Intro to Hell

Got here on Sunday. I'm loving:

1. The sites
2. The people
3. Just being around my family

Trying to get used to:

1. The heat (was 95 the other day)
2. The streets (only been lost once)
3. Sales tax (didn't have those in Anchorage)

The first couple of days, my feeling about the heat was that if God ever decided to send me to Hell, He'd have to invent new heat. Being here when it hit 95 degrees made me feel like I was in Hell 101. After that, I actually stopped sweating like a roasted hog. (It was pretty funny the day that I was all cute in my new shorts, reached up to wipe my forehead & my hand came away white... Sunscreen!)
The new house is ADOR-A-BLE. Small, cozy and the neighbors are great. Met Doug and Linda and was immediately reprimanded for calling them "Mister and Missus." They are just plain Doug and Linda.
Have been busy, busy. Had to do quite a bit of quickie shopping (not including the shorts I bought at Wal-Mart and changed into in the front seat of the car because I couldn't take the jeans and t-shirt I was wearing).
My niece is planning a housewarming. I already picked out the colors for my room and bath: chocolate & camel with deep green accents for the bath; reds, oranges, browns and golds for the bedroom.
I will attempt to post some pics next time, so you can "meet" me and the family. In the meantime, I am back on line sporadically.
Peace.
--Free

On a jet plane

Finally.

**Cue angelic choir in chorus of "Hallelujah!"**

The house thing is over & I am not yet an alcoholic. I did overdose on some chocolate the other day!

I am leaving Anchorage Sat night/Sun morn. I would like to feel a little more sad, but at this point, the crazy weather in this beautiful place has helped me come down with a cold. We've gone from 17 degrees to 31 degrees. Day before yesterday, it actually snowed. Just a little bit, but still...

I have been keeping up with my writing. I have no idea how I've managed to do that, but, I have about 17 scenes to type up when I get back to my PC... And my PC (I call her "Della - cause she's a Dell!) was shipped out yesterday. The guy at the packaging store laughed (but just a little) when I brought her in all wrapped in a blanket. He quit laughing when I told him I'd be willing to seriously hurt anyone responsible for damage to my baby! I gave him my Ice Cube look from "Are We There Yet?"

Belle (my new doggie) has gotten sick & won't be able to travel with me. My niece is panicked about her little pooch being unwell & I'm just hoping that she will really send her own to me when Belle is better. (The last family dog died of cancer, so my niece is really concerned & anxious for the vet to tell her what's up.)

As far as the Young-Love-I-Left in Texas: I made a decision. Since I found out that he has a live-in-love, I'm going to get settled, call him, see what's what & then MAYBE go on there for a visit. I kept out the old pics that I found of him/us & I couldn't quit looking at them the other night. I wonder if I'm just itching to see him because of the stress and uncertainty that comes with this move I'm making? I don't know, folks. I don't know.

How are all of you guys doing? I'm not keeping up very well with my blog-reading, so I'm going to have a BUNCH of catching up to do when I get to AZ. Meantime, all of you please be well, be happy &

Peace

--Free

Watched "Roll Bounce" so my song is "Get Off" by Foxy

The Move Update #...I forget

Okay - everything has smoothed out a little with the move. Just to let those of you who may have to go through this at some time in your life, here's what happened to us:

The buyers were using money from their 401K. The check came from out of state. Their lender put a hold on the check - 7 days...

That's not bad enough.

When the 7 day hold was up, the buyers' lender told them that because they didn't close on the appointed date, they now had to RE-VERIFY all their previous info - paystubs and other financial info. When the buyers pointed out that this had been done already (and besides, it wasn't their fault the check was held for 7 days), the lender just insisted that it's the way things are done.

Meanwhile, WE are living with family, suitcase-diving and carrying things around (since our car is already shipped off). AND the buyers are living in a hotel because they gave notice on their apartment.

Things that make you go.... Damnit!

ANYway... Thanks to everyone for the encouraging words & the condolences on our friend Marie. Something that people outside of cold-weather states probably never think about: Marie can't be buried until summer when the ground has thawed enough. So her family will go back to Fairbanks for that ceremony. (My mother was cremated, so we didn't have to deal with that. I imagine it would be a little bit like mourning twice. Or maybe it's just final closure.)

Okay, my friends, I will check in with you later. I have to tell you all about whether or not I actually go to see the old first-love boyfriend... I've got a couple more days to decide.

--Free

Transition Update

Lord have mercy, I have a complicated life!

I'm packed, out of my house, living with family & ready to leave town and....


There's a slight hold-up. Stuck here for a few more days than I plannned.


Dang it.


BUT - there is good news: while I'm held up, I had a beautiful thing happen. My niece has two pit bulls. Belle & Beast. I've always been a little timid around dogs, and ever since a pit chewed through a door to try having me for a noon-time snack... Well, let's just say, I was terrified of pit bulls. Until. My niece once had a pit named Bonnie. Sweetest & most lovable animal I ever saw. For some reason, she was very protective of me, so I fell in love with her. Bonnie died a couple of years ago. My niece then got a brother and sister (Beast & Belle). I'm not crazy about Beast - I don't know why - but Belle reminds me of Bonnie. The dog has always been a sweetie pie.


