The fruits of my Labor Day weekend

I had meant to spend more time this summer painting, yet it seems that summer had all but slipped by me and I found myself surround by white walls still at the first of August. So, we painted the bathroom mid august, and planned to paint the kitchen over Labor Day weekend.

Our kitchen is probably the one room of our house I really disliked due to the dark red faux finish (with sand of all things!) so I was super excited to be painting it. This was our kitchen:

I was not really sure what color I wanted for the kitchen, but we like the retro 1950’s Diner idea, knew we would have to put white over the red to start, and while normally I want to avoid white, the red walls, tan cupboards and pink counter tops that had an ugly 1980s vibe to it made me feel like white washing the entire place so I could move forward from that. Fortunately Michael likes the white wash idea, so we agreed on painting white over the red, with a back splash (yet to be installed) of metallic to cover the entire wall behind the sink . This is the metallic back splash we are getting from home depot:

We toyed with the idea of painting the cupboards white but Michael also loves yellow and does most of the cooking so we opted to try yellow. Since we had to use spray paint (we used Krylon Fusion so that the paint would adhere to the cupboard coating) our choices of color was limited to two different yellows; it was either super pale yellow or super bright yellow. We bought the pale yellow first, but it looked too much like the off white color that was currently despised, so we return the light, got the bright, and ended up with a “mustard-like” yellow. Cleaning them was the biggest ordeal, so we only got the top cupboards this weekend and will have to finish the bottom half of the cupboards another time. We are about 2/3 done with wall treatments and this is what we have so far.

More painting pictures can be seen here

Look! Moose!!!

There was a moose at my house when I can home from dance class tonight (correction, it was Dec 15, 2009 when this happened). I did not see her when I first go home, but she rounded the corner of my fence and was RIGHT THERE in my little back yard. My neighbor mentioned her baby was in my front yard and that I should be careful. Mama moose had me cornered at my van when I got home, and was no more than 5 ft away from me (with my van between us). I was a just a LITTLE SCARED!

When I finally got into the house, with my heart pounding I ran upstairs, grabbed my camera and went out the front door. The baby was lying down in our front yard, and when I came out onto the front porch, it took off. He was also BIG!

Whew! Second moose sighting since moving here and this was a little close for personal comfort.

Living life in the not so fast lane

Something I quickly discovered when I moved to Alaska is that things up here are frequently about 10 years behind with regard to technology, clothing style and music, as well as with regard to the speediness in getting things done in the service industry. One might expect after being a ‘city girl’ from the “Outside” that things always work fast; repair shops have access to all the latest and greatest, and everyone take credit cards, right? Not so true! And what do you mean there is no cell service for 2+ hours on the only road to Anchorage? There are days when I feel like I have stepped back in time by at least 10 years up here in the Last Frontier. Which is ok most of the time, since we moved here to get away from city life, and the hub bub of the the Outside. But sometimes, that can backfire on you!

Case in point, I went to a workshop in Anchorage the first weekend of August with a group of fellow dancers that are new friends and/or students. We were headed down for a Friday night performance (that I was in), as well as a weekend workshop. This is normally a 6-7 hour drive with a few stops, but as there was a lot of smoke from the wildfires still (Fairbanks was inundated with smoke for a couple weeks and I could not go outside due to the poor air quality) and one of the fires was rumored to have the Parks Highway closed, we decided to leave an hour earlier than we have planned and were on the road at 8am on Friday.

After about 5 bathroom breaks (I had a total of 5 women in the van, two of which were pregnant) we stopped for a meal in Wasilla, which is just an hour away from Anchorage. It was at 2:30 and we thought we were doing really well on timing. Had a great lunch, but noticed before going into lunch that there was some smoke coming out of my hood. Popped the hood, and noted the area around the serpentine belt was smoking, but as the belt was NEW (I had replaced it along with the alternator back in April when I drove to Palmer and had broke down on the way home) I figured it was just hot from driving and noted that I would look at it when we came out of lunch and the engine had cooled. After a nice lunch, we went out to the van, and I tugged on the belt to test it for tightness; it came right out into my hands! This is not good. It is 3:30pm and 2 of us in the van are supposed to be fully dressed for a performance at 6:30 in Anchorage, which granted is only an hour away but we also had planned to check into our hotel and have time to relax while getting ready for the show. The other three were coming to the show, but didn’t have to worry about performing and to make matters more complicated for me I was in two numbers with two different troupes. I didn’t want to disappoint anyone!

