Another Day Revolving Around Food

I had so many fascinating thoughts this morning. The sun, the moon, the sunlight reflecting off the ocean. The way our road is still covered in snow. The way my daughter is already wanting to take a day off from everything. Of course, all these lofty thoughts escaped me during the throng of the day.

Veggie boxes came right on time! Great things are happening at Moose Run Metal Smithing (where I pick up the boxes). Their creative energy is awesome. And then off to Two Sisters where the women have repainted their oven room and the place looks and smells out of this world! I told Marina that I would not buy her a sticky bun today and she said, "I'd better stay in the car so I'm not tempted." Two Sisters has a great blog which I've listed on the side of this. As many of you know, most of my early days in Homer were spent in this very bakery eating those white trash rolls. Ah! The life PK (pre-kids). By the way, that baker in the picture is the infamous Sharon of delicious coffee and mud driveway lore.

Many people are shocked to learn that although we live in what they think of as a palace on the hill we still have to haul water each week for drinking and cooking. We carry jugs to town and load up at the free water spicket at the Safeway. This is what I love about Alaska, there are some truly great class equalizers that still hold us together as a community. These include: the dark, the cold, the ocean, and iron and arsenic in the water. I used to think that the atmosphere of our community would change the day they installed a traffic light. Now, I believe the atmosphere will change when Safeway gets rid of this spicket or starts charging people to use it.

Calimari with Ginger Martini

Irene and Matt scheduled a birthday party for Vince and I last night. They brought all the kids and their own personal babysitter to our house and then we drove to Wasabi's for dinner. I'm pretty much getting over the idea that my Weight Watchers 10% celebration is going to happen anytime in the next month. Irene got drunk very quickly. We ordered salads and sushi. The salads came quickly...and then we waited...and waited...and waited... and the waiter kept coming to apologize, and then it arrived. Looking lovely, but on an over sized plate. Yes, it was good, but then Irene said, "Not as good as that that we had in the 5Th Avenue Mall. You know when we went there to celebrate your weaning Marina?" and I suddenly remembered some kind of kick ass thing we ate there, and then Matt said, "It's been so long since you two have gone on a trip alone together. You should do that this weekend. And do some shopping." I am always playing straight man for that guy. I said, "Matt there is no way we can do that before you leave for Vietnam?" and then after like a minute it all came together...
When Irene and I were last in Anchorage I made her and K.R. take me to an adult store on Spenard (a seedy part of town). It was part of my weaning ceremony plan. That and bra shopping. Anyway, K.R. found it un-Christian and decided to stay in the car. Irene and I hopped out and before we knew it Kim had come into the store as she realized there was more 'un-Christian' folk roaming around the outside of the store than inside.
I looked over at Matt who had a definite smirk on his face knowing that I realized what he was talking about. I looked at the tipsy Irene and we both started totally laughing. We finished the evening with a great story from Matt about how he and his wrestling team used to harass the hookers in Anchorage whenever they went there for a meet.

As we were walking out we ran into Sharon's massage/Jacuzzi friend Red and Red told us that we could have the birthday party at the preschool that she owns. Might be a solution! Time will tell. (I want to mention here that their food was ordered after ours, was way more, and way more beautiful and arrived before ours did. Next time I go I will get the Poke Martini. It looked killer!)

Thanks Matt and Irene for another great night out!

Regular Tuesday with Irene

Regular Tuesday with Irene is going to have to change for a while. Read this email I got last night:


Tuesday does not look good
From: m. w.
Add contact
Sent:Tue 4/15/08 12:03 AM
Reply-to:


To: Alana Greear





Okay, I’m off to a bad start. Tuesday’s agenda:

Get new fillings at 11:00am

Staff meeting 12:00 to 1:00pm

Chris’ spring concert 1:00 to 2:00 pm.



Maybe we can have coffee Thursday?



TO DO LIST:

Buy plane tickets

Get travel visa

Organize Maya’s room

Organize guest room

SET UP WISE FAMILY BLOGSPOT!



Irene

It is funny, I always complain about how the routine in raising young children is mind numbing to me and how routine just takes all the magic out of life. I've said more than once, that having too much routine disables God's ability to slip miracles into the day. Now look at me, my Regular Tuesday gets messed up and I become a little sullen. Well, we will have to see what the day brings!

Later

Is this salad starting to look familiar?

Right after I wrote that the phone started ringing. First C.P. called asking me to meet up to hang out with her daughter and her new grand baby. I hung up with her and my wonderful husband called and asked me to go out to lunch with him-without any of our children! So, I went to town hooked up with C.P. and family, (who are very cute and healthy!) and then dropped Marina off at school and then picked up Vince and off to Fat Olives I went.

Wouldn't you know that in the middle of all that Irene calls me to tell me that all of her day plans got changed and so she would be home and I could drop by.

Lunch with Vince did not go as I had hoped. He has too much on his mind and was doing that man thing where they can't talk and they can't hardly look at you because they are thinking too much. I took him back to work and proceeded directly to Irene's.

I couldn't stay long, and we couldn't really get down to business because Chris was sick and listening to our every word. We did get Maya's room clean a bit.

From there I was off to the Council of the Arts where I signed both kids up for Bluegrass camp and to find out the news we'd all been waiting for.... Did Falcom make the show?

Yes and no. He and Mystique made it in for the Proud Mary. He did not make it for his interpretation of Hallelujah. I was bummed. I really wanted him to do something different. But, this is the life as a preforming artist. I am sure that James Taylor would love to do something different...but... Look what happened to Garth Brooks when he tried to go top 40 from country western. Falcom cried the whole way home when I told him but we focused on the positive and both he and Mystique are very excited to be doing their show at the Jubilee.

Pictures of the Weekend

This has been a slow and calm weekend. Friday was mellow, and I spent a lot of time on the phone. S.G.(-So cool). Mom (My nephews birthday was good), Danny (It costs $5 to cross the Bay Bridge now), Cherish (who told me I did fine with Falcom and that he is like a small flame that is constantly moving around, but when he sits still, he burns HOT! She really cheered me up.), Dawn called (it was $45 a night to camp in the Florida Keys!), Aunt Phyllis, Mom, K.S.,

Saturday we went to Riley's birthday! A home run for Irene! A bowling party. Very easy, very simple and she cleaned everything right up and had an easy time of it. Very fun. And not very expensive, only $60 for all that bowling and cake eating.

Afterwards the Wise's came to our house so that the men and boys could go snow machine riding for Riley's birthday. It was nice to hang out with Irene in the sunny window of my house. At one point she said, "Alana, you know how you are always asking me how much stuff costs?" I said, "Oh Irene, I am so sorry that I have been such a rude bore, I'm just always thinking of things." And she said, "Oh no Alana, I'm trying to rub off a little of that onto me because I never ask I just spend" I thought, "Whew! Gotta love a best friend!" I mention this now because as I proof this I realize I am still mentioning how much stuff costs. Frugal, fearful or freakish....hum....

We made a nice dinner of MEAT and GREENS. The littlest kids played around outside in the cold sunny bliss of late winter. In fact Chris would rather play in the mud than go snow machine riding. Chris and Marina played limbo. Falcom and Riley made a karate and dancing show. The men drank a beer or two and we all laughed and visited.

At one point Vince took Matt to show him our upstairs. Now, I will mention here that this is the ultimate out of sight/out of mind location for me and the place was just trashed! I turned to Irene and said, "you know, I just haven't had the energy to turn that room into a sanctuary of love lately." Well, just saying that out loud was enough to motivate me to spend the day cleaning those rooms. No, it's still not done, but it is on it's way.


Grandma Kathy had these shots taken while we were in Illinois. There is a whole proof book of pictures I have to pick. How am I going to do that?

I found this shrine to mermaids in our living room.<

A Trip to the Dermatologist!

