Merry Christmas Week

Okay, sorry for not posting anything sooner but I just haven't felt like it! I'm not sad, or depressed or anything, I'm just not ready to post anything. Um... I didn't feel like posting anything. I do now so here goes.

I know I promised to post pictures of the first big snowfall and I as yet have not done that. That is because we haven't gotten a big snowfall that stuck. It snowed three times before any of it stayed put but it was about a quarter of an inch. Around here that does not qualify as big. On Christmas we got about four inches. That's respectable and I'll try to get pictures of it on here soon.
Christmas was Christmas. It was only the three of us because Charlie couldn't make it down and Kathy said Justin, Katrina and Jaddrick(sorry if I spelled that wrong) were planning on stopping by her place so she wasn't here. We opened presents at noon cause that's when all of us were up at the same time. I got really cool scrapbook paper from one of my cousins' children, Robbie. It's very retro and it'll be perfect for Mom and Dad's scrapbook. Also, a pack of loose papers in different colors and a sticker-maker. I have one and I really like it. And really, can you have too many scrapbook tools? Mom made me a jumper, got me a rice cooker/steamer (which I really, really wanted), and my favorite candy in the whole world, Almond Roca.
Dad got a really cool flashlight with red and blue filters. He almost blinded himself when he was looking at it and turned it on. He also got little sculptures of a wolf and a bear from his niece, Amanda. The sculptures are already on the entertainment center, which, by the way, holds our new television!!!!! It's amazing! When you info a program on the satellite, the info box is bigger than our other tv! It's really nice because this tv is a stereo tv which means that the sound is much lower when it comes out. There's a lot more bass. Apparently, Dad was having a hard time hearing the other tv because it was so high-pitched. He doesn't need this one turned up nearly as much. I can actually lay in my bed, three feet from my own television and hear what I'm watching instead of what he's watching.
Sorry, back to Christmas. Mom got a Jo-Ann's gift card, a sewing stiletto and serger tweezers. She asked for the stiletto, and if I couldn't find that, then the tweezers. I found both and that's what she got.
We all got a family picture of the Selbys (Amanda, Clint, Robbie, Glen and Brytni). Grandma Love sent us a calendar of some of the pictures that Uncle Dave has taken. One of the "purtypurple flowers" is an orchid, I'm sure of it. I was a little bummed that I didn't get an orchid calendar this year but I guess I did huh? Mom also got a quilting book that she spent the day poring over. Me thinks she likes it.
Grandpa and Grandma Arndt sent us candy, scarves, brownie mix and an oven mitt that is too cute.
I'm sorry if I forgot anyone. Normally I write down who got what but I forgot this year.

Oh! I got my dog the cutest little snow suit! I know, I know, you're all thinking "Clothes for a dog? What a weirdo!" but you have to understand that he is only a foot tall, doesn't have much of a winter coat, fur-wise, and it gets downright nippy around these parts. Because he is crated most of the time he needs to get out and run sometimes. With McKinzie in the house, it's just a lot easier to let him run outside. McKinzie can't focus on fast moving objects so he gets really frustrated when he can't catch the furry little blur whizzing past him.

We haven't had much excitement this week but Kathy had a lot more fun than we did.
Last week she went to Anchorage with her son, daughter-in-law and their two children. Mom was taking care of the house and the dog while she was gone. Unfortunately, when Kathy got home she had a chimney fire! She called Dad and he grabbed the ladder and me and we went to rescue her. She was remarkably calm, considering her house was on fire. Dad climbed up on the roof and poured water down the chimney until the pipe was cool. Two days later Dad and Tony took her old stove out and put the one that Mom bought for us four years ago in. It is too little for our house but it's just perfect for hers. She had run out of heating fuel and the old stove just couldn't keep it warm in that one room. Now, you have to understand the dynamics of Kathy's house. She lives in a trailer with an add-on and a shell over the whole thing. The circulation isn't that great. She has a Toyo stove in the trailer and a wood stove in the add-on. Together, they keep both buildings quite warm and comfy. Okay, she had run out of heating fuel... She put a sheet across the doorway into the trailer to keep the heat in the add-on and because there's no heat in the trailer, her water froze. She also has Bryan and Mary Beth's camp trailer hooked up to her water and septic. Where the septic lines connect, because she wasn't running water through there, it froze. So now her water and her septic are frozen, she has no heat in the trailer and the wood stove needs to be nursed through the night to put out enough heat. Exciting, no? Well, the day that Dad and Tony switched the stoves, Bryan and Mary Beth bought 100 gallons of heating fuel. So, her heater was working, the wood stove was working and just a day later her water thawed out. The only thing that was wrong was the septic. I had forgotten, but when Jim and Kathy had their well drilled they were able to find a bowl of sandstone. Their water gets filtered by the sandstone before it gets pumped to the house so, ordinarily, they have really good water. If it's not run for a couple days however, it gets really rusty. Kathy says it'll take about ten gallons to run the rust out. But she couldn't run her water because the septic was still frozen. She came up here to get water a couple of times but I think it's thawed now because the last time she came up was on Christmas. She said the pump truck would be out the next day to thaw the system. Hopefully she's all working again.
That's all the news I can think of for the moment.
~Pam

