Meet unhappy McGee-

Or myself, Peterson. Yesterday I made coffee cake. Or as my sensitive father wishes we call it, breakfast cake, since the other name implies we drink coffee and as you know, we don't. It's against our religion. Let me tell you something, I like making up recipes and I put some rhubarb into a blueberry crumble in Alaska and figured I'd never go back.

Well, I found some rhubarb in the fridge yesterday. I chopped it up and dropped two cups into my crumble. For rhubarb, you cut up the red stalk. I found out in the eating of this delicacy I didn't put rhubarb into the mix, but char. Char, for those of you who have never heard of it..like me, is like spinach. You eat the leaf. It looks exactly like rhubarb, except the stalk tastes like beets. So I will be hard pressed to get my family to eat my beet breakfast cake. Boo.

I was also sent away from my house to my sister's house today because my mother doesn't trust me alone in there. I have a tendency lately, especially after dating clean freak Italiano Coppola, to want surrounding areas to me clean. He thinks it's hilarious. I think it's idiotic. Stupid cleaning upstart ruining my life. Anyway, I think cleanliness is next to Godliness, therefore, I will be cleaner in future.

I also saw the movie 17 again today. Very cute. Zach E is a hot 17 yr old. There, I said it. Whatever. Don't judge me. My range is 17 to 40 anyway. I think I used to say 50, but I've reneged, that sicks me out. I also ate two blts for lunch and a brownied up scoop of icecream for lunch. That also semi sicks me out b/c I know it's terribly oily of me to eat such a thing without plans to run, even though Christian bro would love to run with me. I should start that.

Kristie, I would be pleased to make the acquaintance of your friend. Don't be too disappointed if it doesn't work out though, St. Louis is 3.5 hours away. It's where our temple is, so we take temple trips there. I'm sure he's lovely. Most boys are.

Unfortunately, I do have an unsightly bruise on my left leg currently and it showcases my clumsiness..I ran into a bookshelf in our library. It hurt like the dickens. Whatever. Pay no attention to the largess of my leg in this picture, it's an optical illusion. On a similar note, I need to make some food today. Did I tell you my sister babysat me today because my mother doesn't trust me in the house alone?

I mean, she probably shouldn't, I kept asking her what things around the house were for..and I threw away two pairs of shoes in the garage..and get this- she noticed. Have you seen our garage? It's loaded with crap. That's the weirdest part. Paranoid people all over. Hah.

Speaking of paranoid, Nick would never go to church activities with me because he said they're designed to trick people into having fun and joining our church. I guess that's kind of what they're designed to do. Kind of. I also got a job with Fedex today. I'll start training in two Thursdays..starting the day I get back from Sarah's house. Yay for visits to baby Lukes, sisters, and fantastic brother in laws.

On the other hand, my parents are completely insane. I had my car in a spot two places over from where my car is now and I had to move it because we have someone who lives in our basement and it's his "assigned parking spot" even though it doesn't really matter where anyone parks. I had to move it right then, because he is coming home right now. Who cares? I was just annoyed it was so urgent. Completely insane.

Stuck on you

I’m currently sitting in the Seattle airport terminal, watching pushy Delta Skymiles representatives. Calling people over..very sneaky. Anyhow, I’d just tell them I already had one and maybe they’d go away. They’d better stay away from me.

I’m on my way back to Missouri. I left the house this morning at 5:15 am and am getting home to Blue Springs at about 9:15 pm. I will have plenty of time to blog. Right before updating this, I typed up my phone list. I figured my mother’s taking up my phone plan when I leave, so I should take down that useful information and email it to myself. I’d hate for that valuable information to get lost.

Big news: Nick Coppola left two days before me and I was really sad.
Predictable: I cried four times the previous day and the water poured when he left at 4:30 am the next morning.

I also went rock climbing Thursday. I got up four walls. Correction, I scaled two easy walls and half scaled two harder walls, but on the third wall my hands got sweaty and I couldn’t grip anything, and by the fourth wall my arms and legs were exhausted. I could’ve gotten up that wall if I didn’t have T-Rex arms.

Nick did have chalk, but by the fourth wall, it was too late, I was exhausted. Being puny can be a real downer during recreational activities that take lots of muscle control. Such activities I’ve noticed this during: rock climbing, water skiing, and snowboarding. I just like reading, thereby exercising my mind.

