spring pics

Easter Egg Hunters

Dad's Jacket, circa 1968

Dad's Shoes

Jenn's Graduation

Pat's Graduation

Kindergarten Graduation 2008

The Class of 2020

Third Grade was great!

Sunshine, bikes, shades

T-ballers

Slugger

We love Grampy!

Gramma too!

Smiles before heading miles to Georgia :(

Tiny Dancer

T performed with her ballet class last weekend. All the students at Dancer's Workshop were in the two-hour production, each class performing a 3- or 4-minute dance they'd worked on since September. T finally found the ability to look upwards, smile, and not watch everyone else's feet! She loved every part of it except for being forced to wear makeup. All the dancers were good and I'm very happy with this ballet studio. I volunteered to help backstage so yes, I have added another "StereotypeMeMom" title. SAHM, SoccerMom, BookorderMom, and now StageMom. Ew. Really, I was just inept enough to prove to myself that I can put away the Type-A personality whenever I feel like it.
This week brought many changes...
K got a major start on moving dirt to the garden plot, so we hopefully will have some vegetables growing - but we are not likely to have a lawn this year.
We all now sleep in as late as we dare.
My piano is no longer taking up space at Mom & John's house - it's been relocated to our tiny living room, right under the Massive Elk Head. R loves the piano.
The street was graded! Now the huge potholes have been replaced with a surface full of rocks the size of shoes, so the mamavan is rattling in random new places.
Soccer has begun. I really enjoy it, because the girls like it so much and they're good at it, too. I like the outdoors-big-field-of-grass feeling. Soccer reminds me of good times in Laramie.

Our next week is one we've been looking forward to, when our good friends from Laramie are coming to visit for four days! BossLady has been making me count down the days since some time in March I think. Now we're down to three days until their arrival, and I have of course left everything until the last minute. I even procrastinated procrastinating. Now that it's quiet in here I'm off to get something done, in a minute.

Update on StemCell Man

"Just got back from ph doctor, three month check up. Right heart pressure has dropped from 45 which is severe, to 28, three months after stem cell treatment. This puts me at mild. 25 is normal. So big stuff. This really raised eyebrows at the Clinic. At first, it was "if you have to go out of the country, he is a quack". Now it's "well, we just can't get the funding to keep up with global progress". My O2sats just leveled out but thats because of some copd. I'm going back to treat that. All in all it was a huge success - best money I ever spent."
previous post about StemCell Man here

he also wrote:
"...(The doctor) catheters you through the heart as close to the lungs as possible, balloons it and injects the cells and salt water, putting pressure on it and cramming the cells into the capillaries that give us PHers trouble. From there, the cells divide and grow a new vascular bed. So it's not a government trial, and they are not embryos- they are adult stem cells from your own body and blood. This is done in the US every day with blood or bone marrow for 86 different sicknesses, mostly blood disorders and cancer. But PH is not on the list yet so you have to go off shore."

still here, really

Where to start?
The zoo trip was fun. Every parent ought to spend a day chaperoning kindergarten kids around a zoo.
My doctors were happy as usual. They only teased me for a few minutes about keeping such a detailed notebook full of test results. I think they must know it was the only way for me to feel like I had any control over this disease, but they still like to make wisecracks about it. For the record, I haven't even looked at it in probably 6 months. This month, my 6 minute walk result was good, my PFT results were stable, I found out that ANMC does have Revatio in the pharmacy's formulary (no more $45 monthly co-pays!), and I am waiting on a test result to find out if we need to adjust my Synthroid dosage. The rheumatologist is checking into getting Reclast added to the formulary - once that happens I'll stop the once-weekly Fosamax and get the once-yearly IV-infused Reclast. Not that it's realistic or anything but I imagine myself in a room full of beautiful, witty, osteoporotic retired women, sipping chai and having our nails done, Reclast IV bags hanging overhead, complimentary buffet of broccoli, cottage cheese, and calcium-fortified orange juice at the ready.

Girl Scout Bridging ceremonies are sweet, awkward, funny, and- if you're unfortunate enough to have one or two microphone-hogging troop leaders - LONG. Bridging basically means the girls move up from one level of scouting to the next. T bridged from Brownies to Juniors, and BossLady bridged from Daisies to Brownies. Together with the last week of school, it's all an overwhelming mixture of "Oh! They're so cute" and "Oh *%@! They're growing UP".

Our kindergartener graduated... She received the "Journaling Gem" special award, because she luuuuvs to write in her journal. She and her classmates loped into the room with 'Pomp and Circumstance' playing (construction-paper mortar boards & yarn tassels in place), sat quietly through the special awards and the reading of "All I Ever Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten", then performed a graduation song about first grade, to the tune of "New York, New York". The day before, they whooped it up with all the other kindergarten classes on the school grounds, for Kindergarten Rodeo Day. For her, it meant dashing about with her buddies, playing kiddie-ranch-hand games and eating hot dogs and chips. For me, it meant standing around waiting for takers at my game-station, the Shoe Race; finding a replacement parent to supervise the Shoe Race so I could walk R around the rodeo; and finally ending up filling 5 squirt guns per hand from a bucket for an endless line of kids doing their best to claim the coolest squirt gun before anyone else could. I'd only stopped for a few minutes to help the mom who was already there, but she saw her opportunity and ran for it I guess. You have to be either an idiot or on happy pills to volunteer for the most popular game on Rodeo day.

T's last day of school was similar, but set up for upper grades of course. I didn't have R or BL with me so I got to apply myself as the Snack Table Lady. The weather was perfect and we all had a great day. There was some melancholy for the girls (and their teachers) in the fact of our transferring to another school in the fall. I hope we made the right decision there.

T-ball season is here. K is getting over the early stumbling blocks of coaching and is getting those players into the zone. BossLady seems bored with it, as do all the kids on the team who stand around watching the pitcher and first baseman get all the glory. They all hit pretty well, though. We moms in the bleachers have the most fun, giggling at everything, especially the kids who sit down in the outfield to watch clouds, and the kids who round third and head for the dugout.

My Litter Crew (T, BL) and I made serious headway last week, stuffing 5 ALPAR bags full of trash which seemed mostly downwind of one particular house. I was happy to have given the neighborhood kids one trash-free morning at the bus stop! The Crew found a bucket, two life-preservers, and a bed-pillow among the litter. Then they stopped to climb trees and 'take a break'.

Next up, ballet happenings and hopefully some kind of a gardening beginning... then, soccer.

I heart moms

Yay for Mothers! Mothers all over Alaska, Minnesota, Wyoming... and to the moms I'm closest to, I love you and I hope you had a great day.

My family gave me Alaskan Wildberry chocolates, a card, school-made projects, and a rose. My sister and her family came out to the Valley and we all headed to Palmer to see the baby musk oxen at the Musk Ox Farm. It was too windy for the babies to do anything but hunker down in protected spots. The kids got bored of staring at musk oxen after about two minutes but they had a blast walking into the wind with their hair whipping around.

Once we all got back to our house, we put together a feast of barbecued ribs, deep-fried turkey, potato salad, fresh bread and some other stuff. Cousin-conflict was at a minimum so everybody had a good time! I stuffed myself, maybe I'll gain some weight. Actually I'm stopping here so I can change into some elastic-waist clothes and get my hands on some leftovers.

5 minutes

thought processes of a 2-year-old boy
in a 5-minute time span

find the cheerio box, open it, eat cheerios out of the box
get out book with magnetic letters, scatter the letters
match the letters to what's on the pages... or not
insist that Mama holds me, she doesn't need to do all that typing
get Mama to open my juice, drink juice, get Mama to close it; repeat
Oh! There's LEMON on the counter! I need a slice of LEMON!
I think I'll Swiffer a bit... this is a good pretend horse
oops, Mama left a light on, I have to drag her over to the light switch OFF MAMA OFF
here's Mama's pop, she left it here just for me!
hey where are the Cheerios, I need more
OUTSIDE! I HAVE TO GO OUTSIDE AND BLOW BUBBLES!

the Boss, on two wheels!

