COLD COLD COLD!

Hello again!

Well although we didn't plan it we decided to take a drive to Seward today because Jason really wanted to shoot his gun so bad and we really want to make the most of our time here and right now the most time we will have is until the end of February, however Jason could leave at any time! So although it is ABSOLUTELY FREEZING outside we decided later than usual that we would get ready and take a drive.. everything else can wait!

So we got in the car, got the oh so important Starbucks and headed down the road. I took a ton of pictures today although as I mentioned on the snapfish album it was all through the truck window because it was just WAY WAY TOO cold to have the window down driving down the road! But I still think I got some good pictures, I know they are probably pictures you've seen a million times but I swear it never gets old, and the pictures don't even do it justice.

We made it all the way down to Seward basically and pulled into a gravel pit so Jason could shoot, I was going to but I don't do well with the cold and just couldn't stand out there that long, besides.. I really had to pee. I was standing out there watching thinking if I didn't pee than I would have to stop at one of those crappy disgusting germ infested plague ridden out house bathrooms and I just could bare the thought of freezing my ass off while catching some foreign disease! So I made good use of my empty Starbucks cup and tinkled in that! HAHA! That's right lady and gents, I went outside!!! However I feel that the fact that I did it in a Starbucks cup adds quite a bit of class. HAHA!

So we drove home along the ocean to an absolutely amazing sunset.. unfortunately the damn camera died!!!

We just got home and Jason is making halibut and chips for dinner and we are going to have a quiet night. We really had so much to do today and I really did plan to do it but we have so little time here that we feel the need to take advantage of it as much as we can. This week we will get stuff done, I'm not too worried about it, we are practically experts at packing and moving.

You know as much as I am ready to leave Alaska I will absolutely miss its beauty.. I don't think we will ever see the things we've seen here anywhere else. The scenery is definitely not what I dislike about living here. I'm always ready for our next adventure but sometimes the idea of leaving familiarity is really hard.

I hope you all had an amazing weekend and enjoy the pictures!!

Splenda

Good day all,

Well I thought I would stop in and first tell you all that Jason is still here and hasn't left for Toronto for training and probably wont either way for at least 10-12 days on account that yesterday he found out he needs glasses.

For awhile Jason has been having a lot of headaches but hes not a great sleeper and when hes in the boilers at work which is 120 degrees he gets dehydrated and so we danced around why he might be getting headaches. Unfortunately I think a headache is so common for so many people that we really don't get it a lot of thought anymore, we pop and Advil and move on with life. Well in the last 3 weeks his eyes have really been bothering him and so at the beginning of the week I just made him an eye appointment, I figured if it was something we could have it taken care of and if it was nothing we could rule that out and move on. Well in the last week his vision has diminished incredibly.. so much so that I was actually started to get worried! Friday night after work we took Kevin to the airport and went to dinner and he couldn't see the road signs and in the end I drove home which never happens. Not to mention when I ever do drive home Jason usually sits in the passenger seat and tells me what he thinks I'm doing wrong, Friday night he laid with his head back and eyes closed.

So yesterday he went to the optometrist and everything was fine but he needs glasses, diagnosis.. near sighted! Unfortunately because he will need them for driving at night, etc he had to get the anti glare lenses so it will take up to 12 days to get them back... not really sure whats hes going to do in the meantime.

And of course American health insurance is a bunch of bullshit, and because we haven't met our deductible the whole shebang was out of pocket!! WHAT A JOKE! I don't know why we don't live in Canada!!

But not to fear Jason got a sweet pair of Oakley's that he looks very good in and although he says hes not going to wear them I ASSURE YOU HE WILL!

Its been absolutely FREEZING here in case you were wondering! Last night it was -7F... that's DAMN COLD!

With Jason not working weekends anymore he was home all day yesterday besides his eye appointment so he made dinner and picked me up from work. After dinner we went to the gym and decided that we would stay up and go out and see if the Northern lights were out! Eventually we got bored of sitting around here waiting and went and got some frozen yogurt and headed down to Earthquake park to see what was out. Well it was a full moon and Jason couldn't see anything and was cranky so we just headed home.

Today we have nothing exciting planned, Jason wanted to go out and shoot but its just way too cold for that but we are going to have to make time because we are going to have to send the gun back to Maine because we will be driving from Seattle to Saskatchewan most likely and obviously cant take it across the border.