I am finished working for the summer and just told my sister on the phone I’m pretty sure I made the same amount this summer as I have in summers past. How is it possible, Merilee? You only worked half the summer you say. Well, I think it’s a blessing for my mission preparation. It must be, because I have no other explanation for that phenomenon. Or I could be on crack and have no idea how much money I make any given season..which is also true.

Canute, my esteemed sibling and I were talking yesterday about the projects my mother has lined up for him. Then I got to thinking about where I’m headed. I’ll be at the project house tonight. We talked about how nice it would be to have free time. Specifically, free time to play golf. I mean, think about how bored you must be to hit a ball into that hole in the ground waayyyyy over there by that flag. I have some cousins that love golf. Big D, you know who I mean. Man, that’s the life.

You know what else is the life? Living as a single waif is awesome. I realized the other day, after reading some blogs and talking to some ladies I know, how terribly lucky I am to be single, unattached, and childless. Not that marriage doesn’t have huge perks such as companionship etc., but I’m not ready quite yet to be attached to the responsibility of educating a child or two.

On the flip side, I do love spooning. Therefore, I should probably get on my mission and forget the boys. Get yourself a canary, Dilmount. I do miss Mr. Coppola though. He’s a hilarious dreamboat who is currently driving through Canada, stopping to climb rocks and hike trails. Weird.

I’m trying to think of something terribly exciting I decided upon or something weird I’ve done lately. Can’t think of anything at all. Wait, have you ever seen someone so muscley they can’t put their arms down? Funny. I just saw a guy with that problem walking past me in the airport.

Other things I’ve seen in the airport while sitting here for the last three hours: a seven year old kid riding on a suitcase his mom was pulling along, lots of not as cute as Luke babies, two puppies, two Peter Pan hat wearers who ended up belonging to each other thereby disproving my theory about a Peter Pan convention in the area, some koochie cutters, Jesus sandals, lots of tattoos, and a $9 Panini sandwich I totally bought, cause I’m a sucker.

Not that I can really talk, because I’m currently wearing sweatpants over my jeans. My bag was too heavy, so I put some pants over my pants. I packed 5 jars of homemade blueberry and salmonberry jam in my luggage for presents. Heavy. Five pounds over heavy, but jam’s liquid so I had to move over other stuff. So I can’t open my carryon, since it’s way too jam packed..heh.
On the upside, it’s cold in the SLC airport and I’ve got some soft sweatpants on for cuddling..with myself.

Also, esteemed Canute just fixed my laptop connection availability. He's my hero. Yay. Today I cleaned my brother Josh's room where I'll be staying since he's in Washington staying with cousins for four months. I don't think it had been vaccumed for ten years, no joke. I'll also be visiting Deane next Wednesday for sure in Texas. Yes!

Grotesque-

The three landscapes are all Juneau pictures. The Taku Inlet, North Douglas, and Lena Point. Pretty isn't it? These were all taken on different days.

Friday I took the fast ferry with boyfriend Nick to Skagway Alaska. We floated over at about 6 pm. We met at the Skagway driver house and had a race meeting. We ate some pasta and took a two hour nap. Then we drove to the starting point of the fifth leg of the 10 leg, 24 hour, Klondike Road Run.

I was leg 5 and had 13.9 miles to run. I hadn't trained much..well. Let's just say I didn't run more than seven miles a week for the last 2 months..since the half marathon I ran last month. So I've been winding down, but I didn't think it would be that big of a deal. I mean I've been running, but not more than seven miles a week.

I figured I could pick up whatever they put down. They gave me the 13.9 mile leg, two days in advance, and I took the challenge. I ran 3-6:05 am. It was dark and I was nervous about bears. I had a head lamp, some reflective bands, and a fancy flickering arm band.

It was chilly outside, but I'm a hot runner. I always strip down when running. I started with the numbers pinned to a hoodie and ended up switching the numbers to my Philmont tshirt while running because I was roasting.

I did alright the first three miles. Then I told the support vehicle with the last four runners to go 4 miles ahead. I was doing ok, what the heck? They said they'd go 3. I said ok. Three miles later I told them to never leave me for that long again. It is hard to run by yourself up and down mountain passes in the middle of the night.

