OK, OK, I'll post!

We're here! We've been in the house about a month, but only had dial up for the first few weeks. No way in the world was I going to try to do anything beyond check email and bank accounts on dial up. Now we've got DSL, and we're good.

Life has been hectic since we moved in. The girls are back in school, and it's a struggle. Even though I got them caught up during homeschool last year to where they should have been in the DoDDS system, they're still really behind here. So homework takes forever. They're also enrolled in soccer. I'M A SOCCER MOM IN A MINI-VAN!!! My BIL says I should get a soccer ball tattooed on my butt, because, "Soccer moms kick ass!" :D We have practices on Monday and Friday evenings for Catey, and Friday evening and Sunday afternoons for Bethany. Soccer games on Saturdays, thank God they're at the same field. I'm praying that the games will be close to each other in times, so we're not having to stay the whole day at the field on the other side of town. Oh, and random scrimmages in there too. ERGH.

So we got here on August 14, and two weeks later the in-laws came down for a visit. On the day our stuff from storage was delivered. So they helped us unpack, then we painted the living room. It's greeeeeeeeeen in here, I love it. (Pictures to come soon, I promise.) It was a long weekend, rough at times (my FIL and I aren't exactly the best of friends), but good in the long run. Cindy brought me half a garden worth of veggies, YUM.

The week after they left, our unaccompanied baggage was delivered. Mostly bedding, dishes, towels, cookware. Had I known that the last of our stuff isn't going to be delivered utnil OCTOBER 19 (sob) I'd have sent more. Yes, that's right, October 19. We packed out on August 5. Our furniture is on the slow boat to China by way of Antarctica.

LAST week, we got a call on Wednesday that Grandpa Jim, my MIL's father, had taken a bad fall, broken his right femur, and almost died en route to the hospital. So after a quick pow-wow, Brian and I decided to make a quick weekend trip up to Iowa to see Grandpa. We haven't been up to Iowa in four years, it was time. It was a great weekend, but LONG. Grandpa is doing much better, and was even moved to a nursing home near the VA hospital yesterday. And hey, Iowa beat Iowa State, so Grandpa was in a great mood. To make his mood even better, he FINALLY got to meet his first great-grandson. Two peas in a pod, they are! :D

So we're home now. We got home really late Tuesday night, and I'm still exhausted. I've been running ever since we got home. Doctor on Wednesday morning, vet yesterday morning, DirecTV today. (Yay, we have more than three channels!!) Add that to trying to get the house cleaned up, the suitcase unpacked, laundry caught up, and trying to get Matt into a better mood. Oh, and I started digging the sod out of the front flower bed, so we can get some black dirt tilled into the clay and I can finally get my hostas in the ground. I'm ready to crash! But I can't, because we have two soccer practices tonight, at the same time, in different places.


Now that we're home and shouldn't be going anywhere again for a while, I'll be able to blahg more. Theoretically.

Hey hosers!

Our internet is being disconnected tomorrow, so I figured I'd better at least say bye for a while. Not that I've updated much recently. We pack out on Friday and Saturday this week, and our final inspection on the house is Tuesday, which is when we'll move into TLF. (Military hotel for you non-military-speak types.) As of the 10th Brian is no longer a part of Kadena AB!!!! Then we be leaaavin', on a JETPLANE, on the 12th.

I'm going nuts here. There's so much to be done, and most of it can't be done until the last minute. I'll be so glad when this week is over.

ONE MORE PAYDAY TO GO

28 days until we leave!!! We pack out on the 4th & 5th of August, 3 weeks from today. Final inspection on this house is on the 8th or 9th, and we'll move into temporary lodging for our remaining days on island. We'll be able to keep the dogs in TLF with us, thank GOD. I was really worried about having to put them in the horrible kennels here. And finally, on the 12th, we fly! YEAAAAAAAAH!!!

One stress we DO have right now is trying to sell the vehicles. Both are POS's, but we have to get rid of them. And we need to get $1500 between the two of them to pay for the Jeep that we're buying from Bri's Aunt. These are craptacular vehicles, and there are so many people moving right now that there are a ton of vehicles being sold. I just hope that somebody NEEDS a craptacular car or van.

