The Cancun Resort

We stayed at The Cancun Resort, just off The Strip down on the South end. 

It was nice enough; but honestly, I thought it would be better. He owns a Time-Share and was able to get our suite using that – so at least it was “free”.

We had a small kitchen, a dining room, a living room, a bedroom, and two bathrooms. The balcony looked out over Las Vegas: we were up on the 8^th floor, so the view was quiet something.

The swimming pool was nice, but we actually never got in it. During the day there were just too many people, and they closed it at night. Still: it did look impressive, especially at night!

Flying to Vegas

 Overall, my trip to Las Vegas was a good one – but I have to say the flights sucked.

THE GOOD: they were all on time (a few minor delays) and the luggage made it both there and back along with us. Our schedule was such that we did not have long layovers: just exactly enough time to get to the next gate and stretch our legs for a bit before boarding again.

THE BAD: all four of the flights were booked solid, and that’s just way too many people for my comfort levels. On top of that, the airlines moved Bryan to a whole other section of the plane in order to allow a mother & child to sit together. He and I bought our tickets separately (he used mileage, I did not) so from their point of view he was a single traveler. They “upgraded” him into the business section on row 6 – while I sat way in the back of the plane at row 31.

THE UGLY: We had to wear that damned mask the entire time, from 5:30 in the morning until around 6:30 that evening. I did buy us each brand new ones, so at least we looked good (because that’s important).

Las Vegas Here We Come!

Honestly, Las Vegas has never exactly been on my list of Have To Go See places – still, I am rather excited to be going.

We’re staying at the Cancun Resort, right off the strip. I am told the strip is quite long however – so I’m not sure if we’ll be right in the middle of things or not. Still, it’s a fine place: complete with a water slide and everything! Bryan has a Time Share that he was able to use for our stay – so that was one less thing for us to worry about. I’m sure our room will be nice.

We fly on Friday, leaving Anchorage quite early in the morning and arrive in Las Vegas in time for supper. Saturday/Sunday is his conference, then we fly home Monday afternoon. It’s a whirlwind trip – but it will be fun. They are, however, right in the middle of a massive heat wave with temps in the mid-teens (meaning 114 degrees), so I will die.

I plan to visit Mandalay Bay to see the sharks (my brother Reed says they are way cool) and Caesar’s Palace (Bryan thinks I will enjoy the artwork there). Maybe even hitting the Venetian if I can. Once Bryan is out of his conference, we plan to walk the strip together to take in the sights. Theoretically it will be cooler in the evening so I can enjoy myself. And I plan to talk to the concierge at the resort to see if they can recommend a good vegan place to eat!

Catching Up

 I've let this slip by me lately. Just can't seem to find the time to sit down and write anything. I've had a lot of things happen - both good and bad. I'll give you a summary, just to catch you up on my life. Because I know how fascinating I am (tongue in cheek humor there).

Random thought: I wonder why I'm not writing? I love to write, and I do have things to say. I think I just don't have a comfortable spot in which to do the actual writing. I wish I could use a laptop or a tablet. They are portable and can be taken with me outside. I just don't like the keyboard on those things. I like a REAL keyboard, like the typewriters I grew up with. 

Yea, that's my age peeking through there.

Anyway:  here's my life up to now.

Virtual English Class for Mongolian Scientists: I was asked by my Mongolian friend Gana to help teach her fellow scientists to speak English so they can better interact with the volunteers that go out to their research station to help with their Argali program. The class meets every Tuesday afternoon, and I have signed up for two classes a month. She has a pool of about 10-15 volunteer teachers, so we rotate schedules around such that no two people teach a class in a row. This gives the Mongolian exposure to numerous voices and allows them to practice their English-speaking skills in a relaxed atmosphere.

Numerous Weekend-Getaways: Bryan and I continue to get away at least once a month for a nice relaxing weekend with just the two of us. Sometimes we bring the kittens with us, sometimes we don’t. April took us to a tiny house in Seward, May was a cabin out in Homer up on the bluff overlooking the ocean, and June will be a whirlwind trip to Las Vegas.

Kind of Like a Book Club: I’m still a member of our family book club, reading some good books and meeting virtually once a month (give or take a week or two). We’ve read Clean Sweep by Ilona Andrews, The Lost Apothecary by Sarah Penner, The Binding by Bridget Collins, and Death Comes by Sue Hallgarth. Among many others, of course. It’s been fun reading books I never would have otherwise!

