Michelle Perin’s Blog

Day 45 (Tuesday)
Only one more day!! I can’t believe I am really getting to go to Phoenix tomorrow. How exciting. I’m not totally thrilled about flying but each time I do it and don’t stress I get less anxious the next time.

I got to work and felt I had a mound of stuff to do. We have a potential intake on my first day back and it wasn’t one of the easy ones. It was for an Alaska kiddo and they require a lot of pre-authorizations and different stuff to make it all legit. I have made it my thing to know all about our Alaska contract and am worried it might not get done. I guess I have to just let it go and trust in my managers and co-workers. After all, I’m going to have FUN IN THE SUN in less than24 hours. I also had an intake and an orientation scheduled for the day. Well, it’s no wonder I finally forced myself to leave at 615pm. I still had to go food shopping to get the boys all set-up for the week ahead. My car is still being a pain in my butt and starting when it wants to and not when I want it to. The trick is to wait until it locks the doors a few seconds after I put the key in accessory mode. Then on the third or so try right after the doors lock, it’ll start. I just want to get in my car and have it go. I do love my old car but seriously…I have things I have to do and very little time to do it.

I did all my shopping and had a car full of what looked like super boy food. That’s because it was. I had chips and ravioli and Mac n’ cheese and pizza and Salisbury steak, etc. The fridge was already stocked with sodas from the camping trip so they were set with drinks. I got home and looked around kind of in a non-panic but panic if you know what I mean. I didn’t have anything packed and I was leaving at 4am. Oh, well I pack light usually. By midnight, I had finally got completely ready, bag packed, legs shaved, paperwork situated for both myself and for Aaron who was watching the boys. I also paid a few bills thanks to Megan in the business office making sure I had my draw check in time to get things situated. My rent is due on the 5th, I was getting paid on the 5th and I was going to be gone until late on the 6th. All I had to do was figure the math. So, I lied down at midnight. I guess that really ends this day. I didn’t do much to make a difference. I did cancel my bass lesson cause I knew I would never get out of work in time which I didn’t. I also didn’t practice much so that’s okay. Of course, I will have a bass lesson again my first full day back and I know I won’t have any practice in. It can be an hour practice session. Now I’m getting excited…super excited!

Day 44 (Monday)

Today is a federal holiday, but I went to work. I just had 3 days off. I only have to work 2 and then I’m headed to Phoenix for 6 days. I can handle working a holiday especially since I have a feeling I am going to have more than 16 hours of work to get completed before Tuesday at 4pm. The office was quiet since it was only Chris and I working a regular day. The kids were on a break too.

I did as much work as I could, but still had a ton left when I had to go. The gym wasn’t open so I went for a run. I don’t know if I can count my run to the gym as “make a difference” time if the gym wasn’t even available to drive to, but I’m going to. That’s the best thing about doing my own thing-I get to make my own rules. So, I’m calling it a saved 3.98 miles for the day.

Day 43 (Sunday 5/29)

We spent another day being totally anti-gas saving. After we got up, had some breakfast and tore down camp, the boys and I decided to give Shotgun Recreation Area another go. We really wanted to find mud and it had rained most of the morning so chances were good we’d find a puddle or two. And, we did.

Instead of continuing up towards Shotgun Creek, we turned left under the power lines just past the entrance. After switching seats with Marc, we found the puddle of all puddles. It was at the base of a power line. This particular power line had a magnificent dirt trench all around it with the puddle right in the middle of one side. Marc hit the gas and flew through the puddle splashing mud all over the place. Then we went around and around and around…ad infinitum. We also crawled to the top of the hill over some craggy bumps. There were a couple guys at the top who had stopped to watch us when we were puddling and were now taking pictures. Marc would have been grinning from ear to ear if it were cool for a teenager to do that. Instead he just looked cool, calm, collected and super tough. After hanging out there for a while, we continued up the trail found some more mud and just had a general good time. When we came out of the woods we had to go through the power line puddle another dozen times. Marc even took Dean by himself once so that he could get the full experience of sitting in the front. I stood outside and took pictures. Ursala was covered in mud. She looked sufficiently manly in all her dirt.

As the evening was falling we headed home. Marc wanted to drive right through town which we did. I guess he really wanted everyone to know how much fun we had had. People did stare and point as we were driving home, so I guess it was pretty cool. I think Ursala is going to remain that dirty for a while. But, as far as, saving gas, I didn’t do much for that today. I did have a great time and made my boys pretty happy.

