A Real Alaskan Housewife

 1st post in forever!   Awesome snow for the first time in weeks Really yummy banana bread

About three years ago, my awesome big brother encouraged me to start listening to podcasts.  The first one I binged on was Night Vale and slowly built my podcast library to include more than 200.  My listening tastes lean heavily towards comedy and true crime.  I have also discovered that I don't really like the podcasts that utilize the conversational style.  I prefer narration or story telling style. Like Mike Rowe .  Ah....Mike Rowe. His voice is so, delicious and dreamy. I have intentionally fallen asleep listening to him telling me a story. The whole sleeping thing is for another time. I have no idea how I stumbled upon Small Town Murder .  I gotta say...Small Town Murder...is flippin' awesome.   The two hosts  Jimmie Whisman and James Pietragallo are comedians.  They are soooo not politically correct.  Jimmie and James have no problem poking fun at the criminals, small towns, police and more.  After the first couple ...

O sleep! O gentle sleep! Nature's soft nurse, how have I frighted thee, That thou no more wilt weigh my eyelids down And steep my senses in forgetfulness? Why rather, sleep, liest thou in smoky cribs, Upon uneasy pallets stretching thee, And hush'd with buzzing night-flies to thy slumber, Than in the perfum'd chambers of the great, Under the canopies of costly state, And lull'd with sound of sweetest melody? ( citation ) Sleep...that elusive task of which I have a hard time accomplishing.  I have no problem falling asleep. I can easily sleep on a plane, train, automobile.  I have slept in lobbies, on chairs, in movies, at church and in classrooms. No, my challenge is not falling asleep.  My challenge is staying asleep.  Diving into the deep end of the slumber pool.  I tend to wade at the shallow end. Even stepping out of the water several times a night.   I have had two sleep studies done.  Both had the same results.  Quick to fall asleep ...

My life finally paused enough to grab a few pictures of the plants growing about my yard.  There has been some wonderful sunny days and wet rainy days.  As a result, tons of plants and flowers are growing all over the place.  Warning...this post will be picture heavy and some pictures may be a repeat.  No filters. The Spirea hedge growing next to our drive way has lovely white flowers.  The hedge has filled out quite nicely.  I definitely didn't over prune and maybe should have clipped more.  I am thinking of digging some of the roots that are meandering in the wrong direction and handing them out.  Looks like some root propagation research is in my future.   The back garden has a mix of Alaska roses, morning glory, Columbine, ferns, potatoes.  This rose bush is doing battle with the morning glory.  Both want the same space.  At the moment, I'd say the roses are doing pretty good.   One of the many...

One of my favorite seasons has begun.  Spring is always a reminder that from the deep darkness of winter comes life.  Underneath the dry dead grass, are roots waiting to spring forth (see what I did there?!?! Spring!!!) and grow tall in the sunshine and rain.  In the garden beds that look like boxes of dirt and dry leaves are bulbs awakening.  After a long season of white, gray, brown, coldness, wetness and bulky clothes...I know why The Creator made so many colors for the rest of the year.   Today, the sun rose at about 4:30 am, and as I sit here at 8 pm, there is still daylight out.  According to  timeanddate.com  the sun will set at 11:30.  Plenty of time to go for a run, play in the garden or just lay on the hammock.  As long as you don't mind the bugs. Yeah.....bug dope is wonderful. The house we moved in to has had a lack of outside care for the last fiveish years.  Part of our deal is to perform yard work and some house r...

When I started this blog, many moons ago, I had BIG PLANS. I was going to turn this opportunity into a money making machine!  I planned to write about my life in Alaska. To perhaps educate the rest of the world about the wonders and natural beauty of my world.  To show how we are the same.  I may live in the frozen wastelands next to Hawaii (Scout's honor, that's how maps show it!) but I still butter my bread on the same side as everyone else.  Most of all, I was gonna be rolling in the dough.  I was going to become a household name.  The next Martha Stewart.  Have my own line of cookware at WalMart. Yeah.....that went really went far. I have spent a bit of time recently thinking about things. Life. Where I am in the world, spiritually that is.  I know where I am physically.  Lots of challenges have occurred in my corner of the world.  I read somewhere about blogging.  Stick to one subject.  Write about what you know. ...