Looking for Property: Bryan and I have looked at numerous homes lately, looking for our Forever Home. We thought we’d found it but did not “win” the bidding process so now we have decided to put that effort on hold for a year and just be here to help Mother out. We will pick the effort back up again next year and see what comes.

Staining Decks & Fences: Bryan and I stained the back deck and fence on this property a few weeks ago: it was hard work, but well worth it. They look so nice now! We’re trying to find a time where we can go to Anchorage and get the deck on my rental property (the garage door as well) but we are having difficulty with the weather and two families’ schedules. It will happen someday but may end up being more of a Fall thing rather than a Spring thing.

So there you have it.

Hopefully I’ll do better on keeping this thing going from now on.

Lemon Infusion

 We ended up with a bag of lemons the other day: one of those substitution things from the on-line shopping at the grocery store. We hadn't ordered them, but since we had them we needed to use them.

As luck would have it, I just happened to come across an article on Lemon Infusions. And we just happened to have a bottle of Everclear on hand!

So of course I had to try it.

First you have to peel off the outer layer of each lemon. I would caution you: try to avoid peeling off the outer layer of your hand while doing so! Not only does it hurt afterwards (my hand is ripped to shreds) but you get lemon oil all over the wounds, which really stings.

Then, once you have them all peeled you put them into a jar and pour the Everclear over them. You can also use Vodka if you prefer - but Bryan says Everclear is better.

Then you put it into a cupboard where it's nice and dark and let it soak for a good 4-6 weeks, shaking the jar occasionally to make sure it soaks up the good stuff.

Once it's to the consistency you like, you strain out the peel and store the alcohol either in the fridge or back in the dark cupboard again.

Playing with Paper

 I spent most of the day today playing with paper. I have recently bought quite a few new dies so had to play with them awhile and see what I could come up with.

This first set is made with four leaves, both "inside" and "outside" cuts. I really like these, and have so many ideas in my head for them!

I originally intended to fill in some of the stained glass parts on this card with another color - and may still do that at some point in the future. But today I was shaking too much, so opted to leave it as is for now.

This card is made up of two separate dies, one for the inside and one for the outline. I love the finished look of it - but the dies don't cut very well so I have to go over it later with an X-acto knife, which is very hard to do and is quite annoying. 

Last but not least, these last two are just odds & ends that I had laying around. 

Yahtzee!

One of the games we like to play is an old favorite = Yahtzee! 

Each time we go on one of our little mini-vacations (otherwise known as our Weekend Get-Aways) it always comes with us, along with the cribbage board and a deck of cards.

It's usually fairly close as to who wins more often: it actually seems like we trade off each time. First he wins and then I win, and then he wins again.

But sometimes - like last night - he thoroughly beats me. Like, completely and unequivocally beats me.

The score pad for that game showed 5 out of 6 games in his favor.

Jackfruit

Have you heard of Jackfruit? 

It's a giant fruit from south Asia that is related to the fig but is a whole lot bigger. The fruit can be used as a meat substitute since it's texture is very similar to pulled pork or shredded chicken. 

Since Bryan mentioned the other day that we always tend to cook the same foods over and over again, I thought I'd shake things up a bit and try this out.

The recipe I found called for chicken, but we switched that out for the jackfruit and cooked them in the air fryer instead of deep frying them in oil. We ended up with a really good meal - with the added bonus of having a lot of fun assembling them!

First you take your egg roll wrapper and wet the edges. Then you place your filling inside diagonally. 

Fold the edges over to cover the filling and roll it up into a burrito.

Pop them in the air fryer for a few minutes on each side, and voila! 

Jackfruit Eggrolls!

My Senior Prom

Do you remember your high school prom? 

I remember being so excited about it. My boyfriend at the time was from Talkeetna and was a year older than I was, but he agreed to take me since I had gone to his with him.

I picked out some beautiful deep maroon silk material and an elegant dress pattern for Mother to make my gown for me.

I had my hair done at the salon (which coincidentally was the same salon my sister ended up buying a decade later) so I would be so pretty.

