They are coming

My parents are in the air right now. They should be here around 11:45!! I can not wait to see them. I think there is something about Fuchs' coming to Alaska and rain. When we moved up here it rained. I has not rained hardly at all this spring. My parents come up and the forecast has rain for the next 4 days, what are the chances.

An update on my running. I am on week 5 of the Couch to 5 k. Day one was good. Day two, yesterday not as good. It was supposed to be walk 5 to warm up, run 8 minutes, walk 5 minutes run 8 minutes. The good news I could run for 8 minutes straight, the bad news I could only do it once. I ran the 1st 8 minutes and it was not so bad then walked 5 minutes and started running again and got shin splints in my right leg. So for the second 8 I ran 2 minutes, walked 2 minutes, ran 1 minute, walked 1 minute, ran 2 minutes. I will try again next time I run.

We are having fresh Salmon, rice and broccoli for dinner tonight! And then we are headed for Denali tomorrow! I will post pictures when we get back!

Happy Memorial Day

Happy Memorial Day! Today Mike is at work. I also decided to go into work for 4 hours. Since I am taking Friday off to see my parents and most likely a half day on Thursday. Yesterday I scrapbooked and cleaned the 2nd bedroom/reorganized it so that the air matters would fit. The full size air maters fits... barely. When Mike got off work last night we went for a short walk and then I made Chocolate chip cookies, yummy!

TAXES!!!

I am pumped!! We mailed in our taxes like 3 days before they were due. Our Federal Tax return was posted in our account today!! I seriously want to do cartwheels down the hall. Not that we are doing anything too fun with the money. We are putting a large chunk towards our car loan and another chunk into our E-fund (emergency fund). Put we are putting some away for a "warm" vacation. On top of that I also got paid today. Yippee.

Plans for the weekend:

• Mike Works
• Aces Hockey games, we did not get tickets to go but since it is sold out the local TV station is playing it live Friday and Saturday nights.
• Saturday I am helping with Habitat for Humanity, we are putting the finishing touches on a house and doing some gardening, hopefully the weather is good.
• Other then that no big plans for the long weekend.

Never Having Teens... EVER

Mike and I helped out with our last Youth group for the school year last night. It was out of control! We decide after that we would never have teenagers. We will eventually have a baby (very far down the road) but once they hit junior high we are sending them to live with their grandparents or to the moon. Part of the problem last night was the youth pastor did not demand respect and control out the of kids. And the other problem is that today (Thursday) is the youths last day of school for the year so they were all distracted. The only thing I got out of youth group was a head ache. Ugh!

Today

Java went on an adventure yesterday...yet again. None of our windows have screens on them. Normally we leave the upstairs window open 4-6 inches. Java decided to jump out of the window onto the deck roof and then proceed to take a walk 2 condos down. Mike heard a meowing, thought it was another cat but decided to look in the house for Java. He looked out our bedroom window and there was Java meowing on the roof. It took mike 10 minutes to get Java to come to him so he could lift her into the house again. He mostly closed the window... 15 minutes later she was on the window sill again trying to go back outside. We are trying to think of a way to get screens on the windows without breaking the bank. We are so lucky she did not slip and fall off the roof, it is metal so there is nothing for her to grab onto and a good 25 foot fall to the ground.

Yesterday we had our first softball game... result... them a lot vs us nothing. We have some areas to improve on, mostly our team need to learn how to hit the ball and get on base, minor detail. Myself included, I struck out twice. However Mike did hit the ball, but got thrown out. Apparently the team we played last night was one of the best teams last year. Our team also need some more players. we were short 2 people, we borrowed one from the other team...sad.

It is another sunny day in Alaska. Tonight I am going to go run right after work. Then we have our last night of youth group at the church before summer break. Then we are going to Jacob's, Samantha's and Han's place to help them hang a JUMBO Thomas Kincaid Picture.

C25K

I am officially in week 5, but I did week 2 twice so I am running week 4 this week. Last night was the first night of bumping it up. Ugh is all I can say. I made it through but not as smoothly as I had hoped. The end of week 3 was pretty easy, I actually ran and extra 2 minutes after I did the scheduled run. Last night the run was 5 minute warm up, jog-3, walk-1.5, jog-5, walk-2.5, jog-3, walk-1.5, jog-5, and cool down. The 3 minutes were not too bad, the first 5 minute I had to mentally push myself, and the last 5 minute I really had to force myself not to stop. I will do the same workout again on Wednesday.

Tonight we have our first softball game! Hopefully we have enough people show up, I am a little worried about that. But if there are enough it will be a lot of fun. Weather is nice here again today, highs in the mid 60's.

Sunday!

