Yesterday was grandma's funeral. The night before, we found a bunch of pictures and taped them to a couple poster boards to display by her casket, which looked great! The girls all wore blue and one or two of grandma's necklaces (and in my case, one of her curtains haha!). We gathered 30 minutes before the funeral to look at grandma one last time and to say our goodbyes. The chapel it was held in was GORGEOUS, the stained glass was so pretty! It took me a few minutes to be able to go up and look at grandma laying there, and could only look for a couple seconds at once. That's only the second time I've ever seen a (human) dead body. *shivers* A few of grandma and Julie's friends came, a couple who I met a couple years ago when grandma lived in the other nursing home (we had lunch together). The reverend's service was nice..mom and I wrote him a little something in honor of grandma so we wouldn't have to go up and speak haha. Gina went up to speak (she arrived the day before, and is staying at the same hotel we are), and said things like "Jordan, grandma will be with you when you find another job. Joelle and Jessalyn, she'll be there at your wedding. Heather, she'll be there when you're choosing what book you want to read, and when you pick out new curtains!" OMG haha! Nicee. :P After the service, the funeral professionals (undertakers??) closed the casket and we walked behind them while they led the casket through the mausoleum to her last resting spot. I'd never been in a mausoleum before (that I know of), and always pictured them as dark, but it was the complete opposite! It was pretty nice. Grandma's spot is outside and overlooks the trees. They had to use a lift since the spot was at the top. I hope her spirit is happy there!
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Tomorrow, I fly back to Fairbanks. I'm always sad to leave family, but we'll make sure to still have reunions! It'll be great seeing Abby again, and going back to work lol. Hopefully the roads aren't still messed up from the storm. I'll post the rest of the pictures when I get back home, but here's the video of the "Do You Hear the People Sing?" karaoke!

Super fun! I love Julie's "microphone" haha

24. How Do You Celebrate Your Birthday? I go out to eat with my family and eat cake!

25. When Have You Failed? What Did You Learn From It? Many times..math tests in school for one. I had to study hard so I could barely pass LOL

26. What Activities Make You Feel Most Alive? Being in front of glaciers, being able to let loose like last night, etc

Before Ryan and mom and I left yesterday, we took this picture (too bad we hadn't thought to do it when we were with grandma!)

In the back is Aunt Julie, her husband Kerry (my step-uncle?) and Ryan, in front is Aunt Gina, mom, me and cousin Joelle. A great picture, even Ryan's smiling! One thing I hate about Julie's house is that the previous person was a heavy smoker (she can't get rid of the smell no matter how much she cleans..whatever she cleans drips orange. EW D:), and when I get home all my clothes reek of smoke. It can't be healthy breathing that in! D:

On the first flight, as we were descending into Seattle, a bolt of lightning hit the plane right outside my window!! (There was a popping sound too.) I'm sure planes get hit by lightning all the time, but I'd never seen it happen before. Alarming, but cool to see too lol (I also watched Joker..wow, that role must have been hard on Joaquin Phoenix D:). On the second flight I had an isle seat, but when I glanced at the window I saw some snowy scenery..I hope the person sitting at the window saw some glaciers lol. Abby was SUPER happy to see me when I got home, awww. <3 Hopefully there's not a crazy amount of things to do at work tomorrow haha (thankfully, mom isn't super sick, but she still feels "on the edge" of being sick. Glad it didn't get worse!)

( pokemon update )

18. How Well Do You Perform Under Pressure? Not the greatest, especially if people are watching..I get fumbly and awkward haha. Too stressful!

