Fairbanks, Alaska, 1:18 p.m., Thursday, July 10, 2009~

Dear Journal~

Sorry if I haven't written in here in over a month; with a little baby to raise, you know how that goes:  just about every bit of your time is focused on caring for your child, in addition to trying to keep the house in order and caring for your husband.

And paying the bills, going to the store, fielding calls or answering the door.  *Sigh*  A mother's work is never done!!  *Bigger sigh!*

Katrina Hammer here.  I hope this finds y'all well.  Me, I have my good days as well as the bad; it all balances out in the end.  On my good days, I'm ready to face life; when I'm having problems, I want everyone to leave me be, so I can wallow in my self-pity.  This is when I put Junior in his crib and cry my eyes out; sometimes I cry for hours on end; by the time I'm through, I feel more like a wet, limp washrag than a human being.

Frank, on the other hand, is doing great:  no worries, no complaints from him.  I can see why:  he doesn't have to live with disabilities or pain, like I do.  He can get around; I can't some days.  Having fibromyalgia on top of paralysis (I'm a paraplegic; have been one for nearly four years now) is not easy to contend with.  Some days it is all I can do to get out of bed or to keep from screaming in pain.

I get around via wheelchair, electric scooter, or for shorter trips, forearm crutches.  As I like to say, "Where there's a wheel, there's always a way!"  *grins*  Bad joke, I know....LOL

Frank is an exercise hound:  every morning, he jogs anywhere from five to ten miles, in rain, snow, sun, sleet, fog, cold, heat:  nothing really stops him.  For a man in his fifties, he is in impeccable shape while my physique resembles wet tea bags:  I have no muscles whatsoever:  I'm a regular butterbutt!  LOLOLOL

Must be all that good Cajun cookin' I do!  LOLOLOLOLOL

In any event, we are doing well, all things considering.  Junior is now eight months old, into everything, babbling up a storm.  He is like a mini hurricane:  you have to keep your eye on him at all times and your wits about you, or else disaster is likely to strike when you least expect it.  He is a little cutie pie:  he looks just like his old man.  *grins*

Frank and I are still working (on the days we work, we have our neighbors watch Junior; they are very good with him; they take him to their place until we come home late at night to pick him up); we are able to keep up with our bills, and life is good for us right now.  I pray it continues; so many of my friends or acquaintances are suffering from the effects of a bad economy, and it suddenly puts things into perspective.

We are indeed blessed; it's only because of God's sovereignty that we are.  He's been mighty good to us.

Weatherwise, it's warm here.  Yes, you heard/read right:  warm here.  Temps in the 70's to lower 80's, quite hot for this far north.  I'm staying in; the heat just about makes me want to turn into a greasespot; I can't handle the heat, not like I used to when I was living in Louisiana!  You would think that me, a Louisiana-born Cajun, would love the heat, but nope:  it bothers me now, especially since I have fibromyalgia and other pains.  The cold bothers me, too; I guess I'm more or less stuck.  :p

I pray we get a cold front here; I'm ready for some fifty-sixty degree weather:  suddenly 65 degrees sounds mighty nice about now!!

The northern lights have been out, but since the days are about twenty hours long here, we don't see them, not like we would in the winter, when the days are so much shorter.  We did see some the other night for about an hour; they were bright neon red. That was the night before Michael Jackson died.  It terrified me; I hate seeing auroras when they are all red or orange!  Usually that is a harbinger of bad things to come, according to Sitka, my Inuk friend.

Well, I am going to go:  Junior is crying; he must be waking up from his nap.  I will write in here again; sorry this isn't much of a journal entry, but I'm bored; it's hard to write when one's brain is muddled from the heat outside!  Until later, this is Katrina saying so long and God bless!  Talk to you again!

~Love, your friend in Alaska, Katrina Anne Hammer.  :)