Life.... Family.... Thoughts.... Creativity....

Birthdays and Catching up....

2009-01-15T09:21:00.003-09:00

Wow, I just realized that I have not posted since 19 December 08! I have been so busy with Christmas, New Years and getting the kids back in school that I haven't had time. Now that things are getting back to normal around here I feel like I can breathe again!

We are starting to un-thaw up here in the great state of Alaska! Yesterday the Chinook blew in and warmed us up. I was listening to the water run of the roof and the snow plop on the ground. I love the Chinooks when then come in since it gives us a nice break from the sub zero temps. Here in the interior we were going on something like 14 straight days of tempuratures between -40 and -55. The paper this morning said, "The temperature at Fairbanks International Airport on Wednesday climbed above 20 degrees for the first time since Oct. 18 — a span of 87 consecutive days." That is a long time to be at -20 or colder, but what can you expect for Alaska? It's just before 10:00am and it's already 45 degrees outside! There is also a beautiful sunrise but my picture doesn't do it justice at all.

I have been laughing at the national news the last couple of days. Let me just say what a bunch of pansy people are who live on the East Coast! Hey East Coasters... want some cheese to go with your whine??? WAAAHHHH to you for having to deal with -30 or -40! BooHoo to you! I find it very funny that they get hit with it for a couple of days and that is all that they talk about. Alaskans live with it for 4-5 months. You never hear a word about it on the national news for 2 reasons. One, because we are tough and we deal with it. Two, Alaska isn't part of the United States...or so some think it isn't.

Don't get me wrong, I don't love going out to start my vehicles at -40 but life goes on, you can't stop moving up here or you will go crazy! Living in Alaska takes guts, preperation, and determination. You have to be prepared when you set out on the road. You have to take your arctic wear, you have to have supplies in your vehicles and a full tank of gas. I have my moments when I tell my husband that I am packing my S#*@ and moving to the lower 48 and that no one should have to live this way. Most of that happened last week when he was gone to work, the van was at our friends house and the truck was having issues....but that is a whole 'nother can of worms!

Enough about the weather! Today is a special day......My baby girl turned 13 today! I can't hardly believe that I have a child who is 13. I am not old enough to have a child that is 13! ;o) Where does time go? If she is lucky she will live long enough to see her 14th birthday. Man they get mouthy as they get older. My little guy is already mouthy so I can't even imagine how he is going to be as a teenager! We have a special party planned for Searra this weekend. Today she is at school and tonight she wants to have bowling alley food for dinner (dont' ask!). Tomorrow after school she is having her girlfriends over for a no-sleep slumber party. They are going to take over the basement, eat lots of junk food and play games. I am going to put in ear plugs before bed! Then on Saturday we are taking all of them Ice Skating, and a few boys from her class are going to be meeting us there. It should be a lot of fun for everyone. Saturday night we are going to watch the fireworks to celebrate Alaskas 50th Anniversary of being a part of the United States. We will probably take her to dinner or grab something on the way to watch the fireworks.

School starts back up for me next week. I am looking forward to getting this semester done and over. I will only have one semester left after this and then I will finally graduate!! It only took me 13 years to do it....but at least I will have it done! I have 4 classes this semester, one of which I am not looking forward to (accounting).

We are all counting the days to our summer vacation and our trip to Oregon to see family. It is much needed and long overdue for all of us. First we have to get our passports done so that we can get across the boarder into Canada and then back in to the US. I still can't decide if we will be taking the ferry at all, or if we will just drive the whole 2500 miles. Either way, I can't wait to get outside, see real stores and family!

Busy....Busy....Busy....

2008-12-19T11:14:00.000-09:00

I am busy, busy, busy! That about sums up my life. I have finished up another semester at UAF and am looking forward to a month off before I start all over again. I think that I only have 2 semesters left and then I can finally graduate!

