Iced Over

The last day of the month

This morning we woke at the usually hour of 6:15 am. So much for sleeping in on Saturday. I wanted to sleep until 7 am, but it just wasn't meant to be. Bob decided to just get up and read. No football today, so back to his non football season routine. I am at Saturday School.
We got more snow last night and I was a bit nervous about the drive, but the roads had been plowed. It does look like frozen tundra and I was thinking about the Ice Road Truckers this morning on my way here. Those people are crazy. It did make for a pretty drive and I took some pixs once I got here. I'll have to post them later.
After SS I am headed to the Dog. We almost have the warehouse tagged and organized, so it is time to take a look at GSII (Gift Shop 2). The stock area recently received an overhaul and now comes the organizing, which you know that I just love!!!
Then home for some Swai and a quiet evening. Tomorrow is another Sunday off and with the Super Bowl we have all sorts of yummy food planned. MJ

Ugh!

I forgot to turn the hot water heater on last night, so now I am looking at a cold shower. Ugh! Why the avalanches that force us onto diesel? Why? I don't like cold showers!!! MJ

Mother Located

Still have not spken with her, but feel better that she has not disappeared off the face of the earth. Thank goodness she blogged. MJ

Lost Girl Looking for Her Mother

Can you tell me how to get a hold of my mother?

Our first self portrait since the neckbrace came off

A few moments at the glacier

This morning after taking Bob to work I have some time before my appointment so I headed out to the glacier. It's the place I go to when I get homesick and it is a reminder for me as to why we are here. I don't know why, it just is. It cracks me up that this is "in my backyard". It is so blue right now. You can't really tell from the photo, but trust me, it is so blue. MJ

Mall Cop

Bob and I went to the preview of Mall Cop the other night. It was a hoot. We laughed and laughed. That Kevin James is so funny! It was way worth staying up past our bedtime to see it.
So we have arrived at the weekend and we are enjoying our favorite Friday night routine: pizza, Monk and Psych. It's all kinds of fun!!! Oh and doing a load of laundry!!!! MJ

This is how we roll around here . . .

Snow removal is serious stuff here. Now puny little plow trucks wanted!!!

This was the view from our deck this evening. Can you see the chains on those BIG tires? MJ

My baby has a neck again . . .

Monday, Monday

Wow, what a day!

First it started with my normal routine, get up, make coffee, turn on laptop. Then I go shower and start getting ready. Since Bob and I share a ride, I usually have an extra 1/2 hour in the morning while he gets ready for work. So I go back the the computer and dink around on there. This time of year I always check the JSD (Juneau School District) website. Most days, like today, it was just out of habit. But there it was in BIG BOLD RED letters: School Closed. What? This baffles me. So I go tell Bob that we had better leave early since the roads must be bad. Then it hits me, I should checck the date on when the site was last updated. There it was 5:43am on Friday. Somebody missed the boat on this one. It was not updated until 6:55am. Our high schools start at 7am. Now if I wouldn't have had to drive Bob to work this am, I wouldn't have checked after the first time. Lucky me.
So off to school and work we go.
Long about 1:15 the pwr goes out. It is really dark in my room at school, no outside windows! Lucky for me, after this happened in Dec, I put a little flashlight on my school keys. So I help out at the school until 2:15 when I need to go and get Bob for his dr appt. Right when I am getting ready to leave he calls to tell me that the pwr should be back on within the hour, so he should still be able to get his x-ray on his neck. Funny, that hadn't even crossed my mind. When I picked him up I started to say "Wouldn't it be ironic if . . ." "I know, I know, I've already thought about it". But it all worked out. The pwr was back on, he got his x-rays, the bone is fussed and my man has a neck again - Praise God!!!
Now for those of you who follow our blog and remember our electricity woes of last year . . . well, the pwr outage was the result of an avalanche, again. It warmed up to almost 40 and it is going to continue to be that warm for atleast a week. All the snow we got is causing flooding and snow is sliding down the mountains. We are back on diesel generators. Ugh! This time we can't shut off the heat, so we just shut off the fuses that we could and we'll make due. MJ

Warm & cozy new socks

I am finding that since I am always cold, I just love wool socks. If my feet are warm, the rest of me is warm. And these beauts came from Mom N. They are the kind that are so soft and cozy, when you rub your feet together it feels so good. MJ

Snow Day!