Day 42 (Saturday)

Woke up to a relatively sunny day. It wasn’t cold. That was nice. I don’t mind the rain if it’s warm. That’s why I live in a tropical rain forest and not in the freezing cold slushiness I used to. I slept in again. This time I didn’t wake up until 830 am or so. I think I might be catching up on all that sleep I haven’t been getting. Or, I might be storing up because I don’t think I’m going to sleep much Sunday, Monday or Tuesday. I have so much to do and I’m so excited and nervous. Anyway, I got up and there was coffee and an awesome breakfast spread of eggs, bacon, sausage and potatoes. I love camping breakfast. I don’t care what kind of Biggest Loser challenge I’m doing at work or how I want to look before Phoenix, I’m eating camping breakfast. After breakfast, we decided to hit some of the forest trails. This is where I age 20 years. I took 8 kids including Marc and let him drive off-road. With an incline on one side going straight down the mountain and him driving like a teenager, I thought I was going to have a heart attack. In hindsight, I see he didn’t drive badly at all. He was cautious and listened well. I just felt like I was going to wet myself. Once we got back to camp, we decided to try and find another muddier trail. For my sake, one that wasn’t so far up the side of a mountain. The ranger station gave us information on heading towards Crawfordsville and Marcola. There was a great place called Shotgun Creek Recreation Area. Marc had heard of that before. It’s actually not too far outside of Springfield. Excited we headed back to camp, picked up more kids (9 of us in all this time) and headed out. We did find some fun mud and pot holes. We hit the top trying o get to the 4×4 truck trail but it was blocked. Justifiably so. The mud was thick and totally unstable. I had to turn the truck around because Marc was afraid of getting stuck. I guess there is something to be said about having years more experience driving. Even a teenager can appreciate that some times. We got some wonderful photos of all of us and the scenery. After we came back down, we stopped at the recreation area and played a bit in the river. When the rain stops, I can see us going back here. There is a beach and even firewood provided by the park. Nice.

Back at camp, we made chicken, baked beans, corn on the cob and baked potatoes for dinner. I think I’ve gained 5 pounds this weekend. I guess I’ll let you know if that’s true on Monday when I weigh in. After dinner, we had birthday cake. It was two of the kids’ birthdays this last week so we had some yummy white cake with Barbie on it. I went to bed early again (I guess 10 is early for camping) and read a bit. The kids stayed up, played hide and seek and generally created chaos until around midnight. That’s the way camping should be. I remember it that way. The adults go to bed. The kids stay up all rowdy until the lay where they fall. I vaguely remember Dean crawling into the tent and the slam of the Suburban door indicating Marc crawled into his bed. Ahhhh, lovely sleep.

All in all this week I saved 23.96 miles which is just under 2 gallons of gas. Gas prices have gone down so that’s $7.38.

Day 41 (Friday)

Yay, vacation-time officially started. I slept in (800am), got up, did a bit of work around the house and did some planning for the camping trip. Marc decided we should go 4-wheeling so we needed to get a map of the forest roads up near Sweet Home. We needed to go into town to get a cake at Wal-Mart anyway, so we could head to the Ranger station to get the right map. Before we headed out, I hit the gym and had a wonderful work-out. I did arms and then did the elliptical for 45 minutes. It feels so good to work out that hard. I wish I had more time to do it. If I didn’t work regular hours and had time each day to go to the gym for 2 hours, I probably would. I’d also look amazing  After my work-out, the boys and I went to Springfield, got the maps (one for McKenzie and one for Detroit/Sweet Home) and picked up what we needed at Wal-Mart. Once home, I finished the spring newsletter for Lane Area Ferret Shelter & Rescue that I was supposed to have finished by the end of April. I will do better next quarter, but this time I just wanted to make sure I got it done by the time we went to Phoenix so we can bring it with us. After writing, I went into Cottage Grove to drop some donations at Goodwill, go to the Dollar Store and Save-a-Lot for the rest of the camping supplies. I’d say I saved a trip into Cottage Grove by doing all these together. By the time, I was done shopping (with still a trip to Ray’s on the horizon) I was grouchy. Why is it that it takes more effort to get ready to go sleep in the woods then any other time? It’s also super expensive. It seems everyone on the road and in the stores today was incredibly slow and intellectually-impaired. I’m sure it was mostly me, but I felt I was surrounded by idiots. Dean’s game got cancelled due to rain. It’s funny how none of the cancelled games have been rescheduled. Didn’t I pay for him to play a certain amount of games? Why is it that every other sport games are rescheduled from rain-outs (if there are rain-outs) but Little League doesn’t do that? Why don’t they just take our money at the beginning of the season and cancel everything? Then they’ll make a hefty profit. Also, the last two games Dean played we didn’t even have an umpire. Hello???!! This is the first year that his team has been part of South Valley Little League and not Willamette Valley. It was supposed to be more organized but I found it to be ridiculous (Creswell kids practicing in Dorena) and not organized (no umps and cancelled games that we didn’t know were cancelled until we showed up). I hope they work out the kinks next year.

