Ahhhhh….

the last week here at the Lawrence house has been positively blissful.  Things have been relaxed and, I tell you, that is exactly what we needed this year.  After 6 months of tension:  leaving the Midwest and my family, cancer, surgery, recovery, insurance hassles, settling into a new neighborhood, new school, new church.  It has all felt frantic. 

the first few weeks in Alaska, we were so busy with all the medical stuff and school.  Then, as Dave began to feel better, we began to go again, catching up with friends long neglected in our moves.  A beloved aunt and uncle came to visit, Dave’s folks were in town. A long awaited trek to Homer.  A trip to Kenny Lake to reconnect with very special friends.  Each week that Dave was home something was going on. 

The weeks he was gone were filled with school and fencing and volunteering and Daisy Scouts.  Our Dave-less weekends were often spent in the Valley playing with the Riopelles or the Becks. 

So, when Christmas break rolled around,  although I missed/miss my family terribly, I was ready for the slow down.  And without extended family, it really was slow around here. 

We have never had a week like this.  Dave has been home since the day before Christmas, and has only been on the phone 2 times for work.  I think he only checked his email once.  The kids have been off of school, and since I don’t work… It has been wonderful.

Christmas eve was quiet, we went to church and enjoyed a lovely service complete with candles and volunteer choir.  Singing “Silent Night” with each persons face illuminated by the glow of the candles… knowing my family had done the same in Minnesota. 

At home that evening, we opened presents.  Not too many, that really isn’t our thing.  Neither Dave nor I grew up in households that went all out over Christmas presents and we have not made that a part of our family celebrations either.  Broder got some Troll legos, Kjell got an mp3 player, Sunny some doll clothes.  All the kids got pipecleaners and games and a puzzle to share. 

The most exciting present by far was the book box.  Dave and I had gone to a used book store in town and bought a bunch of books, some for each member of the family including our selves.  There were mysteries, car repair manuals, fantasy, history, knitting, learn to read , books of all kinds.  We had wrapped each book in newspaper(and didn’t label them as to whom they belonged) and put all the books in a large box.  When it came time to open the box, the kids pulled out any book, unwrapped it, and tried to figure out who it belonged to.  this was great fun and something I think we will do in years to come. 

Christmas morning brought the usual stockings stuffers, toothpaste, band-aids, toothbrushes and a little bit of candy. 

In the afternoon, our friend Tom came over for dinner.  It was great to send some time with him and catch up on all that has gone on in his life over the last 6 years.  It was an afternoon of good conversation, snuggled in our little house watching the snow pile up outside. 

In the days since Christmas, we have played a lot of games, put together a puzzle, taken the dog for long walks, baked some bread and lefse, drank good coffee and little wine,  and generally just hung out as a family.  We didn’t even start the car for 3 days! 

The holidays are so often a time of busy running and that is so much fun, and I missed that a little this year, there were times when I would get a little teary knowing that all my siblings and my parents were together, without us.  But, I think this last week was just what we needed.

The mama…

I don’t post many pictures of myself here, I want you to keep coming back.  But this one wasn’t too bad, so I thought I would put it out there. 

Sunny is very interested in fashion, hence the book on 19th century clothing.  We have been reading this one a lot lately, she can tell you all about hooop skirts and leg-o-mutton sleeves.  She is a pretty funny little kid.

Alaska, one week in…

It has been a whirlwind, this first week back in Alaska.  It has been good.  From the moment we stepped off the plane it has been busy and fun and exhausting. 

Some dear friends met us at the airport, Harry is a police officer and met me right at the gate.  Cheri, his wife, met us just after security.  I am sure that the other passengers on my flight were wondering what was going on.  The police escort to baggage claim probably made a couple of them a bit nervous. 

Broder got to ride in the police car to the station, where all the kids then took a ride in a fire truck.  Not a bad way to spend their first 2 hours in Alaska. 

Then it was out to the MatSu valley, where we lived before.  A home cooked meal and a late night visiting session rounded out our first day.

Friday we headed off to a Farmers’ market and checked out a couple of new shops in the area.  Then it was back to Anchorage for the kids and me.  We met the landlord and got the official tour of our new house and all it’s little secrets. 

An hour after that, some more friends came up to spend the night.  We hadn’t seen each other in 5 years, since Sunny was a baby, and they have had 2 more kids since then.  It was great to catch up and watch the kids play.  We ate pizza off paper plates and had a wonderful time.

Saturday, after a morning of visiting with our friends (and one run to Home Depot to pick up a much needed plunger), it was back out to the Valley.  Stayed with our friends Julia and Tyde.  They have 4 kids, 3 of whose ages line up with our kids. Driving up to their house, it was as if I had been the last week, not 6 years ago.  The kids played and played and played, and Julia and I drank wine and talked and talked and talked. 

