DO YOU LIKE MUSIC?

I like to listen to the radio when I am cooking, but I surely do not like
commercials, repeated songs or disc jockey opinions and dumb jokes.

My brother sent me to this amazing radio station where you control
ALL the music. And it's FREE. And there are NO commercials. Right

now they have even added several styles of Christmas music so you can
create your very own Christmas station. Try it--I bet you'll like it!

Pandora Internet Radio

MY NEW WHEELS

My husband went down south to spend some time with friends and deer hunt

this last month. While he was there he bought a jeep for me to drive. It is a 

2000 TJ, 4-wheel drive, 5 speed. He had vinyl lettering made up so it looks 

like a military jeep, hence the star in the middle of the hood. It's 8 years old, 

so not new, but new to us and no car payment.

Compared to the long door pickup I was driving, this is a piece of cake to park!
I swear that truck had the turning radius of a school bus.

So now that I've shown you what I drive, how about posting a picture of you 

and your wheels? Just have someone take a picture of you in your rig and post

it, then let me know so I can go see you!

I tag:

Adult Deprived
And Even If
Fresh Fixins
Mapper Snapper
Rural Writings
Silence is Broken
The Human Race 600
This and That Around the Farm
Wisteria and Roses

Pretty please, with sugar on top?

CABINS AND COOKIES

The forest service just put the finishing touches on the newest cabin that is 

available to the public for camping. It is located over near the artesian well 

and I think they did a great job.

Isn't it neat! The inside has a loft and wood stove. I think I saw a sign that 

said $50.00 a night and it is the only forest service cabin available that you 

can drive a car to. All the rest are out in the forests and a lot of them are only 

accessible by boat. Wouldn't this be awesome to spend Christmas Eve night in? 

Wake up to the forest covered in snow and the river right outside the door...

We took a short walk around Mosquito Cove since it was miraculously not 

raining. We didn't go very far because it was already getting dark in the woods

 at 5:00 pm. Well, that and the forest service closes and locks the gate promptly

 at 6:00 pm. I laughed reading the sign that is attached to the gate as you drive

 in. It says something to the effect of: If you are reading this from the locked 

side of the gate, you obviously didn't read our signage about gate closure times.

Not exactly sympathetic, are they?

A pretty picnic area overlooking the ocean. There were people out there scuba diving.

Ahhhh, my favorite place to photograph...Starrigavin. Otherwise known as the 

estuary. Isn't it gorgeous with the tide all the way in.

The streams are almost all the way cleared of dead fish from when the 

salmon were swimming upstream and dying in Sept. It still has a bit of a decay 

smell in the air, but not as bad as the liquid manure smells from the numerous 

dairy farms where we used to live. At least I don't have to hold my breath here!

I was asked to make 12 dozen cookies for a church service in town and 

since it was Alaska Day I made them in the shape of the flag. I didn't have a 

flag cookie cutter so I ended up cutting them by hand and made a pattern for 

placing the stars. The smaller spots (stars) represent the Big Dipper and the 

large star represents the North Star. Fun stuff! 

I received my order with 50 new cookie cutters in it & can't wait to try them out!

And for your reading pleasure I invite you to visit my best friend's new blog.

She lives in Colorado and writes about everything from recipes to horses to

being a professional webmaster. Good stuff! Check it out here.

PAY IT FORWARD

Have you ever seen the movie Pay It Forward with Haley Joel Osment? 

A young boy attempts to make the world a better place after his teacher 

gives him that chance. It is an excellent movie, well worth watching.

My friend Laura over at Silence is Broken had a contest this last week 

based on the idea from this movie and I thought it was such a great idea 

that I am participating here. My first reaction was I don't have time! Then I 

thought--wait a second--yes I do. We all do if it's important enough to us, right?

HERE ARE THE RULES: The exchange focuses on doing an act of kindness 

without expecting anything in return other than that the recipient will, in 

their turn, pass the kindness along and pay it forward in their own way.

This is how it works... I am going to agree to send something fun, cute, 

& nice to the first 3 blog owners who post a comment on this entry. In turn, 

those three will post this information and pick 3 people they want to send 

something to and so on. If you are interested in participating, be one of the

first 3 blog owners to leave a comment!

The little something you send can be something you made, bought, were

 given or found. No biggie, just a gift that will make the person smile. Maybe

something unique from where you live? There are no cost restraints, but 

don't go crazy! If you'd like to join in, be one of the first 3 people to leave 

me a comment. You have to promise that you will then post about this on 

your blog, link to me, and then send something to the first three people 

who sign up to play along through your blog.

If I don't get 3 blog owners that want to participate I would like to send 

something to 3 people that leave a comment even if you don't own a blog--so 

leave a comment with some sort of way to contact you and who knows what 

lovely things may show up for you from Alaska to make you smile...

In return I ask that you Pay It Forward to 3 other people in some way.

It doesn't have to involve money; there are untold ways to help others

every single day, everywhere you go;  just look around.

Oh, and if you haven't seen the movie--I suggest you rent it tonight.

You'll be glad you did.

LIVING WITH DIABETES

I received an email last week from our former pastor's son. He was diagnosed with
Type 1 Diabetes about 2 years ago and very nearly lost his life to a diabetic coma.
Now that he is living with the disease he wants to help other people who are dealing
with Diabetes. He has created a line of handmade leather ID medical bracelets that
younger people may like to wear. They are not just for Diabetes--anybody with a
medical condition can benefit from wearing one of these bracelets.

