One Month later....

It has been quite awhile since I have posted... I know, I know!!  But life has gotten mundane.  I get up, coffee, feed the dogs, watch some TV, open boxes, put stuff away.  Sometimes I get tired of doing that and I go do a little shopping.  I add things to the house to make it easier/nicer to live here.

And then there is the normal living stuff, cooking, cleaning, laundry... and that can put an end to the momentum of unpacking.

The one room that is left in a state of disrepair is the craft room.  The desktop computer is set up.  I have my laptop on the small, portable table that I had in the living room in Parkesburg.  I can use the laptop while I watch TV in the entertainment corner of the craft room.  That corner has my new 55" Roku TV with a soundbar, the round end table that belonged to my parents, then my new electric lift recliner and then the cabinet sewing machine that Susie Jackson gave me at Indian Acres.  I am using it as an end table but can quickly change it into sewing mode.  It is an old workhorse, metal, manual sewing machine that I enjoy sewing on from time to time.

For Christmas I got my youngest son, Brian, a Portal TV and I got one for myself.  It allows me to make video calls, using either Facebook Messenger or the Whatsapp app on your phone to do video chats on my 55" TV.  I have connected with some of you.  Some of you I have tried, but gotten no answer.  But if you ever want to see my ugly mug for a face to face chat, text me and we can arrange a time for me to call you on my TV.  If you have a Portal product, let me know.  It is really, really cool!!!

I have my cutting table set up in the craft room and I have found all of my cutting mats.  The movers had packed them in some of the picture boxes and made sure they did not bend.  Good job, Patrick and crew.  I have NOT found my rulers and templates.  And only one or two rotary cutters have appeared.  These things are in one of the many boxes that remain in the garage.  

I made a dent in the back of the garage.  I now have a Honda generator in the garage that will power my entire house.  During the warmer weather it will not be that essential, but when temps get to -30 to - 50 below, you do not want to be without a furnace running for too long.  Rob had made room initially but the generator was delayed in getting up from the lower 48, so I continued working in that corner.  It does not look like I have done much, until you get back to that corner.

I have NOT found my big Singer sewing machine.  But I do have my Janome and my black Featherweight.  I have my serger.  It was in one of the boxes in the back corner.  I have it sitting on the counter top as that will not vibrate as much as a freestanding table.  The only problem is that whoever packed the serger, did not pack the power cord in the same box... not the best plan, Patrick and crew!!  But it is set up and ready to go when I find the cord.

I have the sewing table from the basement set up and waiting for the big Singer.  I have one of the small ironing boards that clamp to that table... but no clamps... they are in one of the boxes.  No little iron, either, and there are two of them in the boxes, somewhere.  None of my good spray bottles.  No bobbins for either the Singer or the Janome.  I have been taking the Janome to the "Quilt-Ins" at St Raphaels Church.  I have to either find projects that use the same color thread or unwrap thread from the one bobbin I do have.  Again, I have to have 200+ bobbins somewhere in the boxes!!  I did find my containers of cotton, colored threads, so I at least have thread to use.

I have been Alexa-ing and Googling my home.  I really missed having the ability to run my house with voice controls.  It is amazing how lazy one gets and how used you are to doing things by voice commands.  Each day I can add a routine to the system so I can turn on or off different lights or appliances.  I have even set up an iRobot vacuum so I can start it from the lower level to run in the upper level.  The upper level is where Rob and Kate stay when they spend the night.  The kitchen is there and the Living Room and Dining Room.  It is the level that my visitors will stay on when any of you decide to check off that bucket list item to visit Alaska.  I am trying to keep the clutter off that floor and have it neat and cleaned so that if company should come to visit, it is ready for company!  Kate has a Knitting group that meets every Sunday and she may want to invite them to come to the new house at some point and I want Kate to be proud of the place.  And my mess would be out of sight, unless they want a tour.  So I am trying to get this organized and less cluttered.  But doing it all by myself, it is going to take time.

I am still looking for the top of Happy, my embroidery machine.  I had to remove it for transport.  It is in one of the boxes in the garage.  See what I mean about being really boring!!

I also have to admit, that while I am enjoying getting settled into the nicest home I have ever lived in, exploring Fairbanks and meeting a few new people.... I have been missing all of my friends and family back in Parkesburg/Chester County/Elkton/Newark, Middletown.  I miss the occasional call from Patty to see if we can go shopping or deliver blankets to MCC.  I miss Marji.. we still talk several times a week, but I can no longer drop down to her house for a badly needed hug.  I miss Sheila.  We would have the occasional meal together and seeing her at church every week was a blessing to me.  I miss my church family.  It was a comfort to see everyone each Sunday, catch up on their lives and I miss helping with the service.  Doing the A/V system challenged my mind as I attempted to make the presentations better each Sunday.  I miss Debby, MA, Sharon and Mary, my Indian Acres friends or red hatters.  We did not talk often, they have busy lives, but we did manage to visit from time to time and I loved that.  I miss Sew Much Love and all of the ladies who came to help out with our charity projects and learn a craft or two.  I miss plans to travel with many of these ladies either to Fancy Gap or OBX.  We had not done it in a while, but I will not be doing any road trips like I did in the past as I have to travel hours to get to another city to visit.  My life has changed a lot in that regard.