I started Christmas shopping in September and thought I was done with exception to buying for Dustin. I finished all of my shopping yesterday morning, and I am very happy! I think that next year we will not buy gifts for each other and go on vacation somewhere warm. It would be really fun to take the kids to Grandma & Wappas house for Christmas and then head to California or Florida for a few days. The kids have never been to Disneyland or Disneyworld and neither have I. I don't think Dustin has been there either. I spent about 11 hours in the kitchen yesterday finishing up cookies, and candy so that they would be ready for Dustin to take to work with him.

I have been trying to create a lot of wonderful memories this year for my children and make new traditions. It's difficult to be so far away from family during the holidays but there is no choice but to press on. Every year I make a lot of homemade holiday goodies that I share with friends and family. I really like to make Gingerbread cookies and Tanner loves to eat them. So to start a new holiday tradition I decided that it would be fun for each of the kids to decorate their own Gingerbread house. You can buy the do-it-yourself kits but I find them repulsive and refuse to use them. I have a wonderful recipe for gingerbread that came out of the Betty Crocker Cookie Book. Last year I bought a gingerbread house cookie cutter set but have yet to use it and don't think I ever will. I found a website that has a great cookie house pattern that you can print out for free, you can find it here: www.kingarthurflour.com. So I printed the patterns out, cut them out, traced them to chipboard and cut them out again. I made one pattern for the standard size house and then I shrunk the second pattern down a little so that the kids houses wouldn't be as big. I cut out 4 small houses and 1 standard size house, and baked them. My goal this weekend is to get the houses cemented together and ready to decorate on Tuesday. We are going to work on them together, and make it a fun day! I will make sure to take a lot of pictures and post about the event.

We took the kids to see Santa and Mrs Claus the other day. Tanner had colored some pictures for Santa, he was really excited to show him. My kids think it's awesome that they get to see the REAL Santa & Mrs. Claus at the North Pole.

Christmas will be here very soon and the kids are getting so excited. Quite frankly so am I! I can't wait to wake up on Christmas morning, make breakfast for the family and watch the kids squirm while they wait to open presents. I am making a wonderful dinner of Prime Rib, baked potatoes, and homemade rolls. It will be a Christmas to remember!

Stew....better then Potpourri

2008-12-06T23:51:00.009-09:00

I have been slacking a little and haven't posted for awhile. I decided I would make this post a recap of the last however many days since my last post. I am going to call it STEW instead of Potpourri.

The saturday following Thanksgiving we had friends from Dustin's work over for dinner. It was a lot of fun, great food, and great company. I made a homemade chocolate pie from scratch the night before. It was my first attempt at ever making a pie! I can't believe that I haven't ever made a pie before, probably because I don't really like them. My mom, grandma and sister always made really good pies so I guess I never had too. I took a picture of it because it turned out so pretty. I should have probably made two pies since this one went really fast! It was a big hit with the kids...all of them!

I put the Christmas tree up on Sunday and fought with the lights for about 2 hours! They were being a pain in the rear, so I gave up and just left them alone. I couldn't get them to look the way I wanted them too. I have two strands that blink and to that stay still. Right now I only have 1/2 of one strand blinking! GRRRRR! The kids had a great time putting their ornaments on the tree. Tanner couldn't understand why Searra had more to put on than he did. I explained to him about 4 times that since Searra has been around longer than he has she has more ornaments.

On Tuesday night we took the kids to Santa Claus House to visit Santa & Mrs. Claus. I figured that since it's December they would be there everyday. Nope, they are off on Mondays & Tuesdays! So the kids got to pick out their 2008 Christmas tree ornament. Tanner picked out a snowmachine (snowmobile for those from the lower 48... you can't call them a snowmobile in Alaska, you get looked at like you are stupid), Searra picked out a snowboarder and Caitlynn picked out a Karate bear. I bought a couple things for the tree while we were there. I found a really cute sign and thought it would be a funny touch for the house.

