Masochistic Perfectionism

Year of Photos - Days 104 through 110

2009-05-26T23:31:21Z

I'm over a month behind, so I'm trying to catch up. Here is Days 104 through 110, mid April, the beginning of our beautiful Spring weather and the melting of the snow here in Anchorage.

Year of Photos, Day 104, April 14, 2009. If you recall my flight connection through Chicago on my way back to Anchorage was unbelievably tight. I had to go back to the airport to pick up my bags. I barely made it to that connecting flight, there is no way that my bags had. When I did, I snapped this photo of the giant 50th anniversary banner.

Year of Photos, Day 105, April 15, 2009. We hosted this display at the library. Each child figure was drawn by a school child and stands for one of the hundreds of children evaluated in Anchorage ERs last year for child abuse. The display continues around the back. It was a very cool display.

Year of Photos, Day 106, April 16, 2009. People in Anchorage have occasionally the most ridiculous trucks. This one was advertising a tattoo parlor. (We have a lot of rednecks up here.)

Year of Photos, Day 107, April 17, 2009. This boat is on blocks in someone's yard up in Chugiak. It's one thing to have an old car on blocks in your yard, but a whole boat? I love this boat. I refer to it as the dead boat.

Year of Photos, Day 108, April 18, 2009. At Kids Day there were kangaroos you could pet. Too cute! (Kids Day is a large festival of fun things for kids (like a HUGE festival) that the library participates in every year. By which I mean I sit at a booth for hours doing kid fun activities and talking up the library to everyone. Basically my normal library day, but in a different building.)

Year of Photos, Day 109, April 19, 2009. These birds are all over the place in Anchorage.

Year of Photos, Day 110, April 20, 2009. The bog I go walking on almost every day as it is slowly melting and welcoming back spring.

I had to work Saturday (as always), and since Monday is my normal day off, I get today off for Memorial Day weekend. It has been a nice weekend. A fun hike, good relaxation, a roommate's birthday, I made a moderately successful ice cream cake, and a lovely chance to just chill.

Year of Photos: Days 96 through 103 - Kansas Trip

2009-05-07T05:55:41Z

This next batch of photos is from my Kansas City trip.

Year of Photos, Day 96, April 6, 2009. View of the mountains in Canada from the plane. I flew from Kansas City to Chicago, had a four plus hour layover in Chicago, and then on to Kansas City. The whole thing took forever. The view was beautiful, especially all the mountains. However there was something very reassuring about seeing the farmland again, very comforting and familiar.

Year of Photos, Day 97, April 7, 2009. The mountain of animals in Cabela's store in Kansas. I went there with my dad to use up the last of my Cabela's points. I got some really cool pants, and a couple of multitools. It's all very cool and very fun. I love that place.

Year of Photos, Day 98, April 8, 2009. Decorating a piggy bank with/for my brother. He was using for a thing at work (he works in a bank) and it was determined that it was easier for me to help since John has limited experience with glue guns and crafty things like that. It ended up fairly cute.

Year of Photos, Day 99, April 9, 2009. My dad with his "lap dog", Sally. Despite being a large yellow lab, she believes she is a lap dog. Fortunately Dad believes that too. Chilling together in the evenings watching television is their special time.

Year of Photos, Day 100, April 10, 2009. Royals Opening Day! I was supposed to go with my mother, but there was an emergency medical situation with my grandmother, so I went with my father instead. Over 40,000 people in the place, and Dad is the only one rather grumpy about being there. We still had a great time, even if the Royals lost. It was the 40th anniversary of the Royals as a team as well as the grand reopening of the K after 2 years of renovations. The new stadium is magnificent. One of the things I miss most about Kansas City is baseball games with family, friends, and my ROYALS!

Year of Photos, Day 101, April 11, 2009. The sign at Haskell Indians Nation University, Lawrence, KS. Drove to Lawrence for lunch with a friend, snapped this photo.

Year of Photos, Day 102, April 12, 2009. Easter Sunday at the Royals game. It was cold and rainy, but I got to go with my Mom which is always fantastic. And they wore their powder blue jerseys. Oh and John Buck is my hero.

Year of Photos, Day 103, April 13, 2009. Floor at Kansas City International Airport. It's this really cool starry sky motif, and this is an awful photo with the reflection and all. Unfortunately my KC plane was delayed so I didn't make it to Chicago until after my other plane was supposed to take off. However, that plane too was delayed so I was able to run and barely make it, they actually reopened the plane for me. So no other photos for this day. I was just glad to make it home (Anchorage) that day at all.

Year of Photos: Days 91 to 95

2009-04-30T07:16:45Z

Today was so beautiful, sixty-five degrees. One of the first really beautiful days, most of this week has been increasingly beautiful. I happily ran a library errand today if only to spend an extra twenty minutes in the sunshine driving around the city. People were walking in the park, everyone seemed to be just soaking in the sunshine. It's so light, the sun is setting at 11:00pm and it's only April! With the warmth finally returning, I'm ready to see some greenery.

And some pictures, mostly of the interior of the library, because it was so cold and I was so miserable and extremely busy, I didn't do a lot but work.

Year of Photos, Day 91, April 1, 2009. Me in my groovy new dress in the storytheatre at work. I love this dress. And hey! I'm wearing a color - not just black/gray as I am oft accused of wearing too much.

Year of Photos, Day 92, April 2, 2009. The stairs in our condo, "cat's eye view" since that is Jane Austen's favorite perch and look out.

Year of Photos, Day 93, April 3, 2009. Pretty flowers on reference desk. It made it spring inside if not out.

Year of Photos, Day 94, April 4, 2009. It's a Poet-tree, a tree that grows poems. We encourage kids to either pick a poem or write their own and "leaf" it for us to be added to the tree. Poet-tree, leaf a poem...get it? I'm not sure our patrons do. Maybe we need a bigger sign? Oh well. Happy National Poetry Month!

Year of Photos, Day 95, April 5, 2009. One of the crocheted chicks I made for Easter. They're egg holders, there is a hidden Easter Egg (with candy) in it. You can almost see the pink Easter egg through the yarn. I made some of these for my roommates and my secret prayer sister at church. My (paternal) grandmother used to always make these for us and for the kids at her church. I think they're one of the things that got me interested in amigurumi. They're a lot of fun, and I'm glad she "taught" me to make them. I called her up on the phone and had her verbally walk me through it. It's nice to have that connection with generations past.

That's it for now. I'm stopping here after just a few pictures because the next group is from my Kansas trip. Happy Spring!

Year of Photos - Day 81 through 90

2009-04-29T06:11:30Z

So I messed up, I posted these on flickr but not here. We'll do pictures first and random updates of information later.

The photos were all taken when we still had a ton of snow. The last week or so Spring has finally really arrived, beautiful weather, and melting/melted snow. I've got photos of it. I'm going to try to update and get all caught up this week. So watch back lots of time for photos.

Year of Photos, Day 81, March 22, 2009. The second day of spring and my jeep is still covered in snow.

Year of Photos, Day 82, March 23, 2009. These two giants are actually snowplows. We get serious snow. This was taken on the third day of spring.

Year of Photos, Day 83, March 24, 2009. Our lunch area in the employee parking lot. Not too friendly yet.

Year of Photos, Day 84, March 25, 2009. The city provided me with these clamps for walking on the snow and ice. They slip over my shoes. They're really useful during the spring when we have a constant thaw/freeze cycle and the entire city is a sheet of ice. However this pair came with strings. To get them, I had to sign a promise to the city that I would wear them at all times (in appropriate conditions) when coming to/from work or on library business. If I was injured and not wearing them, not only would I not be able to sue the city, I would be "subject to disciplinary measures". I actually already owned my own pair of them and considered refusing the city's "gift" since I dislike strings. However it didn't seem worth causing ripples.

Year of Photos, Day 85, March 26, 2009. The 1% art project at a local elementary school. A colorful moose sculpture. The 1 % for art project states that one percent of all public building money must go to an art project. It's a neat project that keeps our city looking unique and not like any other big box city. I really like these moose; they're in my neighborhood so I drive by them fairly often.

Year of Photos, Day 86, March 27, 2009. These smaller snow plows take care of the sidewalks. I think these little things are funny and I've been trying to get a picture of one for a while. They're about the same width as the sidewalk, like a small tractor with a plow in the front. Sorry this isn't a good photo, I took it from my car window at a stop light.