There was a Chevron less than a block away, I walked over hoping to find a mechanic who could install a new belt (silly me for thinking it could be THAT simple). No mechanic on site, but the mentioned there was an auto repair place very close, “Wasilla Auto”. Called them, and with some gentle pleading on my part they were kind enough to send someone over to have a look but it seemed that the A/C compressor motor has frozen and would need to be replaced. So, we drive my hobbled van to the shop (no power steering, yikes!) and they proceed to give me quotes, tell me there is no such motor in town, it will be ‘at least Monday if not later’ before they get one, but MAYBE they could install a bypass motor, although there are two types and they are not sure if the one they have coming will actually work. And the bypass motor is going to cost as much as the a/c motor. And, they might not be able to get it done tonight!

Oh well, I need to be able to drive my van to get home to Fairbanks, it cannot move without some form of motor and I can live without A/C now that I am in Alaska, so I tell them to do it and start calling dancers in Anchorage that I have never met to beg for a ride for me and my 4 passengers. A ride (two actually) is sent for us (thank you Joanna Lee!), although they are an hour away which means arriving at the show at the last moment, so Jenni and I start getting ready for the performance in front of the repair shop. Someone mentioned renting a car and I try to call Enterprise because “they pick you up” but they are out of cars. Apparently because of the wildfires there are lots of canceled flights and at this time rental cars are super hard to come by. So, we continue getting ready and hope the van is fixed or the ride gets to us in time for us to make the show.

Another customer has overheard our plight, and tells us there is a car rental place ’across the street’ and would we like a ride over there? Apparently all my ‘stranger danger’ fear is gone, and I jump into the lady’s car. We drive across the parkway and down about 4-5 blocks, to a “Toy rental” place. There are 3-4 passenger vans sitting out front and I think to myself “GREAT, we can just rent one of those and I can come back tomorrow to get my van”. But little did I know what a cranky lady I was about to meet. I go inside, and still using my calm and friendly voice, I ask if they have vehicles that will hold 5 people. “No. We are all out of midsized sedans!”.

I then ask “What about the vans out front, are they part of this business??”

“You want a 12 person passenger van?” she says without almost a snarl on her face.

“Why yes, it would hold all 5 of us and I need to be in Anchorage in an hour”, I reply

“Well, to rent THOSE you need proof of full coverage, PLUS it is $150 per day, PLUS a credit card guarantee, PLUS blah blah blah….” And she rattles off a bunch of criteria I can fulfill, without a problem. But she is such a witch, I say excuse me, I need to make a quick call, and I go outside, and LEAVE. I refuse to support such terrible customer service even though I am in a pinch. She just lost a sale, harrumph!

After all this, I am frustrated, and tired, and starting to stress but need to be calm so I can get ready for the show. I come back to the shop and note that in the bay, my van is RUNNING! They have fixed my vehicle and we are back on the road again after a grand total of 1.5 hours and some very awesome people at Wasilla Auto.

So, we get to the show, have time to get ready, meet fabulous people, and have a weekend of dance and drills that challenged me like not other dance workshop has (other than the first time I took a Mira workshop). I have not sweat like that since leaving Florida and I was exhausted for a week but loved every minute of it. Still have lots of dance material to work through personally, and ideas for lots of drills to incorporate into my own classes.

While down in Anchorage, I also got to eat at Sahara (Middle Eastern Cuisine), “Mexico in Alaska”, and Bombay Deluxe (Indian food). Good stuff! Took pictures of my food (as usual) and will post photos eventually. I really miss having access to restaurants like that living up here in FBX.

10 hours to get there, 6.5 to get back. All around a good time except for the breaking down bit. I am starting to think that the Parks Highway is detrimental to the overall health of my van (as mentioned, I broke down on the way home from Palmer in April this year). Van seemed to have no problem getting me _to_ Alaska but now it doesn’t want to leave Fairbanks.

Not sure when I’ll be back, and maybe next time I’ll fly!

August Update, part 1

Sunday marked one year since we arrived in Fairbanks.

We have bought a house, and really made Fairbanks our home. (click here for more photos of our home )The only other place I could want to be would be Colorado, and that is mostly so I could be with my great friends Susan, Maria and Jon. I miss them a lot. They need to come visit, and I need to visit them too. 2010 will be the year to make that happen.

Today marks one week until I open my Studio.