I think Brian and I are going to go to one of the festivals out in town, tonight. It's probably going to be pretty crowded, so we'll take a cab. If we can get a sitter, that is. Ergh. We'll see...

Look who's THREE!!!

According to him, it's his BOWDAY! I can't beleive he's three already. Where did my baby go?



Catey's 7th birthday was two weeks ago, I still need to get those pics up. And next week, Bethany. Somebody find a stop button for me so I can make them stop growing up!!!!

EWW EWW EWW EWW!!!!!

Yesterday when we got home from the beach there were several ambulances and firetrucks at a house around the corner. Not long after we got home one of the ambulances left at full speed, sirens and lights going.

This morning at 3 AM I made the mistake of checking my email and found a warning from our commander's wife. An adult had been bitten by a habu snake (thank God it was an adult, a child would have been killed) and it was a pretty bad bite. From the background in the pictures I know that this is what was going on around the corner. She also mentioned that a dog had been bitten and killed over on Kadena last week.

I'm not normally afraid of snakes, but habus terrify me. Needless to say, I had terrible snakey dreams all the rest of the night.

OK, so I might miss a few things.

I love living only a few minutes away from the beach. It's so easy to just decide to go and GO. The kids and I spent three glorious hours at the beach today (Pirate Ship Park, Jen) and it was so much fun. I even finally got Matthew to try swimming!! For an island boy he's pretty landlocked, but not today. He discovered the joy of an inner tube and was "wunning in the wadder." We built sand castles. Ok, we tried to build sand castles, not an easy feat with coral sand, but it was still fun.

I can't remember the last time I had this much fun with my kids. YAY FOR THE BEACH!!!!

54 days!

Nah, I'm not counting at all.

It's done!

We closed on the house this morning! *happy dance*

Now if we could just live in it. August 12 can't come too soon!

What is this TECHNOLOGY you speak of?

I am WAY behind the times. We didn't get a DVD player until a few short years ago. I can't tell you what a gigabyte is. RAM? Isn't that a mountain goat with really big horns? Or a Dodge truck? So needless to say, I'm rather behind the times when it comes to music as well. If I hear a song I like on the radio, I merely hope it comes back on the playlist soon. Or better yet, pray that the PX actually HAS the album so I can buy it. Yeah, we've got a LOT of CD's we don't listen to very often.

So I've finally discovered iTunes. I've spent the whole day trying to narrow down all the songs I've wanted to buy CD's for down to a whopping 20. TWENTY!!! How am I supposed to narrow down Hoobastank (I want the whole album!), Joni Mitchell, Joe Cocker, U2, all the awesomely ghey movie soundtracks.... ??????? And that's just the tip of the iceberg.

I don't have an iPod yet, I'm just going to burn the songs to CD. I've never really understood the whole point of an iPod. Really, can't you people go just a LITTLE while without music? Do you really need a soundtrack for your life? Apparently so. And I'm starting to get it now.

Well MIIIINE can...

This gives me the hysterical giggles every time I see it. Aaaah, to be back in the states for the GOOD commercials.

Linking, since I can't get the dang thing to embed...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jZXHoh_9pBk

Do you sudoku?

I had never heard of sudoku until a few months ago, and I was too intimidated by it to try it. Adam helped my with my first puzzle yesterday, and I just finished my second. I think I'm addicted. It's going to be interesting teaching this to the girls, but I think it will REALLY help them with several aspects of homeschooling.

www.websudoku.com

9 incredible years

9 years ago today I married my best friend.

Exploring Okinawa

A few weeks ago, while Brian was on leave, we took the kids exploring for the day. We drove south and turned here and there. It's the best way to get anywhere, really. We found the Gushikawa-Jo ruins (Jo means castle), and Cape Kyan Prefectural Park. We also drove down to Peace Prayer Park. It was a beautiful, albeit horribly humid, day. And since a picture is worth a thousand words, here's a reference book to Okinawa.

http://www.imagestation.com/album/pictures.html?id=2106130099&code=22225051&mode=invite&DCMP=isc-email-AlbumInvite

http://www.imagestation.com/album/pictures.html?id=2106115301&code=22233118&mode=invite&DCMP=isc-email-AlbumInvite

A spider tale

So the other night around 2 AM I woke up from a deep sleep with that feeling that something was very wrong. I lay there for a moment, and opened my eyes. As I opened my eyes I looked up to the corner of my bedroom.There was a spider dropping down on a thread. It's body was bigger than my hand, NOT including it's legs. It was the scariest thing I had ever seen. I swear it was coming to eat me.