Year of Photos, Day 87, March 28, 2009. Ash cloud (that gray line on the horizon) over Anchorage after an eruption from Mt. Redoubt. The ash eruption fell over Anchorage after a week or so of eruptions and even more weeks of warning. The ash was such an odd phenomenon. I got a facefull of it from the wind and it hurt my eyes (hence why you're not supposed to wear contacts during an ash fall). We got the official word that the ash was falling and we should shut down the library at 5:57pm on Saturday. That was useful since we close the library at 6pm. I drove home (with the air off in my car so as not to pull in the ash), stopped to take this photo, and got home to close off air systems and such in the house as well as cover electronics. We got a "trace amount" of ash which is almost none, just a dusting. You'll see in the next photo.

Year of Photos, Day 88, March 29, 2009. I drew the heart in the snow to show how the ash looks. The heart reveals the clean snow under the ash. The white is the clean snow showing the ash on top. It was such a minor dusting of ash, it looked like someone had taken a peppper shaker and liberally doused the city. Of course when it was falling it smelled like burning which I didn't expect. It makes sense though since it is Ash, volcanic in nature.

Year of Photos, Day 89, March 30, 2009. This bugs me. Why are women's first names always larger on campaign signs while men's signs emphasizes their last names?

Year of Photos, Day 90, March 31, 2009. Max the Monkey (my storytime puppet mascot) poses in the storytheater. This is the reason I collect monkeys.

It's funny to see these snow photos since I've managed to entirely convince myself this is spring time. Of course just a few days ago was a year anniversary of the blizzard that dumped 18 inches of snow on us. Work is good as always. Busy. We just wrapped spring storytime session and are finishing up summer planning. Should be a great summer.

Year of Photos

2009-04-07T17:42:59Z

I'm back in Kansas City, taking my first day to relax and use my parents Showtime on Demand to catch up on The Tudors and organize photos. Later I'm going to try to pull some things off of other drives. In the meantime enjoy some Alaska photos, including from my trip to Kodiak.

Year of Photos, Day 70, March 11, 2009. Winter hangings outside Subway. I frequent this Subway near work perhaps once a month and more often than not they mess up my order. (How does "a little bit of oregano" sound like "cover the sandwich in oil". Or the scathing look I got when I asked the girl who kept running her fingers through her hair and touching her face every two seconds to change her gloves, but her boss backed me up. Or when they dunked my veggie sandwich in marinara (I'm allergic). I think I should eventually give up on this shop.

Year of Photos, Day 71, March 12, 2009. Jane Austen expresses her displeasure at me packing to leave again. She knows what that suitcase in the background means.

Year of Photos, Day 72, March 13, 2009. Kodiak Island Brewery serves a "Sarah Pale Ale" that's pretty good. I went to Kodiak, Alaska for the Alaska Library Association Conference. It was a great time. We were enjoying the tasting and yummy beer at the Brewery, including the aforementioned ale. All yumminess. Kodiak is an amazing town and the conference was incredible, I learned a lot about the way the libraries work in the rest of the state of Alaska. Fantastic stuff.

Year of Photos, Day 73, March 14, 2009. Table centerpieces at the Alaska Library Conference in Kodiak, AK. Kodiak is a fishing town (huge fleet of vehicles) so hence the rubber boots with the salmon. I thought they were fun and cool. And the logo for this year's conference had salmon (theme: "going the distance" though hopefully not with the same ending as the salmon get). So it was quite fitting.

Year of Photos, Day 74, March 15, 2009. The fishing fleet at Kodiak has over 700 boats. This is a tiny little bit of it I could get pictured. It's incredible.

Year of Photos, Day 75, March 16, 2009. A kayak "skeleton" hanging over the counter at the Monk's Rock Cafe in Kodiak, Alaska. We ate lunch there the last day and had the most amazing clam chowder I've ever had in my life.

Year of Photos, Day 76, March 17, 2009. St. Patricks at McGuinley's in Anchorage, Alaska. We met at the main Irish pub in Anchorage (with the rest of the city) and enjoyed Irish music, food (I had fish and chips, other offerings included Shepherd's Pie, corned beef and cabbage, etc.), beer, so on and so forth. Lots of fun. There were even bag pipers (which is yes Scottish, but whatever) who played Danny Boy.

Year of Photos, Day 77, March 18, 2009. A mural in downtown Anchorage depicting the Iditarod. I took this after I spent the day downtown judging the Alaska State Level of the History Day Competition.

Year of Photos, Day 78, March 19, 2009. I like this old fashioned tow truck in Anchorage. I think it is for show and not used anymore.

Year of Photos, Day 79, March 20, 2009. Baskets stacked up awaiting patrons at Loussac Library.

Year of Photos, Day 80, March 21, 2009. A Sarah Palin protest at Loussac Library. I caught the tail end of it when most had left. They were protesting how much of the stimulus money she had refused (including that she had refused all the education money).

Thus ends the photos, for now.

Year of Photos - Hawaii Edition

2009-04-04T06:21:23Z

Finally, finally I'm posting photos from Hawaii. I put up an album of facebook that has more/different photos as well. Here we go, with minimal descriptions because I'm tired.

Year of photos, Day 62, March 3, 2009. The entrance to the Waikoloa resorts where we were staying. Welcome to Hawaii!

Year of photos, Day 63, March 4, 2009. A beach at Waikoloa our first full day. No we don't know where the sun is either. We didn't see it much on our trip, just the last couple of days. Even through the clouds, I got major sun burns. Oh well.

Year of photos, Day 64, March 5, 2009. A lava lake from an eruption in the 1960s in National Volcanoes Park. Even after 36 (or so) years there is still lava that has not cooled in the middle (underneath the surface) of that lake. It's insane. You can hike across it, but sometimes the lava shifts and people fall through to their deaths. We chose not to do that.

Year of photos, Day 65, March 6, 2009. Krista and I went horseback riding through the Waipio Valley which was beautiful. I'd never been on a horse before and it was rather scary, they're really tall, but once I got used to it, it was fun. My horse was old and lazy which suited me just well. His name is LT and he kept trying to bite Krista's horse Pono (or Pono was trying to bite LT, whichever). There was one minorly scary moment when my poor horse lost his head thing in the middle of this river we were riding through (and people just drive through - insane) and he froze and got upset, and I got upset, but it all got sorted out.

Year of Photos, Day 66, March 7, 2009. A flower. I miss flowers during our long winters. See the rain drops? It rained on our vacation, and was pretty windy. Still better than Alaska.

Year of Photos, Day 67, March 8, 2009. Me and a pretty sunset at the Luau our last evening. Due to rain, the luau was moved inside, sad. Still it was a lot of fun with yummy food.

Year of Photos, Day 68, March 9, 2009. The beach on the last day. We had a bit of an adventure when we lost the keys to the rental car. We think they went in Krista's shorts into the drink. It was sorted out eventually and we made our flights. The delay gave me a chance to eat these delicious fish tacos at the stand by the beach.

Year of Photos, Day 69, March 10, 2009. Jane Austen greets me when I come home by leaning over the balcony and meowing at me. It is the same if I'm coming home from a vacation or a day at work. I love my kitty cat, she's cuddled against me right now. Good to travel, good to come home again.

On Monday I should hopefully be heading back to KC if our volcano doesn't act up. It's been rather exciting, but that is a story (with pictures) for another day.

Year of Photos - Days 55 to 61

2009-03-25T05:44:04Z

I know I haven't posted any photos or anything in almost a month. You should follow facebook, I'm there and read that daily now. I've traveled a lot (Hawaii for fun and Kodiak for the Alaska Library Association Conference), but more about those later.

Yes, right now we have a volcano erupting. Mt. Redoubt (pronounced RE-doubt) has erupted six times as of this writing (I believe). None of the ash fall has hit Anchorage yet. However with current wind conditions if it erupts before about 4pm tomorrow (Anchorage time, Wednesday) than we will have probably ash fall in Anchorage. What does that mean? Ash is very hard to breathe, bad on roofs (very heavy) and bad on vehicles. It's especially bad on anything with an air system, a filter, or electronics. At work we have to bag each computer (after turning off and unplugging them) in plastic each night, and since we have a lot of public computers, that is a lot of computers in general. We'd been doing this for weeks since the threat was first announced and they only called it off about a week before Mt. Redoubt actually blew. A watched volcano must be like a watched pot, won't go off when we're ready for it. Since we had weeks of warning, I (we) have spare air filters for car and house, and dust masks for me personally. I'm also now covering my television and laptop at night and when I'm gone during the day to protect them. I will let you know if any thing exciting happens. While we don't know officially know that the library closes in event of an ash fall (and we'd get a couple hours warning), I do know that we'd have to turn off all electronics and shut off the buildings ventilation system. So with no air circulating and no electronics, I'm thinking it would make sense for the library to be shut down. Just hoping. I'd like to take a "volcano day".

And now here are some photos, including one from Running of the Reindeer.

