One of those "Alaska Days"

That's what my friend Kelly calls it when she's getting tired of the blistering cold, depressing dark Alaskan winters...she says "I'm having one of those Alaskan days". I couldn't really relate until this week. I think it's because we were in the upper 30s/lower 40s last week and it resembled the break-up (The "Break-up" is what Alaskans call our version of spring; since there's a LOT of snow and ice to melt, it's usually disgusting, wet, and dirty for a couple months before everything dries out in May and the city cleans up for tourists to enjoy our beautiful summer) but now we have reverted back to cold cold cold 20s. I thought the break-up was coming early this year, meaning an early summer, etc. but it doesn't look like I'm that lucky.

In any case, today I was especially bitter at how long our winter lasts and how I was SO ready to be camping, 4-wheeling, fishing, hiking, mountain biking, whale watching, and anything else I can't do right now.

Well, I was driving up on the eastside moutains in subdivisions taking comparable photos for one of Jake's appraisals and I was driving on a road that was above the trees, and saw the above view. I immediately pulled over and had to take a picture; which is something I rarely do.

However, it's not everyday that you can see every peak of Mt. McKinley. It doesn't show up as brightly on my picture as it did in real life and everything around it looks brown and nasty, but McKinley was breathtaking.

In any case, it made me realize how lucky I am to live somewhere that may have its drawbacks with six months long of snow and three months where the sun hardly shines, but dangit every now and again even in the gross months I get to see a glimpse of the prettiest mountain ranges I've ever seen. And to think it's three hundred miles north!!!

It at least was enough to hold me over for another month before I start complaining about our long winter again.

Mean Tigers

Saturday our friend Haakon came to the office to look up a property with Jake, and brought his two adorable girls with him. This is Corinne's picture she drew on my computer. (She is 5, but if you say that in front of her you must recognize that she is 5 AND 1/2) In any case, as she was drawing this, I was studying the animal trying to figure out the last time I saw a four-legged creature that was lime green with brown stripes.

Fortunately, her little sister, Lauren looked at it and asked what we were both thinking,

"Corinn-eee, what is that?"

You could tell Corinne was a tad defensive when she replied "Can't you tell it's a tiger?"

Lauren pondered that for a moment, then stated, "Oh. Tigers are really mean."

(Corinne) "No, this one is a nice tiger."

(Lauren) "I don't like tigers. They are mean."

(Corinne) "Well then look" (She adds a smile to the tiger's face) "He's smiling, so he's not mean

now."

Why can't it be that easy to fix all the mean things in this world?

An Interesting Visitor

Yesterday my mom and dad opened their front door and saw the above. For those of you that can't make them out, those two prints on the door mat are moose tracks THAT CLOSE! I was laughing so hard at the image of my mom's face if she were to open the door and there would be a moose literatly standing less than 6 inches from the threshhold of her doorstep. I told them to knock on the inside of their door before they opened it, just in case this moose likes the idea of hanging out on their front porch. We decided that it was after the fake 3' tall trees they had for decorations...so maybe the poor moose was so disappointed the trees weren't real it won't come back around...but it's still something we'll all think about before we open that door again.

Tax Season is over...for Me

I was kidding myself to think that we could do something for Valentine's Day...we ended up WORKING until the wee hours of the night. Too much to do to play these days I guess. Oh well. In any case, I did take pictures, they are just of us taking a break and clowning around with the camera. We had some really funny ones but Jake said he would kill me if I put them up, so I only got to put up the attractive ones, at least attractive ones of him. Can you say "Alaskan Tan"?

But I digress. Maybe it's because this is the last year tax season will be easy, quick, and cheap, but I finished super early and am so proud of myself...it took less than an hour! I know next year doing taxes for our business is not only going to cost a lot of money, it's going to be a new (aka very challenging) experience. In any case, they are done and I get my $54 refund in 9-14 days. Not too shabby. Good luck to those of you that still have to do taxes...hopefully bigger refunds than mine are in store for you and *eek* if you have to pay may it be a small, small amount. Can you tell which political party I belong to? Haha!

