SUMMMER TIME BLOGGING BLUES

This always happens. As soon as I get busy, the sun starts shinning, I can't sit down in my chair long enough to get one single blog post written, let alone the 10 I have planned. This is going to be a loooong fall season of trying to plan blogging world with real life world.

Truth be told, I sort of loose interest. I generally take lots of photos of stuff we're doing but sometimes it feels forced because I have to get the perfect picture for my blog, and that in and of itself can be frustrating. I obviously have a big ol' professional camera, that takes really good photos; and those are the ones I like to post. But lately, it's been A) Way too hot to have that thing around my neck and B) Subject-able conditions ie; wet, dust, dirt etc. So to make a long story short. I have only been using my cell phone and my crappy small digital camera which doesn't take the best photos. I'm going to through my picture Nazi self to the side and post the darn photos anyway! ;)


I know I have quite a few posts to recap about California, and I will; but first more up to date stuff.


This weekend we topped out at 96 on Friday, 103 on Saturday and 98 on Sunday. To say it's been hot, would be a pure understatement. I think Oregon finally got on the summer band wagon and came in at full force.

Sparky and I knew it was going to be hot this weekend, so we made plans to spend our days on a new lake we found.
After quite a bit of research and trying to find the best pet friendly swimming spots, I came up with our local lake located just 20 minutes away.

C and I decided we needed a cool raft, so we trekked to 4 different stores looking for one, and finally purchased one we thought would be big enough for us  and the dog.



 After getting the thing air filled, we realized with the 2 of us, the dog and a cooler there was NO way we would all fit. So much for what the box said. 4 person raft and up to 900lbs.

Spencer had to stay home, boo :(

Once we finally got to the lake, all was well in my world again. I just couldn't wait to jump in and get cooled off!



The water, was surprisingly pretty warm. Oregon hasn't had that many hot days this summer, so I thought for sure I'd be screaming bloody murder my first dunk in..

Once we got everything off the truck, we were making our way down to the water front. There was quite a few people, so I thought nothing of what seemed to be dry mud. I was so, so wrong. I took 3 steps in and was completely stuck. I'm pretty sure I said a few swear words, and i'm also pretty sure I gave C the snottiest look I could come up with all the while yelling at him to get me out. poor guy.

Not a good start, that's for sure...


We finally made in the water, muddy feet and all. I took off my water shoes, got everything situated in the raft and sat down, only to realize we had no room. Even without the dog, having a bag with our towels, a very small cooler and the two of us, it was really cramped. I didn't want to keep on bitching and complaining, so I shut my mouth and let C push us out.

Once we got a little ways, we got adjusted and made the most of it. I knew we wouldn't last long, but at least we could try out our raft.



I could only sit in the raft one way...and it was with my legs out and my head on C's chest.



( certainly not a flattering picture, but it was the best we could do! )

I laid like that for about 5 minutes before I started getting extremely nauseous. With the heat, my head down and the waves it wasn't a good mixture for this motion sickness dizzy girl. I hopped out and spent the next 3 hours guiding the raft, since that was a lot faster then rowing the non rowable boat anyway. (Crappy Oars)

Around 4:30 all the boats starting coming towards us to dock, and we got bombarded by boat fuel. That was the last of it for me. I knew if I didn't get out of the water I was going to puke. So home we went.


All in all it was a fabulous weekend. Unfortunatly, the raft had a short life span with us, as we'll be returning it tomorrow since it was completey misrepresented.


C is on the look out for a bigger one, so we can give it a try again next weekend!

A TRIP IN REVIEW.. Day 1-3

Unfortunately there isn't much to "review" this was a business only trip and I knew that going into it. So let's start there....


We left Oregon on June 24th a Thursday, which generally is a bit early for us on the normal scheme of things. We decided a few months prior to have a garage sale, to get rid of stuff we've accumulated in the last 4 years. I didn't get any pictures because, well it's a garage sale. LOL ..nothing too exciting! We pretty much sold out and made over $600 which was a huge bonus! I highly recommend doing one..not only does it empty your garage but to add that chunk of change to your savings account? Heck yes.

I have a few tips:

1) LOTS of signs. it took us over 2 hours to post them, but we used about 40 signs total. We made our signs years ago using paint, and have kept them nice and neat in a box..people always complement us on signage.

2) Start planning early. Carlos and I are both a bit OCD about keeping things neat and organized, and that was the basis of how we ran our sale. We had "sections"..electronics, house hold, office, etc. People loved that they didn't have to look through everything. They could go to the section they were interested in and find what they were looking for.

3) Hang your clothes. I hate going to a garage sale where they have all their clothes thrown in a box or on a lawn. We hang all of them on a clothes rack so they look nice and neat.

4) Price everything before. This is HUGE. You already have your hands full, the last thing you want to do is track down your husband, mother in law or father in law to find a price on something. So have everybody pre price there stuff before hand.

5) Last but not least; Make deals! if someone is buying one thing, I generally would leave the price as is. But if someone had their hands full of stuff? I always made them deals so they wouldn't put anything back!


We only had our sale on Saturday because everything sold so quickly. on Sunday we spent our one and only day off at the local pool, and then we had dinner at our favorite Chinese restaurant. I was so stoked to be in the SUN and lounging as much as possible. Good thing I did, because the week to follow wasn't so kick back and relax.