Year of Photos, Day 55. February 24, 2009. A very blurry picture of a moose I saw next to the grocery store. Moose got a bit upset when I got any closer so I didn't get a better photo. I choose to give giant unpredictable and potentially dangerous animals their space.

Year of Photos, Day 56, February 25, 2009. The hanging end of my engine block heater electric cord on my very dirty jeep. You're supposed to plug in cars at about 20 degrees. Few people do, but most people start around 5 or lower, and definitely at about -10 or so. My little engine block heater cord tucks nicely into my under the hood area of the car, but I choose not to do that because I'm basically lazy. I'll do it come spring. In the Jeep I keep an extension cord. I plug it into an external outlet on our house that is wired to a switch in the pantry. Many people have their cars on timers, but you really only need about two hours worth of heating it before you go out. I try to flip the switch and turn on the block heater when I wake up and stumble downstairs for coffee first thing.

Year of Photos, Day 57, February 26, 2009. Public art near the bus stop by the new(ish) target in Anchorage. Salmon and seals (or sea lions I can't really tell them apart) on blue stylistic waves (I suppose that's what those things are).

Year of Photos, Day 58, February 27, 2009. A collection of public art statues in a square downtown. Closest is a moose, very stylized. There's also a bear, and perhaps an eagle among others. I was downtown picking up my bib and tshirt for the running of the reindeer. There's a lot of neat artwork downtown.

Year of Photos, Day 59, February 28, 2009. A giant tree decked out in lights in Eagle River. We had headed up to Eagle River (up the highway less than an hour, basically a bedroom community not quite a suburb) where one of my roommates was house sitting and had invited some friends to hang out (with the knowledge of the house's owner). There was lots of yummy food, good company, Texas Hold 'Em poker, and rock band.

Year of Photos, Day 60, March 1, 2009. The girls in costume ready to run the race for the running of the reindeer. Myself (in the middle) with a roommate on either side of me. We had on those hats and tails (can't see in this photo). The running of the reindeer is an annual event (second annual) part of the Fur Rondy celebration (79th annual). Fur Rondy is short for Fur Rendezvous and is an annual celebration of fun in the middle of winter for Anchorage residents. It includes a bunch of great events such as the World Sled Dog Championship Races (sprints). I went last year by myself (only had been in Anchorage a few weeks) and had such a blast I knew I had to run with the reindeer this year. I recruited my roommates and we were off. Last year they had two "herds" (groups of 500 people) running, this year they expanded to 4 herds: Guys, Gals, Groups, and Couples. We ran in the Girls groups. Almost everyone was in costumes, some very bizarre, some funny, some fantastic. There were even people wrapped in lettuce. They line everyone up in a giant mass with a clear lane in the middle. They parade about a dozen reindeer (for around 500 people) down the clear lane. And then they yell go. The people run, the reindeer are released. It's madness. The reindeer quickly pass all the people (and it's only about a six block race), so you're in more danger from being trampled from the other people than the reindeer. But the fun is in the huge numbers of peoples, the costume, the carnivale air, the sheer exhilaration and joy. Fur Rendezvous - Anchorage's answer to Mardi Gras - except colder and more family friendly.

Year of Photos, Day 61, March 2, 2009. My neighbor's kids left their snow toys outside stuck in the snow. Mini little boards and such. There are a bunch of kids in my neighborhood who sled and try to board and build a bunch of little ramps. It's adorable. I almost hit one of them today when he sled out into the street, but still adorable. And they occasionally try to get me to join the games when walking back from the bus stop. My last photo before my Hawaii trip.

I'll try to get Hawaii photos posted next, probably just one for the day. Later on I'll share more photos from the rest of Hawaii, more from the Running of the Reindeer, so on and so forth.

Year of Photos, Days 49 to 54

2009-02-24T21:28:57Z

Sometimes I plan what I'm going to take a picture of, and sometimes it's all chance and happenstance. Click the link to see what I found this week.

Year of Photos, Day 49, February 18, 2009. I pose with Paul Owen Lewis (author/illustrator/artist) who has just signed that copy of Storm Boy for me. Storm Boy is the youngest level book of our community reads program (for you non-librarians, that is a program where the library tries to get everyone in the community to read the same book, or in this case one of three levels of books - picture books, middle reader book, and high school/adult book), all focused on Alaska/Northern survival stories. Paul Owen Lewis did a fantastic presentation for us and spent the day at the schools.

Year of Photos, Day 50, February 19, 2009. The amazing thing to me is how twilight lingers for hours this far north. The sun actually sets at around 6pm, but this was taken about 9:30pm out my back door.

Year of Photos, Day 51, February 20, 2009. Mountains seen on my drive home. After growing up in flatter than a pancake Kansas, I never get tired of mountains.

Year of Photos, Day 52, February 21, 2009. We (my roommates, me, and one other friend) went to Bear's Tooth for dinner and to see Valkyrie. The Bear's Tooth is a theater/restaurant. You get there really early for tickets and a good spot in line, and you order your food (delicious pizza and many other fantastic food - I had an amazing halibut burrito). When it opens it is a regular movie theater, but they took out every other row of seats and put in tables so you can eat. Once you're in the theater (during the film), they bring out the food (this is much less a distraction than you would think) and you can also go to the bar and get a drink (they brew their own beer). It's a fantastic place, and since it shows second run movies, they're only $3 (as opposed to the $10 at the regular movie theater), plus you can eat and drink at the same time. Best way to see a movie ever. Valkyrie was a pretty good movie, just rather dark. This shows what our table looked like afterwards. (Two pitchers of water, pitcher of root beer, pitcher of beer). Then it was off to Coldstone and then to a bar for drinks/dancing. Fun evening. (Though earlier in the day I was trying to get a photo of the moose hanging around the library parking lot, but I never could.)

Year of Photos, Day 53, February 22, 2009. I saw this sign on my way home from the grocery store and had to take a picture of it. It references our convincted ex-Senator Ted Stevens who was found guilty on charges just before the election in November and he still almost won re-election. He's a criminal, but also hugely popular in Alaska. Many Alaskans have an "us vs them" mentality and view the prosecution of Ted Stevens as persecution by Washington just picking on Alaskans. (Don't believe me? Click on that link.)

Year of Photos, Day 54, February 23, 2009. By the end of Sunday, I was aware that I was developping a pretty bad head cold. Thus I spent all of Monday (my normal day off), in bed resting, taking Zaicam, and trying to get better as quick as possible. My cat spends most of all her days wrapped into a little black ball sleeping. I put down "her beach towel" (that she's been sleeping on since she was a kitten) on the corner of my bed she prefers to protect my comforter. I think it is funny how she turns into this black ball all tucked up and almost indistinguishable. (Okay this photo was from inside since I didn't get any farther than the mailbox yesterday).

I think the medication is working (cross your fingers) as I'm starting to get better. I typed this up quickly, so there are probably many mistakes, I'll edit later.

Year of Photos - Days 36 to 48

2009-02-18T07:27:16Z

I got an extra day off this week due to President's Day. Of course since President's Day is on Monday which is my normal day off, I got today (Tuesday) off. It was so nice, I really don't want to go back tomorrow. So pretty photos, and less than pretty photos, and totally mediocre photos posted for your amusement.

Year of Photos, February 5, 2009, Day 36. In Anchorage, they mark the fire hydrants with reflective poles so they can be found in high snow drifts. Sometimes they really do stick way high up over the snow and are the only way the hydrant can be seen. Photo taken during snow fall.

Year of Photos, February 6, 2009, Day 37. Since last time featured a photo of the keychain given by my paternal grandmother, here is a gift from my maternal grandmother. My grandmother collected mortar and pestles for years. When she traveled or friends or family traveled, they would bring her one. There was an entire china cabinet full of them. One Christmas, she had all of her children, then grandchildren, go in and put their name on a slip of paper in their favorite. She gave us each that one when she moved into a retirement community. Mine comes from Copenhagen.

Year of Photos, February 7, 2009, Day 38. Murphy, my roommate's dog, helps with the pre-rinse of the dishes.

Year of Photos, February 8, 2009, Day 39. Giant snow drifts piled by plows between our driveways. The snowplow pushes it there when they clear our driveway (contracted with the condo association), it is almost as high as my car. Taken during snow fall, and one of the more disappointing photos I've taken.

Year of Photos, February 9, 2009, Day 40. Ski trail in Russian Jack Park in Anchorage. I've been practicing my cross country skiing there. It's beautiful and easy to forget you're in the city. And mostly flat-ish, so a great place to practice. Of course I kept getting lost on the trail system so I finally gave in and picked up a (free) trail map at the chalet. The two parallel lines you see are the tracks they groom for the trail. They have a snow machine drive around and keep the snow flat and fresh for skiing and they have another machine drag around this thing that forms those two grooves. People really like to ski in the grooves and it is supposed to be great for beginners. I don't like them because you go too fast. I do okay at keeping my skis parallel to each other, just need to work on controlling speed which is easier out of the tracks (for me).

