The times, they are a changin'

The recession. This economy. "It's only going to get worse", I hear.

For me, that's true. OK, I wouldn't say worse. Different.

I walked into my Office Manager's office Tuesday morning and we started chit-chatting about the economy and how it's affecting our business. The construction industry has not been so well-to-do in the last few years, if you haven't noticed.

Then the owner came in. The three of us talked about options and solutions. But there only seemed to be just the one.

Lynnae is now unemployed.

It was a mutual decision, as much as it could be. I understand business, and when it's slow, you start cutting where you can. It's not personal. In fact they raved about how I've been the best assistant they've ever had, that they would give me only the best referrals and even help me compose a "rockin'" resume. I've been let go on the best of circumstances.

I'm unemployed.

It's such a foreign word to me. I've been employed since I was 15-1/2! I've always worked. Ok, except for those 4 months of maternity leave, taking care of a baby Cole - no wait! That was like working triple overtime and not getting paid for it!

In all honesty..........I'm not scared. I never over-reacted, I never cried (if you know me, you know I cry over everything).........at first I thought I was in shock or just numb........but something deep down tells me it will all work out.

Everything Happens For A Reason

Gawd, that's been the story of my life, but as cliche as it sounds - IT'S SO TRUE. I'll be able to enjoy Christmas........really *ENJOY* it.............get the house in order.......work on the ghia.........pick Cole up from school..........and look for a job that interests me........(not just the first one, to get out of Tully's).......heck, I even thought of that! I could go back to Tully's for awhile, who knows.

Thanksgiving & The Tree

Yep, so that's my brother Sean. Tying up my son. His nephew. His own flesh & blood.

And Cole absolutely LOVES it!

(this was only one of two photos I got on Thanksgiving?!??)

Thanksgiving was at my parents house with a medium gathering - just about 12 of us. Over the years there has been very large gatherings with both sides of the family and then a couple with just a table-full. This was a happy medium.

I was especially glad to see my bro & sis-in-law Chantale! They were originally attending T-day at her mom & dad's, but a back injury prevented her mom from hosting any festivities. I'm sorry that it had to be under these circumstances, but I am always glad to see them any chance I get!

We spent the rest of the weekend out in the garage. You guessed it - working on the ghia. The first time I came out after Shawn, he had the rear passenger wheel off!! Woo-hoo, cuz they were tough!

Then after lunch I came out to find he was able to remove the passenger seat - completely out of the car! Double woo-hoo! Especially since the floor pans are in beautiful shape!

No photos....?!?!? Gawd, I'm slacking....

He was also able to determine that the drivers door isn't even latched. It's not locked, it's not latched?? So I turn to him, "Wanna try kicking it open?" "Exactly what I was thinking" he said to me. With two swift kicks to the door, careful not to break the glass -

POP!

It's open, the drivers side door is open!!

(again, no pics - tsk, tsk......)

So we've crossed a few things off the "terrible 4" list:

~engine compartment open

~drivers side door open

~passenger seat out

Sweet!

Sunday: Cole had been bugging us all weekend about a Christmas tree. I don't blame him, I'm right there with him. Just more restraint, being an adult and all.

(hahahahahaha!)

It was too late in the day to head to the mountains like last year and the lots are too outrageously expensive! Well, for a Noble Fir, which is what I like. Call me a Christmas tree snob, I don't care.

Soooo...... are you ready for it?? I can't believe it's coming out of my mouth......

We bought a fake tree.

{{ Gasp! }}

I know, I know, I know....... ME with a fake tree. Don't get me wrong, I'm all about fake trees, I just never thought that I would own one.

I think I need to lie down.

Cole doing a beautiful job decorating

My new FAVORITE song

Why? First, it's a great rock song, it's got great acceleration.

And second, because I've. been. there. With all these stupid songs out there about "I can't make you love me" by Bonnie Raitt, "Don't Speak" by No Doubt, "Heart of the Matter" by Don Henley and practically any Sarah McLachlan or Evanescence song and countless others......for once there's a song for us FABULOUS women sung by the men who lost us!

