wildcelticrose.net

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Welcome to “things that make me go Squee”.

After venting yesterday for WTF Wednesday, I’m ready to squee with glee.

In honor of Pop Fiend’s attempt at decreasing drama for at least one day a week on LiveJournal by promoting “Drama Free Thursday” (for those who aren’t aware, my blog is crossposted to LiveJournal, my self hosted WordPress blog, Blogspot, and Facebook), I offer up my own “special” (in a rode the short bus kind of way) contribution, “Things that Make Me go Squee!!!

* Things that make me go squee!” may has become a regular Thursday spectacle production because “Squee” rhymes with “Drama Free”, and I’m trying to do my part.

I think that almost everyone occasionally forgets to celebrate and share good things. I know I do.

So in the spirit of putting “good juju” out there, here are the current things that make me go “SQUEE!!!”

tomorrow I am getting a new roof on the house (ideally while I’m at work so I don’t have to hear the banging) While I didn’t want to have to do it this soon (and I’m going to have to sue the seller to get a reasonable amount of the cost back) but it needs to be done before winter.

It’s also an energy star rated roof and I’ll get a $1,5000 tax credit (yes the refundable kind)

Speaking of tax credits, I bit the bullet last night and spent the evening putting together an amended tax return and all the supporting documentation. It was mailed off this morning. In 12 weeks, I should have my $8,000 home buyers tax credit.

I’ll feel a LOT better when I actually have some money back in my money market account that I can get to if I need it again. The whole emptying out that account to pay for the roof had me pretty freaked out.

After finishing up the taxes, I headed out to Jada’s cold process soap making class. It was helpful to watch the lye process and to see exactly what it looks like when it reaches the trace stage.. I can’t wait to make my own.

The garden continues to be awesome.

Tomatoes are getting ripe…

and I have CORN!!!

Sunday was the uber awesome Sunrise (the place and the event) adventure up at Mt Rainier National Park.

Tuesday was the Princess Party.

There just aren’t enough good excuses for women to wear tiaras anymore.

It was hilarious when I was in the party store buying the tiaras and princess plates and napkins. I asked, “Do you have any pink wine glasses”. They looked at me funny, probably wondering why I would need wine glasses for what was *obviously a little girl’s party.

“The princesses are in their 30′s, 40′s, 50′s and 60′s” I told them while giggling.

I’m going to have a more reliable schedule from now on. I was having their weird weekends that rotated between 2 and 4 days (and 4-day weekends are NOT good every other week, it’s too easy to get behind) but now that we have more team members, Steph is taking Fridays and I’m taking Mondays, meaning I’ll continue to work 4 ten hour shifts Tuesday through Friday and will have a regular three day weekend.

Cloverleaf Pizza & Black Butte Porter

And here are little smilies for all the squees left unsqueed

And of course, the greatest squee of all…

I am blessed to have really GREAT friends in my life

And you can see a lot of them here… (if I don’t have a picture of you here, send me one)

Insert “squee” of your choice here

I wish everyone a happy and drama free Thursday, as well as lots of things to go “Squee” over.

SKA-WEEEEEEEEE

~L

Mood: Gotta Squee

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Recently, several friends have had some major stressors/challenges/sadness in their lives: injuries, relationship issues, job stress/unemployment, financial/mortgage problems and one friend who just had to put her beloved fur child (a beautiful dog) down because he had cancer.

When the girlfriends are sad, there’s only one thing to do.

Host a “Girl’s Night”.

Several years ago, I started this tradition as a night to drink wine and watch chick flicks.

It soon became apparent that movies were never going to be watched. One year, we went an entire year without actually watching “Under the Tuscan Sun”. It made it into the DVD player but was never actually played.

So we dropped the movies and just made it about eating, drinking and giggling (which is all we ever did anyway)

But since this was a difficult time for so many, I wanted to do something special.

Taking a cue from Sonja Silver who had been talking about tiaras and wanting an excuse to wear one, I went down to the party store and bought a bunch of the ones designed for little girl’s birthday parties. I also bought some shiny pink princess plates and matching napkins.

Who says that princess parties are only for little girls? Big girls like to wear tiaras too.

Kathy brought the fixin’s to make “Rachel Ray Basil Martinis”. It was “shake shake shake” baby… (never stirred stirred stirred)

Janice brought over a kit to make Tarantula Blue Margaritas which were also quite tasty

California Pizza Kitchen pizzas, fresh local salmon, salads, various cheeses and crackers and other treats made up a very tasty buffet.