Well, another day another post. Nothing new except for an incontinent dog and dead toads. McKinzie has become less insistent about his desire to eliminate outside and Phaedra has decided that my toads are dead. They aren't.
Mom and I had planned on doing custom cards this Christmas but the printer won't do it right so ya'll get commercial ones instead. It's weird that I can do the cards for our missionaries just fine but the program wants to print the greeting for the Christmas cards upside down. Curiouser and curiouser.
In other Christmas news, Mom and I bought Kathy's (Mom's cousin who lives down the driveway) 32" flatscreen tv from her for Dad (that means that I can finally get rid of the hulking entertainment center that's been clogging the living room. That also means that I had to clean it out and I now have five giant boxes clogging the living room). She doesn't have the oomph to move it to clean behind it. And in Kathy's house, if it can't be cleaned then it can't live there. She has become more of a germiphobe since her husband died and she has the time to actually consider what is living in her house with her. Can't say as I blame her as I seem to be coming to the same conclusions.
I have fallen in love with a new cleaning product. Clorox Anywhere!! I really like that you don't have to rinse it off because we're on a septic and bleach really wreaks havoc on the whole system. I like that it has bleach in it cause I love that bleach smell in a bathroom. It makes me feel safe. I suppose this is something I should have been doing for some time but I really hate cleaning the bathroom. I always felt that something nasty got missed and I would be attacked by supergerms the next time I went in there. This way I can just hose the place down with my nifty new friend and walk away, safe in the knowledge that a mass extinction is taking place in my absence. I think I'll try using it in the fridge and the microwave next. Our fridge is probably growing the swamp thing and it needs to be squashed!! I'll keep you posted.
I was reading my previous posts and I realized that one important bit of news had not been reported. India and her little sister are due for another sibling. The new baby is due at the end of April and their mother is DYING!!! She has rough pregnancies and I guess this one hasn't been any different. Hopefully the worst is over now and she can sit back and enjoy the attention. Poor Phaedra has no idea what's coming. She has decided that we are all here to cater to her every whim. What a shocker this is going to be! I make it sound like she is a total brat but she isn't. She isn't spoiled but is trying her hand at manipulation and making demands that she is perfectly capable of doing herself. India watches her little sister, not getting away with this, and decides to show her how it's done. Unfortunately, India isn't that good at it either. It's been really eye-opening these past few years. Hopefully it's getting me prepared for motherhood, at least a little bit.
Mom's surgery went great. There were a few more complications this time but nothing really bad. She still has double vision sometimes and her eye is a little more blood-shot this time. She is going to need reading glasses when the lens settles down and they can measure her vision for good. It'll take a month for that. At least she can thread the needle on a sewing machine now. She needed me to make sure that she did it but she did it herself. Awesome!!!!!
I think she is going in to have her shoulder looked at soon. Hopefully Dad will go as well. He made the comment that he wished his shoulders didn't hurt, so he could work for a guy in town. I could see the obvious solution but I'm not his mommy and can't make him go. Please keep him in your prayers.
Mom and I saw Charlie when we were in Anchorage for her surgery. He finally got the key to his car to the dealership that has it. I really hope that he'll get a different car but he is still really attached to that one. They are going to try to fix it at the dealership. Please pray that the thing catches on fire in the parking lot and leaves nothing but a license plate. Not really, but please do pray for Charlie as he is dealing with a lot of issues.
Okay that was a little more than the dog and the toads but you have to realize that all this stuff comes to mind as I type! You know how it is.
Oh yeah, if ya'll want to leave comments and stuff then I wouldn't take it personally. Dad keeps asking what you guys think of the blog and I have to keep shrugging. Please! My shoulders are so sore.
Later,
~Pam

