not much to report

Its like we are in a waiting pattern around here - waiting for seths spring hockey league to begin, for snow to melt and leaves begin to grow on the birch tree, waiting on a new addition to the Aasland clan (no not me), waiting to see if its a girl or a boy (dang Krissy), waiting on the new furniture to arrive to metamorphis the living room, waiting for Sydney to decide to potty train - She was doing the happy dance the other day and I asked if she needed to use the toilet - she ran and put the ring on the seat!!!! Plus, she now says thank you for changing her diaper - I think its almost time.

Ewwww

Dog eats $400, but woman recovers some cash later

APEX, N.C. (AP) — A North Carolina family's dog didn't eat the children's homework, he ate mom's money. Kelley Davis said she had an extra $400 in cash to deposit after working extra hours as a physical therapist. She told the News & Observer of Raleigh that on Friday she planned to deposit the money, but it wasn't in her pocket.

She remembered leaving it in the bedroom and it occurred to her that the family's 2-year-old greater Swiss mountain dog, Augie, might have eaten it.

Davis, 42, said when she took Augie for a walk Saturday, she found parts of three $100 bills and five $20s in his leavings. She washed them with a garden hose and hopes to find enough pieces to exchange them for cash.
A professor at the North Carolina State University Veterinary School said the money shouldn't hurt the dog.
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If you are a teller in the wonderful state of North Carolina - BEWARE

2009 Iditarod Restart

We were offered a great opportunity to go to our friends cabin on Willow Lake where the restart of the Iditarod has taken place the past few years. We packed up for an overnighter and headed north Saturday evening to avoid the traffic and got cozy in their Toyostove heated cabin and woke up the next morning to breakfast burritos and coffee. As their friends arrived so did the food - we could have fed a small village with what we had and of course plenty of beverages to wash it all down with. They have quite the set up there - a firepit on the lake, plenty of parking space for your snowmachine, and a sledding hill for Seth to go down. I am not even sure if he realized there was a mushing event going on.

I scored a VIP badge from a gentleman I met while working the gallery the day before and got to schmooze with a lady from Virginia who paid $10,000 to ride in Rick Swenson's sled at the ceremonial start. She said it was an incredible experience.

The Skies

The sun is not anywhere near Alaska right now, but all the clouds that exist are - so luckily I can go visit The Pioneer Woman and enjoy her sunsets - even if they are in Tulsa, OK.

How exciting is this? Bakerella and The Pioneer Woman are having a baking/cooking get together at The Lodge on march 10th - this ought to be entertaining and very blog worthy!!!

Champs

It was a thriller to go down in the books. Early in the 1st period we had our first score by Karl, you could feel the collective "whew, we are on the board first" from the parents. Then a second goal by Karl to sort of act as insurance and a 3rd goal that rebounded off a Red Hot Lava players skate and right past the goalie. Ugly, but a goal and we will take it, thank you very much. 2nd period was all Red Hot Lava - they caught up with 3 goals, but we scored one more - we were always just ahead on the board. The 3rd period was a nail biter for 16 minutes. The Wildcats had determination and still some fuel in the legs, the Red Hot Lava team was thirsty for a win and were not giving up. Eli had a breakaway and in prime hockey form scored and raised his stick in celebration then looked up at mom and waved. Seth was vicious at defense, he is learning to go after the puck and pass it off to the hot hands. With 47 seconds left the Red Hot Lava team tied the game at 6-6, do they do over time or one on one with the goalie? We will not have to worry about that, because our young Gretzky Karl got a break away and with some fancy spancy stick moves and the ability to stay on his skates flipped the puck into the net with 7 seconds left on the clock- SCORE!!!!!! and the crowd goes wild - Karls dad giving everyone, including me, high fives.

Who needs the Red Wings when we have the Wildcats??????

Running with the Reindeer

The second annual running of the reindeer grew 2 more herds this year. Turning out to be one of the better money makers for the Fur Rondy. They have a male herd, female herd, couples herd and a group herd. This big fella was right behind us and I did see him drop his nose a bit, but they mainly just wanted to get to the hay at the end of the 2 blocks we had to run. The sun was out, the strange Alaskans did not disappoint - especially the two men with beards in drag that tried to run with the female herd and no one got gord

The Posse

Front row: Lindsey, Beth Backrow: Julie, me, Steve, Jana