Moose In My Yard

Long Night

2012-01-06T17:51:00.000-09:00

A couple weeks ago I thought my Sonny Boy had appendicitis. Of course I sent him to school anyway. I'm that mom. The one who sends her kids to school when they say their stomach hurts. In all fairness, at that point I thought he was sore from gymnastics. I asked specifically if he thought he was going to puke, he said no it only hurts when he moves. That doesn't scream stomach bug to me. Besides, if he had to stay home he would miss his Christmas party at Scouts that evening and I would have to miss my Christmas party for preschool. Missing a party is the true test of sickness in a kid. He thought he would be fine for a party so off to school he went with 42 reminders from me to tell the teacher, tell the nurse, tell anyone who would listen if he truly thought he was sick and I would come get him.

He made it through school with two trips to the nurse and some antacids in his stomach. By the time he got home though he was pasty white with a slight greenish tinge. It still only hurt when he moved, but now the pain was only in right side. It also didn't help when his angelic sister punched him in that exact spot because he somehow slighted her. That dropped him to the floor in tears. This is also about the time that I have to go get pizza for the Scouts Christmas party at my house. My sister was coming in the house to check him out for me as I left to get the pizza. (Everyone should have a nurse for a sister. Just saying. It comes in mighty handy.) She said call the doctor. The thing was he had no symptoms except for the severe pain in his side. No fever, no vomiting, etc. I called the doctor and she said well, bring him in if that's what you think it is. Well, I don't know if that's what it is. That's why I'm calling you! I was feeling a wee bit frazzled. It was apparent. I don't have a poker face. I figured I would just give him some time and see how he was doing. He recovered enough from his sister's punch to sit through the party and seemed to be feeling all right so I just sent him to bed. Here's how the night progressed:

I started doing internet searches on appendicitis. I should know better. Every time Web MD tells me I have cancer.

I woke Sonny Boy up at 10:00 from a very peaceful sleep so I could rush him to the ER so he wouldn't die from appendicitis. Web MD decided he had it.

It was the easiest trip to the ER I've ever had. He was sent right back in to a room. We had two great nurses. They were funny. They seemed to think maybe he had appendicitis too. I felt pleasantly validated. Crazy likes company.

The doctor did not seem as sure. What do they know? He ordered x-rays and labs anyway. I like it when people placate me.

Sonny Boy's response to the news that he would get x-rays: "Yes! Finally!" He has apparently not led a full life yet because he's never needed x-rays or even stitches.

His response to the blood draw and urine sample was less enthusiastic but he is always a compliant little trooper.

We waited for a long time for the lab results. I read an entire Captain Underpants book to Sonny Boy. I really enjoyed that part. So did he.

Labs and x-rays reveal his appendix is fine. Just severe stomach cramps. My boy needs more fiber in his life.

We head home at 1:00 a.m.

I get pulled over at 1:10 a.m. Bummer.

Headlight is out. Bummer.

Can't find my proof of insurance. Only two expired ones. Bummer.

Did find the manual to my camera that I've been looking for since August. Yay!

I also found a spare headlight bulb. A burned out headlight is a chronic problem for our car. We come prepared.

The very nice officer believed me that I really did have insurance and told me to get a copy of the current insurance in the car and get the headlight fixed. I didn't even have to give him my sob story of spending the night in the ER with my sick son. Yay!

Finally get home and give my boy the meds they gave us at the hospital. Make it to bed around 2:00.

I now pay my kids a dime for every water bottle they drink and everybody gets wholegrain high fiber everything.

The end.

Christmas card

2011-12-23T20:07:00.000-09:00

I love getting Christmas cards in the mail. I, however, did not send out a single Christmas card this year. At first I was feeling wonderfully freed from the burden of forced correspondence. I like to say that I simply had too much going on this year with an increased workload, scouts, the kids' gymnastics, and my most recent adventure in learning to knit (I'm slow meaning that it takes me longer than the average knitter to finish anything. Also, I often find that I've forgotten that I have this new hobby and find myself perusing Pinterest instead. Then I see something fabulous on Pinterest that someone else has knit and I feel guilty for spending my down time pinning instead of knitting.). But the truth is, I simply did not make time for Christmas cards this year. I really felt guilty when my cousin, who has two small girls and recently birthed twin boys all while in the midst of starting their own dairy farm, sent me a beautiful Christmas card. Compared to her I am a slacker of epic proportions. I have no excuse. Next year I promise to try harder. In the mean time, pretend these are photos on a Christmas card in your mailbox.

So Merry Christmas from DH and I, (not pictured. If I didn't take the time to get cards, you can safely bet I also didn't make time to figure out the self timer on my camera.)

and Sonny Boy,

and Princess Blondie,

and this guy too.

This morning

2011-11-06T11:46:00.000-09:00

The kids and I didn't make it to church this morning. Totally legitemate excuse though today. I lost the keys and locked myself out of the house. Again. I'm thinking it's time for one of those keypad thingies that you put on your garage doors and punch in a code to get in. People like me clearly need those things. After a quick yet thorough search through my purse and pockets I declared my keys lost and then checked all the doors to the house to see if I did in fact lock them all. I did. Sometimes I wish I weren't so thorough about that. Usually about once a year when I lock myself out I wish that.

This time I had my phone in my coat pocket so I could make an emergency call to my sister. Thank goodness she is always late for church so I knew I would catch her on her way. Her tardiness was a lifesaver today. The last time I locked myself out I wasn't so lucky. That time I got to meet some of my neighbors as I knocked on doors looking for someone to be home and willing to share their phone with me. Dennis, or "the blue house neighbors" as my kids like to call them, was my lifesaver that day.

While we waited in the cold truck for my sister, Princess Blondie informed me that one reason she doesn't like winter is because we always get locked out of our house (She was lucky enough to get locked out of the house with me the first time too). I tell her there is no correlation between the two other than her mother has crappy timing and a knack for misplacing things.

My sister and her family soon show up and let me in my house. They hurry off to church. I go in the house and still can't find my keys anywhere. I go out to tell my kids to get out of the truck because we aren't going to make it to church or anywhere else and find them screaming at each other with Princess Blondie in tears because her brother is copying her. My day just keeps getting better and better.

Now, my keys are always in my coat pocket so this is the time when I start to blame my husband because clearly he took my keys. It's always the man's fault. But usually if he takes my keys he at least takes my truck key off the ring so I can, you know, drive places. So now I think maybe he didn't actually take them and that I dropped them in the new five inches of snow that showered on us this morning.

I go out and start digging around in the snow hoping I will somehow spot them. I don't. I try retracing my steps. I could have sworn they were in my hand when I walked out of the house this morning. Then I remembered I had also carried out a bag of broccoli and hotdog buns in that hand for lunch at my sisters after church. I had set those in the passenger seat. I go and check under the broccoli. There are my keys. Sitting there in the truck the whole time. I think I will try retracing my steps first next time. And I maybe owe my sister an apology for making them really, really late for church today for no reason at all.

Seeing things

2011-10-22T11:24:00.000-08:00

A while ago I painted my bathroom. I wasn't very happy with it at first. I was a little stumped about how to deal with the Aquafresh color that had appeared instead of the breezy turquoise blue I had imagined. I didn't want to live inside a tube of toothpaste, even if it was a bathroom. I contemplated stripes but made a last minute game plan change and did a stencil instead.

It seems I was on to something.

Check out this bedding from Z Gallerie that I found while perusing their site. It's the exact color and pattern from my bathroom! Who knew I could be such a trend setter? I was ahead of my time and didn't even know it.

Tonight

2011-10-20T22:32:00.000-08:00

Tonight my little girl begged for just one more hug as I left her room after our goodnight prayers as she usually does. Then she told me:

Mom,I love you to the moon and back (as per usual, but then it got even better) a thousand times!

I love you aaaallll the numbers in the world two million times.

I love you all the things in the world, two hundred aaaaand fifty thousand times.

And then the kicker.

I love you as much as the dogs!

I laughed at first, but that's actually a pretty big compliment coming from her.

My muse

2011-09-29T11:06:00.000-08:00

I'm nearly exiting my third Alaskan autumn and it is by far the most beautiful fall we've had since we moved here.

Fall has always been my favorite season and it was what I missed most about Michigan during our time in the south.

The fall this year almost compares to Michigan, but our color scheme is limited to dark golds, bright yellows, and browns,

at least when it comes to trees,

and I miss the orange and red hues that Michigan has to offer.

I was waiting for a sunny day off of work to head down to my favorite spot,

the hayflats,

which has become my muse of sorts.

It seems that I was not the only one with that idea.

I've never seen the place so busy.

Everyone was out to enjoy the beautiful weather and gorgeous views.

I can't blame them,

although I kind of like having the place to myself.

For my mom

2011-09-08T00:18:00.000-08:00

Ah, where do I even begin? It's been a short summer with a lot packed in it and now it's over. The kids are back at school. I had my first day of class with my preschoolers today and my first Scout meeting tonight. The kids have both started gymnastics as well. Let the crazy school year begin!

Since I don't even know where to start with posts about everything that happened this summer, I decided to make my mother happy and put up some pictures of my garden like I promised her I'd do. So all who don't get a big kick out of flowers, I'm sorry. But my mom will be thrilled.

My hanging baskets have nearly recovered from my month long absence. DH told me he'd water them if I reminded him to. I remembered to remind him once. Can't say he didn't warn me.

I came back to find the rest of my garden had really taken off. That tends to happen with about 20 hours of daylight.

I threw some wildflower seeds down and they exploded! I had to weed about half of them out and my garden still looks like this. It's quite fecund. I think that's my favorite new word. I've been dying to use it. And I'm not sure that I used it properly, but hey, I gave it a go.

This is the first time I bought snapdragons. I think they are a definite yes for next year. The kids loved them. And look, the pansies I started from last year's seeds actually grew.

Except for this one. This one I bought. I have a hard time walking by flowers and not buying them. It's genetic. Thanks mom.

Leader (un)extraordinaire

2011-06-13T12:25:00.000-08:00

I have suddenly become the new Cub Scout leader to Sonny Boy's den and I'm not quite sure how that happened. Our leader had been threatening to move if her husband ever got a transfer back to the lower 48 and I just kept praying that it would never happen because: a. She's one of my best friends here and I really don't want her to go (wasn't all this friends moving away business supposed to stop after we left the military life?), and b. That meant one of us remaining parents had to fill in the leadership gap. Lo and behold he finally did get that new job and three weeks later he's moved to Nebraska and their house is on the market. Loose ends are being tied up and soon the whole family will be gone for good. All signs are now pointing to me. Honestly, I've been groomed for this all along. Never volunteer to help. It only causes trouble. And this people pleaser has a hard time saying no.

What scares me the most is that I hate going into new situations not knowing every bit of information I could possibly know (and wearing the scouting uniform. Ugh. I thought my uniform days were behind me when I finally hung up my waitressing apron years ago.). I don't like feeling like I don't know what I'm doing and not knowing what the expectations are of me. I like it when things are the same. Change is scary. Good thing I've got DH to push me into new things or everything about me would be the same, same, same, and I would be the most boring person ever. I may still be the most boring person ever. I watch travel shows on PBS and documentaries often find their way into our DVD player. I'm in a book club and I blog in my free time. Every once in a while we actually have people who are not related to us come over for dinner. This is a big step forward in our attempt at having a social life. I think I'm secretly an 80 year old in a 29 year old body.

However, if I've learned anything from this year of teaching preschool it's that most of the time you just have to wing it. I'm getting used to the idea that I will do this Cub Scout leader thing. I don't have to babysit my nephews come fall so that should open up a day that I can plan (and maybe even do some laundry). I've got plenty of great parents in our group to help me and I'm taking full advantage of that, so consider yourselves warned. This may be a great success as long as no one expects me to actually know what I'm doing. I can wing it with the best of 'em. Lets just see if everyone can survive camp this week first.

Summer

2011-06-03T11:41:00.000-08:00

Another season is over.

Spring concerts have been sung.

Kindergarten programs are complete.

Awards have been handed out.

Graduation ceremonies are over.

End of the year pictures have been taken.

Goodbyes have been said.

Young moose appear on a daily basis to eat my garden and trample the new grass that has been planted.

The slip and slide had it's christening while a naked nephew joins in the fun.

Summer is officially here.

Worth it

2011-06-02T14:34:00.000-08:00

My nephews are napping. I have a limited amount of time here. There are many things I should be doing instead of writing this.

Like folding the mountian of laundry in my living room.

Sweeping.

Dusting.

Washing the dishes.

Vacumming.

Planting my garden. That's a big one.

Mowing the lawn. Another biggie.

But I just had to share these pictures. Never a dull moment around here.

This is my husband. No, he has not learned to walk on water.

He is standing on top of his atv.

He got halfway across this bit of water when it started to float and then boycotted this particular adventure and quit. Right smack in the middle.

There he sat swatting away mosquitoes until he was rescued. All those things you hear about the giant, bloodsucking, prehistoric mosquitoes in Alaska? They're all true.

Can you throw me a line?

Hmm....

Maybe I should take my boots off for this.

Luckily, we were on our way home when this happened. Some of his friends winched him out and then I towed him the 10 or so miles back to the truck and trailer. And somehow he managed to stay dry through the whole thing. That in itself is downright miraculous.

So what took us on this treacherous journey to begin with? Forty miles round trip through dust so thick we couldn't see (or breath!), water so deep we drowned a fourwheeler, and terrain so bumpy my muscles were aching. All so we could see this.

The Knik Glacier.

These views are definitly well worth the tired muscles, sunken fourwheeler, and the pound of dust I inhaled.

Feeling feisty

2011-05-19T23:48:00.001-08:00

I witnessed my first moose fight the other day. I use the term fight here very loosely because it was mostly just a "go away, you're in my space" kind of a thing and not an all out brawl. It was still pretty freaking amazing though. And it all happened in my front yard.

First DH spotted a moose, a bull I believe, hanging out in the backyard. I got the camera out because he was really close and I wanted some more pictures. Then that bull was really interested in something in the woods and another bull comes out to the yard. They regard each other warily with their ears pinned back like horses do when they're pissed off. The first lets the second pass with a glare. They wander to the front yard to find something to eat since our backyard is nothing but a giant dirt pit now that the mud has finally dried.

I cut through the house and go out to the front porch to spy on them and see a third moose, this one female. One male saunters up to her. "How you doin'?" (imagine my best Joey, from Friends, impersonation here). She was not nearly as nice as the two meeting in the backyard were. It is not mating season and she most definitely was not in the mood. She pinned her ears back, and then I was praising Jesus that I had my camera because she actually charged the bull and tried to kick him. He ran off and eyed her from afar while peeking out from behind a few trees. AND I got it on film. It's one of those moments that I can't believe that I was actually in the right place at the right time. It is my greatest feat to date aside from, you know, giving birth to my children and stuff. It. was. awesome.

Easter

2011-04-26T00:27:00.001-08:00

Easter has come and gone already. It comes faster and faster each year. Maybe one of these years I'll actually remember to give something up for lent, but I have to say, I feel like I'm setting myself up for failure with that one. Unless I give up lima beans. In that, I could be a great success. But I suppose that is sort of missing the point of it.

