Finally, I live somewhere that's GREEN!

Looklooklook, green stuff! I forgot how beautiful green is!

That's Wasilla Lake in the background. (At least, I think it's Wasilla.) It's a short walk down behind our apartment complex. We've started walking the puppy there because we can let him off his leash and he doesn't disturb anybody and can run in crazy circles as long as he wants.

I've posted a bunch of pictures of Bruno on Myspace. Here's the URL for mine:

http://www.myspace.com/sparklecat_in_alaska

There's pics from my best friend's wedding and my kitties as well.


When the sun is out, it feels very warm here. The downside is that the wind has picked up again and the wind still has a harsh bite to it. When I'm outside, I alternate between wanting to zip up my coat and wanting to tear it off. This happens every three seconds.


But spring is here at last! Green things are starting to burst up from the ground like the police were after them. I was up really late recently (about 3 am) and I could see that the light doesn't completely disappear from the sky at night now. It's an odd feeling, but it's pretty neat, too.

People are coming in to the store now saying, "Oh, the mosquitoes are out in force. Stock up on the bug spray."


I think it depends on where you live because so far I've hardly seen any. And the ones I've seen are regular size. Nothing scary about them.

My parents are coming for a visit this summer and my mom was asking me what she should bring to wear. I told her bring a little bit of everything because I think we'll see a little bit of everything from the weather (except snow). I also said to roll her clothes rather than fold them because they take up less room and are less creased that way, too.

I can't wait to see how warm it gets this summer!

Nighttime in Alaska

This picture was taken from the stairwell of our apartment at around 10:30 pm. It's kind of blurry, but the colors are pretty.

And we've still got more than a month to go until the Summer Solstice. This was taken about a week and a half ago, so you can imagine with how quickly it changes what it must be like now. I was exercising at 10 pm last night because it felt like 6 pm.

One of my coworkers was telling me about how one summer he was out mowing one of his fields and didn't hear his wife yelling at him until he shut it off and came in for a drink. She told him, "Don't you realize that it's midnight?"

In other unrelated news, there's a possible change on my horizon at work. They're creating new positions called regional office managers. In a nutshell, I could potentially be in charge of the stores' office managers in Alaska, maybe even a few other states. Always available for answering questions, traveling to new stores or just to train new office managers, stuff like that. On top of my current duties as office manager in Wasilla, of course.

I think they're wanting to cut down on the amount of cross country traveling the field office manager currently does. If that's so, they better make Alaska a region unto itself. There is no cheap way of traveling in and out of Alaska!

I'm going to apply and see what it's about. Won't know until later in the month. The regions and the pay rate seem to depend on who applies.

Let's see. Any other interesting tidbits? Well, the local theatre is going to be doing The Spitfire Grill for their yearly musical. I'd never heard of it, but I jumped at the chance to buy the original cast recording, sold only by one theatre in New York. But it's got Liz Callaway of Miss Saigon fame. Unfortunately she's got the boring ballads.

Don't get me wrong. I adore a good ballad. And Liz has a gorgeous voice. But some of the solo songs she sings in this recording leave me a little flat. Of course, knowing me, all it will take for me to love the songs is to have to learn them and sing them for a few months. I'm wishy washy like that. The rest of the songs are lovely, very folksy and countrified without being country, if you know what I mean.


Now I'm starting to babble. When I'm not even making sense to myself, it's time to move on. I need to revamp my resume anyway.

Ah, the warm spring days of April in Alaska!

This is one happy puppy! He adores the snow. He obliterates any snowman I try to make and he catches huge snowballs in the air. If it's too big, he smashes it with his paws.

Oh, yeah, snowman and snowballs. Yesterday's snowfall is wet enough to make these things. All winter the snow is so dry it just falls apart. Which is good if you're cleaning off your car. It's like your car has the worst case of dandruff.

So I was doing the happy dance at work when it was snowing all day and the locals are looking at me like I'm nuts. "It's the kind of snow you can play with!" I try to tell them. But I'm the only one who's happy about it.

Well, me and Bruno are happy about it. Yup, definitely my dog.

Book mania!

Wow, it's been longer since I last posted to this blog than I had thought. I've been working too much, as usual. And Logan's putting more hours in than I am, the poor schmuck.

It's been snowing like crazy here in Wasilla the last few weeks! All the locals are grumbling and complaining. It's not supposed to snow here in April, they mutter.

