Happy Holidaze!!
Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving and Christmas.
The day before Thanksgiving I went shopping in Anchorage. While departing Anchorage the truck got stuck in gear between 2nd and 3rd. In panic mode I called Saun and he guided me through what I needed to do. It could barely get up to 45mph. I traveled about 10 miles before I pulled off the highway. I was still 20 miles away before I would reach Wasilla Ford dealership I immediately called AAA for a tow truck. I was told the tow truck wait would be approx. 90 mins. Saun was working close by and met me. It was around 2:30 when this happened and Hannah was going to be out of school in about an hour. I called our cousin Marissa get her and bring her to us. Marissa would be passing by us as she was heading to the airport to get Travis. Travis was returning from his 4 week trip of being part of Hurricane Sandy relief.
Four hours later the tow truck finally arrived. We were told our original dispatched tow truck was diverted by highway patrol to a car accident. The replacement tow truck finally arrived. He was very apologetic, but we understood it was out of his control.
We had made plans earlier in the week to go spend the weekend with the Davis family in Fairbanks. We were thankful the truck broke down close to town instead of on the desolate 6 hour drive to Fairbanks. Diagnose was a transmission shift solenoid. Ouch!
It was just another day in the life of Mrs. Schultz...lol
Thanksgiving we spent with Saun's Aunt Mona side of the family. They cooked the turkey in a Bam B-Q. A product made by Emeril. It was delish! We watched football and Hannah made a new friend. Her name is Rori. She is Hannah's age. They colored and ate plenty of desserts.
I made broccoli casserole. A traditional side at the Hadley holiday dinners.
We did not go Black Friday shopping. First time for me in a long time.
We had a cookie bake with all the hens in the family. It was a blast. Our daughter was for sure hyped on the sugar as the ladies were hyped on Mimosa's. I believe there were at least 15 different kinds of goodies exchanged. Hannah helped with putting icing on sugar cookies and sprinkles on chocolate dipped pretzels. I made no-bake cookies and buckeyes.
In between Thanksgiving and Christmas was weeks of pushing paperwork for home loan approval. To any military persons that have been honorably discharged, do not loose your DD214 form. You must have this if you are applying for a VA Loan. We had delays with proceeding on approval until we got a copy of this form. Saun was dischanrge in 2001 and we had moved twice since then, so we had no clue where this was at. So off to call Indiana National Guard we go!
We put an offer on house only to counter offer twice and then a cash offer was put in. So we lost that house. Yes another set back, but we continued to pursue finding a home.
We found a home!!! It is a cute little 1000sq ft log home. When we lived in Battleground our house was less than 1000sq ft. So no fear here. It is on the out skirts of town on a wooded lot. I will post pictures when we move in. We had hoped closing would have taken place prior to Christmas, but that did not happen. We moved into short term housing on December 21st.
Christmas weekend was fun.
On the 23rd
We skyped with the Kennedy Family. The girls opened their presents from one another.
It was good to see all their smiling faces. They sent us our first round of Indiana goodies. Cracker Barrel breakfast, Steak n Shake chili, and Orville Reddenbocker popcorn.
That night we had Swedish dinner at Joe and Mona's. We tried fish called Lutefisk. This was a favorite by Sauns Grandma Schultz. We are open minded to try new foods, but this one was for sure not a favorite. The fish is baked. It had very little flavor so you put a white gravy over it. We also had Swedish meatballs and lefse. Lefse is a flatbread that you top with butter and sugar. I brought 5 cup salad (sour cream-coconut-mandarin oranges-pineapple-marshmallows) This is my grandmother's receipe.
Christmas Eve we had dinner at Travis and Marissa.
Deep fried turkey and all the fixins. We had a gift exchange plus a white elephant exchange.
We came back home opened Christmas Eve gifts from Uncle Christopher and Aunt Lauren. More Cracker Barrel breakfast goodies. It is the little things that can make you feel at home :)
Christmas Day we spent just the three of us. Stayed in our jammies all day. We made Cracker Barrel pancakes and fried apples.
We skyped with my parents and siblings, so they could see Hannah open her gifts.
Santa brought here some cash to go shopping for new comforter & sheets and a Hello Kitty Lamp. She got an Easy Bake Oven from daddy. She was so excited. I was in smiles as this was a gift from my childhood, however as an adult this is an overated gift. Great for little girls to feel like a baker, but the turn out is a cupcake the size of nickel. Perfect size cake if you were Barbie. I got her the Crayola Air Brush system. She diggin this as it is like daddy's air brush gun used in taxidermy.
This week Hannah and I have watched the movies sent to her by Uncle Brandon and Aunt Paige.
Harry and the Henderson's - she kept saying are sure this isn't a mommy/daddy movie. She was a little scared. She did cry when John Lithgow was being mean to make Harry go back into the woods.
Jumanji - she was happy that she could watch the movie without commercials
The Neverending Stories - a little too 80's and too slow for her.
Her 15 minute attention span was being challenged. She eventually got intrigued by the whole adventure of Atreyu and happy to see such a beautiful empress.
So here we are December 30th.....
We woke to the Colts game being televised. Sa-weet!!!
Generally they just televise the west coast teams.
Since we are 4 hours behind the East Coast, we wake up and they games have already started. No problem for us to stay up and watch all of the Sunday and Monday night football games.
On a sad note we received news from my folks that our cat Woody passed away. He got to a point of illness that he was not drinking or eating on his own. My parents were having to give him fluid through IV. We had hoped that he would recover. He passed peacefully in his laundry basket with his arm around his favorite stuffed animal. My heart is seriously wrenched by this loss. We lost Marley in April and now Woody. So tuff to loose a family pet.
As far as this week we PRAY we will close on our new house on Jan 3rd. We have been living out of a suitcase since Labor Day weekend. Beyond excited to get back to a "normal" life.
Hannah goes back to school on Jan 7th, would be awesome to get all settled before then.
The weather has been ..well... Alaskan. Some night temps drop into the negatives and days barely reach the teens. We did get around 14" of snow in a 24 hour time span. Most beautiful and peaceful scene. Indeed a winter wonderland. Saun has gotten icicles on his facial hair while working out in the cold temps. Hannah's school sends the children out for recess unless the temp go below 9 degrees. She is a trooper. We pack her snow boots and bibs everyday.
So long for now. I am on the prowl today for corned beef and cabbage for New Year's Eve dinner.
Wishing you a Happy an Healthy New Year!