The Airborne Toxic Event - Sometime Around Midnight

And it starts, sometime around midnight. Or at least that’s when you lose yourself for a minute or two. As you stand, under the bar lights. And the band plays some song about forgetting yourself for a while. And the piano’s this melancholy soundtrack to her smile. And that white dress she’s wearing you haven’t seen her for a while.

But you know, that she’s watching. She’s laughing, she’s turning. She’s holding her tonic like a cross. The room’s suddenly spinning. She walks up and asks how you are. So you can smell her perfume. You can see her lying naked in your arms.

And so there’s a change, in your emotions. And all these memories come rushing like feral waves to your mind. Of the curl of your bodies, like two perfect circles entwined. And you feel hopeless and homeless and lost in the haze of the wine.

Then she leaves, with someone you don’t know. But she makes sure you saw her. She looks right at you and bolts. As she walks out the door, your blood boiling your stomach in ropes. Oh and when your friends say,“What is it? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

Then you walk, under the streetlights. And you’re too drunk to notice, that everyone is staring at you. You just don’t care what you look like, the world is falling around you.

You just have to see her.

You just have to see her.

You just have to see her.

You just have to see her.

You just have to see her.

You know that she’ll break you in two.

~ Rosalie Kay ~

I am so proud to introduce

~ Rosalie Kay ~

Born November 22 at 5:13 AM

just look at that tiny hand holding on to Mom's finger!

tiny feets

and lots and lots of hair! just like her parents

Proud Mom Danelle and little Rosalie

My dear friend Danelle and her boyfriend Jamie have finally welcomed their darling little girl into the world! (or should I say Danelle 'evicted' her?? hehe!)

Labor & delivery went fine - although a little long - and Mom & baby are recovering nicely. Danelle was even up and moving around when we stopped to see her! (I was so clueless after I had Cole, jeez!)

I ran into proud Papa in the hall on the way out and he was just oozing inner light! I have never seen a more proud Dad!

Congrats to the three of you!!

(Jenna & I will be by very soon to kidnap your darling and send you two out for some "me" time)

Weekend Update

Sorry, this isn't the SNL version, but the Shawn & Lynnae version. (Although I do miss the days of Adam Sandler showing up as Opera Man )

As I'm typing this, I'm realizing all kinds of big news that happened this weekend :)

I had Friday off - don't be jealous - and went and sat at the Social Security Office and then the DMV to officially become a ..... WILSON.

Yay!!!!!

Funny thing in my family, I've actually come full-circle. My Dads Mom's family was Wilson. That's the reunion we used to have every year out at my Uncle Don's property in Forks, WA.

FRIDAY:

Low-key, Anna came over finally, after not being here for the past 2 or 3 weekends. She didn't even know about the Ghia. And didn't seem too enthused about it. I'm chalking it up to being a teen-ager and the self-centeredness that comes along with it. (I have to remember, I was there once too, and it will fade. Eventually)

SATURDAY:

Got up, got breakfast, Shawn made coffee at *home* - thanks babe! and saved me from running out in the cold and spending money, when we had perfectly good Tully's at home :)

Started out on the Ghia - we both wanted to tackle a major project - something to say that we've made significant progress. We had 4 things on our list:

>The steering column (which is locked, but seats need to be removed first)

>Removing the seats

>Opening the drivers door

>Opening the engine latch

Shawn started drilling on the rivets on the underside of the car for the engine release. You see, just like with any "hood" release, there is a lever you pull which connects to a cable and releases the latch. The Ghia's had rusted through, so no cable to pull on. The latch on the Ghia is bolted to the frame, so if we just loosen the bolts?..... No, no, no, of course it couldn't be that easy. The later model Ghia's are *riveted* to the frame................. (huge exhausting sigh and rolling of the eyes). After blowing through countless drill bits to try and pop them out. And drilling through some of the metal, Shawn got up and tried to pull up on the "hood".................

(in a sing-song-y voice)

Look what we found....... !!

He figures that when he drilled through the metal, that he must've hit the cable just right to release it!!!!!! The latch works perfectly - very smoothly, no lubrication needed!

Oh yeah, it's dirty and filled with mouse/rat poop, pine needles, a sprout of some sort growing out of the engine and even a huge mouse/rat nest, but like most of the car - it's INTACT!
Even if it doesn't run, even if it's crap, engines for these things are workable and/or cheap. $400 bucks for the car - I'm not complaining!