Sunday, off to church at MatSu Covenant, our Alaska church home.  Things have changed there a bit, there is a new building, a different pastor and some new faces, but the same old love.  It was wonderful to worship there once again. 

Sunday afternoon took us to a wedding reception.  And then to visit with our friends the Becks.  It was an afternoon and evening filled with 5 kids, 3 horses, 6 dogs, 2 cats.  The kids rode horses, and the adults, you guessed it, talked and talked and talked.  Drank some coffee, a glass of wine, and talked some more. 

Monday we were tired.  Ran around Anchorage a bit, ordered some school clothes, wrote thank you cards, got my library card. 

Tuesday was a big big day.  The movers came and unloaded all our stuff.  It was a bit overwhelming.  Dave came home and some more friends came by.  Sandy and Shawn.  They were passing through Anchorage on their way to go sheep hunting.  Again, it was like it was yesterday the last time we were all together. 

Wednesday.  Boxes, boxes, boxes.  At least 100 boxes unpacked today, and probably that many more to go through tomorrow.  The kids all have beds to sleep on, and their books are now on their shelves.  Tonight we ate our first home-cooked meal in our new house.  Salmon.  Imagine that.

Tomorrow the kids will register for schoool and we will unpack more boxes.  Probably make a a few trips to the grocery store to pick up that one more thing we forgot, or couldn’t ship.

Books, books, books…

 

In our tiny apartment we had 3 rooms(not including the bathroom) and in those 3 rooms we had a total of 9 bookcases. There was even a bookcase in the kitchen.   The bookcases were full.  On each shelf, books were stacked on top of books.  Vertical, and horizontal, and haphazard.  On the floor in each of those 3 rooms, in front of and around the 9 bookcases, were stacks of books.  Under our beds were boxes of books.   In our car there were bags of books.

Now we are moved into our new house, our 9 bookcases have been joined  by at least 2 more, and a coffee table, a great new place to put our books.  We have one closet now dedicated to books, 3 cupboards in the kitchen full of books(no room in this kitchen for a true bookshelf), behind a chair in the living room sit 3 baskets full of library books,  and still, boxes and boxes of books to be unpacked and organized. 

Dreamland.

Last night my dreams were dominated by a long distance running Hassidic Siamese cat  who paints religious art  and struggles with the question of what is better, the Whopper or the Big Mac, in the hot Kansas sun, while fighting a giant bean eating bumblebee: all this under the delusion that he is really a Chihuahua from Mexico who needs to make sure that the true message of the Gospel is heard throughout the world.

Since the strongest mood altering chemical I have ever used is caffeine,  I can only assume that this night of mine was fueled by the myriad of books that I read(or read parts of) at some point yesterday. 

Here is the list:

The Messiah of Morris Avenue

My Name is Asher Lev

SkippyJon Jones

In Everything Give Thanks

Coke or Pepsi

Today I made waffles…

they took 8 hours. 

I have this great cookbook, it is my secret weapon.  It is called “How to Cook Everything”.  And truly, it tells you how to cook everything.   From beans to pizza dough to shrimp to lamb to curry to lentils to waffles.  Really everything. 

Goodbye,  Betty Crocker and your indespensible cream of mushroom soup. Goodbye, Better Homes and Gardens and your handy tabbed dividers.  Goodbye, Laurel’s Kitchen and your sanctimonious meatlessness.  There’s a new book in town!

In the interest of honesty, this  affair of mine is not so new.  I have been sneaking around with this cookbook for a couple of years now.  A rice and beans recipe here,  a pasta dough recipe there, but today…  I can no longer deny the importance of this book in my life.  I can’t pretend that this is some passing fancy.  

Today this book gave me waffles.  Waffles that took 8 hours to bring to fruition.  The best waffles I have ever made. (to be fair, I need to tell you that 7.75 hours were spent letting the waffle sponge rest and grow).  But, without a doubt, the best waffles. 

Truly, this is cookbook love.

Someday…

I am going to write a book.  The hero will be homely, scrawny, and socially awkward.  The heroine will be rather dumpy, with  lackluster hair, huge feet and a shrill voice.  No one will fall in love at first sight.  No one will have any great family secrets to get past.  There will be no saving of some little known jungle  tribe, whom without intervention would have their habitat destroyed by evil condo developers.  And I PROMISE, there will be no “her heart nearly burst, his world stopped spinning, as their passion took them to heights they had never dreamed possible”,  sex scenes. 

 I finished the book I was listening to. Finally.   It was horrid.  Now I can move forward.

Now I am irritated…

I love to read, and when I can’t read, I listen to books.  This allows me to feed my book addiction while doing dishes, laundry, baking, cleaning.

I can’t not finish a book.  Even if it is terrible.  And the book I am listening to right now, as I write this, is truly dreadful. 

Not only is the writing trite, the narrator is ridiculous.  His vocal interpretation of the characters goes beyond absurd. 

Can I really endure 10 more hours of this?  If I do, is it self-abuse?