19. What Do You Want Your Obituary to Say? I really don't like these kind of questions.. D:

On Monday after midnight, mom and I started the journey to Kansas..ugh, redeyes are exhausting haha. On the second flight, when I started watching Thor: Love and Thunder, I 100% did NOT expect to hear "Only Time" by Enya! I LOVE that song, so I was pleased and surprised haha. We got a rental car after we landed, got food at Sonic so we could stay awake, then drove to Julie's house. Unfortunately, Aunt Cindy's dog Blanca has been very sick (she threw up blood D:), and since grandma's been doing well, she's not going to come until Blanca is stable. I'm sad I don't get to see her, but I'd do the same if Abby was sick. We briefly stopped at Julie's house and then went to see grandma (we were exhausted, but we couldn't get comfortable or we wouldn't want to get up again!). When we got to her room, Julie, Joelle and Gina were already there..everyone was happy to see us! Grandma taking my hands and thanking me for coming was definitely worth the exhaustion! We think she got sepsis from picking at her skin (she has some kind of skin condition, and she is convinced there are worms in her skin for some reason O_o), and even though she literally almost DIED, she was still picking at her skin, which frustrated everybody. I understand somewhat because I've been picking at my skin for 30+ years..it's HARD to stop, but I think I'd be cured if I almost died O_o

Aunt Gina is very into metaphysics/Reiki/paranormal things, so she was talking to us about chakras and auras and stuff like that. She was surprised I couldn't see people's auras/energy, but I can definitely feel them! It just..soaks into my skin when people are upset or angry. I asked her if animals could feel them, because animals like dogs who don't normally go to strangers come to both mom and I, and she said yes. Interesting. She also has these tuning fork things that are supposed to be healing or something, and my face twitched when she put the fork next to my face haha. We stayed until visiting hours were over, then went back to Julie's house, where we were finally able to go to bed. I had to take Clonazepam because traveling is overstimulating, but after that, I didn't wake up until 10:30!

I definitely felt pretty wrecked when I woke up yesterday..traveling from Alaska is exhausting! Ryan arrived yesterday, and everyone was definitely happy to see him when we went to the hospital. Gina did the tuning fork thing on Ryan, and he said it gave him images of Sedona. Grandma was able to eat more, which was a good sign. We again stayed until visiting hours were over, then went back home. I went to sleep kinda quickly, woke up once during the night, and slept until 9 something! If only I slept like that at my apartment haha

This morning Gina was showing me and Ryan these paranormal apps, where it picks up spirits talking to you (one was Necrometer). I wasn't sure if those were even real, but Ryan was making a parfait, and one voice said "parfait?" O_o I about died when I heard "we are here!" OMG. Gina told the spirits our names, and the spirit came back with his name. That was..quite interesting. *shivers* Gina went to see grandma and mom took a shower, and when we got on the road, we got a text saying she was going to be discharged to a medical rehab type place! Considering how sick she was, that is so awesome! We visited for a few minutes at the hospital, and left when they were preparing to move her to the other place. Mom and Ryan and I went to Wal-Mart to get groceries, dropped them off at Julie's, then went to the assisted living place to get some of grandma's things. That assisted living place isn't as fancy as the previous one, but it's still pretty nice (I was excited to see the curtains LOL). Grandma loves the food there too. While there, I left notes all around her apartment, like "welcome home! You are strong!" under her pillow, "it's cold in here!" in her fridge, "walk like an Egyptian" on her walker, etc. She's going to love that when she gets back home hehe. When we checked in at the rehab place, I was surprised there weren't any curtains at the entrance lol. Grandma's bed looked way more comfortable than the hospital bed! She looked great too. After dropping off her stuff and walking back to the entrance, I suddenly saw a whole bunch of curtains there! How did I miss them before?! Weird haha. After that we went to Olive Garden (breadsticks and five cheese ziti...*drools*) and then went back to Julie's. It's nice to relax now!

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13. How Careful Are You Online? I try to be careful, sometimes I probably slip up though..

14. Have You Ever Reinvented Yourself? Sure, especially when I first got into metal music and when I moved to Alaska

15. Which Is More Important: Talent or Hard Work? Both, they go together lol

Today is grandma's 87th birthday! We went over to the assisted living home she lives in and she opened presents, then we went to Red Lobster because she wanted lobster (she hadn't eaten it in years). I also video called Dana and she got to meet my family, yay! Hopefully grandma had a good time :)

Pics!

Joelle's present, an Easter bunny
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24 – Firefly Day: Not the insect but the short lived TV programme! Were you a fan of Firefly or did it pass you by? If you have no interest in it have you ever seen a real Firefly? I've never seen it, but I've seen real fireflies..they're so magical!