I finally got my paper done on Tuesday or Wednesday, and it's a good thing since it was due Friday! School is almost done for this semester and I am looking forward to a break. I have already picked out my classes, I just have to remember to get registered! I only have two semesters left...WooHoo!

Friday Tanner and I went to pick Caitlynn up from school. When I got out of the truck I must have been on a slant because I started slipping. I fell against the truck and bruised the heck out of my elbow and my butt. The pictures don't do the bruising justice, it's really a lot worse then it looks!

I am looking forward to the next couple of weeks. There is still Christmas shopping to be done for Dustin. I know what I want to get him, I just have to be able to find it! All the kids are done and have been for awhile now. I have most everything boxed up to send to family and my Christmas card writing is about halfway done. I should be able to get everything finished this week! Then I can relax and watch some of the great Christmas shows on t.v.!

Well, that about covers what has happened in the last week or so. Not too exciting!

Happy Thanksgiving!

2008-11-27T21:15:00.004-09:00

Well Thanksgiving is almost over...Yahhhhh! I love Thanksgiving and all the wonderful food but I feel so tired and stuffed! ZZzzzzzzZZZzzzzz.... I ate way too much and way too much of the stuff that I wasn't suppose to eat! This is the wrong time of the year to be trying to lose weight. I have done really well though. I am down 25 lbs, and only have about 50 more to go!

I didn't really do much today. I made rolls this morning to take to my dear friend Sara's house for dinner. I helped her cook a little when I got there and then I helped her clean up as best as I could. It's really hard to clean up someones kitchen when you have no clue where anything goes or how they want it. She is a wonderful cook and a wonderful friend. I feel so blessed to have met her and to have her in my life! Her husband and kids are just as wonderful as she is as well.

The kids and I got home about 7:30 and I was ready to get my pj's on. We all pretty much flaked out on the couches and watched some t.v. until the kids started fighting over what we were watching. I ended up sending the girls downstairs to watch a movie and Tanner is laying on the couch watching Wall-E.

The first thing the kids asked me when we got home tonight was when we were going to put up the Christmas tree! What? I haven't even thought about that and truly it's the last thing on my mind right now! I have been putting off writing a 5 to 7 page paper for one of my classes and it's due on the 5th of December! Maybe I should get serious about writting the dumb thing! I do know what I want to say in it, but I am not sure how to start it and how to end it. Why am I going to school? Could someone please remind me...I don't remember! I am hoping that on Sunday I can lock myself in my bedroom and get my paper done. The whole concept of the paper is pretty stupid. We are suppose to write about the customer service of a local company. We are suppose to interview management and other employees, talk to customers, or whatever. I took the easy way out and chose to write mine on the last company that I worked for.

Saturday we are having our family Thanksgiving dinner here with friends from Dustin's work, and possibly a few others we invited to come. There will be around 18-20 of us and I am so thankful that I am not cooking all the food for this get together! I will be making the mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, corn, rolls, cranberry sauce, pickle/olive platter and a chocolate pie. The friends that are coming are going to make the turkey, a ham, salads, deserts, and green bean casserole. I still haven't figured out where we are all going to sit, but I will before Saturday afternoon!

I really miss the Thanksgiving dinners that I had with my parents and my grandparents! The holiday season feels so empty to me since my Grandma died and we all stopped getting together with the extended family. Even though we didn't see eye to eye on many issues they were still family and I still loved being around them. I remember when my cousins and I would put on the dress up clothes my Grammy had in the attic. We would parade through the house and then head outside. She had a tree in her yard that had huge leaves on it and they would be covering the lawn. We would rake them around until we had created the floor plan of a house and then we would "live" in it! It was so fun! The last Thanksgiving that I spent with my Grandma was precious to me and I will never forget it.....I miss her so much!

