The morning of traveling after a night of ...

 "I don't feel good. I'm freezing cold."
You have got to be kidding me.
And I don't mean the chicken. She could lay a few more eggs for me ... I mean the girl.
I really do have to work today. The Urgent Care closes before I'm home.
Will see how she feels today at school. No option to stay home.
Homework must be collected and a test to take.

The other teen traveler is off today.
"I really didn't know what time we were leaving ...." Hmph. She has a mound and a half of work to get busy on. I'm guessing we'll be spending some quiet days at the public library with our noses in school work.

Last night was a hailstorm of teen and mom for a while.
"No, you are not taking that!"
"What is wrong with it? I wore it last time and you didn't care."
"Do you have jeans packed without holes in the knees?"
"Do you have a purse I can borrow?" (Thank goodness for Alyx's closet!)
"I need a new toothbrush."
"I should probably weigh my bag." (Wonder how many shoes are in that one!)
It really wasn't a pretty thing to witness.
Some of the males around here hid in the man cave ... the others just plain escaped!

Gotta go start the car. 11 degrees out there.
Went and looked.
-11 out there. Those little - signs just sort of creep up on you!

In case you were wondering ... and even if you weren't.

6:25 a.m. Driving east along PW Highway: still too dark to see the outline of the mountains and the car thermometer reads -11.

6:47 a.m. After waiting for a bus and then driving west to fill my gas tank I turned back east along the same road. I can now see the outline of the mountain (at least part of it) and the car reads 8 above! It really is only 2 miles from the bus stop to the gas station.

Pull onto our road, which really isn't that long, and the temp starts dropping. By the time I've parked in my spot it is now down to -2. Come in the house and the temp reads -10 on the thermometer out on the porch.

Go figure!

0.2 degrees

at 8:56 pm on Tuesday.

I'm packing.
I'm ironing and packing.
I'm starching, ironing and packing.
Somedays I so wish I liked to shop.
I wish it was a hobby.
This wouldn't be such a serious problem.
This packing.

The laundry room is nearly presentable. Whew!
Denim is nearly all cut. Yes, that's what I do when I'm heading out of town.
I get downright frantic about projects.
Doesn't make any sense to me either.

The bright side.
We now have butter, eggs and toilet paper in the house.
Toilet paper has been an issue for the past few days.
Do you ever get to that point?
The point of using dinner napkins?
We didn't make it to the starched linen ones, so it really wasn't that bad.
So if you come over to visit and I don't have a napkin to serve your pulla on ...
you know why.
We used them all.

Back to packing.
Back to dishes.
Back to laundry.

I just had to hop on and make sure that flights I purchased nearly a year ago still existed.
Whew!
I would have had some mighty disappointed girls.

All I can say is Wow!

Friday evening I came home from work to find the wood master at my kitchen table drinking coffee ... with the frame propped up in the dining room.

The photos for this canvas were shot in March of 2009 and it has been waiting to hang on the wall for quite a while. Frans will have to correct me if I'm wrong, but it is actually a compilation of over ten photos taken at Hatcher Pass. I didn't know how to make stretcher bars ... and really don't think I have the tools to make a frame that this piece was worthy of.

On to Friday. These guys learned how to stretch canvas and did a mighty fine job of it.

(Note the frame is signed by the maker.)

After finding some studs and doing the measuring ... up it went.

These wall photos I took on Saturday. The sun was most definately not shining at

9:00 pm Friday evening. Soon. Not yet.

I wish I had a wall that would hold just the piece itself but I don't.

Will do some juggling on this wall, but I do like eclectic jumbles.

The completed piece measures 17" x 56" and has caused me many moments of pause.

Just to gaze at it in wonder.

It is such a combination of love and talent.

My brother Frans did the photography when he was up here on vacation.

My husband took the original wood and crafted it into an entertainment center that has been with us for a very long time. The wood he got from a dear man we have known even longer than that.

The frame made by our friend Russell, whose work we admire and appreciate.

He is so talented.

By the way, it is now Sunday morning.

Saturday included:

 * a successful trip to the outpatient clinic (if you go early enough the waiting room

    isn't full beyond cacpacity)

 * the pantry got a thorough cleaning

 * 65 cds burned rather quickly in the burn barrel, but made quite a stink

 * accidentally started following the recipe for bread instead of pulla and ended up

    making both

 * a back end of Tahoe full of charitable donations got dropped off and we only came

    out of the thrift store with 2 things ... one of which is a puzzle that Tia and I started

    putting together last evening

 * cupcakes made for this evenings coffee at church which I am on committee for (will

    see how this works, but it is President's Day tomorrow!)

