Title?

First, I can't think of a catchy title so there isn't one. It's not as if I'm writing a book or something truly important. Merely posting a long over due update to my blogg. So here goes, sort of......
We're going into December - the Christmas season. I've always loved the holidays - it's such a wonderful time of year. Although the shopping makes everyone crazy and some of the rudeness nearly pushes me over the edge, in general people are nicer. A softness seems to come over them - smiles you don't normally see - sometimes even a cordial greeting. My brother recently posted a comment on Face Book about keeping Christ in Christmas and I couldn't agree with him more. The gifts and the shopping and the decorations, oh how we all love them. But where does the 'niceness' of the season come from? Why do nasty, unhappy, sour people seem to soften for about one month out of the year? Excuse me, it's His birthday - and I think Christ has a way of coming into the hearts of even the toughest people. They seem to realize that it really is a special time - a time to remember - a time to reflect - and a time to love one another. It's Christ's birthday and He wants us to be nice to each other - to love each other as He loves each and everyone of us. We need to hold each other close in or hearts - and we need to hold Him even closer in our hearts and in our souls.

On a side note - I'm changing jobs as of Dec 7. It's been a while coming and I'm excited at the new opportunity. I'm also extremely excited to be eliminating my 2 hour (minimum) round trip daily commute. Yep, I'll be driving over to Palmer every day now. That's about 15 minutes. I won't be traveling the Glenn Hwy - and that makes me so very happy!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving! Ours was great - very low key and relaxing.

More to come.........love you all!

Sorry if you couldn't read the post below....

Another apology - I didn't realize the post below was so unreadable so I'm re-posting just in case anyone wants to read it!

Really, I am! I can't believe I have posted anything since March 20. Sure I've been busy and time has a way of slipping by - not enough hours in a day - but still, no excuse.The summer, or at least the first half of summer here in Alaska has been fabulous! Warmth, sunshine - just unbelievable! Well, reality has set in. Rain, wind, chilly temps. Yep, it almost feels like last summer. I'm praying for some of the first half of summer to come back before the snow starts flying again.So what have we been up to? Work, work, and more work. There was the Adak trip and the company BBQ. And then the Seward fishing trip....I made my mark....all over the water! Sooo incredibly sea sick I couldn't stand it. I didn't even get to wet a line, just hanging my head over the side of the boat and praying the day would end. Thankfully the others in the boat took pity and caught my share so we didn't go back to shore short of fish. And now it's way past time for bed, sorry. But at least I wrote something - better than nothing. I will try to do better.Hugs and love to Ohio - we miss you all!

I'm so embarrassed...

Really, I am! I can't believe I have posted anything since March 20. Sure I've been busy and time has a way of slipping by - not enough hours in a day - but still, no excuse.

The summer, or at least the first half of summer here in Alaska has been fabulous! Warmth, sunshine - just unbelievable! Well, reality has set in. Rain, wind, chilly temps. Yep, it almost feels like last summer. I'm praying for some of the first half of summer to come back before the snow starts flying again.

So what have we been up to? Work, work, and more work. There was the Adak trip and the company BBQ. And then the Seward fishing trip....I made my mark....all over the water! Sooo incredibly sea sick I couldn't stand it. I didn't even get to wet a line, just hanging my head over the side of the boat and praying the day would end. Thankfully the others in the boat took pity and caught my share so we didn't go back to shore short of fish.

And now it's way past time for bed, sorry. But at least I wrote something - better than nothing. I will try to do better.

Hugs and love to Ohio - we miss you all!

Time flies and so much happens - condolences to my Ohio family at the loss of their Dad. It's times like these that it's so hard being way up here in Alaska - so far away. Can't even lend moral support. We love you all and hope you're doing ok.

Things here are ok. I've been struggling with the laptop. Weird things were happening. "wmv" files, I had audio but no video. I was getting craze error messages on other things. So off to the ole pc dr - corrupt windows files. They had to reformat the hard drive. Luckily most of the pics were saved and other important info. But now it's the process of installing all the programs back on. I did lose all my favorites - do you have idea what that's like? It's like losing speed dial on your cell phone - not pretty!