Yeap, even in AK we get snow days. you would think that people who live in "The Great Land" would be able to deal with snow, but we are not. This is our 3rd winter here and each year we break some kind of record. It's pretty crazy and cool. I must admit that if I am not the one driving, I love it. It is the fluffy kind of snow and it is just everywhere. I plan to go on a snow walk this afternoon so I'll snap some pics. For now, I am cleaning our guestroom and then I am going to keep scrapbooking. Yeah for unexpected days off!!! MJ

Mother

I hope that you are resting and following dr orders. I mean it.

A wee little bit o' snow

Bringing me smiles all day long.

Bob bought me this coffee mug for Christmas. I took it to work and it brings me joy all day long. MJ

Somebody's tellin' lies . . .

So do some of you all remember how I said "oh no, Southeast Alaska is warmer in the winter than the Midwest, blah, blah, blah . . . " Yeah, it's not. Today the HIGH WAS 6!!!!!!!! We are having record snow and cold, again. Hasn't this happened the last 3 winters? Oh yeah, just when we moved here. This place is lucky that it is so darn beautiful!!! Tomorrow 5 is the high! 5! Oh yeah and with the Taku Winds blowing up the channel it will feel like -22 downtown and on Douglas Island. Need I remind you were we live? Are you kidding me? Okay, deep breath in, deep breath out, relax. MJ

Welcome "back to school"

This is home the morning started:
I couldn't figure out what the deal was with my computer and why it would not connect to the internet. Duh! I have a dinosaur laptop now (my Mac crashed) and it is not wireless. Over break I put it away, so I had unplugged it. Get the picture? Duh, Duh, Duh.
A little milestone for the day: We just hit 120, 000 miles. Pretty good for us to have such low mileage as our truck turns 7 this year. That's the benefit of living in a place that is 40 miles from one end to the other.
Had a moment with my mom today when I realized that my baby brother will be 30 this year, darn it I am getting old!!! MJ

Progress

Sheri will apprciate this . . .

We (I) finally found a dimmer switch that I liked to put on the light that hangs over the bar. Now it's not so harsh on the eyes. MJ

Yeah PFD!!!

We just finished filing for our PFDs (Permanent Fund Dividend). This is the money that every Alaskan gets, it is revenue from money that is invested. Last year we each got a little over $3200. That included $1200 each to help with energy cost, but the PFD was roughly $2000. We still have to pay taxes on it, but it is so nice to have. We had planned on investing ours for retirement, but with Bob having to have surgery, it came at the perfect time. Between that and the money my school raised for us, God was continuing to watch over us and give us what we needed to get through the situation. God is good, God is great. MJ

I feel pretty, Oh so pretty

On Friday Tristan and I went for a Spa Day. It was so wonderful. I have never had a Spa Day and I am telling you that I loved it. We had manicures, pedicures (never had before), Swedish Massages (never had before) and facials (never had before). I was a little nervous about the whole massage thing, but it was so good. When I left, my shoulders rock hard. It was so good that Tristan and I decided that we would go for her bday and mine. It is good to pamper oneself. So now I have 3 things that I would want if I could afford them: a personal trainer, a chef and a Spa Day once a month. Oh to dream! MJ

Reflections of 2008

I am a firm believer in "God gives us what we need" and I continue to feel that way. 2008 has been another fun year for us, full of blessings. Yes, there have been a couple disappointments and some struggles, but with God's strength, we have made it through those. Some memories of the year (in random order and I could go on forever):



1 - Celebrating New Years' in PV, Mexico - that was sweet!

2 - Bob "celebrating our 10 year Anniversary and being able to give you sparkle". I concer.

3 - Visits from family and friends. That was so good!!! Lets do it again!!!

4 - Molly - Hiking the Chilkoot Trail. That was such an empowering trip and I am still so proud of myself.

5 - Bob and his Cervical Spine Fusion - Yicks, lets not do that again!!!

6 - Meeting the Soloman family!

7 - Working at the Red Dog Saloon.

8 - The birth of our great niece, Tristianna Renee' and the marriage of our oldest niece Carrie to Joe.

9- Another bball season and chaperoning to KTN.

10 - Bob & Uncle Phil getting pulled over by the Coast Guard in Bob's "Ocean Going Vessel".

11- Seeing so much wildlife.

12 - Joining facebook and connecting with friends.

13 - Hearing E.Tate say "No. Cuz' I have to talk to her all the time." In response to my mother asking if he would talk to me. That boy is a hoot!

14 - Gram continuing to be one of the strongest women that I know (and love, love, love!!!).

15 - Our visit from Flat Stanley

16 - Laughing with the love of my life, again and again.

Here's to believing that 2009 will be another memorable year filled with laugher and love. MJ

Happy New Year!!!