HOUSE OF RUPP

Well friends it's been quite the summer already so much going on. One event after another upon another and still my enthusiasm for this summer has not waned. In fact this would be the summer of perfection if the dogo would pick up a paint brush and kity could do something other than scream at me from the yard. I kid you not shes taken to sitting in the middle of the yard at 5 AM and screaming at me. WTF is up with that kity? Seriously have you heard of hanzel and gretel? keep it up but save your crumbs and lets go for a car ride. jk but i can not believe her antics. She is on notice. And the dog is not smart enough to get out of the rain you on the other hand do not get dried off cause your smart enough to seek shelter YO!

The first thing was cleaning out the basement of Teddy's childhood. I thought I had a lead on a renter from Craigs list not kidding; but he had a dog and after a few days with buster around it's quite evident that if another dog lived here frank would be in permanent pissed mode. He didn't snap at him or anything but he pouted the big pout the entire time. And when Frank is unhappy with me he sleeps on the main floor. I didn't see frank for several days after the big clean. They did stay over for three days and I'm pretty sure he thought it was forever but showed me he doesn't want to share his space. And yes you did hear me right we got Teddy's childhood down to about ten bins. So mission accomplished! I'm now considering two scenarios while I wait out this market. Another renter but split the house and get appliances for downstairs or have another student. I loved Hiro and Mari but Junea and Myumi kind of balanced that out so do I leave it even or take another chance?. At least now I have options. These next few weeks I'll be painting and working on the house in prep for Teddy's wedding rehearsal dinner so I've got a little time to decide.

Attended Teddy's projects day where she presented her senior design project in front of her peers and instructor, family and friends. She rocked the house. Teddy is the perfect mix of confidence and intelligence she can present like no one else. But of course I am biased. here is a link you tell me how impressed you are if you get a chance to watch it. I never tire of hearing how she nailed it. Teddy is as I write this in Zambia launching her human power project bringing crank power to rural zambia. I wish I could have said no. I would have. I don't like my bear on other continents period and especially continents with civil unrest. At least they have armed drivers and armoured cars. here is part 1 her partner presents this part http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=keG7Cru0k48 and this next one is teddys part. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L5QJVYINiqA&feature=related. Really I may feign discomfort at Teddy traveling to parts unknown but what an awesome adventure for her. To go from conception to fruition very cool and why I do so love our beloved Seattle University. It was a home for me when I needed one and now look what they have done for our Teddy. We are so proud of her. Oh and on a seriously awesome relative note John O'brien cousin Marys other half and our fellow SU alumnus attended Teddys' presentation. He's very involved in the engineering department and has actually sponcered a senior design project so how cool is that. Thanks again John great to see you there.

And as if all of the Teddy stuff were not enough its busy season at work and I just got back from Oregon where I met my new boss. I know five bosses in five years oh my. My old boss was like trying to track down a comet. He is going to be fun to watch he's a genius and clearly going places but now I have a more manageable situation. I love my job and the team I work with. But seriously sometimes feel like I'm being punked. This group was several different companies merged and trying to organize and set that up has been like herding cats that don't know business is a science; the good news is there is so much work to do so I love that and we are all extremely happy to be employed so that this the shining light; Plus our mission is just so me. Dedicated to a beautiful world. Come on now. And the grow food initiative I love this company. 

So this seems like the perfect time to give credit where credit is due. I've been getting all this "great job", "you deserve some credit as well". Yes I accept that without her family Teddy could not have achieved all that she has. But it is what family does for one another and we are truly grateful to our family for all of their support we could never have done it without you. And we also acknowledge that it does take a village; our friends and neighbors have been so awesome and a great support system for us; but beyond that we also have a secret weapon in the form of The Hagedorn Family. We met while stationed at Hahn. We were in the same squadron and literally Jim had me at my desk at attention more times than I can count. I was a huge smart ass and Jim taught me a lot about respect. And that is ironic as he's the most irreverent person I know. But at the same time he's a business genius and at the pinnacle of his field; He has been behind Teddy and I since we have been back home. He approached us at the funeral with a trust fund for teddy and has been by our sides ever since. Any time I've had an issue I couldn't handle Jim & Karli were always there for us. They made Teddy's Loyola summers possible. They helped her finish these last two quarters of school. In fact the entire Hagedorn family have embraced and supported us; including us in family vacations and events; that support really helped us heal. Thanks guys we adore you! It will literally take me the rest of my life paying your kindness forward but I am so up for the challenge.

Then last weekend we also said good bye to Teddy's undergraduate years. Andrews family came over from Spokane; I can't say enough about Teddy's new family no wonder she is so smitten with them; she fits right in and it's going to be a joy to share in all of the wedding activities with them. Teddy has always wanted a bigger family and brothers and sisters and when she marries Andrew she will instantly have a brother and a sister in law and that is so cool.  Grampa and Gram were of course there too to share the joy. It was beyond compare on the mom pride scale. I know pride is a sin. I think they mean the dark side of pride because how could this feeling of joy be wrong? Anyway it was so much fun way more fun than I thought it would be and the only downside is the degree my knees must be to sit in those key arena seats. And grampa slept between her time on stage because the walk into the arena not so fun at 88. But what a great time again I want to thank everyone that attended and showed support it was an awesome day. And I am happy to report a few happy tears but no public ugly cry thank the goddesses I think I am ready for this wedding now.

