The Latest News

Once again, I’m catching up via one big general post, rather than try to go back and hit all the highlights separately. Hopefully, no body minds too much. I really am going to try to post more often this year, but call it more of a goal than a resolution. That whole “New Year’s Resolution” thing never seems to work much for me. I do better with goals. So, to commence:

Christmas Eve

Rob and I delivered gifts that day. We started out at Stan’s house where we got to sit and drink our first cup of tea/coffee and chat for an hour. After that, we went to Mother’s house and got to eat a bite of lunch. We exchanged sacks full of stuff (there’s always “stuff” involved when I go to Mother’s house) then headed on into Palmer to stop in at Noel’s shop. She was quite busy, as expected – but we unexpectedly ran in to Kelly there, too. That changed our plans a wee bit, since we had planned on going to her house next. Instead, we headed out to Reed & Heather’s house and chatted with them for an hour or so. Then we doubled back and went up the mountain to Kelly’s place. I really wanted Rob to see her house, since it’s something like what he wants to have himself one day. We got the tour of all the renovations that Danny has been working on, and even got to meet Hank, the Cow Dog (he is ONE HUGE DOG!). We had planned on going to Stewart’s house next, but he showed up at Kelly’s house while we were there so we just extended our stay up there and got to chat with everybody. It was a very good day, albeit very long, and Rob finally got to meet all of my siblings.

Christmas Day

I headed back out to Palmer for Christmas morning with Noel and her family. I missed the opening of gifts, but was able to catch them all basking in the afterglow. I barely had time to walk into the living room before Lauren rushed over to show me her prize: a brand new iPad! She was beyond excited, and had to show me all the cool things it can do. She then spent the rest of the day setting up all her accounts and loading all sorts of programs onto it (like the Kindle ap, a few games, and her Amazon.com and Netflix account information). Katy was all excited about the new tooth brush she got. That sounds a little weird, but it’s one of those sonic tooth brushes and one that she really wanted. My prize for the day was the Victoria Secret Underwear that Katy got me! I’m really quite excited about them: they’re a size M, as opposed to the XL I had been wearing last year. I also got my all-time favorite tea from Lauren, Market Spice from the fish market in Seattle. And just in time, too: my stash had just run out that morning. Lunch with almost a formal affair, with a table full of really good food (Noel is an awesome cook) shared by Noel’s 4, me, Mr. & Mrs. Guinotte, and Stan. It was a very good day.

New Year’s Eve/Day

I fully expected my New Year’s celebration to be pretty much a repeat of all my past New Year’s celebrations: just me and the girls watching the fireworks out my library window while watching an old sci-fi movie on the DVD – but Rob surprised me by coming over to join me. I didn’t expect that, but was certainly happy to have him with me. We had thought to go downtown to watch the fireworks first-hand, but it was much nicer in the comfort (and warmth) of my home, my library, and my couch. New Year’s Day was spent doing a little bit of shopping followed by a movie at the Totem ($3.00 every movie, every day, all day) and dinner at the Firetap. Not earth shattering or super exciting, but a nice day none the less.

Pet Sitting

My pet sitting “job” has not really taken off like I’d hoped it would. I almost got a huge job taking care of 3 cats for about 5 months – but honestly am glad that fell through as it would have meant having them here at my house the entire time. 5 cats in one house is just way too many cats, even for me. I may end up taking care of one other cat while his humans sell their house and find a new one to buy. It may or may not happen, but if it does I’m sure he will be just fine here. I will have him in a kennel in the library during the day so as to not upset the girls too much.

Card Making

I am finally getting back in to making cards again. I was in a funk there for a while, and had just stopped doing it. I even canceled my kit-of-the-month thing, since there’s no reason to be spending that kind of money on something that isn’t getting used. I have about 6 months worth of kits waiting to be worked on, and lots of supplies for doing them free-hand, so I’m good for a while. I really enjoy doing it, and am so glad I’m getting back in to it. I have actually gone a little overboard, if such a thing is possible: in the last two weeks I’ve probably made 30-40 cards! Some of them are quite good, too – if I do say so myself. Good enough that my friend Katie has suggested that I sell them at the Zoo’s gift shop. I am seriously considering that, but will have to come up with a “line” of Zoo/Alaska related ones.

My Employment Situation

I’m still working part-time at the construction company, and still really enjoy my job. It’s distressing, however, because it just is not enough money to survive for very much longer. There is a job possibility hanging out there with an architectural firm who says they plan to hire somebody “around the first of the year.” The guy in charge keeps telling me that I’m at the top of the list, so I can only hope that this really does happen – and soon! This will mean several things: first, it will bring me back in to the architectural world; second, it will be a full time, year round job; third, it will mean that I can finally get rid of the whole roommate thing; and fourth, I can seriously start planning for my next Earthwatch expedition, and may even be able to consider going in November of 2011. Everybody PLEASE keep your fingers crossed for me!

Refinancing the House

My brother refinanced his house a while back and ended up getting a really low interest rate. This prompted me to try the same trick on my own house; so I gathered up all the paperwork and headed out to the bank to see what they could do. I had originally intended to go with 1st National Bank since it is an Alaskan based one and would keep my money closer to home – but they couldn’t give me anything worth the time, effort, and expense to make it worthwhile. I headed over to Wells Fargo, then, to see if they could come up with anything = and boy, am I glad I did. Apparently, because I am a long-time patron of their establishment, I qualified for what they call “a Fast Track Loan” meaning I was able to refinance my mortgage with no down payment, no closing costs, and no home inspection! Just 5 minutes on the computer with the loan agent, a ton of paperwork in the mail, and bingo – my loan is approved and I’m now at 4.25% and $150 cheaper. The last payment on the old loan was January 9, I have a grace-period in February (meaning no payment at all) and the new loan kicks in in March!

My Girls

Thing and Djuna are doing well. We had a warm spell these last few weeks, so I have been able to turn their electric blanket off and get it cleaned up a bit. They weren’t too happy to give it up despite the rise in temperatures, but they survived. Now that it’s turned cold again I’ve plugged it back in for them, and they are glued to it. Little Djuna gets so hot and sweaty her hair gets even curlier! I can barely get them up sometimes; they are so relaxed on that thing. They just get longer and longer, stretching out to their full lengths, and don’t even lift their heads to look at me when I come in to the room at night.

Rolling the Car

I rolled my car a week ago. That’s not as bad as it sounds: what I mean is that the mileage finally rolled over 100,000 miles. That’s not bad mileage for a car that is over 10 years old, I’m thinking. It’s considerably less than the “10,000 miles a year” average (based on tax and insurance figures) people normally expect. I was heading out to Palmer for Christmas when it happened.