Satisfying Saturday - Surprising Saturday

Arielle has been craving Pumpkin Spice Muffins - I love them too. I looked EVERYWHERE - with no success. I checked the Thompson website and discovered they hadn't shipped to any stores in any of the zipcodes within an hour of us.  A friend posted a recipe on my facebook timeline. I made them. They were "OK," but not really the same. They were a great quick fix. 

Then, Lisa, an online friend, asked for my address. She sent a package of them. Arielle was totally surprised and happy. She was sweet enough to share. 

Cory works Saturdays and Arielle doesn't have school. We enjoy having her nearby. I think she must have been the motivation behind this game of Life. 

We bought a couple of souvenir puzzles as we traveled in the RV. Michael and Nolan got this one together.  The plan is to glue them together and hang them on the wall in the game/family room.

Stacia baked. 

Later that night there was Dominion. 

It was a great, lazy day. I think everyone was happy it was raining so we couldn't tackle one of the outside projects.

#WYFF - Finishing Another Week Strong

#WYFF? Finishing our school week with a bang! Stacia's monthly RadDish cooking club stuff arrived. I could have taught her all of it without the cute apron, recipe cards and kitchen tools - but its fun for her. She'll also begin to build her own set of cooking tools.  She loves baking and cooking - her only beef with this is she thought it would be like the sewing club - in person! Face to face with PEOPLE. She asked me how it can be a club if there are no other people around. 

Happy to have the microscope located, unpacked AND in working order before Alex needed it. 

We count this as a blessing as Stacia's power cord for her sewing machine is missing and my case was SHATTERED around my machine. 

It's been a full week. We've had visits from kids, life in general, a lunch date for ME, two doctor's appointments for Michael and got estimates from a glass repairman and a wood stove installer.  Glad for a weekend. 

Happy Fall

Fall has been in our part of Alaska since mid-August, but it's officially here now!  The Chimney Doctor came out to discuss installing Michael's Craig's List Score. He suggested we move it over further than we wanted. Michael is looking at building up a brick wall so the stove isn't so close to where the kids run.....but it will all come together. 

Later, while Michael organized in the garage, I was motivated to get out some fall decor. We downsized, and we are committed to living simply even now in a "real"  home.  I haven't missed decor terrible, as we have lots of color around us and no real need for me to buy fake color. LOL  Truthfully, I have wanted to buy a bit more and a hay bale....but I am not sure how long it will be until snow comes. Have you voted in our contest? 

I set about hanging flags tonight.  The flagpole from the RV wouldn't work with the holder on the house.  Michael cut down a broom handle for me to hang that flag. Alex and I set about pounding the stake from the RV flagpole into the ground up by the road.   He pounded the metal pole in and then we discovered he'd smashed it out and the plastic sleeve wouldn't fit over it. We were going to turn it over and do it again - but Michael ground it back into shape. 

Armed with new resolve, and piece of wood to buffer the blows,// we set out again! We had a lot of fun.

  Um? Can you see by his thumb? The pole has come through the wood. We couldn't get the wood off. I was about to call for Michael again, when Alex came up with a solution. 

::snort:: I love this kid. He slid the wood down the metal pole and put the plastic sleeve on top of it. He said it will give it extra stability in the wind. He may be right.  

I've been dreading the trees losing all their leaves. I know when they are gone, we'll be able to see the neighbor's lights and houses. I like being in our little alcove. Today, I realized, as the leaves disappear, new mountains may appear. LOL 

Yep - they're dropping them. 

 

Grandblessings Update

Bre let Bella help her make cookies for the first time this week! She's a little doll at 17 months. 

"Now, what is this?"

"This has some possibilities."

"Yes, I LIKE baking cookies." 

 Gideon is four months old (or nearing it quickly).  His sweet smile and darling dimples never cease to make me smile along with him. 

So many surprises.....

Four months - much has changed, many things have been in accomplished in those four months. May seems so long ago.

JaRissa and Lassie Visit

Michael had a couple of doctor appointments this week. The VA has gotten him accepted as a patient with the ONE board certified Motion Disorder Specialist in the state. He won't have an appointment until 20 Nov. 

AFTER appointments - some of our favorite people called and asked to come out! YES. We hadn't seen JaRissa for a bit of time and it was fun to have them over.  CoRielle came up and then Bre and the kids  came over too. We all needed our JaRissa fix. 

Bella loves Aunt Arielle and Uncle Cory 

 Jared worked hard to win her over....

She came over to meet Lassie

It was a fun break in the middle of a busy week. We are happy to be able to have drop in visits from the Gherkins. 

Mondays are so MONDAY

The cheapest place I've found to buy groceries up here is Wal-mart. It's about 20 minutes away and Fred Meyers and Carrs  is only 7 min away.  My grocery bill has sky-rocketed since we moved here. I look forward to gardens (which cost) and farmer's markets next year.  I'm still making meal plans, buying just what we need and stocking up as I see things on sale.  We use Freddies for "quick trips."  ANYWAY - I needed to go grocery shopping on Monday - a big run to Wal-mart.  Michael decided to come along.

He brought home a bit more than groceries. It's funny  Alex was unloading the car and didn't notice the TV.  We still won't have cable and I doubt we get local channels - haven't tried. BUT now we can do our DVD based classes without passing around the laptop.....while we continue to figure out where we want a screen, projector, and surround sound....for movies and games. LOL

This IS a Smart TV and I'd LOVE to figure out how to stream the next SeaHawk game. LOL  

Stacia has become quite a cook. The last couple of nights she's made Chicken Enchiladas and Chicken Divan. I love the break. She loves to do it. 

There's Moose In Our Yard!

We had fun visitors to end the day! I'm glad the men were back and hadn't left yet to buy sewer hose at Wal-mart so Izaak could share this moment with Bella.  

She seems a bit alarmed as she looks out the windshield of the RV

Dad's not worried - it must be fun (That'll preach)!

Mary Ellen had told us there is a good size bull moose that roams the area. We've not seen him.....but we were happy to see this little lady. 

Then we noticed TWO.....they seemed to be the same size/age

Googly eye moose! ::snort:: 

This area of the yard werea horse pastures. We plan to till it under before winter (we'll see). The plans are for this to be our gardens and chicken run next year....but for now...it's lush, green, weeds....lots of nitrogen in these pastures - about two feet of manure worth. They stayed about 40 minutes.

This was a great ending to the day. CoRielle were out driving when I texted we had two moose in the yard. They saw a bull moose on their way home; but they said he was pretty small.