Betsy brought a little friend (who laughed and rolled on the floor when his motion detector was triggered) along as well…

It was just what everyone needed; a chance to relax, unwind and talk smut in the kitchen.

“What happens in the kitchen stays in the kitchen”

Here’s to girlfriends and getting to be a princess for an evening.

The rest of the photos are in a slideshow here

clicky clicky for the slideshow if it didn’t embed in your browser or reader

Or individually by clicking here

Now, I’ve got to get back to lunch break’s over…

~L

Mood: Silly

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Yes folks, it’s time for my now infamous weekly blog feature (gotta “clean the pipes out “for Drama Free Thursday and Things that Make Me Go Squee”) WTF Wednesday.

WTF Wednesday is when I (and anyone else who cares to; a few already had an early start) get to moan, whine, bitch, complain and vent with impunity)

It’s when I sit down, make a good strong margarita (with GOOD tequila) sit around in my underwear and vent.

*OK, I typed this up last night and am posting it while on a break at work so I’m not drinking or sitting around in my unmentionables (but trust me; that will change when I get home tonight)

Don’t get me wrong, I’m all about supporting and promoting Popfiend’s Drama Free Thursday with my own “Things That Make Me Go Squee” and this is, in part, preparation for DFT.

I’m all about putting good energy out there (because what we put out there it what we get back)

But I’ve realized that in order to appreciate the “good” things, we need the “bad” as well, realizing of course that “good” and “bad” are shades of gray and that nothing is black and white. (and no one likes a “Pollyanna”)

It’s Wednesday, and I’m gonna bitch and vent about people that I like to refer to as “Cheetoheads”.

I wrote about this several years ago in my now somewhat famous infamous essay,

It’s only one Cheeto-A sad commentary on our society

Each week I give an individual or group the “Here’s your Cheeto award” in honor of the rude, obnoxious, selfish, “It’s all about ME” asshats that we are force to live, work and walk amongst every day.

Today, the “object of my objection” is

Hateful Bigots Masquerading as “Patriots” or “Good” Christians

Seriously, WTF is wrong with people?

Stabbing of cab driver because he is Muslim?

Committing arson at a site where a mosque is being built?

Hateful, racist picket signs and protests against Muslims from coast to coast?

All in the (alleged) name of “patriotism” and “Christianity”?

I don’t think so.

I have news for you ignorant, violent hateful individuals who engage in, celebrate or condone (even through silence and inaction) these violent actions, which are hate crimes.

You are NOT good Christians and you are most certainly NOT patriots. You are criminals.

When I became a federal law enforcement officer I swore an oath.

”I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter.”

Those of you who were/are in the military took a nearly identical oath, and I can’t believe the number of you who are willing to piss on the constitution you took an oath and (in some cases) risked your lives to protect.

The fact of the matter is that the 1st Amendment of the Constitution clearly states:

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof

This means ALL religions, not just “yours”

This IS in fact, etched in stone. It is one of the most important differences between our government and other governments. The search for freedom of religion is one of the reasons that this country came to be.

It is what people fought and died for.

Do I believe that terrorists, criminals and jihadists should be hunted down and prosecuted to the full extent of the law.

Oh hell yes!

But the constitution should not be violated; and innocent men, women and children should not live in fear that they will be attacked for walking down the street.

To say that all Muslims want to kill non-Muslims is to say that all Christians want to torture and kill non-Christians (you all read about the Crusades, Inquisition and Salem Witch trials right?) bomb women’s health clinics and kill doctors that provide abortions. Have any of you paid attention to what’s gone on in Ireland? (you know, all the bombings and terror perpetrated by Protestants and Catholics against each other?)

Do not think that your religion’s hands are clean of blood and dare to vilify another religion you think is inferior.

Personally, I’m at a phase in my life where “organized” religion (for the most part) is repellent to me because it’s too easy for it to become corrupted by the desire for money, power and control (but that’s a rant for another day)

I have my beliefs (which I don’t cram down anyone’s throats), my practices and my desire to leave the world and my community a better place than I found it.

Perhaps more people should live their life that way rather than fighting a “religious war” making good Christians and real patriots who defend and protect the constitution look bad.

Those of you who are Christian or members of the Tea Party and turn a blind eye to this sort of behavior should distance yourself from and denounce these whack jobs because they make all of you look bad and do nothing to make the world a better place.

If you are not part of the solution you are the problem…

and you disrespect those who gave their lives to create and defend the constitution.

And I have a suggestion as to where you can put it!

I think that’s plenty of venting (was it good for you? It was good for me) and I actually have more to “squee” about tomorrow than to “WTF” about today, so I’ll leave it there.

