Great Pic of the new Mayor & Vice Mayor

Here's the swearing in of Diane McNutt and Joe Pirzynski which was on November 16th.

Happy Thanksgiving

Wishing all of my readers (yes, all 2 of you, hi, mom & dad) a Happy Thanksgiving :-)

Congraulations to Diane McNutt

Congratulations to Diane McNutt for being elected Mayor. She brings a level head and strong leadership. It's amazing how much she does, and I am grateful.
She still runs her own business, McNutt & Company doing PR and marketing.
And I hope she starts up her blog again.

Squirrel in the Attic

So we got our roof replaced, thankfully right before the first rain in October (and that was a doozy)

Actually I had this post written and then it didn't get saved. Lesson learned. When blogging, save regularly.

So, a squirrel got caught up there somehow. We could hear something running around on top of the ceiling. I couldn't bear the thought of a critter hurting. And I called all around different agencies.

Bottom line, if you have a squirrel in the attic, it's your responsiblity.

I started researching online to find a Haveaheart trap. I was shocked that neither Ace nor Home Depot keep them in stock! Thankfully, OSH does, and I zipped down to the one off of Branham, and they had a good selection of humane traps.


I then stopped at the Wild Bird Store to find out what will tempt the little squirrel. Answer is the same as for rats: peanut butter. I did pick up some bird seed as well.

Well, bottom line, I hope the critter found a way out because after 2 weeks, I didn't catch anything. It's now below the house trying to capture a rat. I want to release the poor thing, but I'm outvoted.

Here's a link to the Haveaheart website dealing with trapping squirrels.

Missing McWhorter's

I know I sound like an old fuddy sitting on the porch, but I really really miss McWhorter's. When I rented in Mountain View, I would go to the one in Sunnyvale to get notecards. When I was active in ABATE, I would go to the one off of Saratoga and Moorpark to get tickets for the 50/50 raffle. And I have so many memories of the one in Los Gatos where Trader Joe's now is located. I love TJ's and am very happy they're there, don't get me wrong. But I miss a store like McWhorter's.

When you needed a graduation gift of a really nice pen, or a fountain pen, you would go to McWhorter's. When my daughter was born, and I would walk down to the Live Oak Manor park, I stopped into McWhorter's and bought a scrapbooking kit. My daughter loves her baby book. I would never have done scrapbooking had it not been for McWhorter's.

And I think back to a time and a place that was so very long ago. I had completed my sophomore year at CalPoly SLO, and was so busy that I hadn't lined up a job "in my major." I worked 2 weeks at Radio Shack in Saratoga, and just could not hack the "hard sales" job, and walked into Wherehouse Records and Tapes and asked if they were hiring. They were. I was hired on the spot. I was also taking 3 classes at night over at De Anza to try to get some of my general ed taken care of. I'd take a break, and walk down to Di Martini's Orchard (now Carl's Jr) and get some fruit, and love walking around McWhorter's during my break. And a friend of a guy I was sorta dating worked there, and we three would meet & flirt. It was a fun time.

And I have a confession. I have long had an odd love of office supplies. A new pen and a notebook would send me over the moon. Even when Office Depot moved in, my loyalty was for McWhorter's.

And for good reason. I swiped this from the website:
In 1996 McWhorter's was purchased by U.S. Office Products (USOP) of Washington D.C. This ended the local ownership and our long affiliation with Hallmark Cards. USOP purchased over 200 small companies, attempting to form a powerful nationwide commercial office products company.

We bought our house in LG in 1995. And I would always get my cards at McWhorter's, sign them, and then run a few doors down to Mailboxes Etc. (now The UPS Store. I love Elroy & promise to devote a whole post to my love of the man) to get it out so hopefully it would arrive not TOO late after the person's birthday. And, let's face it, we all knew Hallmark. We were slaves to the brand.

I wrote a letter to the president (yes, I used the internet to research who he was and where to send it), and within 2 weeks, got a personal letter back from him explaining the situation. It went into more depth than this blurb up there, and I won't mention it since, you know, it was a personal letter, personally signed. He made me feel special. And he had my loyalty until the end of time.

