Alaskanforgetmenot

The theme of the Young Women's this year is Standing in Holy Places. But I think that goes for all of us. The world has gotten alot louder and alot more wicked it seems. I really haven't liked living in Boise, Idaho as much as I thought I would. I live by a bunch of foreigners who are loud and noisy all the time and their kids as well. This sweltering heat hasn't helped much. Plus their throwing garbage everywhere hasn't helped. And the water. If the manager's weren't too cheap to just water the grass more! I hate apartment living. Still looking for that perfect place to live. In Alaska it was just the drunken neighbors I had to contend with thinking they were so funny and cute throwing beer bottles and trash for someone else to pick up. I don't think I ever saw so many drunks as I did in Alaska. My niece Cindy is an alcoholic along with her husband Ken. Her entire life is wrapped up in getting another bottle. How sad. And she's mean and

When I was in high school the war in Vietnam was still going on. John Currie Hansen who lived just up the street from me when I was in diapers was KIA July 15, 1969 as a helicopter pilot from my hometown in Oregon. I have known alot of Vietnam vets from that war. I didn't know what a blood bath it really was until years later. I wrote to a boy Brian Rollman who was from Minot, North Dakota when he was stationed in the Mekong Delta in 1968-69. He came home and took me to my prom. I still have that picture of us when I wore my pretty pink prom dress. In 1974, I was working in Portland, Oregon as a Dental Assistant and back then I loved to dance. I went to a dance in Washington State and just met a guy just home from the war. He wouldn't stop dancing with me. I promised to meet him the next week for a date but came down sick. He felt I had just stood him up and went out and got drunk and in a horrible car accident. The next time I visited Washington I asked my sist

When I lived in Wasilla, Alaska I was babysetting my nephews Jay & Andy and told them we lived in the "redneck valley." Andy said he thought we were living in the Mantanuska Valley. I told him "No, we live in the redneck valley." Of course he wanted to know what a redneck was right? So I told him--"See the neighbor with the 25 dead cars? That's a redneck." When we were in Anchorage one day we were going to the local Walmart store (another indication you might be a redneck) and we had a limo behind us. Andy piped up and said--"Auntie there is a redneck following us!" Cathy and I looked in the rearview mirrors and said--"No, that doesn't classfy as a redneck" and we laughed.

There was a woman in Wasilla who said cats were worthless animals. Well I tend to disagree. I've always been a cat person and find these little creatures more lovable and kind than alot of human's I've known. I have had three female cats I've adored plus many more. Katarina who was put in an animal shelter without my permission by Herder Winkleman. He not only took her life but made me homeless as well when I first moved to Anchorage, Alaska. I can only imagine how she must have felt when he'd betrayed her. And then there was my dear Pokey who died in 2010 of liver cancer. People had given me her in 2002 when leaving Alaska and she was already six years old. What I loved about Pokey is that she was feisty and spirited. If she didn't like someone she'd go and bite them a good one. Didn't take anything off anybody! But when I was diagnosed with cancer in 2008 Pokey started going into convulsions. She had some liver problems and we put her on

The theme for the Young Women's this year is standing in Holy Places. What better place can you stand in a holy place than in the House of the Lord? But other Holy Places are our chapels and homes. There should be no shouting, name-calling, put downs, or making fun of family members in the home. But so often that just isn't the case. I've seen people be pretty irreverant in the temple too especially in Alaska; wearing blue jeans, talking loudly. And sometimes people in the church can be pretty cruel as well when they gossip about someone or judge them too. I try and remember that about keeping your house a Holy Place. Sissy and I get along pretty good. I call her "baby baby" and "Sissy Marie." She knows she's a loved cat. And also keeping your house orderly and clean. That was isn't really that hard. Except all the dust piling up!

I remember growing up in Oregon and I had a huge family. Someone was always coming to visit and we'd have big family dinners on Sunday and the holiday's. But after my father died that all changed. We were forced into selling our house in Cascade Locks and mom moved in with my sister and her family. And then after mom died my sister and brother-in-law sold their house. I've been a single woman since 1980 and never remarried. It didn't bother me so much living in Alaska because I had alot of friends and callings in the LDS church. But living in Boise, Idaho? I feel so alone here. And I rarely hear from family anymore. I sometimes think my family on the otherside love me more than the living ones do.

