The Long Family Log

Hawaiian Vacation Take 2

2011-04-30T18:04:00.001-07:00

More thoughts on the island of Hawai'i - the flowers there are just amazing. I liked the lava - but there's a lot of it to see. You just look and look and look, and hey - there's more lava! I wouldn't mind visiting there again, because we had only a few hours to look around, but of the four islands we visited it was my least favorite. I'd totally give it another chance, I'm sure there's more there to see then what we got a taste of.

The next day we hit Oahu. I have been there a couple of times, and John had been there before too, and we haven't been that impressed by it. I mean, come on now, it's HAWAII, right? How bad could it be? But Honolulu is a big city, and the traffic is horrendous. Getting out of Honolulu is a must if you want to spend much time enjoying the island.

This time, we got off the beaten path and John's cousin found an island we could snorkel to called Goat Island. Once we got there, we had the beach to ourselves save the two people that walked by at one point. Snorkeling out there was a bit rough, and on the way back we all decided to walk across the rocks instead of swimming. The water had gotten even more rough, so I'm glad we did.

We spent some time just tooling around the island, taking pictures at all the appropriate places, eating Shave Ice and hitting a cute little farm. The drive from Honolulu to Goat Island was beautiful and it was the best experience I'd had on Oahu. I would happily go back and probably want to stay on the North Shore. I liked the beaches there and the slower pace was nice.

We had a longer time on Oahu, (the ship didn't leave until 11pm) but we had to have our car back at a certain time, so we got back on the ship around 6:00 and went to dinner. We played some games on deck and took it easy the rest of the night.

Here we are at China Man's hat - Matt tells us that you can snorkel out to that island too - we'll have to try that some day!

Cruising - Hawaiian Style

2011-04-29T19:48:00.000-07:00

We got home this morning from a 2 week cruise to the Hawaiian Islands with our friends Matt and Shaunee. We left out of LA and cruised 4 days to the islands, hit Hawaii, Kauai, Maui and Oahu and then headed 4 days to Ensenada, MX and than back to LA.

What a great time! We really enjoyed our time with Matt and Shaunee and the cruise was wonderful. We ended up being fairly busy, which of course I LOVE, and John was able to relax while I was running around doing 'stuff' with Shaunee.

Princess has hired a great couple who make the Hawaiian experience authentic from the minute you get on the ship. They teach ukelele classes and hula dancing classes as well as being in a band that plays in various places on the ship and they bring a general 'aloha' feeling to the ship. The four of us took ukelele classes and participated in a show at the end of the cruise that showcased the class. We probably learned a dozen songs and got fairly efficient by the end of the cruise.

I talked Shaunee into taking line dancing and we had a great time learning the dances and trying not to get stepped on. It's pretty funny trying to dance on a ship that is constantly rolling with passengers who are not exactly spring chickens! :) I had always wanted to take the lessons, and it was fun to do it with someone. My next project is to talk John into taking the real dance lessons.

We hit Hilo, Hawaii first and rented a car to tour the island. Here we are in a lava tube. We hiked into two of them and this one we needed flashlights to go through. John hit his head pretty hard on the ceiling coming out of the tube, you're concentrating so hard on watching your feet that you don't watch your head - ouch!

We also drove to the end of the road where lava had destroyed a subdivision and was still covering the road.

At the same place where lava had covered the road, there was a great lookout over into the ocean. I guess at times, the lava cliffs slough off and the area has lost acres of cliffs to them just heading into the ocean. If you know me at all, you know I was freaked out about falling into the sea never to be seen again. So I moseyed out for pictures and then moseyed back to the road! :)

This is getting long - so I'll sign off here and post more later!

2011-04-09T10:02:00.000-07:00

John and I had a "Murder Mystery Party" at our house last week - Lethal Luau.

We had a great time, I've never seen John hamming it up quite like that. I never got a photo of all of us together, but I wish I had because the costumes were so great.

I think I'll do it again and this time I'll host - it was hard to have a part and keep the game moving. Now that I'm a little more familiar with how the game needs to flow, I think it would go more quickly and smoothly.

John's character was a bumbling tourist and my character was a bikini model. Yeah, a bikini model, that ain't happening folks. SO I dressed up in my best Hawaiian dress and called it good! I'm practicing for our upcoming Hawaiian vacation - people you need to practice for vacation, everyone knows this :)

Three Things

2011-03-30T13:05:00.000-07:00

From the beginning of our marriage, I've asked John to play a game I like to call "Three Things." When we play, we both think of three things that we like about the other and we try not to repeat them. If you've ever read Gary Chapman's book "The Five Love Languages" you are probably recognizing that my love language is words of affirmation.

John plays along, but it's not as important for him as it is for me. He has a different love language, and I love him in his way just as he loves me in mine. Over the years as we've played our "game" we've had to get creative and though John plays, he is never the one to bring it up.

This morning, I was reading in Proverbs, and though I'm sure I've read it before I had never noticed the good news I saw today. Prov. 30 has many mentions of "three things." In fact - there are four mentions of "three things"! My game is obviously Biblical. Not only does Prov. 30 mention three things, but it increases to four things.

I think it's time to up the ante in our game - we should play Four things!

So for your reading pleasure:

“There are three things that are never satisfied, four that never say, ‘Enough!’: 16 the grave, the barren womb, land, which is never satisfied with water, and fire, which never says, ‘Enough!’

17 “The eye that mocks a father, that scorns an aged mother, will be pecked out by the ravens of the valley, will be eaten by the vultures.

18 “There are three things that are too amazing for me, four that I do not understand: 19 the way of an eagle in the sky, the way of a snake on a rock, the way of a ship on the high seas, and the way of a man with a young woman.

20 “This is the way of an adulterous woman: She eats and wipes her mouth and says, ‘I’ve done nothing wrong.’

21 “Under three things the earth trembles, under four it cannot bear up: 22 a servant who becomes king, a godless fool who gets plenty to eat, 23 a contemptible woman who gets married, and a servant who displaces her mistress.

24 “Four things on earth are small, yet they are extremely wise: 25 Ants are creatures of little strength, yet they store up their food in the summer; 26 hyraxes are creatures of little power, yet they make their home in the crags; 27 locusts have no king, yet they advance together in ranks; 28 a lizard can be caught with the hand, yet it is found in kings’ palaces.

29 “There are three things that are stately in their stride, four that move with stately bearing: 30 a lion, mighty among beasts, who retreats before nothing; 31 a strutting rooster, a he-goat, and a king secure against revolt.[b]

Sunny Days...

2011-03-22T22:54:00.000-07:00

Here comes summer, for reals. I'm pretty sure.

I notice that the closer I get to summer, the more inclined I am to get busy. Take this week for example, I had Bible Study on Monday night, Awana tonight, Church tomorrow night and I'm part of a focus group (that pays me, yay!) tomorrow night. Friday night is dinner and games at a friend's house and then its the weekend for a minute.

Phew.

I tend to really pick up the pace during the summer, and have noticed that my pedometer is already reflecting the walking I've been doing. And being industrious is a good thing. I believe it is a good thing, but it's also a good thing to pause now and then.

I'll be working on the pause this summer.

Spring Fever

2011-03-18T14:20:00.000-07:00

I haven't been writing, but truly, there hasn't been much to say.

We seem to be on the upswing of the year - the time where winter is melting away, and spring is coming...slowly but surely. I'm not usually a believer in spring until the snow is gone, but that doesn't keep me from opening all the blinds and letting the sunshine in. Hmmm...that reminds me of a song!

Here's Izzy and Bella enjoying the sunshine in our living room. That huge picture window is doing a fine job of letting in the sun!

One of the advantages of melting snow is that I tend to get outside more. One of the disadvantages of melting snow is ICE! AAAAA!! So far I haven't bit it...and I'm holding on tightly to that record!

Maybe I'll think of some more exciting things to write - or maybe I'll run out right now and make some happen!

Craigslist

2011-01-23T20:30:00.000-08:00

John and I found a cruise we'd like to go on in a couple of years that goes round trip from Sydney, Australia and circles New Zealand. It has been a life-long dream of mine to go to both Australia and New Zealand, and we LOVE cruising, so this is perfect, right?

Except, it costs A. LOT. Not so much the cruise, but getting there, and we don't want to just jump on the boat and go, so we'll want time in Australia so there's hotel and car and food and, and, and.

I had a thought, what if we saved for a trip? What if instead of just going and paying for it, we just had the money set aside for traveling? what a new concept for us! So, I started an envelope and then started looking around our house for stuff we could sell. I turned to Craigslist.

That's right, I'm going to pay for our trip one $20 item at a time. So far I have $25. I have a ways to go! :)

How do you say Beautiful?

2011-01-09T16:51:00.000-08:00

Our dog is named Bella. She was Bella well before the craziness that is Twilight, and had I known that that was coming I would have named her something else. She is Bella because her sweet sister is Izzy, and together they are Izzybella. And let's be real here, she seriously is so cute and the sweetest dog ever, so it's only natural that she should have a name that means "beautiful" in both Spanish and Italian.

We go to the dog park now and then, and there are many dogs named Bella. It's confusing for her sometimes and more than once she has followed the wrong human (though not entirely due to her name as she is also a Shih Tzu and they are not known for their intelligence).

Yesterday we were at the park and I was thinking about all the Bella's in the world (both human and canine) and wishing I had had the foresight to name her something else. Then I started thinking that Bella is only one of the names I call her (and she responds to). I have a very long list of pet (ha) names for her. Wanna see it?

Bella
Bells
Hells Bells
Bella Brown Bottom
Bella Brown
Bella B
Chooch
Bug
Little Bug
Little Buggie
Sweets
Sweetie
Stinky
Belly
...

I think that's about it! She likes Bella the best, but if she knows I have a green bean in my hand, she'll respond to just about anything!

Sleep Schedule...so messed up

2011-01-08T12:16:00.000-08:00

My husband works nights. Through the last 2 years that he's had this schedule he's always flipped back over to a 'normal' schedule on his days off...going to bed with me and getting up with me (sort of) in the morning.

I'm a morning person, so I've always enjoyed him being on my schedule. When I was off last week, I got all messed up, staying up late and getting up after 9:00 am, this is very unusual for me. I'm a get up around 7:30 whether or not I'm working kind of person. This was hard to break going back to work this week, but I finally got into the swing of things even managing to work out in the morning a couple of times.

This week, on Thursday and Friday nights we stayed up until after 3 a.m. Trust me when I say this is such abnormal behavior for me that even my husband couldn't believe I was still blinking after 3. I tried to get up "early" (around 10) this morning so that I could reset my crazy clock.

I was going to complain about this and then I remembered the past 2 years and what my husband has done going without sleep to match my schedule. Staying up now and then with him so that he can sleep in a long time is probably the least I can do. After all - he works hard and I appreciate all he does for me!

Thoughts on money

2010-12-31T11:36:00.000-08:00

Here's something I've been thinking of - I may offend some people, and that is not my purpose. I don't really know what my purpose is...but it's not to offend.

Today on "America's Court" (what?!?! I had the week off - daytime television is interesting when you're scrubbing the house) a woman was suing her church for $5000 that she gave toward a building project. She wanted it back because she had recently found out that her pastor was performing wedding ceremonies between homosexual couples. She felt that the church was not following the original plan God had for churches and in addition, she thought that this church in particular had drifted from what the original founder's ideology had been. She did not want her money going to support that ideology and only wanted the special project gift back, not her tithes.

I thought her request was reasonable and wondered at why the church didn't just give her the money before it went to court. I mean, seriously, did she go to him, tell him that she was leaving the church and why, and then ask for the money back and he said no?

This got me thinking about an agenda for more money. I think lawyers are behind the push to have marriage between homosexual people made legal.

Among heterosexual couples, the divorce rate is just about 50%, let's assume it is the same among homosexual couples - this gives the divorce lawyers all kinds of new clients for divorce cases. Have you known someone who has gone through a divorce? In many cases (if the couple has any money at all) the lawyer is making some dough.

Let's also consider churches. I believe in the institution of the church and am a regular church goer myself. I am totally aware that churches are full of humans, and mistakes happen, feelings get hurt, sin goes on. And - I think of how much more tithe and giving churches could 'make' if they embrace the homosexual lifestyle and include marriages among those that are officiated. I could see how a humanistic pastor could look at the controversy about homosexual marriage and see dollar signs.

I am sure that there are more ways that this could be a money making opportunity - I just have to think some more. And like I said, I'm off this week, so thinking time is very limited.

Dump of Long News

2010-12-29T11:39:00.000-08:00

As you can tell by how sporadically I write in my blog...not much goes on in our world! :) but that's okay - it's better than having lots of drama (I suppose)!

Let's see, since September what' happened in our lives. We finally finished up (mostly) our energy rebate update and got our first winter bill. We saved $200 over last December, wowzer...we're shaking our heads at why we didn't do this years ago! There's a new boiler, new water heater, insulation in our heated garage (yes, we heated an uninsulated garage), and the crawl space is all sealed up. We'll get on the list soon to have our blow test redone, and hopefully we'll get back most of what we spent to update our house. We are so green.

In October we took a short (and I mean S H O R T) trip down to CO to pick up meat. My uncle is a rancher in NE, and my parents buy beef from him and shared a half with us. It's great meat, and we have a freezer full of love!

In November, we went on vacation. It was a wonderful 2 week cruise to the Caribbean, and I'd do it again next week if I could. YAY! Then we came home to subzero weather...and into the funk that is winter in Alaska. I'm pulling out of the funk, and looking forward to spring. I think spring is coming in more ways than one in our lives, and I'm looking for signs of green. We're planning another trip in April so we have something exciting to look forward to.

I have some exciting projects to do including a bedroom makeover, so maybe I'll post some pictures of that...maybe not. Depending on how good it ends up looking!

Learning to Slow Down

2010-09-19T17:14:00.000-07:00

Well - the title of this really should be: Forced to slow down. I had a couple of surgical procedures done on Tuesday of last week. I got pretty sick and my husband was very bossy about what I was and wasn't allowed to do at home. I am notoriously bad at "being sick" and almost always end up relapsing because I think I'm better before I am. John wasn't going to let that happen this time.

A week of doing nothing can start to wear at you - especially when you're used to running around with little down time. This past week was good for me. I learned that I am capable of sleeping during the day when my health requires it, and I also learned that, indeed, the world does not fall apart if chores have to go a few days without being done. Amazing, right?

Here's to good health, husbands who work hard and take good care of their wives, and to our God who heals.

Canada and Alaska vs. White Fang...part 3

2010-08-18T15:57:00.000-07:00

The third and final (almost) post about our wonderful trip. Seriously, this was a great trip - and I didn't even have to fly anywhere!

Thursday morning after dealing with the bees, we headed up the Yukon Loop Highway to Dawson City. It got warmer and warmer as we drove and we estimated it to be in the 80s by the time we got to Dawson. We checked into a hotel (that's right folks, I got one night in a hotel) and hung out around the hotel going for a couple of walks and playing cards.

