I'm back in Utah again and I'm not sure exactly how I feel about it.  Returning home is always bitter sweet.  I love hanging out with my Mom and my sisters, working on projects and family dinners.  Yet I am also confronted by harsh reality that my family has changed and I have changed and I don't quite know how I fit in here.  I have recently come to the conclusion that I get along with my family a lot better when we don't live in the same state.  It is a sad reality but I have gotten so used to having my own space that I find that I don't really play well with others.  Turns out, I can be really mean to those I love  - and I hate that about myself.   

Alaska feels so far away, like it was only a dream.  I do miss it and the great friends that I met there (I do hope our paths cross again).  But it was time to move on - to new things - new people to meet - new places to explore.  

Freaking out a little bit

So tomorrow is my last day of work and I'm freaking out a little bit.  Truth be told, I've been ready to be done for a while now but now that it's here, I don't know if I'm ready for unemployment and the adventures that lie ahead.  So much so that I just ate 3/4 of a $25 pizza.  Goodness, Domino's is expensive up here. 

I'll sure miss this view.
 

No sense in fighting it, bring on the funemployment!
 

Scotland on my mind

Today I entertained the idea of going back to Scotland.  (I visited briefly in 2005.)  Listfull daydreams of grey skies, green hills, and all things woolen kept creeping into my head, impeding all productivity.

It all started with the Fair.  I went to the Tanana Valley Fair last night and the local pipe band was playing - I'm a sucker for bagpipes.  I don't know which I like more the music, the kilts or those darling shoes pipers wear.  I became acutely nostalgic for Scotland.  

And, fairs mean livestock, sheep and goats and chickens and ducks and sheep and cows and sheep.  All the adorable, neatly groomed farm animals feed my fantasies of snug cottages with sheep grazing on green hillsides.  I have this dream of raising my own sheep, and using the fleece to create all sorts of lovely knitted, woven and felted goodies.  (I don't know that I would enjoy the reality of such an operation as the idea of it - so I think that it will stay a dream for a long long time.) 

If the fair weren't enough, I found the most painfully fabulous shop online today.  It took me a while to figure out where it was based but as soon as I realize it was Scotland, I spiraled into an unseemly obsession with returning to the land of my ancestors and immersing myself in fiber arts.  


Is not this the most delectable hot water bottle cover you could ever imagine?

I don't know what I would even do with a hot water bottle let alone a hot water bottle cover, but I want it. AND THEN, I want to know how to make it AND THEN I'll make dozens of lovely variations AND THEN I will live happily ever after...  

It's all quite logical really. 

(Have I mentioned how obsessed I have become about knitting? weaving? felting?  Let it be a cautionary tale to any who dare contemplate moving to Alaska, extreme northern latitudes can drive a person mad.)

And let's talk about this cushion, I covet it.  Makes me want a loom real bad so I could create beautiful tweeds like these. *sigh*

All my lusting over woolens has led me to conclude... unfortunately it appears that all rational thought has ceased and all I can think about is SHEEP and WOOLENS and SCOTTISH COTTAGES. 

don't waste your time sounding it out

Hi, my name is Maggie and I'm a bad speller.  It's true, I am helplessly strung out on spell check.  I absolutely LOVE that facebook and blogger automatically check my spelling for me.  And while many of my spelling errors are due to laziness and sloppy typing, there are a couple of words in particular that I really struggle with.


1) Tomorrow - I think that I unlearned how to spell this word when I learned Finnish.  Finnish unlike English is phonetic and like other phonetic languages uses specific vowels for specific sounds.  English does not.  The word tomorrow is particularly troubling because while it feature 3 distinct vowel sounds, it's redundant use of the letter "o" is utterly bewildering.  I have since relearned how to spell this wretched word but every once in a while I try to stick in an in the middle.  How 'bout we all just spell it "tumaaro"? Hmm, that doesn't look right either.

2) Definitely - Another puzzler,  it is my inability to spell this word correctly that has lead me to believe that I use it way to much.

3) Alaska - I really don't know why this is so hard.  For some reason it's just hard to type or something.  I know it's nothing compared to Massachusetts or Connecticut.  Even after living in Massachusetts for a summer, I still struggle with that one.   

Okay, so this is apparently a short list because I can't think of any more.  I think that "tomorrow" and "definitely" plague me because I seem to use them a lot in text messages.  And while the text predictor dictionary is a life saver that prevents me from misspelling, it can't read my mind.     

Funny Story...

So I told you how I'm sort of obsessed with this little show called "So You Think You Can Dance" yeah, embarassing enough, I know.  Well tonight I was voting for my favorite dancer, Mr. Robert Roldan and well somehow I managed to call a complete stranger upwards of a hundred times.  How'd I make such a rookie mistake, well I'm not quite sure but I may have exposed the limits of my multitasking abilities.  

I was out to dinner with my friend Amanda and as I was playing with my blistering spicy bulgogi when I realized it was after 7.  Time to vote.  But I was prepared, I'd checked Roberts fan page before I left and KNEW that he was number 3 tonight.  So I looked in my call history and found the number for SYTYCD that I'd called last week.  So I started dialing and as usual I don't really listen to hear the message, just watch for the call to go through then hang up and redial.  However, I distinctly remember checking that I had the right number and hearing the SYTYCD message say thank you for calling for dancer 3.  So I kept calling and calling and calling and calling.  I rode to the ATM with Amanda, I came home, I helped her move some stuff into her car, I watched some SYTYCD, I made some instant pudding.  All the time dialing and redialing and redialing.  

But around 8:55, I looked down at my phone and I relized that I'd just dialed a 907 number.  907 is the area cod for Alaska.  Who had I just dialed?  Well it turns out that somewhere along the way, probablly while wisking instant pudding with one hand, dialing with the other and watching tv, I'd started redialing this guy who'd inquired about buying my car off Craigslist.  

My guess is he probably won't want to buy my car after receiving upwards of a hundred calls from me in the space of an hour.  Psycho much? At least I don't know him right?  Take this as a warning, look before you dial and beware the spicy pork bulgogi.   
   

SYTYCD

I think that we can all agree that summer is a pretty lovely season.  But you know what I really love about summer? Besides the sunshine, bbqs and popsicles, it's So You Think You Can Dance.  It's pretty much the best thing on TV in the summer (low standard, I know) but I sort of live for it each summer and it's become somewhat of a tradition.  My sisters and I watch it and rehash the performances and results each week.   

We're coming to the end of this season and it never fails to stay interesting.  And last week was just AWESOME! If you haven't been watching, you should know that this season has been plagued with and alarming number of injuries requiring contestants to drop out of the competition and allowing others to stay longer than they likely would have - it's been a bit frustrating to say the least.  Luckily, my favorite dancer, Robert Roldan, has managed to avoid injury and elimination and is still in the competition.  

I love Robert because he's got a really strong presence on stage: quirky and strong and handsome and skilled.  He's young but manages to look a bit more manly than the other boys on the show.  Roberto won me over early on in the season and I've been doing my darndest to keep him on the show ever since.  I'll be voting like mad again this Wednesday.  I consider myself a bit of a super fan because I vote before the show even starts.  Because I have a Utah phone number, I have to vote with Utah which for me in Alaska is 7-9 and the show doesn't starts til 8 up here.  

If you watch, who's your favorite? I really like all of the final 4 and even a few of those who have already left.