While I was in Illinois I had a thought, "Maybe it's time to go to a dermatologist." Then I had a conversation with my Dad's wife Kathy, "Maybe you should see a dermatologist." When I got home from Illinois, Suzanne called me and said, "I'm going to the dermatologist in Soldotna next week, wanna ride along?" I got the message and so yesterday I went in for my very first Mole Check.

Irene and I were kibitzing about how, if you must take a shirt off for a doctor, it is nice if the doctor is super hot just so that you can get the added bonus of a type of old lady thrill. We agreed that we both heard that this doc was not too hot and so she told me that I needed to pretend to have hepatitis so that I could go see this guy in Anchorage that is super hot and is also said to be gay and that would just make the whole thing even better... Ah, it was quite a laugh.

I thought of posting a picture of my moles, but my bandaide will have to do...

After a delightful drive with Suzanne to Soldotna we went into Dr. C's very tranquil peaceful office. We chit chatted in the office until Suzanne got called in and then she invited me in to her appointment with her. Yea, it was a hoot. I am so used to being in the office with my kids, being in the office with a girlfriend is so much more fun! She got biopsied for these things called 'fur-uncles' and then it was my turn for the mole check.

Now, I must mention here that Dr. C was not a bad looking guy at all and in fact kind of reminded me of a more serious Matt Wise (husband of Irene). After the appointment I had to call Irene and tell her that she could refer patients in the confidence of knowing that they would get to see a pretty good looking man. I thought that was hilarious, but Irene wanted to know more about my moles. Darn practitioners! I had to fess up that I will be having yearly mole checks from now on.

Yes, I have some suspicious looking moles. He took a picture of them. Then he looked at my face spot and told me it was nothing and then whacked it out. Then he looked at my feet and told me that I did not have fungus on my totally cracked feet. Now here is where it is so nice to have a girlfriend in the clinic with you.

Me: "So, what did he look like when I told him that I have a serious sock aversion."
S: "No change in affect."
Me: "What did he look like when I told him about the Balinese manicurists with the cheese grater."
S: "No change in affect."
Me: "What did he look like when I mentioned to you that we could go by the Agrium plant and get a haul of Uriah for these feet."
S: "Small smile."

A girlfriend will monitor the nuances.

We left the office giggling and happy with new band aids (mine right on my face. See Picture) and confidence that going up to Soldotna was the right decision. (By the Way: Priscilla decided not to ride to Soldotna with us to pick up her car because she had the chance to ride with J.H. We were dissed for a man! I'm kidding you Priscilla!)

Then we went to the gun shop for John



Then we went to Trustworthy Hardware for Vince.













Then we went to Gottschaks where I got a scolding from this lady.
It has been quite some years since I've had a scolding from a sales clerk, however, she was attempting to give me some perfect match foundation and informed me that she would not be able to apply this make-up on such dry uncared for skin! I was a travesty! Unless I begin nurturing my skin she would not be able to assist me in my beauty needs! Ouch!

Then sadly, even though we were not very starving Suzanne and I totally broke with Weight Watchers and ate this.

Afterwords, we could hardly move. All the blood rushed from our heads and into our stomachs and we moped around Fred Meyer's in a daze. We drove home hung over from food but giggling and happy that we went to the dermatologist together. Since I will now be an annual patient, we will make it an annual affair.

Day One of Not Driving to Town

It was a day of tidying up loose ends. JP came over this morning so that I could do her taxes for her. No, I don't have a secret math/accounting ability that no one ever knew about. I just have a computer that works and a link to turbo tax. It was fun to hang out with JP again.


After Falcom's tutoring Suzanne came and picked me up for Weight Watchers. I've lost 18 pounds! Suzanne even lost weight, even though she is a total cheese addict and our next book for book group will HAVE to be 'God Bless the Cheese Makers'! What is so great about Weight Watchers is that because we are tracking our weight we can see that we've only gained tiny amounts of weight only twice during this first quarter and that actually we are making a steady progression downward. We left the meeting motivated. Now lets see what happens in Soldotna on Wednsday... I fear a cheeseburger might be on the horizon! Yikee!



