Unpacking= Mission Impossible

I'm pretty sure these packing boxes are breeding. 

 It seems that every time I feel that I'm making progress with unpacking, I find another brown box that hasn't been unpacked yet or a suitcase magically still full of clothes.  It's exhausting.  Once I finally exterminate all of these brown boxes... I don't want to see another one for quite some time!

Thankfully I was able to squeeze in a week of unpacking before I headed back to Florida for my sister's graduation.  Juggling work in the chaos of the trip wasn't easy, but I made it happen!  The first couple of days I spent scrambling to get stuff ready for Kaitlyn's graduation.  :'(  I still can't believe my baby sister graduated high school!  After graduation was over, I enjoyed catching up with friends, movie nights, dancing, Sunday brunch, and even *gasp* a trip to the beach.

                            

Unfortunately my skin no longer appreciates time spent in the sun. I left with funky tan lines and some pretty sweet lobster red skin.  However, it it a step in the right direction (a normal skin tone.)

While in Florida I turned 27!  I don't feel old, but with all these kids I used to babysit graduating high school... it serves as a great reminder that the days of gray hair are getting closer ;)  I'm also reminded that  tomorrow is never guaranteed, and  you have to live life to the absolute fullest!  

                                               

                                         I paid off my car loan!

I've been throwing money at that loan like no one's business since last fall.   I was on track to wrap up 2014 by paying it off, but since we opted not to buy a home, we went ahead and took care of the loan. I am happy that I can start putting my paycheck toward better things like retirement and maybe some new clothes. (my summer wardrobe needs some serious updating) 

Being back in California with my husband and the fur babies has been great.  Speaking of the fur babies... Begley and I are loving living right by a park!  Hannah gets time in her "fun run" in the backyard while Begley and I go for a stroll.  It's glorious! (Minus some bad timing and getting attacked by the park's sprinklers.)

                                 

So back to these breeding boxes... 

We had three people stop by last week to "pick up all of the boxes" and we somehow still have boxes left.  It's ridiculous.  We are now looking at a trip to the recycling center so we can rid our home of the empty boxes.  However, even after that is done, I still have boxes to unpack :(  This weekend we are taking a break and heading over the fairgrounds (conveniently located right up the road) to look at some motorcycles :D  I'm excited!

If you have visited/lived in Northern CA, what do you recommend to go do/see?  My next project is making our CA bucket list!

Sweet Home California!!

Today marks one week that we have been in our new home! 

What a week it has been!  Last Monday when John called the moving company to see what dates we could have our stuff delivered, we were given the following options:

• May 20th (the next day)
• After June 5th

At this point we hadn't submitted our renter's application yet, so we began frantically filling out paperwork. I dreaded the thought of being stuck in a TLF for another day let alone a couple more weeks.  After we submitted the paperwork, John mentioned to our landlord the predicament with the delivery of our stuff.  Thankfully they approved our application and met us that night to get us the keys to the house.  

All set to go for moving day!

Little did we know that we weren't the only delivery the movers had scheduled for the 20th.  John and I showed up at the house at 8:30 anticipating the movers to be there soon.  LOL! They didn't show up until noon, and even then they only had half of our stuff.  Since the second truck didn't arrive until after 5 PM, the movers didn't finish until 7:30 PM.  It was a long, hectic day, but we were incredibly grateful to get all of our stuff back!

The movers had their work cut out for them

One of the many mountains of boxes o.O

We have managed to make quite a bit of progress with unpacking!  John has been unpