seattlejo.com

Were you a girl scout/boy scout? Were you involved in  Campfire or something similar?
I was a Brownie. In 2nd grade I was part of a troop, we did the cookie sale, and I think a camping trip . I remember a visit to a local nursing home to deliver cookies and sing carols during the holidays. I remember a doll beauty contest  that made me feel bad because my doll wasn’t one of those nifty oh so in demand Cabbage Patch Dolls. After a year or so the troop broke up, there had been something like 40 girls involved and the leaders couldn’t handle it. I never got involved again, but wished that I had the opportunity. I remember in 6th grade trying to find some information about joining but I seemed to old.

Tonight I went to an information meeting about the Girl Scouts, it’s one of the activities Miss Bit is interested in, and we are interested in perhaps getting her involved.  The feedback I got was that the troops up here are pretty full, and the best way to get your daughter in is to volunteer, but thats a lot of responsibility. We’ll see. Meanwile, tell me about your Scout career!

One of the challenges of the new school year is getting to and from campus. I dont live that far from campus, only about 20 miles or so. If I was driving google tells me that it would take me between 30-40 minutes. As a dedicated bus babe though it takes me about an hour and a half. I’m good with that though. Yet I’ve found that bussing around the North end of Lake Washington is using all of my advanced busing skills. I am taking busing on two different transit agencies, I have taking between 2-4 buses each day, and able to change where I get off what transfer I make in a heart beat. 
Last night I was headed home, 4pm on a Saturday and instead of taking the 522->41->5 (or 16/48) I opted to take the 522->345/331->5 so that i could stop at a church Octoberfest for a bit.  I send text messages to figure out what bus is going to be where when, and make adjustements to fit my schedule. Advanced busing is more then just knowing the area  and the buses available it is making these changes without throwing your schedule out the window. It’s knowing that I can take alter my buses and still  make it in plenty of time to make my 3pm pick up deadline.

So far I’ve been able to get the total busing time under 1.5 hours, but I’m enjoying the challlenge.  Its fun to explore the North end, and there are so many ways to do it.
The funny thing is that most of the routes I choose are not something suggested by the tripplanner. The tripplanner suggests I bus through the UW Seattle Campus on the red route and I find that the green route is so much more direct, even if it is 3 buses versus 2. (You may have to zoom out to get a view of how the bus routes work. The purple route leads to the bothell campus, all the other colors are routes to get to the purple route.)

View Larger Map

 You might know that UW Bothell wasn’t my first choice. I had other grandiose plans in mind for the beginning of this school year but those got changed pretty swiftly last winter. The funny thing is, if i had ended up at Bastyr, my other choice, busing would have been just about the same.

Simulated Text message conversation

Aron: so what have you seen?
Deb: Cows!
Deb: and shit for sale
Aron: Shit?
Deb: Shitty shit for sale.

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i love the Puyallup fair Really i do. Half of that has to do with the sheep, and the yarn that i find there. The other half is the little consumer that resides in my heart that loves the shit for sale.

So the first half first. We went last Saturday, which was a rainy drooly day. i wore the wrong shoes and immediately regretted it. Wet sloppy shoes with jeans that wicked the water up to my knees. We started in the animal barns, looking at cows.

From there I broke off an went through one. of the commercial buildings. i love the infomercially things for sale. i have a Vitamix, I want a Bamix, that i saw at the fair a few years ago, i have waterless cookware bought at a state fair, and i really love the idea of a pressure fryer. I drool over the booth where they sell embroidery machines, though i never manage to use my sewing machine to its full potential. i also regularly buy EZbuns for my hair.

This year was pretty bust for me though. I was underwhelmed by most everything for sale with two exceptions. The worm factory composting bins looked nice, and the Miche bag caught my eye. The worm composting is pretty obvious. (Except for the fact that I would rather ignore that i have a yard.)

The miche bag though, wow. it’s a basic black bag base that has magnets embedded in it, with a shell over the top. You detach the shell, and put a different shell on for a different look. From stripes to dots to faux leather to plaids, they have it all. i’m a bag hound and it’s surprising that I did not come home with it.

From there it was over to collections and the 4-H exhibits. Miss Bit immediately wanted to join 4-H and delighted in making a bracelet. We’re thinking the Girl Scouts are a better option for us

Then it was off to sillyville. For music making on the junk machine and rides.

Fun! We finally ended the day with a tour of the animal buildings for me to see SHEEEP!

i have a thing for sheep.

This sheep was marked up to show where the cuts of meat came from. When Miss Bit asked, we explained to her what it meant. The lady observing next to us was horrified that we would explain it in clear terms to her. I’d rather she know where her meat came from, and not think it grew on Styrofoam,

And that my friends was our day at the fair. Minus details of what we ate, and phone related drama.

Reflection

Miss Thing turned 16 on Friday. 16! I’m in awe of this. This is the 7th birthday of her’s I’ve seen and  it’s cause for reflection. I stopped off at the Northgate Mall to pick up a few small things for her . As I wandered through the mall, I reflected on how she has changed in the time I have known her.

