september 25, 2014

I know I know I know, it has been forever. The goal for me is to not have to reintroduce myself every time I post something. I will get better at being more consistent, I promise. I could easily say I haven’t posted lately because I have been busy, which is true, but that would not be the whole truth. I have been so pathetically homesick. So when I would think about my blog, the thought of being fake happy and ignoring my homesickness didn’t seem right, however the thought of being transparent and weepy and pitiful didn’t seem fun either….so I chose the mature choice of just avoiding it all together. The longer I waited, the more I realized that I never said that everything I would write about would be happy and exciting; I said I was going to write about MY JOURNEY. The past couple of weeks have been, well, let’s just say for sake of rambling, hard. I knew when I moved that I would miss people. I would miss my family, my friends, my kiddos, my dogs, my church family, the workers at Chick-fil-A, the workers at Hobby Lobby, the UPS man, you get the picture. Trust me; I have missed all those people and more. I, however, was not aware that I would actually miss the South as much as I do. I miss Tennessee, Mississippi, Poplar Ave (crazy huh), FALL, my parents house, GBC, knowing people when I go places, just the feeling of being home. I can call and FaceTime people (my dogs are harder to do that with and the UPS man might feel awkward, but ya get what I am saying). I haven’t exactly gotten the whole transporting thing down yet, so if anyone has a lead on that, let me know!

Justin is in the field again training. He is gone 23 of the 30 days of this month. I really hate it. It has been exactly 2 weeks since my last post. My memory is embarrassingly bad, but lucky for you I journaled the past two weeks. I don’t know if that is lucky for you or not but it just means I have things to write about.

I am still getting familiar with my job, the people I work with, and how I am supposed to fill my day while I am here. Every day is getting easier and I get more comfortable. I did learn a huge lesson though. One of the first few things I was asked to do was “share my calendar”. No big deal! I don’t even really use my calendar on my phone, so I did not even think twice about it. OH BOY did I think twice about when it was brought to my attention that alllll my TV premier dates were “shared”. I think knowing when Dancing with the Stars begins is extremely important; however I apparently am the only one. So now my calendar is blank, except for the random days of bringing world peace and solving world hunger I scheduled in the next few weeks…..

There were other exciting moments at work. We had picture day. It was really hilarious to me how nothing changed from Middle School. The backdrop, the obsessive lip glossing, the hair petting that ends up making it so much worse, yep, it’s all still there. The only thing different is that I didn’t have to worry about my picture being after PE. Which lets just be honest, I didn’t worry about that in Middle School either (some pictures prove that) I lived for PE. (Shout out Jimmy Carey and Tony Shutes, my love for crossfire has not gone away). I got a free 8x10 picture of myself ordered…. What do you do with that? I mean seriously? I’m mailing mine to my mom actually, moms like that stuff I think.

In the hallways of this church near the offices, the lights just turn on when someone walks through them, kind of like the creepy freezer lights at Target. I don’t know exactly why these bother me so bad, oh wait yes I do, sometimes they are delayed in coming on or not come on at all. I don’t love the dark, especially the dark in an empty hallway (cuz obviously that means something is lurking behind me). So one day I was walking down the hallway and the light wasn’t coming on and so I prance (the ladylike version of running for your life without it looking like you are running for your life so it is more of a skipping/running for your life) down the hall. This would have been totally fine if one of the pastors hadn’t turned the corner as I am mid-prance. You don’t really explain your way out of that…so we chose to continue on in silence…..Now I just turn my light on my phone on if that happens-I am mature people.

This next sentence is going to be said quickly and I am not going to linger.  PEOPLE HERE DO NOT LIKE MONOGRAMS. Brooke? Amy? Do you hear me!? They are getting monogrammed dish towels for Christmas for sure. Bringing culture to Anchorage, one monogram at a time!

Moving on to a less traumatic subject, mice. Mice have invaded our building. However, they have not made it into the Mullins house, so yay for us. The maintenance men keep offering to put traps out just in case, but if I can be completely honest, I would rather a live mouse in the house while Justin is gone than a snapped in half dead one, call me crazy.

