This Doesn't Even Begin to Scratch the Surface

Yes I know, it's been waaaaay to long since I last posted. I've been doing the Facebook thing, not that I'm blogging there or spending a ton of time there, it's just been really convenient. But I do like this blog and I need to get back into updating it on a regular basis.

So I started my new job at UAF a couple of months ago and it's going very well. It seems to be a good fit. The people there cool and it's a pretty easy going atmosphere. It's not a typical stuff HR office. One of my co-workers and I have really clicked and that makes it so much better. Neither of us fit the "mold" so we've got that in common. Plus she's just a cool chic! haha

The house is stalled. I have a floor and the plumbing roughed in and that's it. I'm soooooo frustrated. I've had basically no communication from the builder and I'm about ready to walk out. Sparing your the drama details, he's got a ton of stuff going on (don't we all?) and it's taking longer to get the funding lined up and such. I get that. But at least keep me in the loop! He is just starting out building and wants this house to be his crowning glory and is relying on word of mouth. Well, word of mouth is not looking good at the moment. Hopefully he'll get his crap together and get moving. If I had other options I would walk away but I'm not exactly in a power position here.

That said....I actually bought all the appliances for the house Thanksgiving weekend. There were some amazing sales going on. I didn't have to do the 5am thing to get the sales either. I just had to buy them by Sunday evening. Do you think I was able to get a hold of my real estate agent or builder? Ha! Not! So I bought them myself. I ended up saving over $1300 on everything. The washer and dryer were only $898 for the pair! And they are Samsung front loaders!! Amazing deals I'm telling you.

I was able to spend Christmas with my family in AZ. I'm so thankful that I was able to go. Luckily the trip down and back were drama free and uneventful, just long. I left on the 1am flight and didn't get to AZ until 3pm AZ time, which was exactly 12 hours after I started the journey. And needless to say I didn't get any sleep during the trip. I was so exhausted after I got there. But I had a GREAT time with my family. My niece and nephew are sooooooo amazingly cute!! And they are soooooo amazingly devilish at the same time! Especially my niece but I'm so in love with here. The way she says "Untle Mike" just makes my heart melt! My poor nephew was the airport with my folks when they picked me up. He ran to the door when I walked through and I didn't see him and I walked right on by. I was looking for my folks, didn't even begin to think he would be there. And my line of vision as at the adult level, not that of a 5 year old. The hurt look on his face when I walked by almost made me cry! When I realized what I did I ran over to him and picked him up in a huge hug and made a big deal of him being there to meet me. I think I was able to recover from my mis-deed! Other than that incident everything else was good. Good quality time with everyone.

One thing I did while home was get some recipes of my mom's. I already have her pumpkin bread recipe (which is heaven on earth I think!) and a few others. But she makes the best rolls for dinner and I watched and learned from her how to make them. I'm anxious to try it. I also watched her for the umpteenth time making pie crust. I've tried and have failed miserably to make crust. She's showed me time and again how to do it. I'm fine when she's next to me but on my own, I fail miserably. So I'll try it yet again...We'll see how I do.

Speaking of baking and such, I'm now part of a gourmet dinner group. It's a group of several couples (and me and Missy) who get together once a month and make dinner. The hosts chose the theme and then everyone finds something to make. The idea is to try something new and something on the nicer side, kind of gourmet-ish. The group has been going for a while but I finally joined a few months ago. Since I've been going we've done German, Ethiopian and Belgian. I LOVED the Ethiopian. It ROCKED!! Super spicy. Who knew Ethiopian was so spicy?! I made a traditional Ethiopian wine called Tej. It's a very sweet honey wine. As we were eating the appetizers, which were super spicy, we were looking for something to drink. We started drinking the Tej and the sweetness was perfect to the cut the effects of the super spicy food. It was awesome! The dinner group has been a fun thing to do.

All else is status quo. Now that winter is here I've been doing the hockey thing again. There are games pretty much every weekend, be it the UAF Nanooks or the Fairbanks Ice Dogs. I love this time of year and going to the games.

Not sure what all else. I know this doesn't even begin to scratch the surface but it's something. The pics are of my niece and nephew and a few of me that Mom had hanging on her wall at home. They are pics of the pics so the quality is bad but you get the general idea.

As the year comes to an end, I hope that 2010 is all that you want and more. I have my plans for 2010 and I'm going to dedicate myself to seeing them through. I wish you the best...

My Head is Spinning

Wow, my head is spinning. Lots of changes going on right now. I've already talked about the new house, things are moving along on that front. Hopefully the sale on the lot closes and records today. If so the foundation work for the house might start next week!

I sold my car! Woo hoo!! No more stress about it selling so that I have the down payment!! Oh and I bought a truck! I had seen a truck for sale about a month ago that I was very interested in but the posting was deleted and I never saw it posted again. Well it was posted again this week. I met up with the guy and test drove the truck. I ended up giving him a deposit for the truck. It was too good of a deal to pass up. Even though my car hadn't sold yet, I knew I could take it the Chevy dealership in town and with what they would give me I'd have enough to buy the truck and for the down payment on the house. As a last ditch effort I posted my car online one last time for $1,000 less than I was asking. Even that would be more than what Chevy would give me. There was a guy in Anchorage who emailed me when I first put the car online. He was interested but with him being 350 miles away it was just a lot to work out. Well he saw that I dropped the price and emailed me. It was enough of a drop that he was willing to work it it out. He flies up here Saturday and will buy the car and drive it back to Anchorage. I will then go and pick up the truck. :-) Nice how that all worked out!!

As if that's not enough, I got a new job this week!! I interviewed for an entry level HR job at the university here. They called and offered me the job contingent on my background check. They called today to make the offer official! I start in two weeks! More money and excellent benefits!! And great potential for the future. It is just too good to be true but it is. The past several years have been hard for me, lots of struggling and challenges. It seems like I've had nothing but doors closed in my face. And now, all of a sudden the switch has been flipped and doors are opening. I'm so thankful and my head is still spinning from it all. True to my form when I make changes, I don't make one or two little ones. I shake everything up! I didn't plan it this way tho it's just how it has all happened.

Winter is knocking on the door

Wow! I can't believe it's been so long since I last posted. What do they say about life getting in the way of life? It's been a busy summer but I'm not complaining in the least. It's been a great summer. I have been busier in one summer here than all ten summers I spent in Seattle put together. And that's the way I want it.

We had an amazing summer until July. The forest fires started in July and the smoke got pretty bad. Awful as a matter of fact. It started just blocking the sun, making for hazy days. Then ash started falling and dusting cars and such. Then the smoke really rolled in and it was horrible. My lungs burned, my eyes watered. You tried not to be outside at all. July would have been a great month except for this. Fairbanks was surrounded on all sides by fires so it didn't matter which direction the wind blew, smoke was coming our way regardless. In total it was over 3 million acres that burned, almost 4 actually if I recall correctly. Last summer we only had a couple hundred thousand acres burn is all. The worst summer was in '04 when close to 9 million acres burned. Please don't hold to exact figures. I'm relying on my memory. The pictures were taken at 5pm, when it should be sunny and bright. They give an idea of just how bad the smoke was.