LittleK is not little anymore. Today she fearlessly got on her bicycle, with its training wheels just removed, and took off down the street. We're really proud of her! Since "Little" doesn't apply anymore, her blog name is changing to BossLady, a nickname given to her by an Antiguan friend who visited us in Laramie a few years ago. In his Caribbean accent it's actually Boss LEH-deh.

After a couple of late-April snowfalls, our corner of the world seems to finally have crossed into Spring. Probably the best place to hang out at home is on the front 'porch' because the sun warms it all day - but it's usually overcrowded with tee-ball gear, running shoes and a mix of winter boots and rubber boots. At least the pungent hockey gear has been put away for the season.

I attempted some neighborhood beautification today, picking up one lawn-bag's fill of litter. It was mostly from the front of the condos next door, and the wooded spot between our house and the condos. It's disappointing to have to live next door to them, not just because of the litter and rumble-trucks, but because of the nuisance barking problems... although, having experienced life at the bongo-drummin', chain-smokin' OK Corral Apartments, we're pretty happy here. My next Superfund site is the school bus stop at the top of the hill, next to the forever-in-construction log house. There look to be about 4 or 5, once-full garbage bags which have scattered, including one full of those blue hospital (chux) pads... ew. After that, I'll tackle the mailbox wasteland across from the bus stop. Palmer and Anchorage are in the midst of their Citywide Clean-up weeks, but so far it seems that Wasilla takes a (typically) different approach. If they have a cleanup day, they're keeping it a secret.

It's graduation season! Congratulations to Jennifer, Pat, and all of my little kindergarten friends! I'm now qualified to teach a class on making mortar boards out of construction paper.

Coming up, we've got the kindergarten Zoo trip, the 3rd-graders' trip to Anchorage for the Taiko drummers show at the PAC, my last Bookorder Mom order, my quarterly pulmonologist/rheumatologist appointments, the Girl Scout Bridging ceremony, and the last day of school on May 20th. After that, I'm just going to spend the summer refereeing catfights between T and BossLady.

warmth!

It's a whole new world up here, we experienced 50 degrees over the weekend. The carrot seedlings the kids and I planted have sprouted, and all but the most shaded snow piles have melted away. We're on the verge of relocating Chena to the outside, where muddy paws belong. K's even hinted at the possibility of building the kids a treehouse... I'm daydreaming of a lawn, a patio, and a garden.
It may take me a while to emerge from hibernation though, since I still prefer to roam the house wearing my winter jacket, watching Jane Austen movies over and over again, barely getting housework done.
The kids and their dad love being outside! K's on a run right now. He took T with him last night - she followed him on her bicycle. It was a good way to make her forget about how I so cruelly made her leave the park fifteen minutes early.
Haircut Boy just woke up from his nap, so I'm off to sweep up sandwich crumbs and muddy pawprints.

Cheerios and apathy

A couple of days ago, still recovering from that gross cold, I got up and went to the kitchen for my morning Chemical Swig (two big purple pills, a yellow one, a tiny white pill and a medium-sized white one). I thought it was a good idea to keep the Advair in my system too, so I took a hit from the purple disc (it's an inhaled powder) because it helps to clear out all the congestion I feel in my lungs... for the next five or six or ten minutes straight, I was doubled over, coughing, wheezing, and basically having a panic attack in the kitchen. It's amazing, the body's very primal response to lack of oxygen... I don't usually have a problem inhaling Advair.
So what's a person to do when their loved one is having some freakish breathing crisis? I guess my family is so used to me hacking and pounding my chest that they sat at the table, enjoying their conversation over bowls of Cheerios and Cinnamon Toast Crunch. I felt like the Sideshow Breakfast Freak, yeah nevermind her, she coughs sometimes, pass the milk please.

When I was finally able to stand upright and walk towards a couch, my husband mustered up all the care and concern he could find within himself and asked, "Gonna live?".

Yes, I survived. If it happens again I'll fall down. It may warrant a look of concern and a little damp washcloth on my forehead if I'm lucky.

44K

One PH patient's stem cell experience (from a post at phcentral.org):
Hello every one my name is K__ and i am supposedly the first person in the world to be treated for PH by direct injection with adult stem cells. I just had my one month check up with Dr. ____ at Regenocyte in Naples, Florida. My echo showed about an 11 point drop in pressure. Big stuff for one month, max benefits are at three to six months for stem cells.Unfortunately, I have some COPD so my sats have not gotten any better yet. Also I was having some violent heart palpatations and they have completely disappeared. I will keep posting - I think it's the best thing going for PHers. I would encourage everyone to begin their research on stem cells, all the different kinds, and places to go, pros and cons etc etc.

There are several kinds of stem cells. Adult stem cells have been used for thirty years in the US for specific disease. Adult meaning from your own body - either bone marrow or blood draw. I had a blood draw. They take a pint of blood, send it to a lab in Israel; they find 4 or 5 stem cells and copy them 35 million times. This number varies, the average is 22 million. Then you fly to the Dominican Republic and meet the doctor at the nicest hospital I have ever been in. They receive the cells back in about 5 days. He catheterized me through the heart as far as you can to the veins in the lung, then balloon the catheter, inject the cells and some salt water to put pressure on, and cram the cells into the small veins where we are all having trouble. Hopefully most of them stick to the right places, then in about two weeks they start dividing into new tissue and building collateral veins. Sounds easy.
Back to what's available for us. There are several companies out there treating PH with stem cells. I went with Regenocyte.com. The doctor is super good and staff bends over backwards for you.I picked him because he specialized in the vascular field. They are one of the most expensive (44,000.00) but to get a practicing cardiologist to leave the country and do a procedure with you is going to cost money.The x-cellcenter.com is probably the cheapest(13,000.00). They do bone marrow adult cells and don't promise anything, but will treat you. I don't think they have treated anyone for PH yet.Also stemcellbiotherapy.com uses cord blood and will treat you. You have a small chance of host vs. graft problems but the adult cells won't work if your disease is hereditary. Canada is working on a FDA trial that is gene cell combo. They are in phase 2 and showing good results, but they are 7 to 10 years out for the public and will not take Americans for trial studies. Also go to stemcellpioneers.com - it's all people who have been treated with cells for all kinds of stuff. Very informative.

let it snow let it snow

I can function now, but all of us under-40s are still coughing and blowing noses. It's a sad reflection of my life to list "not wearing pajamas" as a highlight of my day.

K's flying today after several days off. It's got to feel good getting back into the cockpit after being stuck with three screechy kids and a miserable wife for five days straight.

In the coming days, LittleK will be singing in the kindergarten music program, and we'll have her Daisy troop meeting here at the house. I've got to send out warnings to the moms that our street has bad potholes and that our house has a giant elk mount that might give their kids nightmares.

Time to sit with R (who's zoning out on Caillou)... and watch the snow come down.

cough hack ptoo

Our two-year-old just woke up and came over to me and wiped his nose on my sleeve. Gross. Then he started pleading, "Uckger, UCKGERRR, UCKGERRRRR!" I couldn't decipher it, since he shook his head when I asked him "Soccer? Locker? Booger?" I know it could not possibly be the F-word. According to his dad and T, he's started calling his molars something like that uckger word so maybe they're the problem. Hmm.

He was miserable for two days last week. He's still coughing a little and his nose runs but it's my turn to be miserable. It's as if my body has cold layers, the worst and most sensitive layer being my skin. I'm spending most of my time in bed under a blanket and two comforters, coughing up disgusting remnants of my immune system's battle with this mini-flu. I can't smell or taste anything, I don't really want to eat anything. So far I haven't lost my voice and gone to the clinic, like I did in January. So far. If K weren't here to do everything I'd be much worse off.

Somehow, he and T don't get sick like the little ones and I do. He's got much healthier habits than I have... like not hanging out in 3rd grade stapling bookorder flyers together, or cutting out construction-paper space helmets for kindergartners.

I think LittleK's next on the miserable list, she's at the constant-cough stage but still has enough energy to get dressed and play outside.

By the way, our nephew Abe has gotten so much better this weekend, he's been able to go home and hang out with his brothers! Yay Abe!!!!

...fill

I think right now there's too much on my mind for me to really write much. Just some random stuff:
The girls got their report cards, and they're great! I get to brag today. The only thing "needing improvement" was LittleK's ability to recite her address. They must have asked her during the weeks we were moving.

