If I lived in Seattle currently, I would not bemoan the rain at all. I would expect it. But I live in San Diego. I pay good money to live here and have sunshine in the winter goddamnit!

I haven't seen the sun in over a week...

Posted by: Ensie at 05:03 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Can anyone please remind me which website allows you to find out if others have copied blog posts or parts of them? I had it at one point, but it has disappeared into the recesses of my brain and hasnÂ’t resurfaced in some time.

I would truly appreciate it.

Update: Thanks Richard, but it's not Technorati. It's another site where you enter your actual web address and it scans your content and searches out exact duplicate phrasing in other sites. It's awesome, and I I can't find it anywhere.

Posted by: Ensie at 06:20 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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I've mentioned a few times that I don't really want to leave San Diego. I love it here. It's sunny most of the time, there isn't any ice on the ground at any time of the year, and my immediate family all live within a five mile radius. I'm not really a risk taker and I've lived here my entire life. I always thought I would.

However, there is the growing concern that purchasing a house in Southern California is not in my future. Between Frinklin and myself we make a pretty good living, especially when you compare it to what I used to make on my own 5 years ago. However, "a pretty good living" is almost nothing when the median house price in San Diego is over $450,000. These houses might as well be four million dollars, because we can't afford them and by the time we can, inflation will push them that much further out of our reach.

Being the rather selfish creature I am, I never really considered that I might meet and/or marry someone who wanted to move out of San Diego, for whatever reason. When Frinklin told me shortly after we met that he always saw himself moving back to the Seattle area where he grew up I snorted at him and told him, "Too bad. Hope you don't expect me to go." I firmly believed that at the time, but the combination of housing costs and his desire to return to the Pacific Northwest have pushed moving to Washington into a real possibility.

Our Christmas trip to visit my In Laws became my chance to decide if I could live "up north." Surprise, surprise--I think I might be able to. As much as I would miss my family and my life here, it is incredibly beautiful in the PNW, and I've always wanted to live somewhere with actual trees. Trees so tall (and climate so damp!) that moss grows on the roof of your house. Seattle itself was fantastic. We wandered around Capitol Hill and ate at the Space Needle. Toys In Babeland was even better than I expected, and Pike Place Market was awesome to explore. The place just smells cleaner, and the people seemed much friendlier (not to knock So. Cal, but they let you actually merge onto the freeway without having to promise your firstborn to the car next to you).

The weather, which is the thing everyone seems most concerned about considering my history of depression and love for the sun, was fantastic while we visited. We had fog (but not the thick, pea-soup stuff we have here), clouds, a couple of days of rain, and one day of totally blue sky--not a cloud visible. The temperature never rose above 50 degrees, and at night dropped to the 20s. Cold, yes, but with a jacket and a scarf, very refreshing. I figure I can drop a couple hundred bucks on a light box to combat SAD.

Unfortunately, purchasing a home within Seattle itself or in the surrounding areas where Frinklin grew up is still out of our price range. However, my Father In Law, Dan, is a Real Estate Agent, and recommended Tacoma to us. For those not familiar with Tacoma, I'm told it was a rather downtrodden, mostly a blue-collar town that reeked of burning paper products (the "Tacoma Aroma") due to the lumber mills in the area. In recent years, Tacoma has really taken on new life. The famous Stadium High School, best known as the school in the movie 10 Things I Hate About You, is located in Tacoma. The downtown area is currently being revived with coffee shops and new businesses, the housing market is growing, and the city itself is working on cleaning itself up. It's located South East of Seattle, about a 20 - 30 minute drive without traffic. I have to admit, I LOVED it when I saw it.

Most importantly, and this is the best part--the houses are affordable! They're in our price range--and they aren't horrible dumpy houses. They're fantastic. It's as though they picked up whole areas of Hillcrest and Mission Hills here in San Diego and dropped them on bigger lots with year-round green grass and trees! I'm a huge fan of Craftsman style homes and they're everywhere up there!

So, now we're looking at moving to Tacoma. This is potentially the biggest decision of my life to date, after marrying Frinklin, of couse. As though we needed a push, the company Frinklin works for will be closing their California (San Diego) office on February 14th, prompting him to look for a new job. I'm trying to keep my sense of adventure open, and am searching for signs that will tell me if moving North is the next big chapter in my life.

His thoughts on Tacoma are here.

Posted by: Ensie at 07:05 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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This is Maggie

She's about the cutest dog in the universe, except for my own, of course. She belong to my father in law, and wouldn't just stay still in my suitcase for the return trip to San Diego. Every morning we would wake up by pouncing on Frinklin and myself and digging at our bags until we petted her. This is one of the reasons I want to move to Seattle now. My father in law says she still looks for us every morning in the guest bedroom.

Posted by: Ensie at 08:32 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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A phone call today:

Me: "Bob's Hogs, can I help you?"

She: "Yes, I'm driving down there right now. I have a letter to mail, will it be postmarked tonight?"

Me: "Um, we're a bookstore."

She: "I know!"

Me: "Ah, no, then. You would need a POST OFFICE for that. There's one across the street."

She: "Yeah. That's kinda far though. Do you have a parcel drop box?"

I really don't remember what I did to end this phone call, as this woman was obviously too stupid to live.

Posted by: Ensie at 08:52 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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I was checking out my referrals and happened across "gaunt Orland Bloom." I was curious where I fell on this list (second), and clicked on the referral link. The listing above me is for Orlando Bloom Central, and I couldn't help but click the link, which led me somewhere I never like to go--fanfiction.

This particular passage was so good, I had to share it. It's written from Orlando's perspective:

"Still, that first week had been hard; a major adjustment for the both
of you. Suddenly your bathroom was filled with pink things and bottles
that contained fruity smelling elixirs.

One morning, you had stumbled into the shower and accidentally used
her grapefruit body wash as shampoo. It had wrecked havoc on your
sensitive scalp and you were tempted to shave it all off again."

Please note that the above is best read outloud with a fake british accent.

Posted by: Ensie at 11:38 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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1 I'm so happy you're back!! Happy New Year! So do you think you'll move to Tacoma???

Posted by: violet at January 03, 2005 08:05 AM (BRlYP)

2 Thanks. Shhhh! That's a big secret! I'll email you shortly and tell you about it. By the way--where the hell did the comments go on your blog??

Posted by: ensie at January 03, 2005 06:51 PM (4k5pf)

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I feel like my body has been pretty well for an extended amount of time, save for one nasty cold that was oh-so-pleasant to fly with before Christmas.

Apparently, those pesky chest muscles are more sensitive than they let on. When I strained them over six months ago I gave them a good amount of time to recover. They were still hurting after a month, so I gave them lots of time to recover.

It would appear that lifting a heavy suitcase (bless you to the SeaTac Alaska Airlines worker who did NOT charge us the over 50 lb. fee on our return trip, unlike the San Diego Alask Airlines worker who sucked ass on our way out) half a year after the original injury is just enough of a work out to re-strain those very same chest muscles.

Dammit.

Posted by: Ensie at 05:24 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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...he would rule the world. Truly. Even without them he manages to open doors and steal the leftover chicken wings we had buried in the trash can. After his parents removed the life-threatening chicken bones from his throat he decided to sulk:

Shortly after the above photo was taken The Jeffery was overheard stating, "If I had thumbs I would have been able to grab those sharp, stabby chicken bones back from you!"

Update: As I posted the above, The Jeffery delightedly opened the trash can in the master bathroom and spread tissues gleefully througout the house, all while screaming, "Wheeee!"

Posted by: Ensie at 04:34 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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Happy 2005!

Posted by: Ensie at 11:16 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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