Thankfully the fires ended the end of July because of rain. The rain came in and helped the firefighters get the upper hand on the fires and finally put them out. But then it rained almost the whole month of August!! Out of 24 days it rained 18 days. It didn't pour rain, just sprinkled and drizzled, some good downpours tho. August is typically the wettest month of the year and we get about 1.5 inches during the month. This August we got almost 2.5 inches of rain. Because it came in little spurts throughout the month, we didn't experience any flooding.

September has been good so far. It cooled off quite a bit after the rain but Labor Day weekend we experienced 70 degree temps again. Perfectly clear, sunny skies. AWESOME is the only way to describe it. It was a great last stretch of summer for us. We can have snow flying in a few weeks now. We are very much into fall. Our leaves are in full change and it is so beautiful. I absolutely love fall. I'm always ready for each new season but I truly love the fall. It sounds odd but I like the smell of the decaying organic matter in the forest. It's the smell of fall I guess. I also like the nice, sunny days with the bite of coolness in the air.

Speaking of Kirk's cabin, if you recall he's had two different trees fall on his roof over the past year or so. As I am writing this blog his roof is being replaced. He finally found someone to fix the holes, replace the stove pipe and put a metal roof on for him. It's going to look really nice when it's done. He also found someone to remove the trees from around the cabin. Not sure when they are going take them out but this will ensure his new roof doesn't get damaged. And he found someone to put a bridge across the slough so you can drive to the cabin. Again, not sure when that will happen. That makes me sad, tho. Part of the appeal of his cabin to me is the fact that it is remote and you can't drive up to it. But, it's not my cabin so I guess I don't have any say in it. haha The realtor told him when he bought it that having a bridge will increase the value by $100k. So I guess it does make sense.

Speaking of realtors and property values, I'm buying a house!! I can't believe it. It still seems too good to be true. But I'm meeting with my real estate agent today and will be signing the papers. My verbal offer has already been accepted so this is just a formality. For a while I've been researching possible loan programs unfortunately with my bankruptcy I have to wait another 18 months before I could qualify for an FHA loan. I then realized that there are sellers here who are willing to do owner financing. So I started checking that out. Several sellers were willing but the terms they were seeking made it not possible. I can't spend any more than what I'm spending in rent now. If their terms were reasonable, that would be possible. I came across one place that was in the process of being built. It was listed for only $89k. OMG are you kidding me?! But it didn't have any water, it was a dry cabin. I talked to the listing agent and he said the builder would be willing to put in water for an additional $10k. So I went and looked at the place. I like it a lot but didn't really care about the land. It was sloping and wasn't all the usable. The builder said that if I found a lot, he'd buy it and build a cabin on it for me. The cabin would have full water and septic. He gave me a budget so I went out and found a great lot. It's almost two acres, flat, private. I will have neighbors on both sides but there are trees surrounding the lot so it will be private. You also won't be able to see the cabin from the road. It will be hidden in the trees. I'm so freaking excited!! The builder said he'd give me the budget for appliances, flooring, fixtures, etc and let me pick it all out. If I go over budget the price increases. If I'm under the price decreases. It just seems too good to be true. He will carry the mortgage for two years. Since I will be able to qualify for an FHA loan in 18 months, this works out perfectly! And when I refinance, my payment will actually drop. The builder is charging a pretty hefty interest rate but I can't complain. It's still in my price range, it's brand new, built to my desires and I get to pick everything out! It's worth it. It's a relatively simple design, only 600 sq ft with a loft bedroom. He will be able to build it in approx 30-45 days. So, by November 1st, Clara and I should be in our new place!! The cabin will be built to 5 star energy ratings so my heating fuel cost should be reduced quite a bit.

In order to make this all happen, I'm selling my car. It is my only asset and I own it free and clear. So I can sell it and have enough for the down payment and have money available to get a used truck. I need something that I can haul water with but is nice enough to use as a daily driver. I've been looking at '99-'01 Ford F150s. They are in my price range but are very high on miles. I did find an after market warranty that I can add which will give me coverage for 100k miles or 5 yrs, whichever comes first. It will easily be the 5 yrs. The warranty will cover the engine, transmission, 4 wheel drive system and man of the electrical components. It also provides roadside assistance, towing and rental car. The deductible is only $50. The warranty sounds a bit pricey but if I need a new transmission, it pays for itself. A new engine would be $6k and is way more than the cost of the warranty so it is more than worth it. So that is my plan...I just need for my car to sell....

What else? I'm down 37 lbs. When I saw my surgeon's assistant in December, she inadvertently drained the fluid in my lapband. I had gained over 40 lbs before I was able to get back to see my surgeon for a fill. Since having it adjusted I've lost 37 lbs. I've also recently found out that there is a local doctor here in Fairbanks who does fills. So now I don't have to spend $2k going to Seattle ti get a fill. I can do it all here in town! I have yet to see the doc here but I'm guessing I will need to soon.

I guess that is everything. Not much else exciting to share at this point. Winter is knocking on the door.

I realized I love outdoor theatre

My folks were just here visiting. They were here a week. It was great seeing them. Luckily I'm close to my family (maybe it's because we live 5,000 miles apart, lol) and we enjoy the time we get to spend together. We did get out to explore while they were here. I took them to Denali and they were able to go for a tour in the park. They saw pretty much everything, Denali included. The next day they took the train to Talkeetna. I met them there and then spent the night at the McKinley Princess lodge. Then came back to Fairbanks the next day. The funny thing is I felt like that was just a short drive. In actuality it was about 275 miles!! When I lived in Seattle I never would have considered driving that distance for a night. Funny how this state can change your perspective.

While we were out a moose stopped by to check on my cabin. It helped himself to my cabbages!! UGH!! I was so not happy when I realized that. Oh well, I'll try again next year. My sunflowers are still growing like crazy. My tomatoes, well, they are growing. The plants don't look so great. I'll definitely try a greenhouse next year. I will get a few tomatoes this year but nothing like I was expecting. A good first year effort tho.

I had my first outdoor theatre experience yesterday. I went with a few friends from work to see Othello. The director set it in 1942 and Othello was Native American. Interesting interpretation. But I realized I love outdoor theatre.

Not really much else to report. Things are going. Just been in a funk the past few days but I wanted to do a bit of an update.

There are Igloos in Alaska

It's pouring rain today. I love it. It's different rain then in Seattle and I forget that. When I see rain on the forecast here I think of a full day of drizzle and gray. Not the case here. It can be a nice day with a 20 minute rainstorm and that's it. When it rains it actually rains. Not just sprinkles. The sky opened up about 30 minutes ago and just poured. I love it. It's been raining quite a bit lately and the rivers are pretty swollen. Flooding is not far off. There has also been some thunder and lightning. I have missed the thunder so much. Growing up in Arizona we had amazing storms for several weeks each summer. I really miss that.

Summer has been flying by. I can't believe we are past Solstice now. That means the days are getting shorter. :-( We still won't see darkness until August or so, and only if you're up about 1 or 2 in the morning. The sun is officially setting but is only down for an hour and a half, not long enough to get dark. There's an interesting light during that time. Not really daylight but nowhere near darkness either.

