Hello blog! Happy Thankgiving week. I just put Mr. Goo down for his second nap of the day. The office is right next to his baby room, so I’m typing verrrry quietly shhhhhh…

Here we are in Dallas Oregon a week or so ago, celebrating my brother and his wife’s commissioning ceremony from Village Missions. The drive over was hellish, thanks to my newly acquired bladder problem–a four hour drive that turned into six (Portland traffic HELLO and GOODBYE), but nevertheless I’m glad we were able to make it. We stayed in the same shabby hotel that my father did, and we had a big greasy breakfast with him the next day. Pops has lost 27 pounds thanks to replacing his sandwiches at lunch with chicken breasts, and I’ve lost 57 of the 63 pounds I gained with Goo last year. Ahoy, weight loss!

We also drove to Corvallis to visit Aunt Claire at her house and met her two dogs. I gave her the little sugar skull painting that I did especially for her.

We stopped in Portland on the way back to Seattle–all of my Portland photos are missing from Flickr so you’ll have to take my word for it–and visited Powell’s Books, a HUGE new and used bookstore. That was worth it! I bought five books for Goo and one for myself, a thriller about a rabies-like virus that only affects women with blonde hair. G-g-good times! We also had lunch with Pops at the Pearl Bakery and picked up a couple donuts at Blue Star donuts. Verdict: not as good as Voodoo. It was weird visiting Portland and not seeing Erika, but it just didn’t work out this time.

Meanwhile, hanging out with dog butts is always fun.

I wish I could laze about like Maggie the Elder Dog.

Is it still mushroom season? I keep thinking it’s winter already, because BRRRR.

I’m doing a little mini painting of Maggie dog to put in the show I’ll be doing next weekend at the Pound Arts Studio, where I’ve shown my work in the past.

I keep thinking if I make putting cute hats on into a fun game, he’ll start tolerating them? Hmmmm? Huh? Not even ear muffs, kid??

Last night we had Thanksgiving dinner at Grandma Shirley’s house. I spent 90% of my time chasing after the baby, but that’s okay. He was mellow all night, didn’t even fuss until the very end, which was his bedtime. And he ate his first bites of turkey, mashed potatoes and gravy and yams mmmmmmm.

My mother gave my dad a bunch of my old things from their house, including my old Yamaha keyboard. So now I can enjoy it all over again with my son!

Wearing Josh’s rain coat. I asked for a new rain coat for my birthday present this year–my old one is so old the liner is shredding apart, and I stupidly bought one a couple years ago in a size SMALL (hiiiiigh hopes) and it’s too small! Derp. Note to self: YOU ARE A MEDIUM. REMEMBER THAT.

I am most thankful in 2017 for this sweet little baby, who cheers me up and gives me hope and makes me laugh every single day. I’m also thankful for Josh, because I can’t imagine raising Goo on my own. And for family, and friends, and dogs. The good stuff. See you later, alligators.