Columbia River sites...just a few

Last weekend was a great weekend; which is saying something because I had a flare up and was in pain Thurs night to Sun. Dan and I had Anna for the weekend. We were planning on going camping at the beach but Friday I pooped out and they decided to stay with me and go do 'local' stuff Saturday.

This pic is of Anna and I at the Vista House. It is an old elegant place overlooking the Columbia River. It is pretty cool.

Dan and Anna at the Vista House.

We traveled down the Historic Highway which was totally lovely! It was just so full of waterfalls, trees, flowers and all sorts of woodland wonderness.

Our next stop was at Stonhenge. I have posted about this before...it is a replica of the one in England. Can you see the cool bridge in the background to the left of the pic. I love driving over this thing. It is so fun to me to be suspended over water....

Next came the Maryhill Museum. It is an old mansion build by Sam Hill. He wanted to start a settlement on the Washington side of the Columbia River. He made this mansion and turned it into an art museum. It had some really cool stuff in there. The third floor was all for Ansel Adams. I really like his stuff. I kind of think Sam Hill was a bit of a perv. He was dear friends with 3 powerful women (queen of Romania, sugar heiress of CA, and famous stage actress) during 1920. They donated a lot of stuff for the museum. That is my speculation and no fact involved.

Sunday Anna and I made ginger peach pies. They were yummy. Since we had the marshmallows out for camping we decided to try roasting them in the oven. It does not work very well. It takes patience and then the taste is just not the same. oh well. I had a wonderful weekend despite the discomfort and plan changes.

A Diamond

I am sure you are aware that I am struggling with being married. I lived a happy single life until I was 34 years old. I am now married to a wonderful man but it is a change. I do not like change. Not only did I move in with someone but that someone was a MAN. I have never lived with a man before. It has changed my world. I have also not had to clean up after other people for more years than I care to remember. I have lived alone or with other females who have cleaned up after themselves. Here I am living with this person who does not clean up after himself and who I care deeply for. I have to share with him too! Can you believe it?

Well I have been reading books and contemplating counseling. For me I think I could benefit from professional perspective. I will go one day. I need to adjust my budget.

Yesterday I was talking to a sister in my ward. She asked about my husband and how he does not go to church anymore. I said that was his choice right now. She asked if he loved me and if he treated me well. I had to admit that he does love me and he does treat me well. She said then he is a diamond. I was taken back by that statement. I have been having issues with the choices He Who Must Not Be Named is making right now. My personal standards of 'perfection' are not in harmony with his choices. I have been thinking of my husband as a diamond. It is true that he is good to me. It is true that I love him. It is true that he loves me. It is true that he has hurt me. It is true that I have hurt him. It is true that I choose to be married to him. It is true I have faults. It is true that he forgives me faster and more truly than I do. I just wanted to tell everyone that I love my husband and that he is a good man with some flaws...but who doesn't??

Yeah for Sisters

Yesterday I received a package in the mail....Yeah mail...It was from my sister Jo Ann. She sent me this book among other things including rocket balloons!

I have been reading a lot of books about marriage. I recognize that I need help. I am not who I want to be. I have read good books and some I only make it part way through because the author's opinion is not the same as mine. I live in Portland. It is a VERY liberal city and thus the books are very liberal. They teach that living together before marriage is good and that what I consider evils are ok and allowable in marriages. I have never wanted a Deseret Book store so bad as I do now.

I had my friend Sara looking at books for me in Utah. She gave a some great titles to order. In the mean time I found a book I loved from the library and ended up buying it. It had many 'truths' but I still wanted an LDS perspective. Lucky for me I have Jo. She mailed this book to me. It is wonderful. The title is a little scary but that is just the authors personality. She is a fun person and tries not to take life too seriously. I am only on page 39 and I have learned so much about myself and how to become a better wife. This book focuses on using the Holy Ghost and Heavenly Father and your own brain to become a better wife, to be the wife your husband married. I cannot tell you how grateful I am to Jo for finding this random book and sending it to me this week--I needed it right now!!!

Another thing this book talked about is that we as women do not talk about our marriages. We bash our husbands but we dont talk about our marriages. It is just too private. While the author agrees that we need to keep our intimate lives with our husbands to ourselves but that we need to realize that everyone is struggling too. And maybe we can help each other. I am excited to finish this book. I have been looking and praying for guidance on how to improve me, on how to make me be the woman I want to be. I am the luckiest woman alive to have friends and family who look after me and help me! Thank you Sara!!!Thank you Jo Ann!!! Thank you Ruth!! and thank you blog members for allowing me to vent in this venue I appreciate all your love and words of wisdom!!! I love you all....