And to confirm another thing, with only 2 pedals inside the car - a gas & a brake (first thing we both thought - "did one of them seriously rust off??" (the two are nasty and unmoveable))

It's an AUTO-STICK!!!!!

A spout off of the engine said, "ATF" - Automatic Transmission Fluid. Yippee!!!

Sturday night we had Glen, Pete & Candice over for some homemade Steak Chili and UFC (on fast forward, of course) I'm too old and my time is too precious to sit around and watch a FULL evening of UFC. So we record it and FF through all the hype, etc.

I could tell Cole was getting bored as well, so pulled out his newest favorite game - Banopoly. (yes, "Monopoly"...... I don't know why...) Candice was the Realtor, I was the bank and poor Anna couldn't catch a break on buying ANY properties! But she did win "Free Parking" so in the end she came out with the most money. Of course if you ask who won, Cole would of course say, "Me!"

UFC was done so we pulled out The Big Button game. (grinning from ear to ear) If you've never played The Big Button game over here at the Wilson's, well, be prepared to LOSE! It's actually called 'Scene It' that we play on the XBOX 360 and it comes with handheld cordless buzzers, almost like Jeoporday. It's all movie questions and (patting myself on the back) I *kill* it everytime. Shawn jokes that he's going to give me old batteries next time, or that they'll make me play in the kitchen - farther from the sensor! Don't get me wrong, I'm a good sport and Candice & Pete gave me a good run! It was great spending time with them.

We were discussing the Seahawks game on Sunday and since we all had tickets & going to the game, we decided to carpool. (Yippee, more Candice & Pete time!) hehe.

SUNDAY:

Pete made some awesome bloody mary's and off we went! We had a great drive up to the game, pretty good weather and fantastic seats! Stopped at the Pyramid beer garden for a bit before the game. And decided to meet up with Candice & Pete at halftime for more drinks and food. We were right next to the 12th Man Flag, it was awesome!

The Hawks gave it a run, but it turned out as usual - us losing.
To Arizona.
Ugh.

Good-bye to this season. There's always next year, right?


Great view of the city



Shawn & I at the game

She's home!!

Do you see that?? There she is, nicely tucked into her new home for the next 3(?) years.

At home in our garage!

(me = grinning ear to ear)

It wasn't easy - her wheels are cocked a little to the left and the steering column is frozen/locked in place. Thank goodness she's light since the guys had to lift her up a couple times to get her lined up correctly!

Shawn & Dad loading her onto the trailer for her trip home

(My Dad's brother, Uncle Milton, is running the winch.

(You should've seen these two in the field! Like two boys in a candy store!!)

isn't she cute?!?!

The tough part - getting her into the garage

"Uugghh! Push!"

A BIG Thank You to: Dad, Uncle Milton, Shawn, Sammy, Dave, Glen & Brian. Without your help, we never would've been able to get her in there! You guys ROCK!!

(and thanks to Jenna for always keeping me laughing! :)

She wasn't even home a day and we had the front and rear windows out, cleaned, protectively wrapped and stored in the attic. I started taking out carpet and Shawn went to work taking off trim pieces. We're still trying to figure out the drivers door (it's stuck closed) and the engine release mechanism. Do we call it a 'hood' or a 'trunk' ?? Either way, we can't open it up to see the engine. The cable to release it is rusted through, so we'll have to jimmy-rig getting it open.

Don't be scared, an authentic VW service manual is ordered and on its way.

In the meantime, we just get to take off what we can, clean the good parts and store them for later. At least Cole is having fun running the shop vac.

Home in the garage

For my Dad

This is the field/wrecking yard/property in Olympia where we found the Ghia.... and many, many more treasures..... some in decent shape, some probably headed to the crusher like the 150 or so before them....... it was amazing to see the extent of the vehicles...... and I only took photos of the 'cool' ones!

I love you Dad, hope you enjoyed!

~Nae

*My* Karmann Ghia

It's an AMAZING thing to utter....... and it's true.....