Friday morning we got up and headed to Claim #6 where John and Dan panned for gold and Stacey and I went for a walk. I felt like a new woman - clean hair two nights in a row and a bed to sleep in! YESSSSSSSSSSSS! We played around in the mining area for a few hours and then headed into town for, get this: a walking tour! YAY!

We walked around Dawson and noticed that some of the sites had a fancy stamp you could use. We asked about it and found out the the Yukon does a passport every summer and if you get at least 20 stamps you're eligible to win 5 ounces of gold. What? So we got a passport and got all the stamps we could in Dawson. I got to looking over the passport and realized that had we had it at the beginning of the summer (when we were driving all over Canada) I could have most of the stamps! What a bummer. I guess that means I'll have to do more traveling!

After our fun with stamps and walking tours, we headed to our campsite and played Frisbee and made dinner. We ended up staying up really late that night having a great conversation and slept like little rocks when we finally crawled in our tent.

Saturday morning we head to have a bit of a schedule. We were to meet the convoy across the Taylor Highway and we had to be there at 2:00 when it left. We headed out of Dawson on the ferry and drove on up the Top of the World Highway.

If you haven't yet traveled on the Top of the World...it's a must in Alaska. It's a great drive with lots of little hikes to stop at along the way. At the Y where the Top of the World meets the Taylor, we had to wait for the convoy. There were lots of blueberries around, so we spent our time picking berries until the convoy left.

Following the convoy was not so fun. It was too hot not to roll down the windows and dust came in whether you had them down or not...so the right side of my hair was so dirty with dust that the water from my shower on Sunday literally ran dirty. It was so gross. But I digress. The Taylor has been washed out with all the rain we've been getting (don't get me started) and you could see the areas where the road had sloughed off.

After the 1.5 hour drive on a dirt road behind 7 or so other cars, we made it to Chicken and continued on to Tok. We stopped at our same spot for camping that we stayed at on the first night and headed in Anchorage Sunday morning.

This was a great trip with wonderful pictures. I plan to post photos soon - when I get around to it - with all of the fun captions you're waiting for! :) John and I thoroughly enjoyed the company, the weather and the spots we visited.

Canada and Alaska vs. White Fang...Part 2

2010-08-18T15:31:00.001-07:00

We spent Wednesday mostly doing walking tours of Skagway and Dyea (yes, for those of you hanging on the question "did she get eaten by the bear or was she able to thwart off an attack with her sledge hammer" I did make it through the night bear-attack-free). We didn't mean to spend so much time on the walking tours...but alas...we did.

It was pretty funny - we went to the townsite of Dyea (what we thought was the townsite anyway) and spent an hour or so wandering around trying to figure out the weird map and wondering what we were supposed to be looking at. We found a stream with spawning salmon and hung out there for a while looking at the totally fresh bear skat and fish parts that had obviously been flung to their resting places by bear. Probably a mom and her cub judging by the also fresh footprints.

Amazingly enough I wasn't feeling scared of these bears. Probably because it seemed they had plenty of fish to eat, and had little interest in us. That and there were tons of people around. We pushed through some forest after our time at the creek and found more fish parts...but still no city. We finally walked back to the trucks and Dan noticed that there was another path. Yes, two paths diverged in a wood - we took the one not to Dyea. So - we did the real walking tour of Dyea, which was very interesting, and headed into Skagway.

We had lunch in Skagway and began the walking tour through that little town. If you don't know much about the Klondike and the gold rush(es), I would encourage you to find out more. It's very interesting and since there are books written about it, I won't plagerize here.

Again we had great weather and no rain to speak of. Our drive out of Skagway was beautiful and we could see so much more now that the foggy mist had lifted. We drove on to Whitehorse, again stopping along the way when stuff interested us.

We got into Whitehorse later than we would have liked and checked out a couple of campgrounds. I don't know if it's just the Yukon Territory, or Canada in general, but they just don't do campgrounds like Alaska does. The two we went into near Whitehorse were the weirdest campgrounds I'd ever been to. We debated staying in one as we were all tired and ready to make camp, but of the four adults there, none of us felt comfortable staying - so onward we went. We decided to stay in a hotel that night and checked out one that looked inexpensive but not gross and learned that it was Discovery Days in the Yukon and if we could find a room, we'd be lucky.

Huh. We needed two rooms.

Onward ho - up the highway to find a place to camp. We headed toward Dawson City in the almost dark and found a great camping spot along the way. There were hardly any bugs and it was a beautiful clear night. The next morning we found out that we must have camped near a bee hive of some sort because they were out in masses. We ate breakfast and packed up quickly to head on up the Klondike Loop highway.

Canada and Alaska vs. White Fang...Part 1

2010-08-16T13:52:00.000-07:00

WOW!

We just got back yesterday from a great camping trip across Alaska and Canada. We had a wonderful time camping with John's cousin and his family - they have a little boy. We hadn't done any traveling with them and you're never too sure how that's going to go (camping can be a bit stressful and we didn't have a solid itinerary) but it couldn't have gone smoother. Great company and fabulous weather capped off a fun adventure.

We had originally planned to drive up the Dempster Highway to Inuvik, Northwest Territory, Canada...but alas, the closing of the Taylor Highway caused us to do some rethinking. We regrouped once we hit Tok and realized we'd have to add at least two days to our travels if we went up the Dempster...so we decided to head to Skagway and hit the gold rush towns.

So - here is our route (this blog is mostly for the purposes of helping me remember in the future when I scrap it, I'll add our photos and more information as the week goes by)

We left last Sunday in the afternoon and drove up out as far as the Tok Cutoff. We found a great little gravel pit to stay the night in. To our surprise, we only got the tiniest bit of rain and by the morning our tent was dry. We weren't sure what to expect for Taylor Highway conditions at that point, so we decided to head up to Tok and find out what the road was like.

I love Tok - it's such a cute little town. It's like Delta Junction - feels like the midwest in the middle of Alaska. Does it get any better than that? As I mentioned earlier - Tok is where we made our decision to head on down the road to Skagway and then up to Dawson City. The weather was just perfect and we headed down the Alaska Highway toward Kluane Lake.

We did plenty of stopping along the way and took our time driving across the highway. It was great doing this drive during the day as I felt like I'd missed so much when we drove through in the dark in July. We checked out a campground or two when we got to the lake, and finally settled on a "make your own site" right on the lake. We all slept great that night with the sound of the lake lapping the shore and just a bit of wind lulling us to sleep.

Kluane Lake is amazing. It's 150 square miles on greenish blue lake that just goes on and on. Stacey and I had a great time walking along the shore and the boys played in the dirt with Matthew. Of course we saw these signs at one of the campgrounds we checked out and I got completely freaked out about bears. The sign said that the area we were camping in was full of soap berries which apparently bears really like. Naturally we squatted our tent down right on top of a whole crop of soapberries. UGH! We didn't see any sign of bear (at all at this spot) but I kept my eye out just the same. Why can't bears just plan to stay away from me in general?

Again we were blessed with great weather (though it was a tad chilly) and headed out the next morning for Skagway. The drive down into Skagway is like you're heading into Mordor or some other mythical place. When we drove down, the fog was sitting in and it was getting misty out. I thought for sure we'd have rain once we got into the valley by the water. But once again - I was wrong.

Skagway is a great little tourist town that totally caters to cruise ships. There were four docked when we got there Tuesday evening and four when we left Wednesday morning. We took our time checking out the little town on Tuesday and did a little bit of shopping. Then we headed out to check out the town site of Dyea (the famous Klondike city where the Chilkoot trail begins) and tried to look for a camping site along the less traveled road and came back empty handed.

When we were crossing the bridge to come back into Dyea, we noticed a guy stuck in the middle of the river with his truck buried deep in water. We had a fun 'hero moment' watching Dan pull the guy out with his wench. This of course leaves John with much wench envy (and I'm talking about the kind you mount on a bumper) so we'll probably have one before too long!

We finally settled on camping in a campground and didn't get to unpacking to stay until after 9:00. This south in Alaska, it was dark much earlier than we are used to and we hadn't anticipated that. As we were getting dinner ready (of course we had to have salmon that night) the camp host came around and gave us some information on the area. She also had to tell us (again we had salmon that night) that there had been many bears in the area and one had taken a swipe at a tent two nights before. great. just. great.

Of course this put me in hyper clean up mode and I was cloroxing everything down and looking for little bits of food. We stayed up late talking that night and I think it was because we were a bit scared of going into our tents. Dan had a few hammers for fossil hunting tucked into his truck, so we went to bed each holding a hammer. I had a hard time sleeping that night - every sound was a bear trying to get into my tent and every stick breaking was a bear coming. John fell right asleep and snored away. Sigh.

The Cracked Pot

2010-07-20T14:30:00.000-07:00

A recent email forwarded to me had this sweet story:

An elderly Indian woman had two large pots, each hung on the ends of a pole which she carried across her neck. One of the pots had a crack in it while the other pot was perfect and always delivered a full portion of water. At the end of the long walks from the stream to the house, the cracked pot arrived only half full.

For a full two years this went on daily, with the woman bringing home only one and a half pots of water. Of course, the perfect pot was proud of its accomplishments. But the poor cracked pot was ashamed of its own imperfection, and miserable that it could only do half of what it had been made to do.

After two years of what it perceived to be bitter failure, it spoke to the woman one day by the stream, "I am ashamed of myself because this crack in my side causes water to leak out all the way back to your house."

The old woman smiled, "Did you notice that there are flowers on your side of the path, but not on the other pot's side? That's because I have always known about your flaw, so I planted flower seeds on your side of the path, and every day while we walk back, you water them. For two years, I have been able to pick these beautiful flowers to decorate the table. Without you being just the way you are, there would not be this beauty to grace the house."

Each of us has our own unique flaw. But it's the cracks and flaws we each have that make our lives together so very interesting and rewarding.

You've just got to take each person for what they are and look for the good in them.
SO, to all of my cracked pot friends, have a great day and remember to smell the flowers on your side of the path!

Hopefully I just look young!

2010-07-11T21:29:00.000-07:00

I called a dear friend today in my car on the way to Target. I didn't really want to go in the store while I was speaking with her, and my car was too hot to sit in while I talked, so I sat outside the store on a bench and talked with her.

While I was talking with her, a group of kids (10 or so) walked into Target just as I laughed at a story she was telling me. One of the boys in the group mocked my laughter and I looked up at the kids as they walked in. One of the girls that was in the group said "don't mind him, he doesn't know what he's saying" and I must have been glaring at them because then she says "and don't roll your eyes at me."

Wow - I am at least 15 years older than this group of kids, since when is it okay to mock an adult and then tell them not to roll your eyes at them? Seriously! Maybe being rude to your peers is acceptable, but it seems many of this younger group no longer have respect for adults. I didn't say anything to them, mainly because I was one the phone and couldn't think of anything to come back with that wasn't as rude as what they had done. Weird - I'm hoping that it's just because I look like I'm not much older than they are...but I doubt it as I'm fairly certain I look exactly as old as I am!

I'm going to have to start walking around teaching kids manners. Hmmmm.....where to start!?

Family Trip

2010-06-18T19:21:00.000-07:00

John and I got home from our Family Adventure on Monday morning. We had a great time seeing my siblings and parents and several of my cousins and their kids.

We arrived in Denver on Wednesday morning, and my sister Beth and her three girls picked us up and drove us to Colorado Springs where my parents live. We spent the day trying to stay awake and getting dinner together for the little BBQ we had with my other sister Jeni and her boyfriend and his kids.

Here's John with my little niece Amanda - playing at my parent's house.

Thursday we had a good time hanging with the kids and Beth at Whit's End at FOTF and then doing some shopping to get ready for our Nebraska adventure!

Friday morning we got up early and jumped in the car for the eight hour trip to Nebraska. We met my brother and his little girls (YAY!) in Valentine and then headed over to my Grandma's house where we met a bunch of cousin's and even more of our cousin's kids.

We had such a great time catching up with family and floating on the Niobrara River. That was an adventure in itself...making it down the river with our drenched selves and surviving the wind, rain and cold that was the weather!

It's always good to see family and catch up - the trip was too short and we were exhausted on the plane ride home Sunday night.

Alyssa, me, Beth and Anna at Whit's End trying on the costumes.

Bailee being as cute as she can be

The freckle queens together again! Steph and Jayden

Beautiful Weekend

2010-05-31T18:04:00.000-07:00

It was a great weekend here in Anchorage - the sun was out all weekend and we hit the high 70's - that ain't bad for May! :) we could definitely use some rain, especially now that there are forest fires and the smoke is getting a little thick, but I really can't complain about the sunshine. I had a great time with family visiting early in the week and then the fun weekend.

My friend and I are planning to walk a 1/2 marathon, so we spent time 'training' for the walk, today we walked 6 miles. The training couldn't have come at a better time since we just started a contest at work. We all bought the same pedometers that can't be cheated and keep track of data to download into the computer. The grand prize for the most steps between now and a date in August is $300 with second place receiving $150. I'm hoping to win - I can think of a few somethings I can buy with that prize money!

I put out my flowers today and it always energizes me for summer. I'm not sure if I'll do my usual baskets in the front of the house, but I bought a basket and window box arrangement for the front of our unit, and filled the pots I have along the side of the house. The pots look cute, and I can't wait for them to fill in. Each year I try to do the flowers a bit more inexpensively, but this year I had a gift card to Bells so I splurged on the hanging basket.

Fun with John

2010-05-22T18:53:00.000-07:00

Our 7th anniversary is on May 24, but since John and I both work that day and we have opposite schedules, we thought we'd get away this week. I reserved a room for us at the Lake Louise Lodge for a couple of nights and off we went.

Lake Louise is about 20 miles south and 17 miles west of Glennallen. The night we got to the lodge it was pouring and I thought we might have a "weekend" in just hanging out around the lodge. I've confessed on here that we have a great time at hotels because we love watching cable and get stuck on HGTV and Discovery Channel forever...this hotel didn't have cable let along TVs in the room - so he were forced to talk with each other. What a drag - ha! :)

On Thursday we woke up to a beautiful day and decided to drive to Delta Junction since I've never been there. It was a beautiful drive and Delta was a cute little town - very midwestern which was strange considering it was interior Alaska. We spent a few hours strolling around town and checking out the 'hot' spots and then headed back to Lake Louise. We are addicted to the "Milepost" and treated ourselves to a new copy for this trip. I'm glad we got a new one - there were updates and the one we'd been using was about 15 years old. For you un-Alaskan's the Milepost is basically a bible for traveling on Alaska's roads. As you've probably guessed from the title, it is a mile by mile description of what you'll see on the way.

We headed back to Anchorage on Friday and planned our next trip on the way. We're trying to plan a trip to the lower 48 - driving around the west coast or something. We've got to get serious and decide where we'd like to go and when we'd like to go, etc. We love road trips - good time for all!

Happy Anniversary, love of my life, you're still the best husband I ever had! :)

Psalm 23

2010-05-19T15:09:00.000-07:00

Psalm 23 (The Message)

God, my shepherd!
I don’t need a thing.
You have bedded me down in lush meadows,
You find me quiet pools to drink from
True to your word,
You let me catch my breath
And send me in the right direction.