So as you can see big fun at house of rupp and we just have more on the way. Teddy will be home from Zambia in two weeks and I'll be able to breathe again. Then it's all about the new job; Teddy starts at puget sound energy on July 9th. Then we're in the down hill to the wedding. I'm chanting you will be flexible and helpful, you will be pleasant and paitent. I've not really had to share Teddy but I will happily I promise. I'll let you know how that goes.

TEDDY GOT A JOB Thats right not even out of school til June and she got a kickass job with Puget Sound Energy in their Engineers in training program. Teddy specializes in balancing power loads and is very keen to work on their smart grid. Very exciting and the fact that she starts at my current salary is the best news a mother could hear :) I'm so very proud I could burst! What a year and a wedding and graduation still to go. CRAZY HAPPY AT HOUSE OF RUPP!

HAPPY SPRING

I love both the spring and the fall the renewal that the passing of these seasons signifies, puts me in an especially great mood. I'm nesting big time and my favorite thing to do these days is get lost in a frenzy of cleaning and organizing. To top it all off I woke up almost a month ago completely well. I had a sore spot deep inside my tummy for a few more days, but no pain. I could stand upright and although seriously weak felt great and so happy to be well that everything was suddenly brighter and tasted better. If there is an upside to being ill it's that getting well feels so good! Now of course I'm still following up and have a too horrid for words procedure to do on Monday but I owe it to myself to find out what could make me so sick for so long. I had three CT scans and one MRI just that radiation alone should never be repeated so I have to find out why this happened. What went wrong and how to avoid it. Going to my GP and HMO is a bit like the help desk at work depending on who you see and what day it is you will get differing opinions. My doctor whom I love is very "there is something on your liver" it's not good we have to see what it is" the specialists are all like nope not your liver keep looking. So now we're on to the bladder so weird when your organs freak out and you lose the ability to function normally like you take all those things like breathing and swallowing and walking for granted daily. Well not so much for me now.

Teddy is doing so well gosh where to start with her. She's busily planning her wedding. I am so excited I can not wait. Teddy and Andrew renew my faith in humanity SERIOUSLY. So sweet. She has her dress, and venue and save the dates are done. She is also nesting in fact she may have gotten it on me. We have been spending time baking and sewing and shopping. I went down to her house two fridays ago and had dinner and hung out. I was going to sleep over with the dogo but her futon sucks and the dogo is not allowed in the their bed andrew is allergic to dogs in his bed so not sure how that was even an option but it was fun to go over. She came here last saturday and we sewed a really cool apron pattern for her. I'll load a photo. Andrew travels for work and neither of them are good at it. They can't stand to be apart it's so the cutest thing ever but as a result I get to spend kind of a lot of quality Teddy time. She has just finished another quarter and is about to start her last quarter before graduation. I am so proud of her I could burst SERIOUSLY the joy you feel when your children are happy and achieving their dreams is bliss. My happy meter is pretty much pegged these days.

Work really rocks too. It's a weird time everyone is all freaking out in our industry, everyones trying to brace for what's to come but it's been a really productive time for me. I've had just enough time on my own to really kick my skills up another level at work. In order to be more productive I just had to really learn so much more in excel doing conditional formatting and really cool self updating spread sheets this is directly related to my new boss/mentor he's so smart and expects so much after I got over whinning about how hard he was pushing me I really just dug in and did the work and as a result have learned so much and got so much done it's been an amazing month. I completed an impossibly difficult project of merging three years and several datasets together, and that gave me the master data to create my masterpiece. And inclusive sales history from the last three years by customer and by time so the sales team can study trends and forecast with greater accuracy. OMG I love my job.

I'm still in love with facebook but don't like the new layout so don't spend near as much time. I do still tend my farm and stop by to give my friends some love but i'm on to twitter it's still kind of blowing my mind it's like a collective consciousness filtered by what you consider interesting. i am a squatter meaning I just follow i don't post updates. Facebook is different it's your friends following you on twitter it's strangers and I'm not so into that. I love following David Lynch and Andy Dick Even the streams I find inane are fun for entertainment. Like Heidi Montag is vapid with a capital V but a train wreck you so gotta see. and I can even tolerate Perez on twitter as his page is such a crappy windows in windows what?? the hell kind of crap Perez upgrade dude! GET A WEBMASTER and stop doing it on your own so you can do what you do best DISH. I love anderson cooper's he's always got something fun going on today it was weapons at the border? the funny thing is that  you can't really keep up and your real friends get lost in the blather so I will be culling the herd. maybe i can group tweets. Anyway my ADD is showing with all this web stuff. I'm here and there but nowhere fully and don't even really keep this blog up. I get letters too telling me not to take up space if I don't want to update really who died and made you blog boss grlfromstclair whatever it's all about fun right not really meaning to be a point of media just a place for my family and friends to catch up because like anderson cooper says who has time to write or see friends when you could be watching Judge Judy. he kills me.

