Still Kicking...

No worries,  Karl and I haven't died - just continuing to hibernate.  It is COLD!  I'm not sure we've made it above zero in the last week.  The furnace is definitely planning to die, but hasn't quite kicked the bucket enough for the landlord to give a hoot.  With my luck it will stop working altogether on a Friday night, and we'll turn in to human (and puppy) popsicles overnight!

You know it's cold when there ice build up on the INSIDE of your house:

You know it's cold when your dog tries to keep one (or two) feet in the air while going to the bathroom outside:

You know it's cold when said dog ends up here immediately after coming back inside:

In any case, we haven't been doing much of anything lately.  My car has been at the dealer for a multitude of problems - fried battery, non-working airbags, a dislocated axel, and no brakes.  Oh, and it's in need of an oil change, too.  What a crybaby, that car...  Perhaps it's experiencing some delayed anger at having been driven so far this summer.  I've been working pretty late every day while I wait for Karl to get off of work to come get me.  I finally get to pick it up tomorrow - just in time to take it back in next week for my remote start to be installed.  Fun times here in Alaskaland!

At least we're not in Valdez - 27 feet of snow!  Check out adn.com for some pretty spectacular photos.  Hey, they're paying $20 an hour to help dig the town out, if you're interested!

We don't have quite that much snow here, although we've already surpassed the average for an ENTIRE winter.  It stands to reason that my first AK winter would be excessively cold and snowy!  Our street is slowly becoming one lane from all of the snow piled up, and I see people cross country skiing down the sidewalks.  Only in Alaska people, only in Alaska!

Willow the Acrobat

Karl and I had some fun tormenting Willow by throwing snow balls at her this past weekend.  Her reaction when she actually caught one is too funny to even put into words.  

I'm continually amazed at how she manages to be going two different directions at the same time.

Part dog, part kangaroo...

 "What? Do I have snow on my face?"

"Hmph.  It's not like I'm eating it or anything..."

I'll just go ahead and call that a winter break...

Oops.  It would appear that I've been rather neglectful in my blogging.  Fortunately, I was reminded by several friends and family members that they've missed my posting, so I rushed home and promptly ignored my blog for another week.  Oops again.

It would appear that I'm entering hibernation mode to some extent.  It's cold here, and oh so dark.  I've been going to bed at like 9 pm all week.  I'm such a party animal.

In any case, I haven't been doing too many fun and exciting things lately.  I have very few photos to share, because it's far too dark by the time I get home to take any.  And I'm sure you don't all need to see a hundred photos of Willow laying on the couch!

So here's what I've got - It's somewhat of a backlog, and there's not much rhyme or reason to it.  Enjoy!

The view from my backyard

BIG Bear!

Gives new meaning to 'icicle lights' 

Louie Louie

Jeg Elsker Deg!

The only thing I miss about Michaels

mmm.... sugar!

Home Sweet Pitsburgh

Kitty Kitty

Two weeks!

Two weeks from today and I'll be back in Pittsburgh to celebrate Christmas with family and friends!

Too bad Pittsburgh ism't somewhere warm and tropical...

It's hard to believe that it will have been nearly six months since I left Pittsburgh behind when we set out on our Journey to Alaska.  Sometimes it has seemed like time has flown by, and other times it seems impossibly long since I've seen the people that are so important to me.

My very last photo in Pittsburgh, commemorating the moment we hit the highway and headed so far away...

Karl will be holding down the fort here in Anchorage, so I get to plan my trip entirely around things I want to do.  I'm already starting my list of places to go/things to do:

1. Benihana - Yes, there's one here.  And it's awful.
2. Classic Chinese Cuisine - why does no one else in the world know how to make fried rice properly?
3. Panera - mmmm, Panera...
4. Drink some apple cider - I already told my dad to have some in the fridge.  Who would have thought that the crud shipped up here would be such garbage?

Places not to go:
1. The grocery store - Under no circumstances do I need to be reminded of how cheap groceries are in PA...

I'm sure I'll be adding to this list (that appears to be all food... hmm...) as my trip nears.

Who wants to join me?  More importantly, if my dear friend Linda hosts a gathering for my pals, who's in?

Willow's got the right idea

Poor Willow is the biggest wimp when it comes to the cold.  Apparently, sitting on the couch, smashed in between Karl and I, still doesn't keep her as warm as she wants to be.

Instead, she sleeps on top of the furnace vent.

Yes, there is a vent under there.  Hard to see considering someone is hogging all of the warm air.

I must admit, it is pretty cute when her ears are flopping all over the place from the air blowing...

Christmas Decor, Part II

We don't have much room for a full size Christmas tree, so I decided to just go with my three little Charlie Brown trees that I scored at Michaels last year for $7.  My massive star on top doesn't even look too ridiculous if you don't look too closely.

The red extension cords are totally classy, right?  Yep, that would be our cords for the outside lights since there aren't any plugs outside.  The one benefit?  All of our Christmas lights are on one timer, so the holiday spirit comes in full force at 5:15pm each day.

Even though I have about 200some ornaments, I kept it simple with my clip on butterflies.  Of course, Karl hung his Family Guy ornament front and center.  I did mention how classy we are, right?

Good thing I was too lazy to hang my pictures above the couch - It was the perfect spot to to hang a few more decorations.

And finally, my favorite decoration of them all - My sledding moosie!

Hope everyone else is getting in the holiday spirit and enjoying the season of decorating!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

I finally managed to get some photos of our outside Christmas lights.  I know I promised them awhile ago...  Oops.  It's been way to cold to stand outside in the street taking pictures, so I've been procrastinating.  This weekend gave us temperatures of over 40 degrees though, so I figured now was probably the best time.  Especially considering that all of Anchorage is going to be one massive block of ice as soon as the temperature drops again...

Having the house all lit up so brightly is a wonderful thing to come home to...

We even had some real icicles to go along with the icicle lights.  Too bad they have since melted with our bizarrely warm temperatures.

I can see them through the window as I sit in the living room each night.  I'm thinking my lights may just stay up through April.  It's quarter to five Sunday night as I sit here writing this, and it's 100% pitch black outside.   My lights help make winter life just a little bit brighter!