R is stringing more words together. "Moh. Doos. Ease." or "May, ee-yooz?" (More juice, please; May I be excused?) He's also learned from his dad how to blame his gas on the invisible moose in the trees.

We had our first sleepover guest last night, a friend of T's. She's probably got a whole new perspective on life now that she's survived a day with bunny-ear tv, sssslllooowww DSL, no Wii, lame DVDs, and boring old oatmeal for breakfast. Oh deprivation.

Time to enjoy the silence (the girls are having a sleepover at their Anchorage cousins' house). Better entry next time.

To-Do, and IHYM

I reached list-making status today. That's getting down-to-business for me... actually doing stuff on the list is another matter. All it amounts to really is doing dishes, filing papers, readying another book order, moving clothes from bins into the closet, and sewing six girl scout sashes by Saturday. I'm instead obsessing over finding bookcases to buy for the kids' rooms, and convincing the U.S. Postal Service that our new address is really definitely REAL.

I know I can leave the vacuuming for K when he gets back. He suddenly loves vacuuming.

The kids and I got some Anchorage-errands done today, most importantly an eye exam for T. She's gone from needing bifocals for far-sightedness to being nearsighted like her four-eyed parents. New glasses ASAP. At errands' end, I gave in to "Mama can we go to the mall PLEASE?", but when it was time to leave (so I could make it home in time for Lost) T put on her I Hate You Mom face and spewed forth her best Child Lawyer arguments about why we should stay exactly where we were. Eccccchhh. It was a miserable drive home.

As soon as I picked up a FranticMom Special from Great Alaska Pizza, she lit up and announced that she felt "much better!". So, I'll stock the glove compartment with pepperoni for the next time I see a hint of the IHYM face.

auntie hugs for Abe

Back To School Day! Sayonara Spring break!

Well, the disappearing snow is revealing about a hundred million dirty squashed drink-cups and even more raggedy plastic bags scattered across this beautiful state. I have an urge to make some artsy black and white photos of all the plastic tree-flags blowing in the wind alongside every street in town. A couple of days ago I found in our front yard a long, black extension cord similar in shape to a garden hose, with a double-plug box at the end of it. Somebody's got to be missing that.

Our nephew Abe is having a rough week getting over last week's chemo. It's hard to know about him suffering and not really be able to help in a big way. I would love to just give him a big giant hug. Kids LOVE big hugs from aunties. I think.

As for me, increasing fluids is turning out to be easier said than done. My 4am-brain is wondering if the higher iron content of our well water might be affecting me somehow. I'm ready to charge into the urologist's office because my 4am-brain is tired of being jarred awake by my 2am-, 3am-, and 4am-bladder. Something's gotta give.

K leaves today for a week of flying out of Philadelphia, I think. LittleK had a tearful bedtime last night, asking why daddy couldn't just get a job at a bank or something. I told her we do have to put up with him being gone sometimes but we're so lucky to have him home for two weeks straight, fixing everything and taking the kids camping and making yummy yogurt pancakes from scratch.

The kids got the bikes out today and had a good time. K found a kite, too... R luuuuuvs to be outside and is discovering new ways to get muddy clothes, cold hands and wet feet.

This is about it for my 5am-brain, off to placate the 5am-bladder.

Ski bunnies

The Big Ski happened Tuesday, at Alyeska Ski Resort in Girdwood. The original plan was for the girls to spend a couple of hours in group lessons while K took a few runs down the mountain. There weren't enough instructors, so K ended up skiing with the girls on the bunny hill until R and I got back from running errands in Anchorage. T was too tired to try taking the lift up & skiing down with her dad. It was a beautiful day, and the girls had fun, though LittleK reached near-maximum whine power by the time we left.
Maybe one day I'll actually get to ski.
It's Spring Break here in the Anchorage suburbs, and the weather has warmed up accordingly. There was enough warmth to melt the ice sheet in the driveway and create huge pools of runoff in the street. Today the snow fell slowly, and vertically, unlike Laramie snowfalls. It was so peaceful.
I've been feeling pretty healthy lately, because I've finally been able to sleep in a real bed (not the couch) with room-air that's smoke-free. I did have to go to the clinic today and left with orders to drink more fluids and down lots of cranberry juice... I have been given the official command to stop drinking Pepsi.
We shall see.

a visit

Advice to anyone still in high school or college: be sure to take Bowling 101, so that when you're forty-something and bowling with extended family, you will get more strikes than any of the other grown-ups and your score will even bypass what the under-10, bumper-using crowd manages to pull off. Then you can justify all the money your parents spent on tuition.

Today, Auntie Peggy, Uncle Pat and their girls cruised out here in their mamavan to visit us and get whooped at North Bowl by Strikemaster K. Uncle Pat even helped get the Massive Elk Head in place on the wall. As these visits often do, this one turned into a spontaneous cousin-sleepover. Apart from the requisite bickering, pouting and exclusionary tactics, it's all gone really well! The only thing I didn't like was R copying his cousins calling me by my first name, because in his dialect it comes out as "Ninny!"

Moose!

If you're looking for a new way to waste your time, you can go to roxik.com and make your own dancing stick-eskimo.

Today we slept in, then ate breakfast while watching a moose eat trees in the backyard. Our lot is actually quite the animal crossroads, since the owners of three dogs in the condos next door let their pets wander freely. Chenathedog loves it, after 6 months in apartment exile. The black cat that lives on the other side of our house comes over to stare into the patio door and just be creepy. We're not exactly cat people.

I'm dragging my feet as usual to get unpacked and organized. I spent much of the past three days fuming over the fact that (well, yes I could have done it) despite Grampy's big slip on the ice and more than one harrowing van spinout down the driveway, somebody didn't spread any sand on our front iceyard. In hindsight, all my fuming was a completely pointless waste of energy and time, kind of like the dancing eskimo...

Okay, time to hand the computer over to Miss Grumpy 2008. Moose pictures coming soon.

Moved!

We are 97% moved into the new house. Mom and John spent their entire day and night with us on Tuesday to help move the big stuff and also to hang out at the sports complex during soccer. They fed us pizza, too... many many thanks AGAIN to Gramma and Grampy.
The kids are loving the freedom of having a place with no people on the other side of the floor, ceiling, and walls. LittleK and R are sharing a room, so that their grumpy night-owl big sister can have total privacy and sleep-in mornings. We are already having problems, though, with the water heater, and will likely have to go WITHOUT hot water all weekend until the man who installed the heater can get back to town to fix it. The driveway is slicker than a hockey rink and the mamavan cannot go up it, even with a new transmission. Other than that, the house is a cozy little place of our own and we love it.
We're trying to get out of this apartment tonight and tomorrow, and now have just the annoying last bits of clutter to clean up.
I've got to hurry off to get LittleK from school so I can get back here and emotionally separate myself from yet another pile of useless junk.

wOOT wOOT

(click play)


... the mamavan is back

miscellaneous

Happy Birthday to Uncle Al! Happy Birthday to Uncle PAT!!!
I don't have much to say for today. Just:

• I'm obsessed with buying a refrigerator and a washer & dryer. If I'm online, I'm either checking the possibilities on craigslist, or clicking through Lowes.com, Homedepot.com, or Sears.com.
• It felt great to get rid of excess kitchen plastic, though I haven't obsessed over Bisphenol enough to reject plastic completely (see lifelessplastic.blogspot.com)
• The minivan could very well be hurtling through space on its way to Jupiter right now, for all we've heard from Kendall Ford's service department.
• T has an 'American Girl Mystery' birthday party to attend Friday night... she has to dress up like a Victorian-era orphan and act out a mystery play with 8 other dressed-up girls. So I'm obsessing over her costume.
• We close the house deal in four days.

Oh, and food has started tasting good again. Specifically, I'm liking curry rice, Ibarra hot chocolate, Earl Grey tea, sliced tomatoes, Odwalla bars, and orange juice. Tomorrow I may get out the tukaayuks...

Under the boardwalk...

