|
| Yesterday was probably the best Valentine's Day I've ever had. Mark and I slept in pretty late, but he joined me down at the gym which was good. I made dinner, which had Mark feeling like a king and making sounds of satisfaction like the corn-on-the-cob scene in "What About Bob?" ("Is it hand shucked?") He said it was so good that he was considering forbidding me to ever work at another job again. If ever he had doubts about my culinary abilities, which I don't think he did, they have dissipated like water on hot sauna rocks. Perhaps you're wondering about the menu...
almond & breadcrumb crusted chicken breasts
oven roasted asparagus with olive oil
creamy fettuccine with mushrooms
rosemary potato bread with goat cheese and prosciutto
It was heavenly! I also made my first chocolate cake from scratch this week. We took the cake over to a late night chocolate fondue party. We ate and danced and laughed and played rock band. We didn't get into bed until 3am which is the latest we've stayed up and out in ages. Today I have a load of housework to do while Mark is working. Considering I haven't had a job for a few weeks I have managed to keep myself relatively busy with friends and cooking and visits to the dentist of which more are soon to come. I figure I might as well get all those things done that I felt I didn't have time for while on an unpredictable schedule. I also need to get going on taxes...that sounds horrible! I am also very excited that we probably have only another month, maybe two, of snowy icy winter. It'll take time for it all to melt, but today the weather warmed a bit and I can only look forward to warmer days.
Ladies & gentlemen, please fasten your seatbelts...
| | |
| Lots of things start with the letter "F". Frost, freezing, frozen, frothy, flurry, frog, fog, fondue...and also furlough. Yep, I am being furloughed, effective January 31st. For those that don't know what a furlough is, basically I will have no job. It's like being laid-off except that if the company happens to need more flight attendants in the future they have to send me a notice offering me my job back before they can hire anybody else. This could be weeks, months, or years depending on the needs of the company. So now Mark and I have a lot of things to figure out. We have benefits for 3 months which will be the end of April. Our lease also ends in April. At the moment I would guess if the company doesn't ask me back by the end of April will we will pack up our car for a road trip to Portland. I don't really know how I feel about it at the moment. It's hard to be happy or sad because I know that whatever happens there is something good for us in the end. Mysterious would be the way to describe our future at the moment. I don't like the idea of looking for a job in Portland, but that too is nothing to worry about. I cannot open or close any door in this world. It is all by God's provision and goodness towards us. Anybody have a sweet job down there?
It was great to see all of you down there that we did and we're sorry we missed everybody else. It never is enough time. Hope all is well now that the snow has melted. Living in Alaska also teaches you about instant gratification at the store. There has not been frozen spinach for ages and yesterday there was no sliced mushrooms either. Apparently the truck turned over on the Al-Can. You can't always have what you want when you want it.
| | |
| This year is a lot of firsts. I've never been away from home on Christmas Eve which is when my family always celebrates. I've never worked before. I've never been so far away and spent so much of the day alone or with strangers. I've never not had that traditional dinner with all the Finnish goodies that make Christmas what it is. I'm not going to lie, it's a little sad for me. Mark and I did have our own Christmas last Saturday, but it's just not quite the same, as lovely as it was. Hopefully I won't get called in tomorrow and hopefully we'll be able to catch a flight quickly and not sit in the airport for ages.
My company posted the following to all the employees and I thought it was really fun, granted it has a lot of airline lingo. May you all enjoy it too and a very Merry Christmas to everyone out there. Much love and many blessings!!
The Night Before Christmas
By Barbara Evans, Reservations Sales Agent/SEA
’Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the center
We’d key in the cities and then we’d press “enter.” We’re hoping for flights that would be a go, But most had been canceled because of the snow.
Some agents had stayed at their stations all night Just hoping their callers could still get a flight. And Chris at his desk in the night and the day Bringing food in for us, so we’d all be okay.
When out on the back lot I heard such a clatter, I ran to the window to see what was the matter. They were slipping and sliding and trying to park, A challenge with snow and with ice and the dark. When, what to my wondering eyes should appear, More coffee and chocolate (I think we need beer!).
The calls kept on coming; they just wouldn’t stop. One hundred on hold now; I’m ready to drop. When, what to my wondering eyes should appear, The blue of the skies; now the weather was clear.
With de-icer in stock and the planes at the gate, We’ll get off the ground, though a little bit late. Announcements were made and the passengers came As the gates and the cities were called out by name:
“Now, Portland! now, Long Beach! now, Juneau and Nome! “We’re able to leave now; we’ll get you all home! “To the end of the tarmac! With the ATC call! “Now fly away! Fly away! Fly away, all!”