When I got home I chatted with Vince and after a while I asked, "Where is Marina?" He said, "She is chipping out the portal to Candy Land. It collapsed under the ice." Yes, she really said that. When she finally came in she said that the Princess came out and invited her to come down for the royal birthday.

Now Falcom and Marina and Vince are pillow fighting. Ah the life!

Pictures from the Weekend

On Saturday night we joined friends for Lisa S.'s 40th birthday. Great food like Irene's sweet rice with mango made it that much more fun. This is a maple cake with 20 + 20 candles on it. Vince took a super hot sauna with the guys. This was the view from the deck. What was also cool was that Irene got a babysitter and joined us for Lisa's party.



Now that gas prices at at $3.83 a gallon here in the Homer area, we have decided to stop driving around all the time. We've crossed that economic thresh hold. Sunday was glorious and sunny. Vince and I played several hands of cards on the purple couch in the hot sun. We decided to spend the day outdoors. Marina climbed trees. Until one branch she was holding broke and she fell bringing that branch right down onto her head. Even though it was sunny here it was still very cold to be out and so we also spent some time indoors.
Hope came by and dropped Barae and took me with her on a very long and beautiful ski at McNeil Canyon. And then Valda came by and we enjoyed food left over from the weekend party and crab for dinner.
After dinner we all watched "Kiki's Delivery Service" (5 stars from Falcom) and went to bed. Vince is ahead of me in most won cribbage games, but, I promise that won't last.

Party at Suzanne's!

Another night, another party. Tonight was the Lia Sophia Jewelery party for J.G. at Suzanne's house with her friends from the Russian Village. The Russian Community here in Homer is a somewhat closed society and I have never had the opportunity to really hang with anyone from there before. It was so fun to find out about their way of life and the similarities and differences between our two cultures. Its funny to think about how different things are and we are only 15 miles apart. It felt a lot like being on Saipan; hanging with islanders and then going to an expat party. Or going to a Thai celebration and then going back to our regular white guy life.

Suzanne said this was the time for the party because the Lent for Old Believers starts this weekend. I said I would make enchiladas, she said yea cool since its not Lent. I think I must have missed something because I made chicken enchiladas and when I told Suzanne she said, "You said cheese! They aren't eating meat this week!" So there I was with gobs of chicken enchiladas and I couldn't feed anyone. My grandmother who is still inside of me was rolling in her Midwestern socks. Oh well, you can't feed all the people all the time. I especially felt this when they were all starting to get drunk and needed food.

The girls all stayed until 10:30, with the help of Suzanne who passed out one last round. I didn't get home until 11:30 and today I'm tired.

Regular Tuesday with Irene

Regular Tuesdays include 5 minute blitzkrieg cleaning of the house followed by dropping Marina at school, having lunch with Mema, and then having coffee with Irene. Regular Tuesday has been altered of late because Irene has stopped drinking coffee in favor of green tea because she is trying to be a Skinny Bitch. According to the book, that is what Skinny Bitches do.

Topics Covered Today:
-Did I sound too bitchy on the message to the school counselor?
-What size veggie box should Irene order from Full Circle Farm?
-Girl Party recap
-How our being in Long Term Care will suck totally if we have to be there with J.D.
-Where do you shop online for groovy 16 year old boy clothes?
-"To Retain or Not to Retain" Angst
-Acknowledging our ADD and the liberation this acknowledgment allows us to feel.

Afternoon at Kilcher Beach

The sun was out today in full and Vince decided it would be a good idea for us all to go to the beach. He loaded up the snow machines and down to the Kilcher Homestead we went. It was a fantastic idea.
Vince lived at the homestead when we met. It is always good to see our friends Charlotte, Otto, and August and just relax in the beauty of Kachemak Bay.






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There were huge chunks of ice and coal on the beach. Seals and otters came by to check us out. The kids had fun exploring and I had fun visting with my friend. Even Scratch enjoyed himself but that run back up to the barn from the beach was hard on his nearly 9 year old body.








We came home to curry from the crockpot and Howl's Moving Castle on the DVD. We all slept well