Alaska – Page 6 – Dust Bunnies and Dog Toys

A Few New Accessories

Published on October 17, 2013October 15, 2013 by JennaLeave a comment

One of the few negatives about Alaska life is that you can’t activate a Verizon iPhone while in the state so, while we were traveling across the lower 48 recently, both the hubs and myself got new phones. Our old phones had been in service for several years and were starting have a few issues that were annoying, so it was time to upgrade. While he chose to cross to the dark side and get a new Samsung Galaxy, I just couldn’t unlearn my well-honed iPhone habits – as evidenced by my constant frustration while playing with his phone a few days prior to upgrading mine, so I chose to move up from a 4 to a 5.

Unfortunately, the day we chose to go get my new phone was the day after the new iPhone 5c and 5s came out, so it took a while to get everything transferred over to the new phone. I didn’t have any need of the higher end 5c or 5s features so I went with a regular 5, which I upgraded to the new iOS7 that evening. It took me a while to get used to the new look and feel, but after a few days I was feeling pretty comfortable.

And of course because the 5 is a different size than the 4, I had to buy a new case. Lucky for me, we found an extra batter pack and case in PURPLE, which I’m in love with. I love it even more after my phone fell out of my coat pocket the other day and survived without so much as a scratch on the case!

And to sweeten the deal the retailer offered a $100 gift card if you traded in your old iPhone when purchasing a new one, so of course we took them up on that deal, which made the new phone free! We couldn’t trade in hubby’s old iPhone since he bought a new Samsung, but we sold it on Craigslist with all the accessories for about the same price to a young Army officer in desperate need of a new phone after his broke, so that was a win-win too.

I also picked up a new mustard yellow purse while on our trip. I’d been on the hunt for a yellow purse for a few weeks, having given my old purple purse to my sister, but hadn’t found anything that spoke to me, but when I spotted this beauty in the window I heard heavenly hold music. I spent a little more on it than I typically do for purses, but its leather and should hold up to the on-coming Alaskan winter weather.

The mustard shade seems to coordinate well with whatever I pair it with and is a perfect color for fall. The thing I’m enjoying the most is all the pockets it has. It’s like whoever designed this purse knew exactly what I wanted to keep in it and made a pocket just for those items – including my new purple phone! My sister has already laid claim to it when I’m ready to move on, so I guess I’ve got good taste! 😉

What’s your latest accessory upgrade? Was it something new for fall, or have you already jumped on the holiday bandwagon?

A Quick Update

Published on October 14, 2013 by JennaLeave a comment

First things first, I’m sorry I’ve been MIA recently. It was a SUPER busy at work last week and I had several photo sessions with new clients (that’s a very good thing!) so blogging just fell to the bottom of the list. But, I’m back and I’ll try to make up for lost time with a post each day this week – although don’t hold me to that! 😉

We made our weekly visit to check on the construction progress at the new house on Sunday and didn’t see much visual change, but that doesn’t mean things didn’t happen. The gas line was installed, as evidenced by the gas meter on the side of the garage. That means there is progress still happening while we were sorting out the electrical issue – more on that in a minute.

We also know that R19 insulation was ‘blown’ into the attic, since Matt was there when the contractor arrived earlier this week. Of course I don’t have any pictures of that, but I’m sure the home inspector will confirm it’s all there. As you can see below the metal roof is still not complete, but it is closer than it was last week.

One major thing we noticed is that the debris on the lot has been cleaned up. Remember how there was a huge pile of trash and scrap on this side of the house last week? Well it was moved to the front and apparently burned based on the ashes seen on the right in the picture below. It’s a good thing that Matt pulled out the usable pieces and set them aside in the woods when he was on site earlier this week!! Granted there are still items on the edges of the clearing that will need to be collected and a few items in the burn spot that weren’t completely destroyed that will have to be removed, but overall it’s looking a lot cleaner – which soothes my Type A personality! Although it does make the dirt splatter from the recent rain more obvious… Luckily, I reminded myself that will be eliminated when we landscape next summer.

Most importantly, there were signs of progress on the electrical line being run. The short story is that the seller of the lot did service the lot as he agreed to do, but not in the way that would have been most convenient or cost-effective for us. So it boiled down to our options being 1.) Cut a 15′ wide stretch of trees from the front corner of the lot opposite the driveway to the house for the line to be run, at an additional cost of $3,000 if we cleared the trees ourselves or 2.) Pay an additional $3,500 to have the line run down the road and up the driveway to the house. We chose to maintain the privacy and potential resale value by paying the extra $500 to go the extra distance. Unfortunately, that meant we were over budget and needed to adjust the numbers with our lender. Although I’m not happy with the increased cost, I am pretty proud that the only reason we are over budget is out of our control. Every other selection and decision was made within budget at our original sales price and allowances balancing out. Not many who build a home can say that! Here you can make out the stakes that mark where the line will run up the driveway and to the side of the house.

