Shop 'til You Drop

Ever see that game show before? It was silly, but I think I strangely found it entertaining. After yesterday's shopping trip in Anchorage, I'm thinking Darius and I may have been good contestants.

I think one of the biggest negatives to living in Cordova is the price of groceries. Prices are usually about double to what you would pay for groceries anywhere else. I know it's because of the cost involved in bringing everything in to an isolated area, but it doesn't make it any easier to stomach the prices.

It's not unusual for many residents of Cordova to make trips into Anchorage every so often to stock up on groceries to save money. We're some of the lucky ones who enjoy flight benefits which makes this a less expensive task. When traveling within the state of Alaska, residents may check up to 3 bags a piece at no charge on AA. In order to maximize our shopping trip, all 4 of us made the trip there so that we could check 12 pieces going home.

By the time Darius picked up the boys and I yesterday it was already mid afternoon. Darius had already finished picking up lumber for my dad, so we were left with the rest of the day to get our stuff bought. Long story short, we were shopping until about 12:30 and up until 3:00 AM packing all our purchases in the totes we borrowed. We filled 9 totes, 2 duffel bags, and 1 freezer bag.

Half way through packing I honestly didn't think it would all fit. We also had to take weight into consideration when packing. There was a lot of shuffling around of stuff, but lucky for me I learned packing skills from a master packer, my mother! Darius was a good help too. He's my human scale. He loads bags every day, so he's a good guess at weight.

You can tell by all the stickers on the totes that they have a few shopping trips under their lids!

We arrived back home late this afternoon, and just finished unpacking and putting everything away. I'm glad to be done! It's an exhausting process, but at least we won't have to stomach steep grocery prices for awhile.

Gremlins revisited!

Yesterday morning the first book of the day presented to me was The Day Jimmy's Boa Ate the Wash by Trinka Hakes Nobel. For those of you who aren't familiar with the story, it's about a young girl telling her mother about her school field trip to a farm. The illustrations are great (Steven Kellogg) and follow her recap of the events which were basically triggered by Jimmy's pet boa constrictor.

A few hours later I was upstairs getting a few things together for our overnight trip to Anchorage later that day. Darius had taken the early flight, and I was scheduled to leave on the afternoon flight with the boys. I could hear the boys "playing" downstairs and it sounded as though they were getting along well together. The only thing left I had to do before heading to the airport was get them dressed. It was a good thing I hadn't done it ahead of time, because I found them covered in egg slime and shells!

One of the highlights from the story features an egg fight the class had in the hen house on the farm. Hmmm I wonder if my clever little Gremlins got any ideas from the story!? I can laugh about it now, but I was so upset when I found half a dozen eggs smashed all over the floors. Not my idea of a fun cleanup job. The boys knew they were in big trouble and cowered in a corner before they were sent to the bottom step for timeout. I guess there will be a time for all types of messes to be visited. I'm hoping that I won't have to check off broken eggs more than once!

The little things.

I love my husband, very much. I don't think I sincerely tell him how much I do, or how much I appreciate all that he does. The list is long, but here are a few of the kind and considerate things he does:

On his last day off from work last week, he took the boys out for a couple of hours to give me time to do school work. He also gave the boys a bath for me and put them to bed.

He tells Ben & Zach how much he loves them, everyday. He tells me he loves me, everyday. He'll say to me, "Have I told you today how much I love you?"

After a long 12+ hour day of work, he came home and quietly washed the dishes and cleaned the kitchen while I studied.

He often does the laundry, even folds and puts it away.

He keeps our apartment organized, even cleans and organizes the junk drawer.

He pays bills, grocery shops, installs child proof devices on our refrigerator and front doors.

He leaves me coffee in the pot every morning. I even find, on some mornings, a clean kitchen when it's been left a mess from the night before.

On days when my nerves are a little frazzled, he magically appears home after work with a bottle of wine or a pint of ice cream.

He tells me in the morning when he's leaving for work and that he loves me, although I don't always hear him. A few hours later he calls me to tell me good morning and to see how my day is going.

And my favorite... If you know me well, you know I have poor circulation in my hands and feet. It's not because I live in AK that my feet are like popsicles, they were like that in FL too. Darius gets up pretty early for work, so he is often in bed hours before I am. Every night when I slip into bed, I warm up my popsicle feet against his legs and feet. If he isn't in a dead sleep, he'll rub his feet up against mine, or sandwich them between his calves. I think to myself every night, "That's love."

All the little things Darius does do not go unnoticed, and although actions do sometimes speak louder than words, I'm very fortunate that with Darius they go hand in hand.

Rewind

The past 2 weeks passed in most of a blur. I wish I could rewind. My sister Carrie and her hubby Bobby were here visiting for a week, and Jimy overlapped their stay by a day and just left us yesterday. In addition to their visits, Dad almost retired and he and Mom made their almost-final move to Utah last week (we get Dad back for a couple more weeks), and they received an offer on their house the day before they left! In the mix of all that, Dad came over to Anchorage with me on the ferry for a couple of days while I had minor surgery done, while Darius and the rest of the family handled up Ben & Zach. I owe huge thanks to all of them for taking the boys for me while I was on the mend. I know how much work the boys can be, and I appreciated the help so much.

I feel really bad that I was so out of it while Carrie and Bobby were here and when my parents left. I definitely wanted to spend more time with all of them. I had expected to send my parents off with a little more of a celebration. I don't think it has settled in that they have finally left yet. It will be nice to have Dad back for another couple of weeks to ease the transition a little. We're super happy for them to be able to sell their house and move back to Utah where the bulk of the family lives, but we're definitely going to miss them especially with winter coming up soon. I thought I would still have Joy here to keep me sane, but she's decided to jump ship too and head back to Utah in another month. Sad.

We've been so fortunate to have the time we did with Mom, Dad, and Joy. My parents are beyond awesome and we're so incredibly grateful for them and all the help they've so generously gave us. The list of their good deeds is endless. I'm so happy that my boys had the opportunity to be around them for as long as they did. I can't wait to see their faces light up when they see their Grandma and Grandpa again.

One last spoil with ice cream