Every time I see snow flurrying about outside the store's sliding doors, I start cheering and dancing. The locals shake their heads and say, "It's because you've only lived here a few months. By the end of next year, you'll get over it."

I stop dancing long enough to tell them that it snowed in April where I came from, too, and it was still magical. This snow is even better because you can literally see the crystals! I wish my digital camera could catch what I see sprinkling my black jacket when I walk in the snow. I feel like my own fairy tale were coming true.

But it only lasts until I go back inside and get back to work. Sigh.

But Logan and I finally got a day and a half off together. We went to Anchorage for the half day. We hadn't been for a couple of months and my trepidation about meeting another mean panhandler that would beat me like she were my baby sister was wearing off. Besides, this time we had a plan and it didn't involve taking our car to the shop. (If you haven't heard about how that went, let me know and I'll tell you. It's kind of funny now, but it wasn't back then!)

We decided to check out the other mall in town, the one that has an ice rink in the center, and then hit the bookstores. We'd already been to the five story mall.

This one wasn't as tall, but it sure did sprawl. We found a map and it didn't have a "You are here" button on it, so it took us a while to figure out where we hadn't gone yet. This mall was different because it had an ice rink in the center and we watched a young girl learning to do some of the fancy stuff you see on the Olympics. I checked out their calendar and sure enough, no lessons for old people, just kids. Sigh. Don't they ever have any adults who want to learn new things?

Oh, right. Adults are worried about looking silly whilst they learn. That sucks the fun out of everything, man.

I wish Myndi, Tiffy, and Matthew were here. They'd be right there with me, ready to look as idiotic as we possibly could in someone else's skates and having a glorious time doing it. Oh, and Awwen, too.

When we finally hit Borders, I went a little nuts. I bought about five books there. Then we went to one of the smaller local chain bookstores called Title Wave Books. It was pretty big for a small chain (I think there are two of them in Anchorage) and it had used as well as new, kind of all mixed together. I bought about six books there.

I think I'm getting bored. You'd think I was laying in a supply for a long winter. But winter is over! (At least, the calendar says so.)

I got a wide range and I've finished two already. I read one called the Raw Food Detox Diet. It makes a lot of sense and I'm really tempted to try it. But there are things Logan refuses to give up and I can't say I blame him. Not to mention a raw food diet doesn't lend itself very well to survival oriented people who like to stash food away in case of an emergency. I wanted to email the author and ask about that, but her website states she no longer answers emails. I guess a survival diet would be very different from what a person could do now, especially living in an apartment like we do.

The second book I read was a story called Marley and Me; Life and Love With the World's Worst Dog. It was a really good book. Even though you knew the end would be sad, it's hard to put it down once you get going. Everyone who has had a dog can find some part of their dog in Marley's life. What sold me was a picture in the middle of Marley with the author's wife and he was chewing on her wrist. The caption said something to the effect of: Marley never met a watchband he didn't like.

I thought, "That's my Bruno!" and grabbed the book.

Now that I'm done with that one, I've got to decide what I'm going to read next. I'm thinking one of my writing books. I'm determined to read every single one of these books that I brought home. When I buy used books, I have a habit of buying them only because they're dirt cheap and end up not reading them. Not the case with these books.

When we drove home, it was snowing and starting to stick, so we had to go slowly. It drove me insane because Bruno was at home alone in his kennel and I wanted to get back to him so he would know we didn't forget about him.

But we were happier than we'd been for a while. We'd gone out and had fun. We spent time together.

And I didn't get punched by some homeless lady taking her frustrations out on me. That was definitely a reason to be happy.

The differences in DMVs

I'll bet you've never considered the differences between DMV offices in different states. It's not something one lies awake at night pondering. "I wonder if Alaska DMVs have brown counters or tan counters..."

But I must admit that I was surprised and delighted when I visited the Palmer DMV to get my Alaska Driver's License.

I've seen several DMVs in California. Here's my impression. Mellybean will appreciate this.

Everything is brown... F**king brown... Brown again...

Brown, tan, cream, beige, neutral, whatever you want to call it. No wonder people who work there are so bitchy. I'd go nuts spending eight hours a day, five days a week in a dry, airless, brown building where the customers get so bored they start off with an argument just to wake up again. And the workers reply in kind.

