Long Overdue

I need to learn that if it isn't one things keeping me from here, it WILL be another. My life has become so compartmentalized lately, so I'll post it that way for now.

HOME AND FAMILY

The kids are good. We are mostly healthy at the moment. Fishing Guy has been working nights, so I haven't had much spare time. I haven't done the big clean I wanted to and the Christmas tree is still laying on the garage floor, waiting to be boxed up.

WEATHER

We finally have snow on the ground and it is still snowing. We didn't get the huge one-time dump like last year, but 5-6 inches every couple of days is just fine with me. It is really my favorite time of the year. The trees are brilliant in the light, the snow crunches under your feet and the nights are silent. I could sit and watch the flakes fall all day long.

On the flip side of that, there is the dressing kids to play in the snow, wet puddles in the house that double the laundry load of socks and the prep work for school has tripled. Now I need to have the snowpants and coats ready in the morning, which means I have to make sure they didn't get shoved in a little corner last night and are still soaked through. I have at least 5 pairs of the knit gloves running around the house in various stages of wet and the kids each have two winter hats.

And the shoveling... Yikes! I did the entire driveway 3 times in 2 days. Now I'm on injured reserve, so I'm off the hook for now.

I also realized that I need new tires for my car. I'm just waiting for a day that I can put in the shop for the work.

CHURCH

--Fellowship Committee

We (3 of us) had a meeting Jan 8th and decided after a long discussion, to cancel a banquet that has become "tradition". I knew that I was inviting trouble, but figured that there would be some dialogue to follow and I would at least be able to state my side. What ended up happening was far from that. There was an attempt to go behind my back and hold the banquet anyway, then my side got to the right ears and it was called off for the second time. It was 2 weeks of roller coaster emotions for me.

--Vacation Bible School (VBS)

I am the director this year and the curriculum samples arrived this week. I spent Wednesday afternoon digging through it and forming a rough plan for our week. We are doing Lifeway's Arctic Edge, perfect for those of us already in Alaska!

--AWANA

We had 6 Cubbies this week in class and what a difference that makes! We are really able to get involved with each child instead of just being crowd control. I have a great group of parents that step up to volunteer each week too.

PROJECT PLAYGROUND

Last night was our big community celebration and it went really well! Our designer was in town from New York and he spent the day meeting with the kids and then drawing the schematic. Poor Fishing Guy worked all night and all day, then had to bring Fred Bear to the celebration. We had youth doing face painting, a Girl Scout Troop provided refreshments and we had a bouncy catapillar. The day would have been perfect except for the fact that I slipped and fell on some big stone steps at the school and my behind is VERY sore. I'm thankful it wasn't worse, like hitting my head or back, so I'm limping a little and sitting carefully right now.

I've been working really hard on the prep work for last night and getting the children's committee up and running. We had our first meeting on Tuesday night and it was controlled chaos. We had the first night of snow driving, so some of the kids didn't make it, but we had more than we thought.

So today, I plan to ride the excitement from last night and get some playground stuff done and then take the afternoon off. Fishing Guy should be home shortly and then he has a three-day weekend. We have ice skating planned for tomorrow - I just hope I don't fall!

I missed it...

Happy yesterday birthday to Snapper

Hope it was GREAT!

Busy and Sick

Not a good combination. Hence, why I haven't been here this week. Actually there have been a couple days I didn't even turn on the computer.

I'm marginal today, better than yesterday but not at 100% yet. The kids don't have school. Everything is closed, but I'm behind and I've got to use today to catch up instead of just taking the day off. I'm trying to pay bills, order stuff I need online (like new underwear and my favorite calendar), renew and place books on hold on the library website and deal with the growing pile of paper on my desk. The house is demanding a good cleaning and the family is demanding clean clothes.

I'll try to check in later.

Icky Sickies

Well, I got a cold Thursday night and it slowed me down enough that I didn't even turn on the computer yesterday. I'm feeling much better now.

The playgroup time was fun on Thursday. I fixed a bracelet of The Princess' that was broken and finished knitting my scarf. We even put fringe on it. It was snowing when I left to go downtown, but wasn't bad. We got the rent paid and the promised toys purchased.

