Blog/Journal Type Entries

It Will Be Worth It

We arrived home very early Thursday, after five days house sitting for my friend, K. K. just closed and took possession of a castle like house just outside of Portland. We video called him on Sunday, and he gave us a tour of his kitchen, which is bigger than our whole apartment.

The front of the house includes a turret at the entrance, and a winding staircase leading to the front door. The hot tub out back makes for a perfect morning relaxation spot.

We are assuming that he is planning to keep his house in the San Fernando Valley, outside of Los Angeles, and will go between the two places, depending on his work schedule. He is in the process of sorting through and packing his many treasures, and deciding what will go to Portland, and what will stay.

We spent our days and nights relaxing with his four cats, Molly (the MENACE) she's a Siamese, Oliver (the OG, man in charge, but mostly just sleeps on any human surface he wishes) he's a flame point Siamese, and the twins, Nandor and Nadja, who are Molly's litter mates (Nandor is a man of mystery, and Nadja, who is a total creeper, who chooses to bide her time playing gargoyle at the very top of the canopy on the bed) both solid black, and the only way to tell them apart is by their weights.

We also took advantage of the hot tub one night. Was great to have an evening relaxing in the 120 degree water. We got Jersey Mike's sandwiches two of those nights. What can I say? We love a good club sub, Mike's Way, on rosemary parmesan bread. SO GOOD!

We made a point to spend time in K.'s tiki room, which houses his 34 year old macaw, Max. K. has had him since he was born. Rick thinks that because Max is in a cage, in the furthest room in the house in the dark most days, and only having human contact when K. is in the kitchen, or feeding him, that Max is BORED. When we spend time in the tiki room, Max LOVES to talk with Rick.

I have cared for Max for extended periods while K. is away, and he still prefers Rick over me. If Max can hear Rick in any area of the house, he freaks out, climbing to the top of the cage and hanging upside down, by one foot, while squawking loudly and flapping his wings to get Rick's attention. It is really delightful to watch their interactions. Rick discovered that Max REALLY enjoys music, and we use music to keep him calm. He has taken a liking to Rod Stewart's "Handbags and Gladrags". He likes it to be played on repeat. We have noticed that if we leave the phone in the room and are hanging out in the living room, we can hear him softly singing along. He doesn't have the lyrics down yet, but it is awfully cute to hear him try to keep the tune.

Rick has been working with a company that designs and fabricates animatronic characters, costumes, and props for movies and tv. The current job had him designing the characters and the remote controlled cars which are used to promote a movie that premiered yesterday.

Rick was tasked with puppeteering one of the characters in a van, via remote. There are three puppeteers per character. One for the car itself, one to move the character's head and mouth, and one to man the voice. He was at the premiere of the movie yesterday and mas able to meet more than a few of my favorite actors, and even met SHAKIRA.

The job includes grueling 15 hour days, but 15 hour days mean massive overtime, and at one point, Rick was making well over 100 dollars AN HOUR. His regular hourly rate is 37 dollars an hour. This project will be finished this weekend, but we are hoping that a new project is in the works. I am so grateful for the money, which has given us a little breathing room. They had requested that Rick fly with the characters and cars to Miami and New York for influencer events, but because of the government shutdown, flying ANYWHERE was a risk we were not willing to take.

Rick really is a cool cat.

I look at my life lately and I am feeling so blessed to be living the dream that I have been manifesting for over a decade. An artistic, kind, intelligent weirdo for a husband, an apartment in Los Angeles, my daughter back in my life, and the ability to pursue whatever strikes my fancy.

I am grateful.

Rick should be home this afternoon, and I am hoping we can have a little quality time together. We have an art show opening Saturday night, and I am planning on a craft night together, painting ornaments for our holiday tree. I have committed to finding other ornaments and decor at thrift stores and yard sales. I want to make other decorations and gifts for friends.

Life is good.