I spent 25 thoughtful minutes crafting a nice piece of writing, mainly about jerky and overalls, and closed the window and lost it all.  So I say to you, let's begin again! I want to write it, you know you want to read it, let's light this candle!

Let's play catch up.  

1.) Rowan and I went to Portland for Labor Day and a last-adventure-before-first-grade-party trip.  We saw Nikki, Nuria, and our friend Nate (who I hadn't seen in 182 Fortnights).  I'll save you the math -- it's 7 years (All old friends from Newport!). And we saw Jeff.  But his name doesn't start with N, so he had to be in a different sentence.  We went to OMSI and saw the dinosaur exhibit, and my personal favorite, 40 stillbirth babies representing different stages of prenatal development--do I know how to party, or WHAT!?  Rowan made friends with an old Chemist, and then told me she thought she'd be better off becoming a scientist when she's older; instead of a vet.  What a brain on that one.  

2.) I now have a first grader.  That feels weird, as I don't feel old enough to have a child that old.  But...so far it is SUPER fun for both of us! We both like her teacher, Mr.C, not to be confused with the Mr.C that Rowan and I wouldn't be on the planet without (it's my dad, if you are still trying to piece it together); and he is a laid back, very kind man.  I start helping in the classroom next week.  Can't wait.  She came home on the first day with a picture she drew.  It made me beam knowing she was  so, so, so happy about school.  And that she thought it was "asum."  I think a lot of things are awesome, so I'm pretty stoked to have a new way to spell it.  

3.) I started picking up more hours at the toy shop! Now that I have 6.25 free hours everyday, I thought I better use them to hustle some cash! By which I mean selling high quality toys to the upper middle class of Bothell.  You're welcome, all friends reading this who are NOT that socioeconomic status but shop in my store, now you ARE! 

4.) For Alisa's birthday we went to the winery to see Crosby, Stills, Nash & (not) Young.  It was so fun! Until the lady behind us started having a barfing panic attack. The poor thing drank too much, but then decided to take a couple hits with some friendly old hippies or teenagers -- I didn't get the specifics -- and started making this horrible noise, and had to be wheeled away by the medic.  Oooooops! 

5.) I got overalls! The next time you see me, I'll probably be un-showered and donning a pair of bibs.  I'm so happy this fashion is back.  Because, as I've looked for different pairs of overalls in the past 10 years (when I retired my old ones), they are soooo flat in the front, like Ken.  These new ones I got, come with the patented Front Butt Technology (tm) that my body needs. Also Gatorade, it's got the electrolytes your body craves!  HA! Go tell it on the mountain, that I freakin' love these pants.  

6.) This is maybe the best one of all, so hold onto your hats.  While I was wrapping up my first go around of this post earlier today, I stood up from my desk, looked out the window of the toy shop to the Farmer's Market, and saw a sign that said, House of Jerky.  WHAT!? So, not only am I in my comfort hole of overalls, but now I also get cured meats.  Could this day get better?! Something tells me it will... but I won't hold my breath!

Until next time...I'll leave you with this graceful image of my child on rollerskates.