just when we thought we were out ...

It was a beautiful day in Portland with blue skies and a warm sun on short sleeved arms. The boys played outside for most of the day and I got out and trimmed the rose bushes and raked up the left over leaves and blown down branches from weeks of wind and rain. It was so nice out today that we made fish tacos and citrus salsa like it was summer. If only we weren't out of tequila we would have had some margaritas with our summer meal. The nice day outside helped the growing panic on the inside after hearing last night that our house in Indiana is listed on the tax sale because of unpaid back property taxes. We thought it was a mistake since our mortgage just went up due to an escrow payment that was meant to be for back taxes but instead went to home insurance. Our mortgage company didn't have our new policy after we changed insurance companies so they found their own and added it to our bill. A long day of phone calls and I think we are all straightened out now but the sunny gardening kept me from throwing up from the panic attack. Ironically the night before Beautiful and I were talking about how for once in our mariage we had all the bills and spinning plates under control. That feeling lasted all of 6 hours before reality came crashing down on us. There is always something we are missing.

thanks for sitting by the river with us

I'm sitting here on the couch in the basement with a much too strong rum and diet coke and 2009 playlist trying to find the last album for the best of post. I have it narrowed down to three records but more plays are necessary. Beautiful's family has all left and made it home by now and it was a really great Christmas having them here. Our housemates were so amazing with all our family in town. Joining in where they could, helping with hospitality and giving space from time to time. We invaded their holiday but they made ours richer and with the year nearing a close I am thankful for their presence in our lives. We extended our lease for another 6 months and when that time comes to an end we will have lived in community for 2 years now. It has been great, and at times hard and stretching. It looks like Beautiful will have a full time job starting in late January and we might just make it though this 6 month period of un-employment/under-employment and a big part of making it, along with our parents, has been our house mates. So as the year comes to a close I think I am most thankful for them this year. Jesse and Carly you have made our lives richer and helped us grow as a family. For our dinner time conversations, fireside chats, fights over who's turn it is to buy milk, Dance show watching, and morning coffee pot meetings I am thankful. Thank you for letting us live life with you.

let there be light

Our house has Christmas lights for the first time in my adult life. We have always had a tree and lights in the house but this was my first time putting lights on the outside of the house. I crawled out the upstairs window and on to the roof. There are three different roof lines on our house and we have lights on the top one and the roof above the porch. Beautiful and I had two different ideas of how the lights should go up, no surprise there. She always has a better way to do things and will always share it. I know Kris will relate to that, she is her father's girl. After talking it through we agreed on a layout and I clipped the lights on the top easily enough. The porch roofline was a bit tougher. I ended up belly down on a slanted roof clipping lights over the edge. I was super stable but still felt like I was falling at any second. No falls though and we tested the lights and they work great. After it gets dark we will take the boys outside and do a countdown to unveil the lights for them like we saw at Pioneer Square on Friday night. My first outside lights are a success so far.

meet the housemates

Have you met our housemates? I am not sure if I have put a picture of them up yet and I am too lazy to look. Plus this is a great picture of them. Meet Jesse, Ian, and Carly. They are awesome to live with and even more awesome to know. I was filling out the census paper work and then talking to a census worker and I was able to answer almost every question they asked about them. You have to list all the people that live in the house and answer some random questions about them. One was "Does Jesse have problems with dressing or hygene?" I had some things to say about his choice of clothes but he's very clean. It has been really great sharing life with their family and I hope we are able to continue for some time.

North East Goodness

Here is the house that we will be living in starting in January. Casa de RitRoh will be lively and spacious with room for visitors to sleep in real beds. No more Blow up mattresses for Mark and Kendra, congratulations kids you get a real room. Please get your reservations in early as we are already starting to get requests for prime spring and summer time spots and we want to make sure that you get the dates your looking for. Can you tell I'm a little excited about the new place, just a little.

Meeting the Neighbors

When we left the house today to run some errands we passed these two looking get connected back with two of their friends that had already crossed the road. We didn't see too many deer in FSQ. Today we looked at a couple of rental houses in the South East Neighborhood of Hawthorne and the North East Neighborhood of Mississippi with Jesse and Carly. It was great to see what was out there and what things cost it was hard not being able to snatch up any of those places. There needs to be a job before we can get an idea of what we can pay for rent so today was more research then anything else. No word on any jobs today other then some one calling me to tell me I not qualified for a job they were going to submit me for. Thanks for that.

Edgar Allen Poe House

Can anyone tell me what the hell is coming out of my walls here. There is this brownish red sticky substance oozing down the walls where an old chimney has been closed in. My first thought was blood from a body stuffed in the chimney for not paying a gambling debt, but that is probably just an active imagination. It probably has more to do with a domestic disagreement brought on by a drunken husband stumbling back from the carry out bar on Shelby one too many times and his wife trying to set him straight with the frying pan. Kate thought it might be from the flashing around the chimney but that seems a little far fetched to me.