Please Don't Ask That!!!

I think we all learned in school that there is no such thing as a stupid question. While I understand that teaching this philosophy to our children encourages them to open up and express themselves, it can become confusing in later years when they, as I have, find out that it is a complete lie. There are ALOT of stupid questions. An overabundance, I would go so far as to say.

Yes, from Harry Dunn's classicly idiotic question, "Are those your skis? Both of them?" to the ever-annoying person who asks "What you are doing?" whilst staring right at you, these kinds of questions just keep on coming. Here are a few of my personal favorites I've heard lately:

"How are you going to DRIVE to Alaska?" (Apparently alot of people in the lower 48 think there is a giant body of water seperating Alaska from the mainland. FYI, it's not water, it's an extension of the land we currently reside in. It's called Canada.)

"Is it ok to put hot liquid in that?" (Asked of me while I was pouring coffee into a styrofoam cup. I'm not going to mention a name on this one because Sara asked me not to.)

"You were driving 11 miles an hour over the speed limit...and did I see you talking on your cell phone?" (Seriously? "Why yes officer, I WAS talking on my cell. Please give me an extra ticket for that. Oh and while your at it, I ran a red light about five miles back. Why don't you throw that in as well?")

Really though, the worst is when you catch a ridiculously stupid question coming out of your OWN mouth and you don't stop it in time. Like the other day when I asked my formerly blonde friend who is currently sporting jet black locks, "Did you dye your hair?" Or how about the time I was frantically searching for my cell, while talking on my cell, and asking my friend if she could find it anywhere? That feeling of being completely embarrassed and wishing you could suck those words right back into your mouth is probably the reason we are taught this no-stupid-questions lesson in the first place.

I realize that pointing out that there ARE, in fact, stupid questions is the equivelent of telling a child that there is no Santa, or that sticks and stones may break their bones for a little while, but words will damage them FOREVER.

What can I say? I'm a bubble-burster.

OMG, I SEE SNOW!

I've neglected this blog for quite a while and now I'm posting because the most spectacular thing happened today! I woke up and there was snow ALL OVER my car, the house, the ground...it's so amazing!

If any of you reading this blog are Alaskan, please try to keep the snickering and eye-rolling to a minimum...we just don't get snow where I grew up and lived in the Lower 48. And that's another thing. I've been here only about 3 weeks and I'm beginning to pick up the Alaskan "lingo". I'm hoping that soon they won't even know I'm not Alaskan.

As a way to fit in, I'm going today to invest in a set of studded snow tires. It will help my driving skills, I'm sure. I also walked the dogs with one of my roomies yesterday, and I found that I was a little premature in wearing them. Apparently, when you have -25 degree boots, you should wear them a little closer to actual winter weather rather than just because there is a slight dusting of snow on the ground. My feet were so warm that I was wishing for vents and my snowboard pants were also a bit excessive. When we got home, I was HOT.

So I bought a pair of North Face cross-country skiing pants and I wore my Romeos out of the house today. Watch out winter, here I come!

And no, I will not be posting a picture of my poor little stuck car ;)

Just Your Average Intro...

Remember being asked in grade school to write an autobiography, maybe 500 words, about who you are, where you've been, and what your future goals are? While my oily, prepubescent classmates scribbled away, delighting in the opportunity to try to stand out from their peers, I wrote three sentences. "My name is Amber Marie Gaines. I am 12 years old and have lived in the Northwest my whole life. My goal for the future is to keep living in the Northwest." Gripping. Compelling. At least D+ worthy.  

One would think, for my lack of ambition and excitement about my past and future, the idea of blogging about myself would horrify me. And yet I find myself convinced that there is such an overabundance of the average in my life that my material is limitless. I will literally never run out of nothing to write about. To add to this, my sister Sara is partnering with me in this blogging adventure, and I feel she will bring a delightful amount of anxiety and compulsion to the project. Perhaps a word from her would now be appropriate....

My name is Sara.  I am moving to Anchorage, Alaska, in six days.  I've lived in the Northwest my whole life and decided to begin a blog because I have many a friend curious if I will be acquiring a dog sled and living in an igloo.  I actually had a couple friends think that driving to Alaska from Oregon is impossible (I'm moving to Alaska, not Hawaii).  To be quite honest, I'm a bit disappointed that that adventure won't be mine to embelish.

I didn't want to do this alone, however, so I mentioned the project to my sister, who asked a few questions and decided it was a fabulous idea.  So here we are, 11:11pm on a Monday, creating our very first blog posts.  Okay, enough explanation.  Here's the guts:

Unlike my sister, I suffer from the "Over-Achiever Complex", meaning my life is super ordinary, bordering at times on completely boring.  I reconcile myself to this fact by stressing out as often as possible, being full of anxiety, completely consumed, perpetually overwhelmed, and borderline obsessive compulsive.  That HAS to make my life much more than mediocre, right?  Unfortunately, the reality is that my life is much like Amber's.  C+ average on my best day.

I'm really not all that sad about this because I'm very much used to it.  I do feel that by embracing this simple truth, I am an expert on being average, mediocre, plain, simple, and non-dramatic.

I want to give you a big, warm "WELCOME" to our blog and I hope you enjoy being included in our marvelously mediocre lives!  Here's to not always being able to see the forest through the trees, to making life a place to feel safe, and to reconciling ourselves to, well, ourselves.   

Let us share our journey with you!