Alaska RR Adventure

We had a great adventure taking a train ride and playing all day out in the wilds of Alaska. 

After lots of climbing, rock chucking and exploring at the Spencer Glacier, we hopped back on the train and headed home.

Caleb was in awe most of the time, as evidenced by his reaction in the video after the train blew it's horn. He was "wowing" and "choo-choo"ing most of the trip. It was a beautiful day.

Caleb decided to make me some chocolate chip cookies, or ka-coos, as he calls them. He was inspired by cousin Luke to make some.  Mmm, mmm! He helped with everything and like his mom, his favorite part was dumping the chocolate chips in.

ONE...

TWO...

THREE!!..into the bowl those tasty chocolate morsels go!

He had to take a break from all his hard work and drink right out of the faucet...he is ALL boy!

Ha, ha, haaaaaa!

I know it's 1:30a.m. Alaska Time...

...which means it's 4:30a.m. for my sister in Chicago and 2:30a.m. for my sister in Tempe...BUT I just finished a huge sewing project!!  Pillow covers and curtains for my "sun room". I made tab top curtains for the french doors but forgot to take a pic of them.  Found this gorgeous furniture for a steal on craigslist and have yet to move the chair into the living room...in fact, there is still a lot to do to clean up the room, but I'm finally done with the major sewing projects.  Hooray!

Cannon has been gone for a week and I've squeezed these painting/sewing projects in while Caleb is sleeping.  Sometimes he sleeps for 1 hour and sometimes he sleeps for 3...and night time is totally variable.  

Taught myself how to make grommet top curtains. Was tricky at first but a cinch after I figured it out.  I haven't arranged them yet, just wanted to get them on the rod...I'll make them look symmetrical later.

Found some Tommy Bahama fabric on sale and recovered a couple pillows...

Whew! It was a lot of work in a little time.  It's not perfect but it's much better than it was. 

Off to bed!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY HONEY!!

This sounds cheesy but I'm the luckiest girl in the world. I married the perfect man for me.  If we lived in the 50's, I'd say he was a dreamboat. If we lived in the 60's I'd say he was far out. If we lived in the 70's I'd say he was cooler than burnt orange and avocado green polyester pants. If we lived in the 80's I'd say he was totally awesome.  If we lived in the 90's I'd say he was da bomb.  Since we live in the 00's, I'm going to say he's so sick!  Here are a few reasons I love my birthday boy (who is...shhhhhh...35)!! 

12 Things I love about Cannon:

1) He is camped out on a hill while the rest of the crew are at the base of the mountain, just so he can get cell coverage to call me late each night. (He's on the Hardluck Fire out of Fairbanks).

2) He loves me whether I'm thin or fat, happy or sad, made dinner or didn't.

3) He wakes up happy every day.

4) He always includes me and asks if I want to go with him when he travels, even though he knows the answer will be "mmm, probably not, it would be too complicated".

5) He comes home for lunch every day, just to see me and Caleb (whether I made lunch or not).

6) He is a  handiman fix-it-all guy who can figure any problem out with the house or cars--he's a problem solver.
7) I love Cannon because he loves the simple things in life, like ice cream sandwiches, listening to NPR, going garage sale-ing, and going for drives to explore new places, and fishing.

8) He is a fantastic father. Totally devoted to Caleb, who adores Cannon and they have sweet bond.  He doesn't have a lot of hobbies because when he's home, his time is spent with us!

9) He is the most patient, mellow, unassuming person I've ever met. He's quite open minded.

10) He is hilarious! He rarely gives me a straight answer.  Usually it's a sarcastic or funny quip. He comes up with the the weirdest questions--they are so original and so funny, an generally he's thought about it for a while before he verbalizes it.

11) He can strike up a genuine conversation with anyone and truly be interested in their situation.

12) He's a good kisser.

Caleb insisted on wearing big boy underoos last night, all 5 pair of underoos! He was not happy with just one pair.  He needed "Lightyear", "Mcqueen", "Nemo", "Incredibles" and "Wall-e". You can see 4 layers in the photos, but there were 5. 


They were so tight on him that I peeled them off, much to his dismay.  He insisted that he sleep with them and fell asleep hugging his underoos.  He's very entertaining.

Caleb stopped watching "Chicken Little" so that he could help me give you a tour of our newly painted sitting room.

He skipped into the buttery room!  Isn't it a bright, warm, inviting color? I love, I love!

How pretty is that?

The flash makes it look too yellow, but here you can see the door that I painted cream colored.

Caleb found the whipped cream in the fridge and brought it to me as I was taking pics. We like to eat it straight outta the can, don't you?

Sprucing Up The Place!

Much to Cannon's initial dismay, I painted our fireplace cream colored.  It's retro and it brightens up the room.  Now that he can see the finished product he is happy with the look. Once we get the edges cleaned up and a fresh coat of paint on the walls (I've chosen buttery yellow), this room will just gleam!  I'm currently hunting for just the right fabric to make curtains.  You'll have to pardon all the clutter.  Everything gets shifted when a painting project is happening.  This is a BEFORE picture.  The AFTER will follow shortly ( I hope).