Oh the Smell...

I am sitting here smelling these amazing pies! I wish I could share the buttery gingery peachy smell of these pies. It is heavenly!

One of my patients is a culinary instructor in Porltand she too has a blog 'the portland pickle' (recipe found by linking to the link in her blog post). The other day I saw a post about Kate Neuman's Ginger Peach Pies. I quickly jotted the recipe down. Days later I am at the farmer's market and they had some yummy peaches. I thought 'perfect'. I was soon on my way to assembling the ingredients for these pies.

Well they are done. I have eaten one and it was delicious! Oh the ginger, Oh the buttery crust, Oh my hips....I better get another one....with ice cream....

He Who Must Not Be Named freaked out after my post about the truck. He requested that his life not be published online. As a compromise I made my blog private and now do not mention his name. He is an Intelligence Officer for the military and is paranoid about people finding him through the Internet. Me I am naive enough to believe no one is looking for me...

Interstitial Cystitis is a pain. I think I have had it for at least 2 years probably longer. I have to pee all the time. I am making myself hold it in hope of not shrinking my bladder. For me food does not trigger it. Seasonal allergies do. So far I have not been given meds. That is probably because I have not had my scope yet (next Friday). I am really glad to know other people have this weird condition. When I was describing it to my doctor she thought I was nuts. I changed doctors and she did not know what it was but instantly referred me to a urologist who knew exactly what was going on. So now I am not so freaked out about my weirdness.

Hermiston Watermelon

I finally was able to see a watermelon field. From the second I told Portlanders that my husband was from Hermiston they have told me about the wonderful watermelons. I have never seen a whole field of watermelon and wanted to very badly. Yesterday I went in search of one. I drove around until I found one...a whole 1/2 mile from the house ha ha ha.

He Who Must Not Be Named and I went to Hermiston for the weekend. He Who Must Not Be Named owns a house there. He rents out 2 rooms to his nephew and his friend. Now I was hesitant to rent to mid-twenty year old men but I am so glad we did. These men are wonderful. They are the usual men, they have guns, duck decoys, camo, beer, etc. But these men are the cleanest men I have ever seen! The house has been painted by them, cleaned by them and maintained by them.

I am so appreciative of them and their hard work.

He Who Must Not Be Named and I had the chance to go to Pendleton nearby and tour the underground tunnels. It was great fun. I loved the history of it. The tunnels were made over 100 years ago by Chinese workers. We saw a wall made by white men and it had been repaired and redone etc and it was made less than 100 years ago. Crazy Chinese men and their mad skills in arcitecture! These tunnels and rooms were used for several things. The Chinese had to live there and were required by law to be underground by sundown. We toured a Speak-Easy, an opium den, a bar, a pool house-and bowling alley, ice cream parlor, meat company, laundry room and living quarters of the Chinese. I truly enjoyed it.

There was this watermelon that was marked with an X. Not sure why. Maybe the workers were checking to see the melons were ready. Not sure why they left it like that. Seem like a waste. At least it was good for a picture...nice fly too huh?

Good Old Town...

How weird is Portland? I know PDX has it's issues. Our gay mayor is under scrutiny for having sex with a 17 year old male, and foreclosing on 3 of his personal homes. There have been 10 murders in 7 days on the 'east' side--I live on the east side. Most of the grass in peoples yards is brown/yellow from no water since it has not rained forever. And there are ads on the radio telling us not to water the lawn to conserve the water and that the grass will come back when the rains do. I bring my own bags to the grocery store to avoid getting plastic or paper bags. And last but not least, we just finished a 20 day run of temps over 90. Last Thursday it was 107. Today the high is 71. Last week the city was melting. Firehouses were opening up as 'cooling centers' for people especially elderly to come get relief from the heat (most people do not have A/C like me..I just have a wall unit like hotels have but far less effective) My house was 91 degrees with the 'a/c' on full blast for over 24 hours. Chocolate was melting in my cupboards it was a mess. Right now I am sitting with a jacket on because my arms are cold...I do not get how a city can go to such extremes. I was downtown today and people were walking the streets with jackets and hoodies on. I was refusing to wear one although I did wear long jeans. I love this city and the challenges that it brings. I am grateful I live here. I cannot imagine my life without lemongrass. I love this spice! I love Vietnamese food! I love this sandwich called a 'bun-me' it has lemon grass pork thin slices not very much, cilantro, a cucumber, pickled white carrots and orange carrots, green pepper, basil, and you dip it a fish sauce that has red peppers. It makes my lips and mouth tingle and slightly burn. I LOVE it!