Hopefully the actual line will go in this week and progress can resume inside with muding and taping, then finish work! With all the recent delays, we’re now estimating we won’t close and move in until sometime in December. Sigh. I really want to spend Christmas in the new house, but ultimately my goal at this point is to be in the house by the end of the year. Fingers crossed! 🙂

I’mmm Baaccckkk!

Published on September 22, 2013 by JennaLeave a comment

Sorry I’ve been MIA recently. The hubs and I were on a cross-country road trip to pick up my my 1955 F-100 from Virginia! It’s now in my mother-in-law’s garage in Washington until the spring when we’ll head back down south to pick it up and put it on the ferry to Alaska. We had originally planned to complete the whole transport in one trip, but the ferry schedule was not feasible, so we had to come up with a plan B.

We definitely got a lot of attention hauling my ’55. It was pretty common for people to tailgate us, then pass slowly as they checked out the truck and throw us a thumbs up before speeding on down the road. And just about every time we stopped someone asked what year the truck was or what we were doing with it. We even had an offer for $10,000 in a mid-west rest stop! Of course I didn’t accept, since the truck holds more sentimental value of time spent with my dad restoring it from the junk yard mess it was when we first bought it. My husband really enjoyed throwing people for a loop by pointing out that the truck was mine and not his!

Beyond moving the truck closer to Alaska the trip was a means to visit family and friends across the country. We spent a few days with my family in Virginia where we watched my nephew play in a few baseball games before heading to Denver to visit our good friends. We got to town just as the biblical rains paused for a day, before resuming the following day increasing the already swollen rivers. Luckily, our friends live in Morrison, in the mountains south of Denver so they didn’t have any major damage like Boulder did.

Our last night in Denver we had dinner with my husband’s cousin and her family – who I did a quick portrait session for (watch for a post about that on my Jenna D’ Photography site!)

After Denver, we headed to Durango, CO where we visited my husband’s aunt’s ranch. I was supposed to do a family session for her daughter’s family but we were unable to coordinate all six kids schedules to allow everyone to participate. So instead, I did a few pictures of the younger kids as they introduced me to the horses and of the two kitties who call the ranch home.

I also took photos of the needlepoint projects his aunt has done to create a portfolio of her work. We were only there for about 18 hours, but it was good to visit and meet more of my hubby’s extended family. From there, we headed to Portland. We learned that the storms had hit Durango just after we left, washing out the road to the ranch we had been at and causing boulders to crash down the mountainside, knocking my husband’s cousin’s truck off the road! Everyone was alright, but it sure was a scary few hours! We spent the last two days of our trip with my mother-in-law just across the river from Portland. Once the truck was settled in her garage, I got in a little antiquing and shopping before meeting up with an old high school friend I hadn’t seen in over a decade for dinner. It was fun to catch up and chat about how we had both changed.

Of course I took LOTS of pictures along the way, which I’ll be editing to share in a post later this week. There’s just too many to sort through tonight. Now that we’re home and unpacked it’s back to work and a normal routine. We checked in on the house right after picking up our fur babies from doggie day camp. Unfortunately, there hasn’t been as much progress as hoped. The exterior was being painted when we arrived, including the front door – only in the wrong color! The foreman arrived while we were there so I pointed that out and reminded him that I’d tried to give him the color I wanted before leaving, but he’d said to hold off. Now that he has the right paint number & name it should be repainted tomorrow. The roofing material is on-site, but has not been installed yet. The electrical has been done, although we’re going to need a diagram to figure out what switch goes to what light before moving in! The local power company still has to run the line to the house to finish the electrical inspection, but the crew should begin insulation on Monday, followed by drywall. They can’t mud and tape until the electrical inspection is complete, so we’ll see if there is a delay there. Here’s the latest picture of the progress.

Stay tuned this week for new posts! I promise I’ll be back to my normal weekly routine now. 🙂

The Easiest Project Yet

Published on June 26, 2013June 24, 2013 by JennaLeave a comment

I spotted these pretty mason jar soap pumps on DecorSteals.com and immediately ordered two. Unfortunately during the checkout process I was informed that they would not ship to Alaska. UGH! Guess that was fate telling me they really were as overpriced as I thought they were – $29 a pair, plus shipping! I knew I’d pinned a DIY tutorial on how to make the same thing so I figured I’d keep my eyes peeled for pretty mason jars and pumps locally and give it a try.

About a week later my hubby took me to a deviously wonderful antique store he’d spotted while out and about. Where I found these lovlies for just $10 each.

I was twitterpaited. And then like I always do, I got distracted and they sat for weeks, until the day I needed a few items to fill the dishwasher before running a load. Now all clean and pretty and sitting on my counter, they were back on my radar. Luckily, a few days later I made a trip to Pier 1 to use the gift card my mom had gotten me for my birthday and found clear pumps for just a $1 each! Of all the things I might find at Pier 1, that certainly wasn’t one I thought I would, but I’m sure glad I did!

