Yes I know, its been THREE MONTHS….

Been busy. Deal. :) Oh, ok…I DO feel a bit bad. But honestly, its just been a mad house around here as of late. I will try my best to recap. Heck, I’m even uploading pictures to ofoto as we speak! If you typically get my ofoto emails, you will get a notification in…about 2 hours…as I’m uploading aprox 100 or so pictures and have to edit/label some :) If  you DONT get the notifications, but would like one, leave a comment and I will fling one your way :)

Lets start with the kids. They are alive too :) Even with the recent spike in Sacramento of over 100 degree days, all is well. They both had a good end to their school years. Haley managed mostly A’s and B’s with a C in PE. Go figure. Though we think the only thing that caused that was a bad PE teacher communication about what she needed to reach regarding “the mile” that they had to progress on. She’s fit and such, and participated so thats all I care about. She is turning into a gamer/geek like her parents, but still likes outdoorsy stuff, so thats just fine by me. She’s SOOOOOO PRETEEN. It slays us. She’s a bubble head. Gets that glazed over, spaced out look? You know the one. *head desk* Though I have to give her props, as she’s basically caring for Claire while we are at work, and is doing ok at that. So hooray.

TJ. He’s almost 9, and acts every bit of it. He’s funny as hell, but whiny at times. He’s also bored out of his mind, because there are not many kids here this summer. Lord knows Haley can only take so much of him, so he spends lots of time alone on his scooter or heelys. Atleast he’s not one of those hyper (mostly) destructive, kind of boys. Yanno, the kind that like to find sticks and beat the shit out of trees, or that like to see if they can fly out of trees? So far, no broken bones. About the only thing he breaks are shoes. I swear, he needs steel toed, velcro closure sneakers. *hmm* I wonder if there is a market for thouse….

Claire is a joy. Trying at times, non-stop motion but SO full of love it hurts. She’s going to be 2 on Wednesday, can you belive it? I cannot. Her favorite word is NO. Big suprise? Hardly. As Dan has said, “It must be hard to be Irish and 2″. No doubt. She’s acquired an opinion, likes and dislikes; but more importantly, the ability and desire to VOICE them. Loudly. She’s fallen in LOVE with the pool. Seriously, she’s like the best pool toy ever. She ADORES to be tossed around in the pool and giggles like mad when we do so. She started by hanging out in this floaty boat thing, sportin’ water wings. She then decided no boat, but how about wings and a “noodle”. Then the next week it was, screw the noodle, I just want to splash around with my wings. Now you can’t stop her. She paddles around, treads water, can find the edge easily, and will “fall in” on purpose while sitting on the edge and turn right back around and swim to the edge. Dan and I will toss her in the air and let her cannon ball a few feet away. Because of the wings, she pops right back up. She knows how to hold her breath and blow bubbles :) Such a little fish.

We have another child (cat) as well. WE were adopted by Keiki about 2 months ago. And for those non-hawaiin speaking folk, its pronounced kay-kee and means “little one” or “little boy”. :) He’s a kitten still, about 10-11 months old or so I would think. He has that long legged/tailed “teenager” look about him. Totally a lap cat and “talks” ALOT. He just appeared one night, kinda skinny and with no tags. Didnt see any signs around, and no one around looking for him so we let him stay. :) Gonna get him neutered this month, and make sure he’s up to snuff on shots and all that jazz. He’s hysterical. Likes to flop on the sidewalk in front of you when you are leaving, as if his cuteness will make you change your mind. He’s part guard kitty as well. Likes to hop from one empty flower box (along the wall of our patio) to the next like a rabbit, poking his head up to make sure that no unauthorized partys come near without him knowing it. Very fun. :) I dont think I have any pics from the camera of him, just my phone, but will try to snap a few and load them up :) He’s gray/brown striped (tiger-ish looking) with white markings and gorgeous yellow eyes :)