So, after all the shopping and packing and loading and making sure the house wasn’t too messy and the ferrets were cared for, we left for Sunnyside. Did I mention it was raining? Why? Why? Why does it have to be raining when I’m heading for camping? We got there and it had eased up a bit. At least I got the tent up when it was dry. I didn’t stay out and socialize much because I was incredibly grouchy by that time and just wanted to be anti-social. It’s amazing how wonderful a tent is for that. Maybe I’ll feel more social and want to be part of the world around me in the morning. Well, maybe, if there’s enough coffee.

Saved 16 miles by consolidating trips

Day 40 (Thursday)

I drove Ursala to work today. I know…I know…so not eco-friendly and completely at odds with my adventure in saving fuel. But, I just wanted to drive the truck. Besides it needed to stretch its legs a bit before heading up to camping tomorrow. Okay, it didn’t really but I wanted to drive it. At work, I helped a co-worker with her car. She was in desperate need of oil. I showed her what to look for and how to put it in and check for leaks. It was nice to do so. Dean called and lunch time and told me I needed to come home. I asked why. He said he needed new pants, undies, socks and shoes. I wondered if he had an accident. No, he said, he just knocked over an entire milk cart on himself. How does that happen? I really don’t need to ask. I can picture in my head what a ten year old boy does in a lunch line that could result in a milk cart accident. I told him I could not leave work to drive him 2 blocks home to get clothes. Couldn’t he just go get them himself? Yes. So, he did. As I was driving back to the office, I just kept thinking of how nice this trip to Phoenix will be when I get some “non-caring” time to myself.

After work, I headed home to relax a bit. I went for a run (I think, this was another bad memory day). Then I relaxed. The boys and I were preparing to go camping this weekend but we weren’t leaving until after Dean’s baseball game on Friday. Dean really didn’t want to miss it because it was the last one of the season. So, we’ll head to Sunnyside Friday night. That left my Thursday night open for relaxing because I was going to do all my work tomorrow.

Day 39 (Wednesday)

Still an on again off again weather-weirdness day. So, I drove Tedee. I worked a nine hour day to cover my half hour yesterday morning and the last half hour I needed to do to make up my time for the week. Also, I was able to help Chris cover phones until five since Julie took a much needed day off. I can’t believe how much time she put in in the last week. Dedication!

After work, I came home and…and…I can’t remember what I did today. I want to say I worked out but I don’t really know if I did. Maybe I just came home and did nothing. I’d better start updating my blog more regular if I’m going to have such memory lapses. I’ll try.

**Updated note***
I remember what I did!! When I got home, Dean and I headed to Melanee’s and we picked up two new little girls to come home with us. Melanee had posted on Facebook that there were so many ferrets in the shelter and she needed some foster homes. I had already been thinking about opening my home to these two older girls who had been given up and her message cinched it. We went over, met them and fell in love. Rogue is a silver with beautiful eyes that do look red in certain light. She is not an albino. Bandessa is a dark sable with the most fabulous bandit face and tiny little eyes. She also has a wonderfully short tail. It’s natural and not cut-off Melanee believes. It’s so cute, especially when she poufs it. It is as wide as it is long when she does that. So, the little red-hat society girls came home with us. The boys were good with them. Havoc seems to like having someone his age around and the Canadians acted like big, dumb meat-heads around them. They reminded me of those guys who are body-builders and have a lot of muscle and very little brain. They just kept bullying around the girls and trying to act like all that. We had to put Gambit up a few times because he couldn’t control his testosterone. Rogue held her own though. She might be older and smaller, but she’s a spunky little meanie. Good for her. It’s nice to have some estrogen in this all male house besides my own for once. They will be a nice addition to our family and it feels good to provide a good home for them to live out the rest of their lives in. Thank you Lord for what you have given me.

Day 38 (Tuesday)

Regular work day except I came in a little late I just couldn’t get there on time because I overslept. I haven’t done that in a long time. It’s so weird when your eyes flutter open and you notice the sun is shining in your face. This shouldn’t happen especially since I was supposed to get up at 530am and hit the gym. It might be getting light then but it’s definitely not a shining in your eyes type sunnyness. I knew I was late.