Even when the way goes through
Death Valley,
I’m not afraid
When you walk at my side.
Your trusty shepherd’s crook
Makes me feel secure.

You serve me a six-course dinner
Right in front of my enemies.
You revive my drooping head;
My cup brims with blessing.

Your beauty and love chase after me
Every day of my life.
I’m back home in the house of GOD
For the rest of my life.

Bella

2010-05-16T22:03:00.001-07:00

I've been making noise about getting a dog for a few months now. I've done my research and have narrowed it down to the perfect dog for us - medium-sized, able to walk for miles, happy with a smallish yard, non-shedding and energetic but not so energetic that it eats my house.

I came to John with the best breed for us and the places that we can buy it and he reminded me we already have a dog. Oh yeah, we already have a dog. Bella. Three years ago, I picked up a Shih-Tzu puppy for my MIL at my mom's house - it was buy one get one free day so I came home with two. Since we were taking care of my sister's dogs (who aren't very dog-friendly) my MIL agreed that she would raise both of the puppies until my sister's dogs moved out.

The dogs moved out.

And Bella stayed at my MIL's house.

I felt so bad about taking Bella from her little sister Izzy - they were attached at the hip and were a package deal. But when I started thinking I really wanted a dog and John reminded me we technically had one, I thought maybe it was time for Bella to come home .

We are at day four of the great dog exchange - so far both girls seem to be adjusting to life as top dog - and are SO happy to see each other at play dates. I don't think they've yet gone a day without seeing each other. Bella will visit my MIL...I mean...Izzy on days I work and John sleeps (this is part of the shared custody agreement). I hope that the dogs don't hate us for breaking them up and that they understand that people need pets. it's the law!

Mini Family Reunion

2010-05-02T09:09:00.000-07:00

My family lives all across the US. My brother and bil are both in the military, so this causes lots of moving across the country and the world. Right now, all of my family (John and I excluded) live in square states, specifically: Colorado, Oklahoma and Nebraska.

When my little sister, who lives in OK, is going to be in Colorado, I try to meet her at my parent's house. This is sort of a 'central' place to meet...and Alaska Air flies to Denver (YAY!). She's going to be there in June so John and I are heading down there to be with family. It will be a very short trip for us...but that's nothing new. My sister and I got our brains together and decided we wanted to go visit our brother (who lives in NE) and our grandmother while we were 'close.'

Then we thought to ourselves, why don't we see if any other cousins (all of them live in NE except for our family) want to meet us at Grandma's while we're there. This has turned into a full blown mini family reunion. I am so very excited. So far we know that my sister and her girls, my brother and his family, my parents and two of my other cousins are going to join us in Valentine, NE. We're planning to tube the Niobrara (which I am totally excited about) and just hang out visiting with family.

I LOVE Nebraska summers. Yes, it will be flipping hot (we were there in May a couple of years ago and it was 96, and this is a month later) - but that's what water and sunscreen are for. You just can' t beat those summer nights when it's dark and warm and there are cicadas chirping and lightening bugs flying around...ahhhh...watermelon that tastes like something...warm tomatoes...I could go on. The point is - I'm really looking forward to time with family and time in the sun.

One of those moods

2010-04-26T22:41:00.000-07:00

Ever get in a 'mood' that you can't put your finger on? You're not really sad, but not happy; not content, but not discontent; not tired, but not really bright and shiny...etc. I'm there. Can't really label what the feeling is, but just sort of blah.

I did have a good weekend - it was busy, but it was great. John and I went for a bike ride Friday morning and then spent the rest of the day working on projects around the house. We cleaned the garage and worked on the yard...for some reason I really like yard work, can't put my finger on it, but I do.

I was in the Heart Run on Saturday (see my picture here - it was in the paper: http://www.adn.com/2010/04/24/1248735/2010-heart-run.html#id=1248729&view=large_view) and then I had to work on Saturday afternoon at the Women's Show.

Sunday, after church, my friend and I did some shopping and hung out some. Then of course I watched Amazing Race. My cowboys are still in it - maybe they'll win Maggie! Wouldn't that be the best?

Suuuuuprise, suuuuuprise, suuuuuprise!

2010-04-11T22:58:00.000-07:00

My friends and I pulled off the best surprise this weekend. My friend, Rebecca, is pregnant and due in July. I thought it would be fun to have a surprise shower for her, but didn't want to wait too long into our summer as people tend to travel around quite a bit and not show up for things if it's nice out. SO, we threw a super early shower and totally surprised her.

My friend, Amy, was in charge of inviting Rebecca to breakfast and then bringing her to the party. She talked Rebecca into helping her carry some stuff into the party and we all did the ole "SURPRISE" act. It was great - Rebecca pointed to Amy and said "surprise!" she thought for sure the party must be for Amy since Amy's birthday is tomorrow. It was too cute.

The party was a success, I think people had fun and Rebecca was blessed with lots of goodies for her new little one...he or she, whichever it may be!

There's more...I met a friend for coffee and then came home for an hour or two. John woke up and we headed off to a birthday party our friends threw for John, Amy and me. It was great hanging out with good friends and having great BBQ!

Alaska Break Wrap Up

2010-04-03T11:28:00.000-07:00

John and I went "outside" for about a week. We really had a relaxing time away from home visiting family and other places, and we came back to an Anchorage that was melting away!! YAY!

We started our trip by going to Portland for a couple of days - we attended a conference our adoption agency hosted. The conference was amazing, so many great stories, so many wonderful people - all in the same place we are. There were six other couples at the conference, so it was intimate, and we got to know each other pretty well. We had some one-on-one time with the director of our agency and I feel more secure that we made the right decision choosing the agency that we did.

John and I spent our "off-conference" time walking around to every store we could reasonably walk to - we clocked 2 miles on my pedometer in Ikea alone! :) And of course we watched a ton of TV as we are both hopeless cable addicts (thus the lack of it in our own home - well that and we're cheap). The hotel we stayed in was so nice - probably the nicest we've stayed in, here in the US, and probably the nicest we'll ever get to afford again! :) Once our little one comes to be with us, I'm sure funds will be shifted elsewhere!

After our few days in Portland we head to Colorado Springs to spend time with my family. It was such a relaxing time hanging with my parents and seeing my sister (finally met her new boyfriend) and we celebrated my birthday with brunch.

When we got home, we had a really exciting surprise. Our friends who are moving to Ohio came and stayed with us for a couple of days while they finished some last minute running around. I know that they didn't anticipate the extra day - but I loved every extra minute we got with them.

Not feeling so sorry for myself

2010-03-21T22:54:00.000-07:00

John and I spent Friday out near Talkeetna snow machining with our friend. We took a wood burning stove out to his cabin (really it's a house) that has the most amazing view of Mt. McKinley. I'm hoping I can spend some time out there this summer, you can't get there by driving, so it's really off the beaten track and I love going out there.

I was sort of worried about my poor little knee being all scrunched up on the back of a snow machine all day, but it didn't do so bad. I was able to go for three walks over the weekend, so I really can't complain about my knee - and I'm so thankful. Thank you, Lord, for healing that bad ol'e knee...I'm thankful for body parts that work.

We went out to dinner on Friday night with John's parents and cousins for John's 31st birthday. He's such an old guy now! :) I love that he's getting into his 30s along with me, I don't want to be there by myself. We also went out on Saturday night as a church - we all went to the Golden Trough (ahem, I mean Golden Corral). I had a great time talking with so many people that I don't always get the change to spend time with.

It was a great weekend, full of fun stuff and not so fun stuff - we had to officially say goodbye to our friends as they're leaving while we're out of town. I'm trying not to cry about that...I need some more friends! And of course trying not to stress/worry/fret over the decision our government is making with health care. I can't worry - know why? God tells me not to worry, that he cares about the lillies in the field and feeds the birds - he has me in his hands.

It's also important to note that Jeff and Jordan were booted off Amazing Race tonight...so so sad...boo...maybe the cowboys will win!

My Knee

2010-03-18T11:10:00.000-07:00

Warning: this is a mostly whiny blog! :)

About a month ago, I injured both my knees. I have no idea what happened to make them hurt so badly, but after a jog/walk at the Dome with my friend, I noticed that both knees were aching. This disintegrated into full blown pain. I had been increasing the miles I was running on the treadmill, and I suspect that the additional running on the hard ground was the culprit.

Anyway...you may not know it by looking at me ;) but I'm a fairly active girl. Being grounded for the last month with knee pain has really been hard for me. I had no idea how much I relied on exercise for stress relief until this happened, and I am so ready to get back to it.

The trouble is that I have a tendency to jump into things and push too hard. When I've been ill, for example, I don't ease back into things, I jump in head first and often crash hard. I need my knees to work for the rest of my life - I need to be easy on them.

This week marks my first 2 real walks since "the incident" and I hope to get in a couple more walks as the week go by. Hopefully getting in a few walks of 2 or 3 miles will help me manage stress, get outside, get some endorphins pumping and ease me back into my normal workout regime.

My friend's moving...boohoo...

2010-03-14T22:28:00.000-07:00

Two of my very close friends are moving this spring/summer. One of the families that John and I have grown very close to are getting out of the military and moving to Ohio. I will miss them and their three little daughters more than I can say. At first I didn't want to be friends with them because they were in the military and I knew they would be moving, so I'm sad that I hesitated, because we have found such friendship with them.

My other friend, Mel, is moving sometime at the end of the summer. She has been part of my life for 12 years now, and has been a big part of my personal cheering team for the last few years. She's my biking/hiking/walking/rollerblading partner and I will miss her. For now I'm totally ignoring that she's moving to Arizona...and I'm focusing all my pity parties on the Resz family moving.

So here's my list of things I like about Christan and her sweet family:

1. Christan is one of the most real people I have ever known. She doesn't pretend she's okay when she's not; she talks about real things she struggles with.

2. She listens when I share my heart and offers encouraging words

3. I can hang out with her for hours and even if we don't do anything it's just good to be with her.

4. She's a great mom - I love watching her with her girls.

5. She understands some of the struggles I have because she too deals with them, I feel like I can say anything to her and she isn't going to judge me.

6. She has great hair!

7. She has a sweet laid back spirit that I find myself longing for, trusting that God has things in his hands and she doesn't need to worry about what He is doing.

I know there are more, but since I'm still pretending they are not moving, I'll leave it at that.

Friday Fun Day

2010-03-13T00:08:00.001-08:00

Because of John's weird schedule (he works nights and is off of work W, Th, Fr) and I work days and am off Fr, Sa. Sun., you can see that there is a bit of a conflict for us to find quality time together. This leads us to be extremely protective of our one little day off together.

I try to let John sleep in and then we usually hang out in our PJs until 12:00 or so and ease into the day. Today was no different, and I love that about Fridays. We just hung out all morning, planned vacation time in May and did some cleaning in the house. In the afternoon we went to the dog park with my mother in law and the dogs and then did some shopping.

It's just the best hanging out with John, seriously. I'm thankful we enjoy each others company, I guess I'm just feeling all warm and fuzzy that i get to live with my best friend!

The trouble with Facebook

2010-03-05T18:24:00.000-08:00

You know how it goes - you want to have a party, but you only invite a couple of your friends. You have a night of games planned, but can only accommodate five people. You would love to host all of your wonderful friends, but don't have the energy to worry about introducing this group to that group.

Back in the old days - I wasn't aware of when I wasn't being invited to social functions that my other friends were going to - and they weren't aware when I didn't invite them. It's not that I didn't want to hang out with them, or they didn't want to hang out with me, and it's not that I wanted to keep events a secret, but sometimes the situation doesn't call for everyone you know to be invited.

Here's the rub with Facebook - I am now fully aware of when I haven't been invited to a social function that everyone else in my circle attended. Bummer. I see the pictures - and even if I don't happen to see the old "had so much fun at _____'s party last night" status roll on by, I might see someone else get tagged in a photo, a wall post about the food or a more general buzz on good ole FB.

Sure - I'm 33 and shouldn't be too offended when I don't get invited to every little thing. It's true that I have had my share of get togethers that for whatever reason, people miss. And it's also true that John and I tend to glom on to particular friends for a while and other relationships miss out on our awesomeness (I am so gonna miss our dear friends that are moving next month and we took entirely too long to connect with, boo). And our weird schedules (well, John's weird schedule) makes it hard to plan for much time with our friends because we're doing our best to make sure we get time together.

So WHY do my feelings till get hurt when I see that a party happened and I didn't even get the chance to say I couldn't come? I mean, at least give me the chance to make an excuse about why I can't attend! :)

Hey - a day off!

2010-03-02T23:01:00.001-08:00

I took today off to stay home with John. yesterday was a very stressful day for him. I'd love to go into details here, but I can't really do that, because of the job that he has...so I'll just say it was high stress. He's doing fine, but I thought it might be nice for him to come home to someone, so I took the day off! YAY us!

I slept in - a rare treat since I'm an early riser - and when John got home we headed to the shooting range with a couple of his buddies who graduated from the Academy with him. One of them brought their wife, so we had a good time shooting and trying to pretend we knew what we were doing.

Then we came home and basically napped all day - how do you like that? we are two lazy people...at least we were today. I tried to talk John into doing something (anything) all day long, but for some reason he was really into sleeping - might have something to do with him working all night, I don't really know! :)

Ladies Day

2010-02-27T19:10:00.000-08:00

I just had the most fun day with my friend, Christan. We are busy shoving as much time as possible into the next few weeks since her family will be moving to the lower 48 in May or June. I will miss her terribly, and will really miss watching her sweet little girls grow up, and John will miss her husband - his favorite nerdy home school friend!

In light of them moving away from us so soon, we have been doing as much as we can together. Today we met at the salon (where Christan was getting her hair chopped, btw, it looks GREAT), and it took longer to get there than usual because of Fur Rondy...today was the parade and downtown was a complete zoo. After Christan's beautifying, we headed to the mall for some fun shopping. We got in on some great deals at Pennys (I won't say how much I spent, but I saved $93.95!!) and then headed to Glacier Brewhouse for lunch. I was very disappointed in them today, and they are usually by far my favorite restaurant. They were slow and when we finally got our lunch they brought me the wrong thing...they ended up comping our dessert, but neither of us were very interested in dessert ... bah!

Then after lunch we saw Chicago - the Musical! It was so fun. SO not what you'd want to bring your husband to (oops ending a sentence with a preposition). Seriously. Way too many girls dancing around in their not so covering outfits! But for a girls night, it was fun and the music is hilarious, we had a great time.

Now I'm home and John and I are debating dinner - whether or not I'll even eat (I'm still full) and what he will eat!

John got his first beaver out of his traps yesterday. He set 4 traps and only got his beaver, but at least he got something. he's working away at trying to tan it - and pretty darn proud of himself. I'm proud of him too - where else but Alaska can you trap and tan a beaver!?

Oops-a-Daisy

2010-02-26T14:58:00.001-08:00

John left last night to head to Cantwell and check on some traps 'we' set last week. I went along with him to set the traps, but mostly stood around trying not to fall on the ice while he and our friend set the traps. This week I didn't go because of work and other obligations, so John headed up all by his lonesome.