Speaking of fabric, I found this Tommy Bahama fabric and will use it to re-cover a couple pillows that have already been re-covered once, but are sorely needing some spiffing up.  Does anyone have a great pattern for sewing a pillow cover?  I've not yet sewn something I can remove and wash.  Any ideas out there?

What's more fun than painting a fireplace or shopping for fabric?  Listening to Caleb say "moooose".  My boys are so wonderful. 

Amen

Texting

(Here's an interesting article on texting.) 

From a Wall Street Journal:Personal Technology article entitled Quick! Tell Us What KUTGW Means by Stephanie Raposo  

Say What?

A sampling of some popular shorthand texting terms.

• UG2BK . . . . . . . You got to be kidding
• GBTW. . . . . . . . Get back to work
• NMP . . . . . . . . . Not my problem
• PIR . . . . . . . . . . Parent in room
• GFTD. . . . . . . . . Gone for the day
• FYEO. . . . . . . . . For your eyes only
• BI5 . . . . . . . . . . Back in five minutes
• DEGT . . . . . . . . Don’t even go there
• BIL . . . . . Boss is listening
• PAW. . . . Parents are watching
• 99 . . . . . . Parents are no longer watching
• PCM . . . . Please call me
• IMS. . . . . I am sorry
• TOY. . . . . Thinking of you
• KUTGW. . Keep up the good work
• CID . . . . . Consider it done
• FWIW. . . For what it’s worth
• HAND . . . Have a nice day
• IAT . . . . . I am tired
• NRN . . . . No response necessary
• 4COL. . . . For crying out loud
• WRUD. . . What are you doing
• LMIRL. . . Let’s meet in real life
• ^5 . . . . . . High five
• For the full article click here.

About the house

(Typed last night at 9:30p.m.)

As I type this Caleb has just had a haircut and a bath. He's sitting in a pile of pillows on the couch, watching the setting sun (it will be setting for a few hours), eating a chocolate chip cookie.  Mind you, he's still in his birthday suit and I can't think of a more enjoyable thing to do...can you?  Cannon is at the next door neighbor's house, admiring a tricked-out Land Cruiser.  After some muggy weather, a week of rain, being sick with colds, herniated discs, and hyperthyroidism--the sun is shining.  Indeed it is.  Cannon will start his supplementation meds tomorrow--yay!!  He's been my Edward Cullen the last few weeks with skin that is ice cold.  He has had barely enough energy to work. I'm surprised he had enough to go fishing (wink, wink). No, but seriously, he has been really lethargic. I can't wait for him to feel well.  And I've got a neurosurgeon exam on Friday--how scary does that sound? Yah, some hoo-ha herniations in my neck have been giving me grief for the last 6 weeks and the neuro doc is going to tell me exactly what has happened, and what treatment options I will have. We're praying that the word "surgery" does not come up in our discussion as something that is a "must".  Last time I checked, there was no "Get my neck sliced open when I'm 33" written on my "Goals and Dreams" list.  

But back to the sunshine...it came out and lit upon all the beautiful flowers and plants, so we smacked the camera like a ketchup bottle to get the lens out (it hasn't been the same since a bottle of water spilled on it during a biking jaunt), and I snapped a few photos of our backyard.

I was really happy to be using the camera. It is crazy how attached I've become to the camera and the photo-journaling lifestyle.  

Sticky fingers...I talked to him about the monkey who got his hand stuck in the jar because he was greedy but it did no good. He walked around with 3 cookies smashed close to his heart...

The kitchen where those cookies were baked now has a red accent wall and new rug to match...we've sanded the cupboards and will be repainting them and putting new hinges on all the doors. I want to paint them black but it would make an already dark "galley" kitchen seem like the depths of hell...so we'll keep them cream colored and the kitchen will remain light.

I love the way a piano looks in the sunlight, especially at dusk.

Lets follow our greedy cookie monster out to the backyard...

"Someone must have planted these flowers a few years ago." We say that because flowers are scattered about in patches, in random places in the yard. There is so much shade that it is difficult for plants and flowers to grow, unless they are woodland type species.
You'll see a busted trampoline. We got skunked on craigslist, but a garage sale find provided us with a little playground.
On days where the sun is starting to shine, we'll eat outside. It's wonderful!

The fuschia are blooming, finally!  I cut them back way too much this year.  I'm still learning...

I don't know what this ginormous plant is named...I like to call it Tantor.  It started with 3 leaves...

Beautiful moss on the trees...

Our fire pit with a fire that was bigger than the pit--thanks to a pyro hubby.

We transplanted some raspberries and hopefully next year they will bring fruit!

We also transplanted some strawberries and they did bring on some berries!  Almost ripe!

Out front Cannon was wheelin' and dealin' on a craigslist sale of some washer and dryer pedestals. The nice lady bought them and we hope they fit her w/d.

This is an epic photo journaling blog, I know.  But I was so happy to be able to use the camera that I even took pics of the craigslist tires we'll be putting on my wagon!

Holy petunias!

So there you have it.  An evening of sunshine at 2900 Concord Lane. Wish you all could be here to enjoy it with us!