I am going to jump back to the homesickness and tie it into Dancing with the Stars because I can turn any conversation into one about reality TV…or Disneyworld. I was watching the show and Sadie Roberson from Duck Dynasty is on it this season. Her mom and dad were there supporting her of course. She did great and her dad (Willie) cried. Oh my goodness I miss my dad. He would totally be the dad at whatever I am doing and be so proud. That’s because I have the greatest dad. So I can’t recover from Willie’s tears, I am just inconsolable. I miss my dad and of all things this show is pouring salt in the wound. So I dramatically throw my head in the couch pillow and cry. As my face is buried in the pillow and the tears slow down, I raise up and of all things one of my dogs (Bela) hair is on the pillow. (This couch came from home so that explains why there was a dog hair). Obviously like any sane person, this pushes me over the edge and I begin crying because I miss my dogs. Yes, all because I find one of their dog hairs. I am literally typing this right now and it made my eyes water. I have issues people, issues.

This whole night of crying led me to try and be proactive. How do you be proactive about homesickness you ask? For some that might include, but not limited to: calling them, facetiming, for you millennials out there Facebook/Instagram stalking them, for the old school that might include writing a letter, or looking at pictures. For Anna, this is the proactive move I chose to take: I googled “How to open an Army base in west Tennessee?”…… There is no youtube video, or step-by-step DIY tutorial on pinterest, nothing. So instead I proactively just went to bed.

Tuesday night, I went to bed like normal after watching all my shows. I get in bed and I hear the faintest noise. I obviously lay there completely still because that is my defense mechanism when I think something is in the house, because that makes sense and all. Turns out it was the bed moving, it was a baby earthquake!! It was barely even noticeable but my first instinct was to put my hand on the wall, as if I was going to hold the wall up with my bare left hand….I can barely hold a pencil with my left hand. I was pretty braggy about experiencing an earthquake at that point...until Thursday.

Thursday was definitely a big day for me. I was sitting at my desk talking and all of a sudden the whole building started to shake. Nobody (except me) got too alarmed. They said they have small earthquakes all the time in Alaska. Well, then a second one came around seconds after that one, in which we had to dive under tables. Light fixtures fell, things off the wall fell, my heart stopped beating…yea it was traumatic. When the Alaska people are freaking out a little bit the Tennessee people (me) are freaking out A LOT. After it was all over, I obviously run to the bathroom to call my mom. I didn’t cry the whole time, which tells you how bad it was. If I am not crying – its bad. Justin is in Fairbanks, and they were told to call and check on their families. Everything is alright. I went home to check out everything, a few things were off the wall and knocked over chairs but nothing too bad. Everyone at work told me, “Welcome to Alaska.” I then proceeded to tell them that I wanted to go home, like Tennessee home, not just home for the day. Who knew tornadoes would ever be a comforting thing? (It was a 6.1 on the Richter scale for those of you who care. That means nothing to me). Earthquakes are not my favorite things.

Big Moments/Random Thoughts:

I believe the Fall Equinox occurred on the 22^nd. Alaska did not get the memo.

I have come to the conclusion that the light on the oven should light up when it’s done preheating and stay on until you turn the oven off,  not turn off when it is done preheating. Right? That makes way more sense to me because then you see the light on and think “Oh yea turn the oven off”. 

I promise I will put pictures up of the house I promise! I was going to take pictures and then honestly Fall TV began and I didn’t want to do things like straighten the rug from where it got messed up from me putting my feet on the coffee table while watching TV. That is my project for the weekend (as long as there are no more earthquakes that knock things off my walls). Speaking of earthquakes again, remember that bookcase that my mom and I put together that I complained about?? The earthquake didn’t knock it down or anything! I was so proud!!

I still haven't met Sarah Palin.

I think we officially have “ a spot”. We found this restaurant called Straight Out of Philly while my mom was here. I think I want it to be “our restaurant”. I'm claiming it.

My sister and Sam are coming in 9 days!!!!

As I am coming to a close (that sounded like my dad during a sermon, weird), I just found this song/video by Drew Holcomb and the Neighbors called, “Tennessee.”  It is kind of precious and makes me smile to watch. I hope you enjoy it! (To all my Alaska co-workers, Tennessee is so much more than a “drive-thru” state)

I will leave you with possibly the most important thing I have said this entire blog thus far:

ONLY  36 days until HALLMARK CHRISTMAS MOVIES BEGIN!!!!!!

Always,

Anna