Saturday, December 27, 2008

I was going to...

I was going to do a post with pictures, but realized that the business laptop I'm using now doesn't have a card reader, and i'm not going on a hunt for the cord at 11:40 at night, when really I should be in bed, but instead I'm sitting here listening to the dog snore, and man is she snoring it up! Kind of odd, she's not usually a snorer. The cat is, but not the dog.

We had a super busy day at the tubing hill today. We had 65 for the one session (60 is the max, but the extra 5 were part of the same family that already had passes, so we just had them share tubes, they really wanted to go) and 25 for the other session. We've been having 10-20 in a whole day, so this was the first session we've maxed out. It was pretty cold so they werent' short on tubes, because most of the time there were at least 10 people inside warming up. I think it was 5 degrees when we started the day. brrr. But it was beautiful. I was very busy inside checking people in, getting forms filled out, selling concessions, and all that fun stuff. Justin was busy outside making sure everything was working right, and rebuilding the snow berms as they got messed up. The snow we have is really light and powdery, so it moves easily, not like a slightly heavier snow, which would be nice for the berms, but hey, we'll take what we have for now. We got a nice half page right up in the local paper, with pictures, so that was pretty cool, plus we did an ad with them, turned out good. You can see it online and http://www.homernews.com under "Advertisers" is our ad, just click extreme tubing. then under sports is the blip with the pictures. fun stuff. The photographer from the other Homer paper was at the hill today taking more pictures. good day for him to be there with so many people. Justin took some cool pics too, every hook on the rope toe was full this afternoon, and there were people everywhere, which is what I was going to post, but no cord, no cardreader, tired person means no photos. sorry. Maybe later. :)

Other than that, we're doing good. We're pooped but we're good. We've been working about 12-14 hour days on this, and we are TIRED! We have 10 more days to go before break is over and we go to 3 days a week at the tubing hill. I'm looking forward to sewing and scrapbooking and being home more often. I'm an at home person, I like to be home, so I'll be glad when we get to be home more.

Well, I really should try and get to bed, I wanted to stay up to get the wood stove cooking good before I went to be so it would stay warm. Its nice and toasty in here now! feels good after being on the cold hill all day. Note to self - tomorrow take fleece sweater!

Thursday, December 18, 2008

Christmas stuff

Most of our Christmas stuff is on the Family Christmas Countdown blog. Rather than post everything twice, I just put the holiday stuff on that blog. So, if you want to see the holiday stuff we're up to, check it out! http://family-christmas.blogspot.com

Thursday, December 11, 2008

Kind of sad


We took the goats over to the people we bought them from tonight, so that they can get bred. She'll keep them for a month, to make sure that it "takes" and they don't come into heat again. I think Justin is looking forward to them being gone, so he can sleep in a little, but I'm kind of sad. I like my goaty girls! I'm sadder about them being gone than I thought I would be. I mean, we get them back, but still, gonna miss the ladies!

Tuesday, December 9, 2008

EEEEEE

OK, maybe EEEEEE is a little excessive, but its close. Justin and I agreed this fall, well 2 weeks ago really, to run a local business this winter. Its for winter recreation, called Extreme Tubing. Basically its a hill, on the side of a small mountain, and its groomed to have like 5 "lanes" of snow, and we have innertube type things (only with solid bottoms) that people use to sled down the hill at a high rate of speed. Sorry, I'm not really good at explaining it. Its just extreme tubing. We're getting ready to open, since obviously it can't open unless there's snow. Although Bill, the guy we're running it for, is thinking about buying a snowmaker so we can have snow anytime and be open sooner and later in the year.

Bill recently got married, and moved full time to Seattle, but he's spent a couple years growing this business and didn't want to just throw it away. So we needed work, he needed his business managed.....and so here we are. Justin has spent the last week and a half getting the machinery fixed up, the hill groomed, the new counter built, tubes aired up......and on and on. I'm going to be helping more the end of the week, getting the candy/hot cocoa/soup cups, etc and office organized. Then I plan to be there most of the shifts to check people in and sell candy bars and such. Should keep us really busy for about half the week. We're planning to be open Friday evening, Saturday afternoon/evening, and sunday afternoon and evening. We didn't really want to be open on Sunday, we don't usually work on Sunday, but the ox is in the mire as they say, so we just have to do it. We won't open until 1 so at least we can go to Sacrament meeting, so that will be nice. Oh, check out the website, well, the old website we haven't updated it yet, but you can see what we're doing sort of. its http://www.extremetubing.com/

We're also going to be applying for a contract in January that will hopefully give us a good business/income for the next 2-7 years or longer if we do a good job. I don't want to put details on, just in case, but its going to be an intense bidding process and application time for us! Very intense. We have 2 people though that have agreed to help us with it, and with getting the machinery we will need, so that helps a tremendous amount. But there are a lot of details to work through, and its going to be hard.

Other than that, we're still getting ready for Christmas, today we got out the nativities, and made room for the tree. I think tomorrow we'll do the tree, unless we go shopping in Soldotna anyway. Then Saturday is a big Christmas open house at the church, and we're helping with that in all different shifts, plus if we get enough snow this week, then we'll open the tubing hill on saturday too for a "free ride" then open for pay on Sunday. SO MANY projects going on right now, its kind of overwhelming, but I hope we can keep everything together and all of our irons in the right fires.

