Who would have thought...

After reading my blog I realized that I never mentioned something big. My brother (I have two, one is 22, one is 13, the one I am talking about is the older one) went to France to join the Foreign Legion. Here are the answers to some common questions:
1. Can you join the French Foreign Legion if you aren't French? Yes! In fact, you can ONLY join if you AREN'T French. It is their foreign legion....I don't think we have something comparable.
2. Does that even still exist? Yes! And in fact it is fighting in many places right now, including Afghanistan.
3. Really? Yes. You can look it up on Wikipedia.
4. How long do you stay there? Well, if you get in (which your odds of getting in are 1:10) you sign a 5 year contract.

So anyway, he left on October 8th for his adventure. I was pretty emotional about it. I couldn't believe that I might not see my brother for five years. Sure, he lives in the same town as I do and I probably see him once a month, but still. Five years. I was worried about him, and worried about my mom. Then I got an e-mail today that said he was back home! He didn't pass the second physical (because of scarring in his ears from ear tubes he had in when he was younger) and he packed his things and came back to the USA. I was very excited. I probably won't see him for a few days, as he is resting up before he has to start looking for a job, but I was really happy to hear he made it home safe.

He's getting a quilt for Christmas.

Crazy amounts of Random News

First, some sad news. My friend from school had to put her dog down yesterday. Her dog had been having some health problems that resulted in her becoming rather aggressive, and she had to make a tough choice. I feel terrible for her, but I know she did the right thing. She doesn't think she is going to get another dog, but I bet she changes her mind in a few months.

Next, some exciting news. My mother-in-law cleans houses for a living. Sometimes she cleans out houses that have been recently sold or getting ready to go on the market (which is convenient with my FIL being a realtor). I guess she was cleaning out a house recently that had a TON of stuff left in it (not really sure what the story is there) and I basically got a whole new wardrobe out of it! A lot of the clothes were in good condition (some even had the tags still on them!) and were SUPER cute. So that is exciting.

On another note, I can NOT wait for the election to be over. Being in Alaska it is getting next to impossible to watch the news, with all of the Palin drama unfolding. I also hate having to listen to my students discuss it. For one, they don't really know what they are talking about...they are in 7th grade. And two, it always ends in a fight. AND they are supposed to working on their homework, not deciding the next president. So I finally told them today it wasn't debate class and to hold all political discussions until they are out of my classroom. And all of these Ted Stevens ads..."It's not about Alaska anymore." I don't get it. When was him being in trouble ABOUT Alaska? Pretty sure when he was getting a new Viking grill or whatever happened he wasn't thinking...hmm, I bet the people of AK would love for me to have this. And then there are the anti-Mark Begich ads that talk about how he "claims to stand up to his party, but does nothing about the democratic attacks on Stevens". Well, maybe Begich doesn't disagree with the ads. Why would you stand up against something you agree with? I don't get it. And I consider myself a pretty educated person.

ENOUGH about that. My sweater is looking awesome. I can not wait to finish it...which will be a while off, but still. I'm excited. I also started my One Block Wonder quilt on Sat. It is amazing as well. I will post pictures tomorrow...hopefully. Right now we are watching Indiana Jones with my FIL, so I can't have the lights on. I also had some other GREAT news this past weekend. My mom found my camera charger when she was cleaning her house, so SCORE! I have my digital camera back in working condition. Pretty exciting.

Hopefully I will be able to post more frequently. I've been pretty lazy, tired, blah lately. I hope it snows more soon....that would perk me up!

Sweater

I started knitting my sweater last night at knitting class. It was quite exciting. I don't have too much done and pictures will be coming soon, but I am pretty happy with it. Something that has been kind of weird the last few classes I have been to is the sheer number of teachers that have been in the class. It is a bit crazy. I hang out with teachers all day, so it would be nice to meet some people who do something else.

Anyway, not much else to report. I'm apparently not in the blogging mood as my post is rather lame. Sorry. I'll work on that.

Target

Target had its "soft open" today and I happened to make my way over there. The grand opening will be on Sunday and I imagine that it will be crazy. It is kind of a big deal that Target is opening in Alaska. For those of you who have known me for a while, you know that Weston used to work for Target...which is what brought us to WA and what drove us to come home early. We love Alaska too much to live anywhere else. We also don't like working 60+ hours a week (not that I was, but I don't like Weston working that much either) and that is why we left.

SO anyway, back on track. Target is open and business is booming. The parking lot was the most crowded part of the whole adventure. They had security that was "directing traffic" (or chatting with their friends, whatever happened to be more entertaining) which was a bit over the top. Once you got into the store it was clean, bright, well stocked, and the employees were incredibly helpful. They had plenty of carts, baskets, etc. They also were willing to get anything that you wanted that was out of stock. It was quite impressive. It is organized a bit differently that the one Weston worked at, but it was easy to find your way around. I wound up buying an ice cream maker for my Kitchen Aid mixer (on clearance for $40! Reg $80) which I am VERY excited about and I can not wait to make ice cream tomorrow. Ice cream...The Office...I can't wait.

Here are some things I like about Target (compared to Wal-Mart)
1. It is clean. And not just new stores. I don't think I have ever been to a dirty Target. The few we went to in WA were always very clean, and the new one is spotless.
2. It is bright. The lighting is very appealing.
3. The quality of the products. Some people may argue that Target is a "red Wal-Mart". I disagree. The products are higher quality and last a lot longer.
4. The employees are all very friendly. Not that employees at other places aren't friendly, but I have never been to a Target where I have not been asked if I need help. Normally I don't, but when I do it is really easy for my to find someone who can answer my question. And if they don't know, they all have radios so they can find out quickly.
5. They don't stock during shopping hours. (With a few exceptions...) It is quite common to go to Wal-Mart and find pallets blocking aisles. Even on the day after Thanksgiving when Target was CRAZY and they were stocking during the day, I still never had a problem with stocking being in my way.

I'm sure there are more things, but I want to go mess with my ice cream maker. Watch for pictures tomorrow.

Happy October!

I love Halloween. I am strangely obsessed with holiday quilts and at the moment I have plans/patterns/fabric for three different fall/Halloween quilts. Not counting the one I already have finished and on the wall at Dina's. So I am excited that it is October.

I am also excited that my friend had her baby! I was beginning to think it was never going to live in the outside world. :) It is almost Friday too. Can't wait for the weekend....