Catching up

Always something interesting to see; I spotted these two giants in the parking lot next to work. They weren't too fazed by people, but seemed content to munch on the trees in the area, they actually eat bark in the winter, weird huh!   And yes, that is how it currently looks outside. 

Its been fairly quiet around the house, but with spring around the corner, I have been itching for summer & all the glorious sunny days that we have here in Alaska.  Yes, sadly its still winter"ish" here.  Lots of snow on the ground and highs in the upper 30's.  We officially don't have the all clear to plant outside until memorial day weekend, which has always been considered the first frost free days here in Alaska.  On a happy note, our days are getting longer & its still light out at 9:30 pm, during the summer solstice, it will still be light out at 2-3am...love it!  This years plants, that I've started indoors, include yellow & salmon begonias, & pink peonies.  As we will be quite busy this summer, Im going to keep my starter plants to a minimum & pick up most of my flowers at a local nursery. 


We have an array of household tasks to complete before late summer that include insulating the crawl space, refinishing our large redwood deck, drywall & paint in our living room as well as a bathroom remodel in the master bedroom.  The living room & bathroom work is the result of a leak from our jacuzzi tub, definitely not a planned project & we were upset to find out that only the barest of cosmetic work is covered by insurance whereas the replacement of the tub, tile work, flooring, sub flooring, & cost of hiring a plumber will fall to us to take care of.  This being our only insurance claim in nearly 10 years, it makes you wonder just why you pay insurance when they aren't there when you need them...I could go on & on !


With the heavy load I've been carrying lately, I seem to run out of steam quickly and find that my evenings after work are normally filled with a nap or soak in the tub, followed by making a quick dinner & watching an episode of 24 with Kyle, then off to dream land.  I never imagined that a few extra pounds would be such a pain, but when its centrally located, I can see first hand just what a couple of pounds does  :-)  Yes...I am pregnant, we are expecting the end of August!  After trying for several years, we feel extremely blessed, god is good.