Our stuff arrived!

Wow has it been a busy week!  Our stuff arrived much sooner than we expected, as well as my car, and it is not so easy to drive my vehicle in the snow as it does not have snow tires yet.  The week started out with snow-for 3 days straight and then I decided to cut Zoey's hair to hopefully break her habit of pulling it out.  She loves it and it looks adorable.  Justin has been enjoying taking the bus to and from school every day since he has always wanted to.  Ever since our stuff arrived we have been working diligently to unpack.  I finally unpacked the last box tonight after 4 days straight of unpacking.  I can't believe it.  Zoey enjoyed helping because she looked at each item like it was a present.  Some of my things broke during the voyage up here-like the glass window in my curio cabinet, but the shipping company will replace/pay for all broken items.  Joe has been spending a lot of time in the basement creating his "man cave".  He has not had one for at least 12 years and he is having a blast.  I am not allowed to touch the man cave or the garage.  I  am ok with this.  Now that I am done unpacking, it is time to start shopping for my new livingroom set and office.  This should be fun!  Zoey's 5th birthday is tomorrow and we had a little birthday for her yesterday with some friends we just made here.  On a final note, I miss my mother and want to fly her up here, but a round trip ticket is about $1600 right now.  That sucks!  Enjoy the pics!

We got a house today and it is large!  It is a 3 bedroom 2.5 bath with a dining room and large kitchen and a fully finished basement.  The garage is extra deep with plenty of storage room.  The master bedroom is a bit small, but no biggie.  I had to buy a microwave today but all the other appliances are already provided and the washer and dryer is brand new.  It will be nice to finally settle.  We will move in this Thurs. or Fri.  I will post more pics when we move in.

I had the funniest thing happen to me yesterday.  I decided to be brave and venture off to Fairbanks with only Zoey.  It's only 25 miles away, it's a straight shot, and we just went the other day, so why not.  Even though I knew the gas gauge on the Bronco was broken, but when we got it on Tues., the guy said he had just filled the tank and the tank got about 300miles.  Surely we hadn't drove that much since Tuesday.  I was about 1 mile away from my destination at a red light in Friday afternoon traffic.  As the light turned green, I stepped on the gas and the car came to a sputtering halt and died.  Oh my gosh I have NEVER had this happen to me.  There was a gas station right across the street from where the car died and I was able to get it rolling in it's direction.  Unable to move any further, I got out of the car and began to push.  I didn't want to scare Zoey as she was awoken from her nap.  I wasn't pushing 60 seconds before two different men came up to me and began helping me push.  One of the ended up backing his truck up and pulling me straight up to the pump.  I thanked them profusely and told them that I just came here from CA and NO ONE would have done that for me there.  At the pump, I intended to fill the tank and proceeded to put $95 into the tank and it still wasn't full.  Holy cow, what was going on here!  Finally, Joe returned my call as I could not get a hold of him before because he NEVER hears his phone ring, and he informed me that the tank holds about 30 gallons, so I put in more than enough.  All in all, I was only delayed by about 10 minutes, but man was I thankful it ended the way it did because about 24 miles of the trip was all freeway.  It gave me hope that there are still people out there who care for more than just themselves.  This was a situation I was able to laugh at immediately.  On another note, I found a new passion.....cake pops!  I bought a kit and made a whole bunch today for Justin's 1st grade class for Valentines day.  They are so cute. 

Well hello from Alaska!  We arrived yesterday evening and boy was it cold.  All things considered, the day went by very fast and the children behaved very well. I think it was about 17 degrees and we had no vehicle, so we had to walk to get dinner and groceries around 6 in the evening.  By then, the temperature had dropped and it was pitch dark and much colder.  Today it was zero degrees, clear skies and sunny.  We purchased our Ford Bronco as planned and thank goodness because frozen snot on the face does not feel pleasant.  I am taking great pains to make sure we are all bundled up and moisturized.  Next on the bucket list is to get Joe some snow boots because he is so damn stubborn and said he didn't need them. For some reason I listened to him and I have already lost track in 24 hours how many times he has almost bit the pavement.  The temporary place we are staying is called an "apartment", but this "apartment" is a 3 story house-at least 1700sq. ft., all laminate flooring, beautiful furnishings, 3 bedrooms, 2.5 baths, a full finished garage and basement, and the laundry room could easily be a bedroom.  Too bad we can't stay here for the next 3 years, but if this is a prelude to the housing that is to come-I AM EXCITED! Our other car will be here by Mar.1 and our furniture will be here by Mar. 17, but I am perfectly happy here until then.  Stay tuned!

Today is our last day here in CA and yesterday I spent the day with my good friend Heather.  We went to a Sacramento mall and then had lunch at the Cheesecake Factory.  It was my first time there and I was warned ahead of time how big the portions were.  My eyes were bigger than my stomach!  I started off with a strawberry lemonade, a bowl of cream of chicken and artichoke soup, a side salad with a turkey, bacon, lettuce, and tomato sandwich (which I only ate 1/4 of), and I topped it off with a slice of chocolate truffle cake (which I only ate like 3 bites of).  And of course, I could not go back home without bringing a piece of banana cream cheesecake for Joe.  It was the least I could do since he watched the kids while I played all day.  Today is Joe's birthday, so we are celebrating it at our friends Heather and Nick's house.  We will be watching the Superbowl and stuffing our faces with Texas Roadhouse-and for dessert, a New York Giants cake for Joe's birthday.  Happy Birthday hubby and GO GIANTS!  My next post will be from Alaska.