Anyways the purpose of me stopping in here was not only to tell you about whats going on with us but is to tell you my thoughts of a new discovery.

There is controversy about everything in life, lets be honest but in regards to splenda I knowing better have always focused on the fact that Splenda has no calories so it had to be better for you then regular sugar. Not that I drink a lot of coffee but when I do I put in one package of splenda! Well truth be told I absolutely always feel bloated, and I get a lot of abdominal cramping and if I'm being perfectly honest on occasion I have wondered if I have chrons disease or something!!

Well Mel being a health nut has always given me shit about using splenda, she swears that artificial sweeteners are so terrible for you.. not that I doubted her but I didn't listen. So a couple of weeks ago Jason sent me a bunch of articles about just how terrible splenda is for you and when reading some of the symptoms caused by using splenda a bunch resonated with me! So I made the decision then and there not to use splenda anymore if for nothing else than to see if I wouldn't feel those things anymore.

Well I bought natural cane sugar and I use that in the one coffee I have a day, but besides that not a ton has changed in what I consume.. and let me tell you I feel GREAT! I haven't had the bloating or abdominal cramping, I haven't had headaches... I really feel great. Scary! Scary to think that something so small could be causing such things.

Jason and I have been eating super healthy, drinking tons of water and getting to the gym at least 5 times a week and I feel amazing!! Ive been tanning in preparation for Hawaii so I don't go there and burn to a crisp and spend the trip miserable and in pain!

So just a word to the wise, if you are a splenda user.. maybe rethink that a little! Natural cane sugar is much better for you.. obviously if you can do no sugar at all that is idea. Make the change, feel better!

Alright I'm done preaching! I'm going to have breakfast and put a hot oil treatment in my hair.. this drive weather is KILLING ME! My head is so dry its unreal.. the whole time we've been here Ive had to spend a fortune on shampoo and conditioner because my head bleeds! Ha - if I'm preaching I might as well throw this one out there too... If you are like I was lady in the shower, lots of hair.. two and one shampoo and conditioners are just easier! Well they aren't lying when they say individual shampoo and conditioners are MUCH better!

OK I'm really done this time! I hope everyone has a really great Sunday!!

TICKETS BOOKED!

Its true... WE'RE GOING TO HAWAII!!!!!!!

Honestly after a year in the arctic I really couldn't be more excited to tell you all that we have officially booked ticket to vacation in Hawaii for 9 whole today's! We will leave Anchorage and fly to Waikiki on Oahu Island for 3 days to see the Pearl Harbor site and tour around and then we will fly form Waikiki to Maui for 6 days!!! We are still in the planning phases of what exactly we will be doing there but so far we know in Honolulu we will see Pearl Harbor and all of that do some shopping and see the big city! We will fly on a small plane to Maui where we are planning to see a volcano, rent a car and drive the road to Hana, we are going to snorkel, surf, and relax!!

I do have a pretty good idea as to where we will be going after this but I am really lacking a lot of details at this point so I don't know if its a good time to tell everyone or not.

I do know that we will be packing up the apartment and leaving here on February 28th which is going to be absolutely crazy because I will be working up until the 28th. I told Deanna that I really don't know what is going to happen and she basically said that she isn't going to be here and they haven't hired someone to do my job so plain and simple I have to work.

Well I guess I might as well go into why that might be hard. We are now officially (and I say officially is the lowest sense of the word on account that we never know we are going somewhere for sure until we are on our way there) going to Estevan, Saskatchewan! Yes we are going back, only this time FAR FAR away from Saskatoon in a LITTLE town that borders North Dakota.

I cant say I'm thrilled, I don't want to go there.. we had figured nothing would come after this job, and if anything it would be Peru which I had basically prepared myself for.. but I wanted to buy a house and go home for a visit and spend time in North Carolina. Really I'm just overwhelmed that this has all happened so suddenly.

Since Saturday we have found out that we are going, told that they want Jason there before anyone else. They need Jason in Oakville Ontario for training and although Charlie wants him there ASAP, Kris is saying he cant leave this job until the end of February. We had expected to stay there until the end of March.. both of us finish work at the end of February and then go to Hawaii and spend some time enjoying the rest of Alaska and then leave.. drive south and buy a house.. now all of that is changed! We are leaving a month earlier.. going to another job, Jason may have to leave ASAP to go to Oakville.. that's all still up in the air.

