A Little Get-Away

Mr. Adams and I decided to take a little trip to Juneau to do some shopping and stock up on supplies. We did it last year at this time too.  You see, Sitka is a fairly small town, and one large store (like Fred Meyer) has more inventory that our entire town combined! Juneau has a bunch of the large stores, like Walmart, Home Depot, Fred Meyer, Costco, Office Max.....and a couple of malls too.

But going shopping in Juneau is never a cheap or easy thing. If you fly you need to stay in a hotel and rent a car and it costs quite a bit to get your purchases home. If you take your own boat it costs a lot for fuel, you have to pay moorage, and you need to rent a car, but you can take tons of stuff home. If you take your own vehicle on the ferry you need to pay for the ferry and have to get a hotel and you can bring a moderate amount of stuff home.  We chose option #3....

Here we are getting on the ferry...

Unfortunately we arrived in Juneau at about 2:00 am. which is too late to get a hotel (they charge the same price no matter how many hours of the day you actually sleep in their room), so we did the obvious thing...

That's right people, we slept in the back of the truck. Finding a place to park was a problem...Juneau is crazy...they have signs everywhere saying you can't do this and you can't do that, so we just finally parked and went to bed.  It was FREEZING and we didn't take adequate gear, but we survived.

Today we spend the day price shopping and will start flinging money around tomorrow....wish us luck!

Nothing To See Here, Move Along...

I really don't have anything exciting to report. I planted some tomato seeds, did some laundry, took Levi shopping, ran some errands.....nothing to thrill or inspire anyone. Not even a duck egg today! But the weather was nice so I took Lucy for a walk. And this evening Connie brought me a delicious piece of carrot cake, so overall I think it was a really good day.

Here is a photo of the duck's lunch....

Yummy.

Film And Food

This weekend the Sitka Conservation Society is putting on a food film festival and it has been so much fun....so inspiring! This morning I watched, "Ingredients," and this afternoon, "Two Angry Moms."
The one statistic quoted in both movies that impressed me was that US spends less per capita on food, and subsequently more on healthcare, than any of the other industrialized nations. While I realize that there is "spin" to every statistic, I still find it alarming. We really need to challenge ourselves to buy healthy food, even if it costs more. Cheaper is not better.

During the lunch break I ran home to help Levi. He invited a few friends over to make Mexican food and they wanted me to make the enchiladas. I stepped out of my car and two things hit me....the delicious smell of food and the loud Mexican music!

And there they were....hard at work!

Look at this beautiful pico de gallo that Levi made!

"The Earl of Lemongrab," and the dishes we painted in Mexico...

Making limeade...

 Ryan never lets me take a serious photo...

Hey, Celia....

 Beautiful, colorful, delicious, Mexican food!

A shot Levi took from behind his head.....?

It was an inspiring, flavorful day with interesting films, kids singing and dancing and cooking in the kitchen, and delicious food.....perfect!

Levi Made Me Clean

Ever since Levi started helping me reorganize he has been nagging me to clean things better.  I kept putting him off by saying, "I can't do everything," or, "It doesn't matter," or, "It won't show," or, "I've got more important things to do!" I've been building things and moving stuff around - cleaning can come later.
Well, today he would not take any more excuses.... He said, "Mom, this is unacceptable, you do have alot of other things to do, but they will all be easier to do in a clean house!!!"  And then he forced me to clean the entire kitchen including the cupboards over the stove.  SHEESH!

Oh yeah, did I mention that he helped me? Chris showed up as we were finishing and cheered us on.

Now that the antique wood cook stove has been moved out of the kitchen we added more hooks to the wall so we can hang more coats up.

That's a lot of hooks!! I know the kitchen is a weird place to hang your coats, but it is SO handy! And, it's right over a heat register, so once in a while when we run the oil furnace it will actually dry out the coats. Sitkans have a lot of coats, vests and jackets, so it's nice to have enough hooks to store them all. To be honest, I think they look colorful and pretty there....call me weird. I read one time that there are many things you can do to make your house feel welcoming to visitors. One of them is having a obvious place for them to hang their coats......Well, we have that!