I passed by Claire’s  and remembered a time where I could have bought anything frilly for her hair and she would have been thrilled. Now she prefers Hot Topic.  The shiny rinestone mall kiosk has given way to a love for simple silver jewelry. Shiny isn’t  interesting anymore.

Her habits have changed. No longer is she the first one up shouting PIKACHU at the tv at 7am.  Nor is she sneaking out of bed to watch cartoons that are on at 3am. Instead she is attached to the computer.  She is surfing YouTube, playing Gaia Online and listening to music from dizzler.

Dinnertime is no longer a fight.  She tries everything  and doesn’t fuss too much. We don’t press either, she’s almost a grown up. She likes cooking , and had to be convinced that she shouldn’t make dinner  on her birthday.

She’s still stubborn, and has some growing up to do. In 7 years she’s come a long way.

Traditions

I bought her flowers for her birthday, in an adjusted birthday tradition. My Grandpa bought me flowers for my birthday from the time I was born. They were always carnations. Now, I’m going to start buying my girls flowers, for every birthday from their 16th on.

I’m also going to be starting a Hope Chest for her. Unlike  a traditional dowry, in my family a hope chest was meant to help set up house once I moved out. Mine had dishes and afghans, pots and pans.  Miss Thing’s will have much the same, with the intention of giving her a jump start when she decides to leave the nest.

Conclusion

I never imagined to have children in my life in this manner, to enter  stage right  with development already in progress. Yet, I can’t be any more thrilled with the experience I’ve had. I love Miss Thing and am glad to be part of her life.

Weird. Perhaps I just don’t get it.

See this park?

It’s as close to the street as it looks.

It’s all part of Park(ing) day. In support of a reduced car and more open space environment. Half of this “Park” is set aside for bike parking. (Huh??) It’s also right on Greenwood. I was sure a bus or two was going to hit it as they merged into the turn line to reach the bus stop.

Except, I don’t want to sit that close to the stream of traffic. I don’t want to sit that close to the exhaust of the cars. I think it’s ridiculous to waste the effort to truck in chairs and bike racks and pallets. Thats not particularly traffic reduction is it?

This one out by the library had far less “stuff” and looked more appealing, though not very well protected from the cars coming by. I wouldn’t want to risk sitting there and getting clipped by a driver who wasn’t paying attention.

More Photos of Park(ing) day in Seattle can be found here

Wednesday I start school again. Full time. No job. It’s the first time since I was a sophomore in High School that school has been my primary focus. As I return, I’d love to have any advice you can offer. What should I be aware of as I make the transition from Community College to UW. I am not worried about getting sucked into keggers on greek row, instead I need practical advice. Buying books? Dealing with professors? Dealing with other students? Studying?

Right now I’ve got 17 credits that I’m registered for, and am trying to convince myself that I really need to drop the extra 5 credit class I picked up and go back to 12 credits.

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I moved into Seattle in 2000. it took nearly 2 years for me to feel my identity here and to change from Chicagojo to Seattlejo in my online identity. I feel pretty connected to Seattle, and feel like i have a broad range of experience based on the different areas I have lived in.

At this time I’m enjoying my time in the Greenwood neighborhood, and feeling more in touch with the area. I’ve been part of one neighborhood cleanup, i feel like I know the businesses well, and i’m on a community discussion list. I’ve yet to attend a community council meeting but its within the realm of possibility.

I can see a bit of a suburban attitude in my neighbors. From complaints of teenagers “hanging around” after the teen center closes for the evening, to suggestions of driving around to “intimidate the pedestrians who don’t belong.” and insinuations that homeless = crime.

Yes the area has had some crime, particularly graffiti. The community and council are working hard to reduce graffiti, theft, drug dealing, etc that happens in the area. I agree that it’s an issue that needs to be addressed, Its the high and mighty attitude I see that drives me crazy.

My hot button is right now is urban development. People work hard to appear green and earth loving on the outside, but mention the potential of a condo or townhouse development and you learn quickly that personal environmentalism has a sharp boundry around what is comfortable. It is more advantageous to group housing together, to have shared resources, and to avoid sprawl. The impression i’m getting from my neighborhood is ” urban expansion is fine, but not in my back yard”

My voice doesn’t mean much I’m a renter, my landlord pays the property taxes. Our neighbors see us as temporary, and rightfully so, we don’t have the same investment in the property. The urban expansion is coming. Even if my neighbors don’t want it, they will still see it. Maybe not in the short term, but in the long term at the very least.

i hope in the meantime, they learn the value of their renter /townhome/ condo neighbors. It’s easier to buy into your neighbor on a personal level, when your neighbors care that you are there, and do”t just think of you as an inconvenience in their neighborhood plan.

My schedule is drastically changed from what it used to be. At this time last year I was stressed out working lots of overtime as we got ready for the freshman to move in.

