The Rug...

So, I'm driving home from San Francisco, like a bat, in order to get to work to take a shift for someone else, and I realize I got an email from Papa New, my Family...

Sue,

I am sorry to say that we have found your services are no longer needed.  It has been great getting to know you and we have appreciated your thoughtful insight and the help you have provided. We just no longer have the excess income required to sustain your position and we also don’t feel we need any further help at this time.  Of course you can take 30 days to get your things together and we are very happy to give you a great reference.  Please let me know if you have any questions.  You will always be welcome for a cup of tea and a visit and I’m sure the kids will be expecting that. 

Respectfully Yours,

This totally rocks my boat because a) I had planned on being with this family for about two years, and b) just two weeks prior, he was talking about getting a 5th wheel for me, and parking it over in the orchard, blah, blah, blah, and how everybody loves Miss Sue.

I responded later that night to the email, stating my first reaction...  "Oh wow.  Okay."  I mean really, what am I going to say?  So I did make a few comments, no specific questions, but I received no answers in reply for this turn of events out of the blue.

But then, I can't say I am totally surprised.  One thing I learned about these people is that they make split decisions and act impulsively on them (I think).  They made an impulsive decision that they needed somebody, and they put out an ad on craigslist and they "hired" me four months ago.  Now they have changed their minds.

It was quite a shock at the time, and I went through some anger and a little resentment, but it's been a good run, and this isn't a surprise to God, so He must have another plan and just hasn't told me yet.

I have to give this some thought now.

* * *

After driving 10 hours home from San Fran., I worked 10 hours, then only slept 3 1/2 hours and woke up with a horrible cold.  Worked 12 hours, and slept about 4 hours.  Then I got some Nyquil, and was able to get a few more hours of sleep each day.  Slept most of Friday, and had plans for Saturday, but the electricity was off due to a neighborhood outage from the windy, rainy storm we'd had, so I just pretty much lazed around and napped most of the day.

* * *

On a much happier note, G. enjoyed his week in Sweden very much and posted this note on Facebook:

Well Sweden, it's really been too short of a trip but I love you anyway! I'm so happy I got to see so many people, thank you everyone who contacted me to meet up, I've really missed you guys... Sweden round 3 can't be too far off now though.

G. and his Swedish sisters...

With his Swedish Mama...

Enjoying the freedoms of Swedish life...

So, after church and doing laundry, I picked up his girlfriend, E. and we went to Portland to bring the world traveler home.  I drove G.'s car and E. was my navigator... we did good!  On the ride up I told stories on G. about when he was little, and then we made our way to VooDoo Doughnut... it's a current rage, so I had to go.

I didn't have enough time to read their whole menu, and later I saw that they have a LOT of combinations.... but here is what we got....  The Captain Crunch was E.'s favorite, we got the bacon-maple for G., and I had to get a classic!!  Sadly, I bit into him before I thought about pulling out the pretzel and squeezing him to make him "bleed" raspberry jelly... lol

We walked around with our pink box, window shopping and looking at the old buildings.  We also searched for and found a geocache... E.'s first !  (The Flyin'SpiderFam is now up to 389 found!)

It is just so exciting to be in the "downtown" of any city!  People, lights, there is just a vibe in the air of something always going on... life pulsating...   I wouldn't want to live there, but I would like to know my way around an exciting downtown area.



From the skywalk of Pioneer Plaza... downtown Portland...

From there, E. and I went to IKEA... I mean, the boys can't be having all of the Swedish fun, can they?

Inspiration...

I saw this picture, and I thought, "What a great idea for all of those ticket stubs, notes, and scraps I have tucked away for scrapbooking that really don't go with any pictures, or a whole page."  I would like to have a set of 3 or 4... yes, I have enough paper goodies to place in them.  I even thought of including a View Master reel, and a Lake County Fair 4-H ribbon.  It would be quite the conversation piece, holding lots of adventures and memories.  Maybe frames 24" x 14" or so.  I am really excited about this project.  Just need a place to spread out to do it.... preferably without a lot of cat hair!

Wow, just writing that reminded me of the room my folks had in the garage... my dad put a door from the front hall into the garage, and then they plastered the walls with postcards, pictures, posters, paintings, brochures, certificates... all sorts of things from their travels.  It was an entertaining space and it was way fun with all of the memories.  I am not even sure if there are any pictures of it in our family albums... I am sure there are.  Maybe that is where my scrapbooking excitement began....?

After all that window shopping, we were hungry and had dinner in IKEA...  E. had never tried Swedish meatballs before.  She like them!  I enjoyed them also.

Her mom and her boyfriend, who live in the area, stopped by for a short visit while we there too.  Good to chat with them a bit :)

And then we scurried in the misty rain to the airport...

and welcomed G. back home...

It was a good day, and not too long of a drive home.

:)