Spring has Sprung

Spring is finally here! I can hear the water running from the roof and am starting to see the snow recede. I am hopeful that breakup will go smoothly this year and there will be no ice jamming on the Tanana. I am so excited on one hand and yet on the other this is the perfect time of year as the mosquitoes aren't able to survive yet. On the other hand I can't wait to start being able to go to the river and doing some fishing!

We are anxiously awaiting our fourth as June is fast approaching. I am so thankful that the school year is almost over. The kids and I both are so in need of a break. I am working at getting as many projects done before the baby as I can, as I know that the next year will be tough with school and two under 3yrs old. I am excited as Brent's dad will be here to help get the summer projects done with him as I am not able to help as much as I would like this summer. The wood shed, tree clearing, and log rot will be a welcome relief to have done. Neither of us liked digging through the snow to get wood out these last two winters.

For those of you who don't know we are remodeling our bathroom. This was not planned for another couple of years, but God has once again provided and made it possible. We started with a leaky toilet that we hoped we could fix by replacing the wax ring one more time. Well, it became a much more in depth project that we weren't quite ready for. One of the guys from church who does this work and is wonderful at using his God given talent came over to look at it for us. We discovered that the floor was rotted out under the toilet, tub, and 1/2 the rest of the floor. Since we were having to replace the sewer line and take out the tub to address the floor we decided to pull everything up and do it right this time. Which was good as there were three (yes I said three) layers of flooring that had been put over rot that the previous homeowner had layed to cover it up! Talk about mad! So instead of having to replace the floor yet again when we redid it the Lord provided a way for us to just redo the whole thing. I can't wait to see what it looks like when it is done, or to have a shower back!

The kids and Brent got to go the circus when they were in town. Ari and I napped in the car. The kids had a blast for which I was very thankful. I heard though from some other moms that the focus on selling things and the overt sexuality was more than they had wanted for their kids to experience. At least the kids were young enough that the sexuality did not become an issue for them and that we were able to reinforce the thankfulness of having the opportunity to even be able to go to the circus. We also got to do some sledding with the kids while he was home this last time. Ari was so adorable walking around in her little snow pants screaming at the kids. She wasn't quite ready for sledding this year, so maybe next year. It was sure fun to watch the kids and Brent try to slide down those hills. David loves to go fast and Ania wipes out very well!

A Day in the Life

I was baking cinnamon rolls awhile back and Ari decided to explore the flour bucket. One of the most enjoyable things of watching my kids grow is getting to experience the small everyday things. This was definitely one of them!

So Ari turned one at the end of July.
She got to enjoy a piece of cake with frosting. As I only had time for a quick cake she got a yellow cake for her first piece. She enjoyed crumbling it to pieces!

One of my least favorite chores growing up was crushing cans. It must be evil to enjoy passing that one on!

So one of our many projects to finish this summer was to permachink the house. Well I have it almost finished. Only a couple more seams and the outside is all done. Thank God it is only a one time application. My hands still hurt! I have noticed a big difference in the house though, which has been sure great.

Brent and the kids gave me one of the greatest birthday presents I have had in a very long time. We went to a Roadhouse down the road that I have been longing to get too. While there David decided to take a picture of Dad and Ania. Isn't he adorable? After we were done at the roadhouse we went for a nice long drive. I needed to get away from the house for awhile. I have been so busy and stressing over getting the house things done while Brent has been having to work extended time that he came home like a prince on a white charger and whisked me away. What a wonderful area that we got to see. I am truly amazed by God's work. Rainbow Ridge is amazing. We got to see a moose eating in a pond. Brent got some great pics of that. Too bad he didn't have a tag and rifle with us at that time.

The one thing I asked for was a t-bone dinner. As you can tell the kids truly enjoyed my birthday dinner!

David being a Starcommand soldier.

With all the flooding we had the mosquitoes have bred like rabbits and trying to sleep is awful. I finally bit the bullet and went out and bought mosquito nets to cover the beds. I sure hope guests don't mind the walls in the bathroom until I can get them cleaned, they are covered in blood spatter and look like a crime scene.

Permachink

Well I am currently getting the house ready to Permachink! Yeah, maybe the house will stay warmer at -60 this winter and the fans for the furnace won't have to run so long. Yeah I know wishful thinking. I just got off the phone with the company and they gave me some great news and reduced my workload by a little. I have also been treating log rot in various places. That is close to being done as I had started out doing it wrong, but I fixed that. We were able to dig out around the house this summer, which was good, but with that we found some more issues that are going to be costly. We have to replace up to three logs around the garage. What idiot would build a garage on a two sided cement footer and put the other two right in the dirt! We have talked about options like using railroad ties or cement blocks to raise the logs off the ground. I like the blocks better as it will look nicer but we will see what money brings.

Went out to start cutting some more wood today and almost got Brent's chainsaw started. Oh well, guess I will just have to get a new chain for mine. I cut so much that I wore it down. That's okay I didn't want to cut wood today anyway.