Normally, it's a bit depressing being in the house all by myself, but I was sort of looking forward to the time alone to get some cleaning and crafting done. It's hard to do the noisy cleaning with our schedules - my days off are usually spent doing light cleaning and either trying to stay out of the house or trying to be quiet so John can sleep. So - having the house to myself for these projects was something that I thought I'd enjoy.

I had an industrious morning. I got up and got some laundry moving, cleaned the bedroom, did some of the noisy cleaning, and went over to my in-laws to pick up our half of the Full Circle Farms order.

When I got back to our house around 11:30 with the order, I went in and set it on the bench and then headed back outside to get the latest load of laundry out of the dryer. I came back with the load and - wait - what's this? The door was locked. L O C K E D. WhAT?

Okay, I say to myself, calm down, just call John. Oh yeah, he's out of town. Just call your MIL, okay, right I call her. Wait - where's my cell. Oh right - in my house, locked in my house. Fab.

So I walk next door and use my neighbors phone, his phone smelled gross, and call my MIL. She doesn't answer so I decide I'll walk over there. I am SO glad I had my shoes on, and that I'd thought to wear a sweatshirt, because seriously? it was freezing out. I wogged over to her house and she gave me a ride home and unlocked my little house.

It could have been so much worse, she could have not been home...and then what? I walked over there for nothing? Where would I have gone/ I guess I could have sat in the laundry room and waited for...? John to come home in the middle of the night tonight? Crazy...

Before more time goes by

2010-02-23T12:08:00.000-08:00

I'm not that good at blogging...obviously. There are lots of things going on right now, but I'm not sure yet if I feel comfortable blurting them out on the internet for eternity. So I've been quiet.

Some things that I don't mind blurting:
- I love my job - I've been here a year now, and I really like what the organization stands for, the work that they do, and the part I have in that work.

- I am way to excited for summer to get here...WAY too excited.

- John is loving his job too, he's getting more and more confident in it each week.

- We have lots of irons in the fire....lots.

- I have theories on things, maybe some day I'll do the research to back them up

- My knee hurts, I've been trying to "take it easy" but it's not as "easy" as it sounds. I walked for 15 minutes on the treadmill yesterday and it's sore today. This is espeically hard when you're used to working out 5 or 6 times a week. But I won't whine...at least I'm still ambulatory.

- I'm hungry.

Two week sugar hiatus continues

2009-07-21T22:01:00.000-07:00

My friend, Mel, and I have been working together to push refined sugar out of our diets. We started this two weeks ago yesterday and are still going strong. I've noticed some interesting things throughout the process.

1. It was not as hard as I thought it would be. Going sugar-free in the summer is definitely the way to do it since there are so many yummo fruits available this time of the year.

2. Once I got past the first couple of days, any cravings I was having were gone. G.O.N.E. I am an ice cream lover, and though I am sure I still love, love, love it...(it's only been 2 weeks after all) I have passed it up and haven't really been craving it like I usually do.

3. In addition to the sugar cravings, the salt cravings are also gone.

4. There are so many sugar-free options for yummy stuff. SF pudding is probably my fav. I know that people will argue that sugar is better for you than the fake stuff, but seriously? Right now (for me) I needed to detox...so it's working for me!

5. You can go to restaurants (including Golden Corral) and not hog down. That's right - you can order good for you food at restaurants...who knew? (certainly not me judging by previous eating out adventures)

So - those are some of the things I've noticed right off the top. I'm not saying I'll never eat sugar again, but it certainly has made a difference in the way I see food right now.

BONKO

2009-07-14T12:15:00.000-07:00

Last night, John and I were invited to join 5 other couples in playing Bonko, we had a great time. It's a dice game that's totally chance (no skill involved) and it moves quickly. You move partners, so that's fun too - it keeps the game fresh which is especially important since you're just rolling dice over and over again.

Except for the couple that invited us, we were the only people under 40 - that's a great way to feel young again! The older couples were hilarious, and it was fun to watch how they interacted with each other. We were invited to join their little group that meets once a month to play - they rotate homes so that everyone gets a chance to host. I think we'll join them - it would be a great way to get to know some new people.

Anchorage is SO small. We got there not expecting to know anyone except for the people who invited us, and we ended up knowing another couple there. They had gone through the adoption seminar with us and had a lot of the same feelings/experiences we've had since going through it. It was great talking with them and feeling not quite so alone.

Jessica and Nick

2009-07-13T12:04:00.000-07:00

Dear Jessica and Nick,

Get back together. Now's the time. You're both free, and you know that you guys belong together. Don't let the mistake you made a coule of years ago get worse by remaining apart.

Love,
Stephanie

Hazy Daze

2009-07-09T13:53:00.000-07:00

Whew - there's a LOT of smoke in the air these days. I guess there are over 50 fires burning in Alaska right now - and we're certainly seeing our share of smoke here. It makes me not want to go outside, something about not being able to see the mountains that are so close, and smelling the smokey air makes me want to protect my lungs.

I have to admit that the 64 degree weather is much welcomed after our "hot" week. We made it up to 85 at our house and hotter in some areas of town - trust me it feels different in AK compared to 85 in other places. People don't have AC - in their homes or in their businesses. So at work, one of the offices was 87 degrees with fans on and windows open. Not that fun to work in! And with the pregnant women milling around in here too - they must be miserable!

ChaLEAN has been going well. I was pretty sore Tuesday, but not so much today or yesterday. SO far so good - it is pretty hard work and I'm tired after, but it feels good.

What else...not much! We're pretty boring though it seems like we've always got something going on!

ChaLEAN Extreme

2009-07-06T19:53:00.000-07:00

Today was my first workout with ChaLean Extreme. She's the lady that does the Turbo Jam videos (they're so much fun) - and since a friend was trying the 90 day commitment to ChaLean Extreme, I thought I would too. It took me 2 weeks to get excited enough about it to be committed to do it for the 90 days. This is less cardio and more weights...actually, mostly weights. I'm usually not into weights and prefer doing something more "fun" but I know that muscle burns fat and since there's plenty of fat to go around...here I go!

So far...so good. Of course it's only the first day...and it did hurt. A lot. But again, it's only the first day! Tomorrow is a rest day so I'll find something else to do (or maybe just take it easy) and then off to more Extreme!

It's the little things...

2009-07-04T16:02:00.000-07:00

I must be bored lately. This morning I made pancakes for breakfast. John was late getting home so by the time he got here I had already eaten. He sat down with his plate and started to butter his pancakes and one rolled off his plate like a coin and rolled onto the table and bounced off my purse and landed butter side down.

Apparently this is funny...because I couldn't stop laughing. After he picked it up the pancake left a perfect butter imprint - including the streaks his knife had made - on the glass table.

It's these little things in life that really crack me up! What a cute way to start the morning.

Social Networking...is it the end of conversation?

2009-06-25T14:17:00.000-07:00

I'm sad about what texting has done to communication in America. It used to be that when you were with people, you were with them, and they were with you. Now when you’re with people, they are distracted by their texts, checking email and Facebook while they talk to you and thinking about their latest tweet.

I am all for Facebook, and communicating through text, and keeping track of friends – but I am not sure I like what it’s doing to me, and what it’s doing to people in general. I think social networking is making it harder for people to communicate in normal ways.

Here’s the thing – people aren’t really able to have phone conversations anymore. They’re so used to talking in clipped sentences that phone conversations are becoming hard. Where I work – many people just “drop in” and expect to be able to get an appointment. While it’s true we do walk-ins we can only do them if we have time/people to take the appointments, and usually we just can’t. It seems like it would make much more sense to call ahead and see if there are available appointments rather than wasting time driving over here, walking up the stairs and discovering you can’t get in.

But young people just aren’t into calling. They text their friends, and in many cases their parents. They keep up over the summer on Facebook, Myspace and Twitter. They aren’t able to hold conversations for very long before getting distracted by their phones, they go to the movies and text during movies (why you’d waste $9.50 is beyond me), they have their ear buds in their ears listening to their ipods a majority of the time...it's just sad.

I'm also finding myself more interested in being nosey about other's lives -even people I don't even know! I also find myself thinking I'd rather not talk with someone right now, but perhaps I need some information or just want to see how they are - so I'll email them to get information or to discuss something when phoning them would save so much time and be so much more personal. I think I'm getting socially lazy!

Those are my all too interesting thoughts on social networking - in a social networking environment!

Stuck in Maui - maybe not as fun as you might think!

2009-06-23T12:56:00.000-07:00

Whew – what a weekend!

My friend, Mel, and I went to Maui for a whirlwind of girlfriend fun in the sun! We left Friday afternoon and arrived on Maui in the evening. We used the GPS (we named her Ginger) to help us find a place to eat. She took us about 30 minutes away to a place that we couldn’t find – so we ended up eating at Gumps – I’m not complaining! I love their shrimp!

Saturday morning we laid on the beach until my freckled skin needed shade and we decided to drive to Hana. What an amazing drive – it’s interesting how most of the vegetation in Hawaii is not native and yet it all grows so well. We met some fun people and had a great time driving the road – I had a great time riding – I’m not sure Mel had as much fun as I had – it was pretty white knuckled driving.

We decided not to drive the whole road because it was getting dark and the driving was pretty scary – so we turned around and headed back to Kihei. We got dinner at a great restaurant (the one that Ginger couldn’t seem to find) and headed to bed.

Since we were leaving on Sunday – we went to the beach in the morning and then spent most of the shopping at the outdoor market and bumming around Lehaina. We decided to head to the airport a bit early and catch some dinner – this is where the fun starts. We came to an abrupt halt at a long line of cars on the highway that led to the airport. Wegot on the phone and started calling around to friends in AK to see if they could find a phone number we could call to find out what was up and if we should turn around. We did find out what was up (after several failed attempts to contact the police because everyone else on the road was also trying to call) that there was a brush fire and the road was closed. This was the only road out of Lahaina – and the only way to get to the airport.

This was a problem.

So – we decided to wait it out for a while – three hours to be exact. After about an hour we decided it would be a good idea to contact the car rental place and the airlines. They were both aware of the problem and asked us to call back when it got closer to our flight if we were still stuck. We saw the most amazing sunset while we waited, and then it got dark. By then everyone had turned off their cars, and without the headlights darkness overtook us pretty fast. Talk about eerie.

Once we had rebooked our flights and let the rental car know that we were going to need the car an extra day, we headed back to Lehaina. Passing about three miles of cars in darkness was pretty weird too. Our next job was to get a room – I used Ginger again and started calling hotels – booked – booked – booked! I finally found one, and we got one of the last three rooms in the hotel! Phew. Thankfully they were not taking advantage of those of us who were stuck and we got a great room with an incredible ocean view. It was 10:00 by the time we got all checked in so we weren’t able to take advantage of the view that night – but in the morning it was breathtaking.

As soon as we awoke Monday morning – I called work and explained what was going on – I’m sure you can imagine the laughter over being “stuck in Hawaii”…not as fun as it sounds! Then I called the front desk and we found out the road was open – YAY! It had opened at 6:00 that morning so I’m glad we didn’t try to wait it out. We spent the morning hanging out on the lanai – it was raining so we saw the most intense rainbow I’d ever seen. Then off to the airport – we had to go through Seattle which was a bit annoying since we’d had tickets direct to Anchorage…but whatever – more miles.

It could have been worse – getting stuck in Hawaii is probably the best place to be stuck. Beats Ketchikan or something! J Even with all of that annoyance, it was a great trip and I’d do it again in a heartbeat. Of course I forgot my camera – I still can’t believe it. It’s embarrassing…but we did get one of those throw away cameras so as soon as I can put up photos I will.

When I finally made it into work this morning there was a fire extinguisher on my desk…and a photo of a fire on my desktop. Brother...people love me! J What an adventure!

sunny days...sweeping the clouds away

2009-06-10T10:14:00.000-07:00

I dusted off my rollerblades last night. John and I hit the trail and I thought...has it always hurt this much!? Wow...but it was a beautiful night and we saw some balugas in the water...so worth the shin pain! I guess I should have dusted them off earlier this year. A few more times out on them and I should be good to go!

It was such an incredible day at work yesterday. I just can't stop smiling over it. I saw an ultrasound with triplets...AMAZING! I can't believe God made a woman able to carrry three little humans inside of her. I wanted to cry...but then the phone rang and I had to answer it. It was so gracious of the woman to allow us to come in and see her babies on the screen moving around and everything. Then a woman who had decided to abort her baby came in and changed her mind when she saw her baby moving on the ultrasound. It was amazing...I did cry with that one. What a blessing this job has been!!

What's new with me?

2009-05-29T09:51:00.000-07:00

Good question...

What is new with me?

Not a whole lot! I was sick with a fluish bug...then missed some of the nicest days sick with a coldish bug. Friends - this is what happens when you used to be good about taking your vitamins and then forget for a month or so...oops. Then of course once I'm better it's now all rainy and overcast out. I think I'll still do my planting today though - I won't melt.

I have been out biking, and broke my butt in so as long as I go now and then I should be set for the summer.

What else...work seemed really hard this week. I was writing out the prayer requests to send to our "pray-ers" and for the first time since i started working for CPC the entire email was full only of women considering abortion. I had to remind myself that it's not a fight against flesh and blood, but agains principalities and rulers of the world. That's a hard one to remember.

More excitement as it happens!

Morning Routine

2009-05-20T13:41:00.000-07:00

This morning I was getting ready for work, and had the epiphany about my morning routine. I used 10 count them 10 products to get myself together. For those of you extremely interested - here's what I used:

1. Shampoo
2. Conditioner
3. Face Wash
4. Soap
5. toner
6. moisterizer (face)
7. lotion (body)
8. mousse
9. deoderant
10. make-up (I'm counting that as one when really it was three)

WOW! What would I do if I didn't have all of those things every morning - probably look pretty interesting!

