Day 62 - Halloween

Candy purchased, pumpkins carved, giant spider attached to the front light.  To all my little (and big) trick or treaters I say - Bring it!

Day 61 - Step Three

We are now at the point where 1-3 coats of primer have been added, depending on how much scraping, sanding and patching were required.  The house has evidence of lead paint (built in 1930 so this is not surprising) and the south side really takes a beating from the weather so it has required the most attention.  I'm starting to think that the wood may actually be bulletproof by the time they are done.  Although the siding will never be smooth again, we're almost there . . .

Day 60 - Festive Neighbors

Doesn't everybody have a neighbor or someone close by who loves to decorate for each "holiday"? Here's mine.  I've never been able to figure out if the building houses several apartments or condos but it's always decked out like this.  I love the fact that the owners have a beautifully landscaped yard into which they have no qualms about placing lighted plastic statues.

Day 59 - Spirit Week

This is Spirit Week at my school so I thought I would try and capture some of the outfits created for "Neon Day".  While I did wear my ugly neon pink sweats (a la Sue Sylvester) to school, my friend Anne and I had a slightly different take on the term Spirit Week.  This is how we celebrated.

Day 58 - New Age Banking

This afternoon I headed to my signing appointment for the refinance on my house.  The whole thing took approximately 20 minutes, I signed most documents electronically and the woman handed me all my paperwork on this flashdrive when we were done.  Snap!

Day 57 - Apologies

Yesterday, I contacted the parents of both of these boys about their behavior in class. . .both very likeable kids who just seem intent on being the class clown or misusing class time.  Today, they both handed me these notes at the beginning of class.  You have to love the word choice of 13-14 year old boys as it is genuinely sweet and funny all at the same time.

Day 56 - Step Two

The next stage of house painting is underway.  This involves more scraping, sanding and lots of spackling. I'm fairly certain my neighbors think I have lost my mind because I'm often taking pictures (like this one) in the dark at 5:30 AM.

Day 55 - Morrissey to Mozart

This past summer I decided it was time I upgraded from a Shuffle to an Ipod Classic.  I've loaded almost all my CDs but alas, my scottish genes make it nearly impossible to pay $0.99 or more every time I want a song, I've been checking out 10 CDs at a time for a couple of months now and downloading as much stuff as I can for FREE!  Thank you Everett Public Library.

Day 54 - Country Farms

I headed out today in search of a pumpkin or two.  Country Farms is a local produce market here in Everett.  It's open year round so I can continue to get great fresh local produce long after the farmers market has closed for the season.

Day 53 - Email

Click open, quickly read and click close. The drawback to this time-saving technology - it allows things to build up quicker than you care to imagine.  I'm surprised the district server hasn't sent me the message that I've exceeded my storage limit.  It's a safe bet there are some important emails buried WAAAAYYYYY down there that I have completely forgotten.

Day 52 - Escargot

Once the rains come, these little guys show up like clockwork outside my front door.

Day 51 - Student Engagement

This year our science department is piloting netbooks in the classroom.  By 2012. the district goal is a netbook in every student's hands that will travel everywhere with them.  After a week or so of inherent frustration (wireless connection problems, ethernet cord problems and slow log on speeds to name a few) we are up and running.  I never thought I would see a group of junior high kids this engaged but they LOVE them!

Day 50 - REALLY Long Day

Left a little before 6:00 AM and I just got home.  Dark when I left.  Dark when I returned.  Not much else to say as that about sums it up.

Day 49 - Geese

Nothing makes me run outside faster than the sound of geese honking.  I love watching them fly over the house (which they do frequently) as they shuttle back and forth from the neighborhood elementary school down to the Snohomish River or Beverly Lake up the street.

Day 48 - Jet

If you didn't know better, you'd swear this was a meteor falling instead of a jet lit up by the morning sun.

Day 47 - Today's Mail

Look what arrived in the mail today - my "Voters' Pamphlet".  Pretty sure I should start reading tonight because the information presented by the media has proven both annoying and confusing. This pamphlet will probably be my starting point as far as research goes.  From there. . .to the internet and beyond!