He also has a lot of other plans and dreams. Here is an excerpt from the email he
sent me:

I was living a healthy life until Diabetes forever changed it all.

Instead of letting this disease weigh me down, I chose early on to let it motivate me
to achieve great things. I was given a second chance, and now it’s my turn to make
a difference in the world, but I need your help.

Last December, I began dreaming up plans that will have a great impact on the diabetic
community. I have dreams of starting helpful websites for diabetic teenagers; dreams of
writing the first teenage diabetic magazine; and dreams of leading a national hospital
visitation group. The list goes on and on. Each one of these dreams is not something
that will just happen overnight. Each one will take time and work to accomplish.

I have begun to design, market, and sell my own line of medical alert jewelry under the
name: Evasion ID…a medical bracelet that you’ll want to wear. Medical jewelry saves
lives by alerting medical responders to a person’s particular health condition. Evasion
ID provides fashion along with function and encourages more people to wear these
life-saving bracelets. This line of products is sold at www.evasionid.com

Now I need your help, and it can come in many different ways.

First of all, if you know anyone who is a diabetic (Type 1 or 2), please refer them to my
website and tell them my story.

Second, spreading the word about Evasion ID is central to its success. You can start by
forwarding this message to anyone whom you think would help or be helped.

Finally, if you have any personal contacts in the media or know someone who might have
a desire to help promote this product, I’d love to connect with them! I have included more
about my story and the bracelets on my website www.evasionid.com

I hope that it will encourage you to live your own life to the fullest and never take one
more day for granted!

Please visit his site and leave him some encouragement--he is a young man on a great
mission!

JUST CURIOUS

An online friend of mine was looking at the family pictures I posted a few days ago
and saw a couple of pictures of my older daughter learning to shoot a gun from her
uncle and her dad. My friend sent me an email saying she didn't like guns and wished
there weren't any guns at all. That got me thinking...

I was raised around guns. My dad had guns, my grandpa had guns, my uncles had guns.

Now my husband has guns, my brothers have guns and our friends have guns. It is not

all that unusual to drive around town and see people with guns and when you hike

or go fishing you better have a gun or be with someone that has one. My 5 foot

50 year old neighbor lady wears a 44 on her belt when she walks her dog because of

bears. She is so little you can see the barrel hanging down below her coat.

So how many of you own guns? How do you feel about guns in general? Can you shoot

a gun and do you know how to handle it? Does it make you feel safer knowing you

could use a gun if you had to defend your life or the life of a loved one or do you

just hope that it never comes to that?

Just curious...

WHAT DO YOU THINK?

I saw this little metal sculpture sitting high up on a file cabinet in the 

chiropractor's office. It struck me as unique and I have an opinion what

it means. Now I have shown it to a couple of other people and they said

something completely different from what I thought. 

What do you think it means?

SELF PORTRAIT

So Pam challenged me to post a recent picture of myself.
This was taken last month by my older brother. If it looks good it's probably because he is a professional
photographer. My husband and I will be celebrating our 20th anniversary this August. My how time flies!

Seven Things Meme

Today I was tagged by Kate at Our Red House for the "Seven Things" Meme.

Here are the rules:

*Link to the person that tagged you

*Post the rules on your blog.

*Share 7 random and/or weird facts about yourself on your blog.

*Tag 7 random people at the end of your post and include links to their blogs.

*Let each person know that they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blogs.


So here are 7 random things about Me:

1) I love dark chocolate and can't stand milk or white chocolate. I know chocolate
is supposed to be a treat, but I don't like it very sweet.

2) I am a dog person and we have 2--a Min Pin (Miniature Pinscher) named Neo
and a brindle Boxer named Silly Lilly. Cats are cool too, but the litter box thing
is a bit much for me. That didn't stop me from making my sister this cake for
her birthday though.

3) I was born with a twisted spine and have metal and screws in my spine from
the base of my neck down to my tailbone (and a mighty impressive scar let me
tell you what!)

4) My whole family is tall. When we get together it looks like the Return of the
Amazons.

5) January is my least favorite month of the year. Christmas is over, spring isn't
here yet, everything looks dead outside and there are no holidays to celebrate.

6) I love the smell of health food stores. I am not sure if it's the herbs and oils
or what, but it smells like life to me.

7) Dumb and Dumber cracks me up. Yes, I know it is filled with bathroom humor
and I should throw it in the trash. Instead I am thinking we should get it on DVD
since our VHS copy is wearing out from use.

The people I tag are:

Mapper Snapper
Rural Writings
Chapter and Verse
Gina's Tidbits
Cathy's Musings
My Crazy Awesome Life
Loving Life

BLOG AWARD

Thanks so much to Kate at Our Red House for giving this blog the
I-Less-Than-3-Your-Blog award this week. It is so much fun to write this
blog and the fact that people actually enjoy reading it makes it even better!



This award was created by Kelley and you can read more about it here.

She says:

When the girls and I want to express our mutual admiration in public we say ‘Less than Three’ .

The symbol for 'less than three' looks like a heart sideways, so "I heart you".

I would like to pass this award on to Pam at MapperSnapper for her great writing and for the fun stories
that I always enjoy reading. Give her a look-see!