I have been visiting some local churches.  I am hoping to find a church home similar to the closeness and feeling of family that was Parkesburg Mennonite.  Several weeks ago I visited Journey Christian Church.  It is close to my house which I liked.  It is in a new building that houses a Rescue facility that they sponsor.  According to the bulletin, the Sunday before I visited, they had close to 200 in attendance.  The service was to start at 10 AM.  I parked my car and walked into the building.  I was greeted by a lady who welcomed me as she was taking off her coat.  Then a young man gave me the bulletin as I headed to the large room with many chairs.  There were a few conversations going on out in the hallway.  There was a stage and some musicians preparing to play and sing.  People were wandering in and finding seats.  At exactly 10 AM the people on the stage began playing and singing hymns.  There were no hymnals in the room, no Bibles, either.  The words were projected on a large screen overhead.  The hymns ran from one into another into another with not a breath in between.  This happened for close to 30 minutes... or so it seemed.  During this time people continued to dribble into the hall and find seats.

Finally a young man stood up and spoke.  He seemed nervous.  He was quoting scripture and talking about Communion.  When he finished, Communion was delivered to the entire congregation with the bread (cracker pieces) and wine (grape juice) being passed along the rows of the congregation.  A couple of songs while that happened then the minister stepped up.  He had a nice sermon, a few of the points applied to my current state.  But he spoke for quite a while.  He finally stopped, a little more singing as the money was collected.  THEN another gentleman stepped up to go over announcements (the bulletin was 8 pages) and a few others also rose to make announcements or clarifications.  This church has no shortage of small groups during the week.  Finally, a tad before noon, we were dismissed.  Yikes!

I will not be going back.  The entire time I saw families come in and sit together.  I saw young couples come in and sit in pairs.  I saw many singles come in and sit all alone.  Once in awhile, there would be a nod of acknowledgement.  But no interactions.... not one.  At the end, everyone booked for the door when dismissed.  No one said a word to me other than the first 2.  I filled out the new attendee card with address and phone.  Nary a phone call.  Not a knock at my door.  Not going to be my church family!!

Yesterday I went to mass at St Raphaels Church where I have been going for sewing with some nice ladies since I arrived.  I figured that at least I would see some friendly faces.  And I did.  Nancy, the church secretary and quilter, came to me and said "hi" and we chatted for a bit.  She is heading to Hawaii this week for a quilting retreat.  I also saw Marie and her family and Camille (who lives in my neighborhood).  Marie acknowledged me, but Camille sat alone.  It has been some time since I have been to a Catholic Mass.  It has changed quite a bit.  This one had children singing, playing instruments and collecting the offering.  There were a couple of unhappy babies.  I am not used to that.  St Raphaels is the farthest from my house that I want to travel... so my search will continue.

Let's talk COLD.  My first Alaskan winter and Fairbanks is experiencing one of the longest stretches of below zero cold in many years.  Today it is currently 7 degrees... ABOVE ZERO.  This is the first day since before Christmas that I woke up to temperatures above zero.  Many mornings Alexa has told me that it is -30 degrees or colder when I woke up.  Sometimes that was the high temp for the day!  The dogs have not been outside in weeks.  Temps below -20 would burn their paw pads in just a minute, so they have been learning to use their pee pads.  I may have to take them out today so they can stretch their legs.

So far the snow fall has come in dribs and drabs.  It flurries almost daily.  Sometimes the snow falls more steadily.  But rarely more than an inch or so.  I have not blown snow for a couple of weeks.  We are scheduled for more sustained snow tomorrow, so I may be blowing on Wednesday before my appointment with my new dermatologist.  

When you have days upon days of below zero weather one sees a phenomenon called hoarfrost.  I think I have mentioned it before.  The air is so cold and everything exposed to the cold will get a coating of crystalline frost.  It sparkles in the sunshine, when we get sun.  Tree limbs, fences, overhead wires, flat surfaces, etc. will be coated.  The when it flurries, the snow will stick to the ice crystals.  Over time, the appearance of snow buildup happens.  It is sometimes hard to gauge how much snow has actually fallen.

Rob has one of his Wyze Pan Cams pointed out my front window.  It records motion so we can see cars, trucks, people, moose, fox and lynx walking in the driveway and parts of the yard.  He emailed me about some 'snow shedding' that had triggered the camera.  I thought I would share it.  It was the first time I had seen something like that.

I am still alive and doing well.  I miss my friends, but it has been nice doing video chats or just phone conversations with my friends who are concerned about me.  I do not mind being interrupted from my boxes.  And remember, when it is late for you, it is still during my normal day, so call.  I would love to hear from you.

BTW.... Marji and Debby.... I bought a Nintendo Switch around Christmas.  According to the web site, March 20th is when Nintendo will be releasing a new Animal Crossings game for the Switch.  Sounds like there will be numerous old and new 'people/characters' in the game that will be building their home on an island.  I am NOT sure if it will be multi-player with other folk on the Internet, but other Switch games do that.... so perhaps they will make this one multi-player.  I will be getting the game and will let you know how it is and if it will allow us to visit other islands. Stay tuned.