Almost 50 things you always wanted to know about me

2009-05-18T15:42:00.000-07:00

1. What color is your toothbrush? I just got a new one, but I think it’s green
2. Name one person who made you smile today. June
3. What were you doing at 8 am this morning? Getting ready for work
4. What were you doing 45 minutes ago? working
5. What is your favorite candy bar? snickers
7. What is the last thing you said aloud? “CPC Pregnancy Center, this is Stephanie”
8. What is your favorite ice cream? Vanilla something with crunchy/chocolaty somethings
9. What was the last thing you had to drink? water
10. Do you like your wallet? I don’t have one
11. What was the last thing you ate? watermelon
12. Have you bought any new clothing items this week? Not yet ;)
13. The last sporting event you watched? I don’t even know
14. What is your favorite flavor of popcorn? cheese
15. Who is the last person you sent a text message to? Don’t text
16. Ever go camping? Yes
17. Do you take vitamins daily? I used to be religious about this, but have gotten a little side tracked
18. Do you go to church every Sunday? mostly
19. Do you have a tan? I actually do!
20. Do you prefer Chinese food over pizza? Not usually
21. Do you drink your soda with a straw? No, but last night I thought for the first time that a straw would be nice so I could just lay on the couch and drink my 7-up
22. What did your last text message say? Don’t text
23. What are you doing tomorrow? Working and then to a PC party
25. Look to your left, what do you see? June’s desk
26. What color is your watch? silver
27. What do you think of when you hear Australia? “Outback? YESSSSSSSSSSS, you’re from Australia, mate”, Dwight Shrute
29. Do you go in at a fast food place or just hit the drive thru? Usually the drive through
30. What is your favorite number? Have none...that’s dumb
31. Who's the last person you talked to on the phone? Rebecca
32. Any plans today? Going hiking
33. How many states have you lived in? 4- Michigan, Nebraska, Colorado and Alaska.
34. Biggest annoyance right now? People who stomp around
35. Last song listened to? I don’t even know
36. Can you say the alphabet backwards? no
37. Do you have a maid service clean your house? No – but I did ask John if we could get that last night? I don’t think he’s going for it – maybe we can get a wife instead.
38. Favorite pair of shoes you wear all the time? Dansko loafers...the best
39. Are you jealous of anyone? My nemesis is jealousy...working on that
40. Is anyone jealous of you? Probably not
41. Do you love anyone? Very much
42. Do any of your friends have children? Yes.
43. What do you usually do during the day? I work...
44. Do you hate anyone that you know right now? No – and that’s a weird question too
45. Do you use the word 'hello' daily? yes
46. What color is your car? blue
47. Do you like cats? no
48. Are you thinking about someone right now? no
49. Have you ever been to Six Flags? Yes, several times
50. How did you get your worst scar? I don’t even really have any scars...maybe a couple scratches, but nothing worth writing home about.

Lower (to the) 48

2009-05-13T21:29:00.000-07:00

I spent the past few days in Colorado and Nebraska visiting family. I had a great time driving across the plains with my parents and seeing cousins and other extended family.

I flew into Denver on Wednesday and my dad picked me up at the airport and we headed to Colorado Springs. we had a relaxing evening hanging out and getting ready to leave the following morning. Thursday we headed up to Kearney, NE and drove and drove and drove. I've always (maybe not always) enjoyed my parents, and this was no exception. On Friday I headed over to the graduation and my parents caught up with us later at the reception.

My cousin, Ashley, graduated with a Masters in Counseling, and I am so proud of her. She has overcome quite a bit in her life to get this far, I'm so thankful I got to be there to watch her walk across the stage.

I got to hang out with Ashley some that night - I got the fabulous tour of Kearney, let me tell you it was so exciting. There's something about small town life that definitely appeals to me. I like the slower pace and the safe feeling, but I'm not sure I'd really like to live there long term.

We drove back to CO on Saturday, but not before we went to the Arch - wow. If you are at all into history - especially the Oregon Trail and the like, it was a very fun museum. It's basically a museum that stretches over the interstate (those are roads that go from state to state for those of you in AK :)) and it covers the history of the area from the Oregon Trail to I-80 being put in.

Here's me with a steroid taking bison.

When we got back to CO, I caught up with my sister who had been at the National Day of Prayers with Focus on the Family. We had a great time catching a movie together and going to theBridge at New Life on Sunday evening. It was fun to meet her friends and see a little part of her life.

I was sad that John's work kept him from going, but it was time for me to see my family and in some good time with them. It makes me miss being able to drive somewhere for a few hours and come out in another state...but I don't think I could move out of Alaska if I tried!

My dad and I - now you can see where I get my good looks!

Outside Fun

2009-05-02T18:06:00.000-07:00

It's official. I have my first ever Alaskan sunburn...oops. I've never really worried about the sun here because of the low altitude, and I never seemed to be out enough in the real sun to worry about it. Until yesterday....oops.

But the good news is - i've been loving every second that I've spent out in our perfect 65 or so degree weather - LOVE IT!

In other news - we're getting ready to scoot out the door for a BBQ. I have no idea what we're bringing, and my car is almost out of gas...so many things to worry about! :) And, frankly, who cares when it's so nice out.

Boneman's Daughters

2009-04-27T13:14:00.000-07:00

I just finished Ted Dekker’s new book Boneman’s Daughter. It was one of his more ‘disturbing’ books – seriously- it kept me awake at night. Note to self – when your husband works nights, do your best not to read scary books…by yourself…in the dark…when you have a bush right outside your bedroom window and it’s windy outside and you live in Spenard. I was hearing every sound outside – sitting straight up in bed straining to hear if that was next door or in my house…whoa.

Back to the book – while it was kind of freaky, the message was very clear. Ted’s message is almost always about the Love our Father has for us, and this book was no different, but the way that he illustrated our Father rescuing us from the lure of sin and Satan himself was better in this book than any of his recent books. It was similar to the Black/Red/White books in the message – with the same “love that knows no boundaries, would go anywhere to rescue one of His own” sort of message.

I would recommend reading it – and Ted’s other recent book “Kiss.” To be honest, I felt like both books were some of his best work.

First 5K of the season

2009-04-25T15:41:00.001-07:00

So this morning was the first 5K of the season for me - it was fun, we had a great time. There were way too many people there and I felt pretty squished, but once we got going it was cool.

A funny thing happened, I know one of the guys running for mayor (not Dan Sullivan) and I did not vote for him, nor will I in the upcoming run off election, but I know him personally and saw him at the race so I said hello. He asked me to wear one of his little campaign signs on my bib. I wanted to say no thank you but don't have the guts to say no (like ever) so I just said "okay." and put it in my pocket. I kept seeing him ALL OVER THE PLACE and was all weirded out about him knowing I didn't have it on my bib.

I care about the weirdest things.

This doesn't happen every day...

2009-04-21T13:47:00.001-07:00

John and I went out to eat last night and were sitting across from a very chatty/social three year old. I had made eye contact with her a couple of times and she smiled at me, and I smiled at her. We had just gone on a long walk right before we went out to eat so we weren't exactly snazzy - I was wearing work out pants and a t-shirt and John was wearing "work out pants" which for him means jeans and an old t-shirt.

John left our table to get something and I "felt" that feeling you get when you know people are looking at you. I thought maybe they were jealous of my sweet looking outfit. Then the little girl points at me and says "Mommy, I like that girl's hair!"

Oh man - so many compliments bundled into one sentence:

1. She liked my hair (does a woman get a better compliment than that? I can't remember the last time someone said that to me)

2. She called me a girl. At 33 that goes a long way.

I had a smile for most of the rest of the evening...simple minds...simple pleasures! :)

A long hard road...

2009-04-16T19:53:00.000-07:00

John and I have been slowly working on filling out forms and forms and applications and applications and papers and papers for adoption. Yesterday I went to drop off our fingerprints for the background search and almost had a breakdown.

There is so much to do in this process, and I thought if I could just drop off our fingerprints, it would be one thing I could actually check off our long list. So, after work, I skipped my workout and headed over to the troopers office - not at all out of the way on my drive home. When I got in there I saw a sign that said "No credit cards or debit cards." For some reason - this really ticked me off. I only had my credit card, and we had taken the checkbook out of my purse a couple nights before for taxes. So all I had was $10 and my credit card. And seriously - aren't they going to get their money for sure if I use my credit card? What if some person comes in there and writes a lame check? These are things to consider!

I wanted to cry. All I wanted to do was drop off my fingerprints and pay to have someone dig through my past. Let me use a credit card - would you? After I talked to John and calmed down (a lot) I realized how silly it was to get so upset over something like that. I mean seriously - what was the worst that happened...I went back today and dropped them off and paid for them by check. See? No harm done, and something checked off my list.

I just wish I could have dropped it off yesterday.

Breaking up is hard to do...

2009-04-14T12:05:00.000-07:00

I have a love/hate relationship with “Break – Up" - for those of you outside, break-up is when the snow melts, the ground melts and everything green reappears. It's a mess.

I love that we’re getting closer and closer to summer, and hate that it’s such a mess. There is water everywhere and it seems the whole town is brown and dingy. This year, the roads are worse than I’ve ever seen them, I have a theory that they're so bad because we had a deeper freeze than normal. The ruts appear to be breaking all the way through the asphalt and driving to work this morning there was broken road most of the way. The potholes are big enough to swallow a car (close to the size of Montana).

Still, spring has sprung…my tulips will reappear, and we will be playing outside shortly. In the meantime, I’ll scoop poop, rake the yard, and put up with the wet, brown mess knowing summer is coming.

And try not to think about what happens once summer is gone! J

Night out with the girls

2009-04-11T23:27:00.000-07:00

I had fun tonight - I went out with a few friends to a movie (Paul Blart, Mall Cop at the Bear Tooth) and dessert (at Sugar Spoon...yum!). It's funny how even five years ago a "night out" meant that we'd at least be out past 10:00...tonight I was ready to go home at 8:30 (mostly because I hadn't seen John all day and wanted to spend a few minutes with him before he went to work tonight).

I've really come to appreciate this particular group of girls because we've all been friends for over 10 years. We met when we were all college aged, single women, wondering what God had in store for our lives. Now we've seen it all - seen each other get married, have children, move around the country, reconnect with family members - it's been amazing. One of the coolest things is that these women share the same faith as me, and no matter what has changed in our lives, that remains constant.

Anyway...lots of laughing, lots of calories and a good time. YAY for girls night out (even if I am home by 8:30)!

VOTE!

2009-04-08T11:26:00.001-07:00

I admit - I really do get my underwear in a bunch over this one. My Marlene has heard this rant so many times she's probably already decided not to read this blog! :) I really struggle with people not voting in municipal elections.

It matters who our mayor is. It matters more than people might think. I won't go into a huge lecture on this, but who our mayor is is so important to our every day lives, it impacts us in more ways than you may think. In my opinion, who is in office over our city is in some ways more important than who our governor is.

And the bonds...don't get me started on those. Property taxes alone and the threat of higher taxes with all the millions in bonds on this last ballot should push (at the very least) homeowners to the polls. But yesterday's election boasted only a 25% turnout - which is average for our city. It's so sad.

Also - while I'm on the subject...I know that Sen. Stevens would have been voted in again had that bogus trial not been going on. I'm just sayin...things would have looked a lot different for the US senate had he hadn't been in that mess.

It's been so nice!

2009-04-07T18:49:00.000-07:00

I'm fighting a cold...or allergies or something, not sure which - but I can't complain because seriously - it's been SO NICE outside!

We're melting like crazy - lakes everywhere, hiding ginormous potholes - and I love it. I know that my tulips are going to poke up in a couple of weeks, the rhubarb is probably already getting excited under the snow, and the soil in the shed will be ready for flowers in another month! YAY!

In the meantime, I wear my water boots - slog through the puddles and put up with the dripping because I know the spring is on its way!

I so like Saturdays

2009-04-04T19:56:00.000-07:00

I just love Saturdays. I don't usually have anything I have to do, and it's nice just taking my time doing things and not feeling rushed. Today I worked on laundry and hung out at the house in the morning, and then went shopping and hung out with a friend in the afternoon. By the time I got home this evening, John was awake so we got to spend the evening together.

I tried a new recipe for quiche for dinner and it turned out really yummy...mmmmmssss.

We're off to John's parent's house to pick up the girls and take them for a walk - we have sunshine and clear skies today...not a day to waste inside!

Birthday Fun

2009-04-01T11:34:00.000-07:00

So yesterday was my birthday (the crowd goes wild) and I had a great time. People at work were so sweet, someone brought in muffins and someone brought in peach cobbler and there were lots of Happy Birthdays on my FB page. I even got a birthday card from my friends at the Girl Scouts...awwwww.....

John was awesome this year, he brought home potted Easter Lillies and the sweetest birthday card I have ever seen. He also gave me an i-touch and we had a fun time last night playing with some of the applications. We went out to dinner with John's mom and with some friends - Mongolian BBQ. It's been a while since we've had a chance to hang out with these friends, so it was a extra special treat.

I tried to keep it a WW friendly birthday and that went pretty well - yay John for helping me with that.

Not much else goes on - day to day stuff. We're trying to catch up with friends that have been ignored the last few months under the mounds of our stress. Thank God for friends that understand how that gets put on hold now and then.

Friday WI

2009-03-27T19:01:00.000-07:00

So this morning I really didn't want to go to WW. I made myself go because this is how I start down the slippery slope. I do really great for a couple of weeks and then lose my motivation and start to get bored, easily slipping into old habits. That happened this week. The pattern is thus: quit going because I'm afraid of a gain, think I'm going to do better this next week, know I didn't do better this next week, don't go back.

So I decided to bite the bullet knowing that we went out for pizza, not once, not twice but THREE times this week, had birthday cake, enjoyed WAY too many Girl Scout Cookies, etc. So...um...I went anyway and I'm glad I did. It wasn't so bad - up .8, really could have been much worse.

So here I am - back on the wagon and starting a new week!

Lipstick

2009-03-25T11:27:00.000-07:00

You know how there are certain smells that can lift you out of wherever you are and transplant you to another place? There is a smell that makes me think of my Grandma - I'm not even sure I could describe it, but I know when I smell it.

Lipstick has a scent to it that makes me think of my mom. It has that distinguishing smell that no matter which brand it is - it seems to always remain the same scent. My mom is "fancy" she has always been a make-up wearer and I admire her because she always looks so nice. She takes care of her clothes and is very neat in appearance (except when she wears her shih-tzu t-shirts - Jeni's got my back on that one).

This morning I was putting on lipstick in the car - this is unusual for me, I'm usually a gloss wearer...and the scent drew me right back to CO - with my mom...standing in the bathroom with her watching her apply makeup. It made me really miss being with my family.

I've been contemplating a trip to Colorado for a few weeks and it's been hard to make up my mind because I don't want to take time off without pay now and then not be able to take it again when John is able to go. But after this morning, missing my family, I think I'll just go ahead and go. It's been a year since I've been there - it's definately time.

All that from a tube of lipstick.

Life lessons

2009-03-23T11:59:00.001-07:00

In the spirit of changing things in my life, there's an area I've been working on for some time, but need to allow God to work on it too.

My new job has challenged me in the area of being judgemental. I have always had the desire to be "right" and have shoveled out advice when it wasn't requested and/or needed, and have been quick to have the right answer for someone even when it's none of my business (which of course is most of the time). My job has really challenged me - I cannot judge the women who come in for our services. Sure, I probably have some ideas/truth that could save them from being in the same position again...for example, they could practice abstinence. But my knowledge isn't what they need - they need love. And learning this at work has pushed me to thinking of how I can apply it to my own life.

Don't get me wrong here - I'm not saying that they should receive love without truth - but I am realizing more and more that truth spoken in love should come directly from the Lord, not from whatever ideas I may have gleaned in life ( I know - duh - but sometimes I am a slow learner). Sure - life experience can give you all kinds of advice of what works and doesn't work, and it's not bad to offer it to someone who is asking for help. But what I'm talking about is coming to conclusions about a person based on decisions you see them making.

Our pastor spoke yesterday about the great compassion God had for the people of Nineva. Did they deserve God's compassion? - not according to Jonah. And he was right - they were a wicked people who didn't seem interested in change. But when they did hear the truth, they repented, the king repented and the entire city including the animals fasted.

