Day in the Life - Fall 2016

I thought it would be fun to do a day in the life seasonal blog.  More for me and my family than anyone else.  I think it would nice to  look back and see what life was like and the changes and growth our family is making.  So here's a peek in my normal, boring day.

8:00ish - No alarm clocks here!  We get up when we want and it's usually around 8:00.

8:00-8:20 - Feed chickens and pets.  The Bible encourages us to take care of our animals before taking care of self.  I feed them, refresh their waterers and clean out the chicken droppings from the hen house.  Right now, I have a mama hen and babies in a brooder that is not part of the hen house but close by so I clean out that box, refresh their water and feed them some chick starter.  

8:20-9:00 - I come back inside and my wonderful hubby is usually making me a cup of coffee.  Right now he is spoiling me with a double-double.  Let me tell you, an americano with an extra shot of espresso does get ya going.  I feed the schnauzer and cat while that is making.  We sit down together and have coffee, share some thoughts and go online.  He reads me the news and weather and I share what I find out on facebook and emails.  

9:00 - Bible reading.  We read four chapters in the Bible every day and a chapter of Proverbs per day.  That easily gets us through the entire Bible every year.  This is hands down the best thing we do as a family.

9:15 - Chore time.  The mechanic goes out to work and I start on the kitchen side of the house.  I start by building a fire, do the dishes and sanitize the kitchen, fill the wood box, wipe down the bathroom, start a load of laundry, scoop the litter box and sweep the floor.  I also peek in the fridge to see if I need to cook anything.  I always have on hand an entree, a snack/desert and fresh bread.  

11:00 - I like to take a little break with another cup of coffee and more facebook time.  I will wander out to take a look at the chickens and fetch the eggs. If I did a load of laundry I will hang it outside to dry. 

12:00 - Homeschool - Still a struggle with my reluctant learner.  Stormy is still not receptive to learning but I coerce her through it.  She loves art and science, doesn't mind handwriting but hates math and reading.  Her routine only takes about an hour a day but it can be a long hour

1:00 - Afternoon chores and projects - After homeschool I like to pick up the living room and vacuum.  After that I look at my project list for the month and work on it or sit down at the computer to blog, budget or manage our online business.  

3:00 - I like to take another break and go outside to feed the chickens and gather more eggs.  If they are free ranging I will shoo them back into the run and lock them up.  If it is sunny outside, I like to stay out and enjoy the fresh air.  

4:00 - Time to tidy up whatever project I am doing and finish up any cooking I may be doing for the day.  

4:30-6:00ish - I spend time with Stormy and relax.  If she is distracted I will take the opportunity to read or watch YouTube videos and knit items for the eBay store.

Gloves I knit and sell on eBay

6:00 - 10:00 - Sometime after six the mechanic will wander in for the night.  I will fix him a plate of food for dinner and we will sit down and relax for the evening.  Usually we watch TV, visit about our day and play with Stormy.  At dusk, I go out and gather up the chicken feeders and waterers.  I wash the feeders out and dump out the water.  It's freezing now at night so I can't leave them in the pen anymore.  I check for more eggs, lock up the brooder and turn off the hen house light.

10:00ish - Bedtime routine - not my favorite time.  I'm tired but get through it.  I start by reminding Stormy to clean up when we start out last TV show for the night.  When the show is over, I get up and stack any dirty dishes in the sink, start the diffuser with lavender oil, fill up the water filter and tidy up the living room.  Storm changes into pajamas and picks out three stories for us to read.  After the bedtime stories, we say prayers and I tuck her into bed.  This routine takes us about 30 minutes.  If it's not too late, I will read awhile in bed before falling asleep.

The weekends are a bit different.  Saturdays I like to tackle any big projects  and I do the deep cleaning chores like the bathroom.  Sundays we take our rest seriously.  We spend the morning reading the Bible and listening to a sermon.  Most Sundays I  make a pancake breakfast but do not plan on cooking anything after that.  I do like to do the dishes after making pancakes but the rest of the day is chore free.  The mechanic has a harder time letting himself rest and he will be busy doing something.  Although we don't feel like we are under obligation to observe the Sabbath, the Bible makes it clear that a day of rest and worship is a good thing.

