Spring — full speed ahead.

Geeze. I don’t remember much of March or April and May is half gone. What’s the hurry?

Grant turned seven a couple weeks ago. (Enjoy those baby teeth while you still got’em!) He came home from school on the Friday before his birthday (which was Sunday) and announced it would be okay if I made cupcakes for Monday since I didn’t make any for his class that day. I was about to say something in reply when he added “So, get baking!” Crack me up.

Spring is here, finally. It’s daylight until well after 11 PM now and my sleep schedule is wacky since I still haven’t put any shades on my bedroom windows. It’s possible I love the view more than I love sleep.

We just finished planning our front/side landscaping and I’m excited to see how it turns out. We designed a rock and evergreen layout that should blend wonderfully with the mountains and greenbelt behind the house. The back is going to wait until we’re really sure what we want to do. Two of our neighbors keep mentioning we have the “perfect backyard for a play/swing set.” Thank you, no.

I’m off to take a walk with Allen and Jackie. School is almost out for the summer, so I have to enjoy the calm while I still can.

Room with a view.

There are many reasons why I’m beginning to love living in Alaska (many more since moving into our home in Eagle River) but here’s just one — the view from my bedroom window. This was taken just before the sun came up one morning last week.

Yes, the sun comes up this time of year.

I need a wide angle lens to do the view justice, it’s 180° of mountains and trees. I look around me and think, “This cannot be my view…”

The boxes are all unpacked and I’ve lost track of how many trips we’ve taken to the Salvation Army. It feels so good to eliminate the clutter. Normally, I’d have done this during the packing stage rather than the unpacking stage, but I didn’t get to that before leaving Little Rock.

Man, for someone who prides herself on not having any clutter, what happened? Perhaps it’s my standards are getting more and more strict, but I seem to have more things than I remember. Just last night I went through the 3 bins of memorabilia I’ve saved over the years and wittled it down to 1 bin. Felt good, even though I have to admit I’m hesitating over letting go of some of the correspondence I saved from a particular time/person in my life. If I toss it, I’m wondering if I’ll regret it in some way later. Some part of me feels like it would be an interesting find for my great-grandaughter… It’s interesting reading, if I do say so myself. So, I’m giving myself today to decide.

Happy New Year, by the way. The holidays flew by! I gave up sending annual Christmas cards years ago and certainly didn’t have the time or inclination this year, but I might have to step up to the plate next year. I appreciated how slim the stack of cards arriving at our door was this year. Maybe I need to reconsider the whole thing anew.

Snow me away.

We’re up to what seems at least a foot of snow. And now that we’re x-country skiing twice a week, I say “Bring it on!!” Talking to all our family in Seattle without electricity for the past week, I’m suddenly thankful for the small things — like radiant heating.

Our Christmas is going to be very humble this year. No tree, no stockings, no fête gourmand… Since Eric’s on call Christmas Eve, we’ll be ordering out for Moose’s Tooth pizza (best pizza ever) and a couple growlers of their homemade root beer. My plan for Christmas day is sleeping in as long as possible, making brunch (featuring blueberry buttermilk pancakes) and getting some daylight skiing in before a late afternoon nap. We’ll see how it goes.

Tomorrow morning is our final walk-through before closing on the house. If all goes well, we could be moving in on New Year’s Eve. I’m trying not to get too excited, but… I can’t stand it, I’m too excited.

Since mid-August I have spent roughly three hours in the car every day driving the kids to and from school. Seems crazy, I know. We didn’t want them to have to change schools when we moved into the house, so I drive them from/to Anchorage to/from Eagle River every day. It’s not the distance that kills me, it’s the time I have to spend between drop-off and pick-up. Dean’s school starts at 8:00 and gets out at 2:45. Grant’s school starts at 9:00 and gets out at 3:30. Come January 8th when school starts up again, Dean’s going to walk to the end of the street and meet the bus (effortless for mom) and mom will drive Grant the big one-mile distance to his school an entire hour and 15 minutes later than we’re leaving now.

Did i mention that I’m excited?

Back in the saddle.

Although now that I think of it that title sounds painful, since I’m having a certain problem that begins with an H… Delayed reaction to having a baby, apparently. But we won’t go there.

What I was going to say is, I spent 4 hours today working on a site that I began two years ago for my brother-in-law’s law firm. We’re rolling now.

Early Christmas for the entire family (well, minus Allen) in the form of x-country skis and all the paraphernalia that goes with them. We joined the Nordic Club of Eagle River and the kids are in lessons on Monday and Thursday nights. Tomorrow’s my night to take them. Should be fun, especially since we got some more snow and the temperature is up from below zero to around freezing… You know you live in the Arctic when the weather report leads with “It’s going to be another warm day with highs in the low to mid 30s.” The funny thing is, it really does feel warm.

We got our 30-day letter from our builder last week. Living like refugees is getting old, so let’s hope there’s no more delays. In fact, let’s hope for a miracle and they’ll finish before Christmas. This week wood flooring and granite countertops have gone in and the neighbors reported the trim workers were there today. Look for before/after photos soon…

Hurry up and wait.

One more week until due date. The big question is: Am I capable of going into labor on my own? Let’s just say I’m thinking the odds are probably not that good. I did get a killer prescription for heartburn on my last O.B. visit, so I just might make it.

My (professional) workload has been unusually light the last few weeks. Good, in that I can take cat naps and avoid swollen ankles from sitting too long. Bad, in that I could really use something to occupy/challenge my mind right now.

But never mind all that, here’s the part I’ve been wanting to write about… I got an email from my long time buddy Jeffrey (from our years in Benecia, CA) the other day and tonight we got caught up on the phone after about three years of losing touch. He’s now living in Napa, married and has a baby girl born on the best day of the year — September 4th — which just happens to be my birthday. I’m not sure this counts, but I consider that news a pretty cool belated birthday present.

The house is coming along. Next week they begin insulation and sheet rock. I’ve been busy making the final interior choices in granite (kitchen countertops), drawer pulls, lighting fixtures and paint. Now, just the wait to see how it all turns out.

Wait, wait, wait… I’m getting lots of practice lately.