They met me from then on every mile for drinks and moral support. I drank from the water bottle in a stationary pose. I cannot drink while running, it must be a mental block I've put on myself. It was a nice break every mile though. At mile seven, my knees were in blinding pain and I was only halfway finished with the race.

At mile 9 I told the van to tell me I only had three miles left. They told me I had four. There was a lot of yelling about death at that point of my leg. At mile ten I prayed my legs wouldn't break off at the knee until I had finished the race and I walked up the gigantic mountain that wouldn't end. At mile 11 I pooted and thought I'd messed my pants.

After acquiring some tp from the support vehicle, I sent them on their way. I could have shaved five minutes off my running time if they had just gone on instead of waiting right there while I pooped in the forest right next to them. Then they took a picture of me looking pissed. I was angry b/c I thought they'd been taking pictures of me pooping in the forest. They hadn't been, but I have an active imagination and mischievous friends.

At mile 12 I was having serious knee problems and was trying to convince myself the pain was mental and I could get through the pain. Run through the pain Merilee, you'll thank me later. So I tried that for the last two miles and in the end, I had trouble even jogging the last kilometer to the finish line. Boo. Then I took a nap and after waking to deposit waste into the forest for the second time that day, also took 15 minutes to walk 15 paces to a protected bit of forest for this deposit. I was stiffer than a board. It was pretty sick.

Then we took turns driving for the last 4 legs. It was insane, I don't know if I could do it again, but if I did, I would train more. We ate pizza that night from Pizza Hut. It rained a lot. Wow, running up mountains is brutal.

Hubbub-

Misty fjords would be so jealous of our mists outside today. I can't even imagine how the mists cling to us on a daily basis. Wow. It's hard to get outside and do stuff when it's such a craphole out there. I may decide to make a baked good or something later today.

This week was a good week. My sister had a baby this week. She had a little boy named Luke Gregory Gessel. He's 8.1 lbs and 20 inches long. That's a baby! She also had a C-section unfortunately. She wasn't progressing, so they had to cut her up. The only thing she wanted was a killer scar. She got it, woot!

Let's see. I worked quite a bit this week, but not 80 hours. Probably about 60 hours. Not too shabby. I also am getting over this sick cold I had for a couple weeks. It was killer and nasty. Blech. Lots of mucus. Must be a product of our great weather.

We also had an ugly sweater party. Apparently my sweater wasn't ugly enough. I thought it was pretty ugly in the store, but nobody said good job, it's ugly. I'll post some pictures soon. You can judge for yourself. And this is a picture of the bulletin board I did at the church.

I got a haircut yesterday. Lots of layers. I guess I could probably put some pictures up of that too, it's similar. I mean yeah, my hair's still long. I got more layers around my face though. So that will be good for my face, who needs more friends as you know.

Canopy adventure-

Just in- that boy Nick finally kissed me. Well, it happened Tuesday, but since I'm a slow twit, it hasn't come out until now. Tiffanie, I agree. The boy shouldn't have been able to resist me, but he has the "patience of a saint". Therefore, it took a little while.

After work, we tried planning something. Dave from work came over to where we were standing and asked if Nick wanted to go with the guys and play pool at 9. Nick said he might like that and looked over at me. When he asked if I would like to play pool, I rolled my eyes...since I'm a bad sport and was getting anxious about my canteen.

Then I said the chances of me wanting to play pool were small. He said alright. On the ride home I said he could go play with the boys if he wanted to and I'd just watch a movie by myself at home. Boys are so great. Either way I was starving and we went home. I ate, took a shower, he ate, took a shower and 2 hours later I was still lounging around, waiting to hear the plan.

Nick refused to watch a movie in the living room, because he didn't want everyone we work with making fun of us. Understandable. So yes, I'm a sinner, we watched a movie in his room. I didn't think he'd ever kiss me, slow as he is. First thing he did was pull me over. Mmm hmm. Then he kissed me a little later. I enjoyed it. He waited a while, since I've got a nasty cold. He kept kissing me on the cheek and saying how shameful it was I had a cold. Teasing bugger. Finally he did. It was nice.

