Life at our house this week

I should go run around with the camera so I can show you what is happening here right now. It is 8:27 pm on Thursday evening. My four (yup, all of them!) have been sleeping since I got home from work. Anna was up long enough to tell me she didn't like halibut ... and skittered off to her room.

They are crashed.

One on the couch.
Another on the comfy living room chair.
Yet another on the floor.
Only one in her bed.

I really did try to wake them up for dinner. Several of them looked at me through one open eye. One even rolled over. None of them woke up.

Any guess at how much homework they have that needs to get done this evening? Yikes! I don't want to think about it. At all.

I really should go wake them up. But ... it's so quiet here. :)

And I'm rather envious. I think I yawned my way through half the day at work. This 5:15 a.m. stuff is catching up with me as well. There is a bright side to my world at that time of morning tho'. I'm not hustling out the door. I'm sitting at the computer. Happy as a pig in mud. I'm back to scrapbooking digitally. Have another year to get caught up on. It's great.

Now ... I'm really going to go wake them up.

I got it!

Jari went to AT&T the other night and got my phone switched back to where I can now send pictures from it. How frustrating! My new phone has all these wonderful photo bells and whistles and I was unable to share them with anyone or do anything with them. Was really wondering what the point of all the whistles was!

Now I got it! Haven't played with the photos on the phone ... just sent them here to share with you. This was my first time seeing this dip netting thing. Essentially, you just stand in the water or on the edge of the creek ... and hold your net. Then you pray that a fish will dodge the hundred other nets and somehow think your net is the most appealing. I don't know if these will show up large if you click on them. I've not downsized them at all ... we might get lucky. There were folks parked in the creek on camping chairs. Notice the older people on the right sitting down? The hubbies were in the creek with the nets ... the ladies pouring over magazines on the bank. Too fun.


This is looking downstream ... about a 10 minute walk to the mouth of the river. Believe it or not, once in a while a fish would get stuck in a net. Rarely, it was one that could be kept. We watched one poor fish get convinced to swim again. It looked like it had been in every net along the way. It had given up and was simply tuckered out.

The waiting game ...

Meanwhile ... we all had a good time!

School day #2

Day 2 of the new school year ... and I'm still managing to wake up. Thank goodness. 5:15 is a bit early in the day ... even for me who loves mornings. First day of school went well.

• Anna went to high school this year and found her classes (thanks to everyone who helped her out)
• Brock is going to a different school this year ... and found that the lunch line takes 30 minutes to navigate. Time to bring your own.
• Tia is the only one left in Middle School this year. How did this happen? 1 in college and 3 in high school. She'll do fabulous. Day #1 homework was done. We're on a roll. Let's hope we can stay there!
• Alyx starts her last year in High School. I remember the itch of senior year. Ready to be DONE. I was not a studious student ... by any stretch of the imagination. It will be a busy year for Miss Alyx.
• The mother of these kids did not do those cute little "going to school pictures" that I see other places. Her kids haven't posed for those things in years. And yesterday the mom was gone before the kids. No chance to even sneak such a photo. (especially when I would have needed a flash to sneak it with ... no bright streaming sunlight here at 6:30 in the morning at this time of year)
• We took the 2nd trip out for school supplies last night. How many binders can one household use? And where did last years binders go? They were so well used that they no longer exist. I hope we're done with the school supply aisle for a little while.
• Next ... start Christmas shopping?

I have one tomato turning red in the greenhouse. Can you believe it? ONE! I bought 4 tomato plants from the FFA plant sale. They weren't pricey ... but there are 4 of them. Last year I bought 2 Topsy Turvy planters and ordered them online. WalMart wasn't selling them last year. I think the price tag rang in at somewhere around $24.95. Then I added potting soil ... and mind you, I'm a Miracle Grow girl.

All for one tomato ... one CHERRY tomato. Others are finally cropping up and growing. I don't know how large they're going to grow ... but I see them! Almost makes me want to count.

And this bugger that I took a picture of just for you. I thought people planted marigolds to ward of pesky critters in their gardens. I planted mine in a container just for fun. The plants outside are nearly done growing and producing ... and the Protecter Plant ... is still working on blooming! It is well over knee high .. might be waist high on a shorter person. Could nearly be a corn stalk on an even shorter sort! I do have one that bloomed and the blossoms are huge. Massive. This one ... makes me think of a sponge that is about to bust out of it's wrapping.