S, K, D, & R are in Hawaii. I'm so happy they're enjoying the warm weather and hopefully lots and lots of sunshine!

We have their dog Schotzie and she's so sweet. We also have our friends dog, Callie. She's a little lhasa apso. Poor Schotzie is afraid or at the least very cautious of Callie. It's funny to watch Schotzie walk half way around the house to avoid Callie. They're not fighting or being mean - just basically ignoring and avoiding each other. It's so funny!

Not much else happening right now.

Back to the cold

Well, sad to say we're back in Alaska and it's cold! Sure I know it's supposed to be cold in Alaska in the winter, but negative temps again, come on. To go from the 80's to subzero is just plain not fun.

Yes, Hawaii was great, fabulous, incredible, heavenly! It only rained once and that was at night. Doesn't get much better than that! The warm breezes, the sun, it was a much needed break from the frigid winter we've been having this year. And sharing it with my daughter - that's the best.

I'm sooooo screwed.....

This is solely for the humor of my family - my brother in particular. He will understand and appreciate my dilemna.

My alarm clock is broken. Well, not the whole alarm but at least the most important part of the alarm clock....the SNOOZE button. Yes, my precious, crucially important snooze button has simply decided to stop working! Now to some this might not be a big deal. But as I mentioned, my family is probably rolling on the floor laughing right about now. Yes, even J is chuckling about the whole situation. He's one of those people that wakes with the first buzz of the alarm and then gets out of bed and starts moving. To me, that's not natural. If we weren't supposed to use snooze buttons God would never have created them. I need to press the snooze at least 3 or 4 times each and every morning. It's my way of ever so slowly facing the morning. I'm not a morning person and need all the help I can get to drag myself awake. My family knows all too well just how much I depend on my snooze alarm each and every morning. I need my snooze button. I can't function without it.

Sympathy anyone?

Where did '08 go?

Wow, I can't believe it's 2009 already. It's so true about time flying by faster as you get older - not that I'm actually getting older!

It just seems that 2008 went be in a flash. But there were so many good things that happened. the ole' creating memories thing going on. A short trip down memory lane.......

My niece and nephew-in-law (is that a word?) made it to Alaska for vacation. It was L's first time to Alaska and we had so much we wanted him to see. Unfortunately the weather didn't cooperate for us to go fishing like we planned. That just means they have to come back up again!

S took her first ride on a 4-wheeler and I have to tell you - she's a natural! A bit nervious at first but before we knew it she was zooming around in no time like a crazed woman on a shopping spree.

It only took a few minutes of instructions and she was off and flying!

We had so much fun - laughing 'til we cried. Cried over memories. Laughing some more.

R started 1st grade and D is now in 5th grade. Lord, it seems like only yesterday they were babies.

I took my first fishing charter and it was great. We closed down the office for the day and headed to Seward. The boat I was on caught our limit! Our freezer has some tasty salmon in it. (Yes, that me, second from the left kneeling in front.) It was ate in the season so the weather was a tad wet but that didn't stop us from having a good time.

R and I made our trip to the North Pole to visit Santa. It was a wonderful trip. R knows about the Santa helpers that dress up at the local stores and he told me that this was the "real one". He could tell......

There was the trip in early June to S Carolina to a convention. I had forgotten how good it feels to walk barefoot in the sand!

And then the trip in late June to Texas for an OSHA seminar. And I can't forget the Vegas trip in October! A week of studying like crazy during the day and partying at night! Yes, I was tired when we got home but it was worth it.

Oh, and R joined the boy scouts! He and I spent a fun afternoon selling popcorn at one of the local grocery stores!

SM graduated from college in December! Hoooorayyyyy! Magna cum-laude no less. This is one proud Mom. I knew she could do it and I'm just darned happy for her. Graduation ceramonies will be in June. Ever the one to strive for more, she's already started taking classes for her Master's degree.

I'm sure there's loads more but I'm not sure at what point the blog will say "too much" and just dump me out. I'll close for now and hope this all posts!