New Beginnings!

It has been somewhat of a let down since I started my voyage to become a Dental Hygienist.  I knew it would take longer than most others since I am a stay at home mom and can't attend full time, and since I would have moved 3 times by the time I finished my education, but I have come to the realistic conclusion that it just isn't feasible any longer.  It is too difficult to get college credits to transfer, expensive, stressful, intimidating, and no matter how good your grades are or how determined you are, it is a constant mind game and there are no guarantees.  The schools that offer these programs tell you your acceptance is based on your grades, but the reality is that it really boils down to money.  I have decided to stop fretting over it and do some real soul searching of what my ideal job would be.  What are the things that I love and enjoy very much?  Well, the answer has been the same for several years....coffee and desserts!  I have decided to earn my Bachelors in Science at Kaplan University with an emphasis in small business management.  This is a guaranteed voyage-for my own personal knowledge and I will be done in 2 years.  The timing couldn't be better since we move back to WA in 3 years, and when we do, we will open our own business called Luciani's Coffee and Dessert Bar.  I am very excited and my friends and family are very supportive about it.  I have 3 years to dream up my own ideal business and learn every aspect of it and plan carefully.  I don't think you can have a successful business unless you know how each aspect of it works.  I want this to be strictly family owned.  I am not doing this with the intent to get rich, just to be happy and comfortable and pass those same virtues onto others through coffee and desserts.  Between my knowledge and my Mother's decorating abilities, I definitely think we can do this.  We can make this look like Nordstroms on a Walmart budget.  Stay tuned!

A New Addition

I am so proud to announce that as of last Tuesday, we made a new addition to our family!  Her name is Winkie and she is a one year old part Chihuahua part Rat Terrier dog.  She is the sweetest puppy in the whole wide world!  I have always wanted a dog of my own and we have spent several years discussing it.  It was never the right time before, but now that I am home all day long and have nothing to do, a puppy seemed like a nice thing to have to occupy me, especially since Zoey will be starting Kindergarten in August.  The family that we adopted Winkie from got her a year ago, soon after she was born.  They adopted her from the local pound.  She was found in a dumpster.  She is blind in one eye, but they don't know if she was born that way or not.  She does not bark unless she feels threatened, she only chews on her toys, she has only had one accident in the house, and she loves to cuddle.  She sleeps with Joe and I every night on our bed and I woke up last night in the middle of the night to find her underneath our sheets wedged in between us.  Joe always said he hated small dogs and they are yappy, but he has taken quite a liking to this 8 pound bundle of joy.  Joe loves to play fetch and tug of war with her and I often catch him talking to her like a baby.  Hehehehehehe.  I was a little nervous to take her in the beginning because I doubted my ability to take care of her properly, but I proved myself terribly wrong.  She is like a 3rd child.  And best of all, she was free.  The family we got her from has 2 teenage daughters who are just too busy to care for her properly.  That family also has 3 other dogs, so Winkie was not used to being the center of attention-and she LOVES it!!  Zoey and I took her to Petco last week and got her a harness, tag, collar, and dog necessities.  This dog will be getting a new outfit regularly.  Yes, I am that dog owner! And finally, when I walked directly across the street from our house this morning to walk Winkie, her and I spotted two moose grazing in the swamp.  They were HUGE and I was too mezmerized to walk away.  Winkie did not even bark.  I think she was also surprised.  Chao!

Being Productive!

Well I have accomplished several things since I made my last post.  Finally, after 3 tries, I passed the written driver test to obtain my AK driver's license.  I was seriously starting to think I was not going to pass it.  I am not gonna go into great detail, but I am not stupid, and this test is ridiculously difficult.  I cannot imagine how many times a teen would have to take the test to get their license for the first time.  And finally, after searching for over a month and a half, I saw 2 moose for the first time.  My friend and I were driving on a back road and sure enough we saw a mother and her baby.  However, the baby was no longer a baby, but it was smaller than her.  They really are quite docile when they do not feel threatened, but I wouldn't want to get any closer.  We were in her truck probably about 30 feet away, and funny enough, it was the younger moose who ran off when it saw us.  It was really something because they are very large and have unusually shaped heads.  I haven't seen another moose since.  The weather is really starting to warm up.  Sometimes it gets up in the 40's during the day, and I kid you not, people are walking around here with shorts and tank tops on.  I can definitely feel and agree that it is warmer, but you will not catch me in that attire any time soon.  And with the weather warming up and having nothing else to do, I decided to paint the kitchen (2 walls) a bright, buttery warm, mango yellow shade.  The picture doesn't even begin to capture how bright the color is.  It is definitely cheerful!  Justin will be on summer break before I know it and both of my children are bottomless pits!  They eat non stop and never get full.  I go shopping and buy what I feel is a crazy amount of food and it is usually gone before I even get a chance to eat any.  Ahhhhhhhhh!  Since today was Easter, I felt generous and decided to let the kids eat as much candy as they wanted today.  Well, they did, and they still ate other food.  They did not complain of stomach aches and they are still whining that they are hungry.  I can handle it when one child is going through a growth spurt, but when they both are at the same time, I get a little tense.  A shopping trip for new Spring wardrobes is just around the corner-I can smell it.  I hope all of you are enjoying yourselves and hopefully the weather is getting nicer for you too.  Stay tuned!

Time to decorate!

Now that we have finally gotten everything unpacked and we are settled in, I thought it was time to start decorating.  It is something that I absolutely love to do!  So over the last week or so I have been doing a lot of shopping for things like furniture and drapes and rugs.  I have had a lot of fun!  It also snowed 14 inches last week, so being inside a lot suited me just fine.  Justin is on Spring Break this week so I am expecting things to be a little more hectic in the house.  For some odd reason, the children are going through a phase where instead of just walking normally, they have to stomp EVERY step.  It is absolutely driving Joe and I insane and we can't seem to break them of it.  I am about to break out a squirt bottle for an attitude adjuster.  I also attempted to get my Alaska driver's license last week and failed the written test.  I haven't taken one in 17 years.  I thought I was prepared and I was horribly embarrassed when I failed, but when I told one of the employees how embarrassed I was, he said, "don't worry, people come in here for months at a time to retake the test."  That was not reassuring.  Either people here are really stupid or the test is incredibly difficult.  Oh well, I will try again next week.  They don't charge you just to take the written, so luckily, I wasn't out any money.  I also had to cut Zoey's hair-again to break her of any ability to twirl her hair.  She now has a full pixie, but we are playing with it a lot, so it is looking cuter each day.  I actually caught her "air twirling" the other day while she was watching tv.  It was hilarious.  Don't forget to set your clocks an hour ahead tonight.

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.