When I was a kid in Nome, some organization put on a yearly competition to get people to bring in as many used aluminum cans as they possibly could. I remember picking up cans whenever and wherever I saw them, including underneath the old wooden boardwalks, and filling up garbage bag after garbage bag. I always scolded my Grandpa Al for throwing his beer cans out the truck window on the way to Council. wait, how did I survive 80-mile rides with no booster seat in a truck driven by my beer-guzzling grandpa? It didn't take long for my can-collecting motivation to change from whatever prize was being awarded to just simply getting all of those old Oly cans off of the streets...

When I worked at the hospital in Nome ten (!) years ago I helped start up their recycling program. In Laramie, we recycled what we could even though their center didn't accept mixed paper - which is a major source of waste in this household. I'm thinking of asking the girls' teachers to try recycling in their classrooms for a couple of weeks at least. The school system is one huge waste nightmare.

So yes, thirty years later, I remain one of 'those' people cringing when a plastic bottle, metal can, or pretty much any paper gets thrown in the garbage. Tomorrow we'll bring a giant load of recycling to Anchorage before we pick up K at the airport. Factoring in the six bags of plastic kitchen stuff I donated to a thrift store today, the bags of old clothes to be donated tomorrow, and the upcoming toy-purge, our mountain of junk to be moved next week could be downgraded to a medium-sized hill.
It's sort of hard {read: impossible} for K to support my recycling instinct because the stuff piles up so fast and we've always lived so far from any recycling center. In this hugely spread-out region including Palmer and Wasilla, there is only one place to drop off recyclables, it's way closer to Palmer than it is to Wasilla, they're open only three days a week, and they request a donation each time you go. Imagine what gets trashed in this city with the Biggest WalMart in Alaska!

"How to Green Your Recycling" has loads of information worth reading. Hug that tree.

Days...

without my spouse: 5
until spouse returns: 4 or 5
until we upgrade to 1100 square feet: 12
since my car broke down: 55
since my car was towed to the shop: 44


It's been the typical week of soccer, ballet, girl scouts, eat, sleep, repeat. Yesterday R and I had a little change in the routine with a quick trip into Anchorage for my Every 3 Months PH Checkup. I tipped the scales at 49 kg. The nurse asks a bunch of questions written for people with autoimmune arthritis problems (not me), I scribble a list of my current meds, the doctors come in and review the most recent CT/echo/lab results, listen to my lungs, let me ask questions, then it's over. They're so happy I have energy and seem like a normal person, and they have a hard time not teasing me about how exacting and over-informed I am. They poke fun at the notebook I usually carry with copies of all my test results... I didn't have it yesterday because I'm done stressing out about every last detail. It's time to coast for a bit.
I did ask about Bosentan, a newer PH drug which the hospital has finally added to their list of meds they'll pay for. The pulmonologist said that the path we're walking right now is one of immune-suppression with Cellcept, and not one of Bosentan-type drugs which have added side effects. I guess the focus is more on my 'functional class' or quality of life than it is on doing whatever it takes pharmacologically to decrease the pressure in my pulmonary artery.

Our mortgage loan was approved! We will close on February 25th.

The kids and I visited the minivan today. It's parked behind the dealership with the hood open and some big lock and chains fastened to the engine. I had to take some things out of the back of it and put something else in, since it's at least good for storage at this point. The guy who came to help me tried explaining how the ownership change at the dealership caused all of the parts in the service department to disappear (yes he actually said that), and I could only manage a shrug and an "I don't care anymore." I wonder if reducing myself to tears would have helped.

Thank you to Grandpa Jerry for the supply of wild rice ~ Happy Belated Birthday to Wilson ~ Happy First Birthday to Orson ~

And, of course, Happy Valentine's Day.

oh patience

We've signed many documents and are under contract to buy the house - but the seller keeps listing it on craigslist. Maybe that's normal but it just makes me uncomfortable. The only delay we've come across has to do with the appraisal, which should be completed next week. I'm weary of the process and ready to put some space between us, lenders, and sellers.

The Mamavan Saga rolls on and on... The mouthpiece of the service department, Ken, tells me (when I pester him every other day) that "the parts are not all here yet," and "I've ordered the parts, hopefully they'll get here next Monday, then your car will be done the next day," and "we found a new problem we didn't notice at first so we had to order another part..." Puh-leeez.

5 eskimos will fit into a Ford Ranger but you won't see a smile on any of their faces. Especially not after 37 days.

Dr. Kutryk

Here's an interview with the Canadian doctor who's attempting to reverse the disease process!

house news

We made an offer yesterday on a house that's about 5 miles down KGB road. The offer was accepted and now we're heading towards closing.

...from Little House on the Prairie to Little House in the Big Woods.

It's cute and brand new and by the end of February, it should be ours. Yay!

There are three bedrooms and two full baths. The house faces south and sits on an acre with verrry tall trees. The original buyer chose some nice upgrades before her financing fell through. Immediate needs are a refrigerator and a washer/dryer set. In the spring we'll do something about the yard, and next year we'll add a garage. For now, the crawlspace will probably fit 90% of our junk.

The girls will finish out this school year at Cottonwood, but transfer to KGB Elementary in the fall.

More good news: the van should be done tomorrow! So everything's falling into place.

houses viewed so far: 4

I need to find Dr. Phil's Guide to Home-Buying. He's written one by now, right?
"Stop measuring your self-worth as a function of..."
...what size house you can afford to buy
...what neighborhood you settle for
...whether or not you have a garage, landscaping, a backyard playset blah blah blah

This is stressful. Maybe if I look hard enough I can find my yoga DVD.

wide angle

There have been countless factors which brought our little family to where we are today. It's easy to see (and write) using this close-up, critical point of view... but I need to say that yes, I do see the big picture, no matter how much I luuuuv complaining about apartment life or finances.

K sacrificed a job and lifestyle he loved so that I can be healthier. LittleK and R don't suffer much from our big move, but T has an obvious, daily sadness about her because she left so many meaningful people and things behind. Not a week goes by without her reminding us that she will one day live in a house on the prairie again, with her own horses, next door to her best friend.

So, laugh with me about the neighbors, the van, the dog and all of my other microscopic problems... and understand the gratitude I have to just be alive, with the people who luuuuuv me so much.

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.

pass the Tums

I admit it, I've been a lazy bum since K got back. He hasn't been called in for any flights, so we're getting some intensive Family Time this month. I hope it makes up a little for the No-Dad days on the girls' birthdays, Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's Eve.
I haven't felt very well and haven't been eating much lately. Nothing smells, looks, sounds or tastes good! I spent the worst three days of it just reading Eragon on the couch. I also finished East, a retelling of an old Norwegian folk tale about a girl, a polar bear and some trolls. They're young-adult books I checked out from the library to read at the same time T reads them. I'm not sure about letting her read the ugly war stories in Eragon, but she's been able to process (slightly) similar stuff in the HP series and in the LOTR movies. My girls also get into Star Wars and have their own rendition of "LUKE.... I AM YOUR FAH-THUH."
R is making the occasional three-word sentence. It started last week with "DON'T DOO DAT!" He's slowly picking up on some beginning-sounds as well.
LittleK is reading, reading, reading! We love it.
The Busy Schedule Season is here: we had Movie Night at the school last night, we leave in about half an hour for the Girl Scouts Gymnastics Night, tomorrow we head to Anchorage to visit my Gramma Nuz at Mom & John's house, K's taking the girls to Alyeska for a ski-day tomorrow or Monday, I have a homebuyers' seminar next week, doctor appointments, and another bookorder to process next Thursday. There are too many things actually to mention right now and my brain is full.
We've got some prospects in the house-search. The loan we were pre-approved for will provide us with a house about the size of most of our family's and friends' garages.
Get sick, and the dream changes a bit.

The Return of the Dad

K got back on Friday night, after being gone for 21 days. He'd flown to Detroit, Albuquerque, Bangor, Opa Locka, Bogota Columbia, and probably a few other places. He and the crew had a lot of down-time in and near Miami, where the beaches were filled with "topless women and gay men".

I can't even express how much more relaxed and happy we all are with K home.

