Habits I have developed since moving to DC

·         I sleep with the a/c and with my electric blanket on.  

·         I stay in bed past 6:00am on weekends and lay in bed watching I Love Lucy while drinking my morning coffee.  

·         I decided to finally start working out regularly.  Now I miss it when my schedule is thrown off.  J

·         I hand wash my dishes (don’t have a dish washer) every night and put them away first thing in the morning before making my bed or having coffee.

·         I take the screen off my windows so I can hang out of it while I shake my bathroom rugs out.  Hey, I’m 11 floors up, why not!  

·         I started acting like Granny.  On my commute home, I have my keys out and in my hand miles before I get to my apartment complex.

·         I vacuum my apartment at least twice a week.  I love to have a freshly vacuumed carpet.  So clean looking.  J

·         I have become a true lover of coupons.    I recently paid a $1.80 for 3 boxes of Kellogg’s cereal and saved 86% off my grocery bill recently at Safeway!  What a feeling of satisfaction.  Sales + double coupons make for a happy Patti.

·         I will stop everything I am doing to watch thunder and lightening storms. They are incredibly cool unless you get stuck in one, which recently happened.  I ran as fast as I could and I still was soaked when I made it to cover.   I have never seen rain drops SO big!

I love this place! 

The best is yet to come!

What is that???

They say every home has it's own character.  Well, that would mean my little efficiency apartment too.  So what is that and how did it get there?

As I was laying in bed, I periodically would smell cigarette smoke coming from the bathroom.  I knew I wasn't a secret smoker who hides in the bathtub to lite one up and then cover up the smell with bad perfume.  Nope, not me. So where was it coming from?   Determined to find out, I was on a mission.

When I first moved in, I noticed this portion of the bathroom ceiling that was supposed to have some type of light bulb in it.  After inquiring at the front desk, I found out it was a heat lamp and the bulbs were on back order.  No problem.  However with summer here and temperatures consistently in the 90s, I am not rushing down to remind them I still haven't received one yet.

One night I am getting ready to go to bed and there it is....that smell.  I rush into the bathroom and start sniffing away like a bloodhound to find out the source of that smell.  My nose lead me to the ceiling where this heat lamp bulb was supposed to be.  The people living above me smoke and it was somehow filtering down into my bathroom through the fixture without a bulb.

At first I tried stuffing an old towel in there but quickly learned that didn't work.  But then it occurred to me, ah, duct tape, that's what I need.  Inspired by MacGyver, who seemed to use duct tape in every episode, I went to grab it out of my utility closet.  But sadness suddenly came upon me when I thought  I was all out, but wait, who said duct tape had to be gray, I have red duct tape. Yes, red duct tape.  I had bought it when I was packing to move here to DC.  There wasn't much left so it might be a stretch to get it all covered.   Well as you can see there is this little strip of brown.  I ran out of red duct tape but had some brown packing tape that saved the day to finish off the job.

Now the moment of truth.....do I still smell smoke in my bathroom?  Nope!   Mission Accomplished!!!

When all else fails use duct tape, no matter what color it is!

On an additional note....I would like to know why those people in workout dvd's aren't sweating and are always smiling?  I am about half dead and dripping in sweat and ready to kickbox the tv!    Gotta love a good workout!

Honk if.....

I decided to take a little different approach for this posting.  It’s random, so go with it.  J

For this blog I have developed a 3 ‘HONK’ rating system. 

HONK =  agree

HONK HONK = really agree

HONK HONK HONK = absolutely 100% agree

Mullets….yes I said mullets.  A few weeks ago, I was traveling with my team from work to Baltimore, Maryland.  The hotel we were in had free breakfast every morning along with free cocktails every night for happy hour.  Being the drinker that I am I downed glass after glass of ginger ale!  Oh it was SO good.  It was here that we saw the mullet men.  They were everywhere so we determined they were having a mullet convention.  In fact, one mullet man even asked a member of our team if he could buy her a drink.  Lol   Yes he offered to buy her a free drink.  LOL  Oh we still laugh about that one.  The funny thing is, we have to go back to Baltimore at the end of this month and are already wondering if mullet convention part 2 will be in session.   Stay tuned…..

**For all those mullet men out there….you’re rating is:  HONK

John Bevere....John Bevere was here, John Bevere was here!  Another church in The District recently invited us to a private Saturday morning/afternoon leadership session with John Bevere.  With about 200 of us in attendance, he spoke on honor and leadership.  He shared one thing in particular that really caught my attention.  He talked about faithfulness and asked us what it meant.  So we begin shouting out answers of what we thought it was.  However, John brought perspective of faithfulness I have never really thought of before but makes sense.  Yes all the definitions we gave reflected faithfulness but he said this “Faithfulness is also multiplication!”  Yes multiplication….multiplying leaders.  We are being faithful to the gift God has given us by expanding it beyond our own means.  If you are serving in an area you should be training others in the same department.  If you are gone one week the whole department doesn’t shut down or not function at full capacity, but rather you can be gone and not have to think worry about it.  It simply is a matter of multiplying (expanding) what God has placed in you to others to reach more people for the Kingdom!   So what are we doing to expand our gift?  Are we developing assistants or others to help and build the church?  In my opinion, great perspective.

