slr2moons | It's good to have company! ^^

It was wonderful having my parents visit me here, and I am very glad they came. Even though the weather was rather nasty all four days, they still managed to enjoy themselves! And my father bought a nice new coat because of it, too.

Rather than the usual touristy things, my mom wanted to do the things I enjoy here. We ate at my fave Italian and Thai places, had gelato in downtown Portland (thanks to neekaneeks and mcruthless for introducing it to me), bought books at downtown Powell's, the Beaverton Borders (OMG I do love a sale), and one last volume at Powell's Beaverton that was too good a deal to pass up. I drove them along my fave jogging route (just under four miles), we walked through the lovely nature preserve park not too far from my place, saw How to Train Your Dragon in 3D in my fave theater (completely wonderful movie, Dreamworks did something right), tried to show my father the lovely view of Mount Hood visible when you drive east on Hwy 10 through Beaverton but were stymied by the cloudy weather, had more success seeing Mount Saint Helens while driving east on Hwy 14, my mom and I marveled at how the other half lives while touring the Pittock Museum, I now have three differnt kinds of shoe inserts that will hopefully help my foot problems, we all enjoyed the completely delicious self-serve frozen yogurt, had an inpromptu tour of SW Portland when my father's beloved GPS lied to us (never leave home without your paper oridance (map)), after a trip to Tigard my desk has replacement legs (I'd been using a bookcase and magazines to hold up the other end since the movers lost the original set of legs), and my mom helped me plant lily bulbs and spinach in my new planting pots and boxes, which are currently toasting in the warm sun that decided to appear the day after they left. Never fails, right? Also expect pictures once my plants start sprouting. :D

Spicer-kitty was slightly freaked out whenever my parents were in my apartment, but he did remember them. Vaguely. That is, vaguely until I suggested my mother feed him. He certainly remembers her silly kitty dinner-time song! Heh.

We put about 150 miles on my car in 4 days, which is about two months worth of driving at my usual rate. :B This was good, though, because I ended up making a list of the various things now wrong with my car. It isn't surprising Rei (my car) isn't back to 100% after being pretty much dismantled while the garage guys hunted for that electrical drain. My dad was able to screw the right headlight back in, at least. The air conditioner only blows hot air (the relevant pipe under the hood still feels very cold, and Dad said the compressor was turning on properly), the right door lock has become intermittent (please don't steal my car), and the constant presence of the check engine light has returned to be my friend. JOY. I have an appointment on Monday back at the garage. I'm hoping Murphy's Law will apply in that since I have a book club meeting the next evening, of course they will have my car drivable before then. When I took Rei in last month with two weeks before my meeting, of course they did NOT. :P~~~

I mentioned how Rei was just fine for so many years, and now she's starting to have regular problems. My mom suggested once I have this last bout of things fixed, I need to trade her in for a new vehicle. I agree. T.T A little hybrid is all I need out here, though I'm not sure how I could plug it in while parked. The whole apartment complex thing. I need to do research.

I was able to take today off from work, and it's been lovely. Back to the grindstone tomorrow, of course, but it's quite nice to have a day where I can relax without guilt. *deep breath*

Hopefully my parents can come to visit again soon, and maybe my sister can join them. With luck it won't be cold, wet, and rather nasty either!