This year? Well this year I’m getting ready to return to school myself and am using some of my time to be active at Miss Bit’s school. (As Miss Thing’s school needs help I’ll be there too.) Last year i volunteered a couple of times, but we were not very active at the school. This year, I drop her off, pick her up, and am able to spend some of my free time volunteering.

I recognize more of the parents now, and find that its fairly social being so involved. It also has given me an understanding of why working parents don’t always give the PTA priority.

Tonight’s PTA meeting was what brought me to that point. . The gist of the meeting was “The information is on the website” “Volunteer please” and “If you have questions, most PTA parents are on the playground after school”

It struck me at how much of an advantage I have. Because of the frequency that I’m at the school I recognize the other parents, and they recognize me. I socialize with them as the kids play after school. We wave in the morning while dropping kids off. Not everyone has that advantage. Not everyone can just “Stop by the playground and talk to a PTA parent” if they have questions.

It almost seems like a class system based on parent availability. Working parents or parents who have different schedules dont have the same opportunity, and lose out on the familiarity within the PTA. Yet we’re all working towards the same goal of helping our children, and providing them an enriched education.

I don’t have any real conclusion to draw from this yet, just an understanding of why some parents don’t buy into the PTA, and a feeling of gratefulness that I can be involved in both girls school lives, at this time.

I was early to service this morning, no big deal. Sat and sent a couple of text messages complaining to my partners about twisting my ankle on the way. (Second time in a week. Ouch!) Leah chided me about being a bad girl and texting at church. Later in the service I texted her to let her know we were running behind, so she should hold arrive a little later to pick me up.
She messaged back that I was still a bad girl, but maybe the church i visited last week could use Twitter for service. (Turns out Aron was responsible for the latter comment) I giggled because it seems like that would be something that an on the edge church would do.

A little research shows me that churches are already doing it. Some churches are simply doing feeds, while others are incorporating it into the service.
The former application is understandable, but the latter application seems just a little out there, at least for me. Second Life Church, Twitter Church. Whats next?

(Yes this is another religion post, feel free to skip it.)

While picking blackberries a couple of weeks ago it I settled into a rhythm of picking pretty quickly. Moving through the bushes avoiding the thorns I thought of the recent church services that I’d been to. For three weeks in a row, between two churches, the theme from the Revised Common Lectionary gardening and weeds. So I was already in a religious gardening frame of mind.

As I picked the blackberries I reflected on the fact that they are weeds. Most of them in our area are not native to our area, they elbow out native species, they grow like crazy, they are hard to remove, and they have painful thorns.
Yet these bushes provide a plethora of sweet succulent blackberries. Since they grow everywhere, you can find a place to harvest them even if you don’t have a yard.

These weeds provide entertainment in the art of picking, decoration in the greenness they add to the landscape, and enjoyment in the berries that we can add to our diet. During service at Broadview my pastor hit it right on the head. “not all plants that look like weeds are weeds. And sometimes even the so-called weeds have a divine purpose in our lives.” It serves as a reminder that everything we face is important in one way or another. Even the tough times, the arguments, the lack of time all have a purpose.

We’d never learn anything if the world was all sunshine, roses and ponies. We’d never grow without conflict. Sometimes i think the less resistance, the less you care. You need to be thankful for the blackberries in your life, for what they add and what they are.

10 Random Things you might not know about  about me (1)

1. I once spelled my name as Debi . It was jr high.  This has scarred me for life to the point that  I detest being called anything other then Deb or Deborah.
2. Excluding my commodore 64, I didn’t have my own computer until I moved in with my ex-husband for the first time.
3. I don’t drive, though I”ve gone through the motions of learning more then once. My motivation is pretty low though.
4. In my senior year of high school it was typical for me to have 2 part time jobs, totaling over 40 hours a week
5. I physically am unable to have children. I have malfunctioning female body parts.  When I’ve explored the issue with medical professionals, they seem to be unconcerned unless i am trying to concieve. the bonus? No PMS.
6. I HATE talking on the phone. HATE HATE HATE.  Email  or text message please. This is how I knew my relationship with Patrick was serious. i enjoyed having phone dates. I’ve also suggested a phone call recently to my brother. This is a BIG DEAL.
7. In some ways I still don’t know what I’m going to be when I grow up.
8. I still consider myself a writer though I haven’t done any hard core writing in years. This has changed recently and I’m glad. I don’t expect anything to come out of it other then my own enjoyment.
9. My family in Seattle means everything to me. My scorched earth policy means I don’t know how to deal with my family back in the Midwest. On the other hand the network of close family and friends I have in Seattle mean the world to me, and  I don’t show them that nearly often enough.
10. My scorched  earth policy(2) seems to be eroding a bit. I have an ex or two that I consider myself to be on friendly terms with. This is big for me.

(1) This is a meme, came from my lj friend Tatterdemilion
(2)Scorched earth policy: In the past at the end of a relationship i have burned the other person out of my life completely. Staying friends is irrelevant. This has also been applied to family and friends in the past. I’m not proud of it. It’s one of the things I’m working on along with my Passive aggressiveness.