 * President's Day and my kids still have school tomorrow .. they were off for MLK

    and Valentine's Day ... go figure

 * the laundry room is an absolute disaster and I will not board a plane on Wednesday

    night unless it is clean (To Do List)

 * I found Tide laundry detergent on clearance at Target

 * I also bought eggs for the first time in what seems like forever ... they certainly

    taste different than ours

 * The sky is light enough before 8 am to not need headlights

 * The temp was up to about 20 yesterday afternoon and a whopping -1 this morning

    with clean looking snow and no wind.

The ticker stopper.

This one is capable of being a mommy ticker stopper.

They all are. It just happens to be this one lately.

He just seems to find things to do that make my heart go thump. Or is thud?

After a stop for Ramen Noodles ....

  

he's off on the snowboard. I haven't been to Hatcher Pass once this winter. He's been there enough for all of us. In reality, he's working on PE credit by spending time on his snowboard and should have no problem earning it quickly. Maybe not quickly, but he's got to be almost there. 

Yesterday's text message answer to the inquiring mom went like this:

"Resting from boarding in 3 ft of pow[der] and I survived a avalanche mom ..

It was awesome!! It covered the road with 6 feet of snow!"

Voi etta!

Pitching and painting.

Lots of stuff.

Why on earth do we accumulate so much stuff and why is it so difficult

to part with so much of it?

This blow dryer went to the dear dipsy dumpster a while ago, but was one of those things. It has helped peel up flooring several times, dried paint numerous times, traveled thousands of miles around the country ... and it finally gave up the ghost.

Made me kinda sad.

Yes, we are in pitch mode over here. Big time.

I just went through my closet. That really doesn't take long if you do it often enough.

Haven't worn it in a year? It's gone to the poor soul who buys it from the nearest thrift store. Let's hope they appreciate it more than I do now. Better yet, let's hope it fits them better than me! I won't be envious.

This week it has been the pitching of big stuff. Selling it if we can, pitching it if we must.

Our used car lot.

If you don't have teens yet, just wait a little bit.

Toyota Camry is a very nice car. Sort of ran "itself" out of oil a while back. Can't find a used motor anywhere (here or abroad apparently) and it has sat here long enough.

Red VW made a serious attempt at ditch diving recently and is no longer operable.

Let's just say that even the roof of the car has a bit of a buckle in it.

Definately not going to be staying with us.

Then there is this nifty pickup. Good running thing. Just needs a clutch replaced ...

and the driver/owner won't be needing it anymore.

They are all scheduled for pickup this afternoon.

Cross your fingers. 

By the time the weather is predicted to warm up in the next few days from this -6 we're experiencing today ... we'll be ready for dump runs.

I was serious about the pitching if you didn't believe me.

We hauled a rather large entertainment center up here with us.

Jari had fashioned it from wood removed from a 1930 circa barn.

It now stands in a pile and is scheduled for pickup.

For this one I'm making a bit of a trade.

I do want a picture frame made out of some of it.

It is really beautiful stuff and will complement the canvas photo very well.

Not only are we pitching ... we're fixing.

Master bathroom is done!

New flooring, trim and paint.

Main bathroom got paint where it needed it as well.

Next on the paint list is Tia's room.

Right now my hubby has water line and heating tape stuff stretched all over the house. He's working on getting water running to someone's cabin up the road.

Me? I'm blogging for a minute. Then off to a visit at the doctor, a conference for a kiddo and you can only imagine the other things.

While you're imagining, come up with something good for me.

Pretty please.

I was feeling pretty good ...

that folks' were complaining that it was -25 in Minnesota and here we were basking in weather warm enough to have wet roads. That kind of wet that is not clean, rather leaves so much crud on your windshield that you can barely see to drive. The headlights are so mucky that you're thankful for street lights. In case you want my honest opinion it is just plain ole gross. Jari has high hopes and does things like take the truck through the car wash, only to have it look the same several hours later. I just keep wiping off the mud and wondering what color my rig use to be.

The other day we had a dusting of snow. Yipee! It is balm for my vision. Put together defroster (which sounds like a freight train) and snow and voila! You have a clean windshield! Oh the joys of appreciating the little things in life.

Now it is -9 at 8:00 in the morning. That's what I get for feeling gloaty about the weather .. and I never even posted that thought anywhere! Good day for projects. Dishwasher is running, washing machine is running, Jari is painting our bathroom and I am heading downstairs. I have a good size box down there that is empty. By the time I bring Anna to work at noon ... it will be full. It will be in the car and it will be dropped off at the local thrift store. I have a closet to clean down there today. Maybe I'll find some treasures!

End of the day update:

I never made it to the thrift store, but I did get that closet almost done. Also managed some damage in the laundry room. I did find this treasure while cleaning.
Tia was reading to me, "You know you're over the hill when you enter a store and totally forget what you came in for."
Then she got a shocked look on her face and said, "Hey, I'm not that old! I'm just blonde!"