We've been rocking and rolling up here this summer. We've had quite a few small earthquakes. They have been shallow and centered close to Esther, just outside of Fairbanks so we've really been feeling them. Apparently they didn't realize there was a fault line there. It's was pretty active for a couple of weeks but I don't think it has done anything for a while now.

I've managed to get out and go kayaking this summer. This is so the reason I live here!! I ended up getting a new kayak. The one I got last year is a great sea kayak, but it's not a river kayak. And that's what's here, rivers. I don't do any white-water kayaking, just calm rivers. My old kayak was long and thin and even though I stayed upright, I was never fully comfortable in it. My new kayak is much wider and a lot more stable. I love it. I was able to sell my old kayak for enough to pay for the new one and a new tent. We're going camping next weekend and I'll get to use my new tent for the first time. I'm so excited!!

We're going to go camping at Delta Clearwater. We went there last year for the 4th of July. I think I posted about it last year. We went back over Memorial Day and had another great time. We went on a 12 mile kayak trip and it was a lot of fun. The wind was against us for a bit and that made it not so fun but I still enjoyed it. The guys who were camping across from us had a great tent and I had tent envy. When they left to go fishing, Missy and I snuck over so I could see what kind of tent they had. When we got back from camping I ordered it! I'm terrible I know but I can't wait to use the tent!

Last weekend was Gay Pride in Anchorage. I ended up getting a great rate on a room (one of the few privileges of being in the industry) so I drove down for the weekend. It was pretty interesting. I've been to Pride in Seattle and Vancouver BC many times. Obviously this was nothing like that. Pride in Seattle and Vancouver is huge, thousands and thousands of people. The parades go on for hours. Block parties at all the bars. The cities are both so accepting of gays and lesbians. It's a party. Up here in AK it's much different. The acceptance is not the same here. The numbers of people are so much less. While it is a bit of a party, it is more about trying to gain acceptance and fight for tolerance.

I knew the parade was at 11am downtown. I never could find which street downtown. Not that downtown Anchorage is all that big. I ended up walking a zig zag pattern until I stumbled across the floats lining up. I found the route. So in Seattle, people hit Broadway at 7 or 8 am to stake out their place on the sidewalk. By the time the parade hits people are 6 or 7 deep. There are over 100k people there to watch the parade. In Anchorage, people were spread out over two blocks. Lots of sidewalk space. No one was set up in chairs or on blankets on the sidewalk as in Seattle.

The parade did start with the typical Dykes on Bikes. In Seattle this alone last 30 minutes with about 100 Dykes on their Bikes. In Anchorage, there were 5. Yep. Five. They took about two minutes. The entire parade was over in about 30 minutes. And this was with the hostess stopping each group along the way to introduce them. There were a RECORD 30 entries in the parade. They also had a record number of vendors at the park after, about 40. Wow, much different than other places. The parade in Seattle has at least 150 entries and lasts for hours, way too long. The party in the park is also to excess.

I'm sure people would laugh at the events in Anchorage. It's a joke compared to elsewhere. But it is real. More real than other places. A while back I was watching a show on Bravo that followed gay couples and their weddings. There were two guys who both made tons of money. They spared no expense for the wedding. It was huge and cost hundreds of thousands of dollars. There were two lesbians who were barely able to afford to get married in their backyard. One of them made their wedding cake herself. There were maybe 30 people there. The guys wedding was so awful. It was impersonal and just fake. It didn't matter that they spent a fortune on it. The lesbian wedding was amazing. It was touching and real. It was about their love and making a commitment to one another in front of their friends. I kind of view the different Pride celebrations the same way. The one in Anchorage to me was real. It wasn't commercialized. It was about people fighting for who they are, fighting for acceptance. They aren't asking for special rights, just equal rights.

Anyway, I'll get off my soap box now. It just reinforces that I'm living where I should. When I have that much of a reaction, to feel the way that I do, it means I'm in the right place. Not that I've doubted my decision at all because I haven't. It was just a great reminder.

Ok, if I haven't lost you yet, only a few more things this post. The drive to Anchorage was great. I really enjoy driving across this amazing state. I didn't see any animals on my way down. Not a total surprise. There are a lot of animals up here but there's a lot of up here for the animals. Why are they going to come to this 15 ft strip of pavement? That said I did catch a glimpse of a black bear on my way back. As I was driving I saw about 10 cars pulled off the road. Up here that means one thing, animal sighting. And because there were so many cars, it can only mean bear. You don't get that kind of a reaction for a moose. By the time I stopped I just saw the back end of the bear as it went into the trees.

One thing I always see on the way too and from Anchorage is an Igloo. There are Igloos in Alaska. LOL A man built this one years ago to be a hotel. However, he neglected to build it to fire code. So it has never been used. It just sits there. I'm sure he'd sell it to you if you were interested.

I think that's it for now. I'll try not to take so long before I post again.

There is One More Thing

And as with my way of doing things, after a couple of posts it takes a while for me to post again. No idea why it is, it just is. It's been busy, a good busy and things have changed so much up here. The past week we've been in the 70s and we are having 18 hours of daylight now. We've been setting record temps. It is warm a few weeks too early. It could easily snow again before summer is officially here. In fact, a week ago Friday, it was SNOWING! Three days later it was in the 70s! Change happens fast up here. We were in the 40s for a few weeks, then a week in the 50s, a couple of days in the 60s and now it's the 70s. Talk about fast changing! I love it! We are supposed to cool down some next week. I don't think we have any reason to complain tho.

About two weeks ago I was hanging with Clara at home. It was about 10pm (and still light out). Clara started acting weird. She can see out one of the windows and whenever she sees another dog or an animal, she doesn't bark, she just gets this low, husky breathing going on. Well, I had the curtains closed (I put black out curtains on my windows to make it dark at night) and she was doing her husky breathing. She kept running from the front door to the back door and sniffing under the doors. She's never done this before. I figure there is an animal in the yard.

The weather had warmed up quite a bit and then cooled down again. Many of the hibernating bears had woken up and were starting to get active but the drop in temps was messing them up. I looked out my back door and I saw some fresh tracks leading to my storage shed in the back (there is no door on the shed). In my crazy mind I'm thinking a bear saw it and thought it looked like a great place to go back to sleep.

I put Clara on her leash and let her out back. She immediately ran into the trees, started looking up and barking. I saw some fresh broken branches on the ground. I'm thinking oh crap! There's a bear in a tree!! I look up and I don't see anything. No animals, no tracks. Clara finally gives up on barking at the trees and wanders around a bit. As I'm standing there I hear this noise that sounds like a crash in my shed. I turn and run back to the house, I slip on the ice on the back porch an fall off the porch, scraping up my leg pretty good. In one bound I'm back up, I grab Clara's leash and jerk her inside (poor girl) and slam the door. Keep in mind this whole series of actions took place in less than a fraction of a second! After the door shut I thought "Well that was stupid of me!!"