Year of Photos, February 10, 2009. Day 41. The skating rink on part of the lake at Cuddy Park just south of Loussac Library. You can see the truck clearing parts of the ice. They don't clear the entire lake for a skating rink, but they clear a good portion of it. I've seen a lot of people skating on it. They do this (clear them as rinks) for a lot of the lakes and parks around here. It's very cool. Wish I could skate.

Year of Photos, February 11, 2009. Day 42. Storytime is for doggies too. Krista (roommate) shares with Murphy.

Year of Photos, February 12, 2009, Day 43. There are all these light up moose outlines along the Seward highway. There are moose families, fighting bull moose, and much more.

Year of Photos, February 13, 2009, Day 44. Bust of A. A. Milne with Christopher Robin and Friends at the Loussac Library. There is an entire wall of busts of famous writers. I like this one because of the detailing of the characters. The photo isn't great though.

Year of Photos, February 14, 2009. Day 45. Fondue party for Valentine's. All set and ready to go. The cheese fondue with dippers (fresh baked bread, peppers, broccoli, carrots, apples, chicken, and potato pieces) was amazing. Also fantastic but not pictures was the chocolate fondue with dippers (apples, strawberries, bananas, cheesecake, pound cake, and marshmallows). We gathered together four single women, some wine, some mixed drinks, some party games, and an incredible amount of fun. One of the best, if not the best, valentine's day ever. More photos, many more photos, on facebook.

Year of Photos, February 15, 2009. Day 46. Krista checks iphone during church! (I was running out of ideas for photos). And technically this was after church (as I wouldn't photograph during church), but she does sometimes check iphone during church.

Year of Photos, February 16, 2009, Day 47. Now the more prosaic of you will see nothing more than a bent tree covered in snow that I passed while on my evening walk with the Murphy dog. However I saw a wedding arch for a woodland fairy wedding. Or perhaps the entrance to a gnome settlement. Also possibly a sick dryad. It's more fun in my world, come join me in the magic.

Year of Photos, February 17, 2009, Day 48. These giant black birds are everywhere. I see them fight over food a lot. This one had just fought off two interlopers and was stutting around his prize (in the brown paper bag).

Sleep now if I'm going to make it back to work. I spent most of today trying to do my taxes. I made considerable progress.

Year of Photos - Days 27 through 35

2009-02-05T19:17:07Z

Our volcano has yet to explode and shower us in Anchorage in Ash. So no cool ash photos! Here's what I do have:

Year of photos, Day 27, January 27, 2009. When I was a latch-key kid, I lost my keys all the time. I mean all the time. In 2nd grade (maybe third grade), my grandmother gave me this keychain. She explained that she thought if she gave me a keychain, I wouldn't lose it. (Back then I went by Beth, now I'm Elizabeth.) And I didn't. I still have it on my keychain. Except that it's getting older and the wood on the end "H" is wearing down, and apparently the screw that holds it on was coming loose. I looked down at my keys and realized that it had entirely fallen off. I was fairly upset. I had it for so many years, and it might be a silly little thing, but it means a lot to me. The last time I called that grandmother, she could barely remember who I was. I looked everywhere frantically for where it might have fallen off, my work, my car, parking lots, etc. At home, it had been placed on the front windowsill on our porch. Neither of my roommates did it, so I assume that one of the neighbors found it and returned it. I was incredibly happy to have it back. I tossed it in my jewelry box. Now I have no keychain ornamentation. I'm thinking about getting something else, but not just anything, something that reflects some of my personality. Perhaps when I'm home for Easter, I'll get a KC Royals keychain.

Year of photos, Day 28, January 28, 2009. In honor of my one year anniversary in Alaska (measured from my first full day in Alaska, though I arrived in the state on the 27th), I took a photo of the statue of Seward in front of my library. William Seward was Lincoln's Secretary of State and responsible for purchasing Alaska from Russia during the middle of the Civil War. It seemed such a ridiculous idea that it was referred to as "Seward's Folly". Worked out okay though. We have Seward's Day here as a state holiday. There are white flecks in this picture - it was snowing as I snapped the photo.

Year of photos, Day 29, January 29, 2009. This giant cube hangs above our reference desk at the library. During an earthquake, it will probably fall and kill me.

Year of photos, Day 30, January 30, 2009. My supervisor, Sherri, at the reference desk. She seems unconcerned that she might be killed by the giant cube. She volunteered for the picture; she thinks this is a cool project.

Year of photos, Day 31, January 31, 2009. My roommates and another friend and I went to see the symphony. They performed music while a classic silent film, The General starring Buster Keaton, played on a large screen above them. They talked about the history of silent films and music in the opening. It was incredibly cool. The movie was hilarious and it was a fantastic experience to see it with the symphony and the audience. The audience cheered for the characters (and the musicians), and laughed, and it was a fantastic thing to be part of the group experience. I highly recommend doing something like this if you get the chance. Worth every penny. This is the way our great-grandparents saw movies.

Year of photos, Day 32, February 1, 2009. What I did during the superbowl. I cuddled with the cat, played on the computer, knitted, read, ate yummy pasta salad, and occasionally I even watched the game. My thoughts: a couple of cute ads (I liked the one with the potato heads), the half time show was dull, and the game was interesting in the last few minutes.

Year of photos, Day 33, February 2, 2009. Anchorage has this really neat 1% art program that results in a city with some beautiful spots, not one that looks like every other city. There are murals all over the place. This is my favorite mural in downtown Anchorage. It's hard to get the whole thing in the picture, it goes over the other building. Whales and such painted on the side of a building. Also - Anchorage has Whale Watching! They migrate right past us! (But not at this time of year.)

Year of photos, Day 34, February 3, 2009. We put up this teddy and add clothes to him while singing the song "Teddy wore his red shirt, red shirt, red shirt. Teddy wore his red shirt all day long." And so on with blue pants, yellow socks, etc. Teaches colors and getting dressed (yesterday's theme for storytime). Unfortunately in the middle of the song, Teddy's eye popped off and a little child yelled "Teddy's eye!" as it went rolling down the middle of the room. Rather tramatic. I immediately explained that Teddy now only had one eye because he was a pirate Teddy, but he still needed clothes, and so we finished the song. One of my better saves. And because they're 2 year-olds, they didn't question me. In the future, I will shake the flannel board pieces to make sure they won't come apart during storytime.

Year of Photos, Day 35, February 4, 2009. Yesterday we kicked off our "Anchorage Reads" program. It has a winter survival theme, so we had Iditarod dogs and mushers there as well as snow machines. Only people not from Alaska or Canada call them snow mobiles. They're snow machines. And they're hugely popular. This one is being ridden by a woman.

And now I must go to work (today is my late day).

My One Year Anniversary (in Alaska)!

2009-02-03T04:48:33Z

Last week was one my one year anniversary of arriving in Alaska. Actually it was January 27th. And I've been working on this entry for that long. So I have lists for you, things I love about Anchorage/Alaska, things I'm learning to love, and things I miss and things I don't miss. I'll probably add more and more to these lists as they occur to me. I'll try to post the photos (which my mother waits for every Monday since it is my day off) either after this or tomorrow.

Things I Miss about Kansas City and The Lower 48 in General

Thunderstorms
Rain
Barbeque
Yoplait Light Flavor Strawberry-Orange-Sunrise
Proximity to Family
My Church
My Friends
Going to Royals games
Boulevard Wheat
A Whole List of Stores/Decent Shopping
Sonic
Fazoli's
Olive Garden
More than one library system in easy driving distance
Decent fresh produce
Squirrels
fireflys in the summer
Live theatre
Junior League
The ability to vacation in other states by jumping in the car for an hour or two

Things I Don't Miss About Kansas City

Traffic
Driving 45 minutes each way to work
Hot humid summers
Stress

Things I Love About Anchorage and Alaska in General

Cross country skiing right outside my door
A great community feeling
Sushi (which they had in KC but I never ate)
Fresh seafood
A vast majority of outdoorsy people (who inspire me)
Mountains everywhere I look
The ocean and port (and whale watching!)
Moose (and other wildlife)
My church
The friends I've made
My awesome library and coworkers
The huge military presence
The amazing city park and trail system
Pure wilderness is less than 20 minutes away, and you feel like you're a million miles from civilization
A huge and diverse international population
Learning about the native culture
The culture/community of this state in general
(so a lot of what I love about Alaska is turning out to be hard to put in words!)

