Joyous New Year to You!

I wish everyone a happy, joyous, and peaceful New Year. May you never be hungry, cold or lonely in 2011. May it be the best year ever for you. May you achieve everything you set out to achieve in 2011 and may you have success. xoxoxox!!!!

Princess For A Day

Our summer student's (and 2010 Central Catholic High School Rose Festival Princess) last day was Wednesday. She is off to start college at University of Southern California. All the assistants on the 17th floor will truly miss her but wish her all the best. Siobhan was one of the smartest, talented and personable young ladies I have ever had the opportunity to work with. I was constantly amazed at how mature she was for someone so young!

Before she left, she let us try on her Rose Festival tiara. I gotta admit, being Princess beats out just about everything else. Hey, can I rock that tiara or what?????? Darwin (our receptionist) does a pretty good job rockin the tiara too.

The Paulsen Christmas Dinner Party Invitation

It's official. The Annual Paulsen Christmas Dinner Party will be at my house on Christmas Eve at 2 PM. My philosophy is the more, the merrier so I hope everyone can make it. Dinner will be cooked by the hubby and promises to be very tasty. Lots of merriment, gifts and good cheer. See ya back at the ole Hamling Ranch on Christmas Eve!

Civil War

Yesterday my boss arrived at work to find this:

Posters on his office alluding to U of O's football team is superior to OSU's football team. Hmmm . . . maybe the overall superiority of U of O to OSU as an educational institution? BTW my boss is an OSU alum. Ouch. Today is U of O versus OSU game - aka Civil War.

Who did this to my boss's office? Well, since there is only one U of O alum on our floor, it was easy to guess.

Go Beavs! Go Ducks! GO OREGON!!!!!

It's a wonderful life!

Yesterday was Thanksgiving day. When I was a kid, we frequently went to Aunt Reta's for Thanksgiving dinner. My Uncle Vic and Granpa would sit and watch a football game while Aunt Reta, Granma and Mom were in the kitchen getting dinner ready. If the weather wasn't too wet, us kids would be out roaming around Aunt Reta's farm. Good times.

Last year the hubby and I spent Thanksgiving at my sister, Reg's house. That was a great year. This year, the inlaws came over.

My hubby made the dinner - as usual it was delicious. We toasted to good health and family.

I am very thankful for having a great job and boss to work for, good health, my beautiful family and being able to afford to procure everything I need. I am grateful to the men and women of our country that are in the armed forces, sacrificing their lives so we can continue to live in a free and democratic country. Whether you agree or disagree with the war, these people deserve our respect and support. Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Meet My New BFFs

It's pretty sad when your new BFFs are a bottle of DayQuil, throat spray and a box of tissues. And it's just downright pathetic when your shot glass contains Nyquil instead of tequila. It's really sad when you call it a night and it's only 6:30 PM. Even sadder because you've been in bed all day. And all your trash cans are overflowing with used tissues. Even the cats are avoiding you because your constant sneezing has disrupted their naps. The husband routinely sticks a mirror under your nose to make sure you are still breathing. This pretty much sums up the last few days for me. I caught some nasty bug at the beginning of this week and it's spanked my ass! So excuse me, I've got to go hang out with my new BFFs . . .

Fun Times in California!

Carla and her birthday pony.


This weekend my sisters and I are in California celebrating Sista Carla's birthday! Fun times! We've gone on the Silverado Trail, wine tasting in Sonoma. And we've toured San Francisco! And walked and walked and walked - not to mention laugh, drink wine and sing!

Best of all we've been able to hang out together and have fun like only sisters can! Happy birthday to Carla!

Did you vote Tuesday?

I happen to catch about five minutes of "Entertainment Tonight" yesterday evening. The big scoop was about Bristol Palin admitting to not voting this year. Apparently she didn’t have time. Needless to say, I was a little pissed off . . . for a couple of reasons. #1 - She’s Sara Palin’s daughter, that’s enough to piss me off alone. #2 - If you are a woman and you tell me "you don’t have time to vote" – you’d better be prepared for a history lesson.

Let me tell you a little story about two women named Alice Paul and Lucy Burns. Takes place around 1912. Believe it or not, women were not allowed to vote. Women were second class citizens. Do you understand what that means? Women did not have the same basic rights in this country that men had. I find it hard to imagine being discriminated against solely on the basis of your gender. Paul and Burns were young women (suffragettes) that wanted to change that. They faced beatings, imprisonment and risked their lives. Just so women could vote. On August 26, 1920 the Susan B. Anthony Amendment became law and 20 million American won the right to vote.

It didn’t happen that long ago. My grandmother was born about 1900. She was about 20 years old when she won the right to vote. She didn’t grow up taking for granted that when she became of age, she would be able to vote. It was a right that many courageous women had to fight for. They took the time to risk everything they had including their lives just so women could vote. They did that for my grandma, they did that for my sisters, and they did that for me.

