things that roar in the night

Um, it's 1 a.m. on a Wednesday and there's someone outside driving a truck through the parking lot, running a sand-spreader over the huge expanse of ice. It's louder than a lawnmower. What is it with this place?

Yes, I'm awake and blogging at 1 a.m. on a Wednesday but that's not as bizarre or annoying as the Phantom Sandman.

Happily, I can say we're one step closer to buying a Wasilla home which I guarantee will be nowhere near any huge icy parking lot. I also hope to be living far from pot-dealers, late-night bongo dudes and anyone with a pack-a-day habit. The step which brought us closer is the AHFC HomeChoice seminar I attended tonight. It's eight hours of solid, basic information for homebuyers (four hours over two evenings). It also gives us $250 off of one of the closing fees. So, yay for us.

Sunday in Anchorage turned into two days of visiting with my "Golovin Gramma", as we used to call her thirty years ago. Cousins, aunts, uncles, most of whom we see maybe twice a year were all there for dinner on Sunday. We got to hear special stories from Nuz' childhood and learn Inupiaq and Yup'ik phrases like gussangnaghakmakut (ah, these half-breeds are no good) and one other one that means "feathers will grow out of your (behind)". The comment about half-breeds was something that her mom said long before her own family was indundated with 'half-breeds'. My grandma grew up speaking both Inupiaq and Yup'ik, so the words that filter down to my generation are a rich, if confusing, mixture of both.
The skiing day was postponed until weather conditions are better. It may not happen until late in the ski season, actually.
This week is another big one for soccer, ballet, and Girl Scouts, including a sleepover with T's troop on Friday. The girls' school is having a 'Family Dance' that same night, since the P.E. teacher has taught all the upper grades how to do the Macarena and the Electric Slide. Our daughter has already expressed her distaste for that whole prospect. We also have to chat with a mortgage lender on Thursday in Anchorage. I got so used to sitting on the couch reading that I'm finding it hard to be productive again. (wait, was I ever?)
Maybe I'll stay up a little longer to see the next float in the Parking Lot Parade.