I am grateful, but I would have understood if he hadn't, since my cold really is grotesque. I asked if he wasn't afraid to get it. He said he'd eat himself healthy. Then he got it two days later. Sucker. So I feel kind of guilty, but glad his ridiculous theory was proven false. Eat healthy enough to not get my cold, pah.

I do think we should probably hike more and watch less movies. I also think Juneau should be less rainy. We had a company softball game yesterday and the other team had too few players. I was put on the opposing team with a couple other people from ACT and we had a good sport. I'm terrible at catching softballs, but pretty good at throwing. I had a good catch, a couple almost catches, etc. I should go on a run later, but I work tonight, so it probably won't happen.

Everyone went to Icy Strait today, but I had to work and didn't have enough time to get a replacement. They're going to see calving glaciers. I'm super jealous. Instead I made some delectable rolls and watched Finding Jane and Willow.

Summing up my week, I'd say it was delicious. And his arms are huge. Mmm hmmm.

Incessant Juneau Rain

Excitement galore…I’ve got a bit going on right now. I don’t think I’ve mentioned my recent experiences. Nick is a boy I’ve been playing checkers and studying Spanish with. We go running sometimes, not recently, and he’s wonderful. I told him I liked him and he told me my impatience would never pay off.

Last week I was studying Spanish with Nick and he put his hand on my hand. I know, I’m like a seventh grader. I was looking for a verb and he picked up my hand. I couldn’t concentrate on what I was looking for because my mind was racing. Then he told me I had dirty fingernails. So I wondered whether he was holding my hand or just commenting on my hygiene.

Eventually, I looked up and we seemed to be having a moment. I destroyed the moment by heading off to the bathroom. I felt uncomfortable and wasn’t sure what to do. When I came back, the boy asked me why I run. Why do you think I run away, with mixed signals like that?

Then he told me not to run. Well guess what, I’ll run if I want.
Wednesday we went to the beach. At 70 degrees, Juneau had a perfect day to study Spanish. We talked about our dating lives, somehow we got onto the topic of the handhold last week, and he told me he was holding my hand. Then I asked if he was ever going to kiss me. He then told me why we could never date: we work together, we live together, and those are two terrible no no’s in the dating game.

Listen Nick, it’s unsporting of you to throw rocks at my house when you’ve just helped me tear down the walls around the outside. Crapface. I’m pretty frustrated. We talked the other day about compromising. Like we could hold hands when nobody else is around or we could date but not kiss ever.

I’ll let you know what happens. I mean, either way it’s a compromise, but at least I won’t be completely straightjacketed this summer. Meh, I’m going on a mission, but canteen fillers..I need to get me some of those. A year and a half is a long time.

My Grandma Enid died yesterday afternoon-

I'd like to blog a second about my grandma. I'll be honest, if I hadn't just read my sister's blog it wouldn't have occurrred to me, but it's a great idea, so I'm going to copy her.

Grandma Enid, my namesake. She always made me happy to see her. I remember her stories because she told them often. My favorites were the stories of her and my Grandpa Neal Peterson. He would tease her about the towel rack falling off the wall, just so she'd get mad.

She always thought it was so weird he dipped eggs in ketchup and put syrup on pancakes. Grandma was always giving me man advice. She often suggested I change my man tactics to exclude making them food and to give them attention, but never too much attention.

Grandma Enid was always full of advice and wisdom. Her house, spotless, was always fun to visit. She would always give you something strange to eat and an adventure was never far behind.

I remember eating outside and riding the turtles. Walking through Grandma's ornamental back yard always fascinated me. It seemed to have such magic just around the corner. I remember the day I found out they had a basement for food storage. It blew my mind.

Grandma loved her movies. She loved some great ones and we would watch them all the time together. She had some great chick flicks and they all reflected her man advice. My roomies enjoyed my Grandma stories. I told them everything she told me, she had some good ones. She once told me men don't like shooting the standing deer. They want to bag the running deer. Well, she used a little bit different lingo, but it boils down to that.

Grandma Enid was always interested in hearing my boy stories. She often told me I wasn't to settle for anyone. I was to go for the gold. Grandma Peterson, I love you. We're going to miss you and your testimony of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Grandma, Sarah didn't eat all her ketchup spaghetti, she put half of hers onto Bonnie's plate. I am blessed to be named after you! Love, Merilee Enid