About half an hour before time to go, I was all dressed up and sitting at the hearth in the kitchen watching out the window for his car to come down the driveway.

An hour and a half later, Mother finally convinced me to go with her down to the hotel for a cup of hot chocolate. He never did come down the driveway.

Yup. I was stood up for my high school prom.

Three days later, I got a phone call from him saying that he'd gotten a job up on the slope. I honestly don't think he even remembered that he was supposed to take me to my prom - and I never told him.

Life Without Plastic

 One of my goals for Life is to minimize my use of plastics as much as possible. To that end, I have made all the usual switches that everyone hears about: a reusable water bottle instead of one-use bottles purchased at the store, beeswax wraps instead of sandwich baggies, and saying "no" to straws and/or buying metal ones (and using them).

I'm also doing a few other, not so mainstream things like: using a bamboo hair comb & hair brush, using bamboo toothbrushes, using tooth tabs instead of tooth paste, even switching from dental floss in a plastic carton to floss in a small glass vial. 

Two items I have found recently are in the trial stages right now, and if they actually do what they say they do I'm pretty excited about them.

The first one is a laundry detergent called  True Earth  It is a dehydrated detergent sheet that goes into the washing machine either whole or ripped up. The packaging is not only a LOT smaller than those huge plastic tubs, but it's also biodegradable and compostable! I have washed three or four loads with it so far I have no complaints at all: the clothes are clean and smell good.

The second one is a line of cleaning supplies from a company called  Blueland  At first I was a little put off by the plastic squirt bottles that arrived in the mail. I mean, the whole point is to NOT have plastic bottles. But they are refillable, so theoretically I will not have to buy another one ever again. The cleaning solution is what you buy over and over again - and this arrives in a biodegradable & compostable packaging in the form of a tablet that you dissolve in water. It took a good hour to desolve the tablets this morning, but once they were gone I went through the house and tried each one out. I am happy to say my house is quite clean now. The mirror in the bathroom is shiny and the vanity is sparkling, the counter tops in the kitchen are squeaky clean and even the ancient faucet in the sink looks like new again.

Next on my list of products to try is a solid shampoo & conditioner by the company called  HiBar   I've heard good things about them and am eager to try them out!

Our Weekend in Girdwood

Our Weekend Get-Away in Girdwood did not go as planned. The intent was for Bryan to go skiing all day Saturday, and for me to stay in and work on my papercutting. He had new (to him) skis, boots, and poles to try out – I had Valentine cards that needed to be made.

But, as Robert Burns once wrote, “The best laid plans of mice and men oft go astray.”

The apartment we rented this time was directly above The Bake Shop and offered up the ability to ski right out the back door – literally – as well as close proximity to those World-Famous Cinnamon Rolls any time we felt the need. The place was teeny-tiny, with the bed right there in the living room – but it had all the necessities, although we did have to go buy a spatula for our pancakes one morning. Not a horrible place, but not the greatest either.

For Bryan: it rained the entire time we were there. And not just a light sprinkle, either - it was pouring down rain! He would have been miserable because his gear is not waterproof. He had to stay in and work on computer stuff instead: not a complete waste of the day, but not at all what he’d hoped for. He couldn’t even go to the Sitzmark for a drink (also located conveniently nearby) since that was closed due to the whole pandemic thing.

For me: I woke up with a killer migraine Saturday morning around 3:00 A.M. and spent the rest of the weekend trying to recover from that. I did manage to make the cards I wanted, but not much more than that. On top of that, the building was very busy with lots of skiers coming and going all the time. STOMP, STOMP, STOMP! STOMP, STOMP, STOMP! All day long, up and down the hallway. And at night, people were partying, laughing, playing loud music, and just generally having a great time VERY LOUDLY.

We did at least get to go out to dinner at our favorite Japanese place. We weren’t going to go at all until we learned that they were seating people in the ballroom rather than in their tiny little corner of the hotel. That way, they got to spread everybody out and comply with COVID-19 regulations while still offering up some really fine sushi. It was expensive, but oh so tasty.

Duck Foot Brewery

Last night’s virtual tasting was probably one of the best ones we’ve attended so far – except that it was beer, and I am not a beer drinker. Bryan is, however, and he said it was very good beer.