On New Year's Eve, the kids and I met Auntie Peggy, Uncle Pat and their girls downtown. T skated, K mostly fell down, and we all had fun, especially during the fireworks show. It was very crowded and pretty cold, but nothing like last year. After fireworks, we ate with Peg and then we all crashed Gramma & Grampy's New Year's Eve fiddle dance. Those folks are there to dance and have fun but they're as serious as if they were having a church service... Uncle Pat won a door prize, we sang Auld Lang Syne, and the kids' heads finally hit the pillows at about 2am.
The van's transmission is mostly likely "toast", as described by the service guy. They can't get a computer diagnosis on it because the wiring has a problem too. It's going to be expensive. But a mama needs her van, so we'll get it fixed and have it back in about two weeks. No sense entertaining new-car fantasies. Just new-house ones.
Time to knit, since I'm not the fight referee today.

grumpy but grateful

Big THANKS to everyone for all the gifts, cards and calls. Gramma & Grampy deserve an extra big thank-you for letting us stay so many nights.
One special holiday gift was the time the kids got to be around their great-grandma Lena. Her Alzheimer's disease limits her experiences in so many ways now, but she still showers the little ones with love and attention.
The only drawback to holiday visits is that the cold germs and viruses are having big powwows too, smeared and coughed and sneezed between cousins, then passed on to the rest of us. I have to sneak-attack R to keep his nose (sort of) clean...
I have a feeling we may not see K until mid-January. The plans change on a daily basis. I don't know why the company bothers giving them estimated return dates! Spare the kids the disappointment please.
And give the wives some Paxil.
Happy New Year!

merry merry

Merry Christmas!
Quyana
Love
Hugs
Good health
and most of all, peace to everyone.

no mamavan

Today was the last day of school for the girls before Christmas Break.
The morning routine went well, right up to carseat buckles, until I put the car into gear and it didn't go. It's been below zero for a few days, I don't know if the brakes froze (I looked it up, it could happen) or if the transmission is shot. What it meant at 8:50 am was that the four of us were walking to school, just like people used to do about a hundred years ago. I think the distance is about 5 or 6 city blocks, but it's no fun with bad lungs and a 2-year-old at 5 below.
I'd volunteered to help set up Christmas-party stuff anyway, so R and I stayed at school all day, up and down stairs, back and forth between the girls' classrooms. Santa showed up, little gifts were exchanged, movies watched, and everybody loved having R around. He was waaaay too distracted to nap or poop - although when the food was set up at the buffet table, everyone thought he'd loaded his diaper... He hadn't, and the culprit turned out to be a whole bowl full of cauliflower. What parent sends in a bowl of cauliflower to their kid's school party?
So it was a fun day, really, just verrrrrry long and sugarloaded. T was mortified at the thought of her (nearly) whole family riding the bus home so we hoofed it back again at the end of the day. R passed out on my back so I felt like a real eskimo for about ten minutes, haaaha.
I am spoiled and so found myself feeling a little irritated that K's not here to just fix this problem for me. And to walk the dog.
The plan is for me to get the repair process going, and to lean on the parents tomorrow for a ride into Anchorage to get K's truck.
Aside from all of that, my INR this week is a high 3.3, so I'm back to weekly INR checks. blech.

mail dysfunction

Christmas is a tsunami and it's rolling in.
I tried all weekend to mail the box of presents to Bemidji - it didn't happen. I had some weird delays on Saturday, some unplanned events Sunday, then when I finally was standing in line at the Anchorage airport P.O. (for 45 minutes with 3 hungry kids and about 70 other humorless people), Misterguy produced a stinkbomb. I wasn't about to wait another 45 or even 5 minutes in line with that turn of events...
I sometimes try to remember what life was like before it turned into a string of gross-out stories. From what I hear the path ahead will be mostly a string of eye-rolling, expensive, baffling teenage moments. I'll probably blunder down that path and wish I could have the stinkbomb-years back!

Life teetered out of balance again last week, K got called to fly to Detroit until December 27th. He's since flown to Albuquerque and Bangor, with upcoming flights to New York, Georgia and Florida. I'm hoping there'll be a new-hire pilot soon who'll take his place at the bottom of the seniority pile.
I'm also hoping in my grinch-y little way that the smoking crowd downstairs will go away for the holidays. My bedroom is the Chamber of Secondhand Smoke, so I don't even go in there anymore. Turning my complaint around, I'm happy they're not brandishing any firearms or taking bongo lessons...
I wonder what I'll have to complain about when we move outta here.

exciting stuff

(from www.eurekalert.org)
Profound immune system discovery opens door to halting destruction of lupus
Lupus Research Institute funds innovative hypothesis and scientific breakthrough

(New York, NY) A researcher funded by the Lupus Research Institute (LRI) has discovered an entirely new and powerful molecular switch that controls the inflammatory response of the immune system. The major finding, reported in the December 14th issue of the journal Cell, means that new methods can now be pursued to shut down uncontrolled inflammation, restore immune system regulation, and treat chronic autoimmune disorders such as lupus.

In autoimmunity, the immune system designed to fend off outside invaders mistakenly mounts an out-of-control destructive inflammatory attack against the body’s own tissues and organs. “We have found an essential switch that controls immune inflammation,’ said LRI award recipient, Greg Lemke, PhD, professor of Molecular Neurobiology at the Salk Institute.

In this study, Dr. Lemke builds upon findings that he and his team previously reported, when he noticed that mice genetically engineered to be born without a tiny family of three receptors—TAM receptor tyrosine kinases—developed an autoimmune illness similar to lupus in humans.

In the Cell article, Dr. Lemke now illustrates how these “TAM” receptors, under normal circumstances, are so critical in stopping the immune system from mounting an out-of-control inflammatory response against invading viruses and bacteria. When chemical messengers (cytokines) prompt immune cells to attack, he explains, they also activate TAM receptors, which then alert the cells to no longer react to the cytokines. This keeps the immune system orderly as well as relatively tranquil.

But in people with lupus and certain other autoimmune illnesses, the TAM signalling network may be seriously compromised. The switch to inhibit inflammation on this network may be absent—thereby resulting in immune system pandemonium.

People with lupus tend to have low levels of a blood factor (proteins S) that TAM receptors require to carry out their job. Giving modified versions of protein S, or its related TAM activator Gas6, to people with lupus may represent a means of halting the immune system destruction of precious organs and tissues. “This is definitely something we intend to investigate,” Dr. Lemke said.

I'm still laughing

We spent last night in Anchorage, my parents graciously invited us and it helped me get better quickly. K had a 10-hour round trip flight to some Aleutian island so he was tired.
Back home today in our cramped quarters, we had more of Mom's caribou soup for dinner, yummy stuff even if I can't really taste it. K got the kids' bedtime routine going before he went to hockey.
Our oldest child is a night-owl, and constantly reports to us "I can't sleep..." long after the other ones are out. Tonight was the same, "I'm too hot, blah blah blah" until I finally set her up with a make-shift bed on the floor.
Within minutes of thinking I'd finally closed out the bedtime epic, through the window came none other than the sound of someone's happy, carefree bongo drumming. At 10:45pm.
So I put on my shoes and coat, walked outside, stood by the idling car parked just below our windows, and asked them nicely to stop making so much noise. The guy in the front passenger's seat had a drum in his lap, but the guy in the back seat was the one who politely said they'd stop. Of course they stopped - and started right up again after I'd huffed and puffed my way back up the stairs. They kept it up for maybe five more minutes when I finally lost it and yelled out the window, "COULD YOU STOP YOUR DRUMMING PLEASE!!!!"
That was much more effective.

sick sad sack

Newsflash, I got R's cold. I had one for most of the month of November but I'd recovered before getting hit by this one. It's sort of like the flu but not nearly as bad - I can tell because this only makes me cry while the flu made me want to die.

I can't smell or taste anything, my body aches, and I can't sleep because of the coughing and pain. I went to the Native Primary Care Clinic here in Wasilla and got some sympathy, antibiotics, albuterol, and pass-out syrup. Yay!
We worked things out so that my parents could take care of R & T today while I got LittleK to and from school out here. T had another dental appointment and this time it sounds like it hurts alot more. I'll just head into Anchorage after picking up LittleK, so I can down some liquid codeine and conk out at Mom's.

Happy December

CONGRATULATIONS to the Ogles and the Renneisens!!!! Beautiful babies!!

