Meme

I stole this from Heather's blog. I like this one:


Accent: People say that some of the words I say make it sound like I'm from North Dakota, I guess that is because my grandparents are from there.

Breakfast or No Breakfast: Breakfast. Piece of toast and coffee, every day.

Chore I Don’t Care For: Laundry. Just not my favorite thing. Sometimes I will leave a load that I ran in the washer for days and I will have to wash it over a couple of times to get the smell out.

Dog or Cat: Dogs. For sure. I have a cat but I'm not especially fond of him. I have three dogs that I adore!

Essential Electronics: I really love my computer. Don't know how I got along without it:)

Favorite Perfume: None. I really try to live a toxic-free life. I use Scent of Samadhi, a powdered incense, when I want to smell good.

Gold or Silver: Silver.

Handbag I Carry Most Often: Changes with my mood.

Insomnia: Almost never. I'm at peace with myself and my life and don't stress about things unless I can change them. If I can change them I take care of them before I try and sleep:)

Job Title: Domestic engineer and yoga instructor. Wouldn't change a thing!

Kids: Kevin 15 years old and male, Tristan 12 years old and male, Calista 9 years old and female.

Living Arrangements: Happily married for 17 years, living in a house, on one acre, with my three lovely children, three lively dogs, 1 stuck up cat, 2 cuddly hamsters, 1 talking parrot and 1 fish.

Most Admirable Trait: Very giving and making people feel at ease by my talkative/outgoing personality.

Naughtiest Childhood Behavior: We will not talk about that. As a young child was not "naughty" (I hate that word by the way) and we won't talk about the teen years.

Overnight Hospital Stays: Tonsillectomy and first two births. The third birth I smartened up and gave birth at a Birth Center.

Phobias: Rodents, yes that includes hamsters. I observe a lot but don't get too close.

Quote: "Be the change you wish to see in the world." Getting ready to have that tattooed by my butterfly.

Reason to Smile: This could be a whole 'nother blog. Mostly my kids, husband, sisters, friends, the sun that is shining today, the liveliness of my house.................................

Siblings: 5 - four sisters and one brother.

Time I Wake Up: 7:30 - 9 a.m.

Unusual Talent or Skill: Unusual? Hmmm, don't know.

Vegetable I Refuse To Eat: Beets. Yuck, yuck, yuck! I am not a picky eater by any means. I eat foods that some people would not even try. But I cannot eat beets. I will gag every time.

Worst Habit: Chewing on the sides of my cheeks. I know, weird.

X-Rays: More than is healthy I'm sure.

Yummy Stuff: Oh..........coffee, Thai food, chocolate truffles

Zoo Animal I Like Most: monkeys

Our Summer List

So last night we went into Anchorage for our nephews birthday and on the way in Tristan and Calista were fighting like cats and dogs. I was about ready to lose my mind! On the way back home they started in again so I distracted them with "What kind of things do you want to do this summer?" It worked fabulously and we came up with a GREAT list! Of course most of this is pending finances:) As always! So here is our list:

* White water rafting in Denali and the kids want to either take a tour bus up or the train. They are feeling envious of all the things the tourists get to do that we never do:)

* Tristan wants to float down a river either in a kayak or canoe and camp out "in the middle of nowhere", it doesn't count if it's a "touristy" thing. He would like to do a 2-3 day trip.

* I want to make wine. We have a place here to do it and you get 25 bottles for every batch. We are going to get together with a bunch of friends to do a few batches so that we all get 5-10 bottles of different kinds. So be expecting wine for Christmas this year!

* We want to hike, of course! But we want to do several new hikes that we have never done before. We live in hiking central and there are hundreds of hikes that we have never done. One that Martin and I would like to tackle is Pioneer Peak but we aren't sure if Martin's hip can handle it so we might have to wait post-hip replacement. It's a 12 mile hike and fairly challenging so it is going to take some training up and down Lazy Mountain and maybe Mat-Su Peak.

* The kids and I decided we are going to go into Anchorage one night and feed all the homeless people we see. We are going to buy like 25 sandwiches at Subway, granola bars and oranges and pass them out. Tristan suggested it might be a nice gesture to pass out blankets. Him and Kev's friend, Kevin Sampley, slept outside the other night (I know, I have crazy kids!) and he said, "Mom, it's cold! I feel really sorry for the homeless people now". So that turned into, well, maybe we should start getting people to donate their old backpacks and stuff them with blankets, food, and some other treats and pass those around. Could be a fun endeavor!

