Little Blog Lost

Poor, poor Rutabagastories, I have been neglecting you so. Which is why I've decided to write a short, yet hopefully sweet, post, just to keep my blog from feeling like such a little lost lamb.

As usual, a lack of writing means I've been rather busy. And perhaps just a little lazy. What with many house guests, including the lovely Leonie from Germany, and adjusting to Michael's new daytime work schedule (yes! the husband has joined the ranks of the living and now sleeps at night, everyone!), I've managed to stay fairly active. And some may know how I love to play tour guide, especially when food is involved. Getting to introduce a German girl to her first taste of Japanese food tonight at Toyoda Sushi was quite a treat. A great sushi chef with a sense of humor and a habit of throwing us little treats on the house makes for a fun night out, indeed.

Sadly, it's past time for bed, now that I rise at 6:30am, an hour later than previously. So long, farewell, I promise not to forget you, my little Rutabagastories.

Signs of Summer

It's summer in Seattle! How do I know?

• We can make sun tea on the porch - most days, at least.
• I can hang the laundry to dry on the porch - again, on most days.
  
• Michael even cleaned the porch to get it ready for summer shindigs (Hmm, many of these reasons seem to focus on the porch...)
• We have a new barbeque (also located on the porch)! In fact, it arrived today, and I, with some help from our summer housemate, David, who moved in today with his wife, Joan, and daughter, Hazel, put it together tonight.
• David, Joan, and Hazel have moved in for the summer!
  
• I can leave my heavy coat behind and go in to work with my jean jacket instead.
• The dog has new red toenails! No more of those winter booties in the house, she can now come straight in from the outside in her little plastic red nail caps (chosen because it would be difficult to easily notice should she lose a black nail cap) with no fear of scratching the floors (this, not the weather, was the real reason behind the house booties). Doesn't it just say summer when you see a dog out for an evening walk with crimson toes? Doesn't it? Anybody?

Well, red toenails or not, summer is here and we - including Lucy - are loving it.

Company's Comin'!

Life is full of surprises. Wednesday night I was surprised by a call from one of my cousins who lives in Oregon (no, that part's not surprising - almost all of my 22 cousins live in Oregon, and yes, you heard that right, I did say 22). It turns out he was in the area for work related reasons and hoping to stay over one night since an he found out that day he had an unexpected appointment in Oak Harbor the next morning.

Of course, we said he was welcome to come over. That's what a guest bedroom's for, right?

I do like having house guests.

Soon we will have a more permanent kind of house guest in residence. Amy V is moving in - tomorrow! While we did have two brothers living with us for the first two and a half years in our house, Amy is the first renter since then who will be staying for more than a couple of months. Overall, I would say I'm pretty excited. This, too, is one of the reasons for the flurry of housecleaning this past month; we had to get the place organized and clean out the downstairs bedroom, bathroom, and hall closet.

There are still a few tasks to be done, such as washing the window of the Amy's future bedroom to remove the lovely muddy dog prints Lucy left behind when we kept her in the back yard. I don't think Amy would appreciate Lucy's artistic vision in this case, which is OK - I think Lucy's take on Dog Prints on Glass is probably ahead of its time. But Lucy loves a new housemate, so I think she'll forgive Amy's lack of a critical eye.