Here we are together again!
After a couple of weeks of single-parenting, the veneer wears off in places. The kids start asking "When will DADDY be back??" as if I need more reminders that I'm the Dud Parent. I'm just happy that everybody's happy and some of the layers of stress have melted away. I guess the jet lag is wearing off because K took T to the sports complex for a run around the track.
R has a cold. He's a fountain of snot and I can't keep him from sneezing and coughing on everyone. We're just waiting, watching, wondering who'll be next to get it.
Today LittleK and I went to Daisy Girl Scouts. I felt sorry for the leader the last time we talked and I volunteered to be her permanent co-leader. Then I forgot to do all the things I said I'd do, like look into a different meeting place, pick up an activity guide, buy some things for the uniforms, etc. Procrastination, neglect... not exactly stuff I can blame on medication!
Speaking of medication, I'm taking 14 pills a day plus one early on Fridays, plus Advair puffs twice a day (I luuuuuv Advair). I see people once in awhile with portable oxygen tanks and it seems so strange now to think that I was in that boat.

days of family and thanks

I think this is the 14th day since K left. We miss him, especially since we haven't been able to chat online every day, and he hasn't been able to call either.
Thanksgiving was good, my sister made delicious food and there was just low-level kid chaos. R had a screaming tantrum right after we all finished our "I'm thankful for.." statements. He also had a major stink-bomb. I think he's a shock to other peoples' systems but I'm so used to his ear-splitting shrieks and rotten smells that he still seems like a sweet, dimple-faced cuddlebug to me, 80 percent of the time. 90.
T is not the best company for her cousins, it turns out. She's so intolerant of the smallest slights or irritations that visits go south in a hurry. She's especially vigilant about people not sharing well or asking permission to use her things... yeah.
Mom & John got to drive through the beautiful sites of Bryce Canyon, Zion National Park, and the Grand Canyon, before spending Thanksgiving in Albuquerque with Aunt Wanda and her family.
On Saturday night, I took the girls to the Nutcracker Ballet in Anchorage. R was a roadie for Gramma & Grampy at their fiddle dance. The ballet was beautiful and funny, so the girls had fun even if they were so hungry or uncomfortable in a fancy dress.
The only health news for me is that my bone-density scan was bad enough to warrant putting me back on Fosamax. I'll get that report today when I go to Anchorage for a meds refill. Brittle little me!

Tuesday

Tuesday, the day I wake up and the race is on.
This morning after getting the girls to the school door, I met with the mom who did bookorders for third grade last year. I am now (three months late) the official Bookorder Mom for 75 third-graders.
I waded through the rest of the day, picked T up from ballet, and bought groceries, noticing R fading fast around 5. He slept just a little before we pulled into the parking spot at the apartment - and then he barfed. I don't mind so much when kids barf on the floor or in the bath or whatever, but carseat barf is right up there with bed barf in grossout factor and cleanup time. Now I have to do the carseat-dismantle thing to scrub all the smelly stuff off, yay.
Needless to say I pushed onward through dinner, homework, and soccer-prep while watching R doze on the couch after his quick bath. I figured he'd be able to just sit on my lap during soccer for the hour we're there and he'd be fine - but he woke up and barfed on the couch. So I told LittleK soccer was off, she hit her stride in a tantrum all about how she'd already told her friends she was going to score goals, etc. I really almost never cave in to tantrums, but tonight, being Tuesday, I did.
We were twenty minutes late, she didn't score any goals, and R only had dry-heaves at half-time. He's back to his normal self, with just a faint smell. Now they're in bed and I'm avoiding the 150 bookorder sheets on the table.
So I have to wonder, since the dog ate poop last Tuesday, R barfed everywhere this Tuesday, what's in store for next week?

A Saturday, with money

Yesterday the Laramie house closed! I hope the new owners can turn it into a nicer place. We'll be using the money to pay off the debt we amassed since leaving Nome - talk about the weight of the world lifting.
R is glaring at me because I didn't offer him a bite of leftovers the right way. First he shrieked, then fake-cried, crumpled to the floor, and turned around for the glare-finale. He actually started the 'terrible twos' about six months ago, and his shriek is the worst part of it all. It's sort of like the sound an attacking Arctic Tern makes. His future may be in professional bird-calling.
LittleK has a Daisy Girl Scout tea party today. Since I don't ever make an effort to find babysitters, I asked my sister to drive the 45 miles out here just for this... The Tea Party Rules state that an adult must stay with the Daisy and please, no siblings. I just need to spiff up this place a little and lock up the dog since one cousin won't go near dogs. I'm afraid that if I bring Chena to the Daisy thing and keep him in the back of the minivan, he'll destroy something, since his MO now is Do All Misbehaving While The Man Is Gone.

appointment day

The doctors are happy. The echo was good, the PFT was stable and the only concern I had was the early bronchiectasis in my right lung, as seen on the CT scan. It explains the trouble coughing up stuff, it happens often after pneumonia, and it's irreversible. So now I have Advair to inhale instead of Albuterol, and a funny thing called an "acapella vibratory PEP therapy system". It looks like a green shampoo bottle. When I breathe into it, it vibrates the air in my lungs to help me hack up those green mucus blobs you see in Mucinex commercials.

Chunky ChocoSnacks

We're on our own for a little while - K's on his first Lynden flights out of the country. I hope he gets to have some fun in between working and sleeping.
So I have the reins again, no more lazy days for this bum. We're off to a busy start, with Tuesdays being ballet-day for T and soccer-night for LittleK. The chauffeur part was okay except for a big snowfall. I threw together a picnic dinner of salad, milk, pasta and chicken chunks (nothing fancy for these picky eaters) in between ballet and soccer. We were heading out the door to get T, picnic bag in tow, soccer gear on, when LittleK asked, "Mama, why are there ripped-up poopy diapers in Chena's kennel??"
Yep. That actually happened today, our dog actually ate that.

So things could only get better after that, and they did. The kids ate chicken chunks at the sports complex without whining, LittleK scored three goals, and bedtime was stress-free.
Tomorrow I'll talk to my doctors, hooray. I'm not expecting much out of the appointment, just 'stay the course' again.
R had his birthday on Monday! He's allergic to eggs so we celebrated by having him blow out candles on top of a birthday-pie. The toy boxes are already overflowing so he only had two gifts to open, but he was happy.
Happy Birthday Dad! Love you lots.

Tomorrow I'm giving the dog some extra food so he doesn't go in search of snacks on his own.

Life is good

It was snowing a little while ago and it was beautiful.
On Wednesday nights I get to leave the house all by myself and drive to the other side of the lake to the local yarn shop. The women there are older, wiser, and funnier than I am, so I get to laugh and learn humility while knitting projects I never finish. When I get home, the kids are fed/showered/sleeping and K gets to leave for hockey.
My husband is great because he does all the hard work, he's an incredible dad, and he doesn't mind my hobbit-feet and man-hands... I only have to put up with some silence and smelly hockey gear.
Actually I started wearing contacts, shaving my legs, and even putting on makeup lately. Maybe the loss of vanity was just a temporary condition.
The lowlifes are gone, that's a happy thing! And only one person gave me dirty looks presumably to make me feel guilty for all the gun-shootin' I didn't do. Nobody's egged the minivan or left nastygrams taped to the door.
We are looking forward with even more excitement now that the closing date for the Laramie house has been set for November 16th! Words can't describe the relief...
I keep meaning to get copies of my CT & echo reports so I can obsess over them. As soon as I get them I'll post some details. My next pulm/rheum appointment is set for the 14th, just after R's 2nd birthday and the same day K leaves for a couple of weeks. I'm predicting the docs will be happy again.

To all the other people I know who are having health issues, I'm thinking about you and knowing you're strong enough to make it through.

