Alaska

Giveaway: “Tundra” calendars.

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Every time I give away something from the Tundra family, there’s always a lot of response. So why not keep that energy going?

Besides, it plays into my “support the local economy” series of giveaways quite nicely. I ran into Tundra creator Chad Carpenter recently and bought two of his 2021 calendars. The idea is to give one and keep one for yourself.

Or maybe you’ll give them both away. However you handle things, that’s at least one holiday gift checked off your list – for free!

Bonus: I might even be able to get Chad to personalize the calendars for you. He generally throws in a cute li’l sketch of one of his critters, too. Some day those signed calendars could be worth…Well, I have no idea.

What I do know is that Chad’s work is known literally around the world. It’s syndicated in nearly 650 newspapers in the United States, Europe, Jamaica and Trinidad. I guess that moose, bear and bug humor is universal.

Not that Chad is limited to static images. He and his twin brother, Darin, have also been responsible for two films shot entirely in Alaska. The first was “Moose: The Movie,” about an ancient curse that awakens a killer ungulate. Mayhem ensues. Funny stuff also ensues. When I gave away a copy of that movie I described it as having been made with “a tight budget and a loose grip on reality.” Pretty much.

The second is “Sudsy Slim Rides Again,” which centers on an Alaska lawman who heads to a tiny off-the-grid town to investigate a missing person. That “person” is the mummified remains of a notorious criminal – and since he’s a big tourist draw, the town fathers and mothers want him back. However, he’s been corpse-napped by a couple of escaped convicts who want to leverage the stiff for safe passage out of town.

Just FYI: You can buy those films at the Tundra website, or rent them on Amazon. I won’t get any kind of remuneration if you do. It’s just another stab at supporting the local economy.

But back to the giveaway.

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Giveaway: Alaska-made jewelry.

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You’ve heard me mention my friend Linda B. a lot on this site. I do this because she’s the best friend ever. And since she’s also a jewelry artist, I decided to make the next Alaska-themed giveaway all about her work.

Jewelry is a great holiday gift because those who wear it never seem to have quite enough. A new color, texture or pattern, or a change in metals, can stimulate the eyes during this dark time of year, and turn a plain outfit into a canvas for wearable art.

Jewelry is easy to wrap, if you’re giving your presents locally, and easy to mail if you’re shipping your gifts. It can be given to folks of all ages. This particular batch of pendants and earrings is probably not right for toddlers with newly pierced ears or elementary-aged kids who’d likely be happier with pop-culture themes or shiny shiny rhinestones.

Linda came to jewelry art relatively late in life, beginning with freeform bead-weaving in her 50s and later developing a fondness for hammered metal embellished with beads and metal shapes. For a time she dabbled in what I think of as “resin captures” – putting shells, dried plants, charms and other oddments into forms and sealing them in clear resin. (Think of the mosquito in Amber from “Jurassic Park,” although nowhere near as deadly.)

But she made her living as a journalist and editor here in Anchorage, and since retiring she’s also become a playwright who’s regularly featured at the Last Frontier Theatre Conference in Valdez, the 8 By 10 Theater Festival in Fairbanks (she’s the only person to have been selected – in blind judging – all 15 years), and even in an off-Broadway new plays festival. 

The winner of this giveaway will get his or her choice of one pendant from the six pictured below, and also half a dozen pairs of earrings (only one of which is pictured – I’m not one of those bloggers who likes to make people scroll and scroll and scroll).

It was hard to choose even half a dozen from the many pendants Linda has on hand. Normally at this time of year she’d be selling them right and left at local crafts shows, but the pandemic put paid to that custom in 2020. Her work is available at several gift and art stores around the state, too.

But finally I bit the bullet and chose these:

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Giveaway: Yet another gift card.

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First it was the technical difficulties. Then I was mostly buried under deadlines. Then some other stuff* happened.

As a result, it’s been more than three weeks since I last posted a giveaway, despite my pledge to do that every week.

So maybe I’ll up the frequency of these things, to get back on track for holiday shopping. I already have two more  giveaways of Alaska items planned, but posting them would have meant a lot of moving and re-sizing of photographs.