Spring and Time

Well, it is almost the end of May already. Where does time go? Ari is crawling now and has decided to start trying to pull herself up! We have recently got quite a few things done inside the house. We found a new chandelier for the dining room that was a third of the price it had originally been marked at. Replaced the dishwasher with a newer model that we got for free! Brent replaced some of the old fluorescent lights inside the house with newer updated fixtures that use less electric and look nicer. Got a lot cleaned out of the yard.

Wow! Was it a pigsty when we moved in. We found things and are still finding things hidden in weeds and dirt. We are putting in a fire pit, which I am really looking forward too. I want to do some hot dog roasts and marshmallows. I have been busy getting the garden ready to plant and am going to rearrange raspberries. Next year I want to put in a raised garden bed which will help with soil temperature up here. I am hoping that the greenhouse will help this year and next year the garden will be bigger and yield more.

Gas prices have gone above $4 a gallon as of the middle of this month. Since our gas budget is not that big it means we will not be going places very much this summer. That's okay, who says I wanted to drive anywhere anyway!?!&#@*

Brent's parents came up and left a week ago this last Tuesday. We had a great time. I really enjoyed having someone to play cards with. With Brent's rotation and still networking friends haven't had much opportunity. I sure hope they come back, even though when they left the mosquitoes had a powwow and planned for next time!;0

I am really glad that they got to see some of what we do. Although I slept for two days after they left!

Vacation

So we have been busy. We had some friends from Barrow (who have since moved elsewhere)come stay for a few days. We had a blast and some very memorable moments. We got to go to the ice park, tried LARS (they were closed), enjoyed coffee, Alaska Bowl Co (which I want a huge Caesar salad bowl someday), North Pole, good laughs, and great times. I have been trying to post pictures but the server is not wanting to let me so they will have to wait.

We got a dog while they were here who is beautiful. Her name is Keeska and she is German short hair/pointer mix. She got out two days after we got her and then surprise two days later she showed up on our doorstep. She is doing very well as she is a sled dog rescue (she didn't run fast enough for the musher at 18mph). We took her with us to get wood this last week. She loved the truck.

Ari has her first tooth! Thank God! Brent found it while she was chewing on him.

We went to dinner at a friend of a friends house last week and the kids got to feed two baby goats. We are seriously talking about buying a milking goat, some laying hens, a cow, and rabbits for meat (since they taste like chicken), and having a big garden (which will happen anyway). With the cost of groceries going up drastically we are both feeling like living off the land as they say is going to be the best way to go for us. Along with all the meat recalls and other things that have been going on with our food supply. So for those of you who want to visit or will be visiting just a warning that you will never know what will be around when you are here...............

Thrilled Beyond Belief

MY DISHWASHER IS WORKING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thanks to Brent and Todd it got into the repair shop and they called a couple of hours later letting us know it was done. The great thing is even though it is ancient they are still being made and we will be able to get replacement parts for it for a long time. After living in the Arctic with no dishwasher and no room to wash dishes I was so thrilled that we had a dishwasher in our new home. When it died I cried. The freedom of not having to stand at the sink and do dishes. What a blessing and it was a relatively cheap fix, thank God!

Home Again Home Again Jiggity Jig

We have been working on many things on the house these last few days. Today was the basement and getting the new queen size bed ready for guests. I had an extra nightstand and new lamp that I could put downstairs in the guest room. Yes I said guest room! Wow! Never thought that I would say that in my own home. A dream come true. We are having guests in a few days. I am so excited! Haven't seen them in a few months and it will be great to get together and play Settlers and do many other fun things.

We also fixed the toilet downstairs and cleaned the basement from the many projects that have consumed us these last few months. We have still been working on putting things away where they belong and finding places for them without any kind of organizational items. We still have the ceiling fan (thank you mom and dad for the housewarming gift) to put in. Currently trying to figure that one out!@%">!@%*#?! The peak is a pain for a ladder and we are working on borrowing one that is tall enough. And since Brent is afraid of heights (go figure) one that I won't fall off of;)

We got the kids beds in their room and they are currently enjoying their bunkbeds. Yeah! David curled up in his the first night and was so cute. Ania is enjoying her space. I am hoping to decorate their rooms soon. I think Cars or camoflauge for David and Tinkerbell or fairies for Ania. Still thinking on Ari! Lol!

Still ahead of us is the main floor toilet which I don't want to get into but it needs fixing again. Live and learn I guess. I am also trying to be patient as we get the dishwasher taken care of. We got the one back downstairs so I now have room again in the kitchen and am not stubbing my toes on it. The other one is waiting to be taken to the repair shop. We'll see, I had know idea that once I got out of Barrow I would still be washing dishes. Never say never I guess.

I am so not looking forward to summer. So many projects and so little time. Between digging out around the house, permachink, garden, wood, etc. Need I go on?

Motivation

So I woke up this morning late. Couldn't believe what time it was and that Ari had slept through the night. She has done this quite a bit, but the last few nights she has been teething. So I haven't been sleeping much. Plus I stayed up late watching a movie cause she went down late. Still kind of groggy!