They know that we have booked a trip so that is definitely going to happen. Charlie mentioned Jason leaving from here and flying to Oakville for a couple of weeks and then coming back to go to Hawaii and then going right to SK. That still may happen it will be up to all of them to fight out where he is needed most. I think it makes sense for me to stay here and pack up our stuff and sell the furniture and finish work so we don't have to pay February's rent. We'll see how all that plays out though.

Ideally Jason and I would stay here together until the end of February, both finish work and pack. Ship the truck and fly to Hawaii then fly from Hawaii to Seattle get the truck and drive to Saskatchewan!

In case any of you were wondering its only $625.00 round trip from Toronto to Regina which is about 2 hours from Estevan.

In and amongst all of this we are dealing with Immigration which is really hard on me as always, we have everything and Jason has been in contact with the lawyer and she said everything looks good.. but its just waiting. Unfortunately we will probably have to fly from SK to Maine to have my biometrics done at some point but that is what it is.

So really that's our scoop right now, if any of you feel that is a lot of information in a short amount of time.. welcome to my world.

Well I have to run and get ready for work. I hope you all had a great week and have a great weekend!!

Forgot to mention...

HA! I forgot to mention yesterday that when Jason went for surgery the other day they offer to give you the tools that they used to do whatever because you paid for them! I found this hysterical! Good Ol' United States and their lack of a healthcare plan! HA!

Jason's Surgery

Well hello all,

First I would like to start off by defending my lack of blogging in that the firggin' thing hasn't been working! I don't know what the deal is but it wont let me upload pictures or anything and I have been so furious about the whole thing, what a huge fat pain in the ass!

Its been a really stressful week let me tell you! We are again having to send in a bunch of stuff to immigration to prove that we are married and legitimately together, its not a big deal because we are its just collecting the stuff that they require. We got most of it right away but they asked for affidavits from friends and family who have witnessed our relationship. Well its so hard to get those when we travel around all the time and there aren't many people who really spend time with us on a regular basis. Anyways I feel confident in the letters that we have asked for and am so grateful to all the people who jumped right on the ball, wrote them and spent a fortune to send them to us.. it means so much! Of course none of them got here when they were suppose to and two are still missing, so much for a guarantee.. THANKS USPS!!!

I know its not really all that big of a deal, we only got the list on Monday telling us what we needed but as most of you know I am absolutely obsessive when it comes to immigration and having everything in order and sending it out as soon as possible! So I'm praying when I go home tonight the letters that have been missing will be in the mailbox or there is a notice saying we can pick them up!

On top of all this Jason went to the doctors last week for a physical, FINALLY! I think he got sick of Mom and I nagging him and just gave in. So I called and made him an appointment last week and he went in on Thursday. Everything was good except that they decided to remove a mole on his back! Jason has been worried about this spot forever and honestly I didn't think that it had any of the characteristics that they say to look for in a mole that may have cause for concern. Well apparently the doctor thought otherwise so Jason went in yesterday to have it removed. Well let me tell you they did a complete hack job, he has like 5 stitches in his back!! I couldn't believe it when I took the bandage off last night!! Lets see if it will let me upload some pictures..

Nope still nothing.. I have to email these assholes and see what the deal is. I don't want to change blogs now but this is a huge pisser!

So naturally Jason is whining like you wouldn't believe, feels like hes been shot, cant do anything.. its an all round bad deal!

At work they have not hired anyone to replace me which SUCKS because I don't want to give up all of my Tuesday's off that month when I know we are going to be moving too.

We are in the midst of going to book things for Hawaii which is super exciting, Jason will be done work very soon and our plan as of right now was to still stay into March and get around Alaska and go to Hawaii and then ship the truck down to Seattle and head out!

I know you are all probably wondering what is next for us and really I have an idea but I don't want to say just yet until we know more. If any of you are anything like me you will get your hopes up for something and then it wont happen. Right now things are still up in the air and so we are playing it by ear. We still have the intention at this moment of heading south to buy a house and heading home for a visit. Again.. I have no idea what is going to happen in the next couple of weeks. I just got an email from Jason saying the plant passed performance testing which means the client is going to accept it and we are definitely out of here!