Dan and I’s business is going great! I had sent out an email about what we are doing to quite a few people, but because it had so many links I dont know if it ever made it out to anyone. Was sorta bummed about that. Oh well. Its a company called Cyberwize, go ahead, look’em up :) Yes, its Network marketing, but unlike any other company I’ve read or heard about. We are getting so much support, general business training/knowledge and such, its nutz! We love having our own “thang”, that we can do together, with no pressure to any friends or family and it takes next to no time to start seeing payout! We are not 100% focused on it quite yet, as we have bigger fish frying with work/moving, but we have already seen some profits, love the products and are just generally having a blast! :) If you want more info you can visit: www.teamtrescott.cyberwize.com to find out about the Company and what Dan and I “do”. Or if you are interested in what we are selling you can visit our most popular site: www.teamtrescott.healthywize.com. We have several product lines, but this is the one that has the most to it. At the very least, if I could ask you to go to this link: www.teamtrescott.shopwize.com and book mark it. Its a web portal that will take you to dozens of popular shops, like Overstock.com, 1-800-Flowers, Target, Wal-mart and tons more. Its no different than going to those sites directly, other than whatever you purchase (non of your personal info is shared with us) we get a commission off of, just because you used our portal! :) Plus its kinda a nifty way to see what other shops are “out there” because there were even a few I have never heard of that had some really nifty stuff and great pricing :) Our portal also offers discounts/deals from time to time as well, so you might be able to save on shipping, or get an extra discount by going through us first :)

Speaking of work. Well for those that don’t know, Dan and I have decided to leave California. We’ve been doing research and reading about the Eugene OR area for about 6 months or so. We visited www.findyourspot.com  after hearing about it from a HP co-worker, and found that we had a good match to Eugene or Boise. My sister lives in Boise, so that would have been cool, but there was not much for Dan’s line of work there, as compared to Eugene, where there are several colleges (such as University of Oregon….GOOOOO DUCKS!) We finally decided about Feb. or so to make a push for it, and started more hard core job and housing searching. We actually spent last weekend up there, just he and I. It was a great trip, had a few amusing bumps, a slight run in regarding the hotel room rate with Orbitz (had to end up speaking to the CEO of Finance to get a freaking refund!) but other than that, enjoyed EVERY FREAKING MINUTE that we were in the city. Its gorgeous. Not even gorgeous does it justice really. Its green. Its beautiful. The people are amazing. Its just….well, home. We knew it the moment we drove off the freeway and towards the downtown area. Right now the plan is to move up end of August. Dan and I put our resignations into Spherion/HP on Tuesday when we returned to work. We are working on getting a 3 bedroom 1/5 bath townhouse for, get this, $730 a month! Currently for our Roseville 2/1 we are paying $1015/month. INSANE! :) We made a few contacts/friends at two of the local temp to perm agencies, and have jobs in Springfield at Symantec lined up. Springfield is a sister city to Eugene, and takes about 10-15 minutes from about anywhere in Eugene to travel to, so thats a no brainer. The jobs at Symantec are starting anywhere from 13-18 and hour from their website. The gal seemed pretty confident that she could both of us in somewhere around 16/hour. *blinkety* So freaking cool! We had worked out a possible budget, based on $1000 rent a month (plus all the other monthly expenditures) and had figured we would both need atleast 14/hour to be comfy. So if the townhouse and jobs pan out as they are looking like, we will be SOOO much better off! Even if they dont, there is NO shortage of similar priced housing, and tons of jobs. So we are confident beyond measure, that this is the step we are suppose to take. Dan also applied for an opening at the Eugene Library. Its a Librarian Asst 4, which is one step under Librarian 1, but still, if he could get that (wage similar to Symantec) he could easily work his way up. We visited the Library while we were in town. Its got to be one of the nicest either of us has ever seen. Three floors, one whole floor for fiction, another for non, and downstairs is the kids area and a massive reading/research area. They even have a little cafe in front. Very nice :)

We started packing yesterday. Ugh. If it were not for my friend Connie, I would not have gotten nearly as much done. I hit some sort of emotional wall yesterday when I started sorting/repacking stuff we had in storage. I guess its got to do with the fact, that of all the moves I’ve done, this one has been the most long drawn out & planned one. I dunno. We are trying so hard to do this move the “right” way. Trying to think of all possible outcomes, scenarios, road blocks. Trying to plan it to have as little impact to the kids, to us, and to our stretched finances. Being totally excited, ready and anxious, yet scared to death that we might fail. I dunno. I KNOW its the right move. I can feel it. I just need some finality to some of it. Maybe once we get the ok on a new place, or some solidified leads to jobs…I dunno. Its gonna take every weekend between now and then to get it done, thats for sure. We are going to get rid of most furniture, and are trying to pare down what we have accumulated as much as possible. In fact, I’m even going to have a garage sale between now and then! *deep breath*. Keep us in your thoughts? :)