Day 46 - Step One

The painters came today to powerwash the house.  It appears as if some scraping was done BUT as far as I'm concerned there is a significant amount that still needs to be done.  I live for the day when I will no longer see peeling paint.  The kids in my neighborhood probably think the house is haunted.

Day 45 - Chemistry is Cool!

I told kids that lab clothing was REQUIRED because this lab presented what I like to call the "triple threat". . .chemicals, glass and FIRE!  The kids loved it especially when the chemicals produced smoke like this one.

Day 44 - Battle for the Bed

Poor Grady is obviously trying to salvage part of his Value Village bedspread "bed" on which to sleep.  That damn cat is hogging all the covers!

Day 42 - Moonrise

The days are getting shorter and shorter.  After arriving home from work, I quickly changed and headed out into the yard to chip away at the weeds that seem to have sprung up overnight.  As it started to get dark, I looked up in time to catch a soft, pastel moonrise.

Day 42 - Fall Has Arrived

The colors and shapes of fall caught my eye during a quick stop at the grocery store today.

Day 41 - How Does This Happen?

Guess it's that time of year when you don't know whether to put your summer things away or wait just a bit longer and hope for a few more warm, sunny days.  It will take me the whole day to get this much laundry done. . .I clearly waited too long.

Day 40 - Along the Snohomish

A bit of fall color from some grasses along the Snohomish River. . .

Day 39 - Morning Routine

I take Grady for a short walk every morning between 4:45 and 5:15 AM.  Needless to say, it's dark. We see very few, if any, people at that time.  When we do, he watches them so intently that I'm sure it scares the hell out of them which is just fine by me.

Day 38 - Planes on Trains

I could see the train across the valley towards Snohomish as I drove home and I instantly recognized the green hue.  That green is the color seen on every Boeing plane before they receive their final airline paint job.  I decided to take a short detour and wait for the train to reach a familiar railroad crossing.  This was just one of four planes on this train.

Day 37 - Team Meeting

We never need an excuse for a "team meeting" - today we opted to conduct business at Matador. Really missing Eric and Emily who ended up at different schools in our district (not their choice).  I love the fact that we are still a team and Holly (on the right) and I are doing everything in our power, short of murder that is, to get them back.

Day 36 - Paint Colors

My house is scheduled to be painted this month (crossing my fingers for some dry weather).  After driving around and looking at more paint chips than I care to think about, I'm getting close to a decision on the colors.  When I retire, I want a job as the person who creates paint color names. For example, the paint in my bathroom is called "Nutmeg Dust".  Who comes up with that?  Is there some sort of formal training?  I have to find out.

Day 35 - Starbucks

Every time I drive in I think, I've got to stop doing this because it's killing my budget. . . and then a little voice in my head says "just one more time".

Day 34 - Outside Kitty

This is a sweet cat who has had a hard start in life.  As near as I can figure, she's been left behind by two different neighbors when they moved.  Needless to say, she is unwilling to come inside now except for brief explorations.  She's lived outside my home for the past year in a little house built by my handy neighbor Jim.  She is there waiting for breakfast every morning and greets me when I come home every night.  She even follows me and the dog for the first part of our morning walk. Jim calls her Freckles and I call her Mama and I know both of us will make sure she never gets left behind again.

Day 33 - Mermaid Market Cafe

This is the statue outside the Mermaid Market Cafe on Colby in Everett.  The menu looks good but the place caters to the business crowd and is only open M-F until 3PM.  Guess I'll have to try it during a vacation week.  You gotta love the artwork though.

Day 31 - Garden Arbor

I have a wonderful neighbor who is retired and loves to tinker around.  He's got a shop filled with more saws than anybody would ever need.  As part of my front yard makeover, I tore down some dilapidated lattice but I wasn't sure I wanted to dig up the treated posts as they were still in decent shape.  I had an idea of what I wanted, sketched it out and he came up with the brilliant idea of surrounding the posts and building up.  I wanted square lattice, not diagonal and when I couldn't find it, he made it by sawing boards into individual slats and then nailing them together!

My job this weekend - to get at least one coat of stain on it before the fall rains settle in for good.