Okay- I've got lots of excuses for not posting. Not going to spill them here--- just rant ;-).
How come all the restaurants I've been to lately give Rob all the ice in the water? Is it a conspiracy? Do women in Portland not like ice in their water? What? No one anemics here? When I ask for ice, how come the sneer? Okay- started just switching glasses after waitstaff leaves the table. Only notable exception was the male waiter- who never returned to the table. Grr.  NOTICE: Waitstaff, I leave BIGGER tips for ice! (I know it's a compulsion- ice eaters unite!) Bring on the trays!
Now sew...here's my new baby.

Back to sewing, been watching several green sewing podcast videos- so....while Rob was looking for a chic lamp at VV, I bought 20 or so old sweaters (99 cents each) so I can reconstruct into a coat. Washing them and properly tacking them out to dry so I can cut them up and sew them is testing my patience. Whose virtue is that? ;-) So am now covering all the couch pillows with some groovy 70's material while I wait. Dogs dig it man- you know they can't be fully comfortable without a pillow!

Going to be struggle this next month doing NaNoWriMo and trying to balance my sewing cravings, wish me luck and many words!

"What are you mumbling?"
"I'm trying to get all the bad words out of my mouth"
Another Thin Man

Oh I am so spoiled...look what Rob went and got me to cheer me up! Gluten free beer and my very own jug! Isn't he sweet? (note: Yep that's a North Fork Brewery Glass!) won't be feeling anything after this ;-) GO PHILLIES!

Monday we celebrated MJ's birthday- she got the big trip to Kelley Point Park- bark, bark, along the way we stopped for her donut (plain cake)- so jealous since I can't have gluten. She said it was scrumptious. Chased ball via Chuck-it till she was dog-tracking, then went down to beach to tell tugboat captains off- bark, bark. Told the parks department workers all about our day- bark, bark and with tails waggin' jumped into the car to get a birthday surprise a mint flavored orebee-tuff bone! Woof bark bark! Not sharing!! I didn't get any pictures of her- because I was carrying all the party favors. But here are a few of her pinups:

After dropping her highness at home-she couldn't wait to show Zero and Grace her new gifts and tell them about her adventure- Wooooof, we headed out to the Japanese Garden. Except that it was Columbus Day- ahhhg the garden didn't open till noon! So we walked around downtown for a while and here is the unusual house for the week:

House of the week - Oct 12

A very valuable lesson- don't visit the garden on days where children are not in school. It is a very meditative peaceful spot- and running screaming children don't fit the mood. Also seemed to be a lot of rude tourist, even though I stood on the edge of paths to take shots and took over 200, only a few came out because people seemed to think I was invisible, bumping me or standing/walking right in front of the shot. One other photographer was so surprised when I moved to let him take his shot that he stared at me a few seconds - concentration broken- then he thanked me and took his photo. Think I will get a membership so that I can come visit on days and hours when the garden is quiet.
Please visit their website for some great member photos too. Here are mine, credit to Portland Japanese Garden, Portland, OR:

Japanese Garden

Well the dogs are looking at my thigh like it would be mighty tasty so am going to go pick up some more puppy treats and dog food.
M