Klamath. Really? ...

I have been in Klamath Falls for exactly 2 full months yesterday.

I got a call yesterday from Express Temps that Abby's Pizza has accepted me as an Assistant Manager Trainee.

I was not expecting this. No, I take that back. I kinda WAS expecting it because it was not what I really wanted to do. I am not looking forward to working around food. I am not particularly happy right now about working around people. I am not excited.

How do you react, how do you feel, when you have prayed that God would open the right doors for you, but it was not at all what you were hoping for? I feel numb.

I wanted to get a job in bookkeeping... as I think about getting older, and possibly less mobile. I wanted to work in the back of some office. Something I could take to Sweden if I end up moving there someday. As I know I will never be able to actually retire, and I need to be part of the society that gives and not just takes. Per Ben.

But no one would give me the opportunity to be a bookkeeper.

I am sad because I have lost my gypsy ability. Knowing I wouldn't be "here" forever, and able to move to somewhere else as I wanted. Now I am just stuck, tied down. I hate the feeling. I am sad that Thailand is now a whole lot farther away than just next November. I am sad because this just wasn't my plan.

And Klamath Falls? Really? I have been looking around, trying to figure out where I wanted to settle... but I don't think K-Falls is where I wanted to be. I have hated, HATED, the snow and winter. I was already thinking, "I don't want to be here next year!"

But I start next Tuesday. I am making $1.50 less per hour than the toy shoppe. That is because it's going though Express. If I had been hired directly, I would be making the same, and starting benefits. All of that won't begin until I am hired by the pizza company.

So now, to look at the perks...

I am being trained as an Assistant Manager. This is a good title. It will be excellent experience. I will be working 43 hours a week. Good, overtime :) When I am hired, I will start with benefits and a 401K program. If I put in 5%, they will match 4%. That adds up to over $2k a year. I can put in more if I want. A couple years of that and I might have a nice little nest egg.

I just have to adjust my thinking. This must be where God wants me. I need to accept that, and work through my more negative feelings.

I can make this little house my own now, instead of just considering it a parking place. I will have plenty of time to go through my storage and work on projects.

I am thinking three years, but I have a feeling it will be a whole lot longer.

Lord, help me to have a better attitude about Your will for my life :/ Amen.

Our Country in Turmoil.... MORE TO COME

Traveling... MORE TO COME

So the plans are:  Shakespeare play, night out with girls, lunch with hiking friend, birthday with G. and J., van worked on, Lakeview to vote, painting job in Klamath, birthday camping trip....whew!



Ushered for a free ticket for the "The Complete Works of Shakespeare Revised and Abridged in 90 Minutes" at the local theatre in Cannon Beach. My co-worker E. was one of the three actors. It was interesting and I appreciated the time they put ito it

Enjoyed an evening out with my co-workers, E. and K. ...  I think I need fun colored hair also!!

On November 3rd, I had the best FaceTime with B. and Z. while B. opened his birthday box from me We sent kisses and love, but sure do miss those hugs!
  

 

Spent my birthday in St. Helens, Oregon with G. and J. It was way fun! We talked and played several games...

Learned Catan.... Gabe won the first time around. We sell this game in the store for $54, but I found this one at Goodwill for $7 !!  Never opened!

From there, I made my way to a local garage in Gresham on the far side of Portland. I was referred to this place by a guy in Tillamook who said he could recharge my air conditioner. So I had him look it over and also give me an oil change. So he tells me that he doesn't want to put the stuff in the air conditioner reservoir because it's all rusted from a leaking water pump and he is thinking it will all run out. That I should get a new water pump. And then when I tell him I put stop leak in my radiator two years ago, he said I needed to replace the whole system, because that could go at any minute!

Then he sees that I am low on brake fluid and tells me that I have a leak in the rear end. That he could replace a certain part but that would only open up a complete can of worms. He didn't have the parts and would have to order them. He's talking over $1,100 and parts not arriving until Thursday or some crazy thing.

Well, I can't wait...this is like Saturday, and I HAVE to get to Lakeview by Tuesday in order to get my Voter's Ballet at the courthouse...which has been a fiasco in and of itself, and vote in the presidential election!  So I am absolutely terrified of driving the whole entire 300 or so miles to Lakeview because this guy is telling me my brakes will all of a sudden go totally out and the steering will go with it, or that the water will suddenly explode and I will be up the creek without a paddle!