Bristol Palin turned 20 on Tuesday, November 2nd. Maybe I’ll send her a copy of the movie "Iron Jawed Angels" (http://iron-jawed-angels.com) for her birthday.

Life on the 30/31E Bus

I try to be sustainable – not just talk about it but live it too. My mantra is the three R’s – Recycle, Reuse, Reduce. One of the things I do is take public transportation whenever and wherever I can. Given where I live, it is sometimes easier said than done. The bus service out to Estacada is at best, limited. The bus doesn’t run on Sundays and only for a few hours on Saturday. That leaves the weekdays – hours for catching a bus to downtown Portland are from 4:43 AM to 7:17 AM. Don’t be late!!!! And to get home from downtown Portland, you can catch the bus from 3:17 PM to 6:09 PM. Hope you don’t have to work any overtime ‘cuz it’s a long walk home! What happens during the day? Well, you can take the bus, but it’s going to take a couple of bus transfers and at least two hours to get anywhere.

That being said, the bus I usually ride is the 30/31E and we are a close group. It’s the commuter run – same peeps going to work and coming home. TriMet has dubbed us the "Party Bus" because we do celebrate holidays, birthdays, baby showers, and the miscellaneous occasions that come up. Hey, if you are gonna be stuck on a bus for an hour each way, you may as well party.

Yesterday on Thursday, we had our annual Halloween party. Decorations were courtesy of our driver Jim. Christy brought her trusty ukulele and, bus peeps provided the chorus. Kai got in the spirit and dressed up as a Star Wars storm trooper. A good time was had by all.

Rediscover Oregon City

Last Saturday, Regina and I went into Oregon City to find a really neat little hobby shop to buy a birthday present for our brother. We parked by the municipal elevator and took the elevator down to Main Street. We found the hobby shop (701 Main Street) but it wasn’t open yet so we walked over to a wonderful restaurant called Mi Famiglia and had a couple of nice garlicky salads and beer. Yum, smelly and boozy! By the time we finished our lunch, the hobby shop opened.

I don’t normally go to Oregon City any more. I used to work in the O.C. from 1979-1985 but had forgotten what an interesting town O.C. is! Lots of history, lots of old buildings and LOTS of fun little shops in the downtown area. Take a Saturday or Sunday afternoon and rediscover Oregon City. The municipal elevator is free. The original elevator was built in 1915 and ran on hydraulic power. In 1924 the hydraulic power was replaced by electricity which provided a faster (five minutes vs 30 seconds) and more reliable way to travel the 89 foot ascent. The old elevator was replaced by a sleek, modern elevator in 1955. The observation deck offers great views of the city. Here is a picture of the old elevator on the right and the new elevator on the left, temporarily bridged with a catwalk between them. And here is a picture of Regina in front of the "new" elevator!

Have lunch at Mi Famiglia and stuff yourself on garlicky pizza, lasagna and salad, washed down with a good beer. Then go for a walk down Main Street and pop in the many interesting little shops – be sure to include the little hobby shop next to Mi Famiglia. It is a trip back to your childhood!

Keeping Portland Weird

Here is why I love Portland! When it isn't raining, it is really a pretty city. Hawthorne Bridge is one of many on the Willamette River. The Willamette River divides Portland, east and west. I grew up on the southeast side of Portland and to me, that is home. The westside is sort of foreign territory to me. Funny how culture can differ in just one "little" city. Top left is the building where I work. I've worked for the company for over 33 years. Not in the same department or even same location - I've had the opportunity to work in many departments and many locations! Bottom left is a "pep rally" that held in Pioneer Square this afternoon. OSU plays U of W tomorrow. Go Beavs!

Change in the Weather

Isn't she lovely? This is one of two little fawns that a doe has decided our yard is ok to bring her babies - to eat, graze and rest. There are no guns here or dogs that will bother her fawns. It's relatively peaceful . . . if you don't count a little grey cat with homicidal tendacies. Oh well, I figure the fawns are big enough to fend off Behr. Maybe. The weather has changed from the past few days, definately fall is in the air. Today I woke up to rain steadly falling. Not cold yet, but gray and dark. Just another change in the seasons. It happens, I just deal with it. Kind of like our little mama-doe - find a quiet harbor and wait out the rain.

Fun Times at the Zoo

Went to the zoo last weekend, curtesy of Regina. Even though the weather was cloudy and threatened to rain, it was a lot of fun! Good times - saw my favorite - The Kitty Cats! OK, the polar bears were cool (no pun intended) and seeing the baby elephant, Sam was too cute! But my favorite has always been the big cats. In pix, Reg gets a big ROOOAR!

Fall Begins

The crickets are really loud now, and soon the geese will start flying south. You know when that happens fall is just around the corner. Now, I'm not saying our summer here in E.C. was bad but . . . let's just say it was really really short this year. Uh, like a total of four weeks. Maybe it got over 100 degrees two days. And you can bet everyone was bitching about the heat. Whaaaat? Let's just say if I were a kid, I would be demanding a full refund on summer this year.