Due to the aforementioned issues, I haven’t had the brainwidth to do it. This way, I can re-use an illustration I already had on hand.

Besides, you guys love gift cards. So a gift card it will be! This time, anyway.

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Monday miscellany: Mental ledger edition.

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Note: Surviving and Thriving is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com.

Maybe you’ve heard yourself using this phrase lately: “I deserve it.” After all, the pandemic has caused so much stress and fear – and, often, financial loss – that many folks are in a constant state of anxiety. Thus we deserve that frou-frou coffee, some new nail polish, a great-looking book or two scoops of our favorite ice cream.

Personal finance writer Emily Guy Birken broke down that phrase in an intriguing way recently. In a post called “How to avoid a pandemic spending frenzy,” she said that the word “deserve” is a big mistake.

“If you deserve something, that means you could be un-deserving of it,” Birken writes.

Additionally, saying you deserve something “means you are placing yourself in a position where what you already have is not enough. This is no recipe for happiness, because there will always be another thing you feel you deserve at some point…Defining purchases and treats as something you deserve is a way to feel resentful, rather than satisfied.”

 

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Giveaway: A box of (mostly) Alaskan stocking stuffers.

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Very glad I started this giveaway series in time for the holidays. Judging from the response I got to the previous one, so are a whole lot of readers.

While gift cards are easier to send (especially if they’re e-gift cards), my original intent was also to give away some Alaska items in order to support the local economy this holiday season. Hence the current giveaway: the small flat-rate box of (mostly) Alaskan stocking stuffers.

Don’t celebrate Christmas? Give them as “just thinking about you” presents. Donate them to a shelter. Or keep them all to yourself. Who’s gonna know?

A bunch of these items are courtesy of my BFF, Linda B., who is conducting a fairly ruthless purge of Stuff. Like many of us, she has come by sooooo much Stuff. Even if you have a biggish house (which she does), there’s only so much Stuff you can display/use.

Linda has been finding good homes for a lot of the Stuff through our local Buy Nothing Facebook page. Art, outerwear, jewelry, tchotchkes…It’s been fun to watch. And, occasionally, to participate in, as I was able to snare some things for the mostly Alaska stocking stuffers.

That box includes but is not limited to:

 

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Giveaway: Alaska coffee and chocolate.

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We had the itch to get out of town recently, so we spent part of the day in Seward. In part, the trip was to enjoy a nice, relatively warm day and the gorgeous scenery of this small (2,729) city. The drive there was also beautiful, beginning along Turnagain Arm, continuing through Johnson Pass and terminating with knockout views of Resurrection Bay.

The day trip was also specifically designed to spend money. That may sound odd coming from a couple of frugalists, but we have decided to do our part to support the local economy. Did the same thing last month with a trip to Talkeetna, home of the Bachelors Auction and Wilderness Woman Competition.

Not that we broke the bank, mind you. DF had coffee from a little shop called Seward’s Cup (we tipped the barista 100%), and bought a much-needed wallet from the town’s only clothing store. He could have purchased it here in Anchorage, but had decided he would drop a few dollars (29 of them, as it turned out) somewhere else.

We looked in at the shops, soaked in the scenery and watched jellyfish bobbing along the shoreline. Before we left town, we had the World Famous Bucket of Butt for dinner.

 

That’s “butt” as in “halibut.” True, the spelling isn’t accurate. However, it’s funnier this way. Butts are just funny, no matter how old you get.

And I made it my business to buy something to give away on the website. It wound up being three things, one of which be part of a different giveaway.

This time around, though, it’s Alaska-themed (and produced) coffee and chocolate.

Any takers?

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Reminding myself of the good.

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The ongoing COVID lockdown and its associated nationwide healthcare and financial woes have left me feeling both detached and hyper-focused.

I don’t care much about anything, yet I worry nonstop about another massive recession (or, dare I say, a depression).

On the topic of depression: I remain very concerned about what the prolonged COVID isolation is doing to my daughter’s mental health.