Sunday, December 7, 2008

Cookies

I put a couple of recipes for really good cookies that I found the other day on the family Christmas blog. I got a new Taste of Home magazine, and the cookie recipes were great! They're on the family Christmas blog at http://family-christmas.blogspot.com/ Check them out - yummy~!

Missed one

Missed the picture of the kitty enjoying the new floor.

Yay new floor!

Here's Justin taking out the extra beams. Well, maybe not so much "extra" as moveable. We had such a small living room because of the beams, and them being right in the middle of the room. So dad and Justin figured out how to strap them, and bolt them, so that we could move them, and use one instead of 3 and actually be more structurally sound. Pretty cool really. So dad and Justin cut the plate, and got the bolts, then Justin did the remodeling. Gave us TONS more room, and we could totally rearrange the living room. We'd been stuck with the same configuration since we moved in, it was the only way to get everything into the room. Now we have so much space its amazing! We're loving it.




The tired old grey carpet.
In this picture above you can see how much of a footprint that beam, and old area where the stove used to be took up. Used a lot of our space up. But no more!


Sorry for the blurry picture, that's the floor guy scraping staples after he pulled the old carpet








Its so pretty all finished! The tile and the carpet go so beautifully together. It took us 10 years to figure out what we wanted, and to be able to afford it, but hey - it looks really good now!

Tuesday, December 2, 2008

Birch Burl Bowl













Here's Justin's most recent bowl. Its so beautiful!

Friday, November 21, 2008

Off the net - sort of

I have noticed over the last few months that I have become increasingly addicted to checking blogs, facebook, myspace, and generally just being glued to the computer. And with that I've noticed my mood going down down down. So short story long, after getting very frustrated with the way I was feeling, I decided to do an experiment and kick myself off of blogs/facebook/myspace/etc. I allowed myself email, craigslist (we're always looking for goat stuff) and a minimum of news stories.

I have felt so much better. A lot of the issues and feelings that were bothering me are getting better, and I feel healthier. I checked my email/craigslist, then instead of sitting here clicking around on the net, I have to get off and go find something to do- and you know - I had so much fun doing stuff! I finished a couple of projects that I've been avoiding, I spent more time talking to people that are actually here instead of "cyber stalking" people and news stories. I went to visit people and had lovely visits with them. I almost finished a quilt, I did some organizing, I spent time with my family, played with the dog, worked on Etsy, went to town, went to Soldotna, and on and on. It was great.

I thought by the end of the week I would be itching and desperate to get back online, but the few times I have caved and checked blogs/facebook/etc. I felt the same feelings coming back, I was happy to see what was going on with people, but I was disappointed with myself for "cheating" on my self appointed rules. I don't mean in any way that I don't love the blogs, or any of that, I think they are wonderful ways for staying connected, but I've been just following people online instead of working to stay connected, and that's not good for me, I'm enough of a hermit as it is. :) So anyway, I think I will keep up with my reduced online presence. I'll check the blogs frequently, but not like 5 times a day "just in case someone posted something since I checked 2 minutes ago", and am really looking forward to the Christmas blog, and Top Chef blogging, and all that fun stuff. I love the pictures and seeing what everyone is up to, but I need to get off my hind end and get busy so I can get feeling better about myself, and life, and everything else that goes with it. Wish me luck!

Thursday, November 13, 2008

Winter wanderings

Well, I don't really have anything to post about, but I noticed it had been a week since I posted, so thought I might as well ramble a bit.

Justin is home now for the winter, the company he worked for has shut down for the rest of the year, and until at least spring. So that will be interesting. He's working on making some more burl bowls right now for us to sell, and he's thinking about cutting and selling firewood to make some extra money. He's kind of stressed, but enjoying being home more I think. I know I love having him home. Money will be tight, but its nice to have him around more. We're with the groups of people worrying about losing our right to buy guns with the new administration, so we're trying to get what we need before he takes office, even though its not in the budget right now. I don't like the sound of presidential edicts to "get things done quickly" without having to involved legislators and such. So we'll see what happens.

Other than that, we're doing pretty good. I'm trying to figure out what I want to do for the holidays, decorations and food wise. I want to try and make my own chocolate covered cherries. For some reason that sounds fun to me, plus its hard to get good ones at the store, so thought that might be fun. I'm pretty excited about Top Chef being back on - WOOHOO! I love that show. So that's something fun to look forward to each week. :)

We have a little skiff of snow, but not much. The ground is frozen, and its cold, but no snow really to speak of. Ok, well, I think that's all I have to say today. Hope everyone is doing good. :)

Wednesday, November 5, 2008

Lake Clark

Here's a jay or "camp robber"

































Justin took "Flat Stanley" with him to Lake Clark so that he could enjoy the helicopter ride and rural Alaska. That's why some of the pics include Stanley, Stanley got some fun times. :) Such a pretty area. I'd like to go there sometime.