New Background

Instead of posting last night I played around with my blog design.  It is still not exactly how I would like, but I do like being able to use one of my own photos as the background.  Although it has to be tiled, which I do not like so much. There are just too many variables I guess.

In other news, I got my diploma in the mail yesterday.  That is the physical proof I have been waiting for that I am really, truly done with the Ph.D.  I already knew I was done but somehow the mind doesn't want to get fully comfortable until the diploma is in hand.  So now I guess it is time to move on.  Except my advisor would want me to consider the publishable journal papers to be created out of different chapters, to really make my mark.  Maybe soon...

7th Month

A friend up in Fairbanks is being induced tonight.  By this time tomorrow she should be holding her new baby girl.  I am starting to think about the end of this pregnancy and if I am going to be ready.  I still have over 2.5 months, but I have scarcely thought about the reality - that we will have a new baby girl in the family, who will be the center of the universe for a while, needing all of our care and efforts.  I remember with Emmy the first month was pretty desperate.  By month 2, her personality was beginning to show, we got into a routine, got some sleep, and began to feel sane again.  That time frame is what I look forward to at this point - I am in a smooth part (relatively) of the pregnancy, but things will get tougher physically until the birth and for a while afterwards.  But it becomes worth it in a short time.  Here's to our next adventure!

Winter tragedy

Last night Jeremy was called out to help search for a person on Island Lake we have known for many years.  He had gone ice skating and did not return. The story does not have a happy ending.  We slept little last night. It has been such a strange day.  We feel so terrible for his best friend and his wife, and all of the other people that will be affected by this.  The whole situation was very erie. Tragedies like this remind you not to pass up opportunities to spend time with friends and family, since you never know when something like this will happen.  And it also reinforces the importance of communication and safety precautions, as common situations can quickly become dangerous and deadly.

We are moving...

...upstairs.

In preparation for the remodel of our kitchen and living area, which I am WAY to excited about, we are moving our living operations up to the apartment in our house.  Emmy has already had her bedroom up here since late summer, but I have been resisting moving the kitchen and living operations up here, mainly because I am used to spending my time downstairs, and that is also where the dishwasher is.  However, it is fully set up here, with the exception of a full-sized fridge, which Jeremy and Ben will be moving up from the other kitchen today.  Everything is a bit more compact, but most of it is in better shape than the house is downstairs, as Jeremy has already redone the flooring, moved up the furniture, and put in a wood stove.  With our main living room furniture up here as well, we've been basically camping downstairs, using a park bench as a couch and a weird uncomfortable chaise lounge for an easy chair.  I guess it is about time.  These photos are of the scene up here this morning, but if you have been in our house you will notice that the photos are reversed.  Photo booth reverses my pictures for some reason...

With Jeremy tearing out the cabinets, the drywall, and even the floor (not just the flooring - the actual floor!) before we can start reconstruction of things down there, the next few months will be a mess downstairs.  The result though will be a completely renovated, beautiful living area. My hope is that it will all be completed by the time Baby Laura gets here in mid-April.

New Year's Resolution

I usually don't do resolutions.  But in the spirit of all the big changes in my life, I decided to do one this year.  My resolution is to be mindful of the fact the much of the stress in my life comes from within.  In my work there are often stressful situations - saving a language is no easy task.  But I can choose how I respond to those situations, and I can choose to internalize less of the stress.  So that is what I will be trying to do.

So far, I have been doing pretty well.  Things are busy, some might even say stressful.  But I am kind of enjoying being back at work for full days now that I am not working on school, able to focus my energies and get a lot done.  It is a good feeling.  Let's hope this lasts!

Full Circle

Last night we had some friends come over to celebrate my completion of school.  This week I have been thinking about the time that has passed over the course of my Ph.D., and how long it has felt, while actually being very short in the big scheme of things.

The year I applied to the SLATE program at UAF to start my Ph.D. was 2007, when I was about a month further along in my first pregnancy than I am now.  A few months after we had Emmy, I started my first class, a summer intensive up at the UAF campus when Emmy was 2 months old.  I brought her to class with me each day in a stroller, fed her in class, changed her on the floor in the hall, and let her sleep in one of the suitcases we flew to Fairbanks in.  By that fall, we were preparing for a move to Fairbanks where I needed to be on campus to complete the majority of my coursework.  At that time, Emmy was learning to crawl.  We spent 2008 in Fairbanks, then moved back here in 2009 so I could complete my research and other requirements, and then write my dissertation.  All together, this took just over three years. Summer of 2007 to Fall 2010, and all that time I was working and being a mom.  This would not have been possible with a lot of support from friends, family, and especially my husband - and I don't mean moral support - I mean actual help from these people in the form of childcare, meals, house cleaning, and a hundred other favors I will never be able to repay.

As I begin the next chapter of my life I am halfway through my pregnancy with our second daughter.  Who knows what will happen in the next three years.  Last night my mom said she sometimes wondered if she should have told me not to do the Ph.D., because now she has seen how hard it was on me.  I told her, if I hadn't done it, I would always wonder if I had made a mistake or missed out by not doing it.  This way I have no regrets.  Yes, it was miserable at times, but I did it, and it is something I never have to do again!

High winds

Looks like we should tie down...everything tonight and tomorrow!

From NOAA weather Kodiak:

KODIAK ISLAND
INCLUDING...KODIAK CITY
950 AM AKST TUE DEC 14 2010

...HIGH WIND WATCH IN EFFECT FROM LATE TONIGHT THROUGH WEDNESDAY
AFTERNOON...
.TODAY...MOSTLY CLOUDY IN THE MORNING THEN BECOMING PARTLY CLOUDY.
TEMPERATURES DROPPING INTO THE MID 20S. NORTHWEST WIND 25 TO 40 MPH
WITH LOCAL GUSTS TO 55 MPH. 
.TONIGHT...PARTLY CLOUDY. LOWS AROUND 15. NORTHWEST WIND 40 TO 50 MPH
WITH GUSTS TO 75 MPH POSSIBLE AFTER MIDNIGHT. 
.WEDNESDAY...MOSTLY CLOUDY. ISOLATED SNOW SHOWERS IN THE AFTERNOON.
HIGHS IN THE UPPER 20S. NORTH WIND 40 TO 50 MPH WITH GUSTS TO 75 MPH
POSSIBLE.

Snow

From a few days ago...Since it started raining almost immediately after it snowed, we took advantage of the opportunity to get the girls outside and play, though it was well past dark. Marshmallows, snowballs, sledding and a snowman!

done. really.

I am almost afraid to say it, for fear of making it not true.  After all, the diploma is not yet in hand.  But yesterday, my final requirement for graduating - my printed dissertation copies - were mailed to the UAF graduate school.  It doesn't seem real yet. I am not jumping for joy. I am not demanding that everyone call me Doctor!  Maybe the thrill that everyone thinks I will feel upon graduating will never materialize.  That's not to say I am not happy and relieved.  I am ready to get on with the next chapter of my life.  I want to be able to focus on work when I am at work, and my family when I am at home.  I want to start taking my gardening more seriously again, and do something creative.  It will be nice to do nothing sometimes and not feel guilty about it.

In the short term, it is time to consider the holidays and the family trip to Tennessee and Indiana coming up in just a week.  And there is much to be done at work before then.  And how many presents to wrap? The end of one thing does not mean I will become less busy. At least not yet.

Emmy's Christmas Dress