I really wanted/needed to know if there was something in the shed. I don't have a gun tho. Only kitchen knives. I'm about to get into a wrestling match with a hungry bear and only a kitchen knife. I got back outside (unarmed) and just listen to see if I hear anything else. Nothing. There was some scrap wood on the ground so I picked up a piece and threw it at the shed and hit it. Still nothing. No crazed bear came running out, no strange noises. I figured all was good and gave it up.

The next day after work I went down to the shed and yep, it was empty. I looked at the tracks and they were moose tracks. It had come down through the woods and came out by the shed and then walked off. Just a coincidence the tracks were near the shed. But as you can see it doesn't take much for my wonderful imagination to get the best of me.

I had another wonderful moment that some call senior moments, I call them some-timers moments. Monday I went to lunch at a place near work and used my debit card. Ate lunch, went back to work, went home. The long daylight hours and nice weather were making a bit stir crazy so I decided to go back to town, get gas and go to the store. When I got to the gas station, I opened my wallet and found that my debit card was not there. Crap!! It's been forever since I've lost my debit card. I had an initial moment of starting to freak out but it didn't happen. I looked all through the inside of my wallet in case I put it somewhere other than it's usual place but not, it wasn't there. I realized the last place I had it was at lunch, and I must have left it there. I called them and of course it was a different crew at night but there was nothing. I went home and checked my account online and all was well, no one was going on a shopping spree on my money (although the only place they could have done that would have been the dime store! lol).

The next morning I called my bank to cancel my card. The rep asked me if I needed some extra time to look for it because once I canceled it, it would take a week to get a new one and if I found my old one it could not be activated again. I told him no, I checked, it's gone. So he canceled it. Tuesday night I offered to take my friend's niece out to dinner since she would be working late. I went home after work, took care of Clara, got changed and grabbed my wallet to head out the door. But the wallet felt funny. I felt bumps in the leather. The only card in the outside pocket of my wallet s a coffee card and there is no embossing on it. I knew before I even looked. I had put my debit card in that pocket. I looked. Yup. Sure enough. Duh, there it was!! UGH!! I'm such a dork sometimes!! Oh well, I have a new one on the way.

So my old landlord saga is almost over. If you remember I moved in January. I had prepaid my rent for a year and my old landlord was holding onto my money. He was dragging his feet about paying me back. I finally pinned him down and he said he'd send me a check but the was not returning it all. I told him I needed a detailed of all he is keeping and why. When he sent me the check, the list was included and he was trying to keep almost $1,000 of my money!!! NOT!!!!! I was sooooo upset you wouldn't believe it. He was charging me for advertising, for cleaning (even though he already told me it was fine), he didn't pay me for all the heating oil, he said he had to drop to the rent to rent it out so he was charging me the difference in the rent, and the worst of all he was charging me $50/hr for six hours of "his time". He did not tell me what "his time" was. I'm sorry but I don't know anyone who would pay a bill without a detail of what that time was. I called him back, got his voice mail and left a message that went into four voicemails. I disputed every charge and why it was illegal for him to try to do what he was doing. He didn't call me back. I called him and finally got him on the phone. I was expecting him to be a total jerk but he was very meek, almost defeated. He said he'd been researching the landlord/tenant law up here and wasn't finding anything. He said he wanted to talk to a lawyer first. I told him he a week and that's it. When he finally called, he said the lawyer told him to pay me all of my money back, that he had no right to it. Oh my gosh! What a HUGE relief!! It has been a horrible experience. I hate having to fight and hound someone for what is rightfully mine to begin with. But if I hadn't, I would have been out almost $1,000. We are still disputing the amount of heating oil that was left in the tank but I have receipts from the oil company of amounts and times they delivered. The proof is on my side. It's just a matter of time for me to get the last little bit. I'm ready to have that whole experience behind me so I can forget it.

Ok, so here's the last thing I'm going to write about today. The river ice has been going out the past week and I love watching it. The ice can go out literally over night or it can take a week or more. The Chena River that goes through town emptied out pretty fast. The Chena is fed by the Tanana (not pronounced like banana) River and it's a huge river. It has had several ice jams and has been flooding a town about 40 miles from here. The jam finally broke and a lot of that ice came down the Chena. Yesterday Danielle and I hung out on the deck of a local restaurant on the Chena and watched the ice go. The Chena had ice from shore to shore. The ice kept bumping into the deck and shaking it. And it was pretty noisy as it flowed out. It ws pretty cool. Then all of a sudden, the ice was gone and the river was empty. It was weird that one hour it could be so full of ice and then the next hour, empty. It was a great afternoon, relaxing in the sun, drinking beer (that was brewed here locally), watching the ice and talking.

I lied there is one more thing...the mosquitoes are starting!! The first batch are huge, clumsy ones. Easy to kill but they are mosquitoes nonetheless.

Break Out the Shorts

Ok, don't freak out...two posts in two days! What is the world coming to?!?! :-)

It's been a hockey playoff weekend for the Fairbanks Ice Dogs. They are in first place and are playing the last place team in round one. Friday night the game didn't start until the 3rd period. They pulled it out 4-1. Last night was a much different story. They played pretty much the whole game and won 7-1. Kenai tried hard but they didn't have a chance. Game three is Friday down in Soldotna. It's the best of 5 games so that should be it.

Anyway, at the game last night, they had two guys from Ice Road Truckers on the History Channel do the ceremonial puck drop. After the first period I ran into them (not such a tough thing in a small place) and had my picture taken with them. Really nice guys. I talked to Alex (the tall one who has like 100 kids) and he's a really mellow nice guy. They are in Fairbanks to be driving the Dalton Highway, up to Prudhoe Bay, the same road I drove all last summer. We are still in winter here, especially up north so they will have plenty of winter driving to do. My hat is off to the guys who drive that road in the winter. It was fine in the summer but that's enough to me. Anyway, it was cool to run into these guys. I was shamelessly addicted to Ice Road Truckers.

I'm hauling another load of water today and I should have my holding tank pretty much topped off. The holding tank is 1500 gallons. I've been tracking it seems like I'm going through about 150 gallons a week. So if I haul every two weeks I should be fine. I had to buy a submersible pump to pump the water from the tank. It is supposed to pump 2200 gallons an hour but I have to pump it 80 feet up a slight incline so it's not that efficient for me. It takes just over an hour to empty the 350 gallons. Right now it's ok. When it's super cold, no idea. The good thing is I can hold out on a sub 40 below stretch of weather and haul after it warms a bit. Then I would just haul several loads to catch up. My folks are coming to visit this summer and I'll have my Pop see if he can help me figure out a better set up. But for now this works.

As of today we are over 14 hours of daylight. Right now it's beautiful out, clear as a bell, perfect day. We actually have a few days with highs expected to be in the 40s this week! Break out the shorts!! Woo Hoo!

I'm in a Much Better Place Now

Wow, I can't believe I didn't post anything in March. Honestly I don't even remember March. It went by so fast and I have no idea why it did. It just did. In all I guess it was a good month from what I remember of it.