I was in the midst of getting lots of crafts done for an upcoming display so I wasn’t planning on working on this little project until later, but my hubby decided to make it happen and started pulling out tools. I quickly looked up the tutorial I’d saved to show him what the steps were and then followed him out to the garage to get action shots.

First he marked the center of each lid with a dot. Then he drilled a hole slightly smaller than the circumference – I love how that word makes me sound smart! – of the pump. He then took a little more off the edges of the hole until the pump would fit into the opening. Here’s the line up of each stage from far to near.

Yes, that is our garbage can being used as a work bench. I’m not the only one who longs for the day we move into our NEW home and start setting things up the way that works best for our needs – including a study work table with tool storage nearby!

At this point I returned to whatever craft I was currently working on and the hubs applied epoxy to each pump and lid to create a seal. We let them dry a day or two to make sure everything cured completely. Then he measured how long each stem should be and trimmed them down to fit.

I filled each with a healthy dose of soft soap from the bulk container I’d purchased some time ago for filling the small single hand pumps we’d had previously and then placed each in their new ‘home’. I love that each is different and has it’s own character.

All together we made four dispensers for $44. That’s less than I was going to spend online without shipping, which makes me like them even better. I think they turned out pretty darn cute and the hubs declared them “the easiest project yet!” He then noted how he was surprised I hadn’t done more for things like lotion, etc. I took that as a clue that he really does enjoy doing these little projects with me and told him I’d be sure to watch for more jars so we could make those daily use items ‘pretty’ enough to display in our new home and then promptly showed him one of my many DIY plans for the master bathroom… 🙂

Our Little Oasis

Published on May 31, 2013June 2, 2013 by Jenna3 Comments

Summer time has finally arrived here in Alaska and that means it’s time to get outside and soak it up before winter descends again in a few short months. Luckily, our rental house has a little balcony right off the main living room that is a perfect spot to sit and enjoy an evening chat. Unfortunately it was looking a little sparse when we first moved in this winter. So I decided to make it a bit more inviting.

I had already picked up two strawberry plants at the farmers market last weekend, which would be hung in the two square baskets I already had. But I was going to need a lot more than two strawberry baskets to save this sad little balcony. The first thing I knew I wanted to add was some chairs, because you can’t sit and relax without those! I contemplated purchasing some plastic chairs but didn’t want to spend almost $20 a pop – especially knowing we probably wouldn’t use them again when we move. Then I remembered we had ‘camping chairs’ which would fit well in the space. Although the chairs have a cup holder built in, I still wanted a little table in between to hold a few little things when necessary. I also knew we needed some flowers to liven up this space. So list in hand, I headed for the largest nursery in town.

I was literally amazed at this place. Not only do they have a HUGE green house full of every type of plant that grows in Alaska, they have 3 HUGE green houses! Plus they had a coffee bar and cafe along with a large gift shop! They are are so big they even do bridal registries! I could have spent all. day. long. here and still not seen everything they had.

The first thing I found was a little stool that I thought would work nicely as a table for the chairs and can later become a photo prop or garden stool. At $26 it wasn’t a super bargain, but I thought it was fairly priced. I knew it would compliment the blue chairs and make a perfect spot for one of the little citronella pots we brought with us from Kodiak. I love how the blues and greens all work together – creating a natural soothing palette. It’s almost like I planned it! 🙂

I picked out marigolds and lobelia to fill the rail baskets we already had, but when I went to hang them I realized the hooks were for a smaller top rail. Lucky for me, my ingenious hubby figured out how to tweak the hooks so they would work on this taller board. Love that man! Hopefully the marigolds add to the citronella and keep the bugs at bay so we don’t spend our evenings swatting the air. I also snagged a lavender plant for the pretty grey pot I had planted seeds in, which never spouted.

After I’d planted the strawberries in the hanging baskets I had to figure out where and how to hang them. I had these pretty bird brackets I’d purchased on DecorSteals.com for our new house several months ago and decided we should start enjoying them now. The hubs put up the brackets where I asked and I think they look great.

Near the check out we spotted a stand of nautical bell wind chimes and tested them all out to find the perfect tone (hopefully the neighbors agree!). We selected one with a dog at the end of the chime rather than the typical Alaskan bear, moose or salmon because it was more symbolic of our little family. Granted neither of our girls have tails, but they didn’t have a chime with a ‘nubby’ dog! LOL Although it was a bit of a splurge at $68, I’ve wanted one for a long time and I knew that was the standard cost for something of that size and weight, especially when you don’t have to pay shipping!

I brought a wrought iron piece out from inside to give the space a little extra flair and then placed the cherry tomato plant I snagged during another trip to the farmers’ market for just $10 under it. We already have a few tomatoes about ready to be picked and enjoyed!

I topped everything off with the little rug we already had so there’s a comfy spot to wipe any dirt off your feet before coming back inside. The hubs replaced the ripped screen so we can also enjoy the breeze from outside even when we are inside. But the best part is that everything we’ve done (except the repaired screen) can be taken down and brought to our new house as soon as it’s ready. So here’s the finished product. What do you think?