So up in the skies, the passengers flew,
With bags full of gifts, and snacks onboard, too. And the captain exclaimed, as they flew out of sight, “Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good night.” | | |
| I've been cleaning a bit today. Always good to get it done before Christmas. It's been an eventful week. Our dear friend Daniel Sanders was able to come for a very short visit, but we packed in as much as we could, including a trip to the ER. Many of you have seen my pictures of icicles here. They can become huge, long, thick as swords, or in this case baseball bats. We went for a snowy trek in a wooded field behind our apartments. Carrying our icicle swords, nothing could stand in our way, although they did break if you knocked them too hard. Mark formed the snow-baseball, made a pitch, Daniel took a swing...and suddenly Mark was bleeding!? He had a nice big gash on his jaw. A chunk of icicle had broken off and made a quick landing on Mark's face. We couldn't see too terribly well except to know we needed to get back to our place and thankfully I had a napkin in my pocket. Once in the light of our bathroom though our faces all showed that we knew we had to make a trip to the ER. All said and done, Mark is a very good natured patient. We spent only about 2 hours at the hospital and Mark has 5 stitches. He's supposed to get them taken out today. It's our first semi-serious incident since being married. This didn't slow our two gentlemen down the next two days though. There was wrestling and tackling and sledding. Sigh... (Another note on ice and its dangers...I was talking to Olivia Wolf. She was driving along this week when a semi-truck pulled out and a large ice chunk fell from underneath. She had the choice to hit the semi, the ice or a median and naturally chose the ice. It sliced her tire open!! Ice is dangerous kids!)
I went to Las Vegas again, but this time I remembered something extremely important. I know someone who lives there!! Our friend Salem who we met while in Jordan several years ago is studying and working there. I was thrilled to know he wasn't busy for the evening. We had great Thai food (except the worst fresh rolls ever!), he showed me the whole strip and the old downtown area. The Bellagio water fountain display is awesome!! Now I feel like I've actually been to Vegas, but I still don't like it too much. I would go crazy living there. And if I thought the X-rated advertisements were bad on my first small excursion, it was nothing compared to the droves of workers trying to hand us cards for their services. It's too bad really. But I did love The Bellagio.
It's been colder since I got back. Today with the sun out it's around 8 degrees. We've had freezing fog too so everything is crystalized with ice and the trees look especially lovely. But you really can't stay outside for too long. I do find it a bit refreshing though. Unfortunately I really need to do laundry, but in order to do that I have to bundle up and go outside to the shared facilities. I'd rather stay in my pajamas.
I made lemon chicken yesterday...can we say lemony!?!?! Whew, it was quite a lip puckering experience. Today I'm hoping to make phad thai, but I need a few things from the store and I don't have a way to get there til Mark gets home from work. Cooking is my only creative outlet at the moment....another sigh... It's good eating, but I still miss being around the arts scene.
 
 
| | |
| I hope everybody out there had a good Thanksgiving. It was as good as it could have been away from home. In the morning you might say we had a real Alaskan breakfast with Adrian. I made French toast (but added pumpkin spice creamer to the mix along with some cardamom), moose meat breakfast sausage (we got the meat from one of Mark's co-workers), and some of the leftover lingonberry preserves from picking in the summer. It was really tasty and I'll definitely make French toast like that again. In the afternoon we had a big dinner with friends and spent the rest of the evening playing games and watching movies. It was a nice break. I haven't had to work 3 of my 5 days this week, which is a much appreciated hiatus from flying the friendly skies.
I did not participate in the Black Friday festivities, except to get groceries and a hat before picking Mark up from work. I heard that a worker at Wal-Mart died in a stampede. Fear of dying would be another great reason not to go out in the frenzy. The shopocalypse has arrived for yet another year. Resist the evil.
Tomorrow night we are going to see Adrian in The Nutcracker in Anchorage. It will be our first taste of the art scene in Alaska. We'll see how it goes. Fiddler on the Roof is also showing in December so we'll have to try that too. Please, let it be at least decent! It's one of my favorite films ever and I haven't seen a good stage production. I'm in the middle of The Brothers Karamazov still, which is very good reading and gives me a lot to think about. Mark and I are also in the middle of The Last Battle in the Chronicles of Narnia. So many good books and so many good recipes to try....so, so little time for digestion. Miss you all!!
| | |
|