I called "Dan the Van Man" and told him. He asked, "Are your brakes spungy?" No. "Does your water overheat?" No. Well, I think you will do fine, he says. So, I pray for more angels to surround my van, and plan on getting there in one piece!

I overnighted just north of Lakeview where Painted Rock is... where B. and I found the rock with petroglyph, and where G., Bryce and I almost got hit by lightning while looking for a geocache! 

Got to Lakeview safely, got my voting stuff, connected with Dan, who looked everything over and said, "You just got a new water pump, didn't you?" Yes! I had. In Lake Havasu! Which makes me wonder what this guy might have been trying to pull!

(Update June 2017: it has been now about 6 thousand or more miles, and I have not had any problems with either system. Hmmmmm)

Propulsion...

I have been here before.

I have forgotten how the story goes.

I am being propelled forward.

I can't really stop it.

But I did, in some ways, start it.

I am going, going... but I do not know where it will end....


I posted this on Facebook...

Going to be way busy the next couple of days as I depart from the PNW and make my way to the Southwest! Tonight after work, seeing my friend's Shakespeare play, tomorrow night after work with the girl's I work with, Friday, my last day of work at the toy shoppe :(  After that, Saturday lunch with my hiking buddy, Sunday, my birthday with Gabe and Julia, then Monday get my van worked on and possibly my air conditioning fixed. Then to Lakeview to pick up my voting ballot and vote on the 8th. Over to Klamath to visit and do a painting job, and then I head south to pick up my Bestie for a birthday camping trip! Whew! I am exhausted just thinking about it. Don't know where I will be settling, but am looking forward to the beauty of the desert :)

Plans are moving me forward.

I just have to get through them.

And then....

I don't know.

I Move Forward, and a little bit South...

Satisfied pensive reflection...

I like this picture of me. It is not my usual smiley selfie. This was taken on the top of Neahkanie Mtn. earlier this week and I was feeling pretty proud of myself for the accomplishments of this summer.

Stay tuned for adventures from painting the living and dining room for the daughter of a friend, then camping and hiking in Death Valley and Zion National Park for our birthday trip.  We have a reservation in Vegas for one night but I imagine we will be too exhausted to cause much trouble before we head home to get CJ back to work.

Life is good and I feel blessed to be able to live mine in this way.


:)


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I Am Alive... TO BE WRITTEN SOON

How I Spent My Summer Vacation...

Last year when I left Cannon Beach, I felt like there was so much I hadn't seen and done during my 5 months here on the coast.  I came back knowing that finding housing would be almost impossible, but I had a full time job.  I did not feel that checking into my previous roommate situation would be the best idea although I know the room is available.  Just too toxic a deal there.

If I had had a place, I would have used my days off to clean and sleep.  And cook... I would have enjoyed the cooking part.  Doing the vandwelling thing allowed me to be on the move, and my thought was, "If I can sleep here, I can sleep there" and would often drive a distance after work to explore.

I mostly want to thank my friend here, E., who went with me on hikes in the beginning until our schedules didn't coincide... but the experiences made me less afraid of going hiking on my own.

The following is not in chronological order, as I can't remember offhand but I sure had fun! :)

Events or Places I went to:

• Swedish Summerfest in Astoria
• Columbia Maritime Museum in Astoria
• Astoria Column - walked to top and flew a balsa wood airplane
• World Kite Museum in Long Beach, WA
• Tillamook Cheese Factory in Tillamook
• Sailed on a Tall Ship from Ilwaco, WA
• Viewed the Wreck of the Peter Iredale
• Fall Kite Festival in Lincoln City

Hikes accomplished, not in the order of when they were done:

• Tillamook Head from Seaside
• Columby Lake with E.
• Fort to Sea Trail with E.
• Cape Falcon
• Bloom Lake Trail
• Munsen Falls Trail south of Tillamook
• Century Tree Trail out of Astoria
• Ecola Beach to Indian Beach north of Cannon Beach
• Short Sand Trail with E.
• Saddleback to Humbug Point with E.
• Kilchis Nature Trail near Tillamook
• Wahkeena Falls, Columbia River
• Triple Falls, Columbia River
• Saddleback Mtn. to the summit
• Young's River Falls south of Astoria
• Smith Rock State Park, Summit Loop Trail
• Neahkanie Mtn., South Trail
• Multnomah Falls, top of falls, Columbia River

Things I learned:

• How to fly a 2 handled delta stunt kite
• That I enjoy being able to come and go as I like both in regards to relationships and housing 

:)