We started off Easter Sunday at church, and between the kids not having Sunday school and all the extra folks that come on Easter, the place was pretty packed. Sonny Boy was none too excited to have to sit through the adult service. It's just a warm up for summer when the kids will have to sit with us all the time when Sunday school is out until fall. It is not a great time for a very fidgety eight year old. Nothing makes the kids love Sunday school quite like sitting in the adult service all summer!

After church we had a great dinner with friends and my sister and her family. It was really nice finally having people over, but I've got to brush up on my hostessing skills. I have none. People who come over here pretty much need to learn to fend for themselves since the only ones who are ever here are family, and well, they just fend for themselves the way that families do. You want a drink, well, start hunting around, you'll find something, because I surely won't remember to offer one to you. I think maybe I'll just call myself laid back instead of terrible hostess. It has a better ring to it.

After lunch another friend and her kids came over for an Easter egg hunt. The kids were chomping at the bit to get after the eggs. My friend and I were warned to stop chit chatting when we were supposed to be hiding the eggs. The youngin's were getting a bit hard to contain inside.

We finished hiding the eggs. DH opened the front door and there was a mad dash for the treats.

This was my nephews first egg hunt, but it didn't take him long to figure out what he needed to do. To say the kid loves candy is a bit of an understatement.

It took all of about 3 minutes for the kids to find all of the eggs and to start mowing down on the candy. Notice Sonny Boy's already stuffed cheeks and Princess Blondie's protective posture. Bob won't be getting that candy, although he did try to steal a few of his own eggs during the hunt, of course. I would expect nothing less from Bob.

And then my favorite shot of the day. I can't lay claim to either of these two little cuties, but I wish I could. How sweet are they? Watch out for that little guy on the right. He's already a little ladies man. He'll have his game perfected by the time that he's a teenager. I know I'll be locking my daughter up.

All in all, this was the best Easter I've had in a long time. I'm feeling thankful for friends and family to share it with.

Breakup

2011-04-21T14:06:00.000-08:00

I have a bit of a love hate relationship with spring in Alaska. It is also called breakup, presumably because the ice finally starts to break up. I'm smart like that and I can put two and two together. I didn't even bother to google it this time. I'm sure someone will tell me if I'm wrong.

So while I love the fact that the snow is finally going away and warmer weather is here, I hate the mud. I am so tired of muddy yards, muddy dogs, muddy boots, muddy children and the subsequent vacuuming, sweeping, and mopping. Because we all know how much I love housework to begin with.

The mud hangs around for a while up here while the melting snow tries to find a place to go. Permafrost creates a nice barrier and it just kind of sits on top for a bit while the water tries to find a place to drain. We learned this last spring when we buried the truck in the yard, not once, but twice while trying to do some yard work. Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, well, let's just not go there. The first time a kind neighbor pulled us out, the second time involved a tow truck and a lot of shame. At least it was in the back yard so the neighbors couldn't see our truck stuck in mud up to the wheel wells. I'm pretty sure they saw the fleet of tow trucks that came to haul us out though. You know it's bad when more than one shows up.

Not everything about the mud is bad though. The boys have been having a great time on their four wheelers. Heck, I've been having a great time on the four wheelers too.

This is the backyard. This is what happens when you let a little boy with a new toy go riding around back there. Then DH decided to plow the yard because he wants to level it so we can finally plant some grass come June. It's much easier to move earth around when it's all soupy and muddy. I guess I get that, but all I know is that it has become one colossal mess of a mud pit.

Don't even get me started on the amount of dog hair that is piling behind bookcases and under chairs because of the warmer weather. Why does one more dog equal ten times more hair? Something is wrong with that equation.

Sheesh, Bob

2011-04-18T11:14:00.000-08:00

You can add bar of soap to the list of things that Bob has eaten. I found him chewing on a little lump of soap the other night at bedtime and I had to pry it from his jaws. He just doesn't want to give his little treasures up. He must have stashed the rest of the bar somewhere because last night DH found half a bar of soap under his pillow. Bob likes to sneak up to our room and sleep on our bed when I forget to shut the door. So one half plus a little lump saved means about 1/3 of a bar of soap is in Bob's digestive system.

Maybe that explains the belching. I never knew dogs could burp, but Bob can.

Better than a scrapbook

2011-04-16T10:36:00.004-08:00

My iphone is better than a scrapbook. I was just browsing through pictures and it reminds me of all the little things that happened that I had forgotten about. It can also carry way more pictures than my wallet ever could. Here are a few goings ons that have been going on around here lately.

Bob got a boo boo. He doesn't have a cast on, I just had to wrap his foot in an ace bandage so he wouldn't bleed all over my floor. Because we all know the next place he was going to go was my new white rug. I think dogs' foot wounds are like head wounds on people. Tiny little cut means lots and lots of blood. Bob's just fine now. It was just a scrape on the bottom of his foot. DH took him out for a run with the four-wheeler and he lost a bit of skin on his paw from running on the side of the road. On the plus side, I don't have to trim his nails anymore. Asphalt = emery board. Lesson learned. Now Bob runs on dirt trails.

(p.s. You can now add modeling clay and library book to the list of things that Bob has eaten/chewed on.)

Derby car races. Sonny Boy has been very excited for this and has been praying every night that he would win. I tried to tell him that all the other boys were working very hard on their cars too and he might not win.

But then he won. There goes that lesson. But, now we have to go to the Scout O Rama and he races against everybody from the whole valley there. He's been counting down the days. It's been marked on his calendar. I hope he does well there, but these things are really a bit of a crap shoot. There's a good chance I will have one very disappointed little boy on my hands. I may still have an opportunity for that lesson on good sportsmanship.

My nephew loves to vacuum. I figured I would put that love to good use. It's not child labor if he wants to do it. At least, that's what my sister told me.

This winter we had one four wheeler. Then my husbands dirt bike suddenly morphed into another fourwheeler (God bless craigslist and people who like to trade). Yay, now I can go to! But then this spring those two four wheelers were feeling a little frisky and they had a baby. Now Sonny Boy is the proud owner of his very own four wheeler. I think our family camping trips just got a lot more exciting!

Found out that Princess Blondie has strep throat. Again. This is the second time this year. I'm seeing flashbacks to my own childhood. She feels find except for her throat so we made the best of the gorgeous spring weather. I took her to McDonalds after the doctor and then we played outside.

She said it was the best day ever. I agree.

Runner?

2011-04-06T10:22:00.000-08:00

I started running this week. I think I may have sort of lost my mind. I hate running. HATE it. Always have. Yet I've always wanted to be a runner. I wanted to be that person who would get up and put a quick three miles in every morning before I went to work. Enjoy the solitude of an empty road or the hum of a treadmill. What a great way to start the day! I never really set my hopes too high on actually attaining my goal of being a runner considering that I lacked one key factor. You know, that whole desire to run part.

I never really got the whole idea of running for the sake of running. What am I running after? I only ever ran when I had to. When I was in high school and involved in sports, I would run when the coach told us to to run. Or when I was playing a game that required me to actually run after a ball. Then I can do it. I was running for something.

I'm not quite sure what it was that sparked a little flame in me last week to start running. I think it was a lot of things.

1.) Maybe it was the guilt of not using the treadmill that has been sitting in our office for, gosh, well, for a few years.

2.) I've lost weight lately, but I need a bit of a jump start. I've been at this a while now and I need something different. Call me fickle, but after about 8 months of Weight Watchers I was getting a little bored. It was time to finally add some exercise to the mix. A gym membership just isn't going to happen right now and workout videos? Oh boy, workout videos. I think the one thing that I hate more than running is doing a workout video. I can do it once and then I don't want to hear the same lady telling me to do the same thing again, and again, and again, day, after day, after day because I start to feel like Bill Murray in Groundhog day. (Ack! So many commas! I just threw a bunch in there because I don't really know what to do with that sentence.)

3.) I saw a friend on facebook doing the Couch to 5k program. I tucked that away in the back of my mind. If she can do it I can do it, right? I'd heard of it before and I finally looked it up. It was simple. Print out their training guide and do it. It's only three days a week. For the first week I only have to run for one minute intervals. Even I can do that. I like that it tells me exactly what to do-- I don't even have to think. It's like a coach yelling at me.

So here I am. Week 1, Day 2 of Couch to 5k. Way too early to call my self a runner, but at least I can call myself a person who ran today.

Bob: a list

2011-03-31T09:48:00.000-08:00

This is the face of a guilty dog.

He just got caught eating Sonny Boys toothbrush that he had stolen off the counter in the kids' bathroom. After this picture he put his head in my lap and begged for forgiveness.

Oh Bob, what am I going to do with you?

I've decided to start a running list of things that Bob has eaten because, well, it's a little weird and it makes me laugh once I see it all together. One lesson I've learned: nothing on the counter is safe. Pretty much nothing anywhere is safe.
Here is the list so far.

tube of toothpaste
steak off the counter
a pan of peanut butter bars left on the counter (loud crash that woke me up at two in the morning = Bob sending the pan flying to the floor)
my breakfast off the counter (do you see a trend here?)
a banana
apple slices
tomato
countless tubes of chapstick
Legos (where do I even start)
3, no wait, 4 toothbrushes
a bouncy ball
nerf darts--any time he can find one
lip gloss
enchilada seasoning packet (I actually had to learn to make enchilada sauce from scratch)
anything my 2 year old nephew has in his hand
something very, very red that he puked up on my new white rug, perhaps number 13.
barbie shoe
stuffed otter
anything he can haul out of the kids garbage cans
part of a loaf of bread
pineapple
Tinker Toys
any wrapper that once contained food
crayons
anything in my compost pile

At least he has nearly stopped puking at this point. He must finally be used to the dog food we have. All that crazy stuff he eats doesn't make him puke but switching his brand of dog food does. That just doesn't seem right.

Next up, things my 10 month old nephew has eaten (or at least attempted to eat) including, but not limited to: sandpaper, dust bunnies, napkins, diapers, paper, a screw, Bob's tail, and dog food.

Babysitting him was so much easier when he was immobile.

Something for everyone

2011-03-29T17:13:00.000-08:00

Ice sculptures aren't just for wedding receptions and fancy balls anymore. It isn't just swans they can carve out of ice. There really is something for everyone. We went on our 2nd annual trip to Fairbanks a few weeks ago to Ice Alaska, the world ice sculpting championship, and I thought I'd share a few of the more random sculptures that I saw.

This is one of the first ones that we saw and I thought it was neat. Then I thought, huh, it kind of looks like intestines.

Then we came back at night to see the sculptures all lit up. They had a red light illuminating it. It is now sealed forever in my mind as the intestine sculpture.

This one is a tiny ballerina on top of a giant hand. It's not exactly funny ha ha so much as I just don't get it. Why exactly is there a tiny dancer on a giant digit? I feel like I'm missing something deeper about this one. Or maybe I'm not.

Then there is Pinocchio and two winged creatures. It was beautiful, but I only remember there being one fairy in the story of Pinocchio, and I don't remember either of them attacking Pinocchio while he begs for his life. Then again, I don't think I've watched Pinocchio it about 20 years or so.

Here is some alien creature with spider like arms and an inordinate of number of breasts.

And here it is at night. Now I see it also seems to have some sort of fetus in a capsule. Slightly creepy.

I liked this one.

It's hard to tell in the light, but it is a person sitting by a campfire roasting a marshmallow with his sled dog sitting along side him.

Then we moved on to true Americana: rodeo. It was a complete rodeo with a bullfighter (not to be confused with a rodeo clown. BIG difference.),

Barrel racing,

Bull riding,

And bulldogging (or it may be calf roping. I can't really tell from this picture if there is a rope around the calf's neck or not). A full rodeo. They even made a fence around the arena. Amazing...

Now we move on to something from a Salvadore Dali painting. I would know, I went through a Dali phase in college, although I can't recall what the name of this particular one is.

You're guess is as good as mine with this one. I really like it though. They even carefully raked the snow around the sculpture like sand in a zen garden.

A giant arachnid about to eat a grasshopper. Very detailed and lifelike. Except for the fact that it was about 8 feet long.

A snow machine pulling a guy on skis. This one was really impressive. I think it won in the big block division.

Now do you see what I mean about there being something for everyone? So far we have intestines, a tiny dancer on a giant finger, Pinocchio begging for his life, a multi-breasted alien, a complete rodeo, a Salvadore Dali impersonator, and a snow machine nearly 20 feet in the air. If you can't find something you like here, you're just not looking.

And now the pièce de résistance. What ice sculpture competition would be complete with out an homage to AC/DC? Not this one.

Paint: it covers a multitude of faux finish sins.

2011-03-24T14:37:00.001-08:00

Spring break is over and it was wonderful. It has me wishing for summer break already. I love not having to go anywhere for a whole day. I don't think I have many days in my normal week where I don't have something I have to do or somewhere that I have to be. Maybe every other Thursday when I don't teach preschool, babysit my nephews, or volunteer at the kids' school. But that's about it. And usually those days get filled pretty quickly with dentist appointments, grocery shopping, and coffee dates with my sister.

I had one day during our spring break in which the kids and I actually stayed home and didn't go anywhere all day long. It was wonderful. As I write this I am remembering when they were little and I was so tired of being stuck in the house all day long. Back then I couldn't wait to get out of my house. Grocery shopping was my refuge. I would wait for DH to get home from work and I would leave the kids with him and go grocery shopping. It was my alone time. Funny how things change so quickly. I guess there is a happy balance. Someday I'd like to find it.

Since I had one uninterrupted day and I made the most of it. I finally painted the desk that I bought on craigslist before we even had this house. I bought it for Princess Blondie's room, but it ended up in my living room. It is my sewing desk now and I don't think it's ever going to make it's way up to her room.

I never did like the color of it. The previous owners went a little too far on the faux distressing. If I had put it in Princess Blondie's room I would have painted it a nice crisp white and done some fun pattern or stencil on the drawer fronts.

I went for blue. I'm still trying to decided it I want to do something fun on the drawer fronts.

I wanted it to mesh with my new curtains (that are really table cloths from Target that I got on sale for 4 dollars!) and that corner needed a little color. My living room is kind of vanilla. So I got busy and mixed some paint together. I mixed the "turquiose" from the toothpaste explosion bathroom, the gray blue from Sonny Boy's room, and some white from our trim. Honestly, now I wonder if it matches the curtains a little too well. I don't like things matchy matchy. DH said he was surprised when I actually wanted him to make matching side tables for our living room.

I would like to add that I have nothing against distressed furniture. Like the chair in the picture above that came with the house. The one that is actually distressed because it has had a long, eventful life and was well used. There is nothing faux about it.

I would also like to point out my 6 dollar Salvation Army lamps.

Before

After.

Is there nothing a little paint can't fix?

What's wrong with this picture?

2011-03-15T11:49:00.000-08:00

We just got back from a weekend in Fairbanks. It's spring break for the kids and I so DH took Monday off and we headed up there for a long weekend spent checking out ice sculptures and Chena hot springs. That may not sound like an ideal spring break, it surely wasn't a typical spring break beach trip, but it's Alaska. You've got to work with what you've got.