That's my typical day.  Some days we say forget it and load up and go to the beach.  About twice a month we take a day and go to town for errands and shopping.  This life is the beautiful reward of living a humble,  debt free life - the freedom to do whatever we want, whenever we want.

Anchor Point Beach

If I can change anything about this routine it would be shifting our sleep times. No doubt we would benefit by being in bed earlier but it's hard to accomplish when you are a night owl at heart.

Lovin' life as the leaves fall down.

I Am In Love With Life

Sitting here listening to my canner go jiggle, jiggle and watching my chickens scratch out in the yard, I had an incredible sense of peace settle over me and I know that I love my blessed life.

It's not that life is perfect by any means.  There are a few family dramas unfolding and I sold something on eBay and that's going south but hopefully it can be resolved without too much pain.  My mechanic hubby is so busy I hardly see him and summer is coming to an end.  So not a perfect life, but still so blessed.

There has been changes since the last time I blogged here.  We have adopted many animals including two dogs, two cats and ten chickens.  It has been so much fun watching these new critters meld themselves into our lives and it is amazing how much love can be exchanged between us.  The sad news would be that we did lose our beloved dog, Oddball but he did live an long life of sixteen years and developed lung cancer that just was too much to fight.

The summer has been amazing.  My son from Texas moved up with his family and now lives in the city only 200 miles away.  It's been great catching up with him and getting to know my grandchildren.  It is so comforting to know that all of my close family lives right here in Alaska!

I have decided to start up blogging again and I want to focus on frugal living here in Alaska, frugal homeschooling and more.  

Absolutely lovin' life!

Hopes and Goals

As Alaska settles into Fall, I decided to set some goals for myself.  With the long, dark days, it is so easy to hibernate here during the winter, but I am going to try and stay focused.  Here is the list of goals I will work on, some very easy and others will not be.

Rest - The bags under my eyes will tell you how sleep deprived I am.  It is so easy to get in this state during summer.  The long Alaska days would typically wake me up at 5:30 and I'd often be up until after midnight doing projects.  My goal is to have Stormy and I tucked into bed before 10:00pm and stay in bed until 6:00am.

Exercise - During the cold, dark winter, outside exercise becomes burdensome for me.  I don't mind the cold or the snow but I detest the wind, and winters here are windy.  My goal will continue to be to get at least 40 minutes of exercise in the fresh air.  I will count toward exercise time spent playing with Stormy and hauling firewood.  Most of my cardio exercise will be inside on the hated elliptical with the goal of 30 minutes, 5 times a week.

Diet - Six weeks ago, I started the 5:2 Fast Diet and I love it.  I am slowing shedding pounds but I have found some amazing health benefits with it.  My joints are feeling so much better, my skin problems are clearing up and energy abounds. Here is a link to the documentary.  I tried without success to upload the video.  http://documentaryheaven.com/eat-fast-and-live-longer/

Bible - We read the Bible daily as a family and our schedule of reading allows us to read the entire Bible in one year, and the Proverbs twelve times a year.  We are continuing to do a verse by verse study of the book of Revelation with the help of this series

My personal Bible goal is to begin a program of Bible memorization.  I'm starting somewhat small with a couple of Psalms I picked out with the goal of memorizing the Sermon on the Mount.  A larger goal is to work on  soul winning.

Research - I love learning and my brain seldom shuts off.  A couple of the research projects that I want to do includes HAARP, raising goats and chickens in Alaska and the Constitution.

Hobbies - I haven't picked out any new hobbies to learn.  I'm still perfecting my knitting loom and soap making skills.  It is time to figure out what I will be gifting this year.

Food Storage - I need to replenish the food storage that I have used and catalog what I actually have.  I am still working on getting all the GMO foods out of the kitchen.  This weekend I am trying out some pancake syrup recipes.  We just emptied the last of Mrs Butterworth and she is kicked out of the house!

Home Business & Work - I have not been focusing on our online business at all.  It's there and sales trickle in but I have not made much effort with it.  My husband, on the other hand, has been very busy with it.  I need to give him more of a helping hand.  As for my job, I will keep trying my best to help out where I can.  I really want to work on encouraging and supporting my coworkers and new boss

Family - I need to have a better connection with my extended family.  It seems days, weeks and months will go by without any contact.  I need to make this goal a priority.