Guess what? I don't know people's hearts or intentions, nor do I know what might happen if I show them love and speak truth to them rather than thinking I know everything that they should do? What if I listened to them and offered a sympathetic ear rather than waiting for them to quit talking so that I can speak what's on my mind? What might happen if instead of doling out advice with my voice or in my head, I prayed for them and loved them the way they were, and asked God to give me the right words for when the time came to speak God's truth (and not Stephanie's)?

Could this day be any better?

2009-03-20T14:11:00.001-07:00

I am smiling.

It's a great day!

1. My brother is on his way home from Afghanastan. It's a long "drive" but he'll be back sometime in the next two weeks.

2. It's John's birthday (his 30th - he's SO old)

3. John got finished with training today and is now "official"

4. I lost another 4 pounds...that's right...you read it right

5. It's Friday

6. Some of the grants and proposals I've written for Girl Scouts are resulting in big donations - though I'm only there super part time right now, I'm pretty proud of that!

7. The sun is out - it's gorgeous

8. It's John's birthday (his 30th - he's so old)

9. The sun is out - it's gorgeous

10. Seriously...does it get any better than this? What a blessing!

God = Dentist?

2009-03-17T09:15:00.001-07:00

CS Lewis once said "What do people mean when they say 'I am not afraid of God, because he is good?' Have they never been to a dentist?"

I like this quote - and having been to the dentist four times in the last six weeks, I can relate. Most of the time I don't want to go to the dentist. The cleanings are great - the dental hygienist often remarks on how my gums are in good shape and generally doesn't have to work too hard to get the tarter off my teeth. This is just surface cleaning and does not take very long.

I often don't want the exam - you know the part where they look deeper into your teeth, not just on the surface, but beyond to the root of the tooth? - because there is almost always something that has to be fixed. There will be a filling that needs replaced or worse I'll need a crown - or maybe it's something small like a filling they forgot to polish. Whatever the case is, it's going to cost me time and money, and it's going to hurt.

Isn't that somewhat similar to how God deals with us? Sometimes the cleanings (every day stuff) feels good and you are thankful you took the time to deal with the fuzzies on the surface. But when you go in for an exam, and allow God to really deal with the root of problems and the places that are hurting - that's when it begins to cost you.

But it's worth the pain. Always. Here's the good news - pain brings healing. Our God doesn't just fill cavities with silver or porcelain, but he fills them with HIMSELF! Praise God.

James 1:2, 3 Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.

My thoughts AIG

2009-03-16T18:37:00.000-07:00

By now you've probably heard about AIG and the huge bail out they got from our government and the fact that they are now planning to give millions in bonuses to executive employees. People are all up in arms over them using the bail out money (tax payers money) to pay the contractual bonuses.

I agree - it's ridiculous that they are planning on using some of the money as bonuses. But you know what's even more ridiculous? The fact that they even GOT the money to begin with and the fact that the Obama administration did not research what contracts were in place before they were handed billions of dollars.

Those are my two cents.

WI Results

2009-03-14T15:19:00.000-07:00

So yesterday was the big WI (weigh in) for the week at WW. And I lost 4.6 pounds...yay! I just really hope this is the beginning of a successful journey and not another rabbit trail...in fact - I hereby declare that it isn't a bunny trail and is a successful journey.

so there.

the bench

2009-03-12T08:39:00.001-07:00

John and I have been looking for the perfect little bench to go in our "entryway" (that's really our kitchen) to hold all of our shoes and other random things that end up piled by the door. In Alaska, it's a real issue figuring out where shoes can get piled as everyone takes them off when they come in the door.

John volunteered to make us one since we had searched everywhere for a bench that would fit and had some function. I was pretty skeptical of his furniture making skills. He has remodeled all kinds of things in our house, but I just wasn't sure how he'd come up with an idea for a bench. I needn't have worried. He built a beautiful little bench out of wood he'd scrounged from pallets and other discarded lumber.

I learned a lot about staining in the process as that was my job. I remembered seeing my dad using a rag to stain, but had never tried it myself. Now I know that a little really does go a LONG way and I'll remember that for next time. I still need to stain the buttons and glue them on, but we're almost finished!

So - without further adieu: the bench!

Confessions of a winter eater

2009-03-11T15:12:00.000-07:00

So yeah...winter. It's the time of year that I like to eat whatever makes me feel better that I can't be outside rollerblading, or biking or playing. I feel sorry for myself...and this year more than ever, it's showing on the scale.

barf.

So - here's my report. I'm back at Weight Watchers, and so far so good. I went back last Friday and had the shock of my life...but am back on track. I'm blogging about it hoping for some accountability. I know you're all dying to know how it's going. So - I'll report in on Fridays to let you know how weigh in goes. Not actual weight of course...just pounds lost/gained. hopefully lost.

For some reason - getting out and moving has never been a problem for me...it's that darned eating. And since we have to do it to stay alive...I guess I better kick this while I'm still relatively young.

Anyway...those are my confessions for all of my *many* readers.

Daylight Savings

2009-03-09T11:38:00.000-07:00

Go AWAY!

We don't need you in Alaska.

Thoughts - long and maybe boring and mostly all over the place

2009-03-05T12:27:00.000-08:00

I have been thinking of a post that might be a bit “un politically correct” and I have been brewing on it for a while because I wanted to be careful about how I worded what I wanted to say. Recently I have been thinking a lot about our economy and the way our president and legislatures would like to fix it by spending more money and making it easier for Americans to continue living in the buy now- pay later (or never pay) mentality we’ve gotten ourselves into. Our “I want it now regardless” attitudes have brought us into this deficit, and I have some thoughts on why we’re there. I believe the economy is just a mirror of the spiritual deficit our country has – they go hand in hand. We have a buy now pay later outlook on morality and on our relationship with God.

I sincerely believe that we have come to the place where we are in the United States both financially and morally because of families without fathers. One of the ways that we have bankrupted our children is by making it easy and socially acceptable for a woman to raise her children without a father.

I am of the mind that children should not be punished by the sins or bad choices of their parents. Unfortunately, I have no answer as to how to help children without perpetuating the cycle their parents fall into. One example I know of where society has made it easy for this cycle to continue is the Denali Kid Care program in Alaska.

I want to be clear that I don’t have a problem with this system for families that need it temporarily or for those that truly cannot afford another way to provide healthcare for their families. My issue lies with how easy we have made it for single women to continue having children because they know they have so many social systems in place.

For those of you outside, DKC a very generous program that pays for services such as: doctor's visits, health check-ups & screenings , vision exams & eyeglasses, dental checkups, cleanings & fillings, hearing tests & hearing aids, speech therapy ,physical therapy, mental health therapy, substance abuse treatment , chiropractic services, foot doctor's services, hospital care, laboratory tests, prescription drugs, and medical transportation. DKC doesn’t cost for eligible children, teens and pregnant women.

Denali Kid Care is meant to be healthcare so that people who do not have medical insurance (or have very little coverage) can be sure to have healthcare for their families. I don’t have a problem with that. What I mean by the program being generous is that a family of five can make up to $4,521 (gross income) a month and be eligible for the program – that’s $54,000 + a year (or about $26/hr). Receiving free healthcare for pregnancy and for children while making $26/hour is pretty generous – would you agree? I’m fine with that. If the state can afford it – I think it’s great.

Here’s where the rub comes in for me – people know the system in and out.

1. They know that if they remain unmarried the income of their significant other does not count and they are eligible for more benefits. So instead of getting married, they remain uncommitted.

2. They know that they can have as many children as they want as a single woman and never feel the discomfort of trying to provide for their children because they have so many services available to them. This perpetuates families with no fathers.

3. They know that these services are “free” (at least to them but not to society, or to tax payers) and expect other things in life to be free too. They are floored that they might have to pay for their children’s clothes (gasp- not everything is free) and are shocked when they see how much it costs in kindergarten to get your kid the supplies they need. “You mean I have to pay for other kids stuff?” I actually heard a mother say that about the list of school supplies for her kindergartner that included buying enough of some stuff so that kids who couldn’t afford it could have supplies. This mother was accepting DKC for both of her children (both were born out of wedlock).

Our country rewards single parenthood. I won’t even try to touch WIC and other social systems. We have perpetuated the problem that has brought our country where it is today. Statistics show that children from fatherless homes are :
• 4.6 times more likely to commit suicide.
• 6.6 times more likely to become teenage mothers.
• 24.3 times more likely to run away.
• 15.3 times more likely to have behavioral disorders.
• 6.3 times more likely to be in a state-operated institution.
• 10.8 times more likely to commit rape.
• 6.6 times more likely to drop out of school.
• 15.3 times more likely to end up in prison while a teenager.

And yet we make it increasingly easier for a single mother to raise her children alone (and at least from my own observation mostly without any kind of male influence) and continue the cycle.

What is the answer? Prayer – for children, for women who are making decisions to be sexually active without considering not only the physical consequences but the spiritual and emotional as well, for men to rise to the standards of sexual purity that God has laid out for them.

We need to quit apologizing for our stance on sexual purity and the importance of family and stand firm in what God tells us in HIS word. God is not a God of rules and regulations, but of love. And His commands regarding sexual purity are all about protecting his children. All of them…from those recently knit in the womb to those entering the next century of their lives.
I was kind of all over the place there, hopefully there is some sort of sense to be found in this. Just curious about what others are thinking.

Mullets and Irish dancing, what gives?

2009-03-03T11:48:00.001-08:00

My friend’s little girl, Sydney, was in an Irish Dancing show at the Wendy Williamson this weekend. I’m so glad she told me about it, because the dancing was incredible. I have always enjoyed bands like the Corrs,(I know – probably not authentic, but certainly enjoyable) etc., but I’ve never experienced music and dancing like this. I loved it and was happy with the long show and the great price - only $15 can you beat that?

A guy from Anchorage won some top honors at world competitions doing Irish dancing and he was in Anchorage to perform with the dance school that Sydney attends. I was so amazed at him – the kids from the dance school were really good, but this guy was just over the top. The best way that I can describe this type of dancing is to compare it to a mullet.

You see – a mullet can be described as business in the front and a party in the back. Irish (or Celtic whatever you want to call it) dancing is business from the waist up, and a party from the waist down. I mean these people really make their legs do crazy things that should not be possible…and yet somehow they force their legs to become like jello bending in ways they shouldn’t. Incredible. It sort of makes me want to take a class or something. Or at least think about how cool it would be if I could do that.

Saturday fun

2009-03-01T10:15:00.000-08:00

I ended up having to work all day on Saturday. I picked up some people who flew in from Juneau for a meeting I had to attend, and then we headed over to the meeting venue for the day. It wasn't so bad, I took notes and helped with some of the meeting, but since we only have Saturday's off together right now - it was a total drag to spend my "day off" working. This too shall pass... but in the meantime, this phase has been hard on us. I know it will be over soon (hopefully by the end of next week) and I keep holding out for that.

My PT gig for for Girl Scouts will end in a few weeks and that will really lighten up my load and then we just have to hope that John gets a somewhat decent schedule. That could be a pretty big hope! It seems like him working nights would be the best for our little family, he can sleep while I'm at work, and then we'll have the whole evening together.

In other news...I want a puppy...a terrier of some sort. I'm drawn to Norwich terriers, but also like cairns, and am open to suggestions. I want something that I can walk, that doesn't shed and that is small enough to be okay in our little house.

We decided to visit a new restaurant that just opened up near our house called Spenard Roadhouse. What a great place - the food was very good, and the decorations were fun too. We went with John's parents, and at first conversation was very difficult because it was so loud - but after a table full of women left, conversation was much easier! I'd highly recommend it!

That's all my oh so exciting news for now!

Sunshine

2009-02-22T22:02:00.001-08:00

What a glorious weekend we had here. I was definitely beginning to feel spring fever before this weekend, but after this weekend it's in full force! We had blue skies and decent temperatures, what a blessing.

John and I went to Target and wandered around looking at everything and spending like $10 after an hour or so of browsing, then we hit Fred Meyer where John read a magazine and I wandered around the store. After subway for lunch we both wanted to spend some time outside, so we went over to my MIL's and kidnapped her doggies (2 of the cutest shih tzus ever) and took them to the dog park in our neighborhood.

The "girls" had a great time sniffing other doggie hind ends and trying out a new place to go to the bathroom. At first they were a little nervous, but then they started to have fun and seemed to really enjoy being out.

I got to enjoy sunshine and good conversation today when I went on a walk with two of my friends. Sarah and I walked in Baxter Bog which I'd recommend - it was a great walk, and then Bean and I walked up to our neighborhood lake.

Anyway ... I'm mostly caught up on laundry and enjoying a somewhat clean house...so all is wonderful!

Valentines Day and other stuff

2009-02-16T21:34:00.000-08:00

So today was the first day of my new job. It went really well - there's so much to learn (you know the typical learning curve) but I think I'm going to really like it. The people that I met were wonderful - good times.

I spent Saturday in Juneau over the weekend. It was way too beautiful. It was totally clear out and about 25 degrees - perfect winter weather. I was there for work so I spent most of the day taking minutes for a meeting (oh so exciting) but then we headed out to the glacier and drove around town a bit. That night we went to the Wearable Art Show -very exciting a super cool show. I would recommend it to anyone - the pieces that people were modeling were incredible. So yeah - I spent Valentine's Day away from my sweetie...but we made up for it today. We're adjusting to our crazy schedules and trying to spend as much time together as we can when he's home. Life is always interesting around here.

Last Day Reflections

2009-02-13T09:28:00.000-08:00

Though it's not technically my "last day" I feel like it is. I'll be back at work next Friday, but I won't have my desk, or my "stuff" anymore. weird.

I have worked for Girl Scouts for the last 6 years and it was pretty much my first job out of college. I had worked as a nanny, waitress, receptionist and in retail until I got this job, so it was my first big girl job. And wow - I learned a lot about work ethic, professionalism and how to get along with people that are nothing like me. It's been fun. I've made amazing friends - and I will especially miss my office mate - Marlene. She has made it fun to come to work every day.

But today as I'm thinking about starting a new job on Monday - I'm also thinking about the fun I'm leaving behind. An office that you can burst into laughter in, listen to the radio and try to win those dumb tickets to the Nutcracker, duck into the CEO's office to vent a bit, check your personal email now and then without getting in trouble, wear clothes that don't quite go together if you haven't yet done laundry...it's just flexible, and I'm going to miss that.

I'll miss how hot it is in the summer, and complaining about sweating in my work clothes, I'll miss going to the coastal trail at lunch because I'm so close, I'll miss going home whenever I need to because it's right around the corner...sigh.

I'm not going to cry - I'm not. So there.

Stress - go away!

2009-02-10T09:02:00.001-08:00

I'm one of those lucky people that has visible stress. I think most people visibly show stress - and it might come out in huge sighs, yelling fits, folding into oneself...and many other ways. My stress is coming out physically. When I'm stressed - you won't really find my crying in a corner, yelling at anyone, hiding out forever, but you will see it when you look at me.

Why you may ask?