Tomorrow mom and Cindy and I are driving to Kansas to visit grandma and Aunt Julie and Joelle! The drive is 692 miles, which is almost 11 hours. D: That's like driving to Anchorage and back in one day! Cindy said it's not a very interesting drive either..probably lots and lots of fields haha. Good thing I have a book that's over 1000 pages to read :P

We played Catan twice last night and I won both times! Dean was like "I don't like this game anymore!" LOL. He's won plenty of times though :P

( pokemon update )

15 – World Art Day: What is your favourite piece of art? Have you ever seen it or only admired it in pictures? Hmm..The Starry Night is cool, and of course I like medieval/Renaissance paintings with four-poster beds in them LOL. I've just admired the pictures

16 – Garden Month: Do you have a garden, or access to a community garden? Is your garden all flowers, or do you grow herbs, vegetables, berries, etc.? If you live in an apartment, do you have a balcony garden? Mom grows a garden in the summer..a mix of veggies and herbs and stuff. I do not

17 – International Bat Appreciation Day: Have you ever seen a bat in the flesh? Real bat or Batman, which is better? Yeah, it was in my house for a couple days! No idea how it got in, but mom eventually got it to go out the front door. Hmm..Batman can do cool stuff lol

18 – Pinata Day: Has whacking a paper mache model for reward featured much in your life? Not really..maybe like once or twice as a kid

1. When have you recently had to correct one of your errors? Probably recently, I might have said a wrong thing or something..
2. When did you last break something you wish you hadn’t? Not sure..
3. When have you taken a wrong turn (literally or figuratively) and found yourself in a better place? When I lived in Texas I read Texas by James Michener, which talked about a church in Waxahachie (30 miles from Dallas). Well my friend and I went to a Renaissance festival near Waxahachie, and when we left, Caitlin made a wrong turn, which lead us right into the city, where I saw that very church! I was so excited haha
4. When did you most recently return a purchase to the seller? Maybe at the beginning of this year, when I wanted to get a new mattress for my new bed, but kept finding uncomfortable ones lol..good thing Costco takes things back no matter what :P
5. From whom do you most willingly take correction? Mom, Denise, etc

Mom and I got to Topeka on Tuesday after a looong day of flying all night and a lot of the day..it was nice to see Aunt Julie, and then go to bed, because we were exhausted. :P It was nice seeing grandma the next day..we asked if she wanted to go to dinner and she was like "YESSS" haha..she loves eating out too. :P We went to Olive Garden..yumm. Yesterday we went to lunch and Target, where we found some clothes. Today my cousin Joelle flew in from Texas (nice seeing her too!) to get some tests done to see if she has POTS, which were positive. She seems positive and optimistic about it though. I think tomorrow grandma is coming to Julie's for dinner. Mom and I brought winter with us, because it is FREEZING outside (in the 30s, and of course it's always windy)..darn :P (random, but I love the fancy curtains where grandma lives LOL)

( nov 8-11 )

Dec. 31: Mom and I boarded the plane to Anchorage at 5 something..even though the flight was less than an hour, I still felt gross. We had a few hours to kill in Anchorage, so we hung out at the lounge upstairs (mom and Dana both have slept there lol) and had dinner. Even though it was dark when we landed, I could see there was no snow on the ground. A couple hours later we looked out the window and it was snowing like crazy haha..wow. Eventually we boarded the plane to Seattle at 9 or 10 something..I tried sleeping for like an hour, but it's just too hard and uncomfortable, so I gave up and watched Into the Storm instead. The flight attendants didn't do anything special for the New Year, but I'm sure they didn't want to bother the other people who were trying to rest

