+ 10,000 coolness points if you get the lame Rocky Horror reference there.

If you know me , or have known me for any length of time one of the Major things you will know is that I LOVE to read ( if you didn’t know that about me but have known me for awhile ….uh….Hi my name is Scott and I love to read). It’s hard to get past really. I. LOVE. BOOKS. I love bookstores , I love talking about books and bookstores etc, etc this could go on the whole post BUT I DO have a point.

This book is my latest obsession . It is awesome, and I can not stop thinking about it. Work has been kicking my butt lately so I don’t get large gaps of reading time for now, but it is almost  always in the back of my mind. Once again thank you to  GOODREADS for bringing me into contact with other people who know good books. I am only on page 168 0f 944 pages. If you find that daunting, know that each page flies by as you fall more and more in love with ALL the characters, India, and Bombay most of all. I can not recommend it highly enough. The only thing that bugs me is I waited too long to read it.  I had a group of people who were reading it and I passed. Now I am reading it alone. The good news is they are friends so I can still bring up discussion points with them.  : )

Thought I would drop in and post an update for anyone who still checks in here. Patrick has finally been to his Lawyer and signed off on his WC settlement, as soon as they get the paperwork from the Lawyer they have 31 days to come up with a check without getting a 20% penalty added to it. Finally, we  will have some CLOSURE after only almost 3 whole years later.

The settlement is a little less than we were hoping for. Not enough to buy a house , but enough to get us back to the mainland,, invest a bit, and not have to stress about working the minute we land. We were, for  a while, not sure where we would land. We thought 70 % Portland , Or. but then we started thinking East coast for a bit ………like New Hampshire, where P’s people are. I think we are now almost 100 % Oregon, although we are gonna spend some time in NH in June,just to see the family and check out Portsmouth maybe visit Boston.

As for me , Yesterday marked my 3rd month of not smoking. I am really stoked about that, I think I can officially call myself a non-smoker!! We are still not going to leave Hi. until March, just because it will mark my 5th year at this job and I think that will look better than 4 years and some change. Before we leave the Islands we are gonna take a week or so to see some of the other Islands like Kauai and Lanai, then come back here, load our container, sedate our doggies and head out. So, fellow Portlanders look for us around April/May!!

We are both extremely excited, and hugely relieved ( as a matter of fact I could not tell you which has the greater measure). And so now we wait, mark time, as it were. I am sure the time will fly. We have the holidays which are always a busy time, and next year looks to be ramping up to be a busy time at work, March will be here before ya know it ( as scary as that is ).

That’s about it, both doggies are doing very well. Hoku is turning into quite a lil Curious George, so much so in fact, her nick name is monkey. She will be a year old on Dec 5th ( shhhhheeeesh , told ya time flies. ) I hope all of my peeps out there are all okay and I understand if I have no more readers. I do keep up with most of you via my google reader but alas, can not comment from work. I will do more updates as things progress. I promise!!!

Due to some drama on the Portland front, it looks like we may not be staying in the house we had planned to buy. I can’t really go any further into detail here but if you want more info let me know and I will email ya. But all this new stuff makes me feel as if I have no real direction at this point, that we are just drifting with no real goal, not that we even have Patrick’s settlement yet because we DON’T , but now with the latest happenings I am not even sure if Oregon will be here we land. Percentage wise I would still say 70% for Portland 30% somewhere else. And the fact that we have decided to pass on the house our friend owns, makes it even  harder to begin to formulate a plan. Forgive me for rambling, but this post is really more of a thought proccess for me . And I am on day 2 of no ciggies, so I am a bit fuzzy. But seriously if you wanna hear about the drama let me know I will share it on a more private medium.  : P

Some, most, alright a couple of you who have spoken to me via chat or on the phone etc know that I am a smoker. Yes I know filthy habit, I should have quit when all my friends told me to. Of course, many of the ones who told me to quit were the reason I picked up the habit in the first place. Well, all of that is about to change! As of 12AM Thursday night/Friday morning, I will no longer have that monkey on my back.