Facebook - I'm slowly giving up on Facebook, the only thing that keeps my there is the connection to my family.  I love that I can see what my cousins and Aunts are up to but it does waste time.  I'd like to only check in on Facebook once a week with a bigger goal of once a month.  As I work on connecting with my family outside of Facebook ,I hope to  delete my account.

I think that about does it.  I will see how I am doing in January and work out the bugs.  Here's to a hibernation free winter!

Lovin' life but trying not to hibernate...naps are optional.

Jury Duty & the Duty of the Juror

This past summer I was called in for jury duty.  It was the first time in my life that I ever had to appear in the courthouse and I must say it was eye-opening.  Let me set the stage a bit.

I live in a small town in Alaska.  I affectionately refer to it as the most redneck town in the state.  The  residents of our community are hard working and conservative.  I love it here and fit right in..

The town in which I had to report in is the exact opposite.  It's an artsy, liberal town and it is a mystery to me on how it survives.  The only obvious source of income is tourism and fishing.  I would say it is solidly middle class and everybody drives a Subaru.  It is Alaska's poster child for Agenda 21.  People who live there seem to love it but it is not my cup o tea.  

The first case I was called on was a DUI and I was quickly excused.  Apparently the defense is not comfortable with jurors who do not drink.  The second case I was called into was a different matter.  It took a better part of a week to seat the jury and I did my utmost to get out of it but despite my efforts, I was seated.  As a side note, it was fascinating to see how competitive people are in wanting to serve.  There were actually people who starting crying when they were excused.  Crazy.

It was a sexual abuse against a minor case.  The abuse took place within the family with the plaintiffs and defendant being cousins.  It was an awful story but equally as awful is our justice system.  Most of the evidence of the case seemed to center on some taped telephone conversations.  Right away that got my hackles up.  I hate that our private conversations can be recorded and used against us. It gets worse, much worse.  I was horrified to learn that not only can an American be taped without his knowledge but the person calling is allowed to and encouraged to lie in order to illicit a confession.  The girls in this case repeatedly called the defendant and begged, coerced and even bribed him into confessing.

As soon as the case was handed over to us, my fellow jurors were ready to hang him and I mean within 5 minutes.  As soon as the foreperson was named, she called for a vote and I was the only holdout.  It wasn't that I didn't think he was guilty, but as a constitution loving American, I was offended.  My fellow juror were not impressed.  At all.

The jurors, with the exception of a great guy named George, were all typical of the town they lived in.  Each day they showed up with their Starbucks coffee, wearing their Patagonia vests and vegan shoes.  The would have endless debates about the latest sustainability project.  Not that I am per se against such things, but it doesn't take long to realize that there is not a single original thought among them.  The moment I enjoyed most is when the court clerk confiscated all of their smartphones.  There was some serious dysfunction among them without their lifeline.

For three days I stood my ground that I would not convict him on any of the phone conversations in which they lied.  As soon as I made that statement, for a brief time, George stood with me.  I simply stated that if I was on trial in there, I would hope that there was a juror like me forcing the issue.  With much rolling of the eyes, we settled in to look at photos and actually read the transcript.

As all this was going on, my husband decides that this would be a wonderful opportunity for me to buy some ammo.   We don't "go to town" very often, and the store that sold ammo  had a policy of one box per person, per day.   The teenager wanted to do some target practicing with his .22 and we needed some extra boxes.  The first day I went to purchase the shell all went well.  They even allowed my husband to place a phone order and I was allowed to buy my box and pick up his.  The following day I went back up to the store and asked for a box of .22 long rifle shells.  The clerk ignores me and walk away.  I go and pick up a few things we need and go back over when he returns.  He still ignores me but then the manager walks up.  The manager informs me that they have checked my records, and  I have been tagged as a high volume buyer and have been banned from any more ammo purchases.  High volume really?  Yesterday was the first and only box of shells I have bought in my lifetime.  I point that out, as well as the fact that I am within their store policy to buy one box per day.  Apparently, they don't really mean it, what they really mean is you can buy one box per decade.  I put down the items that I have picked up and inform them that I would not be customer in a store that would not stand by their policies.  At that point, they offered me the box of ammo, which I did purchase, off the record and with cash.  This did not bode will for my fellow jurors.  I am now righteously furious.