Must be morning. Child #3 (not necessarily in birth order here) is out of bed. I heard one cranky comment just now ... reminds us we're living ... not sleep walking!

Have I been here lately?

Doesn't feel like it.

Jari came home Wednesday evening.
Guess what I came home to on Thursday?
That red glow in the stove isn't photoshopped. It was real. He lit the first fire of the season. :)
Not that the house needed it, mind you. Just that it was fun to do. Felt downright cozy.

Friday evening we took the kids out to dinner .. thanks to the guy Jari did the job for. Gave him a check with a letter that, in essence, said "Thanks for a job well done ... take your family out to dinner on me." Yummy! We went to the Noisy Goose. Fun to go anywhere but your own kitchen.

The kids declined the fishing holes, so Jari and I went. Stopped at Tail Race and then went to Jim's Creek. Why didn't we bring waders along? Beats me. Was raining ... no waders ... didn't do any fishing. Fun to see places tho'.

Saturday I took my nose out of the book and actually went to Costco. That's a big one for me. I dont' like going to Anchorage and go as seldom as I can get away with it. Just some of life along the way. We're getting our own stoplight. Construction has been going on forever (feels like) and they still aren't done painting stripes or arrows. Will see when the lights are turned on.

On to the glass buildings with cloud reflections in town ....

where we also appreciated the fact that one can still see lines on the pavement. Won't be long and we'll be guessing how many lanes there are really suppose to be.

Alyx was working and the rest of the kids went to HAPs ... Jari and I took the waders and poles and headed to Tail Race. Met Ross & Denise (with Ingrid on her first fish smelling expedition) and Mark & Jenna there. Yippee!!! I got to try! Didn't catch anything but some weeds ... but that's besides the point. I finally got to cast a line in the water!

Beauty ... fog rolling in on the water ... occasional silver salmon being caught ... awesome!

School supplies are bought. 4,860 pieces of paper ... 240 pencils ... and nothing off the supply lists yet. Guess what we get to do this week?! More trips to Target ... still another trip to Target ... maybe we'll do Walmart on the 3rd trip.

Thursday evening .. 4 days 'til school starts!

School clothes are ready ... except maybe some more socks.

I haven't purchased one pencil.
I haven't purchased one piece of paper.
Not one binder.
Not one calculator.
Not one folder.

You get the idea.

I can't seem to remember to pick up the Sunday paper in order to peruse the ads ... and I quit getting the paper quite a while ago. Got caught in the budget cuts around here. :) I always end up making multiple trips once the supply lists trickle in. May as well do one bang up job sometime next week and just be done with it all.

Went to Tia's open house tonite. No class schedule available. The algebra class was cancelled. Hello?? The math teacher is not impressed and is fighting to get it back. By Monday ... maybe there will be a schedule. Got the locker opened. Have the list of teachers. Found their rooms. Let's hope and pray that I can stick to the homework this year ... and may my children do a better job at it than I do! Nope ... I'm not ready for this part of winter.

Went to check on tomato plants after getting home today. They're sprouting little critters. Am probably going to have to start heating the greenhouse at some point here. I would really, really, really like at least one RED tomato. I don't even like tomatoes ... that's beside the point.

So while I went to check the tomatoes I notice that the pesky moose were back. They've chowed down the entire broccoli patch. Thank goodness I picked oodles of it at the U-Pick Farm. Wouldn't have gotten a thing out of my garden here.

What do you think they'll pick tomorrow? Will it be beans, peas, potatoes, zucchini or pumpkins? Was complaining at work today about the pesky eaters and had to chuckle at someone's response. He would love to shoot the moose. Maybe I looked a little shocked. I would love a freezer full of moose ... but probably not shot in my yard. We both decided that having a half dead moose traveling to the neighbors to pass on would not benefit the freezer in the least. I'll let you know what the devour tomorrow. Wish they'd just mow the lawn for me.

Fred flies in tonite. He's heading off toward Seward tomorrow and a halibut charter on Saturday. Wishing we were going along. Would certainly be a good time! Ken & Kari fly in sometime tomorrow and am looking forward to seeing them sometime in the next week while they're here. Fun faces ... great visits ... coming right up!

So we head into another weekend. Hmmm.

I really want to go fishing. Silvers are running .... calling my name ... I hope!