**Let’s hear it for John Bevere…HONK HONK HONK

4^th of July….Do you know how long I have waited to be in Washington, DC for the 4^th of July!  And it didn’t let me down.   There I was headed out the door to catch the metro to see the Washington Nationals take on the Chicago Cubs.  Rumor on the street was they were expecting an estimated 600,000 people to use the metro  on this day.  But who cares let’s just get to the game.   Well  I arrived at the Pentagon to jump on the metro and after changing trains, I realized they weren’t kidding…people were everywhere!!  The train approaches the platform and throngs of people flocked to the doors.  They open, some people exited and then it was a free for all.  We all flooded in like a flock, I am on the end and I thought to myself, I sure hope my butt makes it inside the door otherwise I might have a new way of having lippo suction.  Sssqqquueezzzeedddd in and everyone standing in very close proxity of each other.   Ok, here comes the door (and they are not like elevators that open back up when you stick an object in front of the door)….suck it in and lean forward into an rather unique position with all the mass of people…and……the door…….closed!  Whew!  I tried not to breathe for two metro stops before getting off at Nationals Park, but I had to inhale and smell some interesting things I am not really sure I wanted to smell.  lol

After watching the Washington Nationals beat the Chicago Cubs in 10 innings, I made the journey back to my apartment to prepare to watch the DC fireworks from the confines of my own home.  After only being influenced by Molalla fireworks I have just one thing to say…. Wow oh wow!!!  Now that’s a grand finale!  I think next year I might join the throngs of people and head to the mall to take in all the excitement.  For now, this year was the year to kind of scope it all out for next year.

**Here’s to a good 4^th of July.  HONK HONK

Working for America

As part of our audit work, I recently visited a construction site in The District.  Even though I wasn't actually performing the construction work on the site, we had a good time as I posed for this picture.  DDOT, District Department of Transportation, even loaned me a pair of steel toed boots, hard hat, and vest!

The funny thing is, my job is sending me to Oregon at the end of August, along with my team.  After we have completed what we need to do, the team will fly back and I will hang around for a few extra days.  Let's hope it doesn't rain!

Apartment pictures have FINALLY arrived!

Thank you for your patience as I finally have posted pictures of my studio apartment.  It's a fun little place to start out with.  It's nothing fancy but it works.  It's very easy in this city to spend most of your paycheck on rent and I determined I would rather have a middle of the road type apartment in a safe environment with flexibilities to do stuff than restrict myself financially by paying super high rent for luxury living, as they call it here.  One day that luxury living will come, but for now, I have chosen a place that isn't top of the line but isn't a rat trap....it's just right!

The amenities are nice, as it has a workout facility downstairs, a pool (which opens today), a private fenced in park area, tennis courts, 7-11 on site, 24 hour security patrol, and so forth.  It really is a good location.  My commute to work is now only 30 minutes instead of 2 hours, one way.  And I don't even have to drive, the bus picks me up from my apartment building and takes me right to the Pentagon where I get on the Metro which takes me right to the front steps of my office building.  (one block from Nationals Park...oh yes, I love this place!)

As far as other happenings....everything is good. I am finally feeling settled and I am happy!  I love this city and I love my church!

Have a great Memorial Day weekend. I am headed to the Nationals baseball game on Monday and then into DC for some festivities after.

One last thing.....Congratulations to Thomas and Nicole on moving into their new house yesterday!!!!  Can't wait to see it.

Try to stay dry if you live in Oregon....getting my sunscreen out here in DC.    :)

See you all soon.....

The best is yet to come!

Patti

Shelf

I've come to really like this box shelf idea.  The bottom left corner is empty because the vase I had bought to put in there broke as I was bringing it home.  So for now it stays empty to until I decide what to put in there.  Also I still need to get some candles and add a picture to the frame.  Little stuff to do but that will come later.

The notorious couch!

Here it is...it's not stuffed in the back of my car or being hauled up 11 flights of stairs....it's in my living room!  On the back right corner you will see a blue ruffled pillow.  My mom made that for Granny and after she passed away a few months ago I was able to have it and will now always be a part of my home, no matter where that may be.  And of course, I can lay on the couch and shoot hoops!  LOL