Hmmm what else. OH YES! Weight loss update :) I’m down 40 pounds, so close to my halfway mark for the year! (goal was 100 pounds lost before end of year). Not sure I’m going to make goal, as I’ve hit a plateau the last 2 months, and now with the move….meh. Atleast I’m not gaining it back? I dunno, will keep plugging away at it. Dan on the other hand…my god. He’s lost nearly 90 pounds in the last three months! He’s looking FANTASTIC! He doesnt fit in most of his clothes, but for now our work is not really picky, so he can get away with the “baggy, gangster” look. Gonna have to invest some money in a new wardrobe pretty quick, thats for sure! Althought most jobs in Eugene/Springfield are bus. casual, so thats a help. He’s feeling great, gotten some energy and mobility (not that he was bed ridden or anything) back. I’m so very proud of him! He’s gotten a clean bill of health and a hearty congrats from his doc, so hooray! :)

I cut my hair. Drastically. I had 14 inches lopped off, and donated it to Locks of Love. It was down nearly to the small of my back or so, and now sits just at my collar. I LOVE it! Its sooo nice, especially with the heat! I also had Connie put in a bit of a red tint. Though its been about a month, and its faded. Might have to redo that this next weekend. I so love having redish hair. I get tons of compliments when I do, cuz its such a drastic thing with my blue eyes :)

I think thats it for now. I will leave you (if you are still reading) with a list of funny things that Dan and I wrote down, concerning our trip to Oregon.

Interesting things to know about Eugene/Oregon:

* Oregon likes to announce what sorts of things are off the side of the road, such as “ROCKS” or “DEER”. Why not boulders, or gravel, or Rock Slide Area?

* In Oregon, the most common thing to ask or say to an “out of towner” is something to do with the heat/weather. Considering their average high for July is around 92, this was quite  humourus to us.

* Apartments in Oregon have no Central Air, only Central Heat, or wall heaters.

* Everyone in Oregon is sincerely friendly. And no, we are not talking about the kind of friendly that’s holding a blunt object behind its back.

* Oregon is the state of Camoflauged Citys. (When traveling the I-5 corridor, you have to REALLY look for the cities, as they are “buried”/surrounded by groves and groves of trees.

* If you don’t like trees, dont move to Oregon.* If you don’t like plentiful bodies of water (all types), don’t move to Eugene.

* If you like hippies, move to Oregon.

* Even the dogs in Eugene have dreads.

* If you want to get a job, July is the perfect month. (Encompasses the 30 days after the annual Fourth of July/”pot head” festival, after which the hiring pool drops to nill, because no one can pass the UA screen.)

* If you really MUST have Starbucks, Eugene is not the most convenient of choices. Dutch Brothers Coffee run Eugene. I think I saw just one, in all of our running around/exploring in Eugene/Springfield.

* “Oregon is Beer Educated”. This quote came from the local newspaper, but its true. There are TONS of local micro brews, pubs, wineries and all sorts of cool things.

* There are apparently no tame fish in Oregon, only “wild”.

* They really like pancakes in Eugene. (tons of pancake joints - erm…pancake places)

* In Eugene, business casual is defined by one of these two phrases. “No flip-flops” or “Wear only your best Birkenstocks”.

* While in Oregon, you cannot pump your own gas. (Law passed in 1974)

* When purchasing gas, and you have told the attendent a specific dollar amount to put on your credit/debit card, make sure he does not walk away.

* Eugene is a parallel universe to Tallahassee, FL. (Driving around, neither Dan or I could get over how similar its laid out, looks and feels)

* In Eugene, the preferred mode of transportation is a bike. However, all drivers use their blinkers, wear their seat belts, and even obey traffic laws and abide by the posted speed limit.

* The fine for not wearing your seat belt in Oregon is $97. Why not $95 or $100?

* The average commute in Eugene/Springfield is 15 minutes. No, really.

* When using Orbitz, read the fine print, or make sure to have your Military ID readily available.

* In Oregon, hotel maids are fluent in English, and probably sunburn easily.