It doesn't seem like anything new or exciting has been going on, just life. Life has been good. About the biggest news I know of is that I bought an old truck to haul water to my cabin. I had it delivered the first time and it's eight cents a gallon delivered. That's not really that much. It is a 900 gallon minimum delivery so it's $72 each delivery. If I haul it myself it's 1.5 cents a gallon. So the same 900 gallons only costs $13.50. When you're watching your pennies that's huge! Of course you have to figure in the original outlay for the truck and water tank, then the cost of insurance each month and I'll still be coming out ahead. The truck and tank will pay for itself in three years. Plus I can use the truck for other stuff so it's all good.

I've already had quite a bit of fun since I've had the truck. I know you can't tell but that was full of sarcasm. I have gotten it stuck in my driveway three times already!! And once, the snow was up to the bottom of the driver side window!! How in the heck did I manage that?! My driveway is long and narrow so I have to do the switch-a-roo if I want to drive the truck or the Escape. At the end of the driveway by the cabin there is enough room to park the cars side by side. But it hadn't been cleared out. So I tried and failed miserably. I got the truck stuck the first time and got out the shovel and did a lot of digging. I finally got it out and parked next to the car. Then I realized the truck should be backed in instead of pulled in. So I tried backing it out to turn it around and that's when all hell broke loose.

It kept sliding more and more off the road to the left, into the deeper snow, and there are trees all over there. Not good. It was also the side of the road with a bit of a ditch on the side and that kept pulling the truck down, and deeper into the snow. Finally, it was just buried. I was beyond frustrated and it's at points like that that I start doing stupid things. Luckily, I recognized this and I just walked away. I figured spring isn't far off, the snow will melt in a couple of weeks and I can drive the truck then. I can have them deliver water one more time. Hahah

I came to town to the coffee house and had a late and just decompressed. I was trying to figure out if I could get anyone to help me pull the truck out, would I need a tow truck or what. I finally decided that if I just dug it out that would work. So after a big I headed home and started digging. WIthin an hour I had the truck out. What a relief!! There is no way to explain this next part without a visual. Suffice it to say that my truck was pointed at the house when I drove it in and was pointing away from the house in the direction I wanted by the time it was unstuck. I have no idea how the heck that happened. I was just thankful.

Next winter this won't be an issue. I will stay up on the on the shoveling and keep it cleared out so it won't be slippery and have deep snow. I'd love to have an ATV with a plow by next winter but doubtful that will happen. That takes money and I'm light on it these days but that's ok. I had tons of money in Seattle and was miserable. I'm in a much better place now.

I guess there is one other big thing that happened. I turned 40 on Thursday. I have absolutely no problem turning 40. I'm looking forward to my 40s. I did do the where did I think I would be in life by now retrospective. Then I went over everything I have in life now and even though the two didn't match up, I realized I'm much better off this way. I'm where I want to be. There is no price tag for that.

My coworkers took me out to lunch and it was great. I have teased them mercilessly because on my first day, they didn't take me to lunch. It's been fun teasing them but now I can't because they did such a nice thing taking me to lunch. When I was working in Seattle, my coworkers made tons of money and I was lucky to get a $5 or $10 gift card to Starbucks. My coworkers here don't make much money at all but they gave me $110 in gift cards!!! What a huge difference!! That says so much about the people up here and the people I work with. They are good people.

I went to diner with the girls and a couple of other friends. The service sucked but I had a good time with everyone. Jazz (Danielle's niece) made a birthday cake for me. They bought my favorite buttercream frosting from Safeway to frost it with. It totally rocked!! I had no room for cake but I ate it anyway. It was awesome. It was a great birthday and I'm thankful I have such great friends to spend it with.

I guess that's it. Life is going along. We are up to 14 hours of daylight. Our daytime highs are in the 30s. Our snow is melting and creating a big mess outside. I'm getting very antsy to go kayaking and camping. I'm so looking forward to the summer.

Turns out I was Only 3 Minutes Late

Wow, I can't believe it's been almost a month since I last posted. Feels like it was just a week or two. Time flies when you are having fun I guess. And I am having fun, still loving it up here.

Nothing too terribly exciting has happened. I've just been settling in and dealing with trying to get money from my previous landlord. He acts like every penny he has his life depends on it. The agreement was that he would buy the heating oil back from me. That has nothing to do with the fact that I broke my lease. I turned the cabin over to him the end of January and realized he had yet to give me any money. I wish he had email so I could just email him but he doesn't. I bit the bullet and got his voice mail thankfully. I left a nice message that I was just checking. I did drive by the old cabin and it looks like he did get it rented so I mentioned that as well. I just basically asked for a time frame of when he would be sending me some money. He called the next day and I let it go to voice mail. He called right back so I figured he was wanting to talk to me and not leave a message but I still didn't answer. Turns out he left two messages, one saying he had just sent a check to partially cover the heating oil and my deposit. That really surprised me because I wasn't expecting the deposit back since I broke the lease. He also made it sound like he is going to refund me the rent I prepaid. Well that minus the time the cabin wasn't rented which was about two weeks. So hopefully I will be getting a nice chunk of change back from him. Goodness knows I need it. Anything helps right now. His second message was that while he agreed to pay for the hotel when the heater went out, he's never done that for anyone before, blah, blah, blah. He asked me to call and let him know how much the hotel was. I called him later and again, thankfully, got his voicemail. I told him how much the hotel was, thanked him for covering it and let him know that I felt it was the right thing for him to do. I mean come on, you can't expect your renter to stay in a cabin at -30 with no heater! Anyway, the drama is all coming to an end soon. I did get the first check today. I will be anxious to get the rest.

I had been without a toilet in my place. Just before I moved in the heat went out and the water in toilet tank froze and cracked the tank. My landlord told me that they could just buy a new toilet or replace the tank. They had done a lot of research and this toilet was the most efficient they had found. I told them I was fine waiting. I just a camping toilet (a bucket with a bag in it lol) and was using that. It was a step up from an outhouse no question. Well, it took forever for the tank to get here but it finally did. I'm glad I waited. It's a good system but it is so nice to finally be fully back to indoor plumbing. :-) Needles to say my mom is very happy to hear that as well.