I'm excited but let me tell you Tom and Deanna are going to have a really hard time! We have move vacancies right now than we have ever had and they are about to lose a TON more! I wrote every ones vacate letters today!!

Anyways I am going to get ready to head home soon, I thought I would stop in and give y'all an update! I'm so pissed I cant post those pictures of Jason's back.. I will see about putting them on snapfish for those of you who I think would actually care to see it! In the mean time though I'm going to email some tech support or something and get this shit fixed!

Hope everyone is having a good week, I will be back around in the next few days!

Oh I also have some snow pictures to post as in the last week we really have gotten quite a bit and they are calling for more this weekend!!

Words to live by...

Recently this came to my attention via a friends blog and naturally is resonated with me..

The Gym.. an Explanation!

Well I thought I would clarify a few things, Ive been meaning to talk about this for awhile and tonight was my breaking point!

Why does one go to the gym? Right now a lot of people are there with new memberships to most likely temporarily fulfill a new years resolution to lose 20lbs! But really what is the right reason to go to the gym? To lose weight, to feel better about yourself, to spend your spare time productively, to get yourself into better health? All of those are good reasons to go to the gym.

But let me be clear about a few things, the gym is NOT a fashion show, just because you can squeeze into something it DOES NOT mean it fits you or by any means looks decent and or appropriate! The gym is NOT a place to play dress up and pose on the machines with your friends that people would actually like to use while taking pictures to post on your social media site of choice. The gym is not a place to get together with friends to catch up on whats been happening since your last get together, YOU ARE IN THE WAY!!!

If you really feel that it is totally necessary to do these things at the gym then make a point of staying out of the way of people who are there for the right reasons or expect to be pushed, made fun of or asked to move.. if you by chance encounter someone more polite then myself!

What the hell ever happened to Starbucks? Go there and drink water and talk about life not the gym!

I know Ive vented about this before but towards the holidays and end of the year it seems to all go away, everyones ambition peters out and people done bother going as much if at all.. but now every night the gym is PACKED, hot and smells like sweat! Sadly 35% of those people are just taking up space!

GET A ZUMBA DVD AND STAY AT HOME!!!

I hope everyone had a good Monday, my Monday was absolutely CRAZY! I was so happy when the day came to an end! Tomorrow is going to be a very low key day which I am really looking forward to. Tanya and I are going to go paint ceramics in the morning and then Costco and a cool used book store.. all of this including Starbucks naturally! I'm really looking forward to having the day off and then Jason and I are headed to the gym tomorrow night.

You know although I'm really not seeing a difference from all my clean eating and gym going, not to mention the water guzzling I really feel amazing! I feel so much better about myself going to the gym than sitting on the couch, I feel less stressed and like I have more energy! All the talking we were doing about Hawaii in the back of my head I was always thinking about how uncomfortable I would be in the bathing suit and now I'm excited! I know if I keep working hard I will feel great for our amazing adventure!

Did I mention the gym makes me tired? I think I'm going to get ready for bed!

Good Night!

Good Morning.. Tsunami?

Well apparently I missed out on all the excitement last night.. there was a 7.7 magnitude earthquake that rocked everything enough to cause tsunami warnings for BC, the Queen Charlotte Islands and of course the coast of Alaska! When I got up this morning the first post that I saw from Alaska Dispatch said "This is no joke!" - Great! Apparently BC and the Queen Charlotte Islands did see some small Tsunami's but Alaska got nothing and since then the warnings have been lifted! Apparently we sit right along the "ring of fire" - No I'm not quoting Johnny Cash, but fault lines! SCARY!

Check it out!

http://www.google.org/publicalerts/alert?aid=8af47ffbf9f17891&a=2&hl=en&gl=US&source=web

My apologies for not being around more, I tell ya since the holidays I don't think we have really got back in the groove of things, or we have and we are just a lot busier! So much so that our Christmas tree is still up.... until tomorrow!!

Because we are planning a trip to Hawaii I decided to buy bathing suits from Victoria Secret while they were having their after Christmas sale.. naturally this doesn't totally excite me but put me into sheer panic mode! Ive gained some weight since we've been here.. in my defense though I blame Alaska! Its so hard to get motivated in the winter months when its dark and cold all the time! Not to mention when work is slow all day and I sit around doing nothing for the most part when I get home I don't want to go anywhere. But knowing that the bathing suits were coming and I wasn't even planning to try them on I figured I better get my ass in gear before I spend my whole time on an amazing tropical island hiding under cover ups and a towel! I really want to enjoy our trip and I would like to feel comfortable in a bathing suit, and at this point I just wouldn't!