I hate being so far away from my parents too. My mom spent this Thanksgiving at home without any of her kids there...I don't think she has ever done that before! She did spend one Thanksgiving on an airplane on her way back home from visiting me though. I wanted so badly to spend Thanksgiving with her today! I wish I could spend every holiday with my entire family, but I know that it's only possible if you live really close. Maybe someday I will get to share those special times with them again. Right now I have my kids and occasionally my husband to keep me company and share the holidays with me. I am so very thankful for them! I try to always remember that no matter how far away from your family you are, you aren't really that far away in their hearts!

WooHoo!!! I fixed it...I fixed it!!

2008-11-20T08:23:00.003-09:00

I decided to try to hook up the wireless internet in the house again so that I could use the kids computer downstairs to download the Quickutz files that I wanted. Tuesday night Tanner and I packed all the boxes out from under the stairs that Dustin had so nicely put under there. I was looking for the box that was labeled 'Computer Stuff.' We had all but 3 boxes moved out and there it was, the box I needed....way in the very back. Of course I had to call Dustin at work and tell him that he was very funny putting the box I needed at the very back and way down under the stairs! He just laughed because he knew I was trying to raz him. I made sure to put the boxes that we wouldn't need, like all the boxes I have from Grandmas house way in the back and ones we might need within reach. That is how it should have been done the first time...DUSTIN! ;o)

About this time last year the laptop just stopped connecting to the internet and I couldn't figure out why. I bought the computer in the spring of 2005 so it wasn't that old. I had taken it into Geek City to see if they could tell me what was wrong with it. Some technician there played around with it for a few minutes and then told me that I would have to replace the motherboard in order to connect to the internet again. WHAT???? I was floored considering that a new motherboard can cost almost as much if not more than a new computer! I didn't want to shell out the money to get it fixed at the time so I took it home and put it away.

Last night while the kids were eating and doing their chores I decided to hook up the main computer to the wireless network. Once I was done with that I had a connection I went to dig the laptop out of the closet. I uninstalled the wireless card software and reinstalled it. Then I stuck the wireless card in the slot and Voila! I had internet connection again! No need to replace the motherboard after! Stupid people at Geek City have no idea what they were talking about! So now my laptop works again...WooHoo! Now if I can get Searra's computer to connect to the wireless network I would be doing really good. I did hook up the kids computer to the internet too so now they will be able to chat with friends and family again.

So right now I am trying to update all the stuff that needs to be updated on the laptop. Then I will be able to download the QuicKutz files that I want and use my laptop downstairs in my craft area! I am so proud of myself!

Time....It doesn't have to be boring!

2008-11-17T15:45:00.007-09:00

This morning I was down stairs actually playing with paper, not just hanging out with the kids or doing laundry! I knew that I had to leave at noon to pick up Tanner, so I kept having to go into the play room to check the clock on the cable box to see what time it was. After I picked up Tanner we headed to the store to look for Moon Sand, of course the BX doesn't carry it anymore. On our way to the cash register I happened to walk by some wall clocks, one jumped off the shelf and right into my basket! I couldn't believe it!

After Tanner and I got home and we were all settled I decided to tear apart the clock that just had to come home with me. It was so boring and needed a personality adjustment. Most scrapbook or craft catalogs sell blank clocks so that you can alter it to your personal taste, but I didn't want to fork over $30.00 for one. I paid around $7.00 for mine and I love the way it turned out!

Supplies used: Basic Grey Blush Be Mine Paper, Basic Grey Wholy Cow Rubons-Flourish, Making Memories Rubons-Numbers, compass, Duck Brand Acid Free Adhesive, Glue Dots. Flowers and Dragon Fly came off a card that Lynn sent to me.

The Flowers and Dragon Fly came off a card that my dear friend Lynn sent me one time. I hate to toss away cards from friends and family. I saw it sitting there and thought this would be a great way to always remember my friend...not that I can forget her!

So, now I have a clock to hang over my scrapbook table . I will always know what time it is and will always think of my wonderful friend Lynn who is far away, but always close at heart. I am thinking of buying a few more clocks like this one to alter for Christmas gifts. I am thinking that my girls and my niece might like them for their rooms. When I showed the finished clock to Tanner he said that he wanted a boy one, so he might get one too.