"MY Karmann Ghia"

Those of you who know me well know that I've wanted one since I was about 11 or 12?? (Or did it start earlier? Cami, Jackie, help me out!) If ever you were to ask me what my "dream car" would be, I would unwavering & immediately answer, "Karmann Ghia". They're small, they're sleek, they're sexy and they're a VW. What more could a girl want?

OK, so she's not the prettiest - yet. But her story is a great one:

My lovely, amazing, fantastic, husband of all husbands called me Thursday night, "I just found the most amazing thing on Craigslist - are you ready??" He did a random search, as we both have done every once in awhile for the past 6 months or so - just for fun. Just to see what they're going for. Normally you can't touch one for under $1000. And even at that price they need A LOT of work. He read the ad to me, told me to check it out myself and call the guy. Pronto.

I hopped on the laptop and this is what I saw:

I called the guy immediately. It turns out a gentleman passed away over a year ago. The guy posting the ad, "Bruce" was contacted to be in charge of the estate & help out the elderly widow. Come to find out, the gentleman who passed away was some sort of tow truck/wrecking yard kind of guy. The Ghia - and over 300 other cars - sat in this massive, 20-30 acre 'field' in Olympia. Maybe people would get their cars towed and couldn't afford to fix them or get them out of the wrecking yard, etc., so there they sat. "Bruce" is now liquidating the estate & cleaning up the property. They've taken over 150 cars to the crusher already. (I'll post more photos on that part of the story later)



We met "Bruce" down in Olympia bright and early Saturday morning - I didn't want this one to get away!
"1973 or 74 VW Karmann Ghia, sitting for years, $400."

You read correctly: 400 bucks!


Me & my '73 Ghia

As I said, she's not the prettiest. She has some rust, there was moss growing on the outside of the vehicle, but she's intact! Almost completely intact! The interior, for being parked since 1993 (15 YEARS!!!), is almost immaculate! She has all of her emblems, most of the chrome and the trunk looked great. We weren't able to pop the engine compartment (rusty cable due to sitting) but Shawn could read the info on the spark plugs.

I get to take her home this Saturday :)


Thanks sweetie, for even bothering to look for Ghia's for me, for knowing how much this means to me and for saying, "LET'S DO THIS!"

I love you!

Halloween - Yes Sir!

Cole went as an ARMY man

are you surprised?

Camo everywhere!!! Can you see him?

The trick-or-treaters: Brandon, Rebecca & Cole
(skeleton, cheerleader & soldier)


HOPE YOU ALL HAD A SAFE AND FUN HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!
(send photos!)

Pumpkins

Cole & Anna

Cole on the tractor

Pumpkin sling-shot

Rebecca, Brandon & Cole slinging pumpkins

Teamwork! - Cole helping Denise helping Brandon

Rebecca found her pumpkin

Cole & Brandon driving the tractor

(I wish there was sound..... notice Cole's face - he's making the tractor noise!)

Cole & Mom

My sister Kathy, Emily & Sawyer

My sister Kathy, her partner Emily & their son Sawyer flew out from Minneapolis to join us for the wedding. With good planning (?) it turns out that they were here the whole week after the wedding, which gave us time to catch up with both families. Whew!

(I got a severe head cold Monday after the wedding, hence the lateness of these posts. Between the cold, having my sister still in town and then taking a week off of DOING NOTHING..... now I'm back in business!)

I wish she was closer. I wish THEY were closer. To all of us. Minnesota seems so far after they leave. Ugh. And to think that Kathy & Sawyer were just out here in April?? Sawyer was still crawling! Now he's a walking, jabbering machine! Oh, it's harder and harder every time they leave..... Thank goodness for modern technology - email, cell, video, etc.

(I've always had a strange feeling/connection to Wisconsin - who knows, maybe we'll end up there someday! It would be a little closer at least!)

I MISS YOU GUYS ALREADY !!!!!!!!

The whole fam at Napoli

(sorry sis!) Kathy, Emily & Sawyer helping prep for the wedding

LOVE this one!

Sawyers first rave & glow stick

Sawyer & Grammy

Cole reading to Sawyer

Such a good cousin!

Pizza, bread & beers at Napoli

The Kids: my bro Sean, me & my sis Kathy

Cole kept Sawyer busy while we ate

Woo! Too much pizza??

Awwww...... They had matching Chuck Taylors!

(same - same!)