Tagged again...

So, I've been tagged by my old college roommate, Tiffany. I'm supposed to list 7 quirks/random facts about me and then tag 7 people. So, here goes:

1. Some days I just want to turn "OFF" the tourists. I guess that's no surprise. The worst thing is, however, when I start off the day with one person asking an annoying question, and then every tourist for hours just annoys me. Not a good way to spend the day. Have you seen the commercial for the Honda Pilot where the tourists are "cornered" by a bison? The guy in the Pilot pulls up next to this group of tourists on the side of the road, to see if they need a ride. The tourists say, "There are 7 of us, we'll never fit in there." The guy says, "There's seating for 8," and then the tourists say, "but we have too many beverages." The guy looks exasperated and says "but there are like 12 cup holders in here!" Then they say, "but what about the bison?" It kills me every time.

Why? Because THAT, my friends, THAT is what tourists are like EVERY STINKING DAY OF MY SUMMER. That commercial is the PERFECT demonstration of what tourists are like!!! Jared likes to call them "children" with "amnesia." All of a sudden they have no reasoning skills, and they ask the dumbest questions that a child (who is not on vacation) could answer.

2. I'm a wanna-be-Vegan (aka "At-Home" Vegan). We stopped buying all dairy products (with the exception of real butter), and only cook and eat vegan in our household. I could tell you a billion scientifically-backed reasons why...but I'll sum it up by saying it's all about health. Jared is also extremely pro-Vegan...and we eat yummy dishes every day, now. Better than ever before, even! But don't worry...you can still feed us a non-Vegan dinner, and we will enjoy it! We both splurge when we eat with others, and ditch the Vegan-ness, but stick to it at home. Moderation in all things...

3. I am picky about being time and energy-efficient (not with heating, etc...but with my PERSONAL energy use). For example, if I am unpacking boxes at the store, I like to get everything out all at once, and put the trash in one big pile...then throw it away when I am DONE. It drives me nuts that Jared likes to pick up each piece as we go, and put it in the trash. To me, it seems like a waste of energy. We just have to laugh at each other about it...because we both want OUR way, of course.

4. I have a very sensitive noggin. I HATE it when people have smelly breath. If you haven't brushed your teeth lately (well, even if you have...but perhaps you have bad toothpaste)...don't come near me! This trait seems to run in the family...NO, not the bad breath. I mean that hating bad breath runs in the family. :-)

5. I never do full minutes on the microwave. I usually start by typing something like "5" and then I decide "50" is not enough, but I don't want to start over and hit "100 (minute)", so it's usually something like "59" seconds.

6. I'm anti-Flouride. Another opinionated health quirk. Yes, it's great for your teeth...but at the risk of everything else...

7. I hate smelly feet. Yup. Yucky yucky yucky.

So, I tag Lea, Lara, Joni, Angie, Stacey, Donald, and Michelle! If you've already done it...do it again!

What the...SNOW?!!

A first for me...and perhaps the town...

It is snowing...in May...while the tourists are here!

So, sure...we get snow on the mountains in May...but in TOWN?!!!

IT is sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo cold today! I am dying...and I am WET! It is raining/snowing!!! Heck...it's SLUSHING!

Lara is headed up here with her hubby, Greg, next week. Lara...bring your winter coat!!! You're going to FREEZE!!!

Study: Stay-at-Home Mom Worth Nearly $117,000 a Year

I guess that I feel I can lay claim on this...because I am a stay-at-home mom half the year. Now Jared would say... "Why do they give credit to all the women?" Well...honey...most Dads aren't stay-at-home dads for half the year, like you! Quite frankly, with Ella in these terrible 2's (I mean...3's!)...I would almost prefer to be at work! But with a baby like Maiya...I could be home all day, and actually feel like I've accomplished something!

Study: Stay-at-Home Mom Worth Nearly $117,000 a Year

Thursday, May 08, 2008 Associated Press

BOSTON — If a stay-at-home mom could be compensated in dollars rather than personal satisfaction and unconditional love, she'd rake in a nifty sum of nearly $117,000 a year.

That's according to a pre-Mother's Day study released Thursday by Salary.com, a Waltham, Mass.-based firm that studies workplace compensation.

The eighth annual survey calculated a mom's market value by studying pay levels for 10 job titles with duties that a typical mom performs, ranging from housekeeper and day care center teacher to van driver, psychologist and chief executive officer.

This year, the annual salary for a stay-at-home mom would be $116,805, while a working mom who also juggles an outside job would get $68,405 for her motherly duties.

One stay-at-home mom said the six-figure salary sounds a little low.

"I think a lot of people think we sit and home and have a lot of fun and don't do a lot of work," said Samantha Russell, a Fremont, N.H., mother who left her job as pastry chef to raise two boys, ages 2 and 4. "But they should try cleaning their house with little kids running around and messing it up right after them."

The biggest driver of a mom's theoretical salary is the amount of overtime pay she'd receive for working more than 40 hours a week. The 18,000 moms surveyed about their typical week reported working 94.4 hours — meaning they'd be spending more than half their working hours on overtime.

Working moms reported an average 54.6 hour "mom work week" besides the hours they spent at paying jobs.

Russell agreed her job as a stay-at-home mom is more than full-time. But she said her "job" brings intangible benefits she wouldn't enjoy in the workplace.

"The rewards aren't monetary, but it's a reward knowing that they're safe and happy," Russell said of her sons. "It's worth it all."

Driving to Alaska, remodeling, etc

Finally...here are some photos from our drive to Alaska this year. I just uploaded them on the computer, and realized that if I didn't post now...I probably wouldn't ever post them.

The lovely snow storm that we were in for almost a full day...