Things I Am Learning To Love About Anchorage/Alaska

The Cold (Embrace, buy awesome layers, don't hide from it)
The huge military presence
Quadrupling the amounts of lotions and moisturizers I use to deal with the cold
Constant tourists
Huge time difference from the rest of the country
People always commenting on my accent

More to come as it occurs to me!

Many More Photos!

2009-01-27T06:45:15Z

Life's been really busy, especially work. But lots of fun and it keeps me out of trouble. When I asked what you wanted to see photos of, you said the stereotypical Anchorage. The stereotype is probably dogsleds and snow and ice. Well I've got snow and ice photos, and that's true. But I'm also just trying to show you some of what I see everyday. Here are some photos I took for my year of photos (plus one bonus photo).

The Loussac Library has an "ice fountain" in front of it. It looks really cool when there is ice hanging from all the parts. It is really pretty. And it is a regular fountain during the summer months. Year of photos, Day 17, January 17, 2009.

This is the entry way to my house. Two decorative elements (the ceramic thing and the hanging) and the requisite plastic tub of arctic melt for sprinkling on the walk. Year of photos, Day 18, January 18, 2009.

Around here they sprinkle gravel (called "pea gravel" because of its size) on the road instead of salt or sand. Then in the spring they have to clean it all up. When the snow melts before it is cleaned up, the roads are almost like gravel roads. I didn't get a picture of a road, but the target parking lot, but it ends up about the same amount of gravel. The especially layer on the gravel hard on hills and turns where you need track most. And with every new snow, you get new gravel, so that's a lot of gravel. It's a huge pain (and jarring on your wrists) to roll a cart across a parking lot like this. Year of photos, Day 19, January 19, 2009.

This is the path in the park behind my house that I go walking on (usually with the dog) and occasionally skiing. It's beautiful and so completely self-contained you can almost forget you're in the city. This time of year, it's my own private winter wonderland, right outside my back door. Year of photos, Day 20, January 20, 2009.

As we all know, this week was the inauguration of President Obama. On Wednesday, my library threw a kids inaugural ball for him. We re-showed the previous day's inauguration, had presidential inspired games, trivia, crafts, and a giant declaration of independence that children could sign but only if they agreed that all people are created equal and that they knew that if King George III caught them, he could declare them a traitor, imprison them and their family, and potentially hang them. If they looked too worried at this point, I would remind them that King George has been dead for about 200 years. The event was black tie optional, and I wore an old high school formal gown. Two different news stations came out and filmed and interviewed me. It was a very successful event. This is me in my formal wear by our giant declaration of independence covered in signatures. Year of photos, Day 21, January 21, 2009.

On Thursday I was downtown for work and I snapped this photo of the port from the parking garage where I overpaid for parking. Year of photos, Day 22, January 22, 2009.

On Friday on my way to my car after work I saw these bird tracks in the snow on the parking lot right by my car. I thought it was cool. This is just the type of stuff I see every day. Year of photos, Day 23, January 23, 2009.

About a month ago I got an email asking if I wanted a replica liberty bell stored in an obscure storage area of the library. We've got a two month long "We the People: Created Equal" program (of which are Inaugural Ball was a special event) so of course I said yes. I was thinking something small, table top size. Instead I got a waist-high 3/8ths replica given to the city in 1976 for the bicentennial. It was made in the same foundry as the original liberty bell. And it rings really loud. It's mounted on a nice wooden stand with a pretty plaque. (One of our librarians found the article about when it was originally given to the city and we put it in a signholder on the bell). Once it was polished, it looked fantastic. We've gotten a ton of compliments on it. I can't believe it's been mouldering in storage for the last 20 years. Oh well, within 6 hours of me finding out about it, it was polished on display. We also wrapped the clapper in cloth (which you can see in the photo) so it wouldn't be so loud. Year of photos, Day 24, January 24, 2009.

For my roommate's birthday I made an ice cream cake with my Betty Crocker fill'n'bake pans. The cake ended up yummy, but I have issues with decorating. Here's the cake with the cupcakes made from extra batter and some very odd decor. Year of photos, Day 25, January 25, 2009.

A road in my neighborhood I drive on multiple times a day. I love the mountains peeking up from the trees. Just part of what I see everyday. Year of photos, Day 26, January 26, 2009.

And bonus photo!
Cake decorating wasn't my only issue with the cake. It was an ice cream cake, but I had issues getting the ice cream to freeze up, so it ended up with an ice cream infusion in the cake and a big hollow spot in the cake. But still yummy.

Year of Photos - Day 10 through 16, miscellanious

2009-01-17T06:44:26Z

I took pictures every day, not particularly exciting pictures, but photos nonetheless. It's been a very tough, busy week, and next week will be even more so. We went from -28 for the last three weeks to above freezing. (I understand the rest of the country has our cold streak now, you have my sympathy.) It got up to 44 the last few days. This included a snow storm in between -28 and 44 and then some rain, and now a huge wind storm. The snow/rain on top of our normal winter layer of inches of hard packed snow on every surface creates some dangerous situations. Wednesday was really bad, the roads were barely drivable, just ice skating rinks, a lot of stuff was closed including the schools. Naturally the library was open, and I made it by driving only about 5 miles an hour. Only a couple of people made it to storytime. Everything was melting and then turning back to ice, seriously dangerous. The library remained open Thursday and Friday, but the schools were closed. Thursday I could maybe understand, but today made no sense. Oh well. The library was a madhouse of kids with nothing to do. It got a bit stressful. I took this evening as a night off, not even going to the gym, I just couldn't be around people at all anymore today. We'll see how tomorrow goes, and then I get a three day weekend. Though I have so much to do to prep for next week that I would almost rather work.

And now on to the photos. They're all bits of miscellanea, random snapshots into my world.

Year of photos, day 10, January 10, 2009. Last Saturday, we participated in this big fine arts fair. Our booth was a "poet-tree", a magic tree that grows poems. We filled it with poems (typed up and rolled on little pieces of paper and taped to the tree) and the kids "picked" a poem. They could then read it into the microphone. We also had paper so they could write their own poem and "leaf" a poem for the tree. (That is what the papers along the bottom of the easel are.) It was a very popular event, around 500 or 600 people, so a very tiring day. I took this picture towards the end of the day when the "tree" was mostly bare.

Year of photos, day 11, January 11, 2009. This is me, at the end of the day. I was tired.

Year of photos, day 12, January 12, 2009. This is Jane Austen the cat on top of the rag rug that I finally finished. Here's the original entry I wrote about it with some photos of Jane Austen the cat "helping" at the time. I really like the rug, as do my roommates, but I think Jane Austen liked her fabric nest better.

Year of photos, day 13, January 13, 2009. Here is the area above my desk at work. It has Max the Monkey, as well as various other books, puppets, toys, photos, and other debris to fall onto my head when we have the inevitable earthquake. And actually compared to most of the other shelves that line our office it is relatively safe (no huge binders full of files like the shelves beside it). I'm so dead in the earthquake. Storytime started up again this week and so I thought I should show you the home of my buddy and mascot (helps me greet all the kids, and leads off each program), Max the Monkey.

Year of photos, day 14, January 14, 2009. Comfy fleece pajamas I got from mom and dad for Christmas. Super soft. They feature polar bears.

Year of photos, day 15, January 15, 2009. We call these the people chairs, they're in the children's area at my library. They're very popular, but the kids love to tip them over which is rather irritating. We have seven of them, all slightly different colors, often all full of kids and parents reading separately and together. That's the point of the library after all.

Year of photos, day 16, January 16, 2009. One of my favorite pieces of home decor. This was given because of a longstanding joke, when you're in the South you can say anything you want about someone so long as you put a "bless her/his heart" in there somewhere. (Of course it can be an actual term of endearment to or about someone for whom you care.) And my favorite example that I've heard, "she's a little bit trampy, bless her heart". I have this fantastic little beaded plaque over the light switch in my bedroom.

And that does it for photos for this week. I'm off to revert to my comatose state.

Year of Photos - Days 7 through 9, Pet Photos!

2009-01-10T05:43:31Z

Many of you have met in real life or via the internet my beloved cat, Jane Austen. (That's her as a kitten in the user icon). Days 7 through 9 of the year of photos are concerned with the pets with whom I am allowed to live. Including a new introduction - Murphy my roommate's yellow lab.

Day 7 of Year of Photos, January 7, 2009. Meet Murphy. My roommate's yellow lab. He's very sweet and adores me. Follows me around even sometimes over her "mommy". We were curious as to how he would react to Jane Austen. After some initial curiousity, he ignores her. She won't play with him and doesn't seem to be food or a source of food (except for the occasional forays into her litter box - very gross) and so he is of no interest to him. To contrast, Jane Austen is hugely focused on him. She views him as one of her greatest enemies and tracks his every move with great wariness and rancor. She hisses at him frequently and when she feels cornered she attacks. However, there are times when she'll creep past him without hissing. It's a baby step.