My dad is gone. He's been gone for 13 years now. I do miss him. The hurt has lessened over the years, but there are times where that heartache is still there. When I see something I think "My dad would love this" or when the kids do something silly, I think "oh I've got to tell my dad." I miss him. I miss hearing his voice. "As fine as frog hair" in answer to your question of "how ya doing today?" I miss his smile and chuckle. I miss his advice. I miss having him around. Happy Father's Day to my dad. I love you.

I wonder why I am here. What is my purpose? 

Today is a day to arise & spontaneously sing. Join me? Oh what a beautiful Morning! Oh what a beautiful day. I've got a wonderful feeling everything is going my way!

Today, my heart aches. My oldest daughter is expecting a child in November. I am coming to terms about being a grandma earlier than planned. Life happens. I am well aware of that. My heart aches because my daughter is causing strife. Fully expects DH & I to drop everything we are doing and bend over backwards to help her. No gratitude.  No thanks.  I can't do that.

<snicker> Tons of memes are out there regarding the cities from whence the teams are from. Somehow the fact the both places have allowed marijouna sales tickles the funny bone of quite a few people. Something about smoking bowls. Nothing I know about. One of the most important parts of a Super Bowl party is the guacamole.  The latest Consumer Reports (February 2014) (how can they date it for February when we are still in January? Is there a time vortex involved?) contains a wonderful one page report on "Guacamole that earns an 'ol`e!" (pg.7). Their recommended store bought guacamole is Sabra's classic product. You can purchase an 8 oz container at Carrs/Safeway for $4.99. (AK prices.) Consumer Reports also includes tips for avacodas and a recipe for homemade guacamole.  Homemade is always better. Less chemicals, fresher and you know what is in there. From Consumer Reports: How to create a homemade dip Choose ripe avocados or buy them ahead of time and let ...

Not sure what is going on. Thursday & Friday of last week I was having lightheadedness. I have no energy. Nor do I want to do anything but sleep. The only reason I am not curled up on the couch is because I need to change my pjs. Kinda interested in knitting but not enough to pick up my needles. I have an appointment tomorrow. Wonder if I am low on vitamin D.

Just dropped off my 6th grader. Sigh...where does the time go? Seems like yesterday she was rolling into kindergarten. Tomorrow, she will be graduating from high school & headed off to her adventures in the big wide world. This is why we must live in the present. The past is done. Nothing we can do will change what has happened. We can learn from our mistakes & blaze our own trail into the future. And live in the present. Unless you are hanging with Dr.Who. Then disregard everything I said. In just a bit my 4th grader is off to school. Then I can go back to my routine of sleeping till noon, watching soaps & eating bon bons. (In actuality, spending the morning cleaning & running errands in the afternoon.) The fun never ends.

Some weeks ago I stumbled upon  The Dreamstress  and she was talking about a year-long sew-a-long. For the first five minutes, I thought I would not be able to participate. Yes, I sew. No, I don't have the space to dedicate to sewing a historically accurate costume. (As much as I would *love* to...) However, The Dreamstress pointed out that knitting would be acceptable also. (Mental head slap) Of course knitted items would work as they knitted them! I was quite thrilled to see that. After signing up on the  Facebook  page, I spent about five hours screwing around  industriously researching possible knitted patterns. After several misleads, bunny trails and child/husband interruptions, I came across my first project. The Monmouth Cap. The history of the Monmouth Cap can be found  here.  In a nutshell, the cap was introduced in the earlyish 15th century. The everyday man wore the cap-made from serviceable material. Royalty wore the cap- made from finer...

Who does not LOVE Pintrest? Anyone? So, now that we have that settled... This blog posting is where I will post Pin Wins. The small ones that are wonderful but small enough that they don't really rate an entire posting. Where I can, I will try to link it to the original poster. However, I am not a detective, so if I attribute the idea to the wrong person, please let me know and I will correct. First up, Keeping track of that silly medicine. Or...Did I give him the dose? As you can see, we only missed two doses. The first one when I remembered about the Pin. The second was DH night. How many of you have children? Children that get sick? That need medicine? Do you also have a spouse that likes to help? This idea was one I saw and could not wait to try. No, I didn't want my kid sick, I just wanted to try this. And see if it worked. and the result is...Yes! Yes! Yes! I kept the entire kit in a ziplock bag and stowed in the fridge. Yeah, towards the end the Sharpie was...