A moose standing by the water...

The best view on the trip...

When we arrived, we quickly started remodeling the store. In other words...we rearranged EVERYTHING, took apart all of the displays, and ripped out our carpet. We had the help of Will & Krista Kubie (from KS...here to work for the summer), and some of our landlord's staff came in to help in exchange for the carpet (heck, ya)!

One of the other more recent projects we tackled was hanging up new slatwall in our storage room, allowing us more flexibility with our shelves. We were given free slatwall from a neighboring business, and Ella had the duty of scraping off the paint (pretty easy, really...not child labor).
And here's Ella helping us drill (haha...helping?). She's on the WONDERFUL shelves my dad built for us a couple summers ago.
And Ella discovered a new mode of transportation. You should see her scooter around on this...it's hysterical!
Ella managed our late nights pretty well...most of the time...

With all that in mind...I have to admit that I am now molting, shedding, decomposing, or whatever you want to call it. It happened 4-5 months after I had Ella, too. Apparently postpartum results in my hair falling out in crazy amounts. Every time I touch my head, I pull out a whole hair ball. So, one might say..."Alisa, stop touching your hair!" If only it were that simple. Even if I DON'T touch it, I find huge hairballs on my pillows, sheets, on the floor, on my clothes, etc. I would take a photo...but you would be disgusted. When you look at my hair, you can actually see that is terribly thin (for me, at least) around the edges...and probably everywhere. The worst part about all of this is that I know what comes next: Once my hair begins to grow back, I get a lovely short tuft of hair right on my hairline on my forehead. It is just ridiculous...and results in a little fro/curl (depending on the day) right on my hairline. It takes forever to grow out. At least babies have an excuse for being bald...

Jared has reminded me that HE is working...which is definitely a polite chastisement.
So...I better get back to work!

The BIG Day...

Well...the BIG day is finally here...but it isn't quite so big...

1,200 people in town isn't quite as big as our typical summer days of 10,000 people entering our tiny town via the cruise ships. It's a quiet, nice start. In fact...I'd consider it more of a warm-up for the season. The store is presentable, although certainly not done. Half of the items aren't priced...but they're out on the shelves! The new floor looks incredible, and totally changes the feel of the store! The locals keep stopping by to tell us how much they like it. It feels classier, warmer, and just...I don't know...richer (richer in color...not money...although I'd like to think it feels richer that way, too...Let the tourists SPEND SPEND SPEND)! Just don't enter our back room. In fact, you probably won't be able to. It is stuffed to the gills! But that takes last priority...

So, it seems that our week-long of long work days has come to an end. From here on out...we will try not to work longer than 12 hours per day. Poor kids...they managed to stay at work with us until midnight (or later) almost every day this past week. For Maiya...it's no big deal...she just sleeps in her playpen. But for Ella...oh...poor girl. Yes, she has managed to take a "nap" at the store before we head home for the night. What a trooper! Seriously...is Child Services going to knock on our door? Well...come to think of it...if they went home to knock on our door...they wouldn't find us! We're at WORK! With OUR KIDS!! Until MIDNIGHT! So...perhaps we win the bad parenting award for this past week? But we'll try to turn our lives around...

Highlights of the past week?

ELLA STARTED LITTLE DIPPERS DAYCARE! WOHOOO!! Now, we should really count THAT as the BIG day of the year. That girl NEEDED some friends to play with. They have reported at daycare (and in Primary) that she is very shy and reserved. Not the Ella we know. So...perhaps she'll warm back up to her former self soon?

Jared and I had our 5th Anniversary. Don't worry...we celebrated with a kiss. Then we worked until midnight. :-) Bad timing...eh? Every year...

Hmm...so...now Jared is back with our packages from the Post Office...and it is time to get back to work. Receiving packages is like CHRISTMAS!! But with work attached...pricing, entering in the computer, displaying, cleaning, etc...

One 3-year old for sale!

For Sale

One 3-year old for sale!
One 3-year old for sale!
One crying and whining lil' 3-year old for sale!
I'm really not kidding,
So who'll start the bidding?
Do I hear a dollar?
A nickel?
A penny?
Oh, isn't there, isn't there, isn't there any
One friend who will buy this 3-year old for sale,
This crying and whining lil' 3-year old for sale?



Thank goodness for daycare. Only 2 days 'til it opens...and we're COUNTING...

Shhh...you didn't see me here!

Soo.....I am not supposed to be playing on the blog...there is a ton of work to do! Don't tell Jared I'm writing here...hahahaa....

But I wanted to let you know that we arrived safely as planned on Day #3 of our drive. We managed to hit the worst snow storm since February...although it really wasn't that bad (for me, at least...since I didn't touch the wheel as soon as that weather hit)! I will post photos later...

But since arriving a bit over a week ago, we have managed to lay down a new laminate flooring, build new displays, I have fought with printer drivers galore, and we are setting up an entirely new storage facility for our glass ornaments. There are many other projects on the list, such as installing a new small water heater for our back room, putting up humongous sheets of slatwall in our back room, so that our shelving will be more flexible (wahooo for free slatwall!), registering Ella for daycare (yay...I'm so excited for her!), receiving and pricing about 60 shipments (gasp...the sound of that is atrocious!), and clean up all of the sawdust that has covered every inch of our glass shelves and product (and we have a LOT of glass shelves)!

Oh yeah, and I need to act busy in case Jared pulls back up in the van...I'm supposed to be boxing ornaments to move to our storage :-)

I will try to post photos and stories soon, but to be honest, I don't know how much I'll get done this month, or even this summer. The nuttiness of this household is just beginning, as cruise ships begin arriving on May 5th!!

'Til then...