Thursday I had one of those mornings. I woke up early and couldn't sleep. I just tossed and turned and dozed. At one point I started wondering if my alarm had gone off. In the mornings I never remember hearing my alarm and turning it off, I just know that it happened and I get up. Sometimes I freak myself out thinking that it did when it didn't. I looked at the clock and it was 7:21am, I get up at 7am!! Not good!! I immediately decided to forgo the shower because I could take one at work during lunch. I went downstairs in my pjs, shorts and a t-shirt and let Clara out. I turned the light on her collar on and could see her through the windows in the front of the cabin. She went to the back of the cabin so I went to the kitchen to watch her through that window. I got there just in time to see her take off full blast towards the front of the cabin. I went back to the front and saw her running full speed down the driveway. I ran out onto the deck and yelled but of course when she's in hot pursuit, she hears nothing. Thankfully no one was coming down the road because she ran across it without even slowing down. She proceeded to run down the neighbor's driveway. I could tell that she was chasing something but couldn't tell what. It was either a dog or a moose. No idea. I put on some mesh shoes (no socks) and took off after her. We had gotten about 4" of fresh snow that night. As I got to my neighbor's driveway, I could see the light on her collar down by their garage. Then I started hoping the neighbors didn't see me or hear me. And I really hoped they didn't come out with a gun. I snuck up to their garage and couldn't find Clara. I started freaking out about her going off into the woods. Nothing I could do but wait for her to decide to come back. Or that she was behind the neighbor's house and I was going to have to snoop around their house looking for her. As I walked past their boat I saw her just wandering around sniffing, as happily and oblivious as can be. I was so relieved and so mad at the same time. I picked her up by the nape of her neck. like a mother does with her pups, and carried her back to the cabin that way. She knew I was not a happy camper. As I walked across the road and into my driveway, I stepped off the side of the road into a snowbank knee-deep into the snow, wearing mesh shoes, no shocks and shorts. OMG I was soooooo not happy. I decided at that moment that screw it, I needed a shower and I would just be late to work. Turns out I was only 3 minutes late after all that!! I couldn't believe it. Luckily the morning was the low point of the day and the rest of the day went fine.

So you might have noticed the picture of me and Richard Simmons. He came to Fairbanks for an American Heart Association deal. I ran in to him at the gift shop at the hotel and he said hi to me and chatted a bit. Then he said "Look at you, you look so warm and cuddly" and he came up to me and rubbed his hands all over my chest and gave me a hug. I was laughing so hard. I had my friend take a picture of us. It was too funny. He's too funny. One of the most hysterical people I've ever met. He is same in person as he is on tv. I really admire him. He is who he is and he makes no excuses or apologies for it. If you have a problem with that, it's your problem. We could learn a lot from him. Oh, and while it has "warmed up" to +10 (I know it's all relative) he was wearing his short shorties!

It's gorgeous out today. Sunny and beautiful and -2 out. I love days like this. Our days are definitely getting longer. We are over 8 hrs of daylight now and still gaining about 7 minutes of light a day. Summer is still a ways off but this is a great time of year.

Here is the link to the YoutTube video of water at -40. It's a crappy video. I'll have to wait until next winter to try to get a better one. www.youtube.com/watch?v=sZ8Bs2UFRLE

I hope everyone is happy and well.

At Least it was Free

Where did January go? I can't believe the month is almost over. The year is off to a flying start no question!

After two weeks at sub -40 temps we finally warmed up. It got up into the +40s, totally crazy. It melted a lot of snow and made a general mess of the roads. After almost a week the temp dropped back down to normal. We are in store for more sub -40temps this weekend tho.

My move is now almost 100% complete. I was able to get most things moved after work and on the weekend. All I had left is couch, tv table/stand, dresser and a few minor things. Last weekend Kirk and the girls helped get the rest of the big stuff. Well, Kirk drove and the girls tried to help between their fits of laughter. I'm glad they only helped with this stuff, it would have taken five times as long to move the rest of the stuff! :-) I do appreciate their help. I hated asking but I couldn't have done it without them.

Kirk just drove because he broke his hand. He was walking out the back of the Compound down a ramp he had for Duke and he slipped and fell, jamming his hand into the ground. This was on a Friday. He didn't go to the doctor until Monday to find out that it was broken. Thankfully Missy was able to talk him into going. The sad/funny thing is that on Saturday, he walked down the ramp again, and fell, AGAIN!! Does the boy not learn from his mistakes?! ;-) Luckily the second time he fell he did not further damage his hand or break anything else.

All I have left at the old cabin is my kayak and summer tires. I'm going to swing by after work to get the kayak (if I can remember where I put the tie down straps, ugh). Oh, that reminds me, I freaking finally have my car back!!!! Three weeks later...ugh. I'm so glad and thankful to have it back. It feels like a tank compared to the Focus that Ford gave me to drive. That car drove me nuts. It slid every time I stopped and spun every time I took off. My Escape actually accelerates when I want, doesn't spin and slide, stops when I want and has good traction. Novel idea! I so realized just how good of a car it is and how good it does in the snow and ice up here. I'm so happy/thankful/relieved to have it back. And I'm glad that I didn't have to pay for a rental the whole time. That would have been about $1600!! That is insane crazy! Luckily Ford had pity on me and even though the Focus drove me nuts, at least it was free.

So my car, at only 13k miles has a new transmission. They also noticed that the brake lines were cracking so they replaced them as well. Thank you for that!! Brakes would be a good thing to have! They also installed a transmission heater and a radiator cover. Those are the only things I had to pay for. Everything else was under warranty. Whew!!

Well last week I had my bankruptcy hearing. All went well. The guy actually had a sense of humor and that helped. He kind of drilled me about real estate and what I used to do in the mortgage industry. I think he thought I might have been a real estate tycoon but that is so not the case. I finally answered his questions good enough that he realized all was copacetic. So he said no further questions and I'm done. Well, I still need to wait for the official ruling and that should be a month or so but it should go through now. I'm so anxious to be moving on from that.

Not much else to report right now. I tried getting a video of what happens to boiling water in the sub -40 temps but it didn't turn out too well. I posted it on You Tube. I'm going to see if I can put a link here on my blog. It's not a great video, it's very dark but you can get an idea of what happens. When the temp drops again this weekend I'm going to try to get another video.

She's Too Dang Cute!!

It's still cold. Big shocker. :-) We are still around the -40 temps. Good news tho, we are supposed to be "warming" up by Sunday. It will "only" be in the negative teens! That will feel like we're in the Mojave Desert!

I can't remember what all I wrote about my car but Ford is not paying for a rental car. Kirk is on the slope working right now so I asked if he minded if I could use his truck. Thankfully he said yes. I was able to return the rental and pick up the truck. I really appreciate being able to use it.

I did talk to Ford today. The transmission went out in my car. Thankfully it is being covered by the warranty so I don't have to pay for anything. WHEW!! That is a huge relief. However, it's still going to be a week or so before I get my car back. Ugh. Kirk comes back on Wednesday so I need other means of transportation by then. Thankfully I got a really nice person at the dealership who said that even though a rental is not provided by the warranty (only the extended warranty) they were going to get me one. Problem is there is a long list of people needing them. At least I'm on the list and hopefully I'll get one before Kirk comes back.

I have doubly appreciated Kirk's truck. I'm also moving to the new cabin this week. Every day after work I've been taking a load of stuff over there. It's been nice doing a little at a time. I've got the bedroom moved except the nightstands. Tonight I'm going to focus on the living room and get all the stuff that's not furniture moved. I also want to try to put my bed together in the new cabin. It depends on how worn out I am by the time I get the stuff moved tho. I'm planning to stay in the new place tomorrow night. I've been in Danielle's condo but she should be back tomorrow so hopefully I'll be set to stay there. I'm going to take tomorrow night off from moving and go to an Ice Dogs hockey game. It's been way too long since I've been to a game, I'm going through withdrawals!! But I'll get the kitchen and the rest of the stuff moved Saturday. I may have to wait until Kirk gets back from the Slope to move the couch, tv stand and my dresser. I can survive without them until then. As long as my bed is in the new place I'll be good to go!