Before our tour of the world ice sculpting championship at Ice Alaska, we stopped at the Santa Claus House in North Pole, Alaska. We missed Santa last year. They are only open on weekends after the Christmas season.

I guess Santa needs a vacation too.

We followed instructions and took pictures in Santas chair.

Princess Blondie was a little disappointed that Santa wasn't there but honestly, I think it is a good thing. I'm not sure how much longer I can keep the magic alive if we keep seeing different Santas. She can tell the difference. She already noticed that the Santa at the reindeer farm was shorter than the Santa at Girl Scouts. Heaven forbid this Santa actually have a real beard (and I have a feeling he does at the Santa House. I'm betting they go for authenticity) and I have to try to come up with a reason for that. It was much easier on me this way. She did immediately start to write a letter to Santa when we got back to the hotel though. She asked him for 3 Barbies and 5 cookies. I had to mail it yesterday as soon as we got back. It's never too early to start planning for Christmas.

They had a really neat nativity scene there as well. I found Princess Blondie there poking at baby Jesus. She was pretty enamored with them all.

My favorite was the angel. I love the way that he looks so curious and has a hesitant hand raised to touch the Savior. This was all new for the angels too.

This was the sign that was above this nativity scene. I like it.

Along with Santa's chair to take pictures in, they also had this giant stuffed moose.

They also have a giant polar bear.

And funny elf hats.

Outside there were reindeer in a pen. The kids weren't all that interested. After feeding them by hand at the reindeer farm, looking at them in a pen just isn't that interesting. There were also ice sculptures of Santa and his sleigh. Princess Blondie had to give the ice Santa a hug. I guess that will have to do in place of the real deal.

Right before we left, I noticed this nativity set for sale, but then something struck me as being a little out of place. Why Tinkerbell was part of this scene, I don't know, but she doesn't look too happy about it. Wings do not an angel make.

Cold is a relative thing

2011-03-08T14:05:00.000-09:00

My sister recently sent me this forward and I thought I just had to share it. The funny thing is that it is surprisingly accurate. When I first got here I froze at my sisters house. She had all the windows open and was wearing shorts and tank tops. I was bundled up in jeans, a sweatshirt, slippers, and had a blanket wrapped around me. I've acclimated a bit now.

COLD IS A RELATIVE THING. .. .

At 65 degrees above zero:
People in Florida turn on the heat.

People in Alaska plant gardens.

At 60 degrees above zero:
People in California shiver uncontrollably.
People in Alaska sunbathe.

At 50 degrees above zero:
Italian and English cars won't start.
People in Alaska drive with the windows down.

At 40 degrees above zero:
People in Georgia don coats, thermal underwear, gloves, and wool hats.
People in Alaska throw on a flannel shirt.

At 35 degrees above zero:
New York landlords finally turn up the heat.
People in Alaska have the last cookout before it gets cold.

At 20 degrees above zero:
People in Miami all die.
People in Alaska close the windows.

At zero degrees:
People in Arizona fly away to Mexico.
People in Alaska get out their winter coats.

At 10 degrees below zero:
Hollywood disintegrates.
Girl Scouts in Alaska are selling cookies door to door.

At 20 degrees below zero:
Washington, DC, runs out of hot air.
People in Alaska let the dogs sleep indoors.

At 30 degrees below zero:
Santa Claus abandons the North Pole.
Alaskans get upset because they can't start the snowmobile.

At 40 degrees below zero:
ALL atomic motion stops.
People in Alaska start saying, "Cold enough for ya?"

At 50 degrees below zero:
Hell freezes over.

Alaska public schools will open 2 hours late

True things about our life in Alaska...

It was in the 30s yesterday and it felt positively balmy.

Our thermostat is set at 66 degrees. We turn it down even more at night.
We grill outside all winter long. Just brush the snow off the grill and fire her up!

We really do plant gardens at 65 degrees. If you want to grow tomatoes you have to have a greenhouse. It just doesn't get warm enough for them to produce fruit outside. The nights get too cool.

People really do sunbathe at 60 degrees. If there is sunshine, people are outdoors.
We had several snow days this year and it wasn't for the 12 inches of snow we got in one night. It was for freezing rain when it got too warm to snow.

The kids have to go outside for recess unless the windchill is greater than 10 below.

I'm not sure that the kids would get a delay at school if it was 50 below. I know they don't have a delay if it's 30 below. The bus came right on time!

For 50 below you'd have to ask the kids in Fairbanks.

Pictures from my phone

2011-03-07T10:51:00.000-09:00

My husband recently bought this really nifty device to store all of our picture files and pretty much every other thing that is on our computer. I can supposedly access my photos from anywhere, including my phone. Problem is, he has yet to show me how to access this nifty device that we now have. I don't know the password. So while all my photos from my real camera are being held hostage, I thought I would share some photos that I took on my phone.

In no particular order....

DH and I at the Iditarod Restart in Willow.

Sunset at the dentist office.

Bob and Stinky Beagle cuddling on my bed. Stinky Beagle has called a truce, and I think she may even like Bob now.

Moose taking a nap in my yard.

Princess Blondie and I.

Crazy Hair Day!

DH working on a window seat for me :)

My future's so bright I gotta wear shades.

First school dance. They did the hustle, the chicken dance, the bunny hop, and this was some version of London bridges.

I bought a delicious treat for my nephew. I sticky, he said. His face was also still stained red and blue the next day. Oops.

Kids say the darndest things. Part II

2011-02-28T10:39:00.000-09:00

My kids do say some embarrassing things. I can usually count on Princess Blondie to be less embarrassing in public. Sonny Boy is usually the one saying and doing ridiculous things, but once in a while Princess Blondie comes up with a real gem. Luckily for me, this one was only a conversation between her and I in the privacy of our own kitchen. No public humiliation involved until now, because now, for whatever reason, I feel the need to share it with you. Probably just becuase it was so funny I had to share it with someone.

To preface this story you need a visual aid on the structural differences between our dogs.

This is Bob. He is long, lean, and thin. He is also a piece of work. Lots of fun, relatively obedient, but still learning the way things work around here. If he pukes on my new rug one more time I may need to get rid of him. Seriously, anywhere else in the house would be fine, but no, he always chooses to puke on my rug.

This is Lila, more commonly known on this blog as Stinky Beagle because, well, she's a stinky beagle. Her build is short and squat. Rotund is a good word for her. Here she is showing off her plump belly. I'm not quite sure why she has saggy belly skin since she's never had puppies. Sonny Boy's new favorite descriptor for her is chubby. She's not just Lila to him anymore, she is now Chubby Lila or Chubby Beagle.

Bob has recently decided that he is alpha male to my children. They are annoying young pups that are just, well, annoying. To nip this in the bud before it becomes a problem we have started to crack down on Bob and make him obey the kids. They are alpha, he is the peon. If he really wants to dominate someone it will have to be Lila.

To work on this whole "my kids are alpha you are just a peon" thing we've been making the kids feed Bob while he has to sit and stay and wait until they tell him he can eat. While we were doing this one day Princess Blondie tells me that Bob is too thin and we need to feed him more. My response was that was just the way Bob's body was made. He was a good weight. Then I had to go and ruin a good thing and I decided to make this an object lesson.

"See, honey, Bob is kind of like you. You are tall and thin, just like Bob is long and thin. He eats enough food, that's just the way his body is supposed to be."

"Yeah, Mom, I'm like Bob and you are like Lila."

Well, super. But hey, can't blame the kid for being honest. I can't contest that I do in fact have more physical traits in common with Lila than I do with Bob (Do you see now why I finally told you Stinky Beagle's real name. It's bad enough to be compared to her physically, I don't also want everyone to think I smell like her).

I then countered her argument with:

"Well, yeah, I guess I do, but I'm getting thinner now, right?" (Weight Watchers and I are good friends now.)

"Yeah, Mom. You used to be this fat," she said spreading her arms as far as they would go, "but now you're only this fat," she said moving her hands in a few inches. "Some moms look like Bob, but lots of moms look like Lila after they have kids." At least I'm not alone. I guess lots of moms look like me. And a beagle.

Just in case I was starting to feel too good about myself after losing 35 pounds, it's good to have a kid around to make sure I know I still have a ways to go. Its good to get a little dose of reality now and then. What can I say, I brought this on myself. Me and my stupid object lessons.

Kids say the darndest things. Part I

2011-02-25T10:29:00.000-09:00

I've been saving this one up for a while now. Sonny Boy has said some pretty funny and embarrassing things and I was just waiting for Princess Blondie to do something equally mortifying so that they can share the shame on this blog. Tomorrow I will bring you Princess Blondie's gem, but first up is Sonny Boy with what is probably the most embarrassing moment of my adult life. And I have done some pretty embarrassing things.

Last year Sonny Boy started Cub Scouts. He and ten or so fellow Tiger Scouts started meeting every week. Scouts was supposed to be DH's department, but since he commutes to Anchorage for work everyday, I often brought Sonny Boy to the meetings while DH would get there when he could. Cub Scouts get to do lots of fun things like go on field trips to the fire station and build tool boxes at Spenards. One such outing was a trip to the police station with one of the fellow dads who is a state trooper. DH was on parental duty for this field trip so I wasn't there, but I do know they talked a lot about saying no to drugs and drinking and driving because the next morning Sonny Boy yelled at me for drinking my coffee while I was driving him to school.

Mom, you're not supposed to drink and drive!!

That should have been my first clue that I needed to clarify some information that he had received on this field trip.

The next week rolled around and I was on duty to bring Sonny Boy to Cub Scouts. The first order of business was to review all the things they learned from the field trip the week before. Hands were popping up and the boys were telling our leader all the bad things that we shouldn't do.

Don't drink and drive!

Don't speed or you'll get a ticket!

Wear your seat belt!

Don't do drugs!

Sonny Boy's hand pops up.

My daddy does drugs.

A long, awkward pause ensued while I was at a complete loss for words. I literally could not find words in my brain to spew out of my mouth. Not one word. There's nothing like silence to make you look guilty and I couldn't find a single thing to say to refute our son's ridiculous accusation. I was too flabbergasted. Where on earth did Sonny Boy come up with this?

My husband does NOT do drugs. He can't. He was active Air Force for 6 years, he now is in the Air Guard and he works as a contractor on an Air Force base. They can do a random drug test whenever they want. And they have. Unless you like getting kicked out of the service and losing your job, you don't do drugs.

Our leader kept the meeting moving along while I turned various shades of red and tried to melt into the floor. My face was certainly hot enough to melt. I wish it had. As soon as the meeting was over I hustled the kids out to the truck and started interrogating Sonny Boy.

Why on earth would you say that Dad does drugs!?!

Well, I saw him drink a beer once.

Are you kidding me?!

Clearly some information got jumbled around in his brain on this field trip to the police station. He accused me of drinking and driving for having coffee in the truck, and he accused my husband of using illicit drugs because he drank a beer in the safety our own home. At this point I never wanted to bring my son out in public again for fear of what he might say. We had a very long talk about the difference between drugs and alcohol and what drinking and driving really meant. And to never, ever, ever tell people that his father does drugs.

The worst part of this is that his leader actually believed him (she recently confessed this to me). It was at the beginning of the year when no one really knew each other. I can't really blame her. If it was some other kid that said it I probably would have believed him. She is now one of my best friends up here. In fact, we are in book club together. I'm pretty sure that at this point she knows that we don't do drugs. But just in case, Jill, nobody in this house is using any drugs. I don't even like to take cold medicine.

My new love

2011-02-18T09:49:00.000-09:00

I like art. I don't know a thing about art at all. Not. one. thing. I am an art ignoramus. I just know that certain artists or pieces of work capture my attention. I like what I like. There is really no rhyme or reason to it. I go through phases when I become infatuated with someone in particular. If you look around my house you will see prints from Gustav Klimt (my favorites are Tree of Life and Sea Serpents. I still don't have the latter yet, although I do have some smaller prints of just the faces.), Natasha Wescoat (the tree collection), and one piece from Lisa Kowalski. My newest infatuation is with V Rae.

We went to the Sea Life Center when DH and I were in Seward, and along with the incredible sea creatures that we got to view, we also saw some amazing artwork. In the lower level of the center, V Rae's artwork is displayed alongside the tanks and aquariums.

I loved all of her work, but this one is the one that really stopped me in my tracks. Maybe I just have a thing for moose, but I really love this one, and it just so happens that this is the first animal portrait she had ever done. Prior to spotting this moose in her yard and painting it, she had painted flowers.

The descritpions of her paintings are almost as good as the paintings themselves.

She has a story about how she met each animal and she really has a connection and relationship with them.

I'm always so impressed with people who can paint in watercolor. I don't know much about art, but I do know how finicky watercolor can be. Watercolor doesn't stay put like oil painting. I can't imagine making art like that with paint that really has a mind of it's own.

My pictures of her pictures really don't do her work justice. You really should check out her website. There are many more pictures there. Some day I'll get one of her prints. The hardest part will be picking just one.

Happy Valentine's Day. I'm a little late.

2011-02-17T01:22:00.000-09:00

I started to rifle through my pictures from DH and I's getaway weekend so I could do a Seward post and then I realized the magnitude of the task I had taken on. I took a lot of pictures so this is going to take me some time. In the meantime, I thought I'd share this.

I got a lovely bouquet of tulips and they're not from my hubby. I guess I have a secret admirer (even though I know his name-- he is 4 years old, and is one of my students. I can still call it a secret admirer if I want to). It absolutely made my day when he walked into school Monday with flowers for me my teacher aid. Pink for her and these beautiful red and yellow ones for me. There is nothing more cheerful than tulips. It makes me smile every time I walk in the kitchen. I think I may need to carry them around with me so I can smile all the time (although that would make me look like a constant bridesmaid, minus the awful dress). How can you be upset with tulips staring at you?

DH did not drop the ball, though, even if the only flowers in the house came from a young man he's never met.

Nope, he ordered me a package and made me open it the day it came: on the 12th. I got two cast iron skillets. One big one and one little bitty one just right for making my egg for breakfast every morning. Cooking on them makes me think of my dad making breakfast for me when I was little. While most may not consider cast iron skillets to be a very romantic gift, they are to me. DH knew I wanted some but I never got any. I just used my flaking Teflon pans. Perhaps he just didn't want me to poison him and the kids with Teflon any longer. Either way, I really love them. This Valentine's day will go down in the annals as a good one.

To stencil, or not to stencil

2011-02-11T23:49:00.000-09:00

Computers are fixed. Here are the pictures of what I finally decided to do in the bathroom. I'm pretty indecisive when it comes to home decor because I feel like I have to live with it forever, although repainting is certainly not that difficult. Especially when DH is the one who does the painting. He's pretty good at it.

So right after I asked you all for your opinions on stripes I decided to go with a stencil. I wanted to find one that looked something like this from some towels I picked up.

I found the perfect stencil on Fresh Crush. I traced the pattern on some poster board, cut it out with an exacto knife, and then got to work.

