Is winter going to end soon?

Hi guys!
Haven't posted much lately because we have been one busy family packing in as much fun as possible before the men leave again!
Andrew is very busy with school and Cub Scouts. The Derby races are over now, and we will go to the Cub Scouts dinner this week, which Phillip will be here for as well!
I have been working with a new friend on some creative projects (pictorial and in the process of a Baby Shower). I would love to do nothing but little creative things all day - every day!
Stumbled onto a little thing called Facebook - where I have gotten in touch with a bunch of old friends from school - and even found Elle Mae on there! (She is a friend from Clearwater). It is quite addictive - especially view photos of friends and family! I remember when I thought a fax machine was one of the coolest things EVER! Now we can see photos of friends thousands of miles away moments after they have been taken! How cool is that?
My friend, Cathy, keeps me busy with birthday parties and dinners and movies, and anything else that continually distracts me from my daily responsibilities - which is now a running joke between my friends and myself! However, I have really been tending to my responsibilities this week-end! Which leads me to the question - is winter ever going to end? I feel like I want to spring clean and for things to revive and be new again! I am so tired of being cold and seeing UGLY BLACK mounds of snow every where! Phillip pointed out to me today that the maintenance crew picks the snow up from the parking lots and dumps it over by "Jewel Beach"! I said to him, "now, there is the picture we should send to people so they can see the "Beautiful" snow we get to see every day. It is gross. But, I noticed on the weather widget on my Google - that we should see the 40's next week! Would that not be neat?
Now - all of you know me well enough to know that I - Heather Comer - would NEVER be excited about 40 degree weather - unless I had reached a new level of desperation! And, yes, that is the case! Someone should have made sure that our little groundhog was smitten with a minor hangover on the eve of Feb. 2nd so that he would forget to get out of bed the next morning! I mean - it can happen - right? I have read in children's books where the Bear forgets to hibernate during Christmas! What about the groundhog for crying out loud!
Now - if I can clear some space for some quality scrapbooking - I would be all set! Well, as far as living on this ROCK is concerned!
Bye for Now!
Love,
Heather

Thank you for your prayers!

Hi Guys,
Just wanted to let you all know that my friend, Cathy is doing MUCH BETTER, and is at home recovering now! I spoke with her today, and her spirits are high (as is usual for her). I know that all our prayers were answered, and I praise God for it. I am so happy that all will soon be well with her again!
Love,
Heather

Please Pray for My Friend, Cathy Shaw

Please pray for my friend, Cathy Shaw. She has been in intensive care in the Trauma Center at Bay Care in Florida for a week now. Due to a freak accident involving being thrown from a donkey in training, she has suffered multiple injuries that are very serious. She has a collapsed lung, and severed liver, and now has pneumonia.

She is loved by many people and has a large network of support and friends that are praying for a speedy recovery for her. We are not only praying for Cathy's recovery, but we are also praying for her family during this very difficult time. She has a loving husband who feels lonely without his best friend to talk to every day, and two wonderful sons. One of them is pictured in the above photo. I don't have a photo of her youngest son, Robert. But please pray for their entire family.

Cathy: we are praying for you and your family, and cannot wait to have you back to your old self. We love you very much!

What a Great Week in Kodiak so far!

Hi Guys!
This week has been all about the small things that have made each of us happy!

SUNDAY - was awesome because when we went to the grocery store they actually had fresh strawberries!

MONDAY - was a mixed day for all of us because Andrew's trip to the dentist to fix one tooth turned into a trip to the dentist to fix TWO teeth. Phillip and I had already decided to award his bravery with a trip to Wal-Mart for a new toy to soothe the "pain" - however, Wal-Mart had empty shelves! So, we gave him a $20.00 bill for a later purchase. $10.00 for each tooth! He was psyched!

TUESDAY - was awesome because I called the Dept. of GA. to check on the status of my Amended Return (again) - and this time they said that everything was all set and that they would be sending us a check! What a relief! Thank you Sandy! I couldn't have done it without YOU! Thank you Dad for your patience through the whole thing!

For Andrew, Tuesday was awesome because we took him to the toy store on the Island and he added "Shade" (a green Gecko) to his ever-growing collection of Webkinz! He was super-excited! He now has 8 Webkinz, and carries them all around and sleeps with them all. But his favorite remains his ST. BERNARD, CUTIE! He started it all!

For Phillip and me, the return of American Idol made us so hyper! Anything to get our minds off the long days here is a relief. And nothing does that like a weekly show to look forward to... :) Yeah! American Idol RULZ!

WEDNESDAY - was SUPER-AWESOME because Phillip's scheduled trip was delayed due to bad weather! RAIN, RAIN, AND MORE RAIN! We were all excited to have another night together!

The rain has been great because all the yucky snow has melted. It is WARM! I mean in the 40's! The water falls are BEAUTIFUL! Though they can be dangerous because they flood the roads, and we are talking about some FAST water falls here!

TODAY - is Thursday, and it has started out pretty well. Maybe we will have some more good things to happen today! :)

Going Digital

Hi Guys! I know Christmas is over, but I have really gotten behind on scrapbooking, and am thinking about going digital with it. I made this scrapbook with Smilebox, which is free and I had only used it once before for a Mother's Day card last year. I have to pay for $6.00 per month to be able to save these to my computer or to disk and then I can print them or put them on a DVD.

What do you think? I am thinking about it because it is FASTER than traditional scrapbooking. All I have to do is drag the photos to the box, and it lets me move it around a little and gives me a little bit of control over the colors in the layouts. Also, scrapbooking is very expensive and hard to find around here. I am getting further and further behind because I take so many photos these days. I also think this is a space saver and printing them at Wal Mart would cost me money as well. Also, I usually print them myself so that I can size them and crop them on paper like this program is doing for me.

I just usually feel touchy-feely when it comes to photos and memories. So, this would be a HUGE deal of a change for me. What would you do?
Thanks for taking some time out of your day for me :) Heather

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

A NEW YEAR

Greetings from Kodiak! Here is a little taste of the sweet life here on NEW YEAR'S. Heather and I brought in the new year with our good friends Paul & Kathy. Nothing says Auld Lang Syne like bowling! Bowling with fine friends a cute girl and pirates!?! "Pirates?" you may ask. Yes! Pirates! For what ever reason the locals bowling in the lane beside us were all dressed up like pirates. Complete with big hats, swords and plenty of "R's". It was a night to remember.
Now here are some things you should remember if you are ever bowling in Kodiak.
1. Learn to bowl like a pro.
2. Don't spend the locals dividend checks.
3. Bowl on your lane! Refer to #2.
4. Learn to speak pirate! They pay for drinks...kinda.
5. Wear a goofy hat.
6. Go with good friends who know the locals.
7. Tie a string around your finger to remind you to get your ATM card for the bartender at the end of the night.

2009

Happy New Year everyone! 2008 was a hard year for almost everyone we know, so here's hoping that 2009 is filled with love, peace, and prosperity! We could all use a lot of that. Andrew, Phillip and I are sitting here this afternoon of the eve of 2009 contemplating our resolutions for the coming year, and each of us is at a loss of how we can be better than we already are! Wow! Now I know I made you laugh at that one!
Anyway, I guess I have never really established a New Year's Resolution per sey - and I am not sure that this year will be any different in that manner. Each of us has goals, but I am not sure they qualify as "resolutions". One of mine is to go back to school. Andrew and Phillip are still thinking about some of their goals, and are having a difficult time focusing on that right now because the TV is on........
We hope you all have a wonderful year!