. Aaron has been wanting to get out of the Levis rut and has been looking for something new. Well, it  hasn't been going so well. I don't know if it's because most clothes these days have been made in a sweat shop in China or if Aaron doesn't have the body type for the styles these days, but humor has ensued.

First let me say that the size on a pair of jeans is purely arbitrary. You can grab the same brand of jeans, in exactly the same size, and they will fit completely different. We were at Khols trying some on, and here is what we found:

Aaron is usually a size 30/30, so that was what we grabbed..... ummm.... I was laughing so hard I almost peed a little!!

So, the logical thing to do would be get the next size up - right! LOL!!!!! Here is the next size up, I kid you not: I was laughing so hard I could hardly get these pictures.

Another funny jeans shopping story. Aaron really likes Buckle jeans, so we thought about giving them a try and seeing if we could find a pair in the store under $100 (which we in fact did not accomplish). The girl that was helping him out told him the jeans were too short and said he needed to try them on with shoes so he could get a better idea of how they were going to look..... here's the funny part - SHE BROUGHT HIM SOME SHOES! Um... I didn't walk into the store bare foot, so I do have shoes, but thanks! I just laughed for 20 minutes over that one.

So far we have struck out everywhere we have gone. I think Aaron has tried on no fewer than 40 pairs of jeans. We did find one pair of Lucky brands at "Plato's Closet", a local consignment shop, for a good price but that is about it. I think Aaron is about ready to throw in the towel.

So, take heart ladies, we are not the only ones having difficulty finding that perfect pair of pants.

It's Done - Jess Is At College

I just spent the last 24 hours getting Jess settled. I think she is really liking the way her dorm turned out and is anxiously awaiting her roommate to get there tomorrow so she has someone to hang out with.

 

It's amazing how expensive it is just to get a student set up! I spent hundreds of dollars this last week on supplies, clothes, decorations and food. Wow! But, now she will not be spending our money here: our food bill will go down quite a bit, Aaron and I don't eat that much.

I didn't even shed one tear, nor did Jess. We both did really well, and I am even feeling great right now - other than completely exhausted and poor. Well, at least I get to stay up until 3:00 a.m tonight at Aaron's gig. Alex on the other hand looks like he is already missing Jess.... she will be home next Friday though, so it's just like camp. She is coming home for one of Aaron's gigs next weekend. She's so close that I think we will see her more than we think - at least at first.

All Packed And Ready To Go

Jess and I spent the day going through her room, organizing her things and packing what she wanted to take to school with her. She wants to take everything along. Believe it or not, we were able to get all of this in the car! Now the trick is getting it all into her dorm.

 

Northwest Trek

Today was Jess's last day to play before leaving for college: tomorrow it's crack down time. We have one day to get her organized and packed, and then she's off. We spent the day with my mom at Northwest Trek and had a great time. I'm glad we decided to take the time to go.

Happy Birthday To Me ;o)

I had a great birthday, and my family loves me. I had the best birthday present anyone could ask for... my entire family together, which is a rare thing these days. We got some cheap tickets to the Puyallup fair on Groupon, so we spent the day there. We had onion burgers, elephant ears, scones, ice cream and funnel cake.... I know, I know, but Aaron made me and the calories were SO worth it. We even got sunshine in the afternoon - another rare thing.

My present? An amazing surprise that I was totally not expecting. A Kindle with a gift certificate. I was able to get the rest of the books in the series I am reading plus a ton of classics I love (most classics are actually free, my favorite number!)

Great birthday and an even greater family! 

Jeff's Car Repair Job

Jeff. What a dode. He was driving home and flipped a u-turn to park in front of the house. Well, he misjudged and ran into the rock divider retainer. Umm... not so good for his car - total hole in the front bumper. The car drives fine, but what to do about the hole? He took the ol' Mr. T approach and used good ol' duct tape. 

Pretty. 

 

Lake Wilderness

Well, we have had a small blessing of a summer for about a week... yup, one week of a summer. So, we needed to take advantage of it before it disappeared, so we spent the day at the lake - all day - and it was great. We cooled off in the water, played games, ate snacks and talked: it was the perfect trip. Man, I wish we could have had more days with sunshine and warmth like that... oh well.