What do you think? It's exactly the same, is it not?

This one small wall took me three days and I still have to go back to do touch ups. I love the way stencils look, but on our textured walls they are really labor intensive. By the way, I really want to know what is this state's obsession with textured walls? I'm not sure there is a house in Alaska with normal, flat, non textured walls. They drive me crazy! Next time I say I want to do a stencil, someone talk me out of it, ok?

The post with no pictures. It feels weird.

2011-02-07T10:21:00.000-09:00

I was all set to sit down and finally write a new post today and our PC is not working and my laptop doesn't like my flash drive. I was going to give up but then I decided that I guess I don't have to have pictures in every post, but it just feels a little wrong without it. You'll just have to use your imaginations.

So here is a list of random things that I have been up to since I left you with my bathroom paint conundrum and then fell off the blogosphere.

1. I heard all of your vertical and horizontal stripe opinions (mostly on facebook. I love all of your comments, no matter where you leave them!) and then I had a moment of panic. I had posted my last entry, gone to bed and then lay there thinking. I finally decided on horizontal. I then woke up, read that everyone (minus Heidi) thought that I should do vertical and suddenly didn't know what to do anymore! Then I got a burr in my britches, and decided that stripes were out and a stencil was in! I love it, but it did take me for.ev.er. In fact, it is still not done. I have it all on the wall, but now I get to go back and touch it all up. Ugh. You'd think I'd have learned my lesson with stencils on a textured walls. I did a stencil in Princess Blondie's room last year and it took me three days. The bathroom was no different. Once DH fixes my computer problems I'll show you pictures.

2. Sonny Boy had a birthday. It was a big success, even if I didn't get the bathroom finished before hand. We finally got some snow and the kids rode around on sleds towed behind the four-wheelers. It is the cleanest my house has even been after a birthday party. I fed them and gave them cake and then promptly kicked them outdoors. He didn't even have time to open his presents before it was time for everyone to leave. I know it was a great success because one of his friends was crying because he didn't want to go. Crying is usually bad at birthday parties, but this time I marked it as a sure sign that this was one rockin' party. The best part of the party? My husband and brother-in-law took the kids outside while the rest of us moms sat in my nice warm (well, it's warm compared to outside, but you may want to bring slippers and a blanket if you visit my house) living room, visited, and drank coffee.

3. My husband and I went away for the weekend. Together. Alone. With no children. I think this is the first time that we have ever done that and we have been married for eight years next month. My wonderful friend, Lindsay, has watched my children many many nights for us when we lived in North Carolina, but this is the first time that we actually went away by ourselves. We did visit my brother and his girlfriend in DC once, and while it was a ton of fun, it was not terribly romantic. Brothers have a way of killing the romance.

We drove down to Seward as I have never been south of Anchorage, and we pretty much had the whole town to ourselves. Seward is pretty quiet in the winter. There are great restaurants, though, and the Sea Life Center is really neat. A definite must see. We drove all around and explored every side street and we even stumbled upon the prison on the other side of the harbor. We already have plans to go back in the summer (to Seward, not the prison). We want to go see Exit Glacier and take a ferry tour of Resurrection Bay. We'll even take the kids with us this time.

4.We watched the Super Bowl at my sister's house last night. I'm glad that the Packers won even though we have some friends that are big Steelers fans. I just have a hard time getting behind a team with a quarterback who is such a creep. Plus, you can always find me pulling for the underdog, so that made my wish for Green Bay to win a pretty easy choice to make.

5. After we got home from my sister's last night I put the kids to bed an hour early and then I went to bed. It was 7 pm. I don't think I've ever done that before. I usually am lucky if I get to bed while the clock still says pm, but I was tired. I slept 12 hours and now I feel a cold coming on. Guess that explains it.

6. My sister started work on a new floor in the hospital. She now has a set schedule, which means I now have a set schedule of watching my nephews. I also started going to a new Bible study at church. I also volunteer at the kids' school every Friday. I also teach preschool. I also drive my kids around to Scouts and whatnot and do homework with them, make dinner for them, and try to clean the house every once in a while. I also try to scrounge up enough time to post on my blog on a basis that is more than biannual (although I'm not doing a very good job on the last one). I iz busy.... It may sound like I'm complaining but don't get me wrong. I ~~like~~ love my life.

Toothpaste explosion

2011-01-20T00:01:00.002-09:00

I finally decided to paint the downstairs bathroom. Our entire house is a very light contractor's beige color. We did paint the kids' rooms when we moved in but we stopped there. At least they got a little color in their lives. It was also part of my plan to ease them into the big move from North Carolina to Alaska. I bribed them into being happy/excited about the move from everything they've ever known by saying they could pick out the paint colors of their new rooms. I'm not above bribery (especially when it comes to children). I finally decided to do something about the boring beige bathroom and now I am having second thoughts. I got tired of practical and neutral. It is a small room so I figured I'd go bold. Turquoise is what I had in mind.

Toothpaste explosion is what I ended up with. I bet if you licked the walls they would taste minty and whiten your teeth. DH looked at my color choice with a slight bit of disbelief and then painted for me. Pretty much the exact same thing he did with my Popsicle purple front door (I'm hoping this color will grow on me the same way the door color did).

DH is such a trooper. He puts up with all of my crazy ideas. Unless it involves flowers. He draws the line at girly. I'm hoping to remedy the overpowering aqua with some brown and white stripes. I know that toning something down by adding stripes might seem counter intuitive, but I really think this may work. Now my biggest dilemma is should they be

Katie of Katie Beth Interior

vertical?

thelennoxx.com

or horizontal?

I am the most indecisive person ever and I'm in a time crunch. I want to get it done before Sonny Boy's birthday party this weekend so people won't know of my epic color choice fail. That pretty much leaves me tomorrow to figure it all out since that's my only day this week with nothing else going on. I can't take this kind of pressure! Ugh.

Update: The finished wall is here. I got a burr in my bonnet and decided that I would forgo stripes all together and went for a lattice stencil. A pain in the butt on textured walls, but I think the end result was worth it.

You gotta do what you gotta do

2011-01-19T10:41:00.000-09:00

Why yes, I did put my baby nephew to sleep in the bathtub, why do you ask? Oh, that's kind of odd? Well, desperate times call for desperate measures, my friend.

Tired baby who is recently mobile + no pack n' play or crib = baby gets to sleep in my tub where he cannot escape or harm himself (except for possibly his eardrums. Baby cries really echo in a bathroom).

As long as I don't throw the baby out with the bathwater I figure I'm fine. Where did that expression come from anyway? There is no expression saying anything about letting babies sleep in bathtub, so I think I'm doing all right.

You gotta do what you gotta do.

(By the way, I did not put him in there sideways like that. He wedged himself into that position all on his own. I supposed wedged is not the right word, although it does look like it. He can move, I promise.)

It feels like the first time

2011-01-14T10:04:00.000-09:00

(Is it weird that many of my blog titles stem from a song? Every time I write a post I get a song stuck in my head. I may be the only one out there with a blog soundtrack...)

Anyway...

Yesterday I did something very brave. Right after I took pictures of my neighbors yard like a stalker, I put my camera in the manual mode for the first time. I changed my subject matter from grass to my nephews and just started pushing buttons on my camera. Since my husband was so nice and got me a new camera for my birthday, I think it is my duty to figure out how to use the thing to full capacity. The first several pictures were too dark, then too bright, and all of them blurry. I pushed some more buttons and then I ended up with something that I thought looked all right. Here you have it, my first attempts at taking pictures with a camera that is smarter than me.

My baby nephew, who I will not be able to call a baby for much longer.

He got to be my subject because he can't move around as fast as his two and a half year old brother.

These are all straight out of the camera shots. No editing (except for cropping). That will come later. Baby steps for me. My focus is a bit off, but I'm still really pleased with these for my first try.

Then I started taking pictures of Bob, but that is hard. Every time he sees me looking at him he has to get up and come to me so I can pet him. Or he just sits on me. I think it's his weird way of trying to showcase his dominance over me. I need to learn to put him in his place. The Dog Whisperer would be so ashamed of me.

Sometimes a little nephew distracts my subject by driving trains on him. And then Bob gets excited because somebody is playing with him and I can't take pictures of things that are moving yet. Baby steps, remember? Speaking of baby steps...

I then witnessed something grand. My sweet baby nephew crawled for me! Well, half crawled. I think this is the first recorded evidence of this accomplishment and for once, I was in the right place at the right time with my camera ready!

He has now locked in on his target.

Must. get. car.

So close...

If I just shimmy a liiiitttle closer....

And I'm there.

This target requires both hands. Must double fist it.

Operation 'acquire car and chew on it' complete.

So now I need your help. Please tell me any online tutorials or blogs that you know of that can help me figure out what I'm doing with my camera. I'm talking very beginner stuff here. Like 'what is aperture' type stuff. I would be forever grateful if you could all point me in the direction of a website, blog, or a book. Thanks!

Winter weather?

2011-01-13T15:23:00.000-09:00

This is my neighbor's yard. I felt like such a stalker when I put my telephoto lens on my camera and took pictures of their yard from my living room window. But it had to be done. You had to see that while the rest of the U.S. is besieged by snowy wintry weather, we have grassy lawns in January. Just in case you don't remember, I live in Alaska. This is weird.

While most people have grassy yards, our yard is surrounded by trees, and is therefore mostly in the shade. So while everyone else's snow melted or blew away,

our yard turned into a solid sheet of ice as did every single driveway and parking lot.

Given that my choice of winter foot wear is either my Danskos or my cheapo faux Uggs from Target, I slip and slide around a lot. My goal this winter is to not fall on my arse. Considering I fell at least three times last winter (I started losing count after a while), I think this is a pretty lofty goal. My back has not been quite the same since then. I actually had to go to the doctor because my leg was going numb after one particularly hard landing when I wiped out while I was carrying my nephew. He was completely unscathed, being the super aunt that I am I tried my darnedest not to squash him and I succeeded. He just thought I did a really neat trick. I sincerely hope that I can make it through the winter without wiping out. I'm not sure how much more my body can take.

This is not the winter wonderland I was hoping for.

This is the winter wonderland I would like to have back again.

If I'm risking life and limb (ok, mostly just limb) walking around in this winter weather, I would like it to at least be pretty. Is that too much to ask?

10 More things I've learned about Bob

2011-01-09T13:08:00.000-09:00

It seems like we have had Bob here forever. He fits right in with the family. He is still getting used to the way things work around here. This is a continuation of what I have learned about Bob.

1. He is still trying to figure out where to sleep at night, given that his preferred spot is on our bed with us and he is denied every night. This leads to him trying sleep on the kids beds, which they love, except that he is a bit of a bed hog.

2. Bob loves a good cuddle. Every morning when DH leaves for work the dogs jump at the chance of half of my bed being empty and immediately occupy it. Both dogs have to make sure that they are touching at least part of me. Bob's first choice is to stick his face in my face so I know for sure that he is there waiting to be cuddled. It gets a little cramped.

3. Bob follows me from room to room all day long. He thinks I may decide to play with him or feed him something at any moment and he doesn't want to miss his chance.

4. When Bob is not following me, he and Stinky Beagle have taken to sleeping on my bed. Bob can see out the window from our bed and is always the first to know when someone is coming or going, or heaven forbid, leaving him behind. I thought he was going to claw through the window the other day when I had the audacity to walk to the bus stop without him. There is a lot of dog slobber on that window now. I see a dark shadow watching me every time I come up the driveway, and then I hear the thunk, thunk, thunk, thunk as he runs down stairs to wait for our entrance from the garage.

5. No food on any counter is safe. I'm not used to that. Stinky Beagle is no threat to my counters. First, Bob ate a cookie as they were cooling on the counter, then Bob ate my breakfast when I went in the other room for a minute, and then, Bob ate a pan of peanut butter bars in the middle of the night. I heard a loud crash that woke me up. Even DH woke up, which is saying something. I'm usually the only one to wake up and check out scary noises, but even he woke up this time. I went down stairs to find that Bob had knocked the ceramic pan onto the floor while he was gorging on peanut butter.

6. Needless to say, Bob threw up quite a bit for the first few weeks. His stomach seems to to have settled a bit (knock on wood) and I have learned to put stuff away.

7. Bob likes to sprawl himslef right smack in the middle of my kitchen floor anytime that I am cooking. He gets tripped over a lot. I also knocked him in the nose when I opened the over door. He doesn't quite get the concept of getting out of the way. I think he might actually jump in there if I didn't watch him.

8. Bob likes to ride on the fourwheeler. He hops right on the back with the kids and goes along for the ride. He barks and howls the whole time. I need to get video of this.

9. Bob is a talker. This is probably my favorite thing about Bob. He grunts and groans and "talks" but he very rarely barks.

10. He has chewed up every one of Stinky Beagles toys. It took him two weeks to eat through what Stinky Beagle had collected for two years. She's not much of a chewer. I have to try and try to find something she will chew on. Bob's pretty indiscriminate when it comes to chew toys. I foresee good dental health in his future.

The integration is complete. Bob is officially a part of this family.

Grandparents trump parents every time.

2011-01-07T11:15:00.000-09:00

My kids love it when grandparents come to visit. It doesn't matter which set, heck it doesn't even have to be their own. They liked my sister's in-laws pretty well when they came to visit too. Even my friend's in-laws were well received when we were still living in North Carolina. They're equal opportunity grandparent lovers. They do of course have a special place for their own grandparents, and so do I. I love it when they visit because it means I'm pretty much off the hook for the entirety of their stay. The grandparents are up for anything.

They make cookies (and eat all the icing).

They play outside and collect pine cones with them. They also wander through the woods with them as Grampa, Sonny Boy, and Bob are doing in this picture. You just cant see them.

On a complete side note, did you see what my children did to that tree? After it fell down in the wind storm they stripped that tree of every. single. needle. They tore all the little branches off. That tree is pretty naked now. How much wood could a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood? I don't know, but they've got nothing on my kids. If you've got wood to be chucked, I'll send them on over. Apparently it's great fun.

Back to the granparents. They are also really good at playing games.

They play game,

after game,

after game with them.

Even when the kids cheat.

They freeze their behinds off on polar hayrides.

They give the kids tape and let them help wrap presents.

Play that godforsaken Paper Rock Jam guitar. Thank goodness it has headphones, or it would have ended up hidden somewhere. I can only listen to "It's the end of the world as we know it" so many times.

They don't mind when Princess Blondie tells them what their presents are before they get a chance to open them.

They color brides and grooms.

They read bedtimes stories every night.

And they give the best hugs.

The kids are VERY excited to go to Michigan to visit next summer. They get a double dose of grandparents whenever we go to Michigan because we get to visit both sets. They talk about it all the time and Princess Blondie is praying for safe travels for us already (every night) even though we aren't leaving for six months. Perhaps I shouldn't have told them yet because now I won't hear the end of it until June, but it did help soften the blow of them leaving.

Hot, hot, hot... hot chocolate! (insert catchy tune from Polar Express here)

2011-01-05T22:43:00.000-09:00

Nothing is more satisfying than hot chocolate on a cold day.