GRRRR QuicKutz!

2008-11-15T22:32:00.002-09:00

I finally bought the QuicKutz Silhouette the other day and I was so excited to play with it. I sat down at my brand new HP computer to load the software and the driver would not install. I uninstalled the software and then reinstalled it. It didn't help! I uninstalled the software again and turned off my Norton software to see if it was causing an issue. Then I tried to install it again thinking that the 3rd time might be the charm. NOT!!! I got on the QuicKutz website and did some searching and low and behold...QuicKutz is not compatible with 64-bit operating systems! My brand new, super fast computer and expensive computer can't run the QuicKutz software. The QK website says that they are working on getting software for 64-bit systems but that it won't be until the end of January 2009! I decided to look at the box tonight to see if I missed the part where it doesn't work with 64-bit operating systems. There is nothing on the box that says anything about what size of operating system it's compatible with! GRRRRRRRRRRRR! So right now I have a $400+ die cutter sitting here not doing anything!

I have two other computers in the house, one that can connect to the internet but doesn't have the wireless hooked up to it and one that the motherboard needs to be replaced on so it can connect to the internet. Both of those systems are 32-bit and would be able to support the QuicKutz program. So tomorrow I am going to go through all the boxes I have packed up under the stairs to find all the wireless components so that I can set up the kids computer for internet use. Then maybe I can play with my new toy!

Wrappin' up the week

2008-11-15T10:18:00.005-09:00

Friday morning Dustin and I had breakfast at one of our favorite resturants. The food there is so yummy, but I could hardly eat any of it since I just don't have an appitite anymore. It was really nice to be able to sit and talk without the kids running around or jumping into the middle of our conversation.

After breakfast we went to pick up the van from the repair shop. I was really happy that it was fixed and it didn't cost us a fortune! The transmission line "blew off" as the technician stated on the work order. It was pretty simple to fix but they also had to replace the vans air filter since it was soaked with tranny fluid. I still need to take the van to the car wash so I can clean up the rest of the mess.

I helped out a friend yesterday afternoon. She ownes an online scrapbook store and sells really awesome kits that she ships all over the world. I helped her finish assembling the kits so she can ship them out this weekend.

When I got home yesterday afternoon my boys surprised me with beautiful roses! Tanner handed them to me and gave me a big hug. It was so sweet and I felt so important! My family is the greatest and I am so lucky to have them! We had a quite night at home, just watching some t.v. and hanging out with the kids. It was a nice end to a crazy week!

Why Me???

2008-11-11T21:36:00.007-09:00

Today started off to be a great day. I managed to get up before 6 am, take a shower and get ready before the kids woke up. I then went downstairs to check the weather, and then went back upstairs to wake up the kids. When everyone was dressed that needed some assistance I went back downstairs to make lunches and start the van. At 7:30 we were out the door, dropped Searra off at school, and then I took Caitlynn and Tanner to school. Once that was over I headed back home for half an hour. I headed to town, saw the doctor and was at Wal-Mart by 9:45. After Wal-mart I went to JoAnns and then headed home. I made a pit stop at Taco Bell, craven' a Beef Taquito. I'm almost back to the base, pulled up to intersection to head under the overpass and the van starts jerkin'. My first thought is that the roads are a little slippery so I slowed down a little. That didn't help and when I push on the gas I wasn't getting any response either. I pull up to the gate to show my I.D. and then the van decided that it didn't want to move at all. The guard at the gate told me that it looked like I was leaking tranny fluid...........THIRD TIME THIS YEAR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

