Home Sweet Alaska

Tuesday, March 10, 2009

The weather report

Sometimes the weather tricks me into thinking that Spring has arrived in Alaska, although I know better. I've lived in this state all my life and we have always had snow on the ground into April and usually May. And oftentimes we'll be so achingly close to spring and you can taste it in the air and see patches of open ground without a speck of snow -- and then Mother Nature gives us a snow storm of epic proportions.

I have to admit that it has been nice lately...some sunny skies and warm(er) weather in the 30's. This week might even get into the HIGH 30's, peoples! When the morning temp is in the 20's, it's going to be a good day.

Isn't this view pretty? It's the Chugach Mountain range. I love my office.

Thursday, March 5, 2009

Alaska Women

Got this in an email from my boss (we're both Alaska girls):

The first man married a woman from MINNESOTA. He told her that she was to do the dishes and house cleaning. It took a couple of days, but on the third day, he came home to see a clean house and dishes washed and put away...

The second man married a woman from SOUTH DAKOTA. He gave his wife orders that she was to do all the cleaning, dishes and the cooking.The first day he didn't see any results, but the next day he saw it was better. By the third day, he saw his house was clean, the dishes were done and there was a huge dinner on the table.

The third man married a girl from ALASKA. He ordered her to keep the house cleaned, dishes washed, lawn mowed, laundry washed, and hot meals on the table for every meal. He said the first day he didn't see anything, the second day he didn't see anything but by the third day, some of the swelling had gone down and he could see a little out of his left eye, and his arm was healed enough that he could fix himself a sandwich and load the dishwasher.

Wednesday, March 4, 2009

Antique storage

I've been kind of obsessed with antique card catalogs and cubbies lately. What an ingenious, yet visually appealing, method of storage. I wonder if our local antique stores have any...

Monday, March 2, 2009

Big head

You all know that our dog Drift is a star of the small screen -- appearing in a grand total of two television commercials.

Well now he has reached another level of unprecedented local status -- a mention in the Anchorage Daily News' Alaska Ear! (That's our version of a gossip column.)

It is just a passing reference, but a mention nonetheless!

http://www.adn.com/news/politics/alaska_ear/story/706282.html

"A QUESTION ... What's up at ACS? Another high-profile woman has left the very visible PIO job there. Earwigs say former ADN business reporter Paula Dobbyn, who started last May, is gone. Her predecessor, Mary Gasperlin, left last April after a year. Before Gasperlin, former KTUU anchor Meghan Stapleton (now the mouthpiece for SarahPac) and the IBEW's Melinda Taylor both left after a few months. Before them, Mary Ann Pease exited. Is that five in four years? Looks like they all went on to better things, but what's the story? Hmmm. Maybe there's only room for one company spokeswoman in the organization -- the one who's always walking that dog on TV?"

Can you believe that our dog is more famous than either D or me?

No sign of spring here

Saturday was one long snow day -- big, wet flakes blanketed the area and we ended up with about five inches.

Fur Rondy also started this weekend...it's basically a 10 day citywide winter celebration, hearkening back to the old days when fur trappers would converge on Anchorage to sell their wares, hence the name "Fur Rendevous." A couple people we know even ended up running with the reindeer!

Friday, February 27, 2009

How to announce that you like meat

Went to the Bear's Tooth last night with some girlfriends -- can't beat a $3 movie where you also get to eat yummy food and drink Moose's Tooth beer at the same time!

As I was leaving the parking lot, I spotted this New Mexico license plate in front of me (bad photo because it was taken through the front windshield):

Of course it was on a truck! :-) Must be a big-time hunter.

Nerd alert

I love candy. All kinds -- I try not to discriminate, although there are definitely some favorites.

Somehow my coworkers have found out that I like Nerds, one of my many candy loves -- how embarrassing, right? A grown woman who gobbles down a food product that is basically crystallized sugar dipped in even more dyed sugar.