And nothing feels better on fingers cold from playing in the snow than a warm mug to wrap them around. I think my kids may go play outside in this Alaskan winter weather just because they know that they will get hot chocolate when then come back in.

Insert a satisfied "ahhhh" sound here.

Contemplating all that is right with the world now that her fingers are toasty and she is warmed from the inside out.

The hot chocolate mustache will stay on her face for the rest of the day. I'm convinced she doesn't have any nerves in her face because she claims she can never feel any of the food stuck to it. I think she just doesn't like napkins. But, none of that matters because her belly is warm and full and everything is fine. Chocolate can do that. It's powerful stuff.

It's all fun and games until someone pokes their eye out

2010-12-30T15:08:00.000-09:00

One of the best things about teaching preschool is that I have the same holidays as my kids. Christmas break is still in full swing around here. It is two in the afternoon and I'm still in my pajamas. I haven't taken a shower in two days. I have no intention of leaving my house anytime soon. I'm feeling quite lazy, although, in my defense, I did finish sanding and staining our end tables and painting my thrift store lamps (they are a.w.e.s.o.m.e, if I do say so myself). And after I write this post I'm off to hit the showers, because now that I just wrote that I feel like a grody slob.

So, now that I'm done over-sharing I'd like to tell you about our little excursion to the reindeer farm. My parents were here for Christmas so we went around doing things that normally we would never do like bowling, going up to Hatcher's Pass for hot cocoa in a little Swiss chalet looking restaurant, and going to see Santa and feed the reindeer at the Reindeer Farm in Palmer.

The setting for this place is absolutely amazing. We drove down snow covered tree lined roads to get there, and then we get to enjoy the backdrop of the mountains once we arrive. If I could pick the a spot to plunk down a house, this would be it.

They have all kinds of animals at the farm, not just reindeer. There are horses, now fluffy with their winter coats.

This is Bruce the Moose. He just lost one of his antlers and he'll shed the other one soon.

They also have Santa. He wandered around the farm taking pictures with children, feeding the reindeer, and going on hayrides with the other patrons. Right after I took this picture Princess Blondie ran back and gave Santa a great big hug and I missed that once in a lifetime photo opportunity. Grr...

Then we were off to the pen to feed the reindeer. Did I mention that they have the best views in town? Just look at those mountians. Now do a full 360 and picture mountains everywhere you look and you will understand what it looks like there. Except that part the view is blocked by the butte. But if you would climb the butte, and do a full 360, this is pretty much what you would see all around.

The reindeer will eat right out of your hand. It is quite an experience to see a herd of reindeer walking up to you looking for food. They know that kids mean one thing--snack time.

The tendons in the reindeers' legs don't allow them to kick back or to the side, so they are perfectly safe to be around.

The only thing you have to be watch out for are the antlers. They'll poke your eye out! Princess Blondie used her ninja-like reflexes (she got those from me) to dodge the antlers and kept her eyes intact.

Santa let the kids sit in his sleigh.

And then we went for a hay ride. On the right is a field full of reindeer, and on the left is a field full of elk. One bull elk for a field full of females. Many may think he is a lucky son of a gun, but I think all that time with women is beginning to get to him. He was spinning around in circles and then charging across the field when we drove by. I imagine he is ready for a little peace and quiet.

As we were leaving I saw the harnesses hanging up in the barn. It all seemed so real. It's almost enough to make a believer out of me.

There's one in every family...

2010-12-27T14:47:00.000-09:00

My parents are visiting for Christmas so it's been a while since I've been on here. I hope to catch up soon. Until then I leave you with this shot.

I hope you have all been having as much fun with your crazy families this holiday season as I have been having with mine. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

What about Bob?

2010-12-18T08:53:00.000-09:00

Meet Bob, the newest member of our family. Bob was the name chosen by my husband, agreed upon by me, and we finally convinced the kids that it was better than Larry or Spike. Although I have to say, I kind of think he could pull off Larry. I love people names for dogs. It really highlights their human qualities.

We got Bob from the local shelter. He's about a year and a half old and is a lab mix.

Here's what we've learned about Bob so far:

1. He makes Stinky Beagle look positively short and squat and very, very round. Princess Blondie said it looks like Stinky Beagle shrunk like she was in the washing machine for too long. Bob and Stinky Beagle are complete opposites personality-wise as well. Bob: playful, outgoing, friendly, energetic. Stinky Beagle: timid, shy, cautious, lethargic.

2. Bob is potty trained. For this reason alone, Bob is awesome.

3. Bob comes when you call him. He hardly barks. He goes where you point. He sits, shakes, sort of lies down and almost stays when you tell him too. Yet another way he is the complete opposite of Stinky Beagle. I'm beginning to wonder if she is a cat trapped in beagle's body.

4. Bob is an attention hog and gets jealous anytime you pet Stinky Beagle. He barges his way in between us and her. He needs to learn some manners.

5. He and Stinky Beagle fight over food. They really need to learn to take turns. Or I just need to buy another dish. They are not so good at sharing.

6. Bob thinks he is a giant lap dog. He crawls in on your lap when your sitting on the couch. Especially if Stinky Beagle happens to be sitting next to you. Refer back to number 4.

7. Bob is not terribly modest. I'm not used to having a boy dog around with all of their boy parts flopping about. I guess I'll get used to it.

8. Bob is the only one who gets to use his real name on this blog, because really, I have nothing more clever to call him. What could possibly be better than Bob?

The one about the Christmas musical

2010-12-10T10:35:00.000-09:00

Oh children's Christmas programs, how I love thee. There is nothing funnier or more sweet than watching a bunch of kids in a Christmas program. Sonny Boy had his last night and it did not disappoint. I had a few good laughs during the show, but this morning when I looked at the pictures I found some really great stuff and I've been giggling to myself since. I'm glad it's just me and the dog at home. Stinky Beagle doesn't care if I just sit here and laugh to myself. She's too busy sleeping 23 hours a day to care.

First up, the kids all enter and start looking for their parents.

Aaaaand, he found us.

Then my next big goal is to get a shot of Sonny Boy when he's really singing his heart out. You have to be quick though, because usually he is trying to look cool, and cool seven (almost eight) year olds can sing and do some of the motions, but not get really into it.

Here he's still got that 'yeah, I'm singing but I'm still cool' face on.

I was trying to get some pictures of Sonny Boy's fellow scout friends because I saw their parents sitting on the opposite corner of the gym in the back. I managed to get a few. Lord knows these pictures will never leave my camera and actually make it to them, but at least I made, the effort, right? It's the thought that counts and all that jazz? Anyway, that's not my point here because I don't know who that kid in the plaid shirt is, I was aiming for someone else, but I want him. Look at those cheeks! I just want to kiss them. He's like a cuddly little teddy bear.

And the pictures just get better from here. You may think that Sonny Boy is really singing his heart out here, or that perhaps he is trying to attack the kid in front of him, but he is actually mid yawn. Yawning while in the middle of the song. My kids sleep 11 or so hours a night, so I don't know why he is so exhausted that he needs to yawn mid song. I also did not fix the red eyes in this photo because I thought it made them all look like zombies. And I guess I just thought that was funny.... It's funnier when the picture is bigger. Feel free to move on.

At this point I direct your attention to the boy directly below Sonny Boy. His face is awesome. Now this is a kid who doesn't care how cool he looks. He is excited about Monty the Flying Moose.

And for the grand finale, all the kids looking like they are saluting Hitler. Their arms are supposed to be flying reindeer, but come on, am I the only one who sees this? Someone needs to have some sort of kids program summit where they can find a solution to the Hitler salute that shows up in all sorts of children's musicals. There is some choreography that just needs to be banned. Hitler really ruined it for everybody. Jerk.

Princess Blondie's kindergarten Christmas program is next week. I'm am really looking forward to it. The younger the kids, the better the antics. My Christmas will not be complete until there is one kid who scream-sings louder than all the others and a little girl pulls her dress up and shows everyone her underwear. As long as it's not my girl.

Long winter nights = me being lazy

2010-12-07T09:59:00.000-09:00

I sit here this morning drinking my coffee black, waiting for the sun to rise. It is 9:23 am. The sky is beginning to lighten, but no sun yet. I doubt that I will actually get to see it today, as it appears it is going to be cloudy, but it's not quite light enough for me to tell yet.

Yesterday the school bus had its headlights on at 4:00 when it drove up the hill to drop my kids off. This time of year they leave for school well before the sun comes up and come home just in time for the sunset. Luckily, they really have no qualms about playing outside in the dark. How can you be afraid of the dark when there are cheerful Christmas lights wrapped around houses, trees, and bushes? They suck all the fear out of the night. We have almost made it to the shortest day of the year, December 21st. My parents will be arriving that day to spend Christmas with us. It's the perfect day to arrive, because with Gramma and Grampa here no one will care how short our days are.

One good thing about the short days? I'm actually up to enjoy the sunrise. One of these days my camera and I are going to take a trip to the hay flats to watch the sun come up. That's a much easier thought to stomach when I know I don't have to be there until at least 9:00 am.

For now, Stinky Beagle and I are going to stay inside where it is nice and warm and watch the sunrise from my window.

Unsettled

2010-12-03T12:57:00.000-09:00

I recently learned something about one of Sonny Boy's friends that has me feeling a bit unsettled. He joined our cub scout troop this year and he is a really nice boy. His mom shared the other night with our den leader that they live in a trailer with no power and no running water. They cook on a Coleman stove. They shower sometimes at her friend's house down the road. It is winter in Alaska. It's been in the single digits lately and it won't be long before we get a cold snap that will send the temperatures plummeting well below zero. The mother confirmed that while it is shelter, the trailer simply isn't that warm. The boy does not have his own room. I'm not sure where he sleeps. His parents work. They have jobs. It is just simply not enough. Life is expensive up here.

This kind of thing is more common than I thought. Some people in Alaska intentionally live "off the grid." Many just don't have the means to live any other way. One of my friends is a police officer and I've heard stories from him that have opened my eyes to what life is really like for a lot of kids in the area. Many of them schoolmates of our own kids. He’d drop his kid off at school in the morning and run into other kids whose homes he’d been sent to the night before. I'm thankful for people like him who can do his job, but I don't think I could handle seeing what he sees every day.

I find myself struggling with something that I can only describe as survivor's guilt. Why am I so blessed while other families struggle? While choices that we have made in life certainly have something to do with it, I don't believe that that is all. I have made bad choices in life. I have screwed up. I got pregnant my sophomore year of college. While I was stressing out about final exams, I was also stressed out wondering if I was, in fact, pregnant. I was. My best friend finally bought me a pregnancy test and made me take it so that I would finally know. I quit school and continued waitressing until Sonny Boy was born. I lived in my parents basement. Not great decisions. DH and I got married and he joined the Air Force.We both finished school. Good decisions, but we had a lot of divine intervention along the way. Why are we now worrying about new tv's, painting, replacing ugly (yet perfectly functional) carpet, and redoing a fireplace that we never even use when others are worried about staying warm? Why us and not them?

Sonny Boy informed me this morning that this young friend had told him he could spend the night at our house this weekend. But we had never asked. The thing that bugs me is that I should have. Sonny Boy has been wanting to have a sleep over for a long time with his cub scouts. I just kept putting it off. I'm always busy. If I keep waiting until I'm not busy it will never happen. This kid deserves to sleep in a bed and take a warm shower and play in a warm house. He's just a kid.

Black Friday sunrise. Best deal in town.

2010-11-26T11:37:00.000-09:00

My girl hopped in bed with me this morning.

She immediately pulled back the curtains and said, "Look, Mom. It's so pretty with the snow on all the trees."

She was right. It was gorgeous.

And so was the sunrise. Beautiful oranges and pinks this morning.

I'd pick this over the Black Friday shopping frenzy every time.

The elusive smile

2010-11-24T12:01:00.000-09:00

*Sigh* My boy, he is his father's son. Smiling for the camera is strictly off limits. They both smile all the time, but it is hard to convince them that they need to smile for the camera.

But yesterday I caught him.

I pulled tho oldest trick in the book. You look at him and tell him not to smile in a sing song voice.

"Don't smiiiiile.... Don't do it, don't smiiiiiiile, Sonny Boy." I have very distinct memories of my best childhood friend, Lori, doing this to me after we had a fight. And I would do it to her as well. Nothing pisses you off as much as smiling when you don't want to. It's almost as bad as me crying when I'm really angry. That really makes me mad. And then I cry more. It's an awful, horrible, viscous cycle.

"Dooon't smiiiiile....." Ha, he's starting to crack. I've almost got him!

"Doooon't smiiiiiile....." And there it is, a full fledged smile. He's taken to smiling with his mouth closed lately, and I'm not gonna lie, it's a good thing. Grown up teeth are trying to force their way into a small seven year old mouth. It takes a while for the rest of your body to grow into those teeth. He thinks he looks like a vampire with his two giant front teeth. Unless vampires have suddenly started taking after Bugs Bunny, he is wrong, but I won't tell him that. He can be a vampire all he wants, as long as he doesn't start biting people.

At this point the poor kid couldn't stop smiling and had to duck into the house to get away from me and my camera. It took some work, but I finally got a photo of him that can go on my wall.

Brotherly love

2010-11-18T11:27:00.000-09:00

I came across this photo today. It made me ponder the strange thing that is an (almost) eight year old boy's love for his sister.

These are my kids. They are having loads of fun playing outside in the snow. At this point it was raining on them and they were still out there having a ball.

They are having a ball but this photo is deceiving. At first glance it looks as if Sonny Boy is actually hugging his sister, but be sure of one thing, Sonny Boy has never voluntarily hugged his sister in his life. He is actually tackling her and trying to shove her face in the snow, however, in Sonny Boy's book tackling and hugging are roughly equivalent acts of affection.

He loves his sister. He will never say it out loud and he will never hug her, but he loves her. He shows her by wresting with her, building forts with her, playing in snow with her, pile-driving her, farting/burping on her, and being a general nuisance to her (in that they are equals. They each pester the other incessantly).

His way of showing affection for her drives me batty sometimes, but I just need to remind myself that he is just saying that he loves her in his own weird way. If he didn't love her, he'd simply ignore her. So even though he'd just as soon drop kick her as he would give her a hug, he'd do it in love.

The end is near

2010-11-14T21:40:00.000-09:00

My husband is finally coming home. He's been at tech school for two and a half long months and he will finally be back this week.

DH has been gone before, although he has never been deployed so I can never complain about that. A few years ago he had to leave for two months for some advanced training. It was hell. The kids were 1 and 3 and being stuck at home all day with two toddlers for two months is not something I would recommend to anyone. Sonny Boy also got very sick with bilateral ear infections and had a 104.5 temperature for a few days. It's always while the husbands are gone that the kids get sick. This time it was Princess Blondie with strep throat. But that was a piece of cake compared to last time.