Pictures of my niece Jacqueline with her boyfriend, friends, and baby Dyson.

Ward Off Diabetes With Yogurt | First for Women

I worked as a teacher for many years in Alaska in Early Childhood Education. I haven't been able to work in a number of years because of chronic health conditions such as diabetes, lung diseases, and cancer. But everytime I go by a school I wish I could teach again. I worked so hard to get my degree in Washington State and still couldn't get my BA because I couldn't get the financial aid. In Alaska I took Seed Classes and classes through Childcare Connections to get my CDA. Also in Washington State I worked on a work-site position for CCC and took practicums in Elementary Schools and Daycares. Plus working most of the time. This wasn't a person collecting a welfare check you know? I got so much patronizing & judgement calls from people from my church and family members when I went on disability because of just being too sick to work. I had a niece call me up on Christmas to make fun of me. One wrote me a snotty letter that she had so much more education

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I've lived in Boise, Idaho a little over a year now and sometimes I do miss Alaska. But then I remember the hard, cold winters and some of the neighbors I had who had drug and alcohol problems. I remember how I was treated by some of the people in Alaska such as men trying to run me down or splashing me with mud in Anchorage. Or being cussed out one day because I didn't see my blind spot and a man swore at me for the entire time until the light turned green. I do not miss the disrespect as a single woman in Alaska! But in the world I've noticed single women aren't treated as well as married women. I don't think "kept" women have a clue what the "real" world really is like; never have faced things on their own like I have. Haven't known what it's like to wait for a bus in -40 degree weather, or not having a car start when it's 20 below. Or the patronizing of married women towards single woman. When I left Alaska a woman had

Nothing makes a house feel like a home than home-made crafts made at home.

I saw this picture of a young man online and thought of John Hansen from my hometown who was killed in Vietnam and only 23 years old. What were John's dreams as he flew scout pilot over Vietnam? His last night before he died he was playing his guitar. I wondered if we would married if he'd come home? I met a young man when I was just 21 at a dance. I was working as a dental assistant in Portland, Oregon. I met someone named John just home from the war who wouldn't let go of me. We were supposed to go out the next week but I'd come down really sick and didn't show up. He thought I'd stood him up and got into a terrible car accident. I regret to this day not visiting him at the hospital.

This house looks an awful lot like my sister's house in Vader, Washington before they sold it. My mom moved in with them after my father died and we couldn't keep up our house in Oregon. I think the last time I visited was when my mother was dying in July of 1995. We were talking about my mother dancing with soldier's in World War II and how dad had stolen chickens during the depression years so he and mom could get back to Walla Walla, Washington. My sister grew big gardens and lots of raspberries and strawberries too. The house was always full of family members stopping in to say hello. During the holiday's my sister would stretch out the dining room table and it would be full of good food. Noone left hungry at my sister's house. I remember when Mt Saint Helen's had erupted and three families had evacuated to my sister's place. It was pure havoc. I had just left my husband and what with the mountain blowing, the men out of work and the washe

I lived on the last frontier for 14 years a single woman. I had to endure alot living in Alaska: homelessness, illness, cancer, and waiting for buses in -40 degree weather. But since coming to Idaho there have been hardships too: losing most of my belongings in Alaska and having to start over, going without a car for over 6 months, and living where the temperature was 109 degrees just the other day. I think of what my ancestors must have endured such as my Great Grandmother Mary Shuster. Her husband Charles Keeler was killed in cold blood as a City Marshall in 1867 in The Dalles, Oregon. She remarried Fred Wickman and had eight more children. Charles & Mary's daughter Emma Keeler was my grandmother. What were Mary's thoughts as she walked the Oregon trail as a young girl? And how heartbroken she must have felt when her husband was murdered. I too lost a man I loved who was killed in the Vietnam war. Never had a family of my own or children. Often made