Looking Up

I didn't end up taking Wednesday off, as my mother suggested. But the week has gotten a little better. Monday was just "one of those days". This whole week has seemed to last forever. It's like a week lived in football time.

I posted a few photos of our house to my Facebook. You can look at them here:
www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=109850&id=523908158&l=23da6d2f91

I was asked why I never posted photos of the back of our house. Mostly it's because I can not fly. The house sits at the edge of a bluff. It's nearly impossible to photograph the back at any close range. A photo from the bottom of the bluff is hindered by leaves in the summer and darkness in the winter. So this is about as good as it gets...

In other news... fall has officially arrived. So, naturally, it snowed. Okay, just briefly, but still! It seems strange, even for Alaska to see snow all over the hilltops and fall foliage still fully clinging to the trees. One or the other will lose that battle soon!

Monday

I woke up this morning with certainty that I should take a Mental Health Day. Unfortunately, I decided, against my better judgment, to ignore that intuition.

It's difficult to take a day off for yourself when the daycare is closer to your office than to your home.

So I finally got Alicia and myself loaded into the van and made the trek into Anchorage.

I left the house about 1.5 hours later than usual, which put me smack in the middle of elementary school bus rush hour. Go figure.

I got to work just in time to be late to the weekly staff meeting.

I allowed myself, again against my better judgment, to be talked into going to get "weighed in" only to be told I'd gained 3.2 lbs since last week. Go figure.

I dropped off my partner in weight losing crime (she's actually losing weight) back at the office and then escaped to do some mindless, relaxing wandering around one of my favorite spots... the museum. Plunked about 5 quarters into a parking meter just 1.5 blocks from the museum entrance. Walked in the rain past the museum expansion to the entrance to find a note stating the "new entrance" was in the expansion. Trekked back to the other end of the expansion to find a locked door and the museum hours noting it is closed on Mondays. Go figure.

Trekked back to the van, still in the rain, and drove away from a funded parking spot.

I then went to my next favorite spot, the book store. I walked in to find plastic sheeting and fresh sheetrock hung all over the place. Bookshelves were in various states of emptiness. I couldn't tell if they were going out of business or just renovating. But it turns out it was the latter. Unfortunately, they'd renovated my favorite section (cake decorating) completely out of the store. The new book-selling counter was located in its place. Sigh.

I did finally make my way back to the office. It was a toss up, but I'd left my lunch box in my desk, so I figured I might as well go and retrieve it.

I had a barely productive few hours and then took off early. I picked up Alicia and we went to Target to shop for birthday gifts for an upcoming party. Naturally, we had to get her a toy first. And once the promise of that was secured, she had minimal interest in shopping for anyone else. Hmmmm... who else do I know like that?

Although I left work early with hopes of missing the bulk of rush hour, we left Target just in time to join the Anchorage exodus. Go figure.

On the bright side, tomorrow is Tuesday.

Alyeska Tramway

We took a trip down to Girdwood yesterday to ride the Alyeska Tramway to the top of the hill. It was a lovely fall day here in Alaska.

Here is a link to some additional photos.

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=109301&id=523908158&l=4db79bc5ba

Winter Looms

Here's a nice shot of Mom's beloved buffalo near Delta Junction. The photo was in the Delta Wind today and was taken very recently. That's Mount Hayes in the background.

Ahhh, Fall in Alaska. Yellow leaves as far as the eye can see. And a backdrop of white, snow draped mountains.

The mornings are definitely getting crisper. But it's still t-shirt weather during the day. No snow or even termination dust yet on the nearby hills.

Happy Birthday Tessie!

We're celebrating Tess's 17th birthday today. Time sure does fly! Seems like just yesterday she was rolling around on the floor eating out of the pet dish...

Oh wait. Was that yesterday? (kidding!)

Well, it's Class Color Day at school today as this is homecoming week. All the seniors wear blue.

She and Babsy made cookies last night to bring in and share with friends for her birthday.

It's also "Day of Caring" so they're bringing in canned foods for a food drive.

There's a flag football game this evening. After that, some of Tess's friends will come over for a party. The cake is a miniature. Alicia says it is supposed to be bigger because Sissy is bigger. That's the rule. Oh well. I think it's cute and supposedly it was only meant to feed about 5. But I've since learned that the numbers have expanded... Hmmm....

Beach Report

We're wrapping up our tour of the lower 48 with a brief stint at Virginia Beach. The weather's been really good.

We're sharing a Kamping Lodge at the Virginia Beach KOA with Pam, Curtis, and Jessi. These Lodges are really pretty nifty. They technically sleep 6 with a queen size bed in a separate bedroom and a set of bunks in a different separate area. Then there's a double futon (leather, and pretty comfy) in the main living area. There's also a log table and chair set, a kitchenette with microwave and little fridge and a full size bathroom! It's really pretty sweet. We're crowding 8 into ours, but Pam brought some twin size air beds, so it's working well.

We spent today sitting on the beach while Stephen and Curtis hit the Bass Pro Shop. We're about to head out to the Olive Garden for dinner! Yay!