I have to say that this go round was really easy (but I haven't had to plow the driveway yet, so I'm not sure it's a fair assessment). I'm sort of awesome at this single mom thing... as long as my kids are in school, my sister and brother-in-law live only five miles away, and I have unlimited funds at my disposal. Just kidding on the last one but the first two are key here. That and good friends. I find myself looking forward to Scouts even more than Sonny Boy because I really enjoy all of the other parents there. They have become good friends. I also jump at the chance for adult interaction. On a daily basis I teach preschoolers, babysit my nephews (infant and toddler), and then hang out with my five and seven year old. Forgive me if I get a little excited when I actually get to talk to a grown up. So if I've recently cornered you and talked your ear off I'm sorry. I blame it on the forced solitude.

My husband being gone is not something that I regularly advertised on my blog or any other sort of social forum (so it may be news to you that he was even gone. Surprise!) because I'm slightly paranoid. I don't need any local serial killers knowing that I'm living alone with my two kids and attack beagle. But just for all of those serial killers that may still be lurking, I have a viscous, feral guard dog, a security system complete ninjas, and I sleep with sawed off shotgun under my pillow.

Halloween, Alaskan style

2010-11-07T13:08:00.000-09:00

We had our second Halloween in Alaska. In some ways, it reminded me of Michigan Halloweens. Cold, snowy, and dark. We were pretty good at finding ways to put our costumes on over top of snowsuits, or at the very least layer up. DH is still in Texas so we went trick or treating with my sister and her family.

Princess Blondie was Clifford the Big Red Dog, Sonny Boy was a skeleton, and my nephews were a a pumpkin and a bee.

I was surprised that Princess Blondie decided to be Clifford for trick or treating. She got terribly upset when she wore her costume to school because everyone called her Clifford and not by her name. I was glad though, because a hula girl was her other choice and she may have frozen to death in that. That costume is decidedly more difficult to wear over warm clothes. That, and there is nothing more depressing that a hula girl in a parka and snow boots.

We drove to a nearby neighborhood so that we could walk from house to house.

I was really impressed with their pumpkins. Someone in that house was very talented.

When we got home we hit up our neighbors who gave my kids huge handfuls of candy because there hadn't been many trick or treaters. I only had one group stop at my house. I think my kids got half of their candy from the last three houses we went to and I finally met some of my neighbors. We've been here for over a year and there are still people on my culdesac that I don't know. It's a little sad.

Princess Blondie's creation. Nothing scary here. She doesn't handle scary very well.

Sonny Boy's pirate pumpkin sans half of his teeth. He got a little carried away.

We decided that next year the best way to go is to load the kids up in the meat wagon and tow them behind the four wheeler. We'll have this down to a science soon.

Pumpkin time

2010-10-30T23:35:00.000-08:00

It was a pumpkin carving kind of day. Halloween is just around the corner. Tomorrow, in fact. Today for most of you. My sister and her family came over to carve pumpkins with us.

This is the first time that I actually let my kids use the knives. I'm slightly paranoid and perhaps a bit of a control freak and micro managerial. Just a little. They did fine and no one lost any appendages although Sonny Boy did accidentally cut off half of his pumpkin's teeth.

My brother in law and nephew. My nephew is an expert at using permanent markers. Mostly on the pumpkin, some on the highchair. He soon switched over to washable Crayola markers.

My sister and nephew. No pumpkin carving party is complete without some power tools.

Left to right: Ubunto symbol (my brother in law. Can you tell he works in IT?), Princess Blondie's creation, Sonny Boy's pirate (notice the missing teeth? I figure it works pretty well for a pirate.), and finally, my sister's power tool master piece.

Happy Trick or Treating! I hope your Halloween is much warmer than ours will be. Here's hoping that my kids can fit their costumes on over top of their snow pants.

Toothfairy duty

2010-10-26T14:41:00.000-08:00

Princess Blondie lost her first tooth. She was preparing herself for it to fall out at school.

Her brother had given her the 411 on what to do if it falls out at school. You have to go to the nurse and the nurse will give you a special box to put your tooth in so you can take it home and she will help it stop bleeding.

I'm not that patient. I didn't wait for it to fall out at school. I pulled it out one night before bed (with Princess Blondie's permission, of course). It was a little stubborn, and didn't come out at first, but the third time's a charm and it popped out without too much effort and no pain. I think she was even a little surprised that it came out without hurting at all.

She was very excited and we had to take pictures.

We stopped the bleeding and then she went to bed with the tooth under her pillow for the tooth fairy.

That is when it very nearly went to heck in hand-basket.

Our tooth fairy is forgetful. Well intentioned, but very forgetful. Once the kiddos are tucked in bed she has other things on her mind. Like reading her favorite blogs and watching Modern Family and Cougar Town. Things that can't really be done when there are children around who need things like supper, help with homework, and bedtime stories.
On more than one occasion, she has forgotten to replace the tooth under Sonny Boy's pillow with a dollar. Then she has to get very creative. Luckily, I am very good at making excuses for the tooth fairy's ineptitude. Once, she was too busy with other children who lost teeth so he had to try again the next night. Another time I helped him look again after he couldn't find it and I found it inside his pillow case (she's tricky, that tooth fairy). And yet another time, when we were staying at gramma's house, she couldn't find the tooth. It simply disappeared. She looked everywhere (luckily Sonny Boy is a pretty sound sleeper), but it was simply gone. She left the dollar anyway hoping that the tooth wouldn't show up. It didn't it is still missing to this day.

So the tooth fairy was busy doing nothing and nearly forgot about Princess Blondie's missing tooth. Then she read something on Twitter that reminded her of her duty's. She quickly found a dollar in her wallet (miracle of miracles, because there is never cash in there) and then swapped it out with the tooth. She then hid the tooth in the Princess Blondie's baby book. Crisis averted.

Princess Blondie woke me up at six to show me her dollar, but then at breakfast she was disappointed that she couldn't show her teacher her first missing tooth or get a tooth box from the school nurse. So I told her that sometimes the tooth fairy puts the tooth in her baby book so that mom can keep it.

She found it in her baby book, brought it to school, and then forgot all about showing her teacher or the nurse. It is probably still in her backpack. I should go check.

Why I'm a horrible mother... and an idiot.

2010-10-17T23:06:00.000-08:00

I had to eat a little mommy crow yesterday. It was tasty.

Here's a little background info. Princess Blondie is a smarty pants. She comes home from school and looks at flash cards for fun. Her favorite thing to do last year was to write out my grocery list for me. Over, and over, and over. She learned to read on her own. Well, not on her own, but I certainly never taught her. She watched her brother read to me and do flash cards with me every day for his homework and she just picked it up.

In her kindergarten class they are still working on counting to ten. I really don't know why she isn't bored to tears at school. After moving up here last year and not knowing anyone, I think she is just so happy to be around other kids that she doesn't care what she does. Her response to the news that she would be going to kindergarten this fall was "Great, now I don't have to be BORED all the time when Sonny Boy goes to school!" I see how I rate.

The only new thing she has learned at all this year is what a rhombus is and sign language. She now signs to me on a regular basis so I've had to ~~brush up on my~~ learn American sign language so I know what she is saying to me. She is constantly signing "I love you" to me and I keep accidentally keep giving her the universal sign for "Rock on!" They are deceptively similar signs.

The other day I was looking for our number flash cards so that I could have her practice putting 1- 20 or 30 in the right order (she has trouble with her teens, she gets 17 and 70 confused because they sound so similar). I looked through our deck of flash cards and about half of them were missing. It's a little hard to make her put the numbers from 1 to 20 in order if she is missing the 3, 4, 5, 7, 11, 13, and 15. I couldn't figure it out. I can understand missing one of them, but how did so many disappear? Surely I would have seen them floating around the house somewhere.

I then let Princess Blondie have what for for losing all these cards. You really need to be more responsible with your stuff, I told her. What good are flash cards if you're missing half of them? I won't be buying you more stuff if you can't keep track of the stuff you have, et cetera, et cetera. I finished scolding her and then she just told me the numbers off the flashcards instead of putting them in order.

Yesterday I found her sitting on the couch with her pile of flashcards. Do flashcards with me, Mommy, she asked. How can you say no to a kid who wants to do homework? I sat down and showed her the cards. I was about halfway through when I noticed that the flashcards were double sided. These have numbers on both sides?! Yeah, I knew that, replied Princess Blondie. After she finished her flashcards I checked BOTH sides and found 1-20. They were all there. I'm an idiot. And I ate some crow.

I apologized for getting upset with her and she forgave me and told me I was the best mom in the world and gave me a big hug. That almost made me feel worse. I might feel better if she were at least a little upset with me.

Then she signed I love you to me and I signed rock on to her.

I don't think I'll ever get it right, but she knows what I mean.

You gotta love him

2010-10-13T22:28:00.000-08:00

My husband's birthday is coming up soon. He's in Texas for a while so I asked him to send me a list of things he may want for his birthday. This is what he emailed me.

Let me see. Here is a few things:

Raiders coffee cup
A pistol
Crocks?
Tattoo?
A good watch

I burst out laughing when I read this. I told him how funny I thought it was and he didn't understand. I think it's a funny list and he thinks it's perfectly reasonable. And well, it is... to him.

Let me break it down for you.

Raiders coffee cup: DH is a lifelong Raiders fan and a new coffee drinker. He started drinking coffee last winter when the sun didn't rise until 9:30 or 10:00. Coffee makes the early morning commute a little easier.

A pistol: We live in Alaska. That should be a good enough explanation but I'll elaborate. There's lots of big critters out there. A pistol is bear insurance. Plus boys just like guns.

Crocks: Cold hard floors in the winter. You have to wear something on your feet or they just might fall off.

Tattoo: Once you start you just can't stop with one.

A good watch: This is my fall back gift. I've given him a few watches over the years. He wears them. They eventually break or wear out. I guess it's time I invest in a nicer watch for him.

My husband is a man of varied interests and it shows. Asking for a pistol, a tattoo, and crocks in the same list is just hilarious to me. But really, once I break it down, it is perfectly resonable. Hilarious, but reasonable.

I'm just lucky that there isn't some weird computer gadget on this list because then he has to buy his own gift. He was being nice to me this year. At least I know what all these things are. He's still on his own when it comes to a pistol, unless, of course, he would like a pretty little number with pearl inlay that can fit in my purse.

The way my mind works

2010-10-06T22:44:00.000-08:00

My neighbor came to me the other day and told me that if we ever wanted to sell our house, he would love to buy it. If he wasn't home, just let his wife know. Then he went on about how great our little culdesac neighborhood is. I agreed. I love it here. I told him we have no immediate plans to move, but if we ever did, I'd be sure to let him know. How awesome to have a buyer in hand! It's a dream come true for anyone to know that they have an out if they ever decide to move.

We have lived here for a year and this is the second time that I have met this neighbor. He was the first person to come introduce himself when we moved in. He then promptly left for the middle east because he was working as a contractor for something out there and has been gone for a year. He is home now for a little while for some R and R before he goes back. He's a really nice guy and I genuinely like him, but as soon as he left my mind started reeling.

Why does he want to buy our house? He has a perfectly good house next door. Probably even bigger than our house so why would he want to move into a smaller house?

My first thought was, oh my word he's getting divorced and he wants our house so that he can live next door to his ex so he can see his kids all the time. Then I started feeling really bad for the guy and was thinking, oh no, we should sell our house to him. He needs to be by his kids. He needs our house more than we do. Then I realized that I was being a little absurd. Just a smidge. I can't just go selling my house because I feel bad for the guy. Sometimes my emotions run my decision making process, can you tell?

Thought number two: When we bought our house, it was a bit of a hassle getting the paper work done because one of the previous owners (not the people we bought it from, the owner before them) was accused of embezzling some money. A lot of money. Something to the tune of 50 million dollars. That in itself makes me question why a guy who embezzled that much money would have this house. I mean, I love my house and all, and I think it is great, but it is not the house that someone who has millions of dollars lives in. He at least could have sprung for some real hardwood instead of the hardwood laminate. And he could have gotten some nicer light fixtures instead of the tacky gold/brass ones that were here. I would have loved it if he had done that because then we wouldn't have had to buy and install all the new lighting.

Anyhow, guy with embezzled millions used to own the house (although I honestly don't know that he ever lived here, but he did own it). Illegal money equals money you have to hide. Now I'm suddenly wondering if there is money in my walls or under the house some where.

Thought number 3: This is Alaska, there was a gold rush here. Maybe someone stashed some gold somewhere on our property or under our house. Seriously my most ludicrous thought by far, but it still popped in my brain.

And that is just the way my mind works. Maybe he is just looking for some real estate investments. Maybe he wants his to give our house to his parents. I'm sure there is a perfectly logical, non sinister explanation that doesn't involve divorce, hidden money, or buried treasure, but that just wouldn't be as entertaining.

I had better start believing one of those logical explanations soon before I start punching holes in my walls looking for cash.

She found it

2010-10-02T20:48:00.000-08:00

I am the mean mom who hides the glitter. I may bust it out on special occasions, but for the most part, I like it hidden. It is just too messy, and if this is coming from me it must be really bad, because I am certainly not a model wife/mother when it comes to house cleaning. I love a clean house, but I hate cleaning. Cleaning makes me grouchy. I pray every night that I will turn into one of those women who cleans whenever they are frustrated, or upset, or just plain mad, but I wake up every day still loathing the idea of having to clean my house. My second prayer is that some day I can hire a cleaning lady. I'll keep praying. Maybe you can put me on your prayer chain.

So I hid the glitter. I hid it in the cupboard with the bread. After a few months Princess Blondie found it. She must have gotten hungry.

You know, for someone who doesn't like it, I sure did buy an industrial size bottle of glitter. This should last until she is eighteen, at least. She can probably pass it down to her own children and she can hide it from my grand kids.

Look at her. She is so proud of herself. I don't have the heart to hide it again. I'll just have to live with glitter all over everything from here on out. But now gramma and grampa need to watch out. If you any any mail from our house I would open it outside, or at least over the sink, because you are about to get glitter-fied.

I'll huff and I'll puff and I'll blow your house down...

2010-09-26T21:15:00.000-08:00

I'd planned on writing all about how beautiful Alaska is in autumn. A few days ago the trees were at their peak and everything glowed yellow. We had sunshine and blue skies every day. Then we had a windstorm. I don't really know what else to call it. During the fall and winter, sometimes the wind just decides to blow. No rain, no snow, it just blows. It blows hard. We're talking hurricane force winds here (and I'm really not exaggerating. Really!). It blows for a few days and usually our power goes out because a tree ALWAYS lands on a power line. My sister five miles away ALWAYS still has power. That is when I curse the power company. The kids slept in bed with me the first night of our windstorm because our power went out (surprise!) and they were scared. I should rephrase that sentence. The kids slept in bed with me while I got smothered and kicked all night and nearly died of a heat stroke from our collective body heat. However, I don't blame them for being scared. I was scared too, but that's not really something you tell your kids when you are trying to comfort them. I thought for sure the next big gust of wind was going to bring a tree down on our roof and our roof would collapse and squash us. In the end, the wind did bring a lot of trees down that night, but none on our roof. Luckily, all the trees here are pretty skinny, so even if they do land on a few roofs, the roofs can take it and no one gets crushed in their sleep. What a relief! Phew!