(This is not meant to infantilize her. Quite the contrary: I’m in awe of her strength. But it’s a mom thing. We worry.)

To make matters much, much worse, I recently learned that my dad has cancer. He is optimistic – and he’s also 84, and aware that he’s had a pretty damn good run – but I struggled with the news.

Taken together, the result has been me wanting to bury myself in reading whenever I’m not working. It’s a handy way to numb my reactions to Just About Everything.

This was once an unhealthy coping mechanism, because the numbing was nonstop. Suspended animation was my go-to response to anguish, and I spent decades in emotional exile. If I buried myself in a book, or took on freelance assignments in addition to my day job, I’d be far too busy to take honest stock of my life and what was really going on.

These days, the numbing is not prolonged. It’s more of a pause than a freeze.

Specifically, it’s me working my way through the bad stuff by allowing myself to acknowledge it. I’ve found that it’s easier just to admit you’re scared than to fight being scared. Yes, my dad is sick; yes, the country’s economy is in a horrible place; yes, I am concerned about my daughter. It all stinks. Now: What are you going to do about it?

On Friday I stopped in the middle of an editing gig to write down the following phrase: “Reminding myself of the good.” Then I went back to editing, knowing that emotional work was likely going on under the surface.

It was.

 

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Back in Alaska, and gardening.

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I’m back from my emergency trip to Phoenix, and just off two weeks of self-quarantine. Alaska has had relatively few cases of COVID-19 and the city in which I live requires travelers to stay put for 14 days.

How I’m doing:

Happy to have had the chance to offer some emotional support to my daughter.

But also apprehensive that Arizona’s skyrocketing virus cases are going to continue to erode Abby’s well-being.

Feeling a constant low-level dread about COVID’s physical, emotional and financial impacts on the country.

Also feeling very, very happy to be back with my dearest partner, and back here in the coolth. The temperature in Phoenix was routinely more than 100 degrees, and as high as 113.

By contrast, we’ve had a few fireplace insert nights since I returned, a continuation of our cooler-than-usual spring. (It was 43 degrees this morning.) As a result, the garden is growing rather slowly.

Except for the English cucumbers. When I got back they looked like this:

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Extreme Frugality: Gardening edition.

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Note: This is one of an occasional series of articles on saving money.

Renee’s Garden sends me a press kit and a packet of seeds every year. This year’s freebie was a variety of gourmet kale called Purple Moon. Gorgeous stuff, and we haven’t grown kale for several years, so DF and I were pretty excited.

So is everyone else, apparently: Purple Moon is already sold out for the season.

(As a Renee’s Garden affiliate, I may receive a fee if anyone buys seeds through my link.)

It’ll be one of three purple plants in this year’s garden, joining red cabbage (which is actually a maroon so dark it might as well be purple) and purple carrots (part of a four-color carrot mix). Those deep colors are supposed to be full of antioxidants, which is great, but we mostly care about the flavor.

And the cost: It’s hard to beat free. For the first time ever I took part in the media seed program, paying only the postage for English and pickling cucumbers, edamame, sugar snap peas and onions. Will definitely be writing about these; we’re particularly intrigued by the edamame, since we don’t know if it will grow here (DF’s grandkids will be excited if it does, since they love the stuff).

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The low-maintenance preppers.

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th-2(Happy Throwback Thursday! This article was originally published on Feb. 27, 2014. But the subject matter seems pretty current.)

I just went shopping in our basement, bringing up several items that were missing in our upstairs cupboards: catsup and ibuprofen (both from Costco), a jar of homemade jam, a can of chicken soup.

It always tickles me to see how much we’ve got stored down there, from the kale we grew and dried to bedpillow-sized sacks of dried beans.

Since I live in a really seismic state, the stockpile also makes me feel safe and prepared. Well, as prepared as one can ever be for another Good Friday Earthquake. (And yes, I’ve thought about what might happen if the house collapsed into the basement: Anger, panic and finally rueful laughter.)

That’s probably why an Everyday Cheapskate post called “Don’t be scared, be prepared” resonated so much and got me thinking, once again, about food preparedness.

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