Prayer Request

DM is in ICU.
Her blood sugars today were 541.
At this time it is unknown what the results are from the lab.

Follow up on the bird incident of yesterday....
How did I catch the bird?
Well when it landed on the floor, I placed the box over it
And then nudged it w/a dowel to encourage it to enter into the box.
Once it was inside the box,
I lifted the box up to the window for releasing.
By the time the box was level with the window,
the bird was perched up on the side of the box flapping his wings.

Bird type: Junco.

dinner: bratwurst and pretzels.

Prayer Requests

Knitting: 5 rows done on DH's scarf last night at Bible study.

Our families cup continues to overflow! One family over in RAvelry is blessing 10 Christian families this year w/designing web pages for businesses. Our family was selected.

Prayers for the following families please:

My nephew T is in the Army over in Germany. (He will be shipping out at the end of Feb. for Kuwait).

The roads here have been really bad. Ice rutted- cars have melted the ice into grooves and if you get out of the grooves you go flying. Kind of like the old slot car tracks. So there have been some really bad accidents.
On Monday night there was a car accident. The father lost control of the car while driving on ice and slid into a pick up truck. A young man age 13 died 2 days later due to injuries, the father is okay -minor scrapes and bruises.
On Wednesday a Buick (#1) was avoiding a moose and slid (because of the ice ruts) into another Buick (#2). The driver of Buick #1 is an AWESOME safe driver (he grooms the ski trails out at the pool) I think he has some broken ribs and his wife is ok. Driver of Buick #2 is a dear Friend's mom (all 3 of her kids have worked at the pool with me). She has a broken wrist, broken hip (doesn't require surgery), concussion, banged up elbow. Her husband is up on the North Slope and is not scheduled to be home until May. On Wednesday, there was a snowstorm up on the North Slope and he couldn't have come home if he tried. Her son who is a Senior in High School is staying w/her at the hospital and taking care of everything (her daughters are in college. One is in S. Dakota and the other is in Fairbanks). Both cars are totaled.

So go hug your family and tell them that you love them. Also pleas drive SAFE!

Mid week update

Knitting: not much- work is so getting in the way of finishing projects. (Took my knitting w/me today and well forgot it there. Oh well- I have 4 more projects here at home). No sewing either.

No water aerobics tonight (no participants- one of my regulars was medivaced up to Anchorage with a brain tumor. Please keep her in your prayers). I want to knit but Bumpkins won't go to sleep! And it is almost 11 pm. ARRGGG!

As the temps seem to be dropping. Low teens- it is now time to turn the heating pad back on. Athena doesn't like to use a cold litter box. Something about frozen kitty litter just isn't right. Picky cat! (Someone reccommended that I sit on a heating pad for my sore hip- and they were kind of surprised when I explained where my heating pad was).

Dell called today and they have received my computer. So by New Year's I should have my computer back!

Tomorrow should be the last day of swim lessons. I am so excited! One month where I won't be swimming except by my choice!

Strange Stuff Tuesday

Yikes! this Advent blogging isn't going very well. Way to busy!

Monday- I will post pictures later about the cons of having a front loading washing machine. (yep- it flooded the basement not once but twice). Made some awesome cream cheese sugar cookies (they made a lot like over 80 cookies). Went to the library and 13 books later (several are cookbooks for Christmas meals). Went to a La Leche meeting (our hospital has remodeled and now I have to read the map of how to get to anywhere!) Didn't sleep well as we are attempting to move Bumpkins into her own bed.

Tuesday: Washed dishes, put away laundry, prepared for the washing machine repair guy, and went to work. Work, did 4 sets of lessons (2 of them are private ie... one on one w/a child), supervised and taught water aerobics. We have a blizzard warning in effect (so a long slow drive home tonight). Have to go into work early tomorrow 7 am so need to go to bed now.

Prayer request: There was a lifeflight helicopter that went down somewhere in the Prince William Sound Monday at 5 pm. The search was called off due to bad weather, the flight crew are members of this community. Also Agrium is laying off 80 people from the local fertilizer plant on Dec. 5.

Random website: Bible readings for the month of Advent.

Strange stuff Tuesday: And for that person who wants NOTHING for Christmas. Fast and easy!

M is for..........

M is for Music Studio. It is up and operational. (very loud neighbors now though). A yarn/quilt shop would be so much quieter.
M is for Men! DH requested sugar cookies for Christmas baking. No problem there.... he later says "I don't know what sugar cookies are -but they are buttery and have sugar on top." After I make the dough for cream cheese sugar cookies (delicious by the way- will post link after baking tomorrow) a lightbulb goes on that perhaps the cookies he wants are spritz. Yep. Spritz- so now DM gets to make them for him as I don't have a cookie press.



(Dove ornaments painted w/acrylic paint)

(do you remember these crafts- weaving plastic wreaths/candy canes through lace ribbon).



So for Advent today Bumpkins and I set out to go to church. Well after waking up at 8 am, Bumpkins fell asleep at 10:30 and slept until 12:30. So no church for us (wouldn't have been fun for anyone since Bumpkin's was crabby tired). So this afternoon, I decided to make us a Jesse tree. Good idea...... NOT! A Jesse tree is a tree branch that is anchored in a bucket w/ sand or dirt. The large branch and bucket were no problem. But the ground is frozen SOLID! There is no way that I am scraping enough dirt to fill a bucket. So we made ornaments instead. Now that was exciting. I taught preschool w/6 3 yr olds and used this paint. I never had the trouble w/those kids like I did w/ Bumpkins. Yikes! Thankfully she starts preschool this week.

Prayer request: Kazul has lost vision in one of her eyes and the doctors don't know what is wrong. She has moved to a new area and has to travel a great distance to go the specialist. Her husband can't take anymore time of off work at his new job to drive her.

Princess returned safely from Vancouver, British Columbia- her bag did not. Bag vs. baggage train. Bag lost big time. Thankfully nothing was smashed or lost.

Will the Kitty eat a carrot?

Bumpkins, (age 29 mos.) trying to feed Athena a carrot- that has been dipped in tea. The cat will eat most everything, but not carrots.

Knitting: ran the lifeline on Bumpkins tank top so now to put needles back in and knit. Will try to finish that up for Saturday, so she can wear it to the baby shower.

Not much new today, DH didn't go to work again. Bumpkins has a cold and football season has started. The bad thing about the pool no longer being a pool, but a recreation facility is that we have a football camp going on in our field. Not just one team but 3!! Nikiski, Skyview, and Bartlett. And the added work that is now up to us to do. A new sign on the door says "NO CLEATS in BLDG!!!!" Thing Two's camp started today- but he will go in on Monday when the season starts, only 4 more Mondays until school starts. YIPPEE!!!

Prayer request time: Princess has a lot of friends entering the military. Cousin T- who is in Boot Camp (Army), Robert Burns- boot camp (Navy), Nick Whitaker- boot camp (Navy), Arik- was supposed to be deployed to Iraq in 9 mos, but now is to be deployed to Afghanistan in 12 mos. (Army). Derek- whereabouts unknown (Army). There are many more but these are who are on my mind the most, 3 of these boys just turned 18 in the last month. Please keep these and the kids that you know who are now serving in your prayers. Thank you.

Weather: Rainy and 50
Dinner: ? possibly leftover chicken into a casserole. Thing one and Thing two don't like casseroles- tough for them.