Get the fragments out!!!

Holy cow, life can sure just blow away from a person, right??  There are so many jumbled posts running around my brain right now... I hope I don't drive you guys nuts with the fragments!!

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FROM THIS MOMENT,  HUBBY WILL BE HOME IN 2 HOURS!!  He called, they barely got back to the truck, then got stuck in Fairbanks with truck trouble... but he is safe and on his way home.... 4 hours behind schedule!!  Anyway, will blog all about his experience, or I will beg him to guest blog it ;-)

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I learned a few new tricks recently.  Did you know that you can set up one of your blog 'pages' to look up a certain label or theme within your blog?  It's really quite easy to do.  The link for a search is:

www.YOURBLOGURL.com/search/label/YOURLABEL   
If you are wanting to enable a multiple word search link:

www.YOURBLOGURL.com/search/label/YOUR%20LABEL

I also found a recipe cost calculator on a blog that I just love!!!  I had to adapt her spreadsheet to account for the prices here in Alaska (you know, figure out the unit price, which can be tricky with some things), but I find it simply amazing to discover just how much I spend and save when I make things from scratch here at home.  My HM bread is saving us a mint, all by itself.  For more tips on saving money at home, visit the website below.  Tons of great information here, especially coupon clipping and food budgeting tips!!!

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I just spent a couple days and several hours trying to play around with my blog layout and color.  Yea, I know, I could just leave it alone right??  But here's the deal, the rain has gone away, the grass is green here, and summer is ending soon.  I wanted to celebrate all that happiness on my blog.  Hence the setting sun over a scene that just makes you want to take your shoes off, right???

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My 2 year old is pretty sure he wants to potty train, I just don't really like that part.  But I need to keep up with him better instead of hunting down the diapers that he sheds around the house.  He places himself on the potty and everything.  It's pretty crazy for me since ALL the other kids have been a battle to potty train.  I had no idea the independent types had these challenges ;-)

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My hubby is out in the Arctic Circle hunting this week.  I get these little updates through his buddy's satellite phone.  I highly recommend this for anyone who likes to get out on the middle of nowhere for whatever reason.  I love getting my updates.  Click the link and it takes you to his 'spot'  ;-)  This is about where they parked the truck and headed out for caribou.  We need him to bring home a couple of them so we can ease the burden of the grocery budget here :-(

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The sun is finally going down around midnight here in Alaska.  It comes back up before 6am right now, but the days are becoming shorter.  It is so strange to witness.  The kids took a very long time adjusting to heading to bed while the sun was still 'awake'.

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I wish I had one of those updated phones today.  We decided to go fishing.... me alone with the kids.  I wanted to try a new fishing hole and the boys were quite excited also.  The first spot we attempted to locate was one the locals all seem to enjoy with their canoes.  We just put on our waders and hoped it was enough.  We pulled along the gravel road and became hesitant when we passed the "Private Property: no trespassing" sign.  Sure enough, beyond that sign was a cluster of trailers sitting there.. truly trashy.  The kind of places where you are sure some kidnapped children are being held!!!

We then went to Echo Lake for our second attempt.  My oldest braved the dirt slides to find a nice cozy spot on the shore.  We got down to our fishing spot only partially covered in dirt.  My 7yr old ended up stumbling into the lake, waste deep (above his waders), my 2yr old refused to move from the spot I found for him beside a tree (somewhat level with rocks for him to throw).  It was an adventure.  The fish were there.  They cleaned our hooks several times without jumping on board :-(  We got back to the van looking like extras in a cheap western movie.  Thank goodness for leather seats that wipe off easily.  I think we shall hit the lake with the wooden dock tomorrow ;-)

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I completely ruined a meal again this week.   A few weeks ago I burned a dinner.  I have not done that in so long, my entire family was in shock.  Last night, Monday night, I heated oil over the stove to fry up our buffalo chicken strips.  I cut up the chicken while the oil reached the right temp.  As I began to toss the first round of chicken in I saw that my thermometer looked sort of funny.  With all the normal craziness of my house surrounding supper prep, I had the last round of chicken frying before it dawned on me why the thermometer looked funny.  It had broken!!!  Mercury had run into my oil and contaminated my entire batch of fried chicken strips.  I was mortified.  After a call to my mother (mom's are so great!!) I ran over to Pizza Hut for supper.  It was crazy, and of course it all happened on a night that we rolled into the house just STARVING.  Ain't that just the way???