The event was hosted by La Bodega again, this time featuring the Duck Foot Brewery out of San Diego. We had both their Owner and their Chief Beer Taster talking with us and sharing three of their creations with us: Sour On Love (a sour beer with cherries), Jabberducky (an IPA), and Turn of Darkness (an imperial stout beer). As an added bonus, the Tasting Kit included a glass for the beer with the Duck Foot label on it! Because, yeah… we need another glass.

Matt Delvecchio started the Duck Foot Brewery back in 2012 as a way of providing good craft beer for people (like himself) who have Celaic Disease and cannot tolerate gluten. With that in mind, ALL the beer they create is certified Gluten Reduced. Technically it is gluten free (they consistently test well below 20 parts per million) but since they start with products that contain gluten and remove it organically for their end product, they cannot claim being completely gluten free.

Matt Akin, the Chief Beer Taster, has to have the worlds best job ever = he gets paid to taste beer! He stated last night that every beer that comes out of their brewery has to pass his palette first.

The evening was full of good conversations, good beer, and good company.

Numb Pinkie Finger

I don’t remember exactly when it started, but it was at least a year ago when my right pinkie finger went numb. Not the whole finger, either: just a section in the middle of it. I can’t think of any specific injury that may have caused it, it’s apparently just a random occurrence. It’s oddly painful, too. You would think if the nerve went dead, I wouldn’t be able to feel anything; but that is not the case. I can feel things – just muted and painfully.

“You really should get that looked at.” He kept saying each time he caught me wringing my hands and complaining of the odd feeling.

I totally meant to, but I was afraid that it was my neck again and I did not want another surgery. So I put it off “Just until I get back from my vacation.” Then COVID hit and everything went to hell in a handbasket, which gave me yet more excuses to not go in to have it looked at.

Finally, however, I could not put it off any longer. In October, when I had my mammogram done, the doctor also had them do a CT scan on my neck to see what was going on. Insurance balked at paying for that, however, so it was yet another three months before I was able to follow up on those results with Dr. Kralick, my Neurosurgeon.

Now really – how many people can say they have a Neurosurgeon? That’s pretty cool – except that it isn’t. 

Anyway, he reviewed the pictures taken from the CT scan and found that my neck was just fine. It shows just normal wear & tear, with nothing to indicate there is any reason to go under the knife again.

However, my pinkie is still numb – so he recommended that I have an EMG done to see how my muscles and nerves are functioning. 

As luck would have it Dr. Kussro works right there at the Anchorage Neurosurgical office, so they scheduled me for another appointment just a week later.

That was an interesting experience, to say the least. Dr. Kussro was very talkative, explaining the procedure and what he was doing as he did it. I learned all about the nerves, muscles, and how they interact with each other.

The first part of the test involved sending electric shocks at particular spots along my hand, arm, and neck to see how well the nerves transmitted the impulses. They were very mild shocks but still not very pleasant. I had to use my breathing techniques several times to keep myself from getting upset.

The second part of the test was a bit more invasive, involving needles stuck into the muscles at various places. This showed him how the muscles respond to the mild shocks he gave. The needles involved were very tiny but long; I barely felt most of them – but I have to say the one he stuck into the ball of my thumb really hurt. He had to apply a bit of pressure afterwards to stop the bleeding on that one!

The result of all these fun and games was inconclusive. We do know that I do not have any never damage. That’s the good news. The bad news is that we still don’t know why my pinkie is numb.

More tests will be forthcoming, I think…

 

 

Ringing In The New Year - My Way

I was planning on writing a post to commemorate the first day of the new year: it was going to be so witty and so well written that you’d come back day after day, eager to read any future posts I might write. But of course, life had different plans for me. I came down with a nasty migraine, one that lasted well into 6 days. I would say I still have it, but this might be just the hang-over I’m feeling now.

My sleep has been whacked way off course. I’m so exhausted I can barely function, and yet when I lay down to sleep my head hurts so much I can’t. So I quietly get up, get myself a cup of tea, and head upstairs to amuse myself on the computer while Bryan sleeps.

During the day, I find myself just aimlessly wondering around the house with no clue as to what I was doing. I also find myself following people for no particular reason other than that they look like they know what they’re doing.

Realistically, what better way for me to ring in the new year, you know? It doesn’t get much more ME than that. I suppose.

