Kate At 48

Happy Birthday to me. My birthday landed on Mother's Day this year so we packed up the kids and headed to Leavenworth, WA, once again. We stayed two days and had beautiful weather except for the freak shower that hit just as we arrived - we must have dragged it along with us for 6 hours from the coast. Waking up to the beauty of Wedge Mountain gleaming in the sun ... what a gift! At no other time can I wake up at 5:30 so refreshed. I wish I could take that snow capped peak home with me. The word of the day on the opening page of my computer today was "alpenglow" which means the red glow on mountain tops at sunrise and sunset. I was thinking about that glow when I turned on the computer this morning and now I can put a name to it. We shopped, played golf on the hotel's mini green, used all the hotel's recreational facilities, enjoyed the terrific breakfast. And, as always, we looked for land to buy "someday". Two days of putting real life on hold - fabulous. A perfect birthday and Mother's Day gift (Thanks, Todd!) The kids slept well this time - an absolute first! They have difficulty getting to sleep at hotels but I guess they are growing up. I love my family.

When I got home, I found out that I was going to be on the front page of the Business section of the Oregonian newspaper. No, not because of my birthday. I've been trying to resolve a telephone issue for the past year and I finally contacted a writer who does a column called, "The Complaint Desk" to help frustrated consumers. Boy, that was where I was at, for sure. She was instrumental in getting this phone issue resolved and she ran the column yesterday. She also posted it on their blog, which (if you are interested) you can take a look at here.

I was so happy to have this issue resolved, I hadn't really thought about this story being printed. She quoted some of my conversation with her and Todd took the photo that they used. It's hard for me to see myself in print (too critical, you know!) but, really, no one cares. My kids are very excited to see their Mom in the newspaper and Todd is also excited a photo he took got published. I am happy all around and very much appreciate this lady's help. I love her column. Hopefully, this phone issue will not return.

All in all, it's been a busy week!