Happenings

I can't believe how much stuff has been happening around here! I try to keep things simple and just stay home and stitch, but life just flows on and brings me with it.

One of my sisters has been diagnosed with diabetes as we all knew she would be when she finally got in to see a doctor. I'm offering support from 3500 miles away. At least I let her know that I understand how she feels. Getting a diagnosis like that is devastating for a while until you decide to learn to live with it and take care of yourself. It reminded me that I am not doing enough to take care of myself, so I walked Wednesday when the Team did and plan to continue that. I've made up my mind to work on my attitude about food too. I've done it before and I can do it again!

The Fire Dept. and I have been slowly untangling the big ball of red tape blocking me from a job in the office. The Chiefs have been taking turns being frustrated with all the little knots that come up. Hopefully, we are close to getting it worked out.

Larry and I had our 28th anniversary and celebrated by taking a fun overnight trip to Denali on the train. We saw the siding where our neighbor unloads his equipment from the train to go to his gold mine, attended a dinner theater that was lots of fun, and stayed in a nice room. A great little get-a-way.

I have a chance to connect with another stitcher soon! Linda from SC will be in Alaska for most of July and wants to meet up. I promised to wear a stitched pin every day so she would know me if she saw me. Of course, that made me want to finish the tin pin before the 4th. I got a bit excited about it, tried to hurry, and ended up frogging some stitches. That's not easy when stitching over one on 32 count. I talked some sense into myself and made a little perforated paper heart pin instead. I made a little mouse & cheese as an experiment some time ago because I am so stingy about tossing even the tiniest scrap of fabric. I was glad to find a way to use those little bits. Both pins are about the size of a quarter.

The Fire Dept. Auxiliary geared up for the July 4th parade by gathering up candy and flags for the trucks. I volunteered to take pics so I could sit on the sidelines with the grand-daughters and Trista. It was a busy , fun day. Trista and Larry took Chevelle with them to the drag strip to see jet cars after the parade. I kept Lexi with me to enjoy the picnic at the Central fire station. We watched the firefighters play water games, ate burgers, won a prize, and then came home to eat some parade candy, blow bubbles, and have a nap (Lexi napped, I stitched).

In the evening, we could hear some of the people shooting off fireworks. It doesn't really make much sense to shoot any in the air, because it doesn't get dark enough to really see them this time of year, so we mostly hear them. Sure enough, about 2 AM, a fire call. Before Larry left the house to respond, Vicki called to see if I wanted to go too. We brought coffee and snacks out to the fire scene and fought off mosquitos. Vicki and I didn't stay long because she goes to work at 5 AM. We left the coffee with the medics and headed back to the station where I microwaved some breakfast sandwiches and made more coffee for after the fire. I got back to bed about 5:30.

Today we are attending a BBQ at Lalen Lake with the Team. I made a Berry Crunch dessert to bring. I wanted to make it early before the day got too warm. Of course, we Alaskans think anything over 70 degrees Farenheit is too hot!