Because - I like to grown giant, nasty cold sores on my bottom lip. That's right - 2 in the last 2 weeks. And that's not all...I also like to magically grow grey hairs and add pounds to my middle. So when you see me, it will be clear I'm stressed.

AAAAAA - but here's the deal, I know that God will get me through the next few weeks as I transition and I know HE IS FAITHFUL...and I know that I need to trust that. So there it is Lord - I am giving it all back to you again...and I'm trusting that you'll help me leave it there.

Here's my tip for anyone undergoing stress - keep exercising. I stopped after Wednesday last week because it just seemed like "one more thing" that I was responsible for...and guess what, it was awful. Hitting the gym, treadmill, walking outside whatever it is you do to keep in shape (or try to get there) is so worth the time when you are feeling the weight of the world on your shoulders. Plus it's a great time to pray and leave those issues at God's feet..walking away with your body feeling reinvigorated and your hands free of those burdens. I'm preaching to myself here...

Wow this is one all over the place blog...and anyone who knows me knows it sounds just like me!

This just in

2009-02-05T09:41:00.000-08:00

This is big (I mean BIG) news. I accepted a job with Crisis Pregnancy Center and start there on February 16. I am very excited for the new adventure and for the new pace of work. The job is part time (I have Fridays) off and I'm really looking forward to having that extra day off this summer.

I will miss my friends at Girl Scouts - I've worked here 6 years and it's going to be hard to leave, I actually cried when I gave my notice. My co-worker Marlene is like my work spouse and it will feel like the left side of my body (the side she's usually on) got cut off. I'm going to be doing some contract work for them through March to help with a project I've been working on so I'll be around some. It's going to be a somewhat stressful transition, but I'm looking forward to being on the other side of this.

In other news - I am usually a "throw it away as soon as the date is old" kind of Nazi in my fridge. But lately (considering that I will be making about half my usual paycheck) I've been thinking of how we can economize and I thought - maybe eating that yogurt with the "sell by January 15" stamp isn't so bad. So I've been eating it for the whole week - and guess what? I haven't died or even have one little cramp. Interesting. I think I might chance it on a few other things as well - within reason of course. I just feel so bad throwing any food away - and since i have some rubbery celery and carrots to use up I think I'll pick up a chicken at Costco tonight and make up a pot of chicken noodle...watch out celery and carrots you're about to get eaten.

Fun at the dentist

2009-02-04T09:11:00.000-08:00

So I went to the dentist yesterday for a cleaning and of course it was time to have an exam too. Fun. It's not that the dentist hurts or anything it's just that every time I go he finds something wrong. Seriously - I am beginning to think it's a hereditary thing or something...or at least I'm telling myself that. I have "great gums" but Jeni and know how great "great" is! :) (sorry for the inside joke to those of you on the outside but I coudln't resist) so at least my teeth aren't in danger of just falling out when my gums give out. I won't go into the down and dirty of what's wrong with my stupid teeth...it's a long list...but I will tell you about the weirdest thing.

So we're looking at the x-rays and my dentist says "there's nothing going on with your impacted canine tooth - I always like to make sure of that."

Stephanie says: "my impacted canine tooth?"

Dentist says: "Yes - I've shown it to before, see here where it's lodged in your mouth but it hasn't moved and it isn't infected, it's just hanging out in your gums."

Stephanie thinks to herself: interesting, I have been going to this dentist for eight or so years and never once has he mentioned that I had an impacted canine tooth. It makes sense considering that I have never had a single tooth pulled and yet am missing 5. it is good to know that it's there...I mean at least one of them is hanging out. Good thing I have a smallish mouth or I would have the spaciest smile ever.

Stephanie says: "so it's there, it just never came out?"

Dentist says: "yes, haven't you noticed it in the x-ray before?"

Stephanie thinks to herself: yes, I am an expert at reading x-rays and spend much time in my file looking at everything. (side note: why do they guard your file at the doctor and dentist when you're there - I WANT to see it, you know?)

Stephanie says: "no, I guess I never noticed it before."

Dentist says: "So also you're going to need a little maintenance on this filling, oh and a crown on this tooth over here..."

Uh-huh. A crown. Gross. Thank the Lord for insurance (seriously...thank you God!)

Awana Grand Prix

2009-02-03T22:27:00.001-08:00

I had a great time at Awana tonight - it was one of those rare nights where you could enjoy the kids and talk to the adults and not get in trouble for doing so!

The kids and their parents made cars to race in the great Grand Prix - they were rated based on speed and creativity. I don't know how people think of some of the ideas they come up with for themes of their cars, it's pretty incredible. I didn't make a car, but I did root for a few of the underdogs. I gotta admit, I really want the kids who don't win much to win - I always vote for them. I've never been very competitive so it's always fun when the kids who don't get upset over not winning win! YAY! I'm not competitive, but I do like to be right! Ask anyone who knows me.

We have a new pastor at church, and I have really enjoyed getting to know his wife. She's like another mom-type to bounce things off of and I'm always thankful to have women like that in my life. We chatted quite a bit tonight - there's so many things I appreciate about her and I'm looking forward to them being around for quite a while.

Wipe Out

2009-02-01T22:34:00.000-08:00

Have you seen that show "Wipe out?" I watched it for the first time tonight - I laughed my head off. It's a funny show with people competing in this insane obstacle course. The guys doing the commentary were really making me laugh. It reminded me of this time my friends and I taped a couple of guys trying to get their car out of the mud. It was so funny, we were videoing them out of a window and one of my friends put the "Last of the Mohecan" ( really have no idea how to spell that) soundtrack on in the background. We talked for these two guys and laughed so hard. They eventually noticed us taping and started to perform...so we quit taping. But it was fun while it lasted, and Wipe Out might be as funny as we were.

We went to Disneyland over the weekend and had a great time. Each time I go, I think of new strategies that might make it even more fun. This time my tip is not to let Stephanie pick out the hotel. We were 1.5 miles away from the park. Fine when we were walking there in the morning, not so fun after a day of walking. The weather was great - it couldn't have been better, and we had such a great time together. I love my husband. I'm just saying.

Home again and back to regular life. Laundry is mostly done, and I'm about to put nice clean fresh sheets on our bed...ahhhh...who doesn't love clean sheets?

Earthquakes

2009-01-26T09:11:00.001-08:00

It has been a while since we've had an earthquake here. So I suppose we were due.

Saturday morning John and I were just starting to get around and do a few things and we were both stopped in our tracks after we heard a slight booming sound and our house began to shake. It shook quite a bit - in fact, we felt a "6.1 on the Richter scale" earthquake. I guess the center was 45 miles west of Homer - so not that far away...Homer is about 5 hours south of us.

I was standing in our living room and could see that stuff was shaking around in the bathroom but couldn't really feel it until I moved down the hallway closer to the bathroom. What exciting morning activity!

We spent the rest of the morning running errands and hanging out together. We did some shopping and ate out for lunch. In the afternoon we helped out some friends of ours with an emergency they had. Our friend had cut his fingers severely with a table saw, so we met them at the emergency room to pick up their three little girls and take them home. We had fun playing with the girls for the afternoon while our friends hung out in the ER waiting to hear how his fingers were going to heal. Lucky us - not so lucky them. He gets to keep his fingers, but they won't look the same...what a bummer!

When Peace like a river attendeth my soul

2009-01-22T15:30:00.000-08:00

I am overwhelmed.

There are so many things going on in my life right now that I have to purpose not to stress. I have often found myself complaining to friends or family about the additional stress I am under at work and my personal life.

Recently at a Bible Study, we were talking about worry and concerns and a wise woman much older than me shared something I don't think I would have considered on my own.

When we discuss stress in our lives and share them as worries out loud to whomever may hear – we are giving Satan a window to move in and cause havoc. He hears the pain, stress, moments of weakness as we cry and try to deal and since he can’t read thoughts – he now knows exactly what’s going on. But when we choose to air the same thoughts to our Lord, the worries turn to concerns. We are able to leave them in HIS arms and walk away (hopefully not to return).

I don’t think she meant never to share with others what’s happening in your life – in fact, I think it’s good to do that. However, she thought ending those conversations with prayer, telling your Lord you need him, worshipping despite the worry…all of those things lead to release from life’s worry.

Yesterday I was feeling a bit of an anxiety attack coming on. It happens now and then and I felt a little one beginning to build. I took hold of the thoughts immediately and began cry out to Jesus – telling him of my fears and worries, and then I began to sing the “Cast all my cares upon you” song that I learned from Psalty the Singing Songbook so long ago. I had immediate peace. Immediate. What a good God we serve, and how thankful I am for older women with whom I have acquaintance that have lived through much of what I’m dealing with now and lived to tell about it!

OWWWWIEEEE

2009-01-20T08:51:00.000-08:00

I totally wiped out on the ice this morning. Big time. I was pulling our recycle bin out to the curb for pick up at work, and I got the first one out there and thought to myself how surprised I was that I hadn't wiped out pulling that heavy thing on the sheer ice.

Nice thought.

So I'm pulling out the second one and bite it. Yep - I fell on my side and slammed my elbow/wrist hip into the icy ground.

That's gonna leave a mark.

Walk for Life

2009-01-18T10:32:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was the first Walk for Life put on by Crisis Pregnancy Center here in Anchorage. thank you to all of you who pledged or donated for John and I - we are honored that so many of our dear friends and family are as committed to the sanctity of life as we are. Thank you.

I had planned to walk for 12 miles, assuming that in 4 hours I could keep a pace of 3 mph. Not that hard of a feat...but I hadn't taken into account that I might be stopping and talking with people that I knew as they came and went...we might be a bit late getting there...and things might not be exactly what I thought. So I ended up only walking 10.5 miles. And I'm glad I stopped when I did.

Something felt a bit funny in one of my shoes so when I came home and could take it off I was so relieved. Much to my dismay I had a blister the size of dime on one of my little toes. No wonder it was hurting so badly. It's a bummer about athletic shoes - especially if you wear them mostly indoors. They look fine on the outside but they're all worn out inside. I usually buy this particular brand - saucany- because they seem to feel the best when walking, but they are so expensive, and if I'm going to go through them just as fast, I'm not sure that I want to keep buying them.

Anyway...that was my Saturday in a nutshell. I came home and basically sat around for the evening, took some Tylenol and feel mostly normal today. Mostly - I saw some of the picture that were taken and I thought...interesting, I must have had more holiday treats than I thought! Oh brother...the winter coat I seem to wear every year has made another appearance.

Snow...er...Ice Day!

2009-01-14T16:40:00.000-08:00

My wish for warmer weather came true today. WAY too true...it warmed up to about 40 today and we ended up getting rain on top of the 3 or so inches of snow we got yesterday...what a mess! School was canceled, the highway was "littered" with cars, the ice was thick on the roads and sidewalks, and I didn't have to go to work.

I spoke with my boss this morning and she asked me to head over to work (since I live so close) and change the phone message and update our website to tell people about our closure. So - I walked/skated over and after I had 'worked' I thought, interesting...I have the day off and the Internet connection is so good here. I think I'll watch The Biggest Loser online! So there I was at work with my feet on my desk and watching TV at work, not too shabby! I did get some work done accidentally as well.

After it got light (you know around 9:45) I braved the ice and walked home. I got our house cleaned up, took a little nap, worked out, and in between all of that fun, I spent a good part of my day in the bathroom...drag. So much for a free day off! I did think I could get used to not working though, I had plenty to do...at least for a few hours! :)

And Now...the news

2009-01-13T08:36:00.000-08:00

I thought I'd write something a little newsy...you know, for people who are interested!

1. The weather took a turn for the better, and I'm happy to report that we're well over 0 now! YAY! Not only is this nicer on my body, car, world but it is also better on my pocket book considering the high price of natural gas these days. Thank you Lord for warming up our state!

2. Work is CRAZY. And I mean crazy. I have been working weird hours, I constantly have things popping into my head that I forgot to do, I'm thinking about work at home (which until recently never happened)...it's just crazy.

3. John's work is crazy, but he LOVES it. And I'm so thankful he has a job he loves so much.

4. Please remember to continue to pray for our soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan. If you're anything like me, you forget to pray for them, out of sight out of mind. My cousin has been in Iraq for maybe 2 months and is already injured due to his vehicle getting shot at. He still has metal in his leg, and is okay, but it's a good reminder to keep praying. Since my brother is in Afghanistan, I have a special reason to pray. It's funny - I really never thought we'd have a military person in our family and we have several, weird.

5. The girls (aka Bella and Izzy) spent the weekend with us - they are way too cute and make me want a puppy again. I have no idea what kind I would get, and I'm pretty sure I'm the only one in my house that might like a dog, but it's a nice thought anyway.

6. We are going to LA for a quick weekend at Disney. I cannot wait to get out of AK, even if it is for 3 days.

7. I am also planning a trip to CO later in March and then again in May for my cousin's graduation from college. She has worked so hard to get her masters - I'm proud of her and it would be fun to be there when she graduates. We'll see how that goes, she lives in NE, and it's quite a drive from Denver, and I might be doing it by myself if John can't get the time off. We'll see how that goes.

8. God blesses my little family and I'm so thankful for it.

9. The CPC walk is this weekend, I'm looking forward to it.

10. I'm "training" to train for a 10K I hope to run this summer. Since I'm not yet able to run more than 20 minutes at a time I'm in the training part. So - I can officially run 5 minutes at a time at 5.5 mph. This week brings 6 minutes of running at a time. It's sort of fun - who thought I'd EVER say something like that.

One little boy

2009-01-07T08:53:00.000-08:00

I was back to Awana last night after a two week break. I sort of dreaded going back because I’ve gotten into this really bad habit of just totally unplugging in the evenings. Seriously, it’s time to change that bad habit – but I digress.

A little boy has been coming to Awana for a couple of years. He comes with a neighbor family and until a couple of weeks ago I had never met his dad. When he first came to Awana, I was annoyed with him. He couldn’t sit still, he needed constant attention, he continually interrupted lessons/game time/ etc. I just didn’t have patience for it in the midst of so much other “goings on.”

Then I learned that his mother had recently left their family, and it all came together for me. He just needed attention – he craved it – and he needed it from a woman. From then on he became one of my favorites (I know I’m not supposed to have any) and I missed him when he was gone. I admit game time was much easier without him, but there was something sweet about him that I missed.

Last night at Awana he was back. He had been gone for three or so weeks, I had been gone for a week, and then we had the break so it had been some time since we’d seen each other. If you have ever been in Awana you’ll understand just how cute this was – we were in the middle of Sparks game time, and he wasn’t on my team. He walked across the little gym in our church and came over to me to hug me. He didn’t say anything, just walked over and hugged me. Then again, during the awards ceremony he was sitting in my pew, but got up and walked over to me to hug me.

This is the reason I volunteer for Awana – some day, some way, God will use me to show Jesus to these kids. I hope that this little guy sees it in me and is drawn to Him. I hope that his father and sister see it in him and are drawn to Jesus as well. I pray that wherever he goes in life, there will be someone who knows Jesus that pours into him.

Brrrr....right?