In the end, we did convict the man on all the charges.  There was enough evidence to do so without the phone conversations.  Please remember, I always thought he was guilty, I simply stood up for some rights that all Americans should have and pushed it.  Some kind of wonderful happened as I was leaving.  Many of my fellow jurors stopped me in the parking lot to shake my hand or hug me.  All of them thanked me for making them take the time and make sure of their conviction. 

Hopefully somewhere it was put on my record, that I am a difficult juror and am banned from jury duty.  

Lovin' life and the Constitution!

5 Year Plan - Frugal Transportation "Mickey"

Tonight we took Mickey out for one last spin before we pull him into the shop for the new diesel engine.  So after pouring in a fresh gallon of oil we headed down to the beach to watch the Alaskan sunset.

We wanted to lock in the hubs and check out the new 37" tires but we caught the high tide.

Here's a glimpse at Mickey.  It will be next summer before the weather conditions will allow us give it a paint job and some body work but you can see we have a great model to work with. 

 

So with one last look at the Chigmit mountains we turned toward home.

I hope that your Saturday was as beautiful as ours.

Lovin' Life in Alaska cruising around in a van named Mickey.

A Sweet Alaskan Day

Every year we travel to Anchorage to celebrate my grand daughter's birthday.  Yesterday was d-day and I thought it would fun to share the day with you.  We were excited to take "Mickey" out give it a test drive.  (Click here for more about Mickey)  The mechanic has been working on it sporadically and it now sports 37" tires, new brakes and a few other repairs. Mostly we were curious if the engine would run better if it had a nice run. I can answer that by saying we were the stinky diesel everyone hates to follow.  The next project on it will be to replace the engine and hopefully get the veggie system mapped out.
 
We started out bright and early at 7:00 am.  It was a crisp and clear morning but saw fog rolling off Skilak lake.

Sterling Highway near Skilak Lake

Traveling over Turnagain Pass we saw our first snow of the season.  You would think that Alaskans wouldn't get excited over the first snowfall, but we do.

Turnagain Pass

It was fun to see that Alaska's fall colors include white and yellow.

New Seward Highway near Girdwood, AK

It took us 4 hours to go the 200 miles but we finally made it to the "Peace" birthday celebration.

Peace cake made by Whitney and Zoe

Zoe and her Uncle Robert opening presents

My oldest son, James and youngest child, Stormy, playing together

After the party we relaxed and visited.  We had one more activity until we could go home and it was the perfect end to a pretty wonderful day.

Ted Stevens International Airport, Anchorage, AK

Grandma is home!  It's been a year since she left and it is so nice to have her home again.   The trip home was uneventful but full of love and talk.  We pulled into our driveway 23 hours after we left and stumbled into bed.  Today has been a day to stay in pajamas, settle into the recliners and relax.  Hope your weekend has been as wonderful as mine.

Just a day in a blessed life in Alaska.

Online Marketing - I Hate You!

Starting a new online store is really, really hard.  There is just so much to think about and check out.  PCI compliance and SEO marketing are my two chores this week. It would not be such a chore if the store was actually making money.  We are making sales but not making a profit yet.   My research tells me that to change that I need to do two things.

One, throw a lot of money into advertising.  Admittedly, we have been stingy with the advertising mostly relying on free and I did a few campaigns on Google and Facebook. It helped, but only with CD sales, in which we have very little profit margin. Everything I've been reading indicates that I need to throw about $1000 toward the campaigns.  Wow, it would take a lot of CD sales to recoup that cost.

Research also tells me that I need to link a video to my website.  I'm willing to do this but a video about what?  We have a small, home based store.  We are in the process of opening up a storefront here in Alaska, but at the moment, nothing video worthy.  

When we started AK Music Storm, we committed ourselves for a year.  That year will be up in February. I'm hoping that the holidays will give it a boost but with the bulk of our sales still with eBay and Amazon, the future is depressingly uncertain.

If there are any ideas out there, I'd sure like to hear them! Right now I'm going to comfort myself with a game of Castleville.  They promise a happy ending.