Weather is still weird so I didn’t ride. It did turn out to be a nice day with sprinkles on and off. By the end of the day, it was just really, really nice and sunny. I had bass lessons after work and I didn’t practice much this week so no lunchtime walk up the hill. I sat in the sun and practiced my scales. It wasn’t much but the kids were impressed. I probably could have just sat there with the bass in my lap and they would have thought I was cool. Kids are so simple. After work, I headed to my lessons and had a good time. I learned a lot and kept getting told to use my pinky. I am a guitar player so my pinky habitually curls under and doesn’t want to be used. But, Josh, my teacher doesn’t let me get away with being lazy and has me always do it again if I don’t use my pinky…and again…and again…and again. Guess that makes a good teacher.

Aaron took Dean to see Thor 3D because of his swinging on Saturday. Marc was working at the shop. This meant I had the evening to myself. I got home, threw on my work-out clothes and headed out for a run. And boy did I run. I just kept going. The music was great and the sun was warm and I was just on. I have those days sometimes. Sometimes when I run it’s tedious and I feel like I’m dying and I just hate it and other times it just flows and I could go forever. This was a flow day and I ran for a good 6 or 7 miles in the sun. Got home, took a shower and ate a giant salad. Aaron brought taco bell but I didn’t want to negate the whole work-out portion of my awesome run. Not going to the gym to workout saved me 3.98 miles and I did get some color in my arms.

Day 37 (Monday)

Today is the only day I have to work a ten hour shift and it’s nice. I’m getting so excited because come Friday I will officially be starting a vacation stretch. I’m off Friday, Saturday and Sunday to go camping with my family up at Sunnyside County Park on Foster Lake. Then I work Monday and Tuesday. On Wednesday, early, I fly out of Eugene on my way to Phoenix for business/pleasure. I am visiting with Teresa and many other friends, as well as, getting to spend an evening at dispatch. Then Friday, Saturday and Sunday, I’m helping Melanee at the International Ferret Symposium. She is a guest speaker. On Monday, I’m going to be making some amends that are going to be both difficult but cleansing. All in all, I believe this is going to be a wonderful trip. Also, I am getting some alone time. Sometimes being a mother takes a toll and it’s nice to get some time where you don’t have to “care” for anyone but yourself. Mothers should do this much more often. My boys are going to be in the best care so I’m not worried at all. I just need to not get anxious about flying. I’m trying to redirect my thoughts.

Anyway, back to today. I drove to work. This was the beginning of a week of freaky weather days. It looked like it was going to rain and then didn’t or it would sprinkle only a little and get sunny. I was never really sure if I could take my bike or not. So, I didn’t. After work, I rushed over to Cottage Grove because Dean had a baseball game. His coach is awesome and picked him up from the house so he wouldn’t be late. I only missed about 20 minutes of the game. During the game, Dean hit a solid single and then stole bases all the way to home. It was great to see him swinging. Finally, he has broken through that fear. Too bad it’s the end of the season. I believe this is the last game. They were supposed to play pool play into June but no one has organized it. I doubt it will happen. The weather was beautiful. I feel summer coming on. I walked the hill at lunch (6 times up and down) and actually got some sun on my arms. I might have a little color before Phoenix. I don’t want to take my new pasty Oregon skin to that environment. I’ll lobster especially since I love to lay by the pool. I wonder if I can come home looking more like my Cherokee/Cheyenne ancestors than my Irish 

Day 36 (Sunday 5/22)

Today was basically a work day. I needed to make up a few hours so that my days this coming week wouldn’t be so long. Once a month, I work a 4-10 week so I can do our agency’s follow-up study. I’ve found it’s difficult to get a hold of people when you work 8 to 4. It works out well because it gives me a three day weekend once a month or I can use that day to finish up any weekday interviews I need to do for the feature articles I write. I’m finding I don’t need to use it for that too often because management at my work allows me to be flexible and get done what I need to get done during the week. It’s nice to be part of an agency that is supportive of all my goals and interests. It’s more like working in a family business than just an office.

I knew I was going to go in for a few hours, but my supervisor was also going to be there and needed some help. The agency had some important accreditation stuff going on and I was glad to be able to use my time to assist her. I ended up working 5 ½ hours which was nothing compared to her. She was there both weekend days until around 8pm and then worked until 1am or so on Monday. There’s dedication for you.

After work, I came home and went for a run. The weather was nice, so it was a good one. I didn’t do anything different as far as driving except not go to the gym. That saves 3.98 miles today.