Busy Week

*Sigh*
I feel like I'm going to be eternally neglecting my readers here...

OK. The truth is, on days J is home, we are REALLY busy. And the days he's not home, I am really busy, as Beans is getting more mobile and more strong-headed as the days progress. That's a fun combo with morning sickness, let me tell ya.

So... this past week in review:
J worked crazy amounts of overtime and finally made an appearance at home on Tuesday. Since Beans was too excited to sleep (and too grumpy to stay awake), we made a nice drive up the Alaskan Hwy... maybe about 60 or 70 miles. The drive is pretty, especially since the leaves are beginning to change color. The trip was a palette of oranges and yellows, with the occasional deep red shades of the fall fire weed stems and leaves. Most of the flowers are gone, and what's left looks like it's dried on the stem. The cow parsnip (NOT Queen Anne's Lace, as I had hoped it was) is beautiful dried, and adds a nice brown to the scenery.
Beans got a sufficient nap, we had a nice drive, and returned home to get domestic again.

So, I hope my boring tales of my mundane life doesn't deter you from reading. I love the mundane... there is a peacefulness in cleaning the house, doing the laundry, hanging the diapers on the line, and baking bread. Or sourdough pizza crust, as we did on Tuesday, anyway.

A lesson to any future bread bakers out there: sourdough has it's own yeast, ya know. So, if you add it to your pizza dough AND your usual amount of yeast to your recipe, you will come home with your bread machine close to overflowing. It made LOTS of pizza, so we shared the bounty with our neighbors, and it was nice to have company again.
(M- I miss you guys like crazy! Counting down the days until our next trip to town!)

I digress...
Wednesday we did go into Delta Junction for the Sullivan Roadhouse Garden Soup. Lots of local bakers and soup makers brought in their tasty treats. Soups of any and all varieties. Since for some strange reason I have been craving potato soup, I was relieved to find a huge steaming crock pot full of it, and helped myself to a good portion, along with some cheese bread. J was a little more adventurous, tasting halibut chowder, some sort of sausage soup, and a few others. Beans and I devoured out potato soup and were lucky enough to meet the chef, who was kind enough to share her recipe with me.
MMMMM..... and now, I am craving potato soup in homemade sourdough bread bowls. Seems to me that I know what's for dinner tonight!

Thursday was another drive up the Alaskan Hwy, since we wanted to stop in at Delta Meats.
Um, a meat processing plant is a REALLY bad place for a pregnant chick in her 1st trimester. I should have sent J in. We left empty-handed because no matter how much I really did want to try things like Yak or Buffalo meat sticks, I couldn't quell the morning sickness enough to get past the butchering sounds and smells.
But other than that, it was a pretty cool place.
*grin*

Friday, J headed back off to work. And in all honesty, Beans and I have been doing a lot of lounging around this weekend. Morning sickness is um, killing me.
You know, I'm not much for throwing up. Don't care for it, don't like to do it. Avoid barfing at all costs.
That's really hard to do when you are pregnant.
And I thought morning sickness with Beans was bad. Not sure if it's ACTUALLY worse with this one, but I will say this:
There's something about your toddler clutching your pant leg as you hurl yet another meal into the porcelain. Especially if your toddler is standing there CACKLING, or chanting, "Mommy, POOP!" as you send breakfast down the drain.