Last week I was on a major sweets craving. I needed a fix. What I really wanted was chocolate chip cookies. Not feeling like going to the store for GF flour, I hit the WWW looking for a cookie that didn't use any flour. I was hoping there would be one as I have made flourless peanut butter cookies before. I was really hoping, and wishin' and prayin.... anyways... I found this.  Flourless Chocolate Walnut Oatmeal Cookies  I just have to say...Oh. My. Goodness. This is like eating candy. Let's just say I gained about a million pounds. On average, I ate five cookies a day. I convinced myself they were healthy- peanut butter, oatmeal, dried cranberries and dark chocolate. All healthy stuff. In moderation. AHHHHHHH.... Those two silly words!!!!! I followed the recipe somewhat closely. For the first batch (stick with me here) I used  Adam's No-Stir Creamy Peanut Butter , two cups Quaker Oatmeal, one cup dried cranberries, handful each of Ghirardelli white, dark and ...

As the title suggests, this post shall contain pics and information of my knitting projects. 'Mis-matched' socks for DD#2. These origionally started out as mismatched socks, however, because I didn'a pay attention to the starting color on the second sock I accidently made matching socks. The first sock was started and completed in November but got side tracked with Christmas monkeys. I started and completed her second sock in January, however, it was too big so it became my sock. I now need to make my second sock. Yarn: premier yarns , Deborah Norville Collection, Serenity Sock Yarn , Surf color Needles: Takumi Bamboo DPN #2 Size: Medium socks Pattern: Tall or Short, Socks to Go, Leisure Arts Little Books Other info: Cuff is Seed ribbing; One toe is a gathered closed toe; Other is Grafted. Comments: DD#3 likes cuffs to go over the ankle bone. Since I bind off tightly, top down always. First time turning the heel was confusing. Just follow the instructions. Watch v...

Ahhhh...what does GF and DF mean?  Well, GF is short for Gluten Free and DF is Dairy Free. Well, Alaska Girl, what does that mean? "A  gluten-free diet  is a diet  that excludes foods containing gluten . Gluten is a protein complex found in wheat  (including kamut  and spelt ),barley, rye and triticale. Corn  and rice  also contain gluten, but are considered gluten-free, as the gluten in these species do not cause celiac disease .  A gluten-free diet is the only medically accepted treatment for celiac   disease,   the related condition dermatitis herpetiformis  and wheat allergy , but not gluten allergy ." (wikipedia) Wikipedia-the end all be all for info! Not really. So, here is info from celiac.com  " wheat, rye and barley, it is obvious that you will need to avoid these grains. Less obvious however, are the myriad of products that contain gluten as a hidden ingredient." So. Gluten-free basically means cutting spec...

A friend sent us a box of organic California lemon cellos. Opening the box was heaven... the scent wafting from the lemons was like sunshine. The yellow color was a bright spot on a gray cold day. When we got home, I washed the lemons because they had a looooong cold flight. (You like taking a shower/bath after traveling, yes?) For the first couple days I simply enjoyed the sight and scent of sunshine in my kitchen.  We did photo shoots. Fresh from their bath.  Sunshine streaming thru the kitchen window.  Beautiful, lovely gorgeous lemons. (I didn'a realize my Trifle bowl was, well, dirty) I realized that I should do something with the wonderful lemons instead of letting them go bad. I shared several with friends, sliced some up for water and ate them like oranges. Oh yeah. Good stuff. One recipe I have never tried from scratch is lemon bars. I have enjoyed them at potlaches, BBQs and restaurants and have *loved* them...

Tons of stuff has happened. No longer a nanny. We have our own place. DD#1 is getting married. Its f'ing cold. DH will be unemployed. Good Lord. Talk about stressful events. For the last couple months we have been in a holding pattern when it came to DH's job. Mantech lost the contract for the base. We knew the new company would be downsizing. Managment had no idea (at least they said so) who was staying or leaving. All we knew was the warehouse would have eight positions and there were 14 people looking to stay. So, several need to go. Due to his low position on the longevity totem pole, DH was among the first to receive notice. Yes, knowing he has no job is, well, stressful. I am busy looking for a job. I am becoming disenchanted with the search. I have a good work ethic. Yes, I have not been employed the last couple years but I have been volunteering. I have not just stayed home being a slacky housefrau-eating bon bons & watching soaps. (I *love* watching Law & O...