I took the picture of Clara the other night. We have a really bad static problem here. It's so dang dry. Danielle has microfiber couches and they are terrible with static. Clara was on the couch trying to lay down when I saw her beard standing up and just started laughing. I had to get a picture of it! She's too dang cute!!

Hope the new year is starting off good for everyone.

Just When You Think it Can't Get Any Colder...

Just when you think it can't get any colder it does. I thought life changed at -40. Well it's even more different (?) at -60. The ice fog is so crazy thick right now!! But only in the populated areas. Out by my cabin it's clear as a bell. Not enough people and animals around to put enough moisture in the air to create the fog. TMI alert. For those with a weak stomach you may want to skip to the next paragraph. Yes, even in the -60 temps, I went poo in the outhouse this morning! Thankfully I came out of it in tact with all my parts in working order. Nothing froze. ;-)

So yesterday was probably the toughest day I've had in AK. A friend asked a couple of weeks ago if he could stay the night at my cabin and if I could give him a ride to Delta Junction. It's about 100 miles from Fairbanks. He offered to pay for gas. I said sure why not. His flight ended up not getting in until 1am Saturday morning. Apparently the door on the plane froze shut and it took them a bit to get it open so it took forever to get the luggage.

When I woke up yesterday morning, I took Clara in to get groomed. She was looking very bad but I didn't want her to freeze so I let her hair grow out a bit and it got too much. Anyway after I dropped her off I went back out to the cabin to pick up my friend to head to Delta. As we started off to town, my transmission started acting funny. It was shifting weird. I thought it was the fluid being really cold or something. It dropped into second gear and would not shift up or down. As I got on the Parks Hwy and headed toward town the Overdrive light started flashing. I got off the Parks Hwy at Chena Pump Road and when I got to the stop light the transmission gave up. It would not engage. Not even in reverse. Nothing. Luckily I was on the far right, relatively out of the way. I put my hazard lights on and called Ford's Roadside Assistance. It's free while under warranty. My car is an 07 with only 13k miles on it so it is still very much under warranty.

So I call Roadside Assistance. After 10 minutes of going through their prompts (you think I'm exaggerating but I'm not) I finally get a person. I tell him right off I'm stuck in an intersection, it's -50 and I need help IMMEDIATELY!! He says he has to ask questions first...UGH!! Ten minutes later (again you think I"m exaggerating) he finally gets around to asking what the problem is, do I need a tow truck, do I need the police, etc. I'm biting my tongue as I try to calmly explain the situation. He puts me on hold.

Meanwhile a car pulls up behind me and sits through three cycles of the traffic light. Finally the woman gets out and walks up to me. She asks: "Is there a problem?" "Yes, my car broke down, the transmission won't work, I can't move." "You really should indicate that to others." "Um, that what my emergency hazard lights are doing!!!" "Oh, I just thought you had them on just because." She walked off in a huff. Could she have been more clueless?!

Roadside assistance comes back on the phone. He says that apparently we are having some extreme weather or something (DUH!! What doesn't he understand about it being -50??) and that it would be 4-6 HOURS before a tow truck could get there. He asks if I want to keep the call for the tow truck or cancel it. What kind of a freaking stupid ass question is that?!?! KEEP IT!!!

Then he asks: "Have you made an appointment with the Ford dealership? Are they expecting you?" To which I reply that well, I hadn't really scheduled my car to break down so I did not have the forethought to call them to set up and emergency appointment to fix my my car so, NO THEY AREN'T EXPECTING ME!!!!!!! He advised me that I needed to call them to let them know. Fine I can do that.

I called Ford. Their service dept is closed on weekends. Of course it is. I got their Quick Lane which does oil changes and such. I told the woman what was going on she said the tow company would know the drill that I just needed to give her my keys when it was dropped off. I asked her about a loaner car. She said they didn't have any but she'd put me on the list for when one was available. I asked what I could do until then and she said I should probably rent a car. Fine. Do any of the companies direct bill Ford? Not that she knew of. Would have to submit the bill and hope they reimbursed. WHAT?!?! I told her I would appreciate it if while I waited for the tow truck that she find out what I was supposed to do. She said well I just told you what you were supposed to do. We weren't getting anywhere. I'm in a freaking intersection, it's -50, and no one seems to really care. UGH I hung up with her.

I called Danielle and she said she'd come pick us up. She gave me a roadside assistance kit for my car for Christmas. I loved it. She thought I'd think it was cheesy or stupid but the geeky bus driver in me loved it. I knew it had the reflective triangles in it so I was going to put them up behind my car and just leave it there until the tow truck came. Danielle said she'd take me to a place to get a rental car so I could get around. And then I'd be able to meet the tow truck when they worked their way to me. I was #13 on their list.

While we wait for Danielle a truck stopped right next to me and it died. They had to wait for someone to come jump start their truck. I guess this was a bad corner. Several people did stop to make sure we were ok, that we had heat and weren't freezing. Thank goodness for nice people.

Danielle got there and I cracked open my roadside kit to get the flares and I saw that there was a tow strap in there!! I felt like I had hit the lottery!!! Danielle was able to tow me out of the intersection and into a parking lot. I called the tow company to let them know where my car was. They said it would probably be only an hour until they could pick it up. Sweet!!

I went and got the rental. No four wheel drives or all wheel drives available, just a front wheel drive. Whatever, I'll take it!! Only one company had cars, one wasn't renting due to the cold weather and the others were out. I was just thankful to have a car. When I drove out of the parking lot I realized just how wonderful my Escape is!!! The car spun and barely made it out of the parking lot!! I didn't realize the roads were slick. That may sound stupid but I never slid in my Escape. I think it's a combination of the awesome Blizzak tires on it and the car itself. It is amazing up here. Today I was able to actually exchange the car for one that is all wheel drive. What a difference!!

Ok, back to the story. I went and picked up Clara from the groomer. I was going to get her after I got back from Delta but it would be too late by then and she was ready. When I got there the girl was like, you went to Delta and back already?! I told her that no, my car had broken down. She felt bad and didn't want to charge me for the grooming! How awesome is that! I told her not to worry that it was under warranty so I should be ok.

After I got back in the car, the tow company called and said they were on their way. I drove over and met them and driver was super nice. He told me I didn't need to go with him to drop it off, that he knew the routine and he would hand deliver my keys to the Quick Lane at the dealership. That was cool. After he left I called the Quick Lane and apologized to the lady for being snotty earlier. She laughed and said not to worry, she completely understood. I let her know that the car was on the way.

So next I took Clara over to Missy's. I didn't want her to be with me in case I broke down. I would feel terrible if something happened to her because of that so I dropped her off.

Backstepping a little bit, remember my friend is with me. He's kind of freaking out because he needs to get to Delta to work Sunday night. I was trying several different things to help him out. I knew of a shuttle service. The owner and I drive for one of the tour companies so I called him. He said he'd do it for $200! Yikes!! I called a cab company and they said it would be $300!! Is everyone up here an opportunist? UGH!! Then I remembered that Danielle and Sonja would be driving through Delta today on their way out to CA. I asked Danielle and she said she'd be more than willing to give him a ride. Well, he wanted to get there on Saturday. he was tired, just wanted to be there. Well, I did commit to giving him a ride so whatever. At 1pm we headed out to Delta.