Day 8 of Year of Photos, January 8, 2009. Here's Jane Austen reclining on my bed. Somethings never change. She still doesn't like any besides me much, but she loves me and is very sweet, loyal, and affectionate to me.

Day 9 of Year of Photos, January 9, 2009. We have to feed Jane Austen on a shelf in a closet to keep the dog from stealing her food (the only thing about her in which he is interested). She makes a leap to a storage tub placed for her convenience and then to the shelf, about four feet off the floor. Here she is eating her food. It's one of her favorite things.

Year of Photos Day 6: Amigurumi Madness

2009-01-07T05:13:02Z

Recently I've been having fun experimenting with amigurumi, that is the Japanese art of crocheting cute creatures. Well you can crochet or knit, but I'm a much better crocheter than knitter so that is what I do. Today's picture is the one I've most lately finished. He's a snowman and a gift for someone whose been traveling through the holidays.

All of these little guys stand between 7 and 10 inches tall. You can't tell from this photo, but his nose is a little carrot. Very cute.

I've been working off some free patterns I found online for these guys. I've given them all away as gifts. I just requested some books through interlibrary loan on amigurumi creatures, and I think a few more to practice and I'll be able to free form and create my own patterns. I love making them and they go over really well as gifts. Bonus photos to follow of the other little guys I've given away this season.

Here's jolly St. Nick. This santa is my least favorite. I see the most problems with it, but the woman I gave it too (my hostess on Christmas day) loved it so I am happy. The photo is blurry. Sorry.

This penguin guy is my favorite. I want to make him again with different colors in the scarf and hat.

Because I love him so much, you get a bonus picture of him. See how well he matches the wrapping paper of the gift he accompanied?

I am thinking of a monkey for my next little guy. Any thoughts?

Year of Photos - Day 5 plus Snowzilla!

2009-01-06T07:07:34Z

Today was my day off, a nice relaxing day. And so I got a daytime photo! This is the view from my back porch through our backyard. The backyard is small but it makes up for it because it opens into a park. You can see the park, the grassy part and then the trees in the bog that the trail loops. It's a great walk (just about 1 and a quarter mile) and a lot of fun. I have walked it and skied it. It's quite beautiful, the frozen bog. I'll have to get photos of it. For now just see the tree line.

Year of photos, day 5, January 5, 2009. The view from my back porch. Backyard goes into a park. Notice that over a foot of snow is balanced on top of the fence.

And of course two days ago to celebrate statehood, after fireworks we tracked down Snowzilla. There's quite the history of Snowzilla. It is a giant snowman that is annually built in an otherwise quiet neighborhood in a man's front yard. It's become quite the tourist/internet/local attraction. However this year, when Snowzilla was no more than a base, the city left a notice for the owner telling him not to build a giant snowman. This prompted a fury in the public, protests at city hall (of both the human and snowman variety), snowmen protesting just out of town, and other natures of rabble rousing including a few very funny letters to the editor. And then miraculously in the middle of the night Snowzilla was rebuilt. Naturally no one knew how that could have happened. The city gave Snowzilla a Christmas reprieve, but is still threatening to pull him down. Of course part of the problem is that the city has a very legitimate complaint, the guy is running a junkyard out of his frontyard. It's quite the eyesore Snowzilla notwithstanding. But we had fun getting pictures with him. Now the city wants to build a giant snowman for the Fur Rondy festival. So they're telling this guy to tear his down, while stealing his idea. Of course it won't be in the middle of a quiet and peaceful neighborhood.

Snowzilla waves a cheery hello!

To give you a sense of scale, there is me in my huge and superwarm coat, in front of Snowzilla. It was so super cold, but it was also wonderfully fun to see it. And amazing in scale. Oh and those eyes? They're beer bottles!

Year of Photos - Days Three and Four

2009-01-05T08:21:27Z

January 3rd was the 50th anniversary of Alaskan Statehood, celebrated with many fantastic activities including the largest fireworks display in the history of the state. We made it despite the -25 weather. (Okay, we watched from a heated vehicle.) It was quite pretty and fun. Then after we had found an open starbucks, we sought out Snowzilla. (Snowzilla photos to follow later.) People asked about "stereotypcial Anchorage" which has a lot to do with snow, igloos (which we don't have) and dogsledding (only certain times a year, though we do have miles and miles of dogsledding tracks throughout town).

This picture was taken by a roommate, and isn't perfect. But the best we could do as it was too cold to spend too long outside the vehicle fiddling with cameras. The statehood fireworks were fantastic. Happy 50th Birthday Alaska! (Day 3, Year of photos, January 3rd, 2009)

We have a lot of snow. I pass this mailbox every day on my way to work. They've knocked the snow off two or three times and still it accumulates this high. We're somewhere between two and three feet of snowfall so far this winter. Notice that half the pole is obscured by snow as well. That's some of the Anchorage I see everyday. (Day 4, Year of photos, January 4th, 2009)

Year of Photos - Day Two

2009-01-03T07:17:50Z

Today continued bitterly cold. It was -23 when I left for work and -22 when I drove home. I snapped this photo on the way home. All of the trees are covered in frost. It's beautiful as every branch is outlined and encapsulated in it's own layer of frost, forming a white tree. Especially beautiful when outlined against a sunset. This is not a perfect photo, my apologies. It was -21 and I was in a hurry, I was on my way home from work (at 6pm and it's totally dark, it's totally dark at 5pm). I said I would do a year of photos, not a year of high quality photos. I should have gotten a day time photo during lunch when I should have gone out to start my car. (Apparently when it's this cold, it's best to go start your car and let it idle for a while in the middle of the day). Perhaps I will soon.

If you have photo requests, of something in Anchorage, or within my power to get, please ask. Nothing too silly or too minor. Edited to add, I meant nothing is too silly or minor. I'm sure I'll get very silly and minor in my photos before the year is out.

New Year's Goals

2009-01-02T05:53:45Z

I prefer the term New Year's Goals to New Year's Resolutions because rather than shooting for overarching grand life changes that have a high probability of failure, I am aiming to strengthen and maintain current life trends. So that being said, here are some goals of mine for 2009.

1. Do not get frostbite or freeze to death.
This is not as easy at it seems. Yesterday, I was driving home from work (yes I had to work on New Year's Eve, but the library was closed so as much staff as wanted could take leave, and I got to get some serious work done, bonus, I got to wear jeans and a tshirt), and it was negative 18. Yes that is Fahrenheit. And that is minus 18, 18 below zero. It's seriously cold. Even for Alaska. Well, considering I live in the "warm" part of Alaska. Driving in my car, wearing my extremely serious super thick gloves that I use for skiing, and my fingers were just aching with the cold. Your nostrils/nose hairs freeze. The cold air hurts my lungs and makes me cough. It's funny because I've adjusted pretty well. 20 is my "livable" temperature. 10 degrees I can deal with. 32 is warm enough I don't zip my coat. But -18 is seriously cold. I don't go out if I can't help it. (Which led to me accidentally missing an evening engagement, oops!) So my goal in 2009, is to get better at keeping warm. Particularly with my feet. I have a tendency to wear thin socks and most of my shoes are too thin except for my super warm boots. I need to upgrade my footwear for Alaska.

2. Continue to get healthier, exercise more and lose weight.
As many of you know, in September I joined Weight Watchers. It's been a really good change for me. And I have been doing well. When I have a weaker day, I know how to recuperate and move on without totally giving up. And I don't have to give up my favorite foods, just make good choices and plan for treats. I've lost just about 20 pounds so far. I want to loose more. And I've taken up cross country skiing which helps with the exercise (it's amazing full body workout). I really want to keep loosing weight and get healthier. Especially I want to amp up my exercise regime. But mostly I want to keep up healthy habits more than anything.

3. Get much better at Cross Country Skiing
I love XC skiing. My class was great fun. The group was fantastic. We had lots of fun using movie quotes and other nonsense to encourage each other. For example, when someone nervously said "I'll try", we'd all chime in (courtesy of Yoda), "there is no try, only do or do not". As we'd go down the hill, we'd be reminded to "snowplow" (point the tops of our skis together in a triangle shape) to slow down, but not to cross the skis. This of course led to people on the bottom of the hills (my remembrance, courtesy of Ghost Busters) to yell "don't cross the streams". (It would be bad, that's bad.) But most of the time you were simply exhorted to "ski like Michael Phelps". I do okay on uphills, and really pretty good on the straight flats, even can turn pretty well. Downhill is a problem, mostly because of my huge fear of going fast and feeling out of control. My goal is to work at that. Especially since I want to do the ski for women in a couple of months.