AUGHHHHHHHHHHH! So I finally get the van to kinda roll off to the side and out of the way. I jump out and see the mess that is all over the front of the van, the ground and all the way back to the guard shack. I call Dustin who is gone to work and won't be back until Wednesday night, but he is gone to lunch. Great! It's now 11:10 am and I have to pick up Tanner at 12:20. So I am sitting just inside the base and it's a good 3 or 4 miles to my house from there. I called one tow company and he said it would be 2 or 3 hours but he told me to call another company in town. I quickly called him while my other line is beeping like a mad woman! The new company said they would be to the base in about 30 minutes so that was taken care of. I call my friend Sara (I love her to death), but I only got her voice mail so I left a message. At some point a guy pulls up to me with Wyoming plates on his truck and says, " Do you know you are leaking tranny fluid?" NO? REALLY??? ARE YOU KIDDING ME? I am sitting here with my hazards on for the hell of it!! I called Dustin to let him know what was going on and all he can talk about is that it's Sears fault that they didn't fix it right the first and second time. I really don't want to hear that right now, I want to figure out how I am going to pick up Tanner by 12:20 and I don't have anyone else to call. (The biggest reason why I hate living in Alaska, no family to help you out!) Dustin always talks about all the help we have up here but the only thing is...the help goes to work when he does so there isn't really any help! DUHHHH! Anyway I told him that I would let him know what happens. While I was on the phone with Tanner's school, Sara left me a message. I called her and she said she would be there in a few minutes to pick me up and take me to get the boy. The base fire department showed up to clean up my "hazardous waste" that was making the dirty white show a wine color. The tow truck got to the base just ahead of Sara, he loaded it up and took it away. GOOD RIDDENS! I made it to the school about 8 minutes late and Tanner was in the office where they said they would have him sit until I could get there. Now I have to wait until tomorrow or Thursday to find out what is wrong with the van this time. I am just happy that it's paid off and if they can't fix it then I can get something different!

Stay tuned for tomorrows post when I tell about walking Tanner and Caitlynn to school in the dark at what ever temperature it happens to be! Should be fun!

The sun does actually shine in the winter!

2008-11-10T09:54:00.009-09:00

It's 10:00 am here in Alaska and the sun is peeking out from behind the clouds enough to highlight the trees and make it look beautiful outside. I just stepped outside to take the pictures that are post here. Right now it 1 above outside and according to Wunderground it could be between 10 & 30 above today. That would be really nice for the kids when they head out for recess. They still go out side until it hits 20 below zero, then they get to stay inside. Alaska kids are tough, we are all tough and you really do get use to living with the negative temps. The sun rise was at 9:07 am and will set at 3:56 pm giving us 6 hrs 49 min of day light. Tomarrow we lose 6 min 31 sec of daylight. Winter solstice this year will be December 21st, the shortest day of the year for us. Then on the 22nd we start gaining day light until we hit the summer solstice on June 20th, 2009, the longest day of the year. It's always comical to listen to people who talk about Alaska, how it's so dark during the winter and you never see the sun. Then come to find out they haven't acutally been to Alaska! There are so many misconceptions about the amount of light and darkness that we get. If you go to Barrow then yes, you will have more dark hours then we do in the Interior. You really have to experience it to understand exactly how it is, and honestly it's not that bad! I know that I sleep just as good in the summer time when it's light outside at 2 am as I do when it's dark in the winter. The summers are a little rougher on the kids since it's hard to explain to a 5 year old why the sun never goes down, and that he has to go to bed even though he could be outside playing at 4 am. Anyway...I just thought I would share a little bit of what it's like to live here during the winter months.

Oh, that is another thing...the seasons up here are not like they are in other parts of the United States. Our winters start about mid to late September and last until mid to late May. It has even been known to snow in June and July if the weather conditions are just right. So winters in Alaska are about 8-9 months long, depending on where you live. We have about 2-3 weeks of fall which really bothers me. I enjoy looking at the leaves as they change colors, but here it seems to happen over night. The spring comes and goes just as fast as fall does. Summer is only about 3 months long, unless you have a summer like we did this year. It rained the majority of it and it didn't get very warm. I believe the high temp this summer at my house was 75. It's been known to get as hot as 90.

