I look up and it's 11:30!

I can't believe how fast this day, and for that matter, Christmas break, is going.

For instance, it doesn't seem possible that it's almost lunchtime today! We had a really nice weekend. Allen hosted a game day all day Saturday with his gaming buddies... by 6:00 I had invited a couple friends over for the kids and took all of us non-gamers upstairs.

Last night we had a nice salmon dinner and I also grilled some naan bread in prep for tonight's dinner (chicken korma - a family favorite).

Baby Andrew is standing on his own for several seconds at a time and is clearly pleased with himself. We spent about 5 minutes after he woke up this morning just laughing and smiling at each other every time he managed to stand independently. I don't think walking is too far away!

"School" at home has gone well so far - haven't done the girls' preschool yet (Andrew is into everything, needing attention that way!) but the boys did a counting money program I found online. I was actually impressed with it, and then further impressed with how well Aaron especially could count money (he could count out the appropriate amounts of money into the hundreds of dollars and cents). I haven't seen that coming home in his homework, but I'm pleased nonetheless!

No other news for now... just really enjoying this time with the kids and being relatively free from schedules. All I need now is some snow on the ground so we could go sledding. Things look pretty brown out there.

we don't travel for Christmas, but...

I wonder in the back of my mind just now what it would be like if I did.

I've been on a common-interest e-mail list since before I was married and it's interesting to hear about the other ladies' holiday adventures whether they stay at home, host family, or travel elsewhere for Christmas.

Back when all (us, my parents, Allen's parents) of us lived in Wasilla within about 15 minutes of each other we would still celebrate our own holiday at home, then go visit our sets of parents as a family, but still go back home for the main meal.

In 2002 (I remember it well because Aaron was just a month old) we did a non-traditional Thanksgiving menu over at my parents' house - my mom and I cooked a "Pacific Thanksgiving" Menu. We had salmon, wild-rice cakes, biscuits... I can't remember what else but it WAS fun!

Since we moved to Bethel, we don't fly everyone out (can you say expensive?? 6 seats at $300+ just to get to Anchorage) and family generally doesn't come visit us either at the holidays. We had Allen's parents out for Thanksgiving, but that was only possible because they can travel free of charge due to Allen's sister working for an airline. Visiting my parents in Ketchikan is a major endeavor, both financially and time-investment wise (it is difficult and expensive to get there, so to make it "worth it" it needs to be a longer visit... which means summertime).

In any event, I was just turning over in my mind what it would be like if our family descended on any of our parents' houses for Thanksgiving or Christmas. It's easy to have idealized pictures in your head and forget about the baby not sleeping, planes being cancelled or diverted, etc. etc.

I am not really sure this post has a point right now... I'll post it anyway. It'd be nice if all of us lived closer together.

If I want the world to know something, I'll put it on facebook...

Random thoughts on all this social networking stuff...

I have facebook, it's fun, it has allowed me to keep in touch with friends from a long time ago that I see every few years when we're in town; and friends who live in town - we can plan events/keep track of things that way. In that way, it's useful.

I found myself wanting to post something today that isn't fodder for the entire world. The problem is that while I would be fine with friends reading whatever I posted, there are people who "friend requested" me that work with my husband, people that I know in multiple contexts (friends and professional), people we "know" through church... and then you have the family members of varying degrees of closeness.

For instance, if I wanted to post... "Christine really needs some asparagus... but doesn't have any!"... who cares, right? But all those 122 people (or however many) would know.

I think to some degree Facebook is kinda self-indulgent but I enjoy reading what other people are doing, sharing pictures of the family, etc.

I'll let you know if I ever get around to making that post. Notice I'm not posting it here, as blogging is also public (despite this not being linked to my facebook...).

On other topics, it's Christmas Eve... the tundra is brown and 95% snowless; the kids got up early and 2 of them have "leading roles" in the Christmas pageant at our church today. We are attending a Christmas party at a friend's house that promises to be a ton of fun (providing, of course, that the kids stay happy).

thumbs down to Bethel Subway

In last week's Delta Discovery paper, the Bethel Subway advertised a coloring contest for kids under 12. It advertised the following:

Subway Christmas Coloring Contest
For kids 12 and under

Get a free 6" Subway Sandwich with your entry!

Bring your artwork to the Bethel Subway for your free Subway Sandwich. Contest ends on December 25, 2009. One entry per child please

My kids were so excited. We clipped out the ad, and I copied it for the other kids and they did their best coloring it.

Their Dad has a meeting tonight so I figured we'd go enter the contest/get the sandwiches advertised to break up the afternoon. Kids were happy about this.

I get there, the kids are waving their colored stuff.