My New Office

 I finally got my new office space done, and I couldn’t be happier with it!

The desk we bought was from a used furniture store and is actually a dining table. It’s hand-made, and super heavy. Bryan had to replace the braces that hold the legs on, just to make it sturdier. It’s about 4’ wide by 6’ long, giving me plenty of room to spread out with my two monitors and whatnot.

My chair is just a regular chair, nothing special about it except that the seat is extra wide so I can sit cross-legged if I want to. Viktor sleeps in my lap a lot, so I had to consider that when I purchased it. I also got a floor mat for it, but the darned thing is too wimpy, so I ended up moving it over to the craft area.

The cables running from the monitors and keyboard over to the computer were a big jumble of mess, so I had Bryan drill a hole in the table to run the cables down through to the computer on the floor. He bundled them all up and attached them to the bottom of the table so you can’t see them from across the room. It really cleaned the workspace up a lot! I even have a multi-plug strip mounted up there, in case I ever need to plug more things in.

To finish off my workspace, I had him help me hang some pictures up on the wall. On one side, I have my elephant from Africa (really like that photo) and on the other side I have a poster that was made for me by my sister-in-law’s 5^th grade class from about 10 years ago (they made it to thank me for reading to them on my lunch hours that year). I even have a cat bed made up with blankets, pillows, and a heating pad at my feet for the kittens to nap on.

The computer itself is running smoothly, although we have had a few speed bumps along the way. I am mostly ready to turn my old computer back into the office but will hang on to it a while longer in case I come across something I haven’t thought of yet. I do need a few more programs loaded onto the new one still, but since they do that all online it’s no big deal.

Whiskey Tasting with Jack Daniels

I’m not a huge fan of Jack Daniels, I have to admit. But I do love these virtual tastings, so went ahead and signed up for this one, facilitated by Brown Jug and hosted by Jack Daniel’s brand ambassador, Ed Tecosky.

As usual, we bought out tasting kit earlier from the warehouse in Wasilla:

• Jack Daniel's Single Barrel
• Jack Daniel's Single Barrel - Rye
• Jack Daniel's Single Barrel - Barrel Proof

This tasting was an interesting one in that it was presented in the form of a Trivia game. We scanned a bar-code (no pun intended) they displayed on the screen which loaded the ap onto our phones. The game consisted of 21 questions on the history of the company and of Jack Daniels himself: some True or False, some multiple choice. You got more points the faster you answered, and even more points if you answered correctly.

Bryan and I did not do so well, ending up in 22 place (out of 25 players) – but there were prizes for the top three contestants. I assume the Jack Daniels company got their names & addresses from them after the tasting, to make sure they got what they won.

Somewhere during all that chaos, we tasted our whiskey. It almost felt like an afterthought, truth be told. Like “Oh, yeah… I guess we should actually drink something here.” But Bryan was happy with it, so I didn’t complain.

Viktor’s Appointment

As you all know my Viktor has a rare blood type, so he is a member of the Blood Donor program that his Vet created. To be in the program, the cat must have a good personality - one that tolerates handling and blood draws - and must be of good health. As a bonus to the cat’s human, we receive a free yearly check-up on the cat, including x-rays, full blood works, and flea/tick medicine if necessary. We also get a photo of our cat posted on their Wall of Honor, for all the world to see.

Yesterday was Viktor’s first annual check-up. Sadly, it did not go as well as his initial start-up appointment did. Viktor is upset at me for moving my office upstairs (he doesn’t like it upstairs but wants to sleep on my lap like he’s done since I started working from home). So, when the vet started poking him with needles to draw blood, he started struggling which caused the vet tech to nick him in the neck with the needle. He’s fine, there’s no real harm done – but he did come home with a bright yellow bandage around his neck which was rather startling. He did not like it – but had to wear it for at least an hour to make sure the wound stopped bleeding.

Honestly, though; when I finally took the bandage off there was no blood on the cotton at all. Still, it’s best to be safe.

Viktor has not been called upon to actually give blood yet, aside from that first time to make sure he could give. Cat’s blood is different than human blood in that it cannot be stored for months at a time, so they wait until they actually NEED it before calling for it. Thankfully, no cat has needed my Viktor yet – but we’re just a phone call away, so rest assured when he is called, he will be there.