Went to kids club last night and got to learn a new card game. Was it fun! I am so looking forward to the cribbage tournament on Valentine's. David squashed his finger in the door and cried about that for awhile last night. Poor little guy he was tired. I am so thankful for Mark, Sandy, and Janine.

I need to get some cleaning and straightening up done, but I just don't have the motivation right now. I am looking forward to the next few weeks cause hopefully I will be able to take time to get things put in their proper place and only have to do a little here and there after that. We have been moving some things around and putting them on new pieces of furniture as they arrive so things are still kind of chaotic. Although I have been looking at the garage and have some ideas of how I want it organized, but this does depend on what Brent says(after all it is his garage;)

So I think I am going to just enjoy my mocha and quilt that quilt!

Hair Loss

Okay I am so thankful for heat right now, but I never want to smell the scent of burning hair ever again! Being so short is sure not an advantage with the boiler. Sparks fly and I lose hair! I have since corrected the problem by wearing something on my head every time I check on it.

Appliances and Toilets

Well my dishwasher died and we tried bringing up the one from downstairs to no avail. I am stuck washing dishes for a little while. At least it isn't as bad as it was in Barrow. I have more room to spread them out now.

We found the toilet leaking in our main bath and that was a fun project to fix. We had to take it off and found the floor rotting underneath. A couple of days later we thought we had fixed it but we now have to put shims in to even out the flange. Let me tell you I am going to plumbing and electrical school when the kids grow up! I hate not being able to fix it ourselves and with all the issues it would just be nice to have my own business!

Finally!

We have finally gotten the boiler in. It has been running for about 2 weeks now. I love it! It is so much warmer in the house. We were able to set it at 68 the other day without any problem. We also stayed above 62 at -40 the first week it was put in. Thank God! The vents are now pushing out warm heat and we sealed a bunch of cracks in the house. I am praying that we have enough wood to get us through till Brent gets home this next time. At least the loft is warmer where we have school and I can sew without freezing my fingers off!

Furnace

The furnace is finally going to be installed this next week. I can't wait. I have been driving back and forth to town just so I didn't have to order 100 gallons of oil. The Lord is sure watching out for us. I am so hoping that the wood we have will get us through the winter. I can't wait until the house is above 60 degrees. My fingers hurt to type!

November

We have gotten so much done this rotation. We got the fountain out, cleaned the bath, gotten wood, cleaned the garage, etc. Found rot under the fountain, I have used a chainsaw and skid steer for the first time. Have to admit the they were both fun to use, but man am I sore. We had to buy oil again. I am so glad that he delivered in the morning cause by afternoon it had gone up four more cents per gallon.

Relax

Well the furnace is not in yet, but Mark told me to not worry anymore about it. Brent's job when he comes home is to take care of us and get wood. I am so thankful he is coming home today. He has had a rough rotation this time and I am hoping that he can just relax. We are going to do some fun things like ice skating and exploring the woods. Still can't wait for Thanksgiving. I think after listening to the ladies talk last night at craft night that I want to decorate the house in fall colors. They are my favorites and at least that way Brent won't have to worry about a purple bathroom!

School

One of the things that is so great about Alaska is that homeschooling is so supported. With so many communities in the bush long distance learning is a normal thing. We got our school room set up thanks to Pastor and are putting the finishing touches on it. It has really done things about my attitude towards this place. With everything happening in this house I could really come to hate it, but this has been a revitalization of good feelings. I hope it lasts! It is so nice to have a place for the kids to do their work and crafts and not have it all over the kitchen table and trying to eat around it.

Blessings

As we have been trying to install this new furnace we have been running into more and more issues. Between the plenum and miscommunication it is going over budget. Thank the Lord for those that have been helping to get it in. I am so hoping that we can get a wood stove in soon. It would sure help our issues. On the other hand we have learned how to lay pipe and do sweat fittings on copper pipe. I think I may go to plumbing school when the kids are grown.

Heating Problems

Ya know I just can't get my mind around how the oil companies can be so happy in their cushy houses and not have to worry about bills. Those of us who work for a living and live paycheck to paycheck and have cut out anything possible just to make bills know what it is like to wonder which shall we do this month eat or heat the house? We are putting a new furnace in because the old one is an awful one from who knows when. Talk about stress!

Toilet Problems

I just can't seem to get away from sewage issues. For the first time in my life I am living in a home with a septic tank. Well that entails things that are very different from living on city sewer. Including, actually counting the number of pieces of toilet paper you use. After my first problem we had two and a half weeks after we moved in I hoped I would not have to deal with that again for awhile, a very LONG while. Well, it happened again. Thankfully it was only the toilet this time. My husband and I tried to fix it the other night and that didn't work so we had to get a toiler auger for it. Can I just say right now EWWWWWW!!!!!!! My husband walks in to help and fix the issue and starts getting sick and turning green. Talk about a weak stomach! I thought that with the things he deals with in his job that this wouldn't have been that hard, but no. Guess who augured the toilet? Must be all those years of changing poopie diapers! Hurray! One more thing that can be chalked up to motherhood.