Never-ending winter

This hilarious Macleans column is written by somebody in Ottawa who has had to deal with a long winter of snow, not rain. But I could not have expressed my sentiments regarding this horrible endless winter any better than he. This was actually written six weeks ago. I don’t know if it’s still snow in Ottawa, but it’s definitely still raining in Portland. My favorite quote: “We’ve tried to have patience. Some of us have also tried patience’s little helper, Xanax. But look what you’ve done to us. We’re a quivering mass of shattered nerves, deadened eyes and extended middle fingers.”

I could sure use some Xanax…

What’s eating you, Mother Nature? Is it us?

New budget

I’ve never been very good at budgeting. During the two and a half years between college and grad school, I had a full-time job that paid less than $10 an hour and I lived with my parents, so I didn’t really need a budget. Student loans and part-time work financed my grad school years. Then I moved back in with my parents for a year. Even when I finally moved out and got my own place, the income from my on-call work fluctuated too much for me to make a budget. Now I have a good-paying full-time job with steady income, so I have no more excuses.

I’ve been reading a great book I got from the library. It’s called On My Own Two Feet: A Modern Girl’s Guide to Personal Finance. It’s a slim book, less than 200 pages. But that’s just the kind of book I need, because if I start reading too much about personal finance, my eyes glaze over. For this very reason, I’ve barely touched the 450+ page Personal Finance for Dummies book that has been sitting on my bookshelf for the last five years. Anyway, the authors of On My Own Two Feet just give you the bare facts and lay it out plain and simple. After reading the budgeting chapter last week, I set up a new budget spreadsheet and an expenditures spreadsheet too to track my expenses, something I know I should be doing and don’t. I’m looking to being able to have savings again. 15% of my income will be set aside for savings, half in an ING savings account, and half to my retirement IRA, which I have made no contributions to since opening it with inheritance money six years ago.

I’m actually pretty excited about my new budget, which is rather surprising. But it will be nice to not have to worry about money anymore because of my steady income and because I know exactly how much money needs to go where.

Looking forward to summer

Greg and I ate dinner on the patio last night. After our late lunch, we had a late dinner at 7:30. Portland sunset is around 8:15 right now, but the nearby hills to the west of me mean that sunset is half an hour earlier at my house, so it was already dusk-like during dinner. It was fantastic, though. I plugged in the fairy lights strung around the patio, lit my three-wick candle, and we enjoyed chicken and couscous with a bottle of Merlot. We weren’t even cold. I look forward to a lot more of that.

The post that changed my life

This past Sunday, April 20, marked the one-year anniversary of my first post to Greg’s wildflower site. His new website, created to help hikers and photographers learn about which wildflowers were blooming where at what times, sounded like a great resource, and and when I visited Dalles Mountain Ranch last April, I went ahead and made a contribution to the site. He wrote back and thanked me, and then we exchanged e-mails throughout the spring and summer until we eventually went on a hike together in early August, meeting for the first time.

Little did I know when I posted that first wildflower report that one year later I would be in a great relationship with the guy who started that website! I was just looking for wildflowers but I ended up finding love.

Tulips

Greg and I went to see the tulips at the Wooden Shoe Tulip Festival on Sunday. The weather was crappy so we figured we wouldn’t have to deal with the normal weekend crowds. It wasn’t crowded, but there were still plenty of people there. Many of my pictures ended up being close-ups because sweeping views of the field contained so many people. In any case, it was great to get out there and see the beautiful vivid flowers. A little bit of color in this gray winter we’re still stuck in.

Disappointment

Sometimes crushing disappointment is not unexpected. Other times, it hits you from out of nowhere and you realize you’ve been riding on a lot of false hope.

This week has been a fight to not slide into the depths of despair. For a lot of reasons, the weather included, which has returned to being cold and wet. All these reasons are combining their forces to slowly crush my spirit. I wish I saw an end in sight, but I’m sorry to say that I do not.

Rejuvinated

We finally had some nice weather this weekend. It was warm and sunny both days and it was fantastic. Greg and Deborah and I went hiking on Saturday, and Greg and I went hiking again yesterday. The sunshine and warmth felt SO GOOD. I even got some color on my arms! I am really looking forward to summer, when the weather is like that more often than not. It’s happy weather!

Ants are bad

We have a small ant problem at work. You know those annoying tiny little ants? They flare up every now and then and the maintenance people have to come try and get rid of them. Today a much larger infestation was discovered at a currently unoccupied desk. There were little ants on the floor, on the desk, on the computer, on the CEILING. On everything. Oh, and there were flying ants too, those bigger ones with WINGS. (shudder) Four of us worked at getting all the office stuff out of the area, including the computer and the phone, so the area could be doused in toxic bug spray. It was totally creepy. The ants were falling from the ceiling and crawling all over everything. Although I don’t think I had any on me, it felt like I did.

When we’d just about gotten everything out except the desk itself, a HUGE gathering of ants were discovered down where the wall and floor met in the corner. I didn’t get close, but I could see the carpet was a much darker color there. “Holy f***,” I muttered (NOT under my breath) as I quickly retreated. Yes, I dropped an f-bomb in front of my boss and two co-workers. I was so creeped out. The 20 minutes I spent helping remove supplies and equipment from that area was so icky. But hey, at least they weren’t spiders!

Soul-crushing weather

Yesterday, the forecast predicted rain. I said “f*** the forecast, it probably won’t rain, or at least not rain very much.” I went hiking. It rained. Today rain was also predicted. Not wanting to make the same mistake again and hike in the rain, I stayed home. A few rain showers passed over, but we had quite a lot of sunshine, which was not in the forecast whatsoever. The sunshine was great. I squeezed in a short walk in the park before another rain shower sent me fleeing back to my car. But I just wish the weather would make up its mind. I’m mad that I trusted the forecast and stayed home today when the sun was out, but went hiking yesterday in the downpour, ending up soggy, muddy, and grumpy at the end of the day.

Often when hiking in the winter (and let there be no mistake, we are still experiencing winter here), there is a threat of rain, and I prepare for it. Sometimes it does indeed rain, a lot or a little, and sometimes not. I put on my rain gear and a brave face and I go out there despite the threat of rain. But when the rain comes to fruition, I really hate it. I hate wearing dripping rain gear, I hate the restricted movement from wearing rain gear and the increased difficulty it creates when I need to pee. I hate not being able to take good pictures because the world is damp and ugly and my camera is soaked. I hate slogging through the slippery mud and eventually ending up with cold wet feet because there are no such things as boots that are waterproof enough to stand up to Pacific Northwest WET. I hate having cold wet fingers, regardless of whether I’m wearing gloves (which inevitably get soaked) or not.

It’s been winter for almost six months. I’m starting to feel anxious and desperate, like if we don’t get some warmth and sunshine soon I’m going to LOSE. MY. MIND.

Too young to work at the library

A girl who was probably about ten came up to the desk yesterday and the first thing out of her mouth was, “Aren’t you a little young to be working in a library?” I managed to tone down what should have been a burst of hilarious laughter, and even though we’re never obligated to give our age to anybody, employees or patrons, I said, “Well, I’m 29, so I guess that makes me old enough.” She replied with, “Well everybody who works in the library is, like, old. You have to be old to work in a library.” And then without breaking stride, she breezed right into her question about the book she was looking for.

If anything, I’d expect this comment from an elderly person, to whom I might indeed look a little young for the library!