PS- Next week I am looking forward to continuing my post about our 5 year plan!  

The 5 Year Plan - Frugal Food

My family teases me that I am the only female they know that hates to shop.  To me, it means sacrificing a day off, driving 20 miles to the nearest store of any size, pushing a squeaky cart around the store, swiping my debit card (sigh), loading and unloading the booty, usually in the rain.  Where is the joy in any of that?

Considering my poor attitude toward the whole ordeal, our five year plan includes as little shopping as possible.  Right now, we shop for groceries once a month.  Shopping twice a year is music to my ears, and once a year is downright dreamy.  Some around me are skeptical but here's the plan.

The new shop area we are building will have a generous storage area to keep our can and dry goods.  Most items are shelf stable for a year or more.  We have a large chest freezer that, with some creative stuffing, should be sufficient for our yearly needs.  We will have chickens for eggs and a goat for fresh milk.  Veggies from the garden will be canned, frozen or dehydrated.  This is the easy part of the plan.  The big question is how we can get it to fit into our very frugal budget.

Current pantry.  Our new space will have a lot more room.

The last time I went shopping, I purposely turned my brain off and just bought what was on my list and what I wanted. I even brought my hungry husband along.  Hungry husbands are great.  Not only did he do the driving, he pushed the squeaky cart, did the loading and unloading, and only disappeared when it was time to swipe the card.  We spent $418.13 on that trip. With the frugal budget for entire living expenses at only $500 month, what can we do? 

Taking a look at the receipt and the bigger picture, there is a lot that can be done.  Here's what I see:

1.  Leave the hungry husband at home.  Instead of two containers of Greek yogurt we  bought five.  We bought two cases of San Pellegrino water instead of one.  Some vitamins caught his fancy and he contributed a carton of ice cream to the cart as well.  By leaving the hungry husband home I could of saved $61.

2.  The kids will grow up.  Stormy needed a box of diapers.  We treated the teenager to his favorite juice.  Just for those two items - $54

3.  Raise chickens and goats.   We consume a gallon of milk every 2-3 days and a dozen eggs a week.  The hungry husband is the biggest consumer of milk but the teenager is the egg fan.  In five years this won't change much.  I'm not sure what the cost of raising chickens and goats will be but I'm confident it will be less than the $75 we are spending monthly on just those two items now.

4.  Stop the Full Circle deliveries.  Right now our fresh fruit and veggies are delivered to us by Full Circle Farms.  A nice box every 2 weeks or organic produce is $75.  By gardening, picking wild berries and sprouting we will save this expense.

5. Shop once or twice a year in Anchorage.  Anchorage is Alaska's largest city and has the best stores and prices.  It's about 200 miles away but if we drive our veggie powered van, the cost of driving there will be minimal. Anchorage also has no sales tax whereas we do pay 7.5% here. 

We have a lot of planning and learning to do in the next few years.  The payoff will be huge and healthier with less shopping.  Win, win, win! 

 

The 5 Year Plan - Frugal Transportation AK Style

By far our biggest expense is fuel.  Alaska fuel prices are typically one of the highest in the nation.  Unleaded gas at the pump almost reached $5/gallon this summer and is sitting at $4.67 right now.  Heating fuel is cheaper but still very considerable when the cold winter sets in.  Our goal is to cut those expenses by at least 80% in the next 5 years and this is how we are going to do it.

Meet Micky and MInnie.  

"Micky"

"Minnie"

 

 

 

 

 

The look pretty rough 'huh?  No worries, my husband it a brilliant mechanic and isn't afraid of body work.  Micky is an extended Ford Econoline Van.  We so named it Micky because it reminds me of an activity van I used to drive for my son's hockey team.  That van had two spot lights on it that looked like mouse ears so hence it was dubbed Micky Mouse.  Micky will be converted into a 4WD camper.  We will replace the engine to run off diesel and veggie fuel making our mpg pretty much free.  It will be the vehicle we use not only for camping trips but supply runs.  Because of the freezing weather we will not be plumbing in a water tank.  That's just asking for future problems and continued maintenance.  Instead we will come up with some alternate facilities.  We like the way our current camper is designed and will steal some ideas from it. 

current camper Dodge Xplorer

picture of our last trip,inside view

Although we like the Dodge, gas mileage is horrible and it does not have 4 wheel drive.