2009-01-06T08:33:00.000-08:00

It's so very cold out - seriously - like this morning it's -15, minus fifteen. We are in the middle of one of the longest cold snaps in Alaska's history.

But here's the good news:

1. We've basically had uninhibited sunshine during the daylight hours - which really aren't that long, but it's still something.

2. I haven't had to shovel snow in like 2 weeks or something, so that's been pretty nice.

3. I don't have doggies anymore that I have to force to go outside for their business - I sure don't want to go outside for mine, and I always felt bad doing that.

4. I don't bother with sunscreen (that can get annoying)

5. It is absolutely breathtaking outside (not just the cold taking your breath, but the beauty too!). It is truly a winter wonderland - like the kind they make postcards out of. Can't really complain about that.

2009 Here We Come

2008-12-31T08:57:00.000-08:00

It's official - I took the Christmas decorations down last night - this means that 2009 is on its way. And all of the excitement for the new year has me thinking of how quickly the time has gone these last 11 years I've been in Alaska.

There are a few New Year's celebrations that stick out in my head. I remember watching the fireworks on TV from town square in Anchorage on the eve of Y2K - we didn't dare drive outside in case everything went haywire. Remember the fear of the world ending? I remember a couple of years later when some friends had a huge party at a house they were house-sitting and we dressed up and had a great time. (that house had some great hiding spots for playing sardines - not that I would know about that) I remember the year we got married and all of our friends went to bed early (like by 10:00) and we tried to find people to "play" with and they were literally in bed or on their way so John and I stayed up playing nerts until 2:00. I remember last year - going downtown for the Fire and Ice celebration and then praying and having communion right at the change of the New Year.

And, I remember making goals one year with my friend Greg. We divided our paper into financial, physical, spiritual and educational goals. This was well before I married John, and I was still in college and had a car payment. I decided that I would pay off my car that year, and I did. I worked hard making double and sometimes triple payments and got that thing paid off. When I look back at it - I think about how having a goal and writing it down was a necessary part of getting it done. I think I'll make some new goals this year using the same quadrants, some for me personally and some for the two of us.

I think another important thing for me as far as making goals goes (goals goes?) is to make mini milestones along the way. By March I plan to...by June I hope to...etc.

I've got some thinking to do - I want to be sure that I make some goals that might just be reachable!

Christmas

2008-12-29T08:19:00.000-08:00

We had a nice Christmas - it was very laid back and I liked it. I'm usually a party til I drop kind of person when it comes to holidays - and I don't mean drink and party until I drop, but socialize and play games until I drop.

We went to our friend's house on Christmas Eve - he is from the Philippines so it was fun to chat with his family and friends and eat their food. On Christmas Day, we slept in and casually made our way through the morning, and then John's parents came over with their little Shih Tzus in the afternoon. We ate ham and potatoes, green beans and salad and just hung out. We watched The Nativity and ate cookies and ice cream - it was very relaxing. When John's parents headed home, we walked them out to their car and discovered the 10 inches of new snow we'd gotten that day - it couldn't have been a more perfect Christmas.

Friday we hung out at our place in the morning and then went to Fireproof that afternoon. That was a good movie - I enjoyed it and would recommend it. I cried, of course, through the whole thing. I get so stressed out in movies where people are yelling at each other - especially married people.

Friday night I went to a girls night for the youth at our friend's house. My friend's husband went over to our house and spent the night to get away from all the girls and play video games with John. I stayed up until about 5:30 that night...er...morning. Yeah. We turned the lights out at 4:00 and the girls stayed up talking until about 5:30 when one of us chaperoning adults had had enough and said - "girls, seriously, it's time for bed." Anyway - it was fun, the girls were super cute and I had a great time.

Saturday was spent recovering from Friday night - and then we went to "Bedtime Stories" with our friends - that was also a super cute movies. Oh by the way - we also watched "The Kite Runner" wow...that was an intense movie - it was so very good. Disturbing and yet really good. It was kind of a movie weekend.

Back to work today - more of a normal week with a day off in the middle - YAY!

Six Years Ago Today

2008-12-23T19:31:00.000-08:00

It was a warm night for December standards, but then again, they were in Colorado. The two decided to go for a hike up a well known trail in Colorado Springs. As they climbed, she thought to herself "interesting, I remember I told him about my friend who got engaged up here a few years ago - I wonder..."

But as they were overlooking the incredible falls beneath the cliffs, the opportunity seemed to come and go, and back down the mountain they went. She was sad, but knew she loved him and he could take his time as far as she was concerned.

About half way down the mountain, he grabbed his heart and asked if they could stop for a minute. "Of course," she said. He fell to the ground and continued to complain about chest pain. She was concerned - was it altitude sickness? After all they had come from Alaska and were probably standing a good 7,000 feet above sea level.

"Are you okay?"

"I'm okay, it's just my heart."

"Can you make it down the mountain?"

"My heart hurts because you're holding it in your hands."

And he pulled a heart shaped pillow ornament made by his very own hands (with help from his fabulous mom) out from around his neck. It had been hidden under his shirt. And tied to the heart is a beautiful engagement ring. More beautiful than she would have guessed. And he says, "I want to spend the rest of my life with you, will you marry me?"

And the tears streamed down her face and she says "yes, yes, yes, of course....oh my...wow"

And they were married, and so far, it has truly been happily ever after!

Morning Madness

2008-12-23T10:30:00.000-08:00

John is now working the day shift and it has made my mornings so much easier. We both work at 7:00 - I live about .5 minutes away from work and he tries to be at work well before his shift actually starts. I've gotten used to getting up 1/2 hour before I have to be at work and high tailing it out the door as soon as my wet hair is dry. With John's new hours, I've been getting up, having time to do stuff and take my time getting ready...what a concept!

This morning I thought my ample time would allow me to get all kinds of things done. I got up and started wrapping presents and getting a box ready to ship - then I went to the grocery store and got some last minute items as well as stuff to make dinner. I was sort of just wandering around the store (I'm usually an in and out person - I don't like to wander) and I realized that it was now 7:00 and I was at the store, I hadn't checked out, I didn't even have everything I needed...wow.

The good news is - my watch is fast and I made it to work by the time it was 7:00 here...and that was with chatting with the checker lady who I always seem run into at Carrs!

I have tomorrow off - cannot wait - seriously. I'm going to sleep in and take it easy and maybe even stay in my pjs most of the day. hopefully my friend Marlene stops by - because I've stopped by at her house when she was in her PJs! :)

2008-12-22T11:21:00.000-08:00

For some reason I can't get this to post the "right" way but it is just too funny to not post...so here's a link:
http://elfyourself.jibjab.com/view/1wWJiSZ6GR2YjNZvNswF

Hopefully that really works this time.

We had a fun weekend - we went to the party on Friday night and we both decided to skip the usual fancy dressing and opted for Alaska Dress-Up instead. I work work clothes with a little extra jewelry and John wore a shirt that had to be ironed...so that was us dressed up! Sorry...no photos this time! :)

We spent Saturday with our friends and Melissa and I scrapped and chatted all day. I got a lot done for some Christmas projects I was working on so I'm feeling really good about that! John and Josh played pool and watched a movie and then we had dinner with our friends and headed back home.

We had a really cool thing Sunday morning at church for Christmas. our pastor and his wife treated us to breakfast and people shared Christmas memories. It was a special time - even if we were an hour late. That's right people...and HOUR late. I work at 7:00 so even on the weekends I find myself up by 6:30 or so, John doesn't have this same internal clock. But I must have needed the rest because we woke up 15 minutes after we were supposed to be at the church. Oops...we did get a lot of rest though! HA! After church we did some shoppting and toured a couple of open houses and then came home and worked more on our projects. John worked on his project, I mostly did laundry and a bit of housework and chilled for the day. I love Sundays!

Last minute shopping should be done tonight and I think we're almost all set for Christmas. I'm sure I'm forgetting something. Packages in the mail...cards sent...stuff waiting to be wrapped...oh yeah, and there's the whole celebrating the fact that Jesus came to earth. I'm working on keeping that more central this year.

Finally Friday

2008-12-19T08:32:00.000-08:00

yay - here we come weekend!

We had a great time last night at a Christmas Fondue Party. The longer I live in Anchorage the smaller it seems to me. It was funny being there and running into very good friends that we've known for years and didn't expect to find them there. Christian circles run 'deep and wide' in this town, and it's something I really love about Anchorage. The food was great, the conversation was fabulous, and the friends were worth coming for. We even sang a couple of Christmas songs, and Bean treated us to her incredible rendition of O Holy Night (my used-to-be fav Christmas song by the way) that girl can sing.

More partying tonight - we're going to a work party with John's parents. I think it will be fun and I'm looking forward to dressing up - as dressed up as we get here in Alaska. It's always fun to see all the different ideas of what dressing up is - from Carharts to sequins.

I think a goal for me in 2009 is going to be making more time for our friends. We have had a very busy life since we got married, and we're often trying to just make sure we get some minutes together each day. Last night we hung out with a couple that we really love spending time with but rarely see and I thought how silly it is that we don't see each other more. We mostly just run into each other at this event or that event and hardly ever set something up on purpose. That's something I'm going to work on - see friends more often. As John's schedule settles in it will be more and more easy to know what to expect. It feels like we've been in "hang loose tightly"mode for a while and I'm looking forward to some normalcy.

New Christmas Favorite

2008-12-16T15:20:00.000-08:00

This is quite possibly my new favorite Christmas song - A Baby Changes Everything, by Faith Hill

I took out the ooos and ahhhhs :)

Teenage girl much too young
Unprepared for what's to come
A baby changes everything

Not a ring on her hand
All her dreams and all her plans
A baby changes everything A baby changes everything

The man she loves she's never touched
How will she keep his trust
A baby changes everything
A baby changes everything

She has to leave, go far away
Heaven knows she can't stay
A baby changes everything

She can feel it's coming soon
There's no place there's no room
A baby changes everything
A baby changes everything

Shepherds all gather 'round
Up above the star shines down
A baby changes everything

Choir of angels sing
Glory to the newborn king
A baby changes everything
A baby changes everything

Everything, everything, everything
Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah

My whole life has turned around
I was lost, but now I'm found
A baby changes everything, yeah
A baby changes everything

Why can't I wake up?

2008-12-11T09:17:00.000-08:00

I'm having one of those mornings when I can't shake the fuzz out of my brain...bug! I don't think I had a rough night sleeping...but who knows? I was at the grocery store for work around 7:15 this morning and I stood in the bakery for at least 5 full minutes trying to think of what it was I was there for. I was staring at some cookies and wondering...what was it I needed? wow...so very sad. Then, once I remembered what it was I needed, I scanned my credit card and was talking about how tired I was to the clerk and he's just standing there, and I'm just standing there, and then he says 'you can just sign right here' and indicates toward the signy thing....oh brother...talk about spacing out!

Anyway...that's my exciting news!

December's First Weekend

2008-12-08T09:07:00.000-08:00

Another busy weekend came and went. Friday I got my hair cut and love it. It was funny - when I came home John said "I thought you were getting your hair cut", "I did," said I. "Oh - it looks the same," said John.

Then I turned around.

"Ah hah - it is quite different!" The back is much more stacked now and I LOVE it. The front is a little shorter, but I don't really expect that John would notice the tiny bit that got cut off the front. It's funny when I get my hair cut because it always looks so good when I leave the salon (I love the lady that cuts my hair) but then the next time I try to do it, it never looks the same. I can have the same products - blower, curling iron - everything the same and then poof...my style looks very different. Oh well...I still love the cut.

Friday night (Sat. morning really) John went to work with his dad a bit. He got home late and woke me up to tell me about how he had been parked in the street in front of his parent's place and a drunk driver had hit his truck right there in the street. the guy was wasted and said he had been going 25 miles per hour...uh huh...and managed to move a Ford F350, crew cab, extended bed with 1,000 pounds of wood in the bed from its parked position to 5 feet away from where it was. Interesting. Thankfully it was the truck the guy hit - his car was totalled, but the truck isn't much worse for the wear. Had it been our little car I think it would have been over for the poor thing. That was the second time in a week one of our cars was hit. Wow...no one was seriously injured in either accident - and the drunk guy will hopefully pay enough in fees to be over driving while intoxicated.

Saturday, John slept in and I couldn't sleep so I got up around 6:30 and started housework. I worked out and came back home and John was still sleeping so I looked around for something quiet to do and ended up waking him up in the process. Something about jumping on the bed and saying "come on lets go somewhere" wakes people up...who knew? He was happy to get up and we did some shopping and got most of Christmas finished. Then we wrapped up the housework and baked a goodie (seriously we should not have made it, my tummy was very upset over the whole thing, I couldn't stop having 'just a tiny piece more') and made dinner for our friends that came over with an armload of games we had never played. We've had a great time with these friends - they're a lot of fun and we laughed quite a bit. Plus the games were very fun - and the husband cracked me up saying that we can't play a game involving charades until the four of us are on our third date...something to look forward to I guess! :)

Church on Sunday morning and then we went out to lunch with some friends that we hardly ever see that are thinking of starting to attend our church again. It was fun hanging with them. Then we went to John's parent's place and hung out for a while. The home again for dinner. We finally made it to Home Depot last night to get a tree - the first one we shook out was beautiful. we snatched it up and brought it home. We had fun decorating and rearranging our living room to fit everything in. In the end the couch remains...sigh. I love real trees - I'll deal with the sweeping and sweeping to get the smell and the way the branches hang. LOVE IT! We watched a Hallmark movie while we decorated - of course I cried...wouldn't you!?

Wow, if you read all of this, good for you! I was chatty this morning!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

2008-12-05T08:38:00.000-08:00

I cannot wait to get our tree this weekend. I think we're actually going to get rid of the beautiful green/white striped couch that has been the bane of our living room for the last 5.5 years! What? We have to - to make room for the tree!

Then out come the decorations - I can't wait. I love this time of year, I love the smells the sights the love, it's just a great time of year. Our house already smells all Christmassy (I found the world's best candles through my friend Kim - I can't even think of the name right now, but they are way better than any candle I've ever had) and it will be fun when it looks cozy too!

Future Steph

2008-12-03T09:18:00.001-08:00

Dear Future Stephanie,

You are going to look back at this time in your life and thank God for the challenges and the growth you experienced. You’re going to thank God for the incredible character growth, and that your Father allowed you to learn more about yourself and about Him even though it may have been uncomfortable. You’re even going to be thankful for the career development and the expansion to your resume.

This time in your life was perfect to set you up for what you’re doing today. Each heartache and stumble was needed to help you become who you are, and to allow you to help others in their own struggles. Sticking your neck out might feel like it’s stretching too much – but trust me, it’s worth it! Those muscles need elongated too!

Future Stephanie – you are who you are because your Father loves you, and He likes your personality and the things about you that make you unique. The refining takes place in the fire, remember that when the refining process starts again.

Love,
Present Stephanie

Ideas?

2008-12-03T08:23:00.000-08:00

I have no idea what to get John for Christmas. he's not giving me any ideas...so if you have any fabulous thoughts about what he'd LOVE to get, let me know. I'm so stuck here!