So

I turned a year older. Still alive!
Halloween was fun of course. T's Hogwarts student costume was a lot of work but she was happy... LittleK was a beautiful princess and R was cute in his monkey "oot" because the elastic of the hood squished his face and made his cheeks pudgy. We went to a couple of big indoor events and ended the night with some door-to-door trick-or-treating in a nice neighborhood. K was out of commission the entire day because he ate something bad.
At 2am, the action started upstairs with loud thumps, screams and what I first thought was another glass bottle hitting the pavement outside... but it was a gunshot and there were a few more which followed. !!!! So I called 911, K went into lock-down mode, the troopers came, the people were arrested and now they're packing their things because they're being evicted. The shots were fired out the window, by the chick who lives up there, because they were being robbed.
The apartment manager said she'd let us out of our lease and refund our deposit if we want to leave. K didn't offer up his opinion but I said I don't want to look for another place, move all this stuff, and uproot the kids again. I'm also convinced the management will find decent people to move in upstairs, after all of this.
It sort of sounds like we're living in a slum but we're not, really! These buildings are practically new and only one lot away from the girls' school, we're minutes away from shopping, the commute is great from this side of Wasilla, and all the other neighbors are friendly. LittleK and I even said hi to the governor yesterday in the school parking lot - her daughter goes to our school.
Get this though - when I went to pay rent, the apartment manager said that the "rumor" is that I'M the one who freaked out and got out a gun!!!

Flixster - Share Movies

You know you've made an impression when your stranger neighbors tell the landlord you've been shootin' up the place. I go back and forth between cracking up about it and wondering why the hell would anyone pinpoint a mom of three kids for something like this... motherhood is really not that bad! I really didn't glare at anyone in the parking lot and I only yelled at smokers one time.
So,
February is not that far away, we'll get to the serious house-hunting soon.

O Canada

This bit of news is pretty exciting...
I just noticed it's from almost a year ago (!) - I've been avoiding PH research lately, it had to take a back seat to all the big stuff and all the little stuff like blogging, Harry Potter and sudoku. Leg-shaving, hair-doing and contact-wearing all fell by the wayside too, more evidence of how much my husband must really love me!

55

We've got a deal set to sell our house in Laramie... it's under contract!!!! hope hope hope hope
K finished IOE yesterday and had a fun day today, he got to take R to the sports complex for Turf for Tots. LittleK had a blast at kindergarten, watching a movie and having a teddy-bear picnic. T's class was treated to a special pizza lunch because their wind-up turtle won a wind-up turtle race during the school assembly.
School sounds pretty tough these days, No Turtles or Teddy Bears Left Behind.

I had a great day because my echocardiogram this morning showed a huge decrease in my estimated pulmonary artery pressure. In May, it was in the 70's, back in Laramie at its worst it was about 130, and today it measured about 55 mmHg. 55!! Normal is 15 to 30 I think. My pulmonary function tests and six-minute-walk went well too, mostly because the respiratory therapist cracks me up. Next week I go in for some lab tests and a CT of my lungs, we'll see how active the autoimmune stuff is and if there's any recent lung damage. Then I wait two weeks to hear the doctors describe the results, even though I always get a printout of the CT/echo/lab results from medical records and figure it out for myself first.
Time to put this great day to rest and listen to the upstairs party for a while before I get to sleep. Thanks for stopping by to read.
Goodnight!

Look!

Here's Abe's Bemidji Pioneer article:
J.W. Smith sells bracelets to benefit student with leukemia
Michelle Ruckdaschel Bemidji Pioneer
Published Wednesday, October 17, 2007

At the beginning of this year, Abe Fagerstrom, who was diagnosed with leukemia at age 2, completed more than three years of chemotherapy.

But six months later, the first-grader at J.W. Smith Elementary School relapsed and is back in a Twin Cities hospital undergoing treatments.

While Abe is away, J.W. Smith is offering its support by selling blue-and-white bracelets marked with the words “Abe is an All Star!” to benefit the 6-year-old and his family. Blue and white are the school’s colors and J.W. Smith is the “Home of the All-Stars.”

Abe Fagerstrom, 6, of Bemidji, smiles from his hospital bed for a photo taken in August.

“This is just catching like wildfire,” said first-grade teacher Hallie Baldwin, who would be Abe’s teacher this year upon his return to school.

“We ordered 1,000 (bracelets), and we just received our second shipment of 1,000,” said kindergarten teacher Nancy Aitken, who had Abe in her classroom last year.

The bracelets are available for purchase at J.W. Smith and the other schools in the Bemidji School District, as well as at the Early Childhood Family Education office in Bemidji and local businesses. The minimum donation requested for a bracelet is $2.

J.W. Smith began selling the bracelets about a month ago after a daughter of one of its PTO presidents, Annie Laituri, heard from a friend about a bracelet fundraiser for a child who was sick in Minneapolis.

Baldwin said the fundraiser for Abe, which has raised about $1,600 so far, has been a wonderful expression of support for the Fagerstroms.

“It’s a real encouragement for the family and for him,” she said.

Abe’s parents, Al and Kelly Fagerstrom, split their time between their home in Bemidji and Children’s Hospital in Minneapolis, where Abe is undergoing treatments.

“One of us is usually in the Cities with Abe,” Kelly Fagerstrom said. “He does come home for, sometimes, three or four days here or there.”

She said Abe will have about two-and-a-half more years of chemotherapy. She noted that he is starting to feel the effects of the treatments — he gets sick and lacks energy.

“And it’s hard for him not to be in school with all his friends,” Kelly Fagerstrom said.

But, she said, Abe has a positive attitude.

“He’s still a happy little 6-year-old boy,” said Kelly Fagerstrom, adding that the bracelet sales mean a lot to Abe. “He thinks it’s so cool.”

This isn’t the first time J.W. Smith has surrounded the Fagerstroms with support.

When Abe was diagnosed four years ago, the school held a benefit for him and his family. At the time, his brother Isaac was a first-grader at J.W. Smith. Now, Isaac is a fifth-grader and Ben, the youngest brother, is in kindergarten.

“We cannot say enough good things about J.W. Smith,” said Kelly Fagerstrom, adding that the whole community has been very supportive. “That just helps us so much.”

And the support continues.

“In every hallway in the school, there’s a picture of Abe,” Baldwin said.

Also, J.W. Smith staff members and parents are planning a spaghetti dinner benefit for Abe and his family set for 4-7 p.m. Nov. 18 at St. Philip’s Church. A bake sale and raffle will be included.

Meanwhile, Abe’s fellow students are posting messages on his CaringBridge Web site and writing him letters as well as buying bracelets.

“It doesn’t make any difference what we do in the school, the children just want to help,” Baldwin said.

To read a journal about Abe or leave him a note, visit his CaringBridge Web site at caringbridge.org/mn/abe.

We miss you guys. Hopefully for one of the upcoming holidays we can all be together and hear all of Uncle Brian's new (whatever) jokes.

A favorite

Originally uploaded by 5eskimos

Here's a photo we took at the Alaska Railroad depot on their big Family Day this past spring. It's one of K's favorites because misterguy looks alot like K's Grandpa John...

thump, stomp, puff, poo

Despite all the elapsed time and distractions, my brain is slowly recalling what life was like about, uh, ten or twelve or fifteen years ago when I lived in apartments and had a solid class-schedule of my own (not of someone related to me under the age of 9)... It's the upstairs people. For certain there's a guy in his twenties with shaggy hair and zit scars who somehow seems to have a hottie girlfriend with long dark hair and two fiercely yippy dogs. His car is the standard-issue dirty little black sedan with duct tape holding up the front fenders, parked next to my standard-issue no-frills green mamavan. There may have been another roommate in mid-August when we moved here but he loaded his weight-set and backpacks into his big red no-muffler-having truck weeks ago.
I knew what we were in for on the first night, when the kids and I tried getting to sleep despite the steady love-thumping directly above their bedroom. Since then there's been a drunk-vs-drunk knock-down drag-out butt-whoopin', glass bottles dropped three stories to the parking lot, loud music whenever and serious stomp-walking.
So now I'm the bitchy old mom with ugly clothes and no makeup, glaring at people in the parking lot, yelling out the window at the jerks from the next building smoking upwind of my windows. That's me.
Speaking of, after the chain-smoking lady downstairs moved in a couple of weeks ago, Dawn at the rental office slowly and kindly said that yes, smoking is allowed in all apartments (her eyes were saying you moron you live in a cheap [though deceptively respectable in appearance] apartment in Wasilla where everyone smokes and parties and has yippy dogs they drive around in monster trucks).
The real winner though in all this World of Apartment Wonders - something that I didn't see all those ten, twelve, whatever years ago- was the chunk of pet doo-doo I found in one of the coin-op washing machines tonight, obviously separated from its two partners on the floor of the laundry room. Wonders never cease.

photos, finally

So here are all the photos I've had tucked away in the camera. Not all, but enough to show what we've been up to... I couldn't get the caption thing figured out so here's the run-down:
We soaked in the hot tub and had a great picnic at Gramma & Grampy's Tolsona cabin,
watched some Wasilla High School football,
ate some pudding at nap time,
floated Wasilla Lake in the kayaks,
rode ponies at the Alaska State Fair,
had a great first day of school,
enjoyed the big family barbecue with aunties, uncles and cousins,
whooped it up at one of G/G's fiddle dances,
sculpted mud at Point Woronzof,
and had a blast at the Bear Paw Festival.
The four smiling women are (back L-R) Aunt Wanda and Auntie Roseanne, and (front L-R) Auntie Sharon and my Mom!