Coming into work today, this is the sight that greeted me as I opened the door to my office and sat down to begin another lovely day:

Nerds! Honestly though, I don't need any more. My candy tin is already chock full of the things:

Thursday, February 26, 2009

Fruit crumble

Last year D's mom sent me a bunch of great recipes using rhubarb (which we're now out of -- yay for space in the freezer!) and had suggested mixing in other fruit when baking. So last night when I saw the huge ripe blueberries sitting ever-so-lonely in the fridge (from our first organic box) they got dumped in a big pot along with some frozen strawberries and raspberries from the yard for a quick and easy fruit crumble.

Simmering along with some water, sugar and lemon juice. This is the easiest recipe ever. Seriously.

Flour and sugar mixed with butter for the crumbly topping.

Finished product! Eventually I need to work on making my food look better. Right now I'm concentrating on having everything taste good! As my official taster, D says this dish was delish.

My wonderful family helps feed my Ikea obsession -- received a box from my sister with some items and she even added in some Pocky. It's an Asian treat -- basically a long pretzel cracker dipped in chocolate. So simple in its chocolatey goodness!

Food storage tips from GMA

Good Morning America did a segment yesterday on keeping groceries fresher by storing them properly. Not only does this prevent food from going bad and growing bacteria/etc., you save money by extending the shelf life of perishables.

One of the most interesting things I heard was that milk should be kept in glass bottles with a good lid -- cardboard is the worst for keeping milk cold and sealing out air. Plastic is better, but glass is best.

Apples and pears give off ethylene gas, so they will cause other vegetables to ripen faster. The segment also gave some guidlines on which fruits and vegetables should and should not be refrigerated.

Wednesday, February 25, 2009

I'm obsessed with gas prices and daylight

Over the last few weeks the gas prices in Anchorage have been dropping slightly. Woot! One of the stations near our house is at $2.33 for regular! At this time last year, gas was at least a dollar more, so I'm not complaining at all. We are quite interested to see where prices will hit as summer approaches since we're driving out of town almost every weekend.

I'm relieved for the current low prices, even though my car is pretty much a gas sipper for an SUV. I cannot tell you how many times over the last two years that I have patted myself on the back for buying the CRV. Good job, self! It's not my dream vehicle by any means, but it gets the job done, has plenty of space and isn't a regular car (just can't bring myself to buy one of those). My last SUV was the Nissan Xterra and I loved the way it looked and drove, but after thousands of dollars in repair bills it was time to kick that bad boy to the curb.

Can you believe that the photo above was taken at about 6 pm?!?! And it's light outside! Granted, the sun was starting to set, but we're gaining at least 5 minutes a day now. That's almost 2 and a half hours more daylight at the end of February than at the end of January. I'm dreaming of those glorious evenings when the sun doesn't set until after 11 pm.

Bobby Jindal is a douche

I know this is political, but what was Gov. Jindal thinking with his recent rebuttal to President Obama's speech on the economy?

"...Something called volcano monitoring?" I understand that he's planning on running for prez in '12 and really wants to raise his profile in a good way, but sounding like an idiot isn't going to achieve that goal. Maybe do a little research before opening your mouth Bobby.

A lot of news sites and bloggers have pointed out that ridiculing money for natural-disaster research is kind of a bad move when you are the governor of a HURRICANE PRONE STATE! Duh. Idiot.

MSN
Alaska Dispatch
Scientific American

Monday, February 23, 2009

A little off

I am not feeling like myself today, or yesterday for that matter. Both mornings I woke up with episodes of vertigo -- which is basically me feeling like the room is spinning around, peppered with some nausea and lack of balance.

It's something I have experienced before but the feeling is quite unpleasant. Sometimes it will happen during the day as well and today I stumbled getting into the elevator. Nothing like looking drunk in front of your coworkers!

If episdoes keep coming by the end of the week, I'll be making an appointment with my doctor. My dad gets vertigo too so it's definitely a genetic thing!

Saturday, February 21, 2009

The view from up here

What an absolutely gorgeous day today. Lots of blue sky and sunshine. AND, it's about 22 degrees ABOVE zero. Nothing to complain about here!

Nice vista from our bedroom window:

Our home is fairly well insulated so there are no icicles hanging down from the roof -- except for this crazy frozen waterfall spilling out from one of the gutters.