So, went to a urologist....She thinks I have interstitial cystitis. A condition where the lining of my bladder becomes inflamed and hurts. It resembles a UTI but worse. I have to have a scope of my bladder in a few weeks....yikes. But all signs point to curing this horrible pain I have been having :)

What Are the Odds?

I am a letter writer. I love to write letters and mail them. I love receiving letters even more! It is so fun to go to the mailbox and have something beside statements and bills!

My Grandma Jones started me off with letters. One summer she and I wrote to each other every 5 days. She lived in Idaho and it would take 2 days to get there. She would immediately write back and 2 days later I would have my response. I wrote back as fast as I could also. It is a wonderful memory I have.

I have stopped writing letters due to the convenience of email and cell phones. When I was younger it cost a lot to call long distance...now not so much. It is easier and cheaper to stay connected today. But I still long for letters and snail mail. I keep looking for stationary. Major paper companies have some version that is computer friendly...not pen friendly (lined ). I have been hunting for some cute stationary. I have searched all over Portland and pretty much everywhere there is paper I browse to see if they have what I want.

Yesterday I took He Who Must Not be Named 12 yr old daughter to the mall. We had a horrible experience...more about that later. What I found funny is that we went into Sanrio. It is a Hello Kitty store. I am thinking fondly of Maria as I am following the daughter around. I spy some stationary. And sure enough they have this cute stationary. You cannot see it but there is Hello Kitty in the watermark on this paper. I thought how ironic my life is that the only stationary I can find is just TOO CUTE for me to buy. How sad. I was almost excited. I guess I am stuck with email and phone calls.

On to the next story

The bad experience is this...I unexpectedly found myself alone with said daughter for the day. I suggested going downtown to the library so I could get a book that was waiting for me. And then we could walk down to the mall 2 blocks away. Well we get to the mall and she starts asking for me to purchase things for her green bras, hello kitty wallet, sleeveless shirts, ribboned headbands stuffed animals etc. I kept saying no. I said that if she wanted it she would have to wait for her dad to be off work and then bring him back and he could purchase items he thought were appropriate. I said multiple times I did not have money to spend today and that we were just looking. Well we were in a candy store and she came up to me and said...'I want candy. Give me all your money.' I said 'WHAT?' She said I want all your change. I was so floored. Immediately my blood boiled. Money is a private thing for me. I also think money should be earned not given. I turned to her and said 'that is the wrong thing to say to me.' And then I told her we were leaving and I was taking her home. So I did. Of course when her father came home I told him my side of the story. Shortly thereafter I received a call from daughter and she apologized but she thought we were in the mall for the sole purpose of buying her something. I accepted the apology but later when I got off the phone I realized I explained several times that I did not have money and that she would have to ask her father. So she knew we were not there to buy her things. Anyway, I was so hurt by her demanding nature. I do not owe her anything. But from a step daughter point of view is she just testing my boundaries? Does she really believe her father owes her for not being there all the time and therefore she thinks I owe her....I dont know how to be a step mom. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. I dont know what to do. And since she has moved with her mom and her step dad to Portland I will be seeing her more often. First off I will let He Who Must Not Be Named know he cannot assume I will be around to 'babysit'/entertain his daughter.

D-day

It is August 1, 2009. This has been D-day for me. It is the day I had to remove my Utah plates.....

I got my Oregon plates the other day and finally put them on my truck. It was kind of sad. I dont know why I am so sentimental about it. My life is in Oregon now. I like it. I truly like living in Portland. There is so much to experience. Plus the weather is so mild. Anyway, I hope He Who Must Not Be Named is proud of me for not putting my whole license plate number online...

Officially I am on vacation until Aug 10. I am sitting at home. It is 9:22 am. He Who Must Not Be Named is still in bed. I am not in Utah, I am not in Crescent City. I am not in bed with He Who Must Not Be Named. I think there is something wrong with this picture. And I am the only one in this house who sees it. That fact sucks. Well once again I am responsible for my own happiness. I better get off the computer and do something about it.