Halloween Package

The day finally arrived! Anya has been eagerly awaiting the arrival of her wonderful, amazing Halloween package sent with TLC from her favorite Grandma. As soon as she saw the box, she started jumping up and down and of course she had to try it on right away...





Mom--You are wonderful! Thanks for always making Anya's dreams come true!

The End of Summer – It Really Never Was

It’s no longer Termination Dust on the distant Bear Mountain; it’s snowing large flakes that melt instantly on the driveway. The trees look like someone was baking and sifted powdered sugar hap-hazardly across the branches and the lawn trying to cover the turning and falling leaves. Fred has worked all summer on the yard to make it a lush green surrounded by newly planted trees. Now the long wait to see if it all comes back. :-]

The chastising has become outright criticism from my lovely daughters! Hear the screams – “Mom is delinquent – her Blog is missing serious updates.” So here is my redemption piece. I need forgiveness for the following: making the emergency trip to Nebraska in July; staff training in August; a trip to see the new grandson in Washington; year-end closeout for DoD in September; trying my hand at quilting, for months, to get the art of Warm Window Quilts; and yes – making sure the important grandchildren all have their favorite Halloween characters in full regalia!

At last, a chance to brag and boast about the favorite things in life. My honey has kept the vigil of studying books and acing practical exams by marking another milestone, errr Skymiles, in his race for the Alaskan skies. Last week he passed his instrument tests and practical flight with the FAA. He then passed the flight test for night flying and mountain flying. He has taken several night flights – to Homer, Soldotna, and places unknown. He left for Hawaii Sunday and arriving on Monday were the books for his commercial license! Gee – I’m sure it just a few more dollars, a few more flights, and a few more tests…..a few more days where he talks to his flying partner more than his wife.

My next project is teaching my grandkids the art of asking Grandma around Easter for Halloween Costumes. Of course they will change their minds a dozen times, grow at least a couple of inches and the Grandma will just end up sewing like crazy in the last month to make their wishes come true. I can hardly wait to see Mary Ingalls, Indiana Jones, a Medieval Princess and Tinkerbelle. Dale even prospered as I found a Pirate costume for him. (It doubles as a sleeper!) Poor Aaron, the little guy will be wearing something unknown for the moment! I loved shopping and sewing; only Opa thought he was first in line for me to finish the windows. AHH – that remains a work in progress, as does the Blues Clues blanket. I took leave this week to work in my cave, but even that has not happened. I will be there tomorrow!

It has been over two years since the Hoochies got together for a girl’s weekend and much has changed in our individual lives. We have kept close in prayers and in our hearts as one of our crew dealt with the conviction and jail time of her daughter (24 years old) on a charge of “guilty by association” with someone who hid drugs in her purse. A couple of them had serious health issues and these same friends have held us up in the last year with our personal trauma. It’s with celebration in our hearts that we welcome two to Grandma-hood next weekend. The big surprise – a friend that lives in South Carolina flew in for the event. It was two nights at the Copper Whale (owned by an old buddy from the Fly By Night Club), a day of touring art galleries, boutique shopping and an evening at the local theatre. Friday night events started with Jell-O Shooters, stories and lots of laughs. We walked Fifth Avenue admiring the works of local artists. It’s a monthly event called First Friday and comes with food and beverage samples. We then gathered at Gingers for dinner. It’s a new place and had lots to offer. I had the chicken curry with a dry Italian wine that Mary recommended. Of course we all tried every entrée that someone else ordered and a few bites of dessert before heading back to the rooms for a long night of giggles and stories! Saturday we toured the new convention center. Unknown to us, there was a political rally for McCain-Palin for youth of Alaska. We avoided the crowds as we admired the stained glass window depicting the Native heritage of Alaskans. The main room can seat 5,000 – not sure if that is with or without tables! Hobo Jim was in concert – so that was fun. We window shopped boutiques – no fabric for me- then to an Irish Pub for lunch. Unfortunately for them we won’t be back. The food was good, when we finally got our order, but the service was seriously lacking! I stopped at JC Penney on the way back to the room for a couple of pairs of black pants for work – big expenditure for the weekend. I had intended to go to the Spa for a Hot Rock massage, but could not get in. We all met back at the Copper Whale - some for naps, others for quiet time in a hot bubble bath! The Clean House was playing at Cyrano’s. It’s a very small theatre that does a new production every month. This story was about four women who are dealing with individual issues but bound together as sisters, mother and housekeeper. It was an awesome play written by a local artist. The main group went to Rum Runners afterwards to meet up with their favorite guy for late night dinner. I met up with mine by going home. Fred had to be at the airport by 0930 on Sunday. The rest went back to Copper Whale – ending the weekend with a late night stories and a morning breakfast. Husbands and lovers are wonderful and I have the best in one man – but girlfriends are the understanding that men just do not understand!

Alan can relate to this – my self-appraisal is due today. Only people in the new pay system of NSPS can relate to the 10,000 character limitation of trying to tell your boss what you accomplished and then not knowing until January if he agrees since he is not allowed to talk with you about it. It is then forwarded to a committee who does not know what your job is and compares it with (in my case) all other supervisors on the installation. The entire review process is 13 pages – the employee (me) gets to fill out the first half. The real defeat is the award system – there is none! I will be lucky to get an inflation raise.

I am taking the week off to prepare for another major event. Fred is on the Board for Safari Club International. He intends to resign after this year for personal reasons. Meanwhile, as a board member, he volunteered to host the fall event. We chose Oktoberfest as our theme for a quarterly general meeting. We decided the menu and then asked the Hoochies to help put it on. We will be serving 80 people brats, rotisserie chicken, German potato salad, red cabbage, sauerkraut, and apple strudel. This will be combined with German music, traditional beer and wine, door prizes of German cakes and books and finally the Chicken Dance! We are doing a practice run at the house on Sunday to give everyone a taste of the menu and assign duties. We have never catered before, should be interesting! The Hoochies will make it work!

I can feel the forgiveness flow as I have caught up with everyone near and dear. Again the promises of trying to keep pace with the professional bloggers in my life!