And I do mean snowed in. Its been snowing for days and days and not warming up enough to melt. I'm keeping the homestead at an even and tropical 74 degress to try and prevent the frozen pipes in the basement this year. I'll let you know how that goes.

But seriously even if a pipe did burst I could not fix it if I wanted to. Oh  yes I could but on the company amex so I'd have to sell a kidney to pay that off at the end of the month. Ok ok this is the worst  I've seen it. I is worse economically than it was five years ago when I lived on credit cards for six months between jobs. But seriously if that happened today, knock wood I couldn't make it because every single morsel of credit remaining on all but one card evaporated into thin air. Nothing about me has changed. I still have a kick ass job, and am on time and current with every single bill but suddenly one by one each company has withdrew my line. Use it or lose it I guess. I was outraged when wells fargo uped my rate or close the account'd me twice this past year but at least they gave me a choice. Well if  I make it through this month am I will, things will be fine for me a bit painful but I'll be just fine barring layoffs.

I'm really excited for Obama to lead the way. I've heard he is going to focus on rebuilding infastructure and employ all these people who are not working in these tough times. Teddy and I discuss while shopping how our country was built through new deals and forward thinking in times of desperate financial conditions. So I see so much hope here that it's hard to be down for more than a few mintues. But I suspect that I like many many americans are just pissed that this is painful. And would it have helped if maybe someone said hey we're at war stop spending money, build your nest egg it's going to get tough? Maybe but I believe I'd actually heard that but only as a low murmer and since I personally had not felt the impact or even knew anyone out of work hardcore until last month, there was no context for me yet. So I didn't want to hear it. I'm so used to getting what I want, when i want it and by what mode that this pain was inevitable in my opinion.

Work is really challenging. I love it but it's hard and like Charlene says thats why it's called work. So bacially stop whining i agree. I do love what I do but my boss is really busy and my ESP is not as good as it used to be so I try not to get in his way and end up on his shit list because i didn't nag him so I've got to add boss kicker to my list of duties. It sucks but i'm up for it. I prefer to not have to vy for attention and time but if it counts against me when i don't then I'm on it. And seriousl I'm so grateful to have a job right now i'd pretty much do whatever they want no question.

So I have to admit that i'm completely smitten by facebook. it's like being in global chat with all your friends all at once. I do hope I lose interest because it kind of takes up a lot of my time. Although I have enjoyed reminicing I also have not made the Dogo one coat this winter, nor have i made any animals or anything else. I have this farm on a facebook application myfarm that i am obsessed with. I have to like tend it three two or three times a day depending on what crops i'm growing. So I'd really really love a virtual garden on my desktop. I 'd love to plant a butterfly garden as my background but have it grow and bloom based on the algorithum for life. It may exist its such a great idea i'm going to have to look.

Teddy and my mom are doing really well and that makes me really happy. I went to Teddys last week to see her new place and pick up my birthday present. I know better late than never, plus it was lush snow cake so winter could start as soon as I picked that up.. and it did.  Their place is really cute. I'm so endeared to Andrew every time i spend time with him. Hes the perfect amount of smart and funny and doting on Teddy to have a high place in my heart. Really cute kid plus when i was leaving he slipped me some other photos from Hawaii so I can yes you guessed it MAKE A PHOTO SHOW of his whole Hawaii trip. I know it's almost too good to be true!!! So I've been loading a load of pics on facebook but i'll try and catch up here today  but seriously the thing that stops me here is the evil genius microsoft crappy ass interface. Yes i'm still their minion but come on Bill put some money back into that company and improve this crap before you move on to hovering windows FIX VISTA. Sorry I do digress. I think it's being trapped inside. Well thats not true I'm not at all trapped even in the snow. The lexus has a snow button. And i've been using it with no problems what so ever. Well my nerves are shot cause I get skurd but I can get anywhere I want to go. OMG it's snowing again..

OK for good reason this is going to sound like an ad for these guys! They rule! fast, efficient, the best price in town yet they went above and beyond and check out how gorgeous it is. GREAT WORK CHRIS PARDO AND CREW!!! YOU GUYS RULE!

They started on Saturday morning and are 99.9% done monday night. They've actually been done since yesterday but returned to make a custom flashing for me. Note that without being asked they re-roofed my little overhang. And made a custom chimney flashing without asking for more money. For that gentlemen you earn my highest rating I give contractors; three stars.

Frank even gives them two paws up. He slept through most of the work. He did like to check on their progress quite a bit but these guys are so good at what they do, and were super open and friendly so we were right at home with them on site. Even with all the banging he slept most of the time. And if you'll remember he does not like strangers in his yard, he was a wreck for the garage sale and that had no banging. So well done guys.

Kity on the other hand got accidentally locked in the house on Sunday and tore up my poster on the back door. So she didn't do so well but she's easier to calm, a 140lb dogo not so much. So after years of stress over that old roof I could not have dreamed up a more perfect experience. What a huge gigantic weight off my shoulders.