Me: "So, is there a particular type of sandwich they are giving for the coloring contest?"
Employee: "We aren't giving sandwiches away"
Me: "Well, the ad says otherwise - it says when you bring in your entry, right here" (I show him the ad)
Employee: "Well, I'm not giving sandwiches to anyone"
Me: "Do you see where it says "with your entry, bring your artwork to the Bethel Subway for your free Subway sandwich.."
Employee: "I'm not giving you anything."

OK then. I took my disappointed kids to Swanson's for ice cream sandwiches. Bethel Subway will not receive another dollar out of my pocket for the duration of our residency, I can tell you that.

First, the ad most certainly DOES say they will give 6" sandwiches to the kids for bringing in their entries.

Second, if a mistake was made and the ad didn't reflect what they wanted to do, clarification could be posted at the store so people don't go with what was printed in the paper. No clarification to this effect was posted today (and the ad ran in last week's paper).

Third, don't be rude to a customer when refusing to honor an ad that your employer contracted to be published in the paper.

We had previously occasionally gone to Subway on special occasions to treat the kids. Won't be doing that EVER again in this town. I'm going to call the store and complain when the owners are there, both about their employee's refusal to honor the terms of the advertisement and his rudeness in stating his refusal.

Customer service isn't a big priority here in Bethel, anywhere, but this was pretty bad. If anyone in some way connected to this company somehow reads this, here's an eyeful of my disappointment.

brown & white

That's the colors you can see out on the tundra right now (happy shortest day of the year, all). Wind is 30-40 mph and we're sitting at +40 degrees.

Looks like we're getting a brown Christmas. I have lived in Alaska for all but 2 years of my entire life and I've not seen a brown Christmas before. Ick.

Can I hope it snows before 12/25? I'm not holding my breath.

some blizzard that was...

We got maybe, MAYBE 2 inches of snow overnight. Covers up the tundra, but it was +32F this morning when we drove out (it'd be awesome if Bethel would settle at a comfy medium between -20F and +40F). Wait, wait - I just downloaded the weather and it is currently +33F.

Ugh.

Sooo... here I am. But wait, it gets better (again, I just saw this!)

High Wind Warning in effect from 10 PM this evening to 6 PM akst Monday...
	Tonight Rain and snow showers. No snow accumulation up to 1 inch. Lows in the upper 20s to mid 30s. East wind 10 to 25 mph becoming southeast and increasing to 35 to 50 mph with gusts to 75 mph by late evening.
	Monday Rain. Highs in the mid 30s to lower 40s. Southeast wind 35 to 50 mph with gusts to 75 mph.

I sure am glad the boys are on Christmas break and I won't have to worry about them going out, or being dropped off by the bus in, such weather!! Sounds like a day to stay in and decorate cookies or something like that. I'm happy that most everyone I know who had planned on leaving town has already gotten out, or is leaving tonight. Sounds like some planes won't be flying tomorrow - just a bet.

our doorbell saga

I'm writing this more for my own amusement when I look back and might possibly find this funny.

We live in a house provided by Allen's employer. A lot of employers in Bethel will either provide or subsidize housing for their employees as an incentive to get them to either move here, and then stay here after moving. Overall it's been a nice deal.

Since we don't own the house, any maintenance/repairs are contracted out by Allen's employer. 5 weeks ago, we communicated to the property department that our doorbell had quit working. 2 weeks passed. Nothing. We communicate again. Someone had come out, and replaced the battery in the doorbell itself and thought it worked. No, it didn't, we tell them. So we're told that again, someone would come out.

Another week passes. The same person comes out, fiddles with things, and disappears. Another week passes. Still the doorbell doesn't work. We send an inquiry at the beginning of each week stating it's been __ weeks since we asked, what's the latest update. (By we, I mean I, and Allen forwards it to his property department, and eventually we get a response).

This week, week 5 since initial point of contact on this issue, guy shows up with a new doorbell unit. Installs it. It ceases to function while he is there. Next day, he brings a new (identical to the replacement of our old) doorbell unit. Things look up... but it quits the next day. I'd even found a way to stop it from chiming a New Year's tune (tacky!)... but right now it sits silent with a blue masking tape "X" that hopefully people will figure out means they need to knock.

We haven't gotten a replacement for our second replacement yet. I am guessing the contractors are going out and buying whatever cheap offerings are around locally, which generally aren't of the highest quality. I sure hope we get a doorbell soon. It's irritating, which as an adult I can deal with, but when my childrens' friends are ringing the doorbell and nobody answers, it crosses the line to sad. Which is why I want a doorbell.

Sometime maybe I'll blog about the 3 weeks we went without a functioning oven because that's how long it took them to get around to replacing it...