I screamed like a little girl and jumped out of bed, and ran to turn on the light. As I stood there in the doorway of my bedroom, clutching my husband's trusty baseball bat (because we all know that a baseball bat will kill a f-ing huge spider!) I scanned the room. I didn't see the spider. I didn't even see it's thread. It was a STEALTHY spider. *nods*

I pulled back the blankets. Maybe it had crawled into my bed and was cuddling with my husband.

No spider.

I got up on the bed and leaned over to look underneath.

No spider.

I looked back up in the corner again, to see if I could tell where it had come from.And realized...I dreamed that spider. *looks around in a paranoid manner*











Brian slept through ALL of it.

You're such a retard.

Come on, people, if you want to insult somebody, let's get a little more original.

I hate HATE HATE when people use the words retard or retarded as a manner of insult. If there's a number one way to make me dislike you right off the bat, let me hear you call somebody a retard. I'll dislike you for life, on principle.

People with true handicaps, whether it be mental or phyical, have no control over the way they are. It's not their choice. It's something that they, and their families, will have to live with forever. But it doesn't define who they are. They're still amazing people. And by calling them retard, you're just pointing out their differences. As if they weren't already aware of them. Puh-lease.

Last summer I was in one of the many "customer service" areas on base, waiting to be helped. There was a young female airman behind the counter, talking to one of her coworkers, and she said fairly loudly, "He's SUCH a f-ing retard."

It wasn't my place to say anything directly to her, so after I was finished I asked to speak to her supervisor. I told him what she had said, and told him that I actually had less of a problem with my kids hearing the f-bomb (OK, I admit it, I have a potty mouth that I'm working on) than with my kids hearing somebody being called a retard. I pointed out to him that if there had been a parent in there with a truly disabled child, that parent could have been crushed. Worse yet, what if a disabled person had heard that? How would they feel?

Honestly, I find the word just as offensive as the "n-word." It's not ok to use somebody difference to mock them. It's not ok to make a mistake and call yourself a retard, because YOU were stupid. If you make a mistake or are stupid, call it a whoops and move on with life. Don't be disparaging about it.


I feel so strongly about the word that just from typing it out so many times here, I feel as awful as I would if I had been cussing like a sailor in my grandma's presence. *ick*

A few pictures of the kids

I can't decide which one I want to put on MIL's Mother's Day mug. She's a coffee addict, so I thought I'd get her a new mug for work.

Countdown

It's 7 PM on the 30th, so this day is done enough....

92 days

exactly 3 months

13 weeks and 3 days (hey, I thought 3 months was supposed to be only 12 weeks!!!)

And my favorite, 6 paydays...


UNTIL WE LEAVE THIS ISLAND AND MOVE INTO OUR NEW HOME.


Nah, I'm not anxious to leave at.all.

Please God, let it go fast!!!

We got the house!!!!

We close on June 2, and we'll be able to crash in our VERY OWN HOME the night we land! *does the Roger Rabbit, because that's just how cool I am*

A few more pics

We didn't make it to Lee Greenwood after all. Bummer, that would have been fun. So instead I had a Corona and gave the kids my own little impromptu concert. I don't think the ungrateful little wretches appreciated it!!! *shakes head in disgust* Those kids have some learnin' to do!

We're putting an offer on a house!!!

We're going to put an offer on the house in my best friend's neighborhood. It's only got the one thing wrong with it, in that the 3rd bedroom is really a study, but that's workable. My FIL is a handy guy and can help us build out the corner and a new closet, and put in a door where the closet currently is. Besides, the faux finish in that room will be a cool start to a rockin' piratey bedroom for Matt.

We're going to be homeowners. Woah. Duuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuude.