More Snow...

Our view this morning after waking to unexpected snow. As annoying as it is...it's still really pretty! Guess we are in for the never-ending winter. Ugh! At least I don't have to go to work today. Happy Monday!! :)

Recap

So, big daddy came home on Wednesday and all is well in our world. The week was VERY busy for me so it was super, duper awesome having him home so I didn't feel overwhelmed between work and taking care of everything at home. I spent a few nights, with Tony's help, getting my guest room somewhat "squared away" by removing the majority of the boxes (they went in the other spare room!) so I could put an air mattress in there for my gal pal, Jaqie, from POW. She had made plans to come to "town" to help see a friend of ours off who is moving north (a coworker of ours). I got both the room and the bathroom downstairs set up for her arrival. She came over via the ferry on Saturday morning. It's been SO great having her here. I tell her she's my "sister from another mister". LOL! I'll have to post about my trip over to POW last summer to stay at her dad's lodge. It was DA BOMB. But more on that later. At the moment, Ms. Jaqie is preparing a venison roast she brought over from her island. She also brought us more halibut as a gift....AWESOME! Last night we had our little "going away party" so to speak and today we've just been vegging out at the house. She leaves tomorrow...sigh. It's never enough time when we are together...but it just makes the time that much sweeter when we do have the opportunity to visit.

At any rate, tomorrow is President's Day and our office is closed. Yay!! I do have some work to do, however, as I have decided to take Spring Break week off and I need to keep up my hours in order to have the time to take in March. My plan is to unpack the ungodly amount of boxes still downstairs to be unpacked. I can't take them being piled to the ceiling in the other spare room down there. I am going to be so busy this summer I want to get it all done now...it will free up so much time later. I also can't find some things I'd really like to have!! I am excited! I'm also going to keep my friend, Cathy's, kiddo while she goes out of town that week so Jake will have someone to hang with while I'm busy unpacking etc....Cool beans!!

Anywho....that's about it for now. We got a ton of snow last night...more so in town than out here which was strange. Whatever...it's just ANNOYING. It cleared up today, tho, and the sun came out. It was super nice out today...gorgeous with all that fresh snow on the mountains. :)

I suppose I'll wrap this up and see if Jaqie needs help in the kitchen. I'm going to try and post a pic of her from my trip last summer. :) OK...I just did that and it shows up on top of this post...SIGH. Blogger is SO aggravating sometimes!!!!!! Oh well....that's my girl from POW. Isn't she cute???

Peace-Out!! Nan XO

Here it is!

And VIOLA!! No more ugly wallpaper....the color I chose is really pretty even tho it's hard to see in this pic. I plan to find a cool picture to go above the toilet to spruce it up in there.

Any suggestions on jazzing up my vanity? Can you "refinish" a vanity such as this one? New lights maybe?? Help!!


Thank goodness that wallpaper is GONE! Are you feelin' how much I hated it? I'm planning to get a little cabinet for towels etc to go in this space which is behind the door.

Found these uber cute hooks for the shower curtain. I need a new rod, tho...that one is HIDEOUS and dated. I also plan to get a skookum new shower curtain to add character...this plain, white one just isn't cutting the mustard in my opinion.

Thanks for visiting and come again for more pics of our new, humble abode!!! XOXO

Just a quick Hello....

So, it's been about a week or so since I started blogging again and so far I've only gotten 1 comment. Hmmmm...has everyone given up on me? Just kidding...I know it won't be long and people will figure it out. At any rate...Tony gets home from POW today and I'm SO excited! Seems like he's been gone a week...even tho it's only been a few days. :) It's just not the same without daddy around!! Jake misses him terribly when he's gone. I kept myself busy with redoing the bathroom and entertaining my friends I don't usually get to hang out with. Jake had a friend over Saturday night but has done well entertaining himself and hanging out with "just mom". Not sure if you all know this...but if Jake had to make a choice at home...Dad would win EVERY time. LOL!!

Anyway, I'm hoping to get pics taken of the "new and improved" bathroom as soon as I finish "pimping it up" and looking it's best. I just need a few more things. If I could replace the UGLY floor it would be the shizzle. But alas...THAT'S not happening any time soon. I still need to finish unpacking and getting the guest room ready. I think I'm going to have company this weekend...I better get crackin'!!! :)

OK...I just wanted to stop in and say "howdy" while I had a few minutes. It's really cold up here today (27) and is suppposed to stay cold and possibly snow some more. We got quite a bit more 2 nights ago. Our house gets more than most people cuz we are *just* high enough above sea level now to be ANNOYED by snow. :) I sure do miss living down by the sea!!

Alrighty-then...have a great Wednesday and I'll catch ya later!!! TTFN~ Nan XO

Projects....

The "projects" have begun now that we are home owners. I couldn't wait to dive in and take care of this seriously ugly bathroom. This is the "main" bathroom upstairs...as you can see it needed a little TLC to say the least. My friend, Buffy, helped me take down the wallpaper and give a much needed facelift. The wallpaper came down and fresh paint went up. I picked a PERFECT color and I'm very excited at how it turned out. I will take "after pictures" and post those next. :) This is the highlight of this last week...well THAT and Tony and I will be reunited tomorrow after some time apart. He's been working on POW. Our anniversary was yesterday...16 years!! Happy Anniversary to US! :) Stay tuned for more blogging and more pictures. Night y'all....XO.

OK...I like Killer Whales and all..but this is a bit much!!

OH LOOK! We took the paper down...just to watch it take a bunch of paint with it. YIKES!! Good thing Buffy was there to teach me how to fix that little problem. I learned all about hot-pink spackle, too!! Fun times!! :)

Our View

Looking out from the "front" of the house. As you can see we have a wonderful deck that we will be enjoying this summer. We get a LOT of sun during the day when it's nice. Despite the power pole...it's not a bad view at all. :)

Our New House

These are just a few pics to wet your appetite. These two rooms are on the upper floor. The first is looking into the "formal" living room from the kitchen. The second is obviously taken from the living room looking back into the kitchen. As you can see, we have a lovely wood stove in the corner that I plan to use once we get some wood. I took a pic of the ceiling just to show you that it's not all wood in the living room...our ceiling is white and we have lovely beams going through that give it a vere "lodgey" type feel. I love it...it's very cozy and comfortable in this room and we spend a lot of time in there! And last but not least is the kitchen. It's a bit narrow but it has been updated and has more room than what it looks like in this pic. It's perfect for us and I love it. I could definitely use more cupboard space...but is there ever really enough?!? LOL!! Sometimes I think there would never be enough no matter how much I have. :) I also plan to paint the kitchen at some point. The color is yet to be determined. Anyway, there is a lot more house but it will be a process getting all the pics taken and put on the blog. Be patient with me!! I will post some pics of our view next...taken on a sunny day. Not as good as our last place but still VERY enjoyable just the same!! Over and out~ Nan XO

A Must Read for Today....

http://wwwwordsfromwillow.blogspot.com/2011/02/water-skiing-first-and-last-time.html

This was sent to me today by my BFF in Anchorage...written by her SIL, Cherrie. SO FUNNY! My mom is always telling me that I'm funny...but I don't hold a candle to this lady. Enjoy...and may your heart be just a little bit lighter today for it!!

Love and hugs, Nan XO

Snow....

The view from our front deck! Normally you can see the water beyond all those trees.

Super Bowl Sunday 2011!

We awoke February 6th, 2011 to a snowfall we weren't expecting (or all that happy to see!) It continued to snow all day and evening and we had about 6 inches on our deck by the time it was all said and done. Fortunately, we have the best neighbor up behind us that keeps our hill plowed pretty well in these conditions. Thanks so much to John Krosse and his 4-wheeler!! YOU ROCK!! At any rate, it was pretty to look at and once it cleared off last night we got a gorgeous, sunny day today. Our bitter cold weather is usually accompanied by lots of SUNSHINE....Yee Haw for that!!! :)

Monday...Again!

Mondays come WAY too fast in my opinion...and the older I get the more I realize that two days off a week just isn't near enough! Our weekend FLEW by. It seemed busy yet uneventful. We made a trip to town and hit all the usual spots...Safeway, Madison, USPO. It was a decent day outside with no rain so that was nice. We ended up not getting anything at the hardware store (as usual) because we are so overwhelmed each time we go in there that I get frustrated and want to leave. There's so many choices and when you don't know what you are doing or what you need it makes it NO FUN!! LOL!! I'm sure we'll get over it once we get serious about fixing up the house. We have to paint next summer!! Yeesh!!!!!

Sunday we were slow to get up but when we finally did we saw SNOW! This came as a bit of a surprise b/c the weather has been mild with rain and 40 degree temps. Needless to say, it IS still winter so we shouldn't have been shocked. It continued to snow a LOT up on our little hill. We just stayed in and did more chores and got ready to watch the Super Bowl. Our friend, Tracy, came out and watched with us...we were VERY happy the Steelers lost. :)

I did manage to take some pics of the inside of the house which I will post later. I also plan to do some "catch up" blogging as well. I have many pics to share...can't wait!!

Well...I suppose I should get on with this Monday before the day gets away from me. Oh!! I decided last week to give up coffee. I'm doing what I can to "de-stimulate" myself. My resting heartrate is WAY too high these days due to lack of exercise so I'm doing what I can to bring it down. I thought not drinking coffee might help. We'll see!! So far I'm doing OK. I've never had more than 2 cups a day so it's not like I'm giving up a whole lot...just enough to be a little "healthier". :) I've moved on to Decaf Tea...Earl Gray is my favorite. SO GOOD!!!

That's about it for now...see y'all next post!! Have a great (and warm) week!! Hugs, Nan XO

Happy New Year!

OK...So I'm a little slow wishing everyone a Happy New Year...but I'm HERE and that's all that matters, right? Not to mention...January went so dang fast it makes my head spin just thinking about it. As most of you already know, we just bought a house so between Christmas, working, and getting settled in to the house the time has flown on by!

As I was preparing to do my Christmas letter recently, I realized I could just go to my blog to refresh my memory of our year (2010). NOT!! I quickly discovered I had only blogged like 4 times last year!! WHAT THE?!? LOL!! I knew I was BAD...but that is just SAD! So, I am going to REALLY make an effort this year to blog accordingly if for nothing else so I can reflect back at Christmas time when preparing my yearly letter. Sigh....you know what it's like after 40. You can't remember ANYTHING it seems.

Anyway, I'm not going to get into too much at this moment as it is Saturday and there is a LOT to do (always) and I need to get on with this day. But, I wanted to touch base and let everyone know (if you don't already) that LIFE IS GOOD. We are feeling very settled in the new house despite all the boxes that STILL need to be unpacked. I am overwhelmed any time I look in the two spare rooms that are filled with boxes. After working all week, I just want to do very little on the weekend. I *do* need to get my guest room ready, however, in the event someone wants to come visit. It would be quite embarrassing to have a 5 bedroom house and NOT have a bed/room for someone to sleep in.

So, on top of getting unpacked and all the regular daily stuff we have to do, we are dedicating ourselves this year to getting more exercise and getting in shape. We bought an elliptical recently and really enjoy exercising on it. It is going to be my goal as well to get outside more once the weather turns...maybe do some hiking up behind where we just bought our house. Not sure if there are any trails per say...but it might make for a good workout to just get up in the woods and check things out. :)

Wow...this is probably the most boring post of all my postings!! LOL!! Just consider it an appetizer to future blogs that will hopefully be more interesting. I should probably get going...we need to hit the hardware store (our new favorite store now that we own a home.) I hope you all are doing whatever you enjoy on the weekend...even (and especially) if it means laying on the couch watching the Food Network all day (which is what I'd rather be doing!!)

Love and Hugs from Alaska!! Nan XO