Just in case you are interested, here are a few more that I remember....
-Have coffee tables within reach in the sitting area so they have some place to set a coffee mug or a drink, (and make sure there's a cleared off spot for it!)
-Leave space for them on the counter next to the bathroom sink, and space in the shower for their shampoo and razor.
-Put a towel in their room so they don't have to ask for one or snoop in all the cupboards.
-Make sure they have a clean bed --AND A DECENT PILLOW FOR GOODNESS SAKE!

I don't remember the others, but a know a few things like that can really make the difference in whether or not you feel welcome when you are staying at someone else's house.

Oh yeah, and today, THIS happened!!!!

That's right! We are in the egg laying business again!!!! Well, there was only one egg, but where there is one, there will soon be more!

Did I Get Anything Done?

I managed to stir around quite a bit today, but did I actually accomplish anything?  Mostly things were just moved from one place to another! Now, when you walk in the door you see this....

Surprise, Mr. Adams!

The ducks have been super active lately, but still no eggs...

The weather has been really mild...once in a while there is a little snow, but it doesn't last long. This was the view from our livingroom window a few weeks ago.....

Because it is so mild, things have been budding out and popping up out of the ground. French Sorrel....

I've dug out some unfinished crochet projects and have been attempting to finish them in the evenings....but so far not too much has been accomplished!

Hopefully tomorrow will be less busyness and more results!

Sneak Peek

Here's a peek at the cover of my book! 

We should have copies in hand for sale by Sunday, March 10 - just in time for this....

__________________________________________________________________________

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The books will be for sale for $20.00 plus tax. If you are from out of town and would like a copy, you don't have to pay sales tax, just mail a check for $25.60, (which will cover shipping) to:

Lori Adams
P.O. Box 6021
Sitka, Alaska
99835

 Please note that I will be making a quick trip to Oregon in March and can bring copies for anyone there that wants one and wants to save some money on postage.

Leeks And Celery

Well, I've started! Today I planted leeks and celery. It feels good to be planting again.

I'm doing a leek trial this year....8 different types of leeks! I always plan to simplify things and pick 1 winner. That way I could save money on my seed order. Also, using up one packet guarantees that I will always have fresh seeds each year.....having 8 varieties guarantees that I will have lots of unused seeds next year when planting time comes around.  But then....I just can't help myself! Each variety sounds so GREAT in the catalog, and I get lured into trying them all. I just have to find out for myself which one is the best!

It's a small start, but in no time at all these shelves will be full!

It's That Time Of Year

Seed starting time! Leeks, tomatoes and celery....

 But first....

What a mess!!! It took most of the day, but I finally got it into working order...

The day is over for now. But the pots are soaking in a bleach water solution, and tomorrow I will actually plant the seeds!

Field Trip Of Amazingness

Garage saling was a bust today, but the day took a turn for the better when Levi and I took a little field trip to check out the greenhouse/studio a friend is having built in her back yard...check this out!

Oooooooooooooooh, I'm so delighted for her, yet so jealous!!

 There's a really cool loft inside....

Here are Levi and Gayle Erickson (the builder) , trying it out...

And the doors are the amazing!

What a great place to hang out on a nasty, rainy, cold day in Sitka!

Getting Old

Lucy is over 10 years old now. She is doing pretty good, considering... the worst thing is that she has some sight issues. I think she was just about blind a year ago, but for some reason that seems to be improving lately. Weird. Recently I noticed that she has lost all but 2 of her little front teeth....

Doesn't she look funny?!?!?!

Happy Valentine's Day....I Am Freaking Out

Mr. Adams surprised me with a flower and chocolate delivery today!

Even though he is miles away, bringing home the bacon, he was still able to pull it off!

The last week has been pretty rough. I have been bumping up against the deadline to get the book to the printer and it was taking ALL of my time. I had to learn about paper and bindings and computer formatting and it was a lot to take in!  So many decisions to make, and I won't know if I made the right ones until they've all been printed....at which time it will be too late.

Anyways, today I delivered the final copy!!! Here's Rachel, down at Arrowhead Press........
 

She and Mike have been SO helpful!

So, now I think I will sit back and try to relax and not think about the book for a bit....maybe I'll have a chocolate!





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A Little Humor

It's been a long day of editing, and I don't have a lot of things to blog about, so I will leave you with 2 funny photos...

1. Levi told me the microwave wasn't acting right, and when I got up this morning I found this note...

I tried it out myself and yes, it's making very sketchy noises!

2. The magic egg did not work, so I brought out the big guns...

As of today they have not worked either.