Goat Fest

Chrome Molly is going into full swing now that the summer is over. There is something going on almost every weekend between now and Halloween, starting with a private party thrown every year "Goat Fest": named so because it is held in a goat field... yes, with real goats ;o) 

They even roasted an entire pig for the event.... passed on that one. I'm sure it was really good, just not a pork fan: especially since I can recognize what I am eating.

Jess Gets A New Car

This little baby got me from Santa Ana California to home in three days flat. It drives amazing: it was Jerry's car and Jess is going to buy it from mom so she has a more dependable car to drive back and forth from Ellensburg. (BTW, it's a VW Jetta.)

Unfortunately, unbeknownst to any of us here in Washington (mom included) Jerry had been sick for quite some time.... according to his co-workers, at least four months, if not more. Because he was so sick, he was extremely tired, so the last thing he felt like doing was keeping his car clean. Plus, with Jerry being a smoker, this poor little car had seen better days. I knew once we got it home though, and gave it some TLC, it would be it's ol' self again.

Jess and I spent 3 hours today giving her new car a complete overhaul. We scrubbed everything, inside and out. It's amazing the nicotine buildup you can get on things. But with a lot of time, even more elbow grease, and a whole lot of persistence, we got it spic and span. It looks like a whole new car! We even got Jess's car seat covers in there to make it her own.

Unfortunately, Jess won't be able to drive her new baby for a while. Since Jerry is deceased, we have to try to locate a title or apply for a duplicate one, and with him living in a different state it's going to be even more complicated. It has to go to mom first, since she is the closest living relative and then she can sell it to Jess. I don't know how much time this is going to take, but it's not going to be a walk in the park. We cannot insure the car until we have all of this taken care of and get it into our names. So, it will just have to look fancy in our driveway for a while.

We will more than likely not have everything in order before she goes to school, so she will have to drive the Sentra for just a little while longer, but we'll get there.

My New Space

I have spent the last three weeks purging my stuff. I have gone to the Goodwill three times and have thrown out several bags of junk. It feels good! I have also rearranged the house to better suit my needs. I have changed the dining room into my office, got rid of my hutch and moved the table into the kitchen, brought the TV upstairs and turned the rec room into Aaron's recording studio.

I figured we should arrange the house to meet our everyday needs instead of the couple times of year we have company. The kids will be gone soon and then we will be down to two, we don't need all the space we had. Why on earth do you have a living room when you don't live in it. I don't need a little space to visit with company.... I'm gonna turn things into what I want to use every day!

Here are the results:

My Office:

now I can enjoy my deck flowers even while I am working!

The Living Room:

I got a beautiful rug from Jerry's. That's my one thing I got of his as a remembrance. He loved nice things.

Kitchen Table:

The center piece is my attempt to keep the table from turning into a catch all. We'll see if it actually works ;o)

Good-By Jerry

I am finally home from my whirl-wind week. Sunday night my uncle Jerry passed away from cancer. Mom had been down in California taking care of him for the last three weeks and called with the news. Kris and I were on a plane the following day to get down to her and help her settle his affairs and bring her home. It was a very long four days, but I am glad I went. It took us two days of really hard driving, but home we are now.

Right before we left on Tuesday, the Art Institute of Orange County where Jerry worked, had a memorial service for him. I think it was really good for mom to have this, since we are not having a funeral for him here. There were about 40 people there and they spent time sharing memories and experiences they had with Jerry. Then, they had a surprise that they unveiled to us:

Jerry was the head librarian for their school. He spent the last 8 years building their library and making it the best library in all of the Art Institute campuses. The main offices of the AI did two thing for Jerry

1. They started a scholarship in his name and

2. They are renaming the library that Jerry worked so hard on to "The Gerald W. Dubuque Memorial Library".

That brought a little tear to my eye. He deserves it, and I am very proud of him. It makes me very happy to know that a little piece of him will always be there.