I was feeling a little down when I found out I was going to be stuck here in limbo for a while longer & while I was commiserating with my niece & nephew, Belle came over and tried to comfort me. I mentioned to my niece that it would be nice to have such a sweet but protective dog when I get to Arizona. Because my niece is worried about me transitioning to a new environment, she said she'd feel better if I had a good guard dog. But I'm not good with most guard type dogs & I suck at training and bonding with animals. While we were talking, Belle was watching us and we all looked at each other and had a "aha" moment.


Belle is 2 years old, trained, and she loves me already, so..


Belle is going to Arizona with me & my sis. I have a guard dog, a friend, and a part of my Alaska memories all wrapped up in one. I'm SO happy. Belle and I have been bonding a lot the past few days. She's going to miss her brother & I know she's going to have to adjust to being away from my niece, but I think it's going to be good for all of us. (You have to understand how much my niece loves this dog to know how much she has to love me to give Belle to me.)


I think that God works not only in mysterious ways, but in wonderful ones too. I was all upset about having my move schedule thrown off & here I get the best gift in the world out of it. Happy, happy, happy!


At any rate, I have internet access most of the time, so maybe I'll get to tell about being attacked by a dog named Jake. Meanwhile, I have to go make some calls to the vet and pet store. I'm getting geared up to spoil my new dog!


Peace,
--Free


P.S.: No words or music for now. I have my recently deceased friend, Marie, on my mind. I've been watching her family deal with the process of funeral-planning & it's just complicated. Matter of fact, if I were to have any words today, it would be that death and funerals bring out the best and worst in people. I thank God that, with Marie's family, I'm seeing more of the best & just a little bit of the worst.

By the time I get to Phoenix

Okay - maybe not to Phoenix, but close enough.

I was going to try to keep posting from the road, but I've decided to use my temporary homelessness to get closer to finishing Book Two of my trilogy. However, I was so pleased that some of you enjoy the writing tips I sometimes toss out there that I've decided to have a post ready when I get back online. The subject is one that I promise my fellow writers will really appreciate.

That's all I'm going to say about it for now.

I hope to be back up within the next two weeks. Right now, my phone service is off & I'm using a cell phone for everything. I have my suitcases ready to move over to my niece's house & I feel so disconnected from everything.

I'll be thinking about all of you while I'm not able to check in.

Take care & peace.

--Free

And Now, Arizona

Since I did a tribute to Alaska, I thought it might be nice to take note of what I'm going to look forward to when I get to Arizona. Here's a little impromtu Top Ten that will show you just how much television I've been watching lately:

10 -- Shipping and handling will be as advertised when I want to order that useless crap they like to peddle on late-night infomercials. No more reading the fine print to discover that it costs and extra 5 or 10 bucks for us Alaskans.

9 -- When I see a commercial for Red Lobster or Olive Garden, I'll actually be able to satisy my ad-induced cravings. We dont have those eateries here so I'm not sure why the commercials play every 30 minutes on local stations...

8 --I'll be able to scrape together money for plane tickets to visit all my family living in the rest of the Lower 48.

7 -- When I get ready to buy that laptop I've been wanting, I can take advantage of the free (ground) shipping Dell brags about.

6 -- If so inclined, I might be able to get my hair braided for less than the 250 to 300 bucks people up here like to charge. And lord knows I'm gonna be happy to go to a store other than WalMart to find hair care and cosmetics in a more varied range.

5 -- My Oil of Olay Regnerist (what I like to call my Miracle of the Moisturizers) costs 15 bucks and change at Targets instead of the dang-near twenty bucks (for 1.7 oz) I have to pay here. And that's at WalMart, people! I know about the Target price because I checked when I visited this past holiday.

4 --The next time my 4-wheel drive decides to take a little winter-time nap, I won't be calling Road Reports just to see if it's safe to drive around certain parts of town without sliding into someone.

3 -- All those writer's conferences and concerts and other such events I'm always hearing about? I might actually be able to make it to some of them. Yay.

2 --When I finally get up the courage (and this is gonna be a whole other post one day), I'll be able to cruise on over to Texas to check up on an old crush.

And --- somebody take care of the drumroll, please...

1-- When I get ticked aboutt poor customer service & threaten to boycott a supermarket, department store or some other place vital to my consumer needs, I'll be able to follow through. (Kinda hard to pull that mess in a place where there are limited shopping alternatives. The customer service personnel know this & usually just snicker at the threat.)

So -- yeah, I'm coming to you, AZ.

Words:
"I prefer being paid to tell stories over being despised for lying."
(Free 4/2006)

Tags: Top 10, Alaska, Quotes, Culture