And if morning sickness weren't bad enough, the emotional toll of pregnancy is awful. I should add a disclaimer here. My husband would probably say that I'm moody enough when I'm NOT pregnant. Pregnancy really does seem to turn me into the Wicked Witch of the West. J is too kind to admit this, and just smiles kindly and says, "Baby, No! You're not mean! You're pregnant." It's sweet of him, especially when he says this after I've just told him that he's the world's worst laundry person ever, when he was just trying to help and accidentally put my wool pants (the only pair that actually fit me right now) into the dryer.
Oh, and I cry about EVERYTHING.
You think I'm kidding?
I was crying over a story that was read on Reading Rainbow!
(Um, it WAS a very touching story, but probably didn't warrant SOBBING.)
And for the record, Beans laughed at me the whole time I was crying.
Which DID kind of make me feel a little better.
*sniff*
Yep. And I cried when J offered to go to Fairbanks to buy me a new pair of wool stretch pants, since he (only slightly) shrank the pair that ended up in the dryer.
And when he brought home a box of Brown Sugar and Cinnamon Pop tarts for me when my normal dinner made me barf and I swore that pop tarts cure morning sickness.
(Oh please, sugar and food police, go away! I had to eat SOMETHING I could hold down!)

Yep.... who needs EPT or Clearblue Easy. My emotions have confirmed that this pregnancy is in full effect.


So....
I'm sorry to report mostly only the mundane this week, but my week has pretty much consisted of a couple of drives and, well... barfing. While Beans laughs in the background.

Not sure what's on the agenda this week, but maybe I'll be able to come up with something exciting to report about in my next entry.

Until then,
Happy Moose Trails!

Why I Love It Here

Namely, Delta Junction.
So, Beans woke up pleasantly and I woke in a grumpy mood. Maybe it's the morning sickness, but I needed to get out. Plus, I found myself suddenly craving sour candy, and with the commissary closed, I found that I really truly NEEDED to go into town.

What I LOVE about Delta Junction: it doesn't take long to become "local".
Those of you who have followed along know I've spent most of my life in cities and suburbs. The closet thing I got to someone recognizing me in town was my high school principal. Or the local authorities. OK, OK, I wasn't that bad. (Though my mom would argue that point.)
I didn't realize how much I craved community connections until I walked into IGA this morning for my sour candy (and, um, left with a donut, coffee, two bags of candy, AND sour candy), and was actually recognized by half a dozen people who took the time to stop and say good morning and ask if we had gotten settled in yet.
This is where I want to give a nod to the breakfast bunch that eats at the Buffalo Diner every morning. You fellas (and gals) have no idea how much your welcome means to me.

Seriously, the way my morning was shaping up, I was in a BAD MOOD when I went to town. I was looking for escape from the mundane of my usual routine, and annoyed because J was called for still more overtime this week. I have no idea when I'll ever see my sweetheart again.
Having a handful of friendly people remember my face (if not my name) completely made my day. After a short cruise through town, I was actually ready to go back home to the mundane, ahem, I mean, cleaning and housekeeping.

It's not just IGA, or the Diner. It's going to the Farmer's Market and having a vendor remember you, remember where you're from, and chat a while with you. It's another "stranger" in the street who overhears your conversation about wondering what there is to do in town this week and she stops to tell you all about the things going on in Delta Junction. It's the librarian who actually likes her job, enjoys answering questions, and loves her town enough to fill you in on all the really great things to do.

You couldn't send me back to the city for anything, buddy.

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In other news: the weather is definitely changing. The day time temps are cooling off, and it looks like we'll be in the 50s before too long. Snow is creeping down the mountains each day, and the ravens are coming in droves. (Think "birds flying south for the winter", only the ravens show up HERE for winter.)
Speaking of birds flying south, I did notice a couple of V formations today, geese, I think, making their way toward the south.

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Not much else to report. Should have lots more adventures next week when J and I go gun shopping at Granite View (our sports store here) and stop in to see what "Garden Soup" is all about. And I'll be braving my first haircut in Delta Junction as well. (Before I offend any locals, I'm a big cry baby about getting my hair cut somewhere new... I would be trying to be brave in New York City or some fancy-shmancy place too!)
The good thing about a "bad" haircut in Alaska? No one cares, AND it's going to be under a hat all winter anyway.

Oh! Readers back "home"... if you ever want to check out Delta Junction, you can see our local paper at deltanewsweb.com

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Alright! I'm off to bed down for the night. Until next time,
Happy Moose Trails!