Okay, really, who am I kidding? The monkey will still be there, but I will slllloooowwwwlllyyyyy be peeling him from my back. Nicoderm CQ patches?? CHECK.  Dr Appointment on Monday to see about Chantix??? CHECK. Down to my last few ciggies ??? No, I bought a pack this morning , but I was out and I still have today. Yeah I COULD have quit today, but I have had my sights set on the 17th for a month. Don’t want to mess up the Juju.

The reason for this decision? While I was in Pa, one of my Aunts ( who has a Masters degree in the Nursing field) expressed some concerns about COPD being hereditary. So I told her , that I would pick my date 7/17. Which is Patrick’s Birthday ( and my Aunt’s as it turns out). In the long run, I am doing this for me ….for Patrick and for the quality of life I wish to have going forward. But I suppose you could say it is my Mom’s last gift to me. I am sure she will be watching and spurring me on when it gets tough and I really need a cig. I hope I will give her one last reason to be proud of her boy!!

Throughout this time I have had alot of well wishes. Friends, other family members, even acquaintances of Patrick and his family.  But the thing that really strikes me as wonderful is my Internet friends. Not to take away from my real life peeps but everywhere, from Goodreads, to Facebook, WordPress and beyond have truly been concerned for mine and my family’s well being. Just hearing the phrase ” If you need anything you let me know” from folks who barely know me has been a mind-blowing experience. And not just because they said it, but because I know that 99.9999% of them actually meant it and most likely still do mean it.

I wanted to just come on here and thank each and every one of you who has sent a card, asked for my address, called me or even those that just text me. I want to express my truely heartfelt gratitude and tell you all how much it means to be surrounded by quality people, whether I know you or not in RL doesn’t seem to matter, and for that I am eternally grateful. I know, in time that I will only get better. I am sure I will have set backs, everyday will not be a piece of cake. The one thing that I will carry in my heart is there are still good, kind and caring people out there, and that makes my heart smile. That one bit of knowledge will help me to be strong, again …….Thank you all.

Now that I have written a post describing what has been going on in my life, I wanted to share a good thing. If any of you have family that you are separated from by miles or differences you will understand what I am writing about.

Weddings and Funerals, weddings and funerals that is the extent of the contact with my extended family for years ( way too many to mention). Then it got to be no one was marrying, or passing that I could get away for, and before you know it 15/20 years went by in, what seemed like , the blink of an eye.  Cousins that I last saw in diapers, or had just heard of their births were all at my Mom’s bedside, or in the waiting room. Cousins, Aunts, Uncles and friends from all over Pa. were at my Mommas Memorial.  You see THAT was my Mom’s parting gift, to me and to all of us. We have vowed that it will not be another 15/20 years before we speak again. We have reconnected, and in today’s world with Facebook and multiple social websites it will be easier than ever to keep our promises.

My vow to my cousins is not so much a vow to them as it is a promise to my Mom. A promise that I saw, and recognized, her last legacy, my family. My Mom was a teacher not by word , but by example, of the power of Love and what it can do. I vowed both aloud to my family, and silently to my mom that I will not throw away this gift, this opportunity to reconnect with those I have had a disconnect with. I hope that they take it as seriously as I do. But as for me, I know my vow will remain unbroken, in honor of the one who taught me to love, I will NOT allow myself to become estranged from my family again.

Those of you who are on Facebook (and have me friended) may have seen some strange updates this past week and wondered what was going on.

 I had to take an emergency trip back to the East coast( Souderton & Coopersburg, Pa). Apparently my parents had decided to go to Pa, as a surprise trip to see family. While visiting my Aunt, my mother was rushed to the Hospital. On June 9th  she passed away. My mother was an awesome woman full of Love, Joy and Laughter,despite all of her pains and struggles. As a matter of fact, after talking to my Aunt, They could hardly get her to stop talking about all the good ole’ days , the whole day leading up to her hospital stay. It was my Mom’s wish to be creamated and so we had 2 Memorials one in Pa. with her family and all those who were in Pa at the time. They have yet to schedule the one in Alabama. I will miss you Mom, more than anyone will ever know, but I know that now you are at peace, the pain has stopped, and you are with all your loved ones who went before you. I am glad I got the chance to see you one more time .