So thanks to our wind storm we no longer have lovely gold leaves on all of the trees. Now we have lovely gold leaves on everything but the trees. The trees are so sad and naked now.

Here are the fall photos from three days ago that I took. When it was still lovely.

This is the color that nearly every tree turns in the fall. We have mostly birch and cottonwood and they all turn a beautiful goldenrod color in autumn. Some are slightly more brown like this one.

Others are a beautiful bright yellow like this one.

I loved this view from the tire swing. Sadly my children will not get to enjoy this view this year. The tree is now bare.

While the trees turn yellow, many of the plants and bushes turn red.

Yellow leaves above...

and red leaves below.

But the devils club turns yellow. It has to be obstinate.

I believe that this is highbush cranberry.

More red berries. I don't know what they are. I don't dare eat anything after watching Into The Wild. He ate something that looked very much like something that was supposed to be edible. It was a close cousin of what he thought it was. It was also very toxic. He died. I like to learn my life lessons from movies so I decided that I will eat nothing that I can't name with 100% certainty.

This was my garden a few days ago. Poppies, phlox, lobelia, pansies, and more. One of the traits that I inherited from my mother was my love for flower gardens. My garden is now in a very sad state.

This poppy came from seeds that I took from my moms garden when I visited Michigan last summer. We went and snatched a bunch of seed pods and I took them to Alaska with me. They LOVE Alaska. They've been going crazy all summer.

I loved this one. She just opened and her pod was stuck on her like a little hat. Her hat is long gone now thanks to the wind.

Just so you know the full effects of what a windstorm can do to beautiful fall days.

Before windstorm.

Same view. After windstorm.

Before windstorm.

After windstorm.

Some of the trees clung to their leaves for dear life and still have a few to show for their effort. I admire their tenacity.

This morning

2010-09-22T10:57:00.000-08:00

Here's a little view into my morning.

The kids were brushing their teeth upstairs and spotted this moose in the back yard.

Then we came downstairs to look out the big bay window and spotted her friend with her.

They were young. They've visited us before. They like our backyard and our neighbors front yard. They also like my delphinium. They must not be toxic to moose, as they are to humans, because they ate the whole blasted stalk of flowers. They were kind enough to leave the rest of the plant. They just ate the flowers.

This is my view from my computer desk this morning. Autumn is in full swing. In fact, we are at the peak and headed for the down slide now. I don't like the down slide because once you hit the bottom it's winter. After our really gloomy summer, I'm not quite ready for winter yet. At least our fall has been beautiful. It has been sunny and gorgeous for the past two weeks.

This is the view of my boy's creation. He started digging this pile of dirt a few weeks ago because he wanted to bury something. He didn't care what, he just wanted something to bury. And to play with DH's post hole digger. Burying a rock or an old busted up toy is much better than burying his sister. I was not so lucky as a kid. As the youngest of four I was the thing that got buried. They were kind enough to leave my head poking out. And they didn't leave me there, obviously, because here I am.

This is also where toys come to die, so I suppose it is appropriate that he wanted to bury them. The thing that I find most funny about this whole scenario is that there is a sand box about 15 feet away and yet he has been playing in this pile of dirt. Until a week ago it was a mud pit. I finally put the kibosh on the hose. He'd already done enough damage.

Fun with Produce

2010-09-19T17:44:00.000-08:00

Things are just big in Alaska. The state itself is just plain huge. Our borough (Alaskan for county) is the size of West Virginia, just to give you a little perspective. So I suppose that it would only be fitting that the worlds largest produce is grown here. The summer days with about 20 hours of daylight are really helpful for growing large stuff. I'll tell you a little secret though. A lot (if not all) of this stuff is started inside a greenhouse in the middle of winter. While we may have a lot of sunlight, it still is simply not warm enough to put that stuff outside. I learned a valuable lesson concerning tomatoes this year. I bought three lovely tomato plants this spring. I planted them in my garden. Fall has arrived and I do not have a single tomato. It is just not warm enough here. I need a greenhouse.

Meet the world's largest pumpkin. He weighs in at a whopping 1,101 lbs.

Second place.

And this measly little guy was in third. They were all pretty close to weighing a half ton. That's a lot of pie.

The other big highlight of the fair is the winner of the largest cabbage contest. I think the winner this year was around 90 lbs.

This is a big zucchini. A 7.25 lb zucchini to be exact.

Here is a little man made of produce.
I think this particular contest with produce had to be my favorite. This section was to see who could create the best little creatures out of veggies and such. I loved this. This is definitely something that I could get caught up in if I ever entered. How fun.

I don't know what this is supposed to be but I love his nose. He reminds me of Walter Matthau from Grumpy Old Men.

This one looks like the cabbage version of anime.

One hungry little caterpillar.

I'll be honest, I don't know what this is supposed to be. The sticks/antlers in the head make me think deer or moose, but the leaves stuck to the back like wings are really throwing me off. Anyone have a guess?

Love this guy. He looks like a Muppet. Or he could also be a character from Wallace and Grommet.

This one won the grand prize and I can see why. I love that he can stand on his own four feet. I love the bean tusks and flowered trunk. My favorite part is the flower/moppet of hair on top of his head. He just makes me smile. I first think of Snuffleupagus from Sesame Street and Heffalump from Winnie the Poo. Obviously my first thought should have been 'elephant.'
Can you tell I have young kids? I didn't think so.

More fair fun

2010-09-15T21:49:00.000-08:00

Here are a few more highlights from our day at the fair.

We caught the tail end of the lumberjack show when we went to the fair last year so we wanted to make sure that we got to see the whole thing this year. It really is entertaining.

There is ax throwing.

Log cutting.

I don't remember what they called this, but he was standing on a board wedged into a cut on the tree, and then they chop the top off. One guy nearly fell off.

Don't remember what this is called either, but two guys race to the top of the poles and back down. They pretty much just free fall back down to the bottom. Scary.

Jousting.

And log rolling.
The whole show is scripted, and it happened to be the same show with the same jokes as last year even though the people were different. It reminds me of my rodeo days, listening to the clowns do the same routines and same jokes all season long. Sometimes even year after year.

Now we move on to animals. Considering that their aren't that many farms out here, there really weren't that many animals. At least not compared to Michigan.

There were some awfully cute pygmy goats.

Baa, baa, black sheep.

Some beautifully feathered bird that unfortunately has the ugliest head God ever created.

You met this fellow earlier. He tried to get my camera, but I was too quick for him.

And finally some bunnies. Their red eyes always throw me off a bit. Cute but still kind of creepy.

And finally we came to see the show Cavallo. The guy here is juggling while he stands on the back of a horse that is running around a ring. It really is amazing. It is a wonderful show with vaulting and other tricks on horse back. Vaulting is basically gymnastics on horseback. I always figured gymnastics was hard enough on the ground, but someone, somewhere along the line decided to do it on the back of a horse. I guess they really needed a challenge.

Here he is standing on two horses. If you look closely you can see it.

Now there are two people up there.

And now, notice the guy flying through the air? He just did a back flip off the horse in front.

And he lands on the horse in the back. AMAZING! If I can ever figure out how to get a video off of my phone and on to the computer, I will post it.

Had to get some pictures of the kids at the fair.

It was bright...

The hula hoop queen had to show off her mad hula-ing skills.

Bumper cars.
I don't think that Princess Blondie quite understood the point of the bumper cars. When they got out after their ride she said "That STINKIN' car ran into us and now my stomach hurts!" Then I had to explain that the whole point of bumper cars is to run into people. Perhaps I should have explained that to her before they got in.

Sonny Boy loved this little obstacle course.

And what trip to the fair would be complete without a ride on the Ferris wheel? I kind of wish we could see it at night. I bet it is beautiful all lit up.

DH and Princess Blondie are up there somewhere.

Ah, there they are.

And then on our way out, we saw a bike demonstration.

It was the highlight of the fair for Sonny Boy. Perhaps even the highlight of his life thus far.

The only thing I could think the whole time I watched it was how much it would hurt if they crashed. That is just asphalt below them. I'm not sure they would have any skin left if they fell. They did talk a lot about the importance of safety equipment after their demonstration though.
They do know how to make mothers happy.

Coming up in our final installment of fun at the fair, Produce: Alaskan Style. We grow 'em big up here!

Where were you?

2010-09-11T11:00:00.000-08:00

Today is September 11. I'm almost afraid to turn on my tv because I know that I will be inundated with footage of the horrible things that happened that day 9 years ago. I'm just not sure that is something I want to watch. It may be good for me to remember, but I just don't feel like being sad today.

I remember exactly what I was doing when I heard the news. I was driving back to my morning class after spending the night at my sister's apartment. I was a sophomore in college and I was so glad that she had moved back to town for a while so I could have some family around. I had a class at 9 or so that day so I was driving back to my dorm room in my brother's old Ford Probe. I'd finally mastered the art of driving a stick shift that summer. I was listening to the radio and heard the special news report interrupt the music. I remember the dread, and fear, and uncertainty sink into the pit of my stomach like a stone. I remember that it was a gorgeous sunny day, just like it is today. I got back to my dorm room and watched the footage on tv with my roommate. It felt good to be in the company of another person and not alone in my car, dealing with the news by myself. We wondered whether we should go to class or not. We waited for them to cancel it. They didn't. I went to class, but I don't know which one it was. It felt weird to be going to class as if things were normal. Things were not normal. I came back and sat in front of the tv for the rest of the day. The one thing that sticks out most in my mind from that day was seeing the footage of people jumping from the burning towers. Choosing one method of death over another, because death was certain.

It seemed things would never go back to normal again, but somehow time marches on and life returns to some form of normalcy. The fear slowly subsides. Apathy begins to take root. Emotions and memories fade. Maybe I should turn my tv on today.

I remember where I was, where were you?

State Fair

2010-09-11T00:54:00.000-08:00

We spent last Friday at the Alaska State Fair. I think it may have been the only sunny day during the whole span of the fair. We definitely lucked out on the weather. The first thing we did when we got there was go buy some tickets so the kids could go on some rides. It felt so strange. The kids have never really been big enough to go on rides before, certainly not rides by themselves anyway.

Princess Blondie wanted to ride on the carousel. Sonny Boy surprised me when he said that he would go on with her. Instead of picking horses to ride on they chose this thing. They spun themselves around until they were dizzy and feeling quite silly.

I love carousels. I just had to get a picture of the inside of this one.

Such pretty little horses, but then I noticed the tails.

These tails look suspiciously real to me. If those tails are made out of real horse hair, I may just have to change my mind about carousels.

Next up was the big slide. This is definitely a classic fair ride.

Halfway down. Pigtails flying.

So serious. She's at the bottom and has yet to crack a smile. Turns out she wasn't a big fan of the big slide. She thought she was going to fly off when she went over the bumps.

Sonny Boy loved the slide. Big smile.

Still smiling....

And still smiling all the way down to the bottom. Now that is what your face should look like when you go down the big slide.

The next ride is one that I did not go on, nor did anyone else in my family. I don't know what it is called, but I like to call it 'the one that would make me vomit in my purse if I had to ride it.'

Now I want you to think of the flip books with the progressive drawings that we looked at as kids. Flip through the books quickly and the pictures would appear to move as if it were a cartoon. Now scroll down quickly through the next series of pictures.

See it? This is basically a ride with two giant hammers full of people swinging in opposite directions. I almost want to vomit just looking at it. I get queasy just swinging on swings with my kids. No lie. I'm pretty sure that this ride would do me in, and it wouldn't be pretty. The only thing that could possibly be worse would be the spinning teacups. Funny thing is, I'm pretty sure I went on this ride when I was a kid. Now I'm just too old and queasy for such shenanigans.

Next up the kids picked a duck out of the water. The number on the bottom indicated that he won the small prize.

Princess Blondie also won the small prize.They never did say which number indicated the small, medium or large prize. Hmm.....I think I smell a scam.

More on the fair later. I think I've talked enough about scams and vomit for today.

Fowl weather friend

2010-09-09T22:31:00.000-08:00

Well, hello there.

This is a fowl friend that we met at the state fair. We also saw the world's largest pumpkin, a ninety some odd pound cabbage, an elephant made out of produce, a lumberjack competition, and a man do a back flip from the back of one horse and land on the back of another.

I thought I'd introduce you to this little fellow today. More about the fair to follow at a later date. Possibly tomorrow if I'm really on top of things. I'm on a roll this week.

First day: Round 3

2010-09-09T00:25:00.000-08:00

Sonny Boy had his first day of school a few weeks ago. Princess Blondie started a week after that. Today it was finally my turn. I went to work for the first time in over 7 years today.

The last job I had was as a waitress as at a mom and pop type restaurant that I had started when I was working my way through college. By the time it all came to an end I was pregnant with Sonny Boy. I quit a week before he was due. He ended up being ten days late. Perhaps I should have worked. Maybe I could have coaxed him out a little earlier.

So today I got to go back to school too, but this time I was the teacher. Last year I finished that college degree that I was using tip money to pay for so many years ago. I'm the lucky girl that has a pushy husband who tells her to do crazy things like finally finish college. I'm glad he did. He also keeps telling me that some day I'm going to get my masters degree and maybe more. I'm going to give that one a few years to sink in before I feel the need to work on it.

It was a wonderful first day. I have some fabulous little pipsqueaks in my class. As far as first days go it couldn't have gone better. Only one case of tears and that was because she got bubbles in her eye during a particularly rowdy bubble blowing session. All's well that ends well, I say.

To top it all off, I work with the most wonderful people. I loved Princess Blondie's teachers last year and now I get to work with them. How much better can it be?

It's a mystery

2010-09-07T21:17:00.000-08:00

Someone snuck off with my camera again.

I wonder who it could be?

Dad, can we keep him?

2010-08-31T10:10:00.000-08:00

The other day the kids and I spotted this cow and calf in the woods just off the edge of our back yard.

We spent a little while watching them, but they soon took off.

It wasn't until after they left that I noticed this little guy on the other side of the house.

He was all alone. I kept expecting to see another cow come out of hiding somewhere, but we never spotted her. I suppose he could have belonged with the other cow and calf, but he seemed to be by himself.

He came to the yard and then he saw us watching him from the window.

Then he was distracted by something shiny.

And then he turned his attention back to us.

And then he decided it was time to get the heck out of Dodge.

This summer I've been really surprised by how sleek these animals are. I guess I just got so used to seeing them in their shaggy winter coats that I forgot that they might actually shed those in the summer like most animals do. Their summer coat really reminds me of horses.

And just look at that face? I just want to hug him and stroke his soft little muzzle. I won't though. Calves are definitely more skittish than adults and he would run off. Also, he may be little but I bet he could still take me. I've spent enough time around horses to know that one swift kick hurts like a son of a gun. If I'm going to get close to large animals that can cause bodily injury, I prefer that they be domesticated first. I'll stick with horses.

Wolves and sheep and bears, oh my!

2010-08-30T13:19:00.000-08:00

I'm finally putting up some pictures from our second trip to Denali. We went back for a second visit when my in-laws came to visit us this summer. The first night we went to Savage River again and the kids threw rocks in the water.