No Saturday is complete without a run to the post office. Usually it doesn't mean anything spectacular. I pick up a lot of flat rate boxes when I get my mail. They are usually business stuff that really doesn't hold anything fun for me. Today I did a double take at the return address. I stifled the urge to rip it open right there ... and brought it home to find ...

fresh picked, home grown Arizona oranges.

Thank you so much!

They are scrumptious beyond belief.

My taste buds are seriously tingling.

Husband of the Year Award

going out to my dear hubby this evening.
He came home last evening after being gone for 4 weeks.
(I scheduled his first day for him before he even got here. :) )

Tonight he gets an award for hitting the purchase button on US Airways website.

I am going to the land of sunshine and palm trees for 2 weeks ...
with my two youngest daughters.

I'm thinking about hitting the dollar store when I land.
I'd hit one here if we had one.
I'm bringing sun glasses for all my friends.

My legs haven't seen a hint of sunshine in two years.
Capris for 2 days last summer just doesn't count.

I could just about crow!

I'll just call them Indicators.

Life is full of indicators.

Like finding out that you aren't 18 years old anymore .. and accepting it.

Getting up at 5:15 a.m. and surviving the day works much better if your head hits the pillow a bit earlier. It has been working well. Naps still exist but have become more rare, so it's early to bed and early to rise for this one. It isn't allowing me to get my book read, but it is allowing me to keep my eyes open a little better.

We managed to meet our goals this week. I think. The big things got done. Accident reports filed with the state. Some made it to school. Others made it to work. We actually ate dinner a few times. One night it was nearing 8pm, but it sure was good!

Yesterday the sun was shining. The temps was a wee bit on the chilly side in the morning and then warmed up nicely to a whopping just over 20F degrees. The sun is starting to feel like it has warmth. Or my imagination is really working overtime. Either way, we love it. It rises higher in the sky every day and soon it will be above our heads nearly constantly. The sky was light enough on Friday evening as I was coming home from work that I didn't need head lights. It is coming ... this summer that we love.

That shining sunshine yesterday made me take a deep breath and say ....

okay ... I'll wash you. There is a certain advantage to the darkness of winter. Absence of streaming light lets you live in the delusions that include the absence of dust and dirt.

  

A sad indicator of the amount of snow we've had this year. Even the icicles are miniature in size. It has been a dry winter here, while other places are getting hammered around the nation.

One of my favorite indicators around here is the door that leads from our dining room to the screened porch. The door quite obviously needs replacing, or someone practiced some serious artwork when they put it together. When the temp drops outside, the artwork appears. It is always the same. I have fields of flowers with tall stems that show up in the glass. Some pieces look like flying leaves, others like dandelions about to fly away on a breeze. They really are beautiful. I've tried many times to capture them. This time I caught one with my youngest on the phone in the background.

Then there are the indicators of time. Oh, how it flies. Before I even realize it, another week has gone. Then a month. Then a year. We seem to live by the clock and the calendar. I really don't need this abundance of clocks ... and I have more. I just love them. They never tell the same time. You have to know which clock to look at if you have a schedule to keep. The one on the left is a family treasure. It had been keeping time on Jari's parents' wall for many years before it moved to ours. It seems to have moods. Days where it decides it has kept time long enough and stops for a while. Sort of like me. 

Meanwhile, the clock on the computer is indicating that I really need to start moving. We have services this afternoon and I have a salad to put together, a shower to jump in and a closet to dig through.

In really bright news, I can quit counting scoops and ounces of Tide. Jari will be home Monday evening. Indicators around here have been showing that we really miss him at home. I baked him pulla last night at 11:00 pm.  That, my friends, is a serious indicator.

The end of a 4 day weekend ...

and it felt like I was going around in circles.

Run this one here. Pick up that one there.

In the middle of it maybe sneak off to find some other kinds of circles that are waiting for spring and work to do. They should treasure the break.

Yesterdays accomplishment. 65 cds of photos or worthless discs hit the trash. I ran 2 computers to make sure I wasn't missing something on them. All photos went to the external hard drive, which is organized by year very nicely. Still need to come up with some way to find pictures easily. This morning there are loose cds in the immediate vicinity. Now if I walk down the hall ....

Along the way I found some little treasures.

Don't they just grow up when we're busy living life? 

Evidence that Jari has always been capable of taking a nap in the middle of

everything. This particular one was taken on Thanksgiving. We had quite a giggle about it at the time. 

I must be pining for warm weather and sunshine. I kept being drawn back to the files that held photos from Lake Powell. This trip was done with just adults and no littles. 

Another trip with families. Our family treasures these memories ...

Meanwhile, mother nature has dusted us with a little white powder over nite

and the temp is a balmy 30F.