Sorry for the long lapse between posts. I've been housesitting for my pastor and they have dial-up which is sooooo slow. I've been spoiled by DSL at home.
Well, Mom decided to get her eye done really soon. Her surgery is on the sixth I think. It's in the afternoon this time so we won't waste the whole day at the hotel like she and Kathy did. They are fine with it but it would probably have driven me nuts. Kathy is going with her again and I get to go this time. The woman that Tony and Kiki are working for has run out of things for Tony to do so I don't have Phaedra every day anymore. All I have is time now.
Thanksgiving went wonderfully. We have been getting hit with major wind this week and it made the electricity blip out a couple times but we didn't have an outage. Charlie didn't make it down because his car is kaput and he can't afford to fly down and back so soon after getting his new job. I guess he is going to get a new-to-him car. Hopefully he is burnt out on gettting junkers and trying to coax a few more miles out of them. The car he has now wasn't a junker when Dad bought it but it is now. I think maybe he's realized how important it is to have reliable transportation when you aren't really good friends with the boss.
Tony and Kiki brought the girls and a guy from church came. I was really excited to have a kiddy table!! Poor Phaedra was so tired though. I don't think she had a nap that day and she almost fell asleep while she was eating. All in all it was a great day. Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving.
That's pretty much all the new news for this post.
Later,
~Pam

Surgery Update

Well, I'm home. Build-up and prep for the surgery took about an hour; the actual surgery took a whopping 3 minutes. I didn't even have time to really consider falling asleep in the chair! It's done under a "local" that ended up deadening everything from the bridge of my nose to the back side of the temple and from the top of the cheek to the middle of the top of my head.

I won't go into the details here, but we do have a video if any of you happen to be coming by... Phaedra finds it fascinating, India was grossed out, their parents refused to consider watching it...

The change in the vision is phenomenal. I knew the eye was clouded - I had no idea it was "that" clouded! You know what? Colors are the most pronounced change I've noticed. Looking at Kathy across the hotel room last night - with the right eye, her hair and skin have a gray cast to them. The walls in the room were kind of an medium ecru. Looking at the same things with the newly overhauled left eye and Kathy has white hair. The room was an off white - but a far cry from ecru. At the Dr's office this morning, the walls were light gray with the right eye; they were white with a lilac undertone with the left. The nurse confirmed - they're white with a lilac undertone. That would be why the predominant color throughout the office is purple...

I will be going back, probably before the end of the year to get the other one done... If I have them both done within 3 months of the initial exam, I don't have to go through the eye dialation and pressure testing and all that fun stuff again. :)

Parents are here for the girls - more later.
nema

Mom goes to Anchorage on Wednesday for her surgery. To recap... The surgery is on Thursday, only her left eye and she is taking Kathy again. She is looking forward to it as much as a person CAN look forward to eye surgery. I would give her the benefit of my experience, but she remembers it much better than I do. I remember waking up in the hospital, puking up a popsicle, going back to sleep, being at home and puking up an otter pop. That's pretty much it.
I will be nice to her and fix the salmon quesedillas while she is gone. She isn't that fond of salmon. I want to find a recipe for salmon that she'll love but not this week. Well, please pray that the surgery goes well and that there won't be any complications. I think she'll be home Friday afternoon but we'll see what post-op stuff they have for her to do.
Later,
~Pam

WAR!!!!

There's a war being waged in American homes today. It's not the bombardment of filth on television, it's not the evil influences inherent in the public school system, it's not the liberal government telling us how to raise our children. No, this war is much more sinister and subtle. In fact, you may not even be aware of it's existence. It's the war on... naptime! It's soldiers are not eligible for the military, in fact they would have a tough time in elementary school. They are battle hardened and tougher than nails. They have the ability to fight off the sleepy-sleepies for hours on end. Even the most experienced care giver tends to give up the fight when coming up against these little warriors. But don't give up!! Keep fighting the good fight! It gets easier, I hope. I thought the battle was won a year ago but, like grown up war, it has resurfaced with a new face and a greater determination to annihilate the opposition. Last time it used the tactics of screaming and crying to achieve it's aims. That failed so it came up with even more deadly attacks. Wiggling and squirming are it's weapons of choice this time. No noise, no fighting, just lulling the enemy into a false sense of security before springing the peeping eyes and wiggling fingers on it, not to mention the "I'm too cute to punish" smile. This is a war of ambush. I weary of this war but know that I must win. For the good of this tiny warrior I must outlast her. I must fight off the dishes and the vacuum and my father for her benefit. She doesn't realize it but she is fighting the friendly forces. One day I know she'll fight this same fight with her own children, and while I'm not her mother, I can still stand back and giggle quietly. I write of her early years and take pictures so that in the distant future, Lord willing, we can look back and she'll know that this battle is a battle that mothers, fathers, grandparents, aunts, uncles and babysitters have fought for generations and it will eventually be won. It was won against her older sister and she is no different. But oh how I weary of this war!!

