Life with Lola; The Adventure Continues

        Patrick and I tried to be smart this year, really, I mean alot of thought went into the whole tree thing. The reason being, while Hoku did turn 1 year old on December 5th, really she is still a pup. So this year , instead of a real tree with all of it’s smelly wonder we opted for a fake plastic no smell tree. Hoku LOVES to gnaw on branches and sticks, so that part was a no brainer.

What we gave very little though to was the ornaments. I mean yeah, I jokingly told my older sister that it was better to sacrifice a few ornaments than a whole branch or branches. Little did I know of my gift of prophecy. Yesterday while I was at work P went with some friends to do some more shopping, which means the dogs were alone, which, NORMALLY, is not a problem, unless there is a huge tree in the livingroom with shiny things on it, that look alot like the Balls we throw at the park. Throw in a bored pup and you have a recipe for disaster.

I called Patrick from work, just to chat and see if he was home yet. He very shortly told me he had made it home but couldn’t talk because there was glass strewn all over. even in the bedroom and on the bed. Apparently Ornaments are like potato chips or french fries, you can’t eat just one. I gave P about an hour then called him back to make sure Hoku was okay. She is fine no cuts in her mouth or feet, so I guess there is something to be grateful for. Not to be gross but this morning during there potty walk, Hoku’s poop looked a bit like what I imagine Santa’s would look like, full of pretty glitter and styrofoam, I just hope she didn’t eat any glass, but only time will tell.   I only wish we had a nanny cam installed so we could have seen her in all her ornament shattering Glory. For those ornaments , sacrificed for the greater good, I humbly apologize.

        …. another year is almost gone.  It’s also hard to believe that in just 10 days I will be 44 years of age, yeah, that’s right, 44. If ya think about it, that may actually be half of my life, if I am lucky.

Some of you might remember, the rough time we were having with our downstairs neighbors, who were once our friends, B & C. If you don’t remember, last year Patrick’s Christmas day was ruined by our downstairs neighbors, having a Christmas party while I was at work……only they had it in our part of the house. Jog any memories??  We got in a big fight and someone called the cops…..on Christmas night. Yeah, that’s the kind of folk we seem to attract. Earlier in the year we had the crazy homeless pregnant lady with us. Good times. I kinda wish I knew B & C’s new address, I want to sent them a card and then write in it, “Happy Holidays ,  Hope no Cops are called”  or something witty like that.

This year the house is all ours ,with no creatures stirring downstairs, no not even a mouse.  But then, a good friend of ours R is coming out for a few months. He is bringing his new Girlfriend. He lived here, on Maui,  before and worked with Patrick, he soon became a very important person, as a matter of fact, he is one of the greatest friends a person can have. In that way the last memories that we have of Maui will be good ones.  Unless , of course, there is some kind of evil Island Juju going on in our downstairs and they both turn into whack jobs too. But, I do not see that happening. They are going to find jobs and stay with us until March , and help us load the container bound for Portland  !!!!

 Also hard to believe, the sheer Chaos that will engulf us as we begin our trek back to the mainland. I am very excited about living in Portland again, even if they do find our frozen bodies huddled together for warmth once it gets below 60 degrees. : ) Even though all of these things are Hard to believe, I am excited about them all. And can not wait to start our new adventure!

             Aloha from the sunny shores of Paradise ( also known as  Maui).  I am gonna let you guys in on a little secret………….. I haven’t been around much in the past few months. TADAH!!!!!!! There, now you know. But I am going to try to do better in 2010. No …No …..I mean it , really.  : )  The reason for this is many fold , but to keep it short and sweet, I will give you the Reader’s Digest version. I say many fold , but by saying that, I mean 3 fold :

1)  I am really kinda sorta missing blogging, and the friends and readers ( though not many), I have gotten to know because of this thing.

2)  2 of my very good friends have just started Blogs, so I want you to visit them ( though they do both mainly deal with books). In my blogroll you will find The Next Best Book Blog, and the other is Boof’s Bookshelf. As I said, they are really good friends of mine, from the place that took me away from blogging as much  ( better known as GoodReads).

3) Many exciting things are going to be happening for  Patrick, the girls ( Lola and Hoku) and I.  Patrick is completely done with his Workman’s Comp case almost 3 years after the fact. We will be moving back to our beloved Portland in late Spring, and let’s just say I want to keep my readers in the loop as to where we are in all of our new journey.

So….if you guys can stand to read  me write and rant and talk about all kinds of  kooky stuff …..then stay tuned……..I am Back!!!!! That is if you’ll have me ! Here’s hoping you will!!  = )

I posted this last year, or the year before, but I still feel it is one of my Heartfelt wishes for 2010 :

A Grown up Christmas List
Do you remember me?
I sat upon your knee
I wrote to you with childhood fantasies
Well, I’m all grown-up now
Can you still help somehow?
I’m not a child, but my heart still can dream

So here’s my lifelong wish
My grown-up Christmas list
Not for myself, but for a world in need

No more lives torn apart
That wars would never start
And time would heal all hearts
Every man would have a friend
That right would always win
And love would never end
This is my grown-up Christmas list

What is this illusion called the innocence of youth?
Maybe only in that blind belief can we ever find the truth

No more lives torn apart
That wars would never start
And time would heal our hearts
Every man would have a friend
That right would always win
And love would never end

This is my grown-up Christmas list
This is my only lifelong wish
This is my grown-up Christmas list 

May all of you who still stop by here have a Holiday season filled with Light, Love and Laughter.  Here’s hoping 2010 holds nothing but good things and joy for us all.

+ 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.