Sunday was perfect day. We went to church in the morning. Then hung out at the house for a while. At 1:30 our friends Mary and Eric picked us up and we drove out to Camp Birchwood, the church's camp. There was a fun day out at the camp. We went on a walk, did some canoeing, made sommores and hot dogs over the camp fire. It was great to get away from the city and really enjoy the nature Alaska has. I will post some pictures later. On our way back into Anchorage we stopped at Target, sadly it feels like home in Target. (Mary also agrees with me on this one, she grew up in Alexandria, MN.) When we got home Mary and Eric can up and we talked about the drive up to Alaska. They are going to be driving from Anchorage to the lower 48 at the end of July, since they are up here just on an extended vacation. We showed them our route and the scrapbook pages I had done from our trip. They liked the pictures of the goats and bison we saw along the way.

Java is still not quite herself. We are on here last day of meds. I am not so impressed with the Vet we went to. I have been told at least a half dozen times that they (the receptionist) will "put a note on the doctors desk to have her give me a call" and I have yet to recieve a call with out calling them upset. We are going to maybe try changing her food or getting fresh food for her since we have had the bag we currently have for a while.

No big plans this week. Our first softball game is on Tuesday, church Wednesday and if the weather is good we want to go on a hike on Thursday.

Friday

Well, it is rainy in Anchorage this morning. Great, because we really need the rain but not so great because it is bike to work day for the city. I still biked, got a little muddy on the way but changed when I got to work. I get a free lunch out of the deal so yeah. We are supposed to have softball practice tonight so lets hope that it clears up this afternoon, weather.com says there is only a 10% change of rain each hour so yeah.

Mike and I are so excited. Grandma R booked her ticket to come visit us. she booked her tickets yesterday for August 20-30th. When we moved up here every one said they would come visit. We have been up here for almost 10 months. Mike's aunt Pam randomly stopped by when her plane to Japan was diverted, my parents are coming up at the end of the month and now Grandma R is coming the end of August. So slowly people are coming to see us. Any one coming to Anchorage let us know, we have an extra room and will loan you a car. We love visitors, plus airfare this summer is really low.

Java is doing ok. She hacked up another hair ball last night. Lovely. Still no final results from the test on Tuesday. I hate waiting!

Thursday

It is another beautiful day in Anchorage. Sunny, good temp and beautiful few of the mountain. A great day to ride my bike to work!

Last night I participated in a "focus group" about health clubs and fitness at the Alaska Club. A got a $25 gift card for an Italian restaurant, called Nino's, here in Anchorage for about 1.5 hours of my time. Some of the people there we plain weird but hey Mike and I can go out to dinner on Friday with a free $25!

After the group I went to my gym and ran week 3 day 2. (5 minute warm up, then jog 90 sec, walk 90 sec, jog 3 minutes walk 3 minutes and repeat.) It was not so bad but I get tired after running the 2nd 3 minutes. I do not know if I am going to be able to run 5 minutes next week, but we will see. I have lost a little weight, according to the gym scale.
Tonight the Aces play in Vegas, but are on TV since it is playoffs, so we will watch that. Mike is making pork chops for dinner with most likely a salad.

Update:Java

Cats are expensive!!!!!! 30 minutes cost me $200!! I wish we lived closer to my mom and could bring her there :( I got some pills for her, clavamax or something like that and the vet is going to call me tomorrow about the results of the labs. The lab is what killed us, $125 for a urinalysis, REALLY!!! Ugh. Oh well I what her to feel better.

Tuesday update may be TMI:
Java did NOT have a good night. I think the excitement, or lack there of, of going to the vet made her upset. I gave her the pills and she would not eat her dinner. If you know Java at all you know she is all about the food so I knew something was up. Right as I was getting into bed she ran out of the bedroom, into the guest room and down stairs, making a not so happy meow/cry. Then I heard her puke... lovely. It was a hair ball, which she rarely get but what ever I cleaned it up went back to bed. 15 minutes later she is gaging again. Ugh!! But this time it is clear. Then she does it again 15 minutes later. At this point I decide I do not want to have to look for puke all over the house in the morning (and I wanted to get some sleep) so I move her water, food, and litter box into the bath room and shut her in for the night. Praying she would be alive in the morning.

She is alive... no worries. She puke 1 more time. But did not eat any of her food. I guess we will have to wait and see. The vet is suppose to get us her results today.

Happy Mothers Day

I am so thankful for my mom. All she has done for me and Callen is amazing. I could not imagine my life without her. I am so thankful that her surgery went well and the tests came back all clear. I am thankful for all the years she spent in Girl Scout with me, in school activities, and in church activities.

In celebration of Mothers day Mike and I sent card to our Mother's and Grandmother's.

I also went on a 22 mile bike ride today, while Mike slept. It was awesome. I saw 4 moose, an eagle and there were tons of people out enjoying the nice weather. When I got home and got Mike up we made breakfast for dinner. Homemade pancakes, bacon, and milk. Yummy. I also finally finished hemming the pants that I got from my cousin. Tonight I am watching extreme makeover home edition, the amazing race and painting my toes.