4. Read my Bible more faithfully.
I aim to read every day. I probably actually read (excluding at church) 2-4 times a week. I wish to do much better. And to grow closer to God. This is my most important goal.

5. Take a picture every day
I'd like to take a photo every day, just something that catches my fancy, and log on and share it with you all. I might do this once a week and share a week's worth of photos, or perhaps every day. This seems the goal most likely to be abandoned. But I'll try.

And on the note of the last goal, here is a photo of my bed and things hanging on the wall above it.

This is my bed. It is up against the windows (only way all the furniture would fit in the room). Hanging above and around it are some photos, a print a friend gave me, and my baseball hat collection.

Expect a post at some point with various bits and pieces I never got around to posting about from 2008. And check facebook for some more random 2008 photos.

And I leave with you a wish that I wrote for all my loved ones for 2009.
May 2009 bring you many blessings,
may you never fail to appreciate those blessings,
may the trials that come be borne with strength and grace,
may those trials be swift and few,
and most of all may this year bring you peace.
I love you all.
God Bless.

100 Things To Do (Or Not)

2008-12-01T07:13:27Z

Grabbed this from M, and it mildly amused me. Lots of comments, of course.

1. Started your own blog --- Yes, Clearly
2. Slept under the stars --- Yes
3. Played in a band --- Yes, Marching and Orchestral, but not rock
4. Visited Hawaii --- No
5. Watched a meteor shower --- No, tried but didn't see anything
6. Given more than you can afford to charity --- Yes, define afford?
7. Been to Disneyland --- Yes, and Disneyworld
8. Climbed a mountain --- Yes, if we count A mountain in Tempe and some hiking up here in Alaska
9. Held a praying mantis --- No
10. Sang a solo --- No, choir directors went out of their way to avoid this when I was in church musicals as a kid
11. Bungee jumped --- No
12. Visited Paris --- Yes
13. Watched a lightning storm --- Yes, grew up in Kansas, so definitely yes
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch --- Yes, well define taught myself, but mainly by myself with help only from phone calls and the internet, so yes
15. Adopted a child --- No
16. Had food poisoning --- Yes, spent half of last week throwing up actually
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty --- No
18. Grown your own vegetables --- No, but I have grown herbs
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France --- Yes
20. Slept on an overnight train --- Yes, and been kept awake on an overnight train by weird and fairly sketchy guys, remember that talesofthecity?
22. Hitch hiked --- No
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill --- No
24. Built a snow fort --- No. But the kids across the street tried to attack me from theirs last week.
25. Held a lamb --- No
26. Gone skinny dipping --- No
27. Run a marathon --- No, but I've walked in the Race for the Cure and similar ones many times.
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice --- No
29. Seen a total eclipse --- No
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset --- Yes
31. Hit a home run --- No
32. Been on a cruise --- No
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person --- No
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors --- Yes, France and Germany and England, can't get much more specific than that.
35. Seen an Amish community --- Yes
36. Taught yourself a new language --- No
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied --- Yes. I'm very blessed.
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person --- No.
39. Gone rock climbing --- Yes, but only the fake rock walls.
40. Seen Michelangelo's David --- Yes
41. Sung karaoke --- Yes.
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt --- No
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant --- No
44. Visited Africa --- No
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight --- Yes
46. Been transported in an ambulance --- Yes. Down Pike's Peak!
47. Had your portrait painted --- No, but was sketched by one of the caricature artists.
48. Gone deep sea fishing --- No
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person --- No, it was the one of the things we didn't get to when we were in Rome.
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris --- Yes
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling --- No
52. Kissed in the rain --- Yes
53. Played in the mud --- Yes
54. Gone to a drive-in theater --- Yes
55. Been in a movie --- No.
56. Visited the Great Wall of China --- Yes
57. Started a business --- No
58. Taken a martial arts class --- No
59. Visited Russia --- No
60. Served at a soup kitchen --- Yes
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies --- Yes
62. Gone whale watching --- Yes
63. Got/gave flowers for no reason --- No, I agree with M, there's always a reason.
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma --- Yes, but the blood banks don't want me anymore since I have a tendency to pass out.
65. Gone sky diving --- No
66. Visited a Nazi concentration camp --- No
67. Bounced a check --- No
68. Flown in a helicopter --- No
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy --- Yes, unless Mom has been more lethal with cleaning than I recall. I would probably only fight for Dorothy Gail (my cabbage patch doll) and Happy Baby (one of my first dolls). I can't imagine that mom would throw those away. There's a few other things I would want too, but those two are the main ones.
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial --- Yes
71. Eaten caviar --- No
72. Pieced a quilt --- Bits and pieces.
73. Stood in Times Square --- No
74. Toured the Everglades --- Yes, I think, we did a swamp tour in Louisiana, is that the everglades?
75. Been fired from a job --- No
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London --- Yes
77. Broken a bone --- Yes. Many times.
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle --- Yes. Thanks Dad.
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person --- Yes.
80. Published a book --- Not yet. ;)
81. Visited the Vatican --- Well, I was in Rome, but not the actual Vatican, so No.
82. Bought a brand new car --- No, always used.
83. Walked in Jerusalem --- No
84. Had your picture in the newspaper --- Yes
85. Read the entire Bible --- Yes
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating --- No
88. Had chickenpox --- Yes, twice.
89. Saved someone’s life --- No
90. Sat on a jury --- No
91. Met someone famous --- Yes
92. Joined a book club --- Yes, joined them, ran them, etc.
93. Lost a loved one --- Yes
94. Had a baby --- No
95. Seen the Alamo in person --- Yes
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake --- No
97. Been involved in a law suit --- No
98. Owned a cell phone --- Yes
99. Been stung by a bee --- No
100. Read an entire book in one day --- Yes, many times.

So of the 100 things, I've done 45 to 47 of those things depending on how you count.

Black Friday Finds

2008-11-29T08:04:15Z

This post starts with black friday finds and works backwards. Just what is going on with life lately. Working backwards.

I went to some Black Friday shopping today, but not at an insane hour, at 9:30am. It isn't as much fun by yourself. I have almost all my Xmas shopping done. Well, I've got some of it done, and I know 95% of what I'm going to order online. Since I'm not heading back to Kansas for Christmas holidays, I'm having stuff shipped directly there (or buying it here and shipping back).
I also of course got a few things for myself. A sweater from Old Navy (very pretty, lambswool, bright pink), on sale for $15. A pair of tights, some yarn, a towel rack, and something else even more minor. Just normal household stuff.
I went to REI to look at Ski pants, but they didn't have my size. So I came home and ordered them online, using some coupons. I actually got two pants and I will return whichever one works least well. My ski class starts in just over a week. I'm so excited. (XC ski)
For Thanksgiving itself I went to my church. They have a meal and celebration there for anyone who wants to come. Some families come, a lot of single people, or couples that don't want to cook for just two. Lots of yummy food, lots of good fun.
After dinner, everyone had brought games, puzzles, etc. Everyone hung out, played games, cards, and puzzles. There were even women going through all the ads plotting shopping strategies for the next day (I saw in with them for a while). It felt very much like home.
Of course a couple of weeks ago, I went to Las Vegas for the Professional Bull Riding world finals. I met my old roommate there and we had an amazing time. It was my first trip to Las Vegas and I had a great time. I lost $1.80. (I'm clearly a big gambler.) At one point I got up $0.75, but I got distracted by a Wizard of Oz slot machine.
As an early Christmas present, mom had me buy (and charge to them) a heated mattress pad. It is so amazing, absolutely my favorite thing. I have a fluffy comforter, down blanket, flannel sheets, heated mattress pad, all wonderful. It's like this warm cozy cave that is increasingly difficult to leave in the morning. Jane Austen the cat loves it too. Many nights I try to turn over only to find that she has tunneled her way in and curled up beside me in the warmth. The great thing about the heated mattress pad is it keeps the entire bed warm. Without it, my body heat will warm up the section I'm in, but if I move, I'll hit a cold section and jerk awake. This is vastly better. I turn on the preheat before bed and slip into toasty heaven. Okay that's a lot to say about a heated mattress pad, but it is just fantastic.
I tried to make meringues since they're a fairly good low-cal desert. They failed. They tasted good, just not like they should. Too gooey. I'm determined to keep doing this until I get it right.
My perfectionism amuses my new roommates. I got upset at myself for the meringues and for my cornbread muffins (that I messed up but then fixed) for the Thanksgiving dinner.
For the first time I had both Thanksgiving Thursday and Black Friday off. It was nice. Of course I still have to work on Saturday. Oh well. It was still nice.