Here's the first thing I noticed at the Palmer DMV: Quilts.

Quilts hanging on all the walls behind the counters. The walls were pale green. The counter tops were pink and the walls under them were teal. Only the carpet was brown. (Considering how there's a lot of dirt and gravel and mud everywhere here, that was probably a good choice.)

The guy I got to talk to the first time was chewing gum. He yawned just as I got up to the counter. I thought, man, this place is lax!

I didn't see a single person having an issue with waiting. Or with any of the workers helping them. They actually looked like they enjoyed being there.

Imagine, enjoying something as mundane as a visit to the DMV!!!

Well, I flunked the test the first time. It was my first time using a computerized test, so I guess it's to be expected. But I passed the second time the next day.

That was another thing: For some reason, I remember having to wait a while between taking the written tests if you flunk. Is that still true? Here, I got to take it again the next day. I was still a bit miffed because I was doing this on my days off, but at least now I'm an official Alaskan Driver.

My picture actually turned out decently, too. That's the true miracle.

Where was I, where was I...

... oh, yes! (Name that musical!)

Actually I can't remember all that I was going to write about before I was so rudely interrupted by my affectionate husband... who has not been able to be affectionate for the last month or so.

But all his hard work has paid off. He got a glowing report from the corporate people who came to check things out.

Only problem is today he should have been able to come home a decent time. With me. To actually have dinner at dinner time.

But scheduling snafu has left him stuck till closing time. So here I sit. Alone again, naturally. (And quoting from songs of all genres. Sheesh.)

Snow. I mentioned snow last time. Ha. Hardly any of it stayed on the ground. It was gone by morning. And it wasn't even sunny today! Still very chilly.

California was, of course, beautiful weather-wise. About 70 degrees, blue skies, etc. My best friend's wedding day was absolutely perfect for a game of croquet with the Queen on the lawn.

Yes, she had croquet at her wedding, complete with flamingos, a la Alice in Wonderland. And lots of tea pots, flowers, and little sandwiches with the crusts trimmed.

I admit it was a very rocky start. The bride's mom and sister were bickering back and forth about things that didn't need to be discussed right in front of the bride (sorry, Mom and Sis, but it's true), who, by the way, looked like she was about to vault across the room for a trash can to throw up in. We were running late, to boot.

Walking up the aisle, she looked like she was trying to hide behind the ringlets around her face and shrink inside her veil. I snuck a look to make sure she wasn't wearing sneakers.

But the moment she stood by her husband-to-be's side, it was like everything snapped into place. The rest of the wedding was fantastic and the bride and groom looked very happy, even during the cleanup time afterward.

The funniest thing happened to yours truly during the wedding toasts. I didn't have a chance to prepare anything, though I was wracking my brains with what I could say. Listing all our inside jokes would take hours and make no sense to anyone else. Making her blush was out, too, because she was already the proverbial blushing bride. Besides, the ones before me got to say the corny things that I could come up with last minute, anyway.

I soon discovered I had another problem; the garter that the maid of honor had created for each woman in the bridal party had several charms attached to it. I had it on my left leg and had crossed my right leg on top of the charms.

My pantyhose became affixed to said charms, causing quite a difficulty in standing up. Not to mention the fact that detaching it hastily could create a big hole in my hose.

When the torch was passed to me, I had my skirt hitched up almost to my hips under the table, trying to unweave the hose from the charms. When I realized it was my turn, I put my hands on the table and said, "No, thanks."

Several people were shocked. After all, I had known my beloved Mellybean for longer than anyone else up there (I think). In fact, if I wasn't already married, I met as well have married her myself.

Matthew even commented, "The ham is passing up the spotlight?!"

But they moved on rather quickly and I think my makeup did a good job of masking my flaming cheeks.

Of course, now that it's over, I can think of a million things I could have said.

But I'm sure deep down, Mellybean knows it all anyway. That's what best friends are for.

But what are vampire eggbeaters?!

When it rains, it snows...

And it is snowing yet again. I actually thought we might have seen the last of it for the season.

But where I used to live, it snowed in April, so I'm not surprised.

Well, I had planned a nice long blog entry, but my husband is playing with my hair and kissing my neck.

I can hear the squeals of "Ew! Get a room!"

We have one, thank you. Two, actually. One belongs to the cats, though.

To be continued...