What Can You Buy For Three Cents?

Cute heeled boots, apparently.


“3 cents?” you say?

Yup.

“Surely you’ve left out some zeros… three dollars?”

Nope.

“Thirty cents?”

Nuh-uh… three cents.

I thought it was a mistake. I checked. I said, “Not that I’m complaining, but were those boots really seven cents?”

Checkout boy looks at the screen: “Well, I guess so, if that’s how they ring up.”

Me: “Are you sure?”

Checkout boy: “Well, actually, they’re three cents… the register took four cents off.”

Me: …..

Look:



Granted, they were a little scuffed and obviously a return, which is why they were on clearance for $39.97 (This was at Fred Meyer, by the way…not Value Village). It seems someone forgot to type in some numbers when they were marking them down.

Oh well. Mine now. … for three cents.

I am a sucker for a good young adult book series. The sheer volume of engaging, worthwhile young adult fiction astounds me. I don’t remember having such a plethora of good reading when I was in middle school. There was The Black Stallion series (which I devoured), Little House on the Prarie (I was apathetic… too few horses), and Madeline L’Engle (Many Waters is still a favorite), but that was really about it.

Since teaching middle school literature for three years, I have become a engrossed in the flood of new work aimed at young people in the last twenty years. While there are certainly some duds (Margaret Haddix’s Shadow Children series comes to mind… blah), the work of folks such as Lois Lowry, Cornelia Funke, Nancy Farmer, and, yes, JK Rowling have provided young people with some pretty quality reading.

So, my new favorite is Rick Riordan. I absolutely loved his Percy Jackson and the Olympians series—the last book of which I finished last night around 12. The characters were gods, demigods, and demons, but were so fantastically human. I adored the juxtaposition of modern American life with Greek mythology. The books were just cleverly written in general. No, there was no great depth of thought required on the part of the reader, but they were a fun way to spend a few hours. I can't wait for the movie on February 12!

I look forward to Riordan’s new series The Kane Chronicles, which looks to be a similar concept revolving around Egyptian mythology. I hope it’s not overkill…

I love mountains. That’s one of the main reasons I’ve missed Alaska…Nowhere are the mountains as amazing as they are here!

When I finally got my rear end out of bed, I realized it was going to be a crystal clear day in Fairbanks, so I went out for a drive.

There’s nothing like a blue sky on a winter day!!

I drove up Farmer’s Loop road, then up the Steese Highway. I should have gone to the Goldstream Road lookout, but I thought I’d pay a visit to the pipeline first:

(Um… Duh…)

Unfortunately, I took a little too long getting where I needed to go to see the mountains, but I did get a few shots of the Alaska Range. Even Denali decided to show her face (she’s shy & usually hides, even on clear days!):

See her? She’s there, just to the right of the sun… No? Here’s a close-up:

See? She’s right there in the middle, just to the left of that clump of trees. That’s the highest point in North America and the tallest mountain in the world (measured base to peak). Yeah, I need to work on my photography skills… I also need to get my butt out of bed earlier.

Here’s the rest of the Alaska Range from Farmer’s Loop Road. I wish my pictures did it justice for those of you who’ve never had the fortune to see it in person:

Since it’s Saturday, and I have no life, I went downtown in search of something. I didn’t find what I was looking for, but I did find an old friend:

…and blew my extra weekly Weight Watchers points on:

That’s Alaska blueberry baby!!

(oh, and that bite was for you Rachel!)

YUM.

One last shot (downtown Fairbanks at -10):

HOCKEY!!!

I haven't been to a hockey game in a LONG time... like since high school.

So, when my roommate suggested we go, I was all over it!

OK, so I thought it was going to be a UAF game, but it turned out to be an Ice Dogs game... Oops! I really need to listen more carefully...

So, it was my roommate Maggie, me, and my good friend Kelley (who has been my salvation since I got here!)

Kelley & I entertained ourselves playing with the settings on my camera:


Obligatory Zamboni shot:


It was a good game... lots of action... a couple of fights... and...


OVERTIME


Unfortunately, Kenai outshot Fairbanks & won the game. Ah well...

When we left the Big Dipper, it was snowing outside.
I LOVE snow in Fairbanks, because:

a-it's pretty & the night sky is rosy
b-it warms up! It was -30 this morning and it's -7 now... Woot!!
c-less snow = more fires in the summertime

Here's Fairbanks when it's snowing (though, the pictures don't do it justice...especially when I'm not using a tripod...but my tripod is in Houston...oops):

We have a visitor in our front yard:

We have named her Harriet.

Harriet is hungry.

Yummy leaves.

ALASKA

I'm here!!

I did it. I moved 5,000 miles NORTh to Fairbanks to finish out the year at tanana middle school.

Before I left, Jacqui said, “you wanna have a get-together before you go?” I said, “Sure,” thinking a few people would show up. The house was PACKED!! I can’t believe so many people came out to say a temporary good-bye to me!

Plus, they gave me the best present: knowing that my camera had gone a.w.o.l. when my former klepto…ahem… roommate was around, and knowing that said camera was important to me because it was a gift from students, they got together & bought me a new camera!!

It’s awesome! I’m so excited to be digital again.

Here’s my first ever picture taken with my new camera:

OK, I’ve taken better. Like these of some of my gorgeous friends:

Still working on the settings... I've never been great at indoor shots.

So, on Tuesday, January 5^th, I hopped on a plane in Houston and landed a mere 10 hours later in a much colder Fairbanks, AK (temp: 4°F).

I only took one picture on the way by way of explanation of why I only took one picture on the way:

Those are just my carry-ons (I’ve never been accused of traveling light…especially when moving). Too many handfuls to be breaking out my camera just to take a pic of Ivar’s (YUM)

My very good friend Kelley picked me up at the airport at midnight & I stayed at her place for a couple of days since I don’’t have a car yet.

Here’s what I saw out my window when I woke up at 7:30 the next morning:

If you look carefully, you can see… never mind... it’s dark.

Things were looking much better at 10:00:

Speaking of Kelley, here’re some pics of her adorable kids at dinner last night:

Kweku

Conrad

Adom

I started work on Thursday & it’s going great so far. More to come later.

Two last pictures for now, I just took these out the window of my new place at about 9:20 am.

The back yard:

The front:

Why no pictures from outside, you ask?

(Cuz It’s -17°)