So I started a new fitness regime and I am feeling amazing! I'm back to super clean eating, salads twice a day, lots of fish and chicken, tons of vegetables, guzzling water. I went on Pinterest and printed out a ton of work outs so every morning before I go to work I wake up and I pick at least two to do before coffee and getting ready.

Sorry.. I'm just getting back to this from yesterday... I was trying to upload pictures and it wouldn't let me so I said screw it thinking I would get to it last night and that didn't happen. When we got home from work and had dinner we then headed to the gym and didn't get home until late.

So today is now Sunday and we haven't done a ton! We got up this morning and got ready and headed to Girdwood! We haven't left Anchorage in too long and although they were calling for snow we said screw it and headed out anyways! We managed to make it down there and toured around Portage and Girdwood although it wasn't a good scene on account that it was POURING rain!!!!!!! I tell ya there is such a significant difference from 15 feet of snow last year to absolutely bare grounds this year! So we took a little drive and then decided to go to Chair 5 for lunch!

After lunch we headed back to the house to FINALLY take the Christmas tree down and get some organizing done! Jason just finished making Chili for tomorrows dinner and I'm finished all the cleaning and laundry so it will probably be a quiet night! Maybe a movie or something and then back to work tomorrow unfortunately!

Tomorrow night Jason and I are going to go and see Carl at the hospital.. not sure if I have mentioned what happened to Carl? I'm sure you've all heard me talk about Carl our maintenance guy at work? Well I really like Carl, hes a super nice guy and works extremely hard! Well just before Christmas, in fact I think the last Saturday at work before Christmas Carl was really sick, really pale, a lot of flu like symptoms, shaking, etc. I was really worried and encouraged him to go home, instead he decided to lay on the couch. Carl is diabetic and so I worried a little more than I probably would have for anyone else.. eventually I called Tom. Tom said that he would bring down his blood testing kit as Tom himself is also diabetic and Carl declined saying he knew what low blood sugar fell like and this wasn't it. Carl finally went home.

When I went back to work after Christmas Carl wasn't in, when I inquired I was told it was something medical. Finally Carl came in that night and said that because of being diabetic he hasn't had feeling in his feet in years. Well I guess long story short he stepped on a staple at some point and didn't feel it and it went up in his foot and get really infected.. really really infected! In the end they basically filleted his foot open, had to take one of his toes and he now has to have IV antibiotics for the next 7 weeks 4 times a day. There is still the possibility that they will take another one of his toes, but they should be able to save his foot. How scary is that?

Carl is such a great person and I feel absolutely AWFUL that this has happened. Unfortunately its going to be quite some time before he can even put pressure on his foot as the infection was so bad it was hollowing out the bones in his foot. They said that if he didn't go to the doctors when he did he would have died. His foot is still open on the top for the most part and they are monitoring the infection extremely closely. Tuesday they plan to move him to a rehabilitation facility.

Speaking of work, on Friday Tom told me that they are advertising for my job.. which I expected as I plan to be done at the end of February if everything goes as planned with Jason's job. We plan to probably stay in Alaska for the month of March to explore more of Alaska and head to Hawaii! I will keep you updated as to what our next adventure is when I have more of an idea.. there are a few things up in the air at the moment.

I hope everyone had a great weekend!

Again.. I slack!

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!

So as per usual I have dropped the ball when it comes to keeping up with blogging and keeping you all posted! Honestly what is worse is that Ive actually had more time off in the last two weeks than I have had in all the time that Ive been here in this short amount of time.. but with free time comes the chance to do things and the need to get things done that usually fall to the wayside because we are always so busy!

So I will back track to Christmas and fill you all in. As you know we had a Christmas Eve party and had quite a good turn out! It was great to have everyone over, we had plenty of food and I really think everyone had a great time. Its hard being away from home at Christmas and this year there was a lot of us not going home so it was nice to get together, it made it feel a lot more like the holidays! Here are a few pictures Tammy took from the night!