Minnie is a Datsun Z car.  (Sorry, I am a girl and don't remember the specs on either of these cars).  We are still debating about having a gas or diesel engine for her.  Diesel,of course, would yield the best mpg but has its challenges starting in the cold temperatures.  It will become our main commuter car and it would be nice knowing it will dependably start.  Even if we kept it as a gas engine, with some modifications, we think it could still get over 30 mpg.  As a diesel, maybe even close to 40 mpg.  

We will still have other cars that we will use with a more traditional set up.  The plow truck is a gas hog, but pays for itself.  Nick, the husband, has various work trucks but again they pay for themselves or give us a tax write off.  Still the bottom line is a huge savings that will fall into our retirement budget.

Lovin' life...even at the gas pump! 

Don't forget that if you want some road trip music or a camera for your next vacation, shop in our store for the best prices!

Superiority of the VCR

After spending the day outside in the rare Alaskan sunshine, I am getting ready to snuggle down with Stormy and watch her favorite movie.  After gathering some snacks and drinks, I slip the tape into our VCR.  Yep, I did say it - VCR.  Remember those?  Now, we own a couple of DVD players, a Blu-ray player and stream Netflix on a Roku but above all I love the VCR.  

I will admit that there is something lacking in the video quality and sound, but frankly Stormy doesn't care and unless I'm watching something epic like Avatar, Star Wars or the such, I don't mind either.  Why do I think it's superior?  The simplicity of the stop and play button.  When you want to watch a movie, push play.  Need to go away, push stop.  Come back, push play.  No confusing menus or trying to figure out what chapter you were on.  No impatient 2 year old chanting go, go, go. 

Also, VHS tapes are dirt cheap!  Some of our favorite classics can be found at yard sales or thrift store for a quarter.  Recently I bought 2 huge bagfuls of VHS movies for $3.00 with many titles that I have been cruising around eBay hoping to find cheap, including Dune, E.T., Stargate, Toy Story 1&2, and so many more.  So if you are in my area and want to get rid of some tapes just drop them on by!

Lovin' Life with a VCR. 

Stormy enjoying the rare Alaskan sunshine.

Mission Impossible

Lately I have been completing my own Mission Impossible (cue theme music).  My dear mother in law went outside about 9 months ago.  When an Alaskan says the phrase "went outside" it is our way of saying that we are going to visit the "lower 48" or to keep it simple, she went to visit her sister in New Mexico.  Due to a family emergency, her 3 month vacation has turned into 9 months.  Our mission, during her absence, whether or not we choose it, is to eat  all the food she stored up.  Imagine 2 large freezers full of unmarked tupperware.  Everyday we crack a lid and take turns identifying the contents.  We are now on an accelerated schedule because we believe she will be back up here in a few weeks and there is a lot of tupperware cubes still to investigate.  Yesterday we had squash-taste-like-pumpkin-pie for dinner.  What else can you do with 2 quarts of frozen squash puree I ask you?  Tonight - I really have no idea what it was, but we pretended it was some sort of spicy soup, but it could have been enchilada sauce.  This all equates to a lot of time in the kitchen and that equals a lot of music time.  Here's some of the CDs I checked out, and are offered to you from our store.

Mission Impossible 2

Couldn't resist posting this one.  It really has a great track list if you like rock/metal.  Limp Bizkit, Rob Zombie, Godsmack, Metallica are just a few that you will find on the CD.

Billy Boy on Poison

Another hard rock - metal choice.  This EP is pretty hard to find, so if you are a fan, might want to snatch it up.  I liked it but don't know a lot about the band.

The Prince of Egypt

My daughter is fan of this movie and I have to admit the music is very good.  It's fun to listen to and carries a message.  It will spin me into a spiritual journey while it is playing.

I'm not sure what culinary experiences that tomorrow holds but I am sure it will be tasty and there will be music playing and I will take the time to dance with a cute little girl in a tutu.  

Lovin' life in Alaska!

Bring Back the Hair Bands!