Poor Java

Our poor baby is sick. I cleaned her litter box this morning and the pee clumps were really small, like pea size. (i.e. not normal) So I called my mom to get her opinion and she said to get her in ASAP. So I called out friend Hans, since his parents have a dog here in Anchorage to get a recommendation for a clinic. I called Southside Animal Clinic. They were busy and after I while they decided that yes they would take on a new patient. So we have an appointment for Monday at 11:30. She had been on some pills but lately she has not been eating them when we put them in her tuna. I feel so bad that I cannot do anything for her. When Mike gets up we will try to get a pill down. Hopefully she will feel better after we go to the clinic on Monday.

Friday

My mom's Surgery went as well as can be expected. They took out a 1/2 inch by 1.5 inch piece of her tongue that had the tumor on it. The initial results on the lymph nodes it that they are clean. Which is great news, the lab results should come back later today. Mom has been up and moved a little. Grandma and Grandpa are going down today to be with her. So far it seems like she and dad will be able to come up to Alaska at the end of the month.

Now we just have to pray for a fast and speedy recovery.

Update

My mom had cataract surgery on Tuesday as planned previous to the Cancer surgery. Today she had a pre operation appointment at Mayo and found out she should be back home by Saturday. The Pastor of PCA also called me today to tell me that she would be going down to be with my mom and dad for the surgery tomorrow. It make me feel a little bit better but I really feel bad that I can not be there to give my mom a hug and kiss. At least the doctors told her she should be OK to fly on May 28th because she and my dad are coming up to Alaska for 10 days. We will not be able to do all the hiking that we had planned but there is plenty of things see and do.

Mike is really sore today. He had his wisdom tooth pulled yesterday and it is still oozing a little bit. He had a wonderful dinner of cottage cheese last night and he pulled out some of the lentil and rice soup that I made Sunday for dinner tonight before church.

After work I will be running the couch to 5K week 2 day 2.

My Mom

Tonight I got a call from my mom the cancer is back on her tongue. She will have major surgery on Friday to remove the lymph nodes on the right side of her neck and face. They will also remove a piece of her tongue. She had a spot on her tongue about 2 years ago and had it removed. I feel bad that I can not be there with her and that she will be in pain on Mothers Day. Please keep her in your thoughts and Prayers.

Monday

Today I did Week 2 day 1 of my running program. I am redoing week 2 since I did not run very much last week. Mike bought some charcoal today so we are having pork chops on the grill yummy!! We plan on biking to park tonight and tossing the softball around a bit. Mike goes in tomorrow to get his left bottom wisdom tooth pulled. He is really excited :) We do not have much planned for this week. Mike goes back to work on Thursday and he is on nights this week.

Sunday Cooking

Today I cooked...all day. I found the book Frozen Assets at the library. It had the grocery list and all the recipes for 2 weeks of meals for a family of 4 to 6, so a month of meals for 2. I made

12 Stuffed peppers
2 meals sloppy Joe's
4 meals Texas-style chili
1 meal poor mans casserole
1 meal spaghetti pie
3 meals chicken curry with east Indian rice ring
6 pieces of broccoli quiche
4 meals lentil-rice soup

In total it will last us 24 meals but the spaghetti pie is enough for 2 meals. It was much cheaper than the Alaska Dinner Factory (ADF)which I have been going to in the past. Mike and I went shopping Saturday. We spent $150 at Costco and $36 at Fred Meyers. But we also bought a bunch of stuff at Costco for lunches. It was cheaper that the ADF but it did take a lot longer. When I go to the ADF it takes me 1.5 hours to make 12 meals and costs $140. Today I baked from 11 till 5, so 7 hours and made 24 meals for $150.

While I was baking Mike finished cat proofing the condo. Java almost took her own life on Saturday. She tried to jump from the window to the tree outside our kitchen. I heard scratching and looked and Java's back legs/claws were scratching the siding trying to get back in. So we added a screen thingy on the window and the porch. None of our windows have screens so I always worry about her jumping out. now we can at least have the porch door and kitchen window open with out worrying.

The Lion King

Mike and I got up at five today and got tickets for the Lion King. We are going on September 20th at 6:30 PM!!! Our one your wedding anniversary. A few radio stations hosted a ticket sale event, it was nice sunny and about 40 degrees this morning. We got a free breakfast and other food including coffee, a free car wash, a free 15 minute massage, a free movie "Bedtime Stories" with Adam Sandler and then for being the first 100 people in line we got a free CD. Also since we had to wait an extra hour (tickets were supposed to go on sale at 7 and they did not get going until 8) do to technical difficulties we got a free program book. We also got tickets from Samantha and Hans to come with us. It should be a lot of fun.
This afternoon we plan on going for a bike ride, getting the car washed, looking at a condo that is for sale, going to Costco for some food/meat for our new freezer and then tonight we are going to Samantha and Hans place to watch the Aces in the playoffs.
Mike and I really want to stop renting. We hate paying someone every month. We also hate that we can't do what we want to the space and we hate the parking situation at our current place. We are just starting to think about it but the $8,000 tax credit incentive really helps. There is also a first time home buyers class in Anchorage which for taking you get money to put toward closing costs. It will not happen for long time but it is fun to think about and get information about. If only money grew on trees we would buy one now.