Good News!!

Mom and Kathy got back from Anchorage this afternoon with really great news. It turns out that she has cataracts in both her eyes!! Okay that was a tad sarcastic. The doctor in Anchorage did confirm that she has them in both eyes but the one in the left is much cloudier than the one in the right. He was a bit puzzled until she told him about the bug bite she got on her left eyelid last June. It swelled her left eye almost shut. He said that inflammation can cause the growth rate to accelerate. She is scheduled for replacement in the left eye on the 8th of November and he said that she probably wouldn't need the right one replaced for some time. I think she'll have it done in the next few months because she'll have a good eye and she'll realize just how bad her vision is. When she called after the appointment she was having trouble seeing because they gave her drops that deadened her eyeballs to test the pressure in them. She said that it was weird. I really hope I never have to go in the the doctor for my eyes again. Say what you want about the Montrose health care system, I'm impressed that I'm not wearing glasses.
I think I need to call Guiness Book. India is the tallest six year old on the planet and her little sister isn't far behind. Mom brought footie pajamas for them from Anchorage. She bought size ten for India and size five for Phaedra. I figure they'll fit perfectly, lengthwise, around the beginning of the year. I hadn't realized it but Phaedra wears India's size five pants. Phaedra turned two in May for crying out loud!! I feel really sorry for their parents but I'm not surprised. Kiki is 5' 10" and their dads aren't all that short. India's dad is about six feet and so is Phaedra's. It'll be a bummer to look their ten year old in the eyes when they tell her no. Heeheeheehee!!!!!
Dad went and got coal today instead of yesterday. There wasn't anyone to load it yesterday. He got it screened this time. Unfortunately, he doesn't have the glass crusher so we have to pick through it by hand to keep out the big stuff. Hopefully he'll come up with something different soon.
I guess that's all my news for the day. Night everyone!
~Pam

Mom and I saw this girl in Fred Meyer on Saturday. We haven't seen her in two years. I saw her at the Ninilchik fair two years ago and Charlie saw her over Christmas but it's been awhile. This is McKayla, Charlie's daughter. I had the brains to ask her grandmother if I could get a couple pictures of her when we stopped to exchange rather forced pleasantries. She wanted to say no but I didn't really give her a chance. The only other pictures we have of her are almost five years old. She looks a lot like her mom but she has Charlie's teeth and his nose. Amy said she is in the advanced reading class in third grade. She is getting so big and she is sooo curious about her dad, despite her grandmother's best efforts. For those of you who don't know the story, Amy is Charlie's ex and McKayla's mom. Amy's mother has done her best to make sure that none of us and especially Charlie are welcome in McKayla's life. They don't hide him from her. She knows who he is and who we are but she isn't allowed any contact with us. Amy has done everything her mother has ever told her to do and this is no exception. It's my prayer that McKayla comes looking for him when she gets old enough. I just hope she won't be too poisoned against him to care who he is and that she'll be willing to listen. Anyway, I got these pictures and there's not a thing one Alisha can do about it!!!!
Mom goes in for her consultation in Anchorage this week. She and Kathy are driving up tomorrow and spending the night in Anchorage. The consult is on Tuesday. Please pray that they'll give her a good prognosis. I guess she can have one of a few different kinds of lenses put in that have different results. Hopefully she will be able to get rid of her glasses for good.
Dad is going to Seward to get another load of coal. I guess this time he'll get it screened and keep the big stuff. He can get a glass crusher from Carl that will break it into more manageable pieces but the fine dust doesn't sift down to be augered into the fire. It makes a dome in the hopper that has to be poked down. In the middle of the night is not the best time for the coal to dome and the fire to die, needless to say. Fortunately, it hasn't been getting too cold here and we can still stand it if we have to relight the fire, but I hope we get all these kinks worked out before the real cold hits. We should be seeing below zero before Thanksgiving but I'll let you know.
Charlie is going to Anchorage tomorrow to continue his hunt for an apartment. I'm not sure what happened to the other two he had in mind but I guess the search continues. He has gone on the the next level of consideration for the job he interviewed for last week. It's a tech support position at GCI, a telephone company. I can't think of a more suitable thing for my patience-lacking younger brother. He gets mad when people can't use common sense and he wants to go into tech support! Stay tuned for the fall-out.
Phaedra's coming tomorrow and I guess I better get ready for it cause we'll have to go down and walk Kathy's dog a couple times and she really loves going to Kathy's. Like, we go to get India at the end of the driveway and it's "Tathy's? Me do(go) to Tathy's?" Quivering lip and welling tears when I tell her no but seeing Sister get off the bus makes it better.
Night,
~Pam

First snow anyone?

