Christmas, Christmas Time Is Near...

In chipmunk voice, of course. Quickly followed by All I Want For Christmas Is My Two Front Teeth.

On the work front, people have finally started chucking me out the door at a normal time recently. Today, since Logan was scheduled a different shift than me and he has the "rental", one of the managers offered to drop me off at home. I was just going to stay there from open to close and go home with Logan. It's just too easy to stay at work as long as I have work to do, which I always do. But this is good. I should start leaving after a normal manager shift, anyway. I want to do theater. And I'm getting fat, so maybe we'll be able to join the local club soon.

And don't roll your eyes at me, those who know my skinny butt. It ain't skinny no more. For the first time, I'm having trouble zipping up one of my favorite pairs of pants. I look mostly the same when covered in clothes, but if you saw my underneath (short of being shocked that I'm baring that much flesh, ha ha), you'd see what I mean. I think my body is reacting to the cold weather and the fact that I have a sit-down job without time to work out regularly. I feel like the contents of a dump truck.

But enough about my butt. Let's talk about your butt!

Just kidding.

So I was asked what should a person who is moving to Alaska bring with them. From my own experience, here's a few things:

#1 - Bring thermals. Bring thermal underwear. It makes all the difference when your warmest days are in the single digits. (We haven't reached that mark yet, but it's rapidly approaching, since most days are in the teens and 20s now. The winter has yet to truly begin!) Underarmor is a blessing, give those a try!

#2 - Bring a taste for dried, freeze dried, and frozen fruits and veggies. I've had a few of the fruits here and they aren't very good, rather bland and tough. I've been snacking on bags of dried apples and frozen strawberries from the Costco here (it's called Three Bears and you don't need a card for it! But it is smaller.). I have yet to get into frozen veggies yet because I hate vegetables in the first place and only like them raw and fresh. But I know I must do something about that.

#3 - Bring money. As much as you can. Especially if you did what we did and got rid of a lot of stuff to make it easier to get here. Also, food can be more expensive as well, though gas and utilities are about the same. And you'll have to winterize your vehicle every year. Not to mention if you change your mind or decide you don't like it here, it costs an awful lot to go back!

4# - Bring a good vehicle. Trucks seem to have the most difficult time in the snow here. SUVs and front wheel drive cars seem best. Our Yaris is doing just dandy since we got the studded tires.

5# - Bring a sense of humor. Things can seem very weird here at times, with the tweakers and the greater freedom to be, well, strange. There are lots of characters, probably because they can't, or won't, fit in anywhere else.

6# - Bring everything you love. You may not find it here. I gave away my oils, incense, candles, and other things thinking there'd be a store like my favorite one in California, but there isn't. I'll have to replenish my supply by mail order, looks like. Don't count on there being certain stores or certain brands here.

7# - Bring a ton of patience. There are very few roads getting into and out of Anchorage, so when there's an accident, things back up for hours and there's no way of getting around. People will do and say strange things that you aren't used to. Weather can certainly screw with your plans. We were having 80 mile an hour winds just a couple of days ago, and then it was freezing, and now it's mild again. Still hoping for a white Christmas, for crying out loud! If I can't get it in Alaska, where can I?!

Um, I guess I'll stop there. Can't really think of anything else right now. Feel free to pepper my blog with questions, I love to give advice! (Not so great at taking it, though. Gotta work on that, right, Myn?)

Oh, about the hair thing. I'll keep it long for now. Logan likes it and I've started putting it up again, which helps. I've tried a few different spray in things to keep the static down, but so far, nothing is working. May try dryer sheets next.

What I need now are all natural, tried and true methods for clearing up acne. Mine's raging out of control now that I'm off birth control. I'd forgotten how bad it gets. Any suggestions?