So when you are sitting at your house and you feel like you are going to freeze to death, just think of me way up in Alaska. If I can handle 50 below then you can handle whatever the temp is in your part of the world! :o)

My Creative Space

2008-11-09T22:14:00.009-09:00

Back in April I had packed up all my scrapbooking and sewing stuff to make a space for family that would be staying with us throughout the summer. I thought that they might be more comfortable in the basement where they could relax and have some privacy when they wanted it. After everyone left I was a little down and didn't like looking at the empty bed sitting there so I decided it was time to get rid of it. To fill the empty space I decide to unpack all my scrapbooking stuff and my sewing stuff.

Dustin and I had torn down all the wire shelves that had been put up by another

family that lived in the unit before we did. Once we removed them there were a lot of holes left in the walls so I spent about an hour filling all of them in. When the spackling was dry, I got to start painting the walls, I love to paint! The color really made it look a lot more cozy down there, I should have painted before family got there! Once all the painting was complete I had to figure out where I wanted to put all my stuff. We have our 6 drawer chest in the basement since we don't have room in our bedroom for it. I decided it stick it in the corner and set some of my stuff on top of it. I put my white cupboard in the corner this time and then placed my scrap table along the wall. I found a shelf and Michael's and a funny wall rub-on at JoAnn's. The wall says, "If it;s not yours, don't touch it!" It's suppose to be a reminder for the kids that they are suppose to stay out of moms stuff, but it doesn't always help!

Organizing all of my scrapbook stuff is a work in progress. Someday I will have it all where I want it, but then it will be time to move and I will have to pack it all up again! I like my scrap table the way it is, but there has to be some better storage options for my tools and such. I have seen a couple really cute ways that you can hang up a lot of your embellishment packages so that they are easy to find. I am looking at the Karen Foster Hook Nook setup, but I am not sure how well they work since its all plastic. Right now my scrapbook paper is just sitting in the top section of the white cupboard. I don't know how else to store it so that it doesn't get dusty and dirty. Everything else is just pretty much tossed in there in no particular order. It makes it pretty hard to find what you are looking for when you have to dig through everything. I need some major ideas for storing a lot of what I have in there. I used the little hooks from Scotch that have the tabs you can easily remove to hang stuff on the inside of my cupboard doors.

My sewing area isn't much but it doesn't really have to be. I found this great little table sitting outside of a dumpster and took it home with me. It's really nice to have my sewing machine in a permenant place so I am not having to drag it out and take it upstairs to the kitchen table to sew. All my fabric is in plastic totes, I didn't know what else to do with it, but atleast its easy to see what I have now! Someday I would like to have a craft room where I can go in and close the door behind me. Right now I share my space with the treadmill, weight bench and the laundry area. The kids playroom is on the other side of the wall that my scrap table is one as well. I am not very often alone downstairs, but that is okay too! I can't complain about what I have, I love it!

Why I decided to blog again...

2008-11-09T13:29:00.006-09:00

I started a blog in October 2005 when I moved to Alaska from Idaho. It only lasted about 4 or 5 months until I decided that no one wanted to list to me ramble on. In the last year I have had to do 2 seperate blogs for college and since I am done with those I decided to blog about fun stuff.

I got a friend request on Facebook & MySpace from a friend I had in Idaho. She had a link to her blog (thanks Jennifer!) and of course I had to check it out. It was so great to see all the creative stuff that she has been doing. I don't get to do much scrapbooking, card making or sewing lately since I have been busy with school, kids and the kids school. I did however, feel inspired by her to start blogging again. I am not really sure what I will be sharing. It will most likely be day to day life in Alaska, the kids, hopefully some of my hobbies and my crazy husband! Whatever it happens to be, I hope you find it suitable to read.

Please leave comments if you get a chance and you actually know who I am.