* Martin and I want to get down to Homer for a motorhome camping trip. With the cost of gas we won't be doing much of that but Homer is only 3-4 hours away and a very fun place to go. And they have a beach!! A real beach, not just an Alaskan rocky beach!

So these are our goals this summer. Along with MANY trips to the lake. We have DOZENS of lakes EVERYWHERE here in the valley. You can't drive one mile without passing a lake, literally! So we usually hang out at one of them most of the summer. Both my sister and us have lake accesses in our neighborhoods too and we are on opposite sides of the same lake. We are going to cross the lake to my sister's house a few times this summer just for kicks.

And of course, I need to get up to Fairbanks at least once to see Grandma and Grandpa, Dan and Brenda, and my cousins. And SHELI, of course!!! We haven't been able to go much since returning from the motorhome trip so I'm long overdue.

Happy Summer everybody!!!

Here are the recent "going ons" in our life lately......

Tristan has been talking for some time about really wanting to get a macaw and has done a bit of research and saved quite a bit of money for the endeavor. He (or should I say we) signed up to be a foster family for the rescued birds from the Alaska Bird Club. We got a call a couple weeks ago that a bird needed fostered and, of course, we jumped on the opportunity. They brought the bird to us last Wed. He is a beautiful green, orange, and yellow Caique and if we want to keep him he is up for adoption. He talks all the time, whistles, and laughs. We haven't figured out everything that he says because it is a little robotic sounding, kind of like trying to figure out someone's strong accent. Some of the things that we can hear are "pretty boy", "pretty bird", "I'm a good boy", "what are you doing?", and "hello". I'm sure eventually we will figure out the rest, along with the new things that he is learning in our house. Any time the dogs get too close he will kind of peck their nose and then burst out in laughter; it is quite entertaining. Martin and I have decided that we will go ahead and adopt him, being that it is only $50 and he comes with a $500 cage!

As usual, we had a bunch of friends over on Saturday night for a good time. It seems lately that almost every weekend we all get together somewhere; either here, my sisters, Debs, or somewhere else. It's one of the things I love about my life here- all the wonderful people that surround me.

Mother's Day was fairly uneventful, as we aren't too fond of all these stupid commercial holidays. I tease that Mother's Day is for mothers who aren't appreciated every day of the year, as I am! My kids do special things for me all the time, love to hang out with me, and tell me how wonderful I am so I don't really need Mother's Day. I do enjoy spending time with family though and we went over to Martin's parents for lunch with Martha, Tony and the kids and another couple that are friends with his parents. Martin worked most of the day but sold a nice priced house so that was nice. Lord knows we need it right now!

We've been enjoying some warmer weather, although the last two days have been a little chilly. It's always nice to drive without slick roads, to see the green on the trees, and to spend time outside. The kids are looking forward to some lake weather so hopefully it will warm up a little more soon.

Our basement project is coming along. One more wall to put up (the boys closets) and then we will be sheetrocking. Martin is going to come home this afternoon and spend some time down there getting it done. Tristan is ready to move into his new room and Calista is REALLY ready to have a room, as she has been sleeping in the loft. I'm looking forward to not having to step on Barbie's and clothes on the way into my own room, lol. When it is done I will also have a yoga room so am looking forward to that!

I am also no longer teaching at Blue Mountains Wellness Studio. Things got a little weird there before I left and I am sad that I don't have the best feelings towards the situation but it is time to move on to better things. I will be teaching at the new Studio, The Anjali Yoga Room, starting June 2. I'm going to be teaching two Astanga/Vinyasa style classes. The nice thing about it is that there we are sub-contractors so it is our own business. I get to work on building my own classes and making my own money, rather than make an hourly rate. The name of my business is Dharma Yoga- surprise, surprise! For any of you that don't know, there are several meanings to the word Dharma in the yoga world but some of the meanings are "truth", "virtues" , "righteousness", "to fasten, to support, to hold" (my favorite), and "something established or firm". It also refers to the teachings of Buddha, which any person of any religion has to agree that his teachings are beneficial to the human race. Good energy to all those definitions so I think it is a good name for a yoga business. I'm still teaching my classes over at the SportsCenter too. All my classes are on Mon. and Wed. night so I will have lots of free time to play with the kids this summer!