Growing up in the 80's, in the backwoods of Alaska, there wasn't much to look forward to each week.  Except one sweet thing...Friday Night Videos. Each week, I'd wait in anticipation, with a plate of nachos in one hand and a Cherry Coke in the other, anxious to see which videos were in the line-up. That is when I fell in love with the hair bands.   I mean, what's not to love?  Hot guys, in tight spandex, with long, permed, blond hair, dripping in sweat.  Yum.  Now, I would tolerate the pop stars: Cyndi Lauper, Madonna and Michael Jackson were regulars on FNV, but my heart would beat faster when these guys appeared:

Van Halen

AC/DC

Def Leppard

Def Leppard

 

Yum, Yum, Yummy. 

Go ahead, buy the CD, slip into some spandex and rock on!




 
 

Spring Tonic & Album Covers

It is finally Spring here in Alaska, and it's a beautiful Spring with lots of sun and very little rain.  Alaskans look forward to Spring more than most I suspect.  The winters wear you down with the cold and dark.  As a matter of fact, someone said that the sun was a tonic to our bodies and soul.  When I heard the word tonic, I thought of something else....

Tonic Lemon Parade

Tonic Sugar

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now, you probably know me well enough to know that I'm going to say that I love this band.  But it is a recent love affair.  Now, I remember hearing some of the songs on the radio years ago but I never listened to a Tonic album until a few years ago and it was actually the artwork that encouraged me.  I simply adore all of their album covers.  It's not the only band that has suckered me in that way, here's another one that I listened to just today and again, I chose to list  and listen to it because of the cover.

Alta May

If you like pure hard rock, you should give these guys a listen.  There's a lot of talent there.  Looking around, I noticed that there are not a lot of their CDs out there, so I posted it right away.  Better in the hands of a fan than sitting on my shelf.

Now it's time to go soak in some of that sun tonic, and maybe enjoy yet another kind of tonic, if you know what I mean.

Kodaks, Alaska and a little rant about the Economy

We are passionate, really down right zealous about our cameras here at AK Music Storm.  I'd estimate that we have close to 200 of them.  Which is why it hurt so much when the economy tanked.  Camera sales were our bread and butter for a long time, but now...zip, nada, nothing much happening.  Mostly because we got stubborn and refused to list them for less than what we paid.  Well, after watching sales (and the economy) for the past year we decided to go ahead and sell them.  So our lose is your gain.  We offer the best customer service, if you have any questions on how to operate, need accessories, advice or down the road, any repairs, we are here for you.  Here's a few of the offerings from simple and cheap to more complex and more expensive.

Kodak P712

We were tempted to keep this one for ourselves.  It has super zoom, 7.0 mp.  It comes with a full kit of camera bag, battery, charger and neck strap.

Kodak CD1013

Nice compact, point and shoot camera with high mega pixels, 10.3 to be exact.  

Kodak C180

Love the color on this one.  It also has high megapixels and priced a little cheaper than the CD1013.

Now, here's why we love our cameras.  Just a few shots of where we live.  Alaska is very photogenic and I'd say all of these pictures were taken with a simple, point and shoot cameras. 

Mountains over Homer, Alaska

Baby Moose Twins in yard

Pond in backyard, Alaska

Now, I bet that you live in a great place as well.  It's so awesome to grab the camera, push on, point and shoot.  Hardest part is picking out the model you want.  Click here to see our full selection and here to see more great shots of Alaska.  the rest of it is easy smeasy.

Alternative Rain

Have you ever had a hard time picking out music?  You know, you keep scrolling through your iPod, or flipping through your discs.  I'm feeling that way this week about choosing what to post on the store site.  It seems I always go back to what I know and enjoy and tonight is no different.  So while the rain is falling here in Alaska, I posted some alternative rock CDs.  Here's the new offerings.

Fairweather Johnson Hootie & the Blowfish

Collective Soul

Gin blossoms

The 90's were the best for alternative music and these 3 are solid albums.  My good news for you is that they are each priced $3.99.  Right now we are running a 3 for $10 special on all our CDs priced $3.99 and under.  Just use coupon code 123 at checkout. 

Shhhh - just so you know, of all the songs on these albums my favorite is Hey Jealousy by the Gin Blossoms.  What's yours?