I have so much to do still and wonder how it will all get done. But, the building owners have done a great job installing the floor and the changing area, and I am so grateful they did that part of the studio; I really could not have done it myself. We have a small amount of chairs ready for the First Friday and Hafla, my merchandise is ready to be put out, we have retail racks and display cases and it will all come together. And then I can rest on Sunday Sept 6 after a month of no weekends off. Well, only rest a bit since I need to paint at our house before the snow falls….click here for more photos

This past weekend we added a new ferret to our family. She is still trying to fit in. click here for more pet photos

I started a Ballet class yesterday. Ballet was hard. And I was definitively the old lady that stuck out like a sore thumb in my yoga gear among the most teenaged dancers (who were all very nice). I need to get a black leotard and some pale colored leggings (I do not wear tights!) for next week. But I am going back

It’s been a busy year. And the last month seems like it has been busier. And the upcoming month is going to be really busy with the new studio. I have lots of ‘catch-up’ to post to my blog and hope to get a couple up this week. I so dislike being behind. Michael says I am chaos. I just think I flourish in a chaotic environment.

Becoming Mundane

Moving to Alaska has prompted a few changes in my day to day life desires, or maybe the move was just another step towards this shift in priorities. No longer do I desire to be active all the time, or out of my house. While I still enjoy outdoor activities and dance will always be a part of my life, I find that am also enjoying quiet time at home, working on project around the house, that in past I used to find tedious and mundane.

Case in point: we did yard work all day yesterday and I am tired but delighted with our results! Who would have thought I would LIKE to do yard work??

Sunday morning we heading out for our regular breakfast at “The Diner”, a local diner that has good food, nice waitresses, and is within walking distance to our house. For the past three weeks we have walked there, but since we had to run errands afterwards, we drove the truck but found that parking at the Diner is a pain since they have a little parking lot! We managed to find a spot, but next time, and until the weather changes enough to be prohibitive to walking, we will walk the mile to get there.

After breakfast we headed to Lowes. WE had a list, and a 10% off entire purchases, and since we just sold the trailer we had some cash in hand so we were looking for some ‘big’ items; grill, lawnmower, mosquito magnet, patio furniture, and a few other small items for smaller projects. We didn’t get everything on our list, but we now have a new lawnmower (electric!) that helped us with our yard work, and a grill that Michael needs to assemble so we can use it next weekend. Patio furniture that we liked the most we found at Fred’s and will go get that next weekend.

So, after 5 hours of shopping and working, we have a pretty trimmed yard that looks less like a meadow (less bugs this way too), and come next weekend will have a lovely deck, complete with some patio furniture to enjoy the new view once we assemble the new grill!

Next weekend we are planning to put in raised beds. Why? Because loads of people grow their own food up here, and though my thumbs is about as far away from green as one can get, Michael is of the mind that we can do it too. So, we shall try!

Turns out being mundane really “ain’t all that bad”

Planting roots

Over the weekend we helped our neighbor remove the large swing set that was in our front yard and then we put it in their yard. They have 4 kids of various ages and will get a lot more use out of it that we ever will, plus we want to put in some raised beds and grow some vegetables! We will start on that next weekend.

We also (finally) got the old sink out, and installed the new one. We did end up having to use the dremmel on it since the old faucet was so rusted in place, but once we cut that out, installation of the new faucet was a piece of cake, and we have a GORGEOUS new fully functional faucet with higher arm so the stockpot fits under the sink properly now!

In other news, we sold the trailer on Monday. The trailer that was our constant companion for 4 weeks, and brought us to Alaska is soon to be heading back to the Outside, and I feel like now we really are staying put for good. And that feels nice

Preparing for the Zombie Apocalypse

I came home from troupe rehearsal last night to find hubby had finally gone out and got us a new 12 gauge shot gun and ammo. He has been talking about how much we need guns for home protection, protection against bears, and in case of zombie attack so of course, I am delighted!

While technically the new shotgun is his, coupled with the smaller one we already have that I handle better, it seems we are now ready to face a small Zombie Apocalypse, though with just three small boxes of buckshot in the house, I am already looking to buy cases of ammo for the new shotgun. Just to be safe… can never be too ready for the end of the world after all. Hubby started teaching me all about guns last night; I can identify the breach, barrel, receiver, safety, trigger, stock, and the place the you look to find out if the gun is loaded – what is that part called again??).

I suppose I should learn to shoot now too. Funny that Mary was just asking before troupe rehearsal if she and I should be taking shooting lesson or heading out to the shooting range for some practice. She plans to make her way to our compound in case of the zombie attack; she has mad cooking skills, seems to be quite the survivor and I think she could become quite a good addition to our compound. We won’t talk about what she wants in exchange for her great food though

Hubby is already looking at obtaining more guns, because, one can never have enough during a zombie attack. Eventually I will need to learn how to handle all of them, and I am thinking I might learn crossbow skills too (noise attracts zombies, and crossbows are nice and quiet!).

Just remember, if you decide to come to our house during said Zombie Attack, you will need to Zaghareet so that we know you are not one of the living dead.