I'm sorry

When I picked up my daughter from school today,
I found these posted on the walls. They were
written by 4th and 5th graders. Some of the
funniest ones:

Day trips to the beach

SCRAP

This is a great place.


SCRAP is a creative reuse center located at
3901 N Williams in Portland. Donations of re-usable
materials such as textiles, paper, jewelry, wood,
buttons and plastics are collected from local
businesses, institutions, and individuals. These
materials are sorted, displayed, and sold by SCRAP
for artists, educational and community groups. By
breathing new life into old objects, SCRAP reduces
the amount of waste going to landfills. Low cost
art supplies provide schools and organizations with
badly needed art supplies. There are no art classes
offered at my daughter's elementary school, and so
we have an art program which is run completely by
parent volunteers. Many of our supplies come from
SCRAP. SCRAP also has a workshop room that is used
to teach the public the value of reuse. Manufacturers
save money on their disposal costs and receive tax
benefits. Artists, museums, senior groups, summer
camps, children's centers and theater groups transform
SCRAP materials into sculptures, paintings, and other
masterpieces.

REDUCE, RE-USE, RECYCLE!

To find out more about them click here.
Check out "The Story of Stuff" while you are there. It's
20 minutes long, but it's really good.

I took my daughter and one of her friends there today.
We spent a good 3 hours there and they had a great time.
My daughter made me this wonderful journal for Mother's Day.
Front:

Back:

I loooooooove it!

I had my interview at the children's hospital yesterday.
It went well. I just have to check out the other children's
hospital, then decide which of the two I'd rather be at.
The one I went to yesterday was the OHSU Children's Hospital.
Hillary Clinton happen to be there when I was there. I didn't
see her, but security was everywhere.

New photos

Beyond amazing.

Determined.

I finally did it!

And I'm so excited.

I know what it's like to be a child with a life-
changing injury. I know what it's like to be
hospitalized for months at only 8 years old.
When I was injured, my mom was injured
as well. I was transferred to a children's
hospital 2 hours away from where my mom was
hospitalized. It's hard. It's scary. Bad things
that hurt mentally and physically happen. One thing
that helped me get through those times was volunteers
who came to spend time with me. Throughout the
majority of my adult years, I've wanted to return
to a Children's Hospital, volunteer some time, and
hopefully brighten a child's day. I've put it off
for a long time for various reasons, but today, I
did it! I've filled out my application and now
I wait to hear from them. It feels good.

What to do when things are bad

I love love love my Gus. He's my bestest ever friend.
I caught some funny pictures of him

Water makes him get the crazies:


I love his toes in this one:


Stick!


Check out the string of drool:


I love Trudy too. She is such a happy dog. Look at
that smile!



I found this alien plant on the beach:




Not a great picture, but I love this city:


Okay, back to dogs. I met the world's ugliest
dog. Nah, she was so sweet and completely unaware
of her oddness which made her quite adorable. It's
weird petting a dog with no hair. I would have
liked to have gotten a better picture of her, but
I was too embarassed to ask if I could take one,
so I snapped this one while they were leaving.


I sat on the beach for a couple hours, read a good
book, and soaked up some much needed Vitamin D:


After the beach, I stopped at the neighborhood
grocery store. I knew nearly every person
shopping there. Sometimes it feels good to
go to a place where everybody knows your name.

I stopped by my awesome friend Lise's house. She
wasn't home, but her lovely garden was:

Photography: Cheaper than going to see a shrink

Macro photography always makes me feel better. That
and puppies.

Connecting with an old friend

makes me happy. I got an email this morning
from my first boyfriend. He's a great guy, but
we lost contact about 10 years ago. Due to a
somewhat weird series of events over the internet,
he and I have reconnected and I'm so happy. Thank
goodness for this happy spot in this otherwise
gloomy day.

Two more...

For some reason we both found this one to be
hysterically funny.



Here we are laughing about it (after she
picked herself up from the floor)...

Photo Booth

makes me happy. Since switching to Mac, G and
I have spent hours playing with Photo Booth.
The following are from last night.