I seriously have to wonder how there are any rocks left. If there are 40,000 visitors a year here, and at least some of them love to throw rocks as much as my kids do, you have to wonder how the river has not filled up with rocks. I suppose rocks are the one thing that Alaska will never run out of. And the way that rivers change course from year to year probably makes this a moot point. The river will run a slightly different course next year anyway, so throwing a bunch of rocks in it really isn't going to do anything.

The last time we were at the Savage River there were areas marked off because birds were nesting. This time when we came back we got to see the babies. They were still cute and grey and fluffy. When they grow up they look like seagulls, but they are not. They are something else all together.

On a completely different note, how the heck do you spell grey? Every time I write grey, my spell check tells me I'm wrong and tells me it should be gray. I thought gray was a surname. Gray, as in Mr. Gray, and that grey is the color. I did what I do every time I am faced with life's tough choices. I googled it, and I found this link. This person also had the same question. As it happens, both spellings are correct, it just depends on which part of the world you happen to live. I like it when I can be right in two different ways.

On this trip to Denali we decided to take the bus tour. It really is the best way to see the park. In fact, it is the only way to see a majority of the park. The farthest you can drive is thirteen miles in. After that you have to be on a bus. After our bus trip, I have to say, it really is the best way. I can't imagine what it would be like if everyone drove. Umm... can you say traffic jam! Plus some of parts of the road are slightly perilous, as in, the edge of the rode is a cliff. I prefer to leave that kind of driving up to the professionals, thank you very much.

We were lucky on our bus tour because we saw the trifecta of park animals, except that there are five, so would that be the quintfecta? The squiggly red spell checker line is telling me no, it is not a word, but I like it. In fact, it is also telling me that trifecta is not a word either, but I know it is. Google told me so. Anyhow, we saw the big five: moose, caribou, bear, wolf, and dall sheep.

The first thing we saw on this trip was a moose. She was far away and had her back to us so not terribly impressive. But, I also live in moose central station, so seeing one a hundred yards away is not a big deal to me anymore. The out-of-staters were more impressed by the moose's appearance.

The next thing we saw was a caribou from a million miles away. There was one guy on the bus who had an eagle's vision, because he was spotting animals all over the place that were a million miles away. Finally our driver said were weren't going to stop anymore unless they were a little closer to the bus.

This photo was taken with the zoom all the way out to 40x, and this is still how small it was. The only think you can see is his rear end and his antlers. We went to a reindeer farm last summer and we got to feed the reindeer out of our hands, so I didn't feel too bad about not seeing this caribou up close. (Reindeer are in the caribou family, for those that don't know. Reindeer are also very tiny. Also, both males and females have antlers, only the males shed theirs first, so all of the reindeer that you see at Christmas time with antlers are actually females. Crazy, huh? I think Santa may need to change the names in his fleet.)

This is a glacier. It is that white line in between the two peaks.There are more glaciers in Alaska than anywhere else in the world.

Um... this is a mountain range. I'm really not sure if there is something in particular I was shooting here.

Next we came around a switch back and saw some Dall sheep.

This was an excellent view of them. Zoom in a little with my camera and I could get some pretty close shots. Normally, the only sighting you see of Dall sheep are little white dots on the side of a peak, so this was pretty amazing.

We went a little further and Mr. Eagle Vision saw a brown blob move a hundred million miles away.

It was a grizzly bear. Supposedly there were two cubs with her as well, but I couldn't see them. I just saw a brown blob move. I have to say, I'm glad that I saw this bear even though I have a very huge bear phobia (I prefer to think of my phobia as a very strong survival instinct). However, I was in the safety of the bus and it was a million miles away. I think I would have been disappointed if we hadn't seen one. I think.

We also saw a wolf. He/she (?) was running around near one of the rest areas.

He sort of got stuck between the rest area, a river, and a road with buses stopped to look at him. He didn't quite know where to go. Eventually he found a spot to cross the river and went on his way.

On our way back we saw the same group of Dall sheep again.

Remember how I said that we had a great view of them before and people normally don't get that close to them? Well, buckle your seat belt, because we got the closest I believe anyone in history ever has.

They had moved from their perch and found a new place to rest, ON THE SHOULDER OF THE ROAD! I could have stepped off the bus and pet one, but they discourage that sort of behavior.

This guy was just across the road from his buddies, happily munching away at the grass and posing for us.

It couldn't have been any more perfect.

Here are the rest of their friends, resting a little further down the hill.

Sonny Boy conked out soon after the up close and personal visit with the Dall sheep and slept the rest of the way back to the visitor center. It was well worth the money, plus the kids were free, so you can't beat that.

The visitor center is really cool. I should have taken more pictures of it, but this is all that I took. They have some artwork displayed and this quilt was one of the pieces. Isn't it amazing? I just don't know how people can make things like that out of fabric.

Our next stop was at the dog kennels. The park still uses dog sled teams in the park. They are used to patrol the park in winter, plus break new trails and bring out supplies. There was a time when the dogs were replaced with snow machines, but it was discovered that dogs were much more reliable when it is 40 below. Also, the dogs leave a much smaller carbon foot print than snow machines.

The park wants people to pet all the dogs so that they get used to people and learn good manners. The dogs love it. The only rule is don't cross the ropes. If the dog is near the rope fence, they want to be petted. If they aren't, then they need a break. Oh, and if they jump up on you you have to push them down and tell them no.

This one was a bit of an attention hog. He loved all the lovin' he was getting from my kiddos.

After you get a chance to pet all of the dogs, the rangers do a short demonstration with the dogs hooked up to a sled. Then they tell you a bit about the dogs and their role in the park and then they have a question and answer session. I loved the kennels. If you ever visit Denali, put this on your list of things to see.

In fact, put 'visit Denali' on your bucket list if you have one. You won't be disappointed. Just don't expect to see Dall sheep laying next to the road, because it won't happen. Just prepare yourself for little white specks on the side of a mountain.

First day: Round 2

2010-08-26T22:54:00.000-08:00

Princess Blondie started kindergarten today.

So of course I made her pose for the first day of school pictures with her brother.

She was beyond excited for school to start. I was excited for her to start too. With Sonny Boy at school for a week already, she didn't quite know what to do with herself at home. They pretty much spend every minute together when they are home, so when he was gone she followed me around all day long. I enjoyed my last week with her all to myself. We certainly won't get that one on one time like we used to.

She has been so excited to ride the bus. I really had to plead with her to get her to let me drive her to school on her first day. All the parents drive their kids to kindergarten on the first day. I told her that I needed pictures of her at school, but really I was just afraid that she might not find her classroom, or get scared at the last minute and I wouldn't be there. Plus, I didn't want people to think that I was a loser mom who made her kid ride the bus when all the other moms brought their kids on the first day because that is just the way people do it here. There were only 4 kids on the bus on Sonny Boy's first day. I had a 'feeling like a bad mom moment' when I saw that even though Sonny Boy hates it when I drive him to school. The 'pictures in the classroom' bit seemed to do the trick on Princess Blondie, but "This is the only time, Mom! I want to ride the bus!" I grudgingly obliged.

She didn't need my help. She did just fine. There was no tearful good bye from either party. I've never been very good at being able to muster up tears at the right time, not that I wasn't sad to leave her there (I am however really good at crying when I really don't want to, like when I'm really angry). She loved every minute of school. She loved recess. She got the teacher she was hoping for. She loves the school work.

But of course, the bus ride home was her favorite part.

And so it begins

2010-08-23T16:20:00.000-08:00

After 7 years of being a stay at home mom, I am now gainfully employed. I have a position as a teacher in a preschool program at a local church. Princess Blondie went to preschool there last year. At the graduation ceremony at the end of the year, I told her teacher that I would be looking for work in the fall, and to let me know if she would need any additional help. Well, she let me know. They have added another class this year. What can I say, it truly is all about networking and who you know. All I know is that I thank my lucky stars I don't have to go on a job hunt and that I already love the people that I will work with.

I am also incredibly nervous. I go between bouts of "I can do this. It's only preschool. I graduated at the top of my class for this very purpose. I know what I'm doing," to "Holy cow, I'm so nervous. What if a parent yells at me? What if a kid pukes all over my room, or worse yet, all over me? What if I forget everything I ever learned? What if the kids stage a coup and take over the room? Will I ever get a handle on that copy machine?"

In addition to being somewhere on the nervous/confident spectrum, I am definitely excited. Finally, I can put my degree to good use. I am passionate about giving kids a quality preschool experience. Also, I will be able to make payments on my own student loans and DH won't have to. I can pay for karate lessons and gymnastics class (for the kiddos, most definitely not for me).

I only work part time so I can still babysit for my sister when she works. I can still volunteer in the kids school (that's how I keep tabs on what's really going on). I can drive them around to karate and gymnastics and Scouts and be home to get them on and off the bus.

I'm beginning to feel exhausted just reading all of that. On top of it all, DH is leaving for tech school in two weeks. He will be gone for about 2 months. I'm not super excited about that, but it is what it is.

The preschool meet and greet is tonight. Wish me luck!

First day, faux hawks, and popsicle purple

2010-08-19T11:46:00.000-08:00

School started again today.

Sonny Boy is excited. Can you tell? It may not look like it but really he is. He has been waiting and waiting to go back to school. And so have I. It has been rainy most of the summer and the poor kid is bored. He wants to see his friends. He wants to go play on the playground outside. I think he forgot he has actual work to do in school. And homework. Yuck. I hate homework even more than he does, I think.

I made him pose for the usual first day of school pics. He just had to pose in front of the truck. I think he loves it almost as much as I do.

And, yes, my boy has a faux hawk. It's the latest trend among second graders. I wouldn't let him get a real mohawk. And since I'm the one who cuts his hair, I figure I get the last word.

I have a weird phobia/thing about mohawks. I don't know why. I think it is because it can go wrong so quickly. Cute, short, spiky faux hawk? Good. Skunk stripe mohawk that goes all the way down the back of the head? Well... not so much. Especially if it is long and scraggly. That is just a hop, skip, and a jump away from the rat tail, and no one wants to return to the days of the rat tail. Or the mullet.

Then I made him move to the front porch for the more traditional first day of school pose. Yes, my door is purple. Purple like a grape Popsicle. I was going for eggplant, but this was our best result. DH kept putting more and more coats of paint on for me hoping that it would turn darker. It didn't. I think if we put more paint on the door wouldn't be able to close anymore. The purple is growing on me now. I've embraced the Popsicle purple. It's either that or go without a front door.

Rain, Rain, go away

2010-08-18T00:13:00.000-08:00

It has rained for 31 days straight. Give me 9 more days like this and I will build me an ark and you can call me Noah. Needless to say, some records have been broken. The previous record was for 27 straight days of precipitation. I think that one is about to blown out of the water.

It does not rain all day every day, but some amount has fallen every. single. day. for a month. Yuck.

I was bragging this winter about how the darkness and weather weren't really getting to me. I can take that back now. We have had lots of comapny this summer and that has been wonderful. It has made me not really notice how gray and dreary it is here. But now all of our company is gone, and nothing distracts me from the gray skies anymore. My kids are sick of it too.

They go outside but the rain has put a damper on a lot of normal outdoor summer activities. That means they are stuck in the house a lot. With me. We are all ready for school to start.

To pass the time my children have taken up bickering with each other. Even more than usual. They have also taken up fort building. I came downstairs to find this the other day.

This is a fort. It's a little hard to tell what it is at first. At first it just looks like they tore apart my living room.

Then I saw their heads poking out.

But that's not all. Look at what has happened in my garage.

This is also a fort. They built this one last week. The bikes are not much use to us in the rain, so they make the perfect support for a tarp fort. The entrance is under the bikes.

Who knew that a dirt bike, two mountain bikes, a pressure washer, a lawn mower, and a tarp could become a fort? Oh yeah, throw in some old towels and a few folding chairs.

Either school needs to start or it needs to stop raining. My husband wants his garage back. I don't blame him. It's a little hard to walk through there.

Hay flats...again

2010-08-12T22:56:00.000-08:00

We made another trip back to the hay flats when my in-laws were here. Are you sick of the hay flats yet? I keep showing you pictures of it. Sorry, but I just love it there. When we were there once this summer I saw a photographer hauling an antique chair. They set it out in the grass, sat some children on it and started taking pictures. It was also one of the few sunny days that we have had this summer and it was absolutely gorgeous. I am now scouring craigslist and garage sales for a neat old chair. I'll borrow my sister's camera and take the kids out there once again and pray for a spot of sun to grace us with it's presence. That's my plan, but I think it is a long shot on the sun showing up.

This is Cottonwood Creek. We went there last week as well for my nephews baptism. I'll have to steal some of the pictures from my sister because it was awesome. He wore the hundred year old gown that originally belonged to my namesake.

This is the bridge over Cottonwood Creek. I love this rusty old bridge.

Boys will be boys no matter how old. DH had to go check out what was under the bridge.

Sonny Boy had to follow him.

We followed the trail for a ways.

The kids played in puddles.

There were lots of puddles.

And soon our trail turned into this.

'Twas deep. I suppose that's to be expected on the hay flats after it has rained all summer. Tis the nature of the beast. We decided to turn around.

And find a drier place to explore.

I took pictures of the kids. I really need to learn how to hold the camera straight. I LOVE this picture of Princess Blondie, but it is really, really, crooked.

I tried to straighten it while editing, but then in just cuts the top of her head off. Not really what I was going for.

I try to get some shots of Sonny Boy, but it is so much harder with him.

Boys just don't hold still for very long.

And he makes weird faces when he runs.

It could be because his daddy was chasing him. I think he gets the weird faces from DH.

This is when I had to duck for cover. Boys....

And then we went home. And I saw some moose prints and I took some pictures. There are always tons of prints out there, but I have yet to actually see a moose.

And so this will be my last post from they hay flats for a while. I'll try to mix it up a bit. But I'm not going to promise that I won't make it back out there sometime soon. Especially if it happens to be sunny.

Things fall apart

2010-08-11T23:40:00.000-08:00

Sometimes it seems like the world is just falling down around us.

Everyone here is fine, just so I don't alarm anyone to start off with. It just seems like there is so much bad news around me lately.

My sister's sister in-law is patiently waiting for their 18 month old daughter to die. At this point death would be sweet relief for her. It is so tragic and sad, but their faith is so strong.

A woman in Anchorage lost her husband two weeks ago when the C17 that her husband was in crashed while practicing for the air show. A few days ago her father died in a plane crash on his way to a fishing trip. My heart just aches for her.

Back in my home town in Michigan, a young mother is struggling with inoperable cancer. I used to watch her in awe at horse shows when I was a kid. She is a magnificent equestrian.

A blogger that I follow just lost his father-in-law suddenly. They were supposed to be going on vacation together.

I normally don't use this blog as a platform for my faith, but I found comfort in these verses today, especially considering that they were both written by David, someone who saw extreme highs and lows in his life.

"Oh Lord, do not forsake me; be not far from me, O my God. Come quickly to help, O Lord My Savior." Psalm 38:21-22

"The Lord is close the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit." Psalm 34:18