Happy Valentines

"Is your father a terrorist? Because you're da bomb!"

Okay, not the most PC pick-up line I've ever heard but I got this cheesy V-day e-mail forward with all these lines and I hadn't heard this one before. Sad but true.

Happy Valentines Day! I finally took some updated pictures with Jake so I will upload soon, I think I'm going to take some more tonight...for our celebration (We never get gifts for each other) I'm making him a pile of shrimp. It's his favorite meal.

Unfortunately it's almost 6 and we're just finishing up because we've been so overwhelmed with business (Not a bad problem to have I know) it's been crazy. Can't complain though, business means $$ and $$ means finally paying off our credit cards!!

Hooray for Friday!

Don't have a lot to say about today...still cold (below 5 degrees during day and in negative at night) and will be until Tuesday. Tonight Jake and I are going to our local high school's varsity basketball games...well, I'm going to the girl's and he's coming later for the boys since according to him, the only people that enjoy watching girls basketball are those that used to play it or parents that have to suffer through it. :) Isn't he sensitive?
In any case, it will be really fun to watch them play, a couple of the kids on the teams are in the chuch so it will be good to support them.
Then we are picking up a blast from the past; an old friend, Tyler, during his late-night layover on his way back to Boise. Jake's never met him before, but they have a ton in common so I think it will be great to catch up! I love introducing Jake to good friends from a long time ago, he's hit it off with every one of them so I think it will be fun.
It's the first Friday night in a while that we actually have plans so it should be good! TGIF everybody!

Bundle Up Kids it's Cooooooold Out There!

This is what the little icon is every day for the next week. No Kidding. So after getting home last night, all I wanted to do was take a long hot shower. Just as I was enjoying the steam that was doing wonders on my clogged sinuses (is sinuses even a word?) the water ran out! In the past we have had these issues but thought Jake fixed them last summer. There is a tiny switch that is right next to our pressure tank that tells our well (yes, we are on well/septic...aren't we living the Alaska life?!) to kick on and pump more water. In the winters before, our well wasn't insulated very good and that switch would freeze frequently, often leaving me soaped up and screaming at Jake to go put a blow torch on the switch. He made quite the project last summer of completely replacing and sealing the entire well house casing, and since we've made it this far we thought it was resolved.
But, even the new and improved wellhouse couldn't survive the friggin' cold snap we've had (it hasn't gotten above 5 degrees in about a week, last night we were -15). SO, back down to the well house it was for Jake while I sat inside and enjoyed having a great excuse for not doing the dishes.

Simply Me's Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day

Okay, maybe it's because I caught Jake's stupid cold and I have a stupid runny nose and my stupid medicine hasn't kicked in, but I am having one horrible day. I'm stuck working today with Jake in the office because I marketed for less than an hour last Thursday and got overwhelmed with requests. Not a bad problem to have, I know, but it is when you have that someboby-put-a-tiny-little-elf-in-my-brain-and-he-has-a-jackhammer feeling and yet you're still working. We've all been there.

So today I come in to work hoping to get one thing accomplished: Finalized E & O insurance for Jake's company. I have been getting quotes for the last three weeks from different local insurance companies, and have been equally appalled when they come back with $10,000/year premiums for coverage he needs. $10,000 a year!!! What's even more frustrating is when I look online the quotes in all other states are no more than $800/yr, but most of these companies don't *surprise* do insurance for appraisers in Alaska. You'd think Alaska was in a whole other country with how I've been treated by some of these out of state insurance brokers. In any case, it's been a very tedious process, but last Friday I came across a broker willing to talk to me, and today, they came back with their quote, and it's less than $1,000 premium which is exactly what I've been looking for. I know I should be happy, but I can't stop thinking about what a waste of time it has been for me to wait on these other local companies and how we haven't been able to work with a lot of mortgage companies in town that require E & O insurance. Boy am I a Debbie Downer today or what?!?!

At least it's accomplished, and now I get to go get back in my bathrobe and watch bad daytime television all afternoon.