So I lift a glass of Testarossa Pinot Noir to you, McWhorter's. Well done. I miss you.

Not the sound of silence

We're getting our roof replaced. They pulled it off last Wednesday, and the Los Gatos inspector took two days to show up. So the roofers are back today to finish putting down the felt, and then the steel shake. We went with Cal-Pac Roofing, and can also highly recommend Woods Roofing. It was a tough choice as they're both amazing companies.

So Wednesday, it was a funny sound of things getting pried off. Thursday, they fixed some dry rot, and the materials got delivered. Holy cow. Listening to them drop the stuff on the rafters. I mean, removing the roof sounded like elephants dancing. The delivery sounded like meteors hitting the house. And it would shake the whole building structure.

So, they're here today. The meteors are hitting a bit as they move materials around, and I'll know the sound of the hammers really really well by the time this is done. Wish me luck. And no, I can't blare music or put in earplugs. I'm waiting for a UPS delivery :-) After that, though....

It was time for a facelift

When I first started this blog, I wanted Orange & Black (go Los Gatos High!). And it was fun. However, it's time for a facelift, so I hope you like the new theme.

My garden is nearing it's end for the summer. I did buy some cauliflower and broccoli and cabbage and Brussels sprouts but I haven't planted them yet. I still need to do some more cleaning out of the old before putting in the new.



School has been in session for a month now, and the routine is finally settling in.

Until next time, leave in the comments your favorite thing about Autumn. Mine is the smell in the air. It's subtle, but definitely hinting of fall.

Plumber Picking

So, we had a bad plumbing problem this summer. Our wall was squishy. Walls shouldn't be squishy. We got the three bids and threw out the high and low. The high seemed like he was looking for more things to tack on even though it was already a pretty high bid. The low seemed to be really "lego mentality." He was going to come in, and just deal with it, but I didn't get the confidence that he would be able to handle the problems that I knew would come up. And they did. Plus, I asked him to come in and do a face to face meeting with dear husband to explain about the written bid (which took a lot to get out of him. Another big warning sign, no?).
We chose Nelson Plumbing. I Yelp'd about them. They're wonderful, and I'd call on them again. And did. But Mercury is Retrograde and so mis-communications are abounding. :-)
We found another leak, so it was nice to get that all repaired. The walls are repaired and re-textured.
We repainted the living room the same Navajo white (or whatever we chose). We still have to get some BRIGHT white for the bathroom. And dear daughter managed to convince us to paint the family room with a color. Woah. That was kind of hard for two nerds. We do like things to be simple. And she chose a lovely color that looks like very rich vanilla ice cream. Dear Husband has been good about taping and painting in the evenings. Now it's my turn to get the clutter cleaned, and getting some new drapes.

My next big thing - more coaching to stay working at my home office

My next big thing is going to be Success in Sweatpants coaching. I have already taken Trish Lambert's Winning with Elance coaching, and through it was able to land 3 more clients. It's not paying the mortgage yet, but I've got a good momentum. This way, I work out of the house and keep blogging about life in Los Gatos.

Success in Sweatpants is based on the book Book Yourself Solid: The Fastest, Easiest, and Most Reliable System for Getting More Clients Than You Can Handle Even if You Hate Marketing and Selling. Trish, a certified coach, is focusing on home based entrepreneurs. So if you've lost your job and want to start working out of your house, this is a great investment in yourself since it's not expensive, and you'll get a great understanding of who you are, what you want to do, and how you'll get there.

A common mistake when you start out consulting is to say "I'll work with anyone who will pay me." But then you end up with a lot of duds or people who don't pay. (been there, done that). And it really does help to have a focused niche. Like I enjoy copywriting. But no one really looks for a "copywriter." They'll look for an article writer, sales copy writer, or professional blogger. Then, word of mouse works in your favor.

"Say, Joe, do you know of any professional bloggers?"

"Why, yes, yes, I do."

rather than

"No, I only know someone who says she's a copywriter, but I'm not sure what that is."

Anyway, I get pretty muddled since there's so much I enjoy doing that I'll be going through Success in Sweatpants to get clarity, and to book myself solid :-)