Well, we had our first official snowfall last week. It didn't stick around for long but the ground was white and that's what counts. I believe it was Saturday. There's a chance it may snow later this afternoon and even as I write there are flakes falling occasionally. Perhaps they got lost, or didn't get the memo and fell too early. Whatever the reason it looks really sad. I'll post pictures of the first big snow.
Mom called the surgeon in Homer last week and found out that the earliest they can get her in for her consultation is the beginning of December. She can have both of them done before that if she goes to the doctor in Anchorage. She is really sick of not seeing clearly so she'll probably stick with Anchorage. We're painting the kitchen and she's having trouble seeing the colors clearly. We're sponging it in three shades of yellow. I think it's beautiful, Dad thinks it's orange, Mom'll be shocked when she can actually see it and Charlie couldn't care less. Phaedra had a blast helping me paint the wall that the sink is on. She got to stand in the sink and use the roller all by herself. She did a good job and didn't get any paint on herself!
Dad is thisclose to going to the doctor for his shoulders. He found out that it probably isn't his rotator cuff, he thinks it's bone spurs but he doesn't want to go find out for sure. It is affecting his ability to work and kept him out of church once. Please pray for the Lord to burden him about this.
Charlie had a job interview in Palmer yesterday. He's being considered, was complimented on his interview skills and his knowledge of computers. He has said, time and again, that he has no intention of making things right with the church before he leaves. I guess we need some back story. When he left for Job Corps he began attending a church in Wasilla. After only two or three months he decided he didn't want to go anymore. Our church covenant states that when you leave the church you're at, you will, as soon as possible, join another church of like faith and practice. He became a poor witness and a poor testimony to our church. He completely blew his own testimony and he doesn't seem to care. He was disciplined from the church right before he came back. When he decided to come back he was repentant, or so he says, but once he got back he got into the same habits he had before he got saved and now has decided that he's not sorry. I fear that he was not saved and only put on the facade of christianity, but then again, Charlie has never and will never, do anything that he doesn't want to do. I hope and I pray that he was saved and has only backslid, either way there's nothing I can do and it's in the Lord's hands. Please pray for His chastising hand in Charlie's life and His guiding hand in the lives of my parents in their dealings with him.
Life for me goes on. Nothing new, nothing different other than doing the kitchen and the colossal mess it has created. I know Dad gets fed up with it but I can't do anything about it until the painting is done.
I guess that's all for now, later.
~Pam

Where did all the flowers go?

Well, Mom posted that Fall was full upon us...It has now given way to that weird period between Fall and Winter. It's ridiculously cold because of the humidity that's still in the air but there's not enough cloud cover for it to snow. We had a prediction for the first snow to happen last Friday but it never materialized. Every year it's the same thing, all the leaves turn these beautiful shades of yellow, we even had orange and red this year, and then the wind kicks up and blows them all off. Now we have this unique shade of brown. I hope the snow comes soon cause this state is really ugly right now. Well not the whole state, just this little corner of it.
Dad got the gravel to put our coal shed on last week now he just needs to get the shed from the church down the road. They used to have their furnace in it and it's got a concrete floor, drywall insides and really pretty log siding. It'll be the nicest building we've got on the place. I'll take pictures when we get it set.
McKinzie is doing all right. He still can't stand up or walk very well, but he's adjusting to it okay. He doesn't know whether or not he likes my new puppy. We have to muzzle him when Jasher comes out of his kennel just in case, but he comes up to the kennel sometimes and lays there barking and yelping at Jasher. It's really goofy looking. I'm debating on when to get Jasher neutered, now or when he's a year old. Any opinions?
These past two weeks have been really busy for me. Normally, I don't have India or Phaedra every day but Tony and Kiki are both working pretty much the same hours so Phaedra has been coming every day. I love having her here and it's so much fun to be able to teach her things. I can't wait to have my own children. I never realized what sponges children are and how hard you have to work to make the good things stick. It seems like for every one good thing she gets taught, she comes up with five things she shouldn't know, do or say. It's exhausting to say the least. Like, how did a two year old learn to lie like that? I'm afraid that it's time to admit that such things come naturally. She isn't an innocent little baby anymore and foolishness is bound tightly in her heart.
Okay, my feet are about to freeze solid so I'm ending this post for today. Later folks.
~Pam