When we got there he topped off my tank and that's it. He didn't offer any cash for the trip back to Fairbanks. Nor did he offer to buy me a coffee, lunch, anything. He inconvenienced me and not that I was expecting anything, he didn't even offer. I was extremely hurt and felt very used. Had I have been in his position, I would have gone the next day is it would have inconvenienced everyone the least. I would have also offered more money for gas, bought lunch, etc. But with him, nothing. To his defense it did take him 24 hrs to get up to AK. He was very tired and out of it. I'll see if he does try to offer anything after he's rested up. But I'll tell you I will not do anything to help him again. My friends are extremely pissed at him and want to give him a piece of their mind. Whatever. It's done and over. I did see six moose on the drive and it was a pretty day. The second pic I took was on the drive. It's an overlook looking out over the frozen Tanana River and the Alaska Range in the distance. The sun was setting and it was absolutely gorgeous out. (BTW it was about 3pm or so, the sun is still setting pretty early here.)

So thus ended my most challenging day yet. Today is a much better day. I got the all wheel drive car and it makes a huge difference. I'm staying at Danielle's condo while she's gone so I have indoor plumbing. :-) No more pooping in the outhouse at -62. :-)

Happy 2009

Wow!! It's 2009!! How did that happen? This is the year I turn the big 4-0. I'm really looking forward to it actually. Things aren't exactly as I expected they were going to be when I turned 40 but you know what? This is going to be better than I imagined!!

I had a GREAT Christmas. I went to Arizona to visit my folks and my brother and his family. I love my family so much. Even though we are several thousand miles apart, they are the most important thing to me. I'm sooooo lucky that the are my family. Such amazing, loving, caring, supportive people. They say you can't choose your family but if I had the choice, I'd choose mine for sure. When I was younger I'm not sure I would say that but now, absolutely!!

They all live in Northern Arizona. Not the Arizona that people tend to imagine. It's cold and snowy there. Ok so not cold like AK but for AZ, it's cold. The temps were in the 20s/30s for the most part. They had over three feet of snow!! Crazy!! The thing is that snow will melt in a couple of weeks. The snow we get in AK stays all winter. It snowed almost every day I was there. We went to Laughlin the day after Christmas as is our tradition and the roads were terrible. Solid ice for about 80 miles. We weren't in a hurry and took our time. We did see several roll over accidents and jack-knifed semi's. Definitely turns your stomach when you see that but thankfully, we were fine. We had a good time. The temp was about 65, very nice! I thought it was summer!! None of us are big gamblers. I just save my change all year long and spend that. I did pretty good. The Wheel of Fortune slots were kind to me this year! ;-)

I got so see some friends from high school while there and that was fun to catch up. Their father is from Mexico and the tradition is to make tamales for Christmas. For the past several years I go to their house and make tamales with them on Christmas Eve. It is so much fun. I look forward to that every year.

Got to spend some great time with my three year old niece and four year old nephew. They are sooooooo cute!!!! OMG my niece just owns my heart. I'd do anything for her. My nephew rocks, too. They are good kids. They are loud kids, lol. When you are used to living in a cabin by yourself, being around two kids can be kinda loud. ;-) But I wouldn't have changed any of that for the world!

As it does every year the trip flew by way too fast. Before I knew it we were heading back to the airport so I could fly back. The trip down all my flights were late and I didn't get to AZ until 2 in the morning. UGH Coming back was much better and my flights were pretty much on time. I got to come back to -40 temps. YAY! LOL

Since I've been back it's just been flippin cold!! We've been down to -50. They are saying we could see -60 as well. Yikes!! Ok, I give, it's cold. But I still LOVE it here and can't imagine living anywhere else again! I had forgotten how different your car sounds in the extreme cold. It just sounds different. And it's sluggish until the things get warmed up a bit. Even running it for 25 minutes before you go anywhere doesn't really warm it up. The other joy about the extreme cold is the flat spots you get on your tires from being parked. The first several miles are bone jarring until the tires round out again. It's pretty funny as long as you don't have a full bladder. ;-) One thing I need to get in the habit of is unplugging my car before I leave the parking space...when I got in from the airport, I backed out and headed off to pick up Clara. About half-way there I realized I forgot to unplug my car Ugh I headed back looking for my extension cord along the way. I found it half in and half out of the parking space where my car was parked. Luckily I didn't damage the cord or the plug on my car. That would have been horrible if I had damaged he plug. It means I wouldn't have been able to plug it in and it absolutely would NOT start without that in this cold weather. Whew. I dodged that one. Needless to say I've been remembering to unplug my car since. ;-)

When I was in AZ before we went anywhere I kept thinking, oh, we need to warm up the car first and we don't an auto start. That sucks, Then it would dawn on me that um, well, it was 70 degrees warmer there than in AK and we don't need to warm up the car!! It's funny what you get used to. ;-)

So my big news is that I'm moving into a different cabin. I'm going to meet my new landlord today to sign the lease and put down my deposit. From November 15-December 15 I went through 85 gallons of heating oil. That's over 2.5 gallons a day. Typical usage for a small place like mine should be 1 gallon a day. I spent $200 on heating oil that month!!! Not good, especially when you consider I keep my thermostat at 60!!!!! That is ridiculous to pay that much to keep it at only 60! The cabin is very poorly insulated. I've been looking online for the past few weeks and I found a cabin that I really like. It is going to be a stretch financially to make it work but it's a place I can see myself living in for several years. I was rebuilt last summer and is all brand new inside. Are you ready for for this? It has INDOOR plumbing!!! And a washer/dryer!! OMG are you kidding me?! The walls have 4" of rigid foam insulation. It is very well built. It's kind of quirky inside and I really like that. I was worried that the cabin was going to be in a populated area and wouldn't be as private as where I live now. As much as I want a better cabin to live in I don't want to give up my privacy. The new cabin does not have anyone on either side and is on an acre of land. I really like it there. The pic is of the cabin. You can see from the front windows that it's a bit quirky.

The landlord is soooo sweet too. I was telling her of my current situation and she felt so bad for me. She kept telling me she wasn't a slum lord and would fix anything I wanted fixed. She's so sweet. She's this tiny little lady, all of five feet nothing. I think it's going to be a really good thing. I'm definitely gong to be on a budget to make it work but it's worth it. I will also be doing some driving on the weekends so that will help out.

The other pic I took from last night. Didn't really do anything too exciting for the new year. Hung out with the girls for a bit then they went to a party. Kirk and I went to dinner and then hung out and watched a couple of Kathy Griffith shows on TV. She's freaking hi-larious. Love her!! I left at 11:30 to head back to my cabin and stopped and took the pic along the way. I was in my cabin at midnight and brought the new year with Clara and it was perfect.

I hope everyone has the best year ever. I'm looking forward to '09. Been a tough couple of years but I feel like things are changing for the better. :-)