Category Trials and Tribulations
The saga of the Seattle bathroom
I bought the house in 2014. The primary bathroom was just fine. The tiles weren’t necessarily what I would have chosen, but I loved the big window in the shower, and I decorated with some eclectic things collected on travels. The before – original But there were hidden problems Beefier long in started noticing mineral […]
Also at the little house: No trees!
A few weeks ago I got a text from one of my Boise neighbors: a late spring snow storm had broken a bunch of limbs on the trees in my backyard—some of which appeared to be resting on the power lines running into the house. Fortunately the parents were able to go over and do […]
Not the week to travel
I was supposed to start the new year off with a business trip to Washington DC. A series of meetings and onboarding a new team member. Last week when snow and record low temperatures shut down all travel out of Seattle I rescheduled my flight, pushing it out to today thinking the additional day would […]
A merry Christmas and a snowy Boxing Day
Christmas was as delightful as could be. We rose late, brunched on quiche, and once Bryce joined us, sat cozily in the living room opening gifts and enjoying each other’s company. In early afternoon Amy and Carol arrived, completing the party for the day. We pulled together a tasty raclette dinner followed by games, pie […]
Death in the pond
Something went very wrong today. This morning my fish were energetic and seemed perfectly healthy. I fed them, checked their water and treated it for ammonia and algae; pruned the water lilies. By this evening half of them were dead—including my prized giant black one—and I fear some, possibly all, of the others will be […]
Work travel!
After a year and a half of working from home I’m officially on a business trip to Chicago! And it’s going just as a business trip to Chicago should go: flights delayed due to severe weather . . . . . . and then an extra hour in the air due to tornadoes . . […]
Stolen!
At 10am today I unloaded groceries from my car. At 12:30pm I went back k down into the garage to leave for a wedding—only to find, well, nothing; an empty stall (that’s mine in the middle) and no car to be found! So I called the police to start the process of filing the stolen […]
One last weekend, and now back to work
Yesterday was Easter Sunday, the second day of General Conference, and the last day of my three-week vacation. With a heavily overcast, steel-grey sky and an aggressive case of the Sunday Scaries that kept threatening to take over, I struggled to appreciate the time that I’ve had and the fact that so much is good […]
Kidney stones!
I’m going to start with gratitude. For the emergency room doctors, nurses, and technicians who took care of me; for the ambulance drivers who took me to them and made empathetic small talk on the way; for my dad who answered my early anxious phone call and encouraged me to seek care right away in […]
Air quality
We’ve had a rough run in terms of air quality this past week. Smoke from the wildfires in California and Oregon has swept up the coast and sat on us like a cat. Gone the rosy mornings and hazy afternoons, replaced by chalky grey everywhere. And the air quality index has gone through the roof. […]
A More Gentlemanlike Manner 