Just wanted to share a few things;

1) It seems as though the light at the end of the tunnel , was not a train. Patrick should be hearing on Monday or Tuesday from his workman’s comp Lawyer to reach a settlement. We could be in Portland by late July,early August. We are going to be tourists on a few other Islands before we come back.

2) The new puppy, will reach her 5 month  birthday on May 5th, she is  growing like a freakin weed.  She has finally learned how to jump onto the couch, much to Lola’s chagrin. The couch was Lola’s time out from the puppy , when Hoku bothered her too much, Lola would hop up on the couch.

3) I went on a book buying binge at a used bookstore here on Maui, called The friends of the Library Used Bookstore, I got 14 books for $2.40. One of the books was The Complete works of Sherlock Holmes ;all 4 novels and 56 short stories  , inside this book was an inscription ;

“ To Scott

Here’s hoping for much fun and many adventures

Love , Dad  Christmas 1990

Apparently I am not the only Holmes lover named Scott.:)

Lets start off with some good news, our newest addition Hoku (Star in Hawaiian), is actually really fitting into the family well. Lola has accepted her and they pretty much wrestle and play all day long. It is fun to watch them play tug o’ war and have Lola throw her across the room. That will not continue for long though, since every time Hoku sleeps she wakes up bigger.

Patrick has bee completely released by his WC Surgeon. Our next big choice is whether or not he go through Vocational rehab or skip that and get a bigger settlement. If he does VR , we will be in Maui another 6-8 months. If not we may be back in Portland by August.

Now for the bad news, I have decided to take a break from the blog world, I am not shutting down. It’s just been a very vicious cycle with me wanting to write , then forgetting to write , then feeling bad about not updating. I guess I have been on a break for quite a bit but now I am making it official.

I can not shut down because we are about to begin a whole new chapter and that IS something I want to keep my few faithful readers updated on. So I will be back, I just don’t know when, and I am tired of kicking myself for that not knowing. Some folks who had me on their blogroll have deleted me and I don’t blame them one bit. Hell, I don’t even know if I would have added me to my blogroll anyway. So, I guess this is goodbye to some because I am sure you all have better things to do than check to see if I posted or not. To those it really is good bye to…..it’s been fun, swell even take care of yourselves. To the rest of  you I just have to ask you to have faith and patience , that Life with Lola is not dead….only sleeping. I will be back to regale you with more tales soon ! Peace, Love and Happiness to you all.

I am bad I know, saying I am gonna do more to keep this blog afloat and then not doing so. In my defense I have been raising a puppy, with Patrick’s help of course. Who am I kidding, I am almost never home. I do try to get the pup away from Patrick when I do get home so we can have some bonding time as well. But most of my time with her has been potty walks and a bit of playing around. I am not sure how many times I have said ” No Biting ” or “No Hoku, that’s Lola’s, or even “C’mon Hoku lets go potty OUTSIDE. In the end it will all be worth it . She is SSSSLLLLOOOOWWWWLLYYY coming around to the realization that we are not being firm to scare her but to teach her.

Lola has also taken a slow approach to even showing an interest in her at all. It is hard , however, to ignore something that is constantly nipping at your feet, nose and tail. Lola has given a heroic effort in the battle to ignore her though. Patrick busted her today , he caught her playing tug o war with the pup and slinging her halfway across the room.

Hoku, by the way is Hawaiian for Star, because she has a lil white star on her forehead, and because Patrick wanted a Hawaiian name. To see pictures of her you can go Here. Just click to make them bigger. Oh, and speaking of bigger I swear to God above that every time she closes her eyes , even for a second , when she opens them she has gotten bigger. She just celebrated her 2 month birthday!