Some of the TONS of food that we had that night!

My stocking hanging on the mantle and out pretty Christmas tree!

Jason, Josh & Glenn

Victor & Jason

Victor junior with Imelda, Melissa & Camilla.. me in the background!

 

The best Christmas present of all this year was the fact that Jason ended up not having to work. I really had done everything I could to talk myself into being OK with him having to work and we would just make the best of the situation but Christmas morning looking at all the gifts under the tree I really couldn't have imagined how hard it would have been if he wasn't here.

 

We got up in the morning and had coffee and opened gifts, it was great! We were so happy with everything this year, we decided to get more practical gifts then bigger gifts because who knows when we will be leaving and where we will be going. I hate that for so many years we buy each other great gifts and they sit in Maine in a closet or something because we cant take them with us because we don't have the room. So this year we went with very practical gifts and we were very happy.

 

We are so grateful to everyone who bought for us, all the wonderful gifts and cards we received. Mom and Dad you guys went above and beyond this year with gifts and we couldn't be more grateful, everything is extremely appreciated and will go to very good use!

 

Here are a few pictures from Christmas morning!! To see the rest, you probably got the album I sent from Snapfish!

 

Christmas Morning!

The handmade Christmas ball Mom & Dad ordered for Jason. It was made and hand painted in Craig, Alaska.. amazing!

The ball is gorgeous.. you cant see it in these pictures but it has Jason's name on it and Alaska 2012

I'm not sure what I was opening here.

Haha I wonder where this came from.

Jason's handmade cribbage board, I had it made in Minnesota via a friend of Mel & Jason.

YAY! A new lulu hoodie!

The aftermath!

 

After Christmas was back to work unfortunately. Naturally it was completely dead there between Christmas and New Years which made for extremely long days! Unfortunately we had a bit of an issue at work as well. Carl our maintenance man, who is absolutely wonderful injured his foot! He was having flu like symptoms and just very unwell and when he went to the doctor you wouldn't believe what he found. Carl is diabetic and one of the side effects is that because of poor circulation he has absolutely no feeling in his feet! Well turns out he stepped on a staple and it went up in his foot and got severely infected.. so much so that they had to do surgery and took one of his toes and literally filleted his foot apart. I talked to Carl the other day and things were looking a lot better, definitely on the positive things of what the outcome could have been. I'm really not sure when Carl will come back to work which sucks but we are thinking about him and sending him happy healthy thoughts. If hes still in the hospital this week I think Jason and I will go and see him.

 

So last night was New Years eve and of course Jason had to work today so we didn't really have a lot on the go. We had went out the night before to an Aces hockey game and then went to the bar for a drink and Jason didn't get a lot of sleep.. probably because its warmed up so much and all his beloved snow is melting! Check out Tanya and I enjoying the beautiful sight of rain!

 





So last night we decided that we would go downtown for fireworks and get a drink and then come home! Jason absolutely loves fireworks so although he was absolutely exhausted last night from very little sleep he made the best and we headed out not long after he got home from work. It was really nice out and because Anchorage really isn't all that big there wasn't a TON of people downtown by any means! The firework show was absolutely amazing.. I mean extremely impressive!

After the fireworks we head to McGinley's Irish pub for a drink! We were very lucky to get there when we did and get a table and enjoyed a couple of drinks before heading home! We managed to get in one good picture of us too!!

Today Jason had to work so Tanya and I decided that we would go on a little adventure, although it probably wasn't wise we decided that we would drive towards Girdwood... we definitely didn't make it far unfortunately! As soon as we got on the New Seward highway there was warnings about blizzard conditions along Turnagain arm.. so we took a few pictures and headed back into the city! We did a bunch of shopping yesterday so today we were pretty low key, ended the day with some much needed grocery shopping and came home!

Tomorrow is back to work unfortunately, I really enjoyed my time off so much and honestly it makes it so hard to go back. I'm ready for this job to be over, to move on to whatever is next.

I hope that everyone had a very happy New Year! I'm sorry I haven't been around in awhile.. I get sidetracked easily! I will make a point to be better.. although I know what you're thinking.. Yeah yeah you always say that.. but I'm seriously going to try! GOD GIVE A SISTER A BREAK!

I hope you all enjoyed the pictures from Christmas I sent earlier tonight! I promise to be back before the week is out!