Jan. 1: We got to Seattle at 3 something in the morning..ewww. There were people everywhere just sacked out on the floor and chairs and stuff..unless I was in a secluded quiet place, I don't think I could do that. We had another long layover there, but we just had to hang out until everything opened (I felt SO bad for the poor people that had to be there at 4:30 D:). At the place we had breakfast (I felt like I was constantly eating haha) they played modern songs like "Umbrella" and "Can't Feel My Face"..and then they played "It's All Coming Back to Me Now" by Celine Dion?!? Oh my goodness, that was one of my favorite songs of hers when I was a kid! I don't know if I've ever heard that song in public (if so, it was in the 90s LOL), but it made me really happy and nostalgic! We left for Denver at maybe 6 or 7 something..I had a whole row to myself, so I could actually lay down and sleep somewhat better! I tried watching the rest of Into the Storm, but I couldn't find it! Maybe that flight didn't have it?? Weird. We finally got into Denver a couple hours later, but we still had to drive the 40 or so miles to where we're staying, Loveland. We were so tired lol. Even though we traveled the farthest, we were still the first ones at the house we're staying at. We needed a nap anyway lol. Eventually Aunt Cindy, Uncle Dean, Aunt Gina, Aunt Julie, her husband Kerry (I'd never met him before!) and her kids Joelle and Jessalyn showed up (Jordan actually has a house in a nearby town, so he's not staying with us). It was so nice to see everybody again! We stayed up late talking and then went to bed, which was awesome LOL

Jan. 2: Happy birthday, Apsley Cherry-Garrard!! <3 The bridal party were doing a bunch of fun things, so the rest of us hung out and were lazy haha. We had told everyone about geocaching, so eventually mom and I went to find some caches with Gina. She'd never done it before, and she LOVED it haha. We found five, yay! After that we went to a used bookstore, where of course I found too many books, and Gina payed for all of them as a Christmas present! Aww, how nice lol. After that we went back to the house, and hung out more and ordered Thai food..yumm. Julie and the others eventually came home..they were talking about the prayer things they were going to say, and someone suggested that she should rap them..and she DID, with Joelle tapping out a beat on the table. It was AWESOME and SO funny. I love that even though she's pretty religious, she has a great sense of humor about it as well (that's something I liked about Paulette too). We also watched this hilarious video of this Irish kid trying to convince her mom to let her go to the pub ("but I'm SIX!!!" *holds fingers up*) And then it was time for bed..yay :P

Today, Jan. 3: Wedding day! We Facetimed grandma for a little bit..I bet she was sad she couldn't come. :( When mom and I saw how nicely dressed and gorgeous everyone else looked, we just looked at each other and cringed. We weren't casual or anything, just..Plain Old Alaskans LOL. The wedding was at a church (Julie and her kids are Catholic)..I finally got to see Jordan, yay! I'm glad he remembered me. :P His bride Sara was absolutely gorgeous. They did Mass (I think that's what it was) as part of the wedding, which was a little tedious, but interesting (I didn't know they bowed as much as they did!). Julie's ex-husband and Jordan's birth father was there, which must have been really awkward..he's not really a nice person, and showed up to rehearsals yesterday drunk..eesh. Jordan and Sara looked completely shocked when they were pronounced man and wife haha. The other people stood around in the church and talked, but me and the others had to drive the 30 minutes back to Loveland (the wedding was in Longmont) to go to the venue and set up everything. We had like an hour and a half, which was just enough time, phew. By this time me and the others were starving haha. I finally got to meet Sara..I couldn't have said something normal like "hi, I'm Heather, nice to meet you!"..noo, I said "I've been waiting to meet you for hours!" *cringe* She was nice though, and Jordan thanked us for coming so far from home. We had food and cake and then it was time for dancing. Mom and I were just like "mehh" haha (especially since mom wasn't feeling well), but I had to go up when the Macarena came on! (The glass of champagne I had helped too LOL.) I had to teach Gina how to do it haha. I didn't know the moves to the other songs though, and I feel like I'd look stupid compared to everyone else, so I didn't go back, even though it looked kinda fun. After an hour or two of that mom and I were bored and tired of the loud craziness, so we left..yeah, we're lame LOL. I'd much rather be sitting here in my PJs (sorry Jordan :P). It's nice to relax after a long day. :) I took a couple pics, but my phone's battery is lame and died early, so maybe the others can send me theirs, so I'll wait to post them

Tomorrow we're going to Denver to see an exhibition of Monet's art..Cindy is very into art, otherwise I wouldn't really care lol. Maybe we'll go out to eat at a nice restaurant too ;)

( a shiny new 366 day meme, yay! )