Heather & Coal visit

Heather and Coal came up to Fairbanks for a weekend visit in December!

Coal is almost 2 now and a total ham.

going for a walk on Ballaine trail

Katie and Heather comparing baby bumps. Katie gave birth several days later!

Lincoln can pull off a pink tutu but I'm not so sure about this onesy

I love this photo of Coal. Shortly after this was taken, he was on top of the coffee table dancing in just his diaper. Wonder which side of the family he got that from?

Coco's blue steel

Baby Gavin taking a snooze

The Gang

It was wonderful to spend time with Heather before baby #2 arrives!

Thanks for making the trip up!

Dog fur hell

The dogs are shedding like crazy. And it is driving me nuts. Dog hair everywhere. I've turned into one of those people that has dog hair on everything that she owns. And now that we've temporarily inherited 2 more dogs, it's dog hair madness x 3! I've been obsessively brushing Emma, Sammy and Minnie.

Sammy and her spawn. I brushed off just as much from her the evening before! Minnie waiting patiently in the background.

Emma *hates* being brushed. She looks at me like, "why? why are torturing me?". So, I braced myself assuming these other 2 dogs would feel the same. Au contraire! Minnie *loves* being brushed. I'm not sure if Sammy actually likes being brushed or if she just likes human contact - very needy. And even though Emma hates being brushed, she gets very jealous when I'm brushing the other dogs. I'm sure she wonders why the other dogs like it so much.

Emma waiting for her turn for attention.

I am also vacuuming obsessively. I would love to vacuum the dogs. or shave them!

Reverb10

My sister is participating in Reverb10, a creative blogging exercise to 'reflect on this year and manifest what's next'. Since I'm more of a commitment-phobe than Kristina, I'm not going to actually officially participate but I'll try to keep up with the entries via this blog. I'll keep the answers relatively short, skipping the ones that I have no good answers for. None of my answers are profound, but this was a nice break from studying!

December 1 – One Word. Encapsulate the year 2010 in one word. Explain why you’re choosing that word. Now, imagine it’s one year from today, what would you like the word to be that captures 2011 for you? 

Transitional. 2010 has been a year of transitions. From Seward to Fairbanks (OK, technically that was in Fall 09). Working for a non-profit to working for myself and starting a PhD. Moving from the shoebox into another larger rental.

For 2011: Fortitude: strength of mind that enables a person to encounter danger or bear pain or adversity with courage. This implies that I'm expecting 2011 to be painful? Well..yes. I am. I'm expecting it to be mentally challenging with my comprehensive PhD exams tentatively scheduled for next Fall. And another 2 classes next semester. Seems like a poor word choice, hopefully it's not an omen. Probably a product of vitamin D deficiency (see previous post).

December 2 – Writing. What do you do each day that doesn’t contribute to your writing — and can you eliminate it?

Everything. No. 

December 3 – Moment. Pick one moment during which you felt most alive this year. Describe it in vivid detail (texture, smells, voices, noises, colors). 

Ice climbing: cold, hard, spikes, grunting, sweat, white, blue, pain, fear of falling, trust, fatigue, thrilling.

December 5 – Let Go. What (or whom) did you let go of this year? Why?

Stress. Because it's not good for anyone. It's a work in progress.

December 6 – Make. What was the last thing you made? What materials did you use? Is there something you want to make, but you need to clear some time for it?  

*sigh*. I think the last thing I made was a wool hat or scarf. Over a year ago. Heather gave me a skein of her qiviut (muskox wool) and I'd like to make something fun with it.

December 9 – Party. What social gathering rocked your socks off in 2010? Describe the people, music, food, drink, clothes, shenanigans. 

2nd Annual B'Arctic Ma'am in April. 30+ awesome women in costume. Bikers pulling rollerbladers from bar to bar. Music? I think there was some steel drum action that evening. Drink? Yes. Shenanigans? Of course!

Cloberella & Su-na-mee

The Gang

Blog (and Shiway) needs some Vit D

Winter has taken its claws, dug in deep and dragged me into the abyss of below -20 degree temps and 4 hours of daylight. If you can call it daylight. My 11th winter in Alaska and my tolerance for these extreme conditions have gone downhill (Figure 1).  If there is more daylight, I can deal with lower temperatures. But if the days are short, even warmer temps aren't enough to keep me from snarling frequently. Once March comes around, days are getting longer and temperatures increase, I slowly revive from my non-human state.

Figure 1. Temperature vs. Grumpiness. Grumpiness is also dependent on day length.

12 days until the winter solstice and it all starts turning around again. Our sun creeps back, gaining a precious 6 minutes a day. This winter in Fairbanks has been a rough re-introduction to the Interior for me. Up until several weeks ago, we experienced unseasonably warm temperatures but not a whole lot of snow to enjoy it with. I've been counting down the days until we leave for Maui (20 days, 22 hours, 45 min). The black background on this blog was driving me nuts. Sucking me into my computer screen even more. I need some sun. warmth. and a much needed break from school and work.

And so does the blog. Thanks Kristina for the help!

I promise I will be in a better mood after we get back. If we come back.

Smartphone is smarter than Shiway

We recently upgraded our cell phones and entered the world of text messaging. At the risk of making myself look like an idiot, I'm going to share one of my first texting experiences. I accidentally saved my phone number under Dave's entry in my phone (easy to do since only the last digit differs) and proceeded to text him. It took me a little while, embarrassingly enough, to figure out that I was texting myself. The 'conversation' went as follows:

Shi: "What time are you coming home tonight? Don't forget to pick up the CSA box"

Immediate response from 'Dave':
"What time are you coming home tonight? Don't forget to pick up the CSA box"

Shi: "After yoga"
Dave: "After yoga"
(This did make me pause because Dave doesn't do yoga. But maybe he was saying that he'd pick up the CSA box after my yoga class...)

Shi: "Stop repeating everything that I'm saying!"
Dave: "Stop repeating everything that I'm saying!"
(mind you, he does actually sometimes do this just to annoy me)

Shi: "Asshole"
Dave: "Asshole"

And THAT's when I realized that I was texting myself. The immediate reply should have tipped me off but it didn't. HAH!!