The Moose are back

I slept in this morning ... if you can call it that! I set the alarm for the ridiculous hour of the morning that will be yelping my name come Monday. And then hit the off button. Did a great job of it too! Have a few quick minutes before I need to get ready for work. Probably should quit taking that 30 minute nap after dinner ... keeps me from sleeping at night. Frustrating!

Bronte was patiently waiting for the moose to make an appearance over the weekend. They've been absent for months. Either we've been gone as they tromp through or they've been tromping elsewhere. Anna said she walked out the door yesterday to find Mom Moose and 2 babies standing there. Yikes! It was a bit of a surprise! My garden has been safe from them for months.

Not anymore. Looks like they are great fans of broccoli ... not of green beans.

New growth on trees is a favorite as well. The tops of the little trees are chewed off. The little trees need to be all the way chewed off. Do you s'pose if I hung a sign on the trees that they would do the rest of the job for me?

They must not like potatoes either. They chomped down the broccoli sitting right next to the potato plants ... left these alone. And miracle of miracles ... the greenhouse door was open ... and they left it alone!

The Annas and Tia went over to Jolene's for a sleepover last night. Wonder if Jolene got any sleep at all! I have Tait over here for the night. The boys were busy riding go-peds and doing boy things. :) They must have been hungry sometime last night as well. The waffle iron is on the counter this morning. The gridde is on the counter. What do you s'pose they were up to last night? Will have to wait to find out.

Got a few cd's of the book listened to in the quiet of last evening. Computer room is mucked out. This family likes to print paper. Oodles of it. Reams of it. Kindling I call it. Discs to straighten out and figure out ... other than that ... I'm glad to be done with that! Wish I could paint in this room and add some cutesy things. Just not worth it. I hope the room is going to disappear sometime in the not too distant future.

Time for work! Have a great day!

I think I'm nuts

After working all day today and coming home to make dinner ... the canning stuff came out again. The cukes are all picked from the greenhouse. Mind you ... it isn't like there was a major cuke fest going on in there. But I wanted to try and make some pickles. Should I happen to grow a new crop of them ... I'll try a different way next time. In the meantime, it was fun to experiment!

Then I settled down with a bunch of card stuff ... plopped a cd on book into the player ... and started making a few cards. I had all these left over card kits from our Cardmaking Evening in June. They were still sitting on the counter. Not anymore! They are done and tucked in with all the other cards in my card stash. YES!!!

Now if I could get graduation cards done. They are dismally late. Figure that by the time I get them done and in the mail ... the recipients might be needing a tank of gas or something. Then there are the weddings. Am behind on a few of those as well. Ugh. I'm not forgetting. I'm just late. With a capital L.

Jari is still in Dillingham and should be home the end of this week. I won't get the projects done before he gets home. I just know it. I did manage to get several of my Ikea purchases up over the weekend. Back to that June thing again. I went to Ikea in June and the hardware I bought still hasn't left the bag it came home in. I got baseball caps hung up. Let's see if my contraption works or not. I can just see Jari grabbing one real quick like ... always in a hurry that man is ... and the hook goes flying. Will see. Then I (with help ... thank you!) hung up the magnetic knife holder thing. No more big knives in the kitchen drawer. They now have a place. And ... I realize just how paltry my knife selection really is. Does the job ... yesiree it does.

Well ... I think we've met our medical deductibles this year and we're going for broke. Spoke with the surgeon who I want Blayde to see. He doesn't seem to think this will be any problem at all. Just need to schedule an appointment and get that rolling. Also need to schedule him to see the orthopedic surgeon. He's been wearing a brace for ever on his ankle. May as well fix everything at once, right? Anna went in on Saturday for x-rays of her spine. Scoliosis. The referral for an orthopedic visit was sent today ... will schedule that one tomorrow. I finally did the mammogram thing several weeks ago ... and get to go back for more. I'm telling you ... this nesting thing may not be turning out to be what I was dreaming of. We may be nesting at doctor's offices instead. Do you think I ought to take up knitting ... and do it real soon? Have been wanting to learn how to make socks and mittens. My previous experience with mitten knitting has not gone well ... I should have plenty of time to practice!

Tonight while I was sitting on my pea plant and flower infested porch ... I saw a leaf falling from a tree. Yup. A yellow one. Fall is around the corner. Actually let the truck (I'm driving it while hubby is gone) warm up this morning for 10 minutes before I left. Not that it needed warming ... but it felt good. :)