None of this is earth shattering or even life changing it’s all minor annoyances in the grand scheme of things.

But I had FUN venting, and damn it feels good.

There, doesn’t that feel better?

Have a happy drama free Thursday tomorrow. I know I will.

Break’s over, back to work with me…

~L

Mood: WTF?

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Yesterday I dragged my exhausted carcass out of bed at the ungawdly hour of 3:30 AM in preparation for a 4:00 AM departure from Tacoma to head up to Mt Rainier National Park to photograph the sunrise (the event) illuminating the mountain at Sunrise (the place

I managed to get everything ready the night before (which is why I stayed up too late) including the espresso machine so that I could brew up some “essence of the sacred bean” (with milk, vanilla syrup and a drizzle of caramel of course)

Since moving, I have not yet gotten my hiking/backpacking/snowshoeing/skiing gear organized; it’s in various piles and tubs in the gear room in the basement.

It was going to be below freezing when we got up there, and I needed gloves. Since I could not locate my fleece mittens that convert to fingerless gloves that I use for photography, I settled for the next best thing.

I grabbed a pair of gardening gloves which were quite “spectacular” with my ugly robins egg (yeah if the Robin was on LSD) blue TNF Flight Series jacket.

How’s THIS for a Mountaineer/Urban Farmer fashion statement?

It was clear when we left Tacoma, turning cloudy about the time we hit Bonney Lake; I did not despair since Sunrise is on the East side of the mountain and the weather is usually different there.

As we wound around the hairpin curves of the road to sunrise, we could see peeks of the peak alternating with fast moving clouds around each bend.

It was going to be a crap shoot.

We arrived to heavy mist and fog. We were IN the clouds. Drats!

Having the reputation of “weather witch” and insanely good luck with weather on trips, I did not give up. After a disgusting visit to the pit toilets near the backpacker parking (we discovered that the regular bathrooms closer to the visitor center were in fact open [smacks self on forehead] I gathered my photo gear and headed out towards the trail to see what I could see.

The lady Tahoma was being a tease…

As the wind whipped clouds raced past her summit, a stunning pink and orange glow began to appear.

“Don! It’s happening”.

I ran down the trial to snap a few pics, and when I realized how cool it was going to be, I raced back up the hill towards the Emmons Glacier viewpoint, camera gear, tripod and trekking poles swinging wildly.

The usual cadre of photographers was not there because of the clouds.

Myself and only three other people witnessed THIS stunning, if not unusual sunrise and magical moment in wondrous silence.

We headed down to the lower parking area where we saw the last of Tahoma for the day

An ungawdly early trip to Sunrise is never wasted. We had lakes to bag and meadows to explore before the hordes of screaming visitors descended on the park (I normally won’t go there on a summer weekend) and we headed off down the trail to Palisades Lakes.

We only saw one other person in the parking lot and he was long gone when we hit the trail. We soon discovered the tracks of a large bull elk and a couple cows. We were not far behind them as the tracks were fresh and so was this elk pee… (we found a big steaming pile of elk poop too, but I’ll spare you that photo)

We had a lovely view of Sunrise lake coming down the trial, but we bypassed that cutoff and visited Clover Lake

The wildflowers were lovely (they are past their peak, but still plentiful) along the ridge

The moon although no longer full, was still gorgeous

The meadows were absolutely stunning.

I couldn’t help but do my best, bad Julie Andrews impersonation…

We found something interesting in this little pond

Tadpoles! Seriously, you’d best get to growing legs little guys, your season is almost over, even though it just started. These have to be some seriously bad-assed frogs to live up here.

We checked out Upper Palisades Lake as a spot to come back to camp on a backpacking trip and ran into some folks I know. It appears that I can’t hike anywhere in this state without finding someone who knows me from organizations I’ve been involved with or recognizes me from my blog/magazine/website stuff. I honestly don’t know if I should be flattered or creeped out. (ran into a blog reader two weeks earlier at Spray Park)

Here’s the lake

On the way out, the pikas were frantically nesting to get ready for what appears will be an early and hard winter.

It was an AWESOME trip; 7;43 miles including a short sojourn to check out the lower Palisades lake, 2,246 feet of cumulative elevation gain, and off the trail by noon when most of the other folks were just starting out. We had the trail completely to ourselves. It was awesome.

The rest of the pictures are available by clicking here:

Or as a slide show here:

Or as a slide show here-make with the clicky clicky…

And we WILL be going back for a backpack trip.

~L

Mood: Tired

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