On the left, I was suckin' up the O2 in Laramie in December 2006...
On the right, I was feeling the effects of all the changes we'd made by July 2007!

Packrats Anonymous

So I was sitting here doing sudoku yesterday morning, silently dreading the arrival of the movers, when I heard the deep rumble of a semi truck slowly getting closer. I looked out the window and realized that the movers were here, half an hour early, with a SEMI.
It was only half-full (which is still just ridiculous) but I was shocked, having expected a mere moving van. We opted out of the 2-stop delivery (here, then storage), so the kids and I are living in the shadows of our great piles of useless junk. They're having a great time finding hiding spots and forts which they instantly fight over. Everyone's thrilled to have the beds, TV, DVD player, computer, and familiar old toys back. Especially the TV. R says "eee-beee" as he stands about 2 inches from the screen. LittleK is over there staring at it with her mouth open...
I'll be taking boxes to storage tomorrow, once we get back from an overnight at G/G's in Anchorage. I already brought the Massive Elk Head to the storage unit, it was hilarious because that thing is bigger than I am. There are only two negatives in this situation - K's gone for training until the end of the month, and it smells like musty basement with a hint of gasoline thanks to the (drained) generator that's boxed up in the bedroom. At least it overpowers the doggysmell.
I love Chena but I'm not a very good dog-owner-parent-whatever. I felt guilty about that a couple of days ago and bought him some new chewy stuff and a nice collar. I can't seem to work out the timing of his poop-schedule though, and he's not supposed to be off-leash outside - but he won't poop if I have the leash on him, so he found the living room floor and the girls' bedroom to be convenient crapping spots a few times. yech.
Healthwise, my doctors are really happy with my status right now. I'll have more appointments in three months. Our nephew Abe is sick again and is toughing out more horrible treatments in Minneapolis, so my problems are nothing really. We love you Abe!!!
We're about to escape our cramped quarters and head to Anchorage to do a (very late) family birthday thing for the girls. Pictures on the way soon...

news

Wow things have changed!
K got the Lynden job, packed all of our belongings and drove up from Laramie last weekend. The kids and I had already moved into a tiny apartment here in Wasilla on the 15th with help from our eight-month hosts-turned-movers, Gramma and Grampy. We are forever in their debt. Hey we're forever in debt anyway.
The Laramie house is on the market and we've had some offers. A couple of offers were close to working out but didn't. So... selling a house is a bit stressful.
School started! Kindergarten doesn't start until next week, but they had some testing on Monday of this week. T is adjusting to all the new things - new home, neighborhood, school, teacher, potential friends, etc. She's sort of bummed out that 'nobody wants to play' with her at recess, but that will hopefully change soon. She calls her best friend in Laramie about once a week. She reads book after book. The other options are playing with her brother and sister or going outside with the dog for a while. LittleK is super excited for school and is happy to have her dog back.
We're roughing it without couches, a table or a TV until the moving van gets here about September 4th. Our little car-DVD player stopped working a long time ago, and we just got phone and internet service yesterday I think.
We're all getting used to rules like being quiet (!), no bikes or toys outside and no storage room inside for them, park your car this certain way, don't use the dishwasher at this time of day, don't let your kids play outside (!), etc. The apartment grounds are half-paved lots and half-gravel for dogs to poop on, no playground in sight. Hopefully six months will pass quickly. Other than those minor annoyances we all like Wasilla so far.
R is vertically-inclined. Of course that means he falls down from the heights he reaches so there's always some bump or thump happening. He has no fear on ladders or stairs at the playground and since he started running, he's hard to catch. His speech still isn't very clear but he tries new words all the time. We like to try to get him to say 'sudoku' (dukka-doo) and we're still trying for 'please' (eee).
LittleK is boorrrrrrrrrrred and Misterguy pooped so I'll have to leave it at that.

relatives, interview, moooooose

T & K cruised on up the AlCan in four days. They showed up at about 6pm on July 3rd. The sisters were such polite little best friends to each other for two whole days! It was hard for me to really enjoy that peace because I knew what was just around the corner, glaring, tattling, scratching, hissing and yes, biting. And wart-threats. K had to go back to Laramie on the 9th.
We've all been adjusting pretty well to this weird refugee stage of our lives. The day camps are a nice distraction and having the messy, smelly old minivan back is really comforting. I was doing a sort of inner-William Wallace thing when I drove it again for the first time... FREEDOMMMMMM! The kids and I call it the Moose Car because of the noise the power steering makes when we turn. The girls want to put some fake antlers on the roof to see if the real moose along the side of the road will notice.
LittleK would have been signed up for Kindergarten if we were still in Laramie, as their school district allows four-year-olds who will turn five by September 15th. Here in Anchorage and Wasilla, the birthdate deadline is September 1st. So we're jumping through the hoops of 'Early-Entry' stuff: a psychologist's evaluation of her IQ and visual & motor skills, and some other paperwork. We could have gone through the expense (and boredom) of another year of preschool for her but we decided she'll be much better off in Kindergarten. The psychologist said she's ready - we'll know more when his written report comes in the mail. Now all we need is to know which city we'll live in and which school these kids will attend!
K came back up this weekend for a job interview on Friday. He said it went well and the company will call him back this coming Friday... !!!!! He was able to be here for our big family potluck but had to get on the jet to Denver at midnight last night.
All the people who were here last night included: our Chidester relatives Wanda and her daughter Heidi, Auntie Sharon, Uncle Paul, Auntie Roseanne, Rick, Peggy & Pat and kids, K & me & kids, and Gramma & Grampy. There was an abundance of delicious food and non-stop kid noise. Heidi & Wanda are visiting this week from Albuquerque and it's so interesting to hear everyone's stories about those old Montana Chidesters. Genealogy research can create priceless connections and memories...
As for me, I'm in the waiting stage between 3-month doctor appointments. I had some blood drawn last week and still have frequent coumadin-monitoring done. I feel fine except for some chest congestion, an easy price to pay for kissing germy kids.
I''ve been feeling like Mama the Conqueror! I defeated three nasty plantar warts which had their hold on T's feet for a few months. Two words: duct tape. They most likely won't come back but since the ick factor is pretty high I'll be checking our family feet for a long time.

... more cat-fighting to stop. And now they woke up their brother.

quick hi

Happy Birthday Grandma R! Happy Birthday to BigB in Bemidji!
I have to leave now and referee some disputes.
Favorite quote of the week: "I will touch you with my warty foot if you don't stop bugging me!!" (big sister to little sister) ... ew, warts!

birthdays, travels...

Happy Birthday to my sisters! P yesterday, J tomorrow. My youngest brother had a birthday last week, one of my nieces turns 3 on the 4th, and one of my nephews will be 10 on the 7th! Our Minnesota relatives have some special days coming up this month too...
Today is the 13th anniversary of the day K and I were married. Right now he and T are driving between Dawson Creek, BC, and Whitehorse, YT. They started their long drive up early Saturday morning and made it nearly 800 miles that first day. Sunday, they drove from Lethbridge, AB to Dawson Creek. Hopefully they'll get as far as Whitehorse tonight, then finish the drive tomorrow night.
R is screaming at me, he wants me to fix a hopelessly broken toy and now he's screaming harder because he just hit his face with it. I think it's nap time.