a westerly fold

An interesting thing happened a couple months back; Leif expressed some interest in starting a blog with me.  We finally went ahead and did it, although I have no idea what it will be about as I'm sure it will evolve over time.  But I do know that it will be a little bit of Leif: art, music, graphic design.  With a little bit (more) of me: wordy sentences, half-finished crafts, high caloric food.  Probably a little of us together: home-remodeling (When we buy a home of course, we aren't going to be remodeling any random person's house.  Unless, of course, you're offering to finance us remodeling your space because then hell yeah, there'll be some of that), city-exploring, Clio-loving, photography and hopefully some small business-starting.

A little something for everyone.

So I am going to bid adieu to The One Year Lease.  I hope you can come by and visit us at A Westerly Fold.

real estate stalking

Life has been busier than usual these days, hence the stillness in these parts.

 Clio's squarely in the thick of a very clingy stage.

She is hot on my heels even when I am just going to the bathroom.

She is sleeping much better at night.  Yay!

But she still is rarely napping during the day.  Boo!

This all leaves very little time for much else.

We rarely ever let her watch television but right now Clio is watching

Les Animaux Amoureux 

while I finally get to finish my -now cold- coffee 

and look up real estate in Portland.

This is one of my favorite recent finds that also happens to be in our budget.

I think we can all agree that yellow houses are happy houses.

getting excited or something like it anyway

Lately I've been in a funk.  I've been overwhelmed by the magnitude of the things that need to be done in prep for our move this summer.  My licensing, as it has turned out, is a huge pain in the ass that has become a serious time and money suck. Leif and I both need to finish our resumes and start sending them out to potential employers but every day it seems that task falls down on the list of things to accomplish.

Then of course there is this child.  This sweet, lovable, adorable and completely crazy-making child.

Currently -by "currently" I mean the last two weeks straight- there is a continuous ribbon of snot draining from her nose that makes her both extremely irritable and clingy and has changed her into an insomniac.  Oh, and then there is also the whole curiosity and cruising around things which means that there is rarely a moment for me to sit down and actually get any of the above mentioned things done.*

I've been seriously reconsidering trying to have another child.  Not because I don't love Clio so much that my love is straight busting out of my eyeballs like lasers. Rather it is because I just don't know that I am up to the task of raising another kid.  Maybe I am just lazy and I am finally coming to terms with that fact.

In spite of my decided lack of accomplishments in preparation for this move I am starting to get excited (and nervous) about it.  Work has been slow and so while I find it in bad taste to look for another job while I am at work and getting paid I do not find it in bad taste to look through real estate listings.  We all have our ethical standards, no?  Portland is full of funky neighborhoods and cool old houses and I get easily lost imagining where we could live and what I would do to renovate any particular abode.  Don't get me wrong I still have the ultimate fantasy of buying some land and starting a farm/wedding venue/B&B/survivalist community/cult/cheese factory/distillery.  Obviously I am joking about a couple of these- brides can be a bunch of mean jerks and no one likes beer in Portland.  But for now the more realistic goal is to find a place to settle that is actually in the city itself.  The land and the cult farm can wait for another couple of years until we can finishing convincing these folks to move and these people too (if they can envision themselves living outside the city).  Crazy isn't going anywhere for now so if you too would like to get in on the action let me know.

Speaking of real estate stalking have you ever seen the blog It's Great To Be Home? They flip houses.  I know, don't hate them- they seem like a nice couple and her hair is super cute.  Also there is not -that I can tell, anyway- a single slab of black granite countertop in any of their flipped houses.  A fact which for reasons I won't go into endears them to me.

Baby is sleeping now was sleeping for ten minutes...and I mean sleeping in between coughing fits which I assume is her just trying to get rid of all the snot running down the back of her throat.  Has anyone ever had any success with claritin for their infant?  Our pediatrician said we could give it a shot or just wait and see if this is a seasonal thing for her.  But I am leaning toward trying it out because I suspect she must be miserable with a constantly runny nose.  Girl needs to sleep and I need to get shit done.

Well, glad I ended this post with a nice mind-numbingly boring paragraph about claritin and snot.


*This begs the question, "Why are you writing this when you could just as easily be doing productive things like working on your resume?"  Don't be rude.  I do it because I am a procrastinator like every one else.

Edited to add: Melissa should come to the crazy farm too.  And my sister's family.  And my parents.  And all the rest of my friends.  I don't think that uprooting everyone's lives to come to Portland is too much to ask.

recently

listening

To this soundtrack on repeat obsessively.

reading

This lengthy but so far awesome book.

eating

Park's Korean BBQ with Leif's parents

playing

With my sister and her two girls.

wanting

This office space to work in, only with more comfortable chairs.

It'll be a long while before I can have the actual office but I can have the 

chandelier right now if I make one myself like this blogger did.

loving

This photo of a very happy Clio.

watching

This clever video to a beautiful song.

clio haz a bucket

Just like mom did.

Is she my kid or what?