Fishing Guy had Friday off. I went and got my hair cut. The Princess lost her first baby tooth. Crafty Neighbor and the kids came home in the early afternoon. We spent an enormous amount of money at Costco, restocking the deep freeze and the pantry. Dinner was at the neighbor's house, followed by a game of Apples to Apples. Fishing Guy went in to work from 11 pm to about 3 am and I slept like crap because I won't take Nyquil when I'm the only adult home.

Saturday, I went shopping with Crafty Neighbor and the kids. The Princess spent her tooth money on some conversation hearts. Fishing Guy got up about 11:30 am and played video games. I had lunch over at Crafty Neighbor's house with all the kids. I cooked up the 14 pounds of ground beef in the afternoon - half browned with onions and half with taco seasonings. It is now in 2+ cup servings, frozen in ziploc bags for easy dinner making for the next month. I made chimichangas for dinner and Crafty Neighbor and family came over. We played Scattergories until the kids needed to go to bed.

Today was church. I broke my rule and turned on the computer before I was ready and we were almost late. I was yelling mom as we were walking out he door. Not a good way to start the day. Sunday school and church went well. Lunch was mellow and then I scrapped for a while and made some phone calls. The kids started cleaning up the living room at 3 pm and I had my Fellowship Committee meeting here at 4:30 pm. The kids went next door to play. Dinner was potstickers - The Princess' request - about 7:30 pm. Yikes! Since then, I've been typing up the minutes from the meeting, checking my mom's website for function and any errors and now updating here.

Tomorrow... I'm not even going there yet. I'll deal with it when it gets here.

Downhill slide

I LOVE short weeks! Here it is Thursday already and I've still got some energy left.

I was up at 7 am and folded laundry before taking the kids to school. What a great feeling to come home and remember that it was already done.

I went in to work this morning for a quick tidy and straighten, then took Fishing Guy to breakfast in the deli. Right after that, I was browsing in the candle aisle when there was a CRASH! A maintenance man ran a scissor-lift into an endcap and the whole thing crashed over - shelves and all. Fishing Guy was standing right in front of it and had to step out of the way. Thankfully, no one was hurt.

My first thought was, "Last week that would have been all of my stuff on the floor!" and then realized that one of my racks had fallen. I helped clean everything up and then sorted through my stuff to find any damaged goods.

I worked on a layout this morning when I got home and before I picked the kids up from school. It seemed forced at first, but I like how it ended up. I had to leave space for one picture that I need to get reprinted, a definite pet-peeve of mine! I have a couple albums I never went back to work on because I was waiting for a certain picture. I'm really trying to just leave the space and move on. I'll have one more 2-page layout for August and then I'll be working on May.

I've also been working on the mini-tin album. It is proving a challenge to find pictures I love, that don't have the kids in them! I'm finding it even harder to separate out my identity from the role of Mom or even Wife. I'll keep you posted on the progress.

We are heading over to the church this afternoon for a drop-in playgroup. It's the first week for it and so far everyone I've told about it or asked to come is coming. I'm planning on bringing my knitting and I might just finish the scarf I've been working on. After that, I have to stop by the bank and run downtown to pay rent.

Back to School

The kids headed back to school today and I had the morning to myself!

I went shopping, after I went to the Post Office and before dropping stuff at the Thrift Store - that doesn't open until 10 am. I got 4 new shirts and a new sweater, all on clearance.

See here:



The Princess went to a friend's house to play and The Prince and I cleaned up the living room and kitchen before he played a video game. When The Princess got home I took my "Photo Of The Day" for the other blog.

See here:

Fishing Guy brought me home new bulbs for the kitchen light and the kids were in bed early.

Photos from December

Just an FYI, I am going to try to use my other blog for a photo a day this year. I'll still post photos here, but there should be more over there. It's "As I See It" in the blogroll list.

Anyway, some photos from last month, that aren't posted at the other blog.



Yet another picture of the Mendenhall Glacier. This one is my current favorite.



A neat shot of the lake shore from the path leading up to the Visitor's Center.



The Christmas loot and living room, after I cleaned up all the wrapping and trash. I totally forgot to snap pictures as we were unwrapping this year.

Hope you had a relaxing day!