Now I should go to bed since I have to work in the morning...Good Night All!

Winter Is Getting Expensive

2008-11-06T08:22:39Z

Winter is in full swing. We referred to it as a "warmer" day when it hit 17. And I'm stocking up again on my winter supplies. It's getting expensive. In no particular order here are some recent purchases and things I'm considering.

*New Parka I needed a new parka for skiing (cross country) and a more mobile one than my ankle length down coat. Definitely something warm needed. I found a columbia 3-in-1 parka (zip out lining) that retails for around $200. It's even pink and brown so very cool. I got a good deal at Costco on this parka, so cost: $150.

*Slippers My new place (which I love by the by) has stone floors on the first floor that are cold and covered with dog hair (even with constant vacumming). Both my roomies wear slippers and I knew I needed some. I was going to ask for some for xmas, but I found a cute pair at Bed, Bath, and Beyond (pink and super comfy), and I splurged. This will amaze my mom who spent years buying me slippers and trying to convince me to wear them. I never wore any she got me, but I love these (and need them more). Cost: around $16.

*Heated Linens The house is kept at around 67-69, totally reasonable for Alaska and perfectly comfortable. Except that when I slip between the covers, they're really cold. I would love a solution. Perhaps a heated blanket, but my roommate has a heated mattress pad and that is an awesome idea. Looked at them at Bed Bath and Beyond, and they're on the pricey side, $120ish for a Queen. Maybe for Christmas.

*Snow Tires I've tried just using my all wheel tires and four wheel drive but with my new neighborhood and the hills I now have, I need snow/studded tires. That is looking like that might cost up to $500. Grrr...

*New Hat I didn't need need this, but I got a cute new hat (also pink) for about $9.

*Shoe Clamps/Spikes Absolutely invaluable for climbing the hill to my stained glass class or parking lots in general. These are rubber things you slip over the soles of your shoes and they have little spikes that will give you traction in the snow/ice. I've already used my pair a bunch (and I'd never before seen anything like this when I lived in Kansas). Cost: $15-$20

*Gloves I have one really heavy duty pair of gloves (with my heavy duty hat and boots), but I would like another medium pair (fairly warm but not so bulky that I can't easily move my fingers) so that I can have a separate pair in each coat. (Easier for convenience sake).

*Heated seat cover I (quite sadly) don't have heated seats in my Jeep. Thus my roommate and I ventured to Wal-Mart to fix this. I got a heated seat that fits on top of the regular seat and plugs into my cigarette lighter and even does massage. Not strictly necessary, but it helps an incredible amount. Cost: $40.

So winter is expensive. And I'm sure I missed some. Fortunately when I was doing my budget, I forgot about my security deposit from my old place. I didn't need a security deposit for this place (this is the advantage of a more informal arrangement), and I get one back from the last place. I've got a (fairly flexibile) budget for the next few months that includes the new bedroom furniture, vacation (to Vegas tomorrow!), and Christmas gifts, but did not include the "income" from the deposit return. In my mind, I wrote the check and the money was gone, so getting it back is a bonus! I believe I will use that money for the snow tires, and the remainder for a gun (protection from bears and predators of the human persuasion) before politics changes so much that it is impossible (or too heavily taxed).

Library Cat

2008-10-23T17:19:55Z

I have always wanted to work in a library with a library cat. Sadly this is one of those things you have to have always had, you can't add now, due to allergies and the like. Yes I get that allergies are a big deal for a lot of people and I'm not trying to negate it, but it just seems like so much fun.

Friendly Cat Changes Lives, Becomes Best Seller

Incredible Magical Cupcakes

2008-10-20T23:20:52Z

As many of you may or may not know, I have been making a very concentrated effort to eat healthier. (It's paying off, I'm losing weight.) I heard about this trick where you add diet soda to a regular cake mix and nothing else and the cake bakes up with many less calories (much of the cake calories come from the oil and eggs). So I thought I'd try it, the classic recipe is chocolate cake mix with a can of diet coke. The recipe calls for a full can, but most of the internet said it was almost too moist, so I only used 8 ounces (1 cup). Here's what I did (based on what I had on hand).

Lemon Sprite Cupcakes
1 package lemon cake mix (I used Duncan Hines lemon moist supreme)
8 ounces of Sprite Zero (I happily drank the rest of the sprite)

Mix up, divide into 24 cupcake cups (though you certainly can make a cake this way) and bake according to package directions.

Frosting
1 tub fat free cool whip (or you know the store brand like I used)
1 package fat free sugar free instant pudding mix (I used cheesecake flavor)

Blend really well until it is smooth and not grainy. Frost cupcakes or cake.

This particular way, each of the 24 cupcakes including frosting has only 115 calories and 1.5 grams of fat. Woo hoo! I didn't actually know if this would work and was amazed that it did. The cupcakes are so moist and delicious, perhaps even better than if they were made traditionally. Very lemon and the frosting is almost like cream cheese frosting. I highly recommend you try this in some variation.

Next I will try diet coke and chocolate. And perhaps cream soda and yellow cake mix (I have one of those lying around too). I ate a few cupcakes, gave many away at work, and froze some others. This does not make them good for you, just about a third or a fourth the damage of a regular cupcake. If you google "diet coke cake" or "diet soda cake", you'll get tons of ideas and advice. And all sorts of fun flavor combinations are possible.

I will have to wait to make more until after my move. I got the furniture delivered for my bedroom this weekend. While I was there I took over the first load of stuff and unpacked it. I'm doing more packing today. I move next weekend. Weekend in my world is defined at Sunday/Monday since I work Tuesday through Saturday. I am in a furnished place, so I have no furniture to pack up, but I do seem to have acquired a lot of stuff. I've learned my lesson from last time and I will get this all packed up on my own.

Winter Arrives

2008-10-16T06:43:42Z

Last week winter arrived. It started last weekend (weekend before this most recent one, 11 days ago - Sunday). I had been admiring the fall colors (and took a picture of them that I need to post) and about an hour later the snow started to fall. The Sunday snow didn't stick. But the stuff that fell later that week did. On Thursday it snowed all day and it stuck and accumulated. I worked late that evening (til 8pm) and it was quite dark when I headed home. The side road by my library was pure ice. I fishtailed some on that road (nothing major, but enough to keep considering if I should be getting snow tires). It was cold, snowy, and dark. And I had my second panic moment since I moved here. It was something along the line of oh my heavens, I moved to Alaska, was that a monumentally stupid thing to do? What was I thinking? It's October 9th and it's snowing, and dark, can I handle this? I was starting to panic, but I took a deep breath, drove myself home, and drank some hot cocoa. I talked myself down. Remember you love Alaska, it's beautiful, you're making good friends, your church is a wonderful group, a family, this library is the best you've ever worked at in terms of staff support, you love it here, this is just a bad day. I was feeling much better my bed time and when I woke up in the morning, I was chipper again.

Since then, for the last week, it has snow almost every day. No huge accumulation, mostly it's been melting, but constantly snow somewhere in sight. Cleaned off my car a few times. I need the clamp covers for my shoes (explanation in dealing with snow in another post). It's pretty and fun. The roads are kinda treacherous since it is that snow/melt/freeze/melt/freeze/snow some more cycle that results in ice and black ice. I went to a thing on Monday morning and there was a car accident. An hour later, same intersection, accident is cleared up and a new one has taken its place. I've seen two other accidents this week. My storytimes have dropped from an average of 76 people (with 4 to 10 turned away, the room only holds 75 by firecode), to 25 to 35 this last week. Apparently they don't want to drive in the snow (come on people, you live in Anchorage!). I expect as winter continues and we get more adjusted to it, the numbers will come back up. People just weren't mentally ready for winter. I know I wasn't. But I am now, mostly. There's still some surprise when I see the snow, a vague sense of unreality, but it's fading.

My microwave got replaced. Actually I am impressed by how well I survived (for almost three weeks) without it. (And yes I realize that isn't that long). As Tim mentioned he does, I used a tea kettle for hot water, primarily for my morning oatmeal and for tea/cocoa. The stove and toaster oven covered everything else nicely. My only complaint is the toaster oven is not as good at all-the-way-through heating without drying out leftovers as a microwave. But all in all, life without a microwave is doable.

When I logged onto my bank's website, the intermediary screen before you get to your account was a letter from the bank president assuring me that in no way, shape or form will my bank fail. That was rather the opposite of reassuring. And a good indicator of the general state of our economy and the fear level of our citizens. I'm also so sick of this election that I'm avoiding watching The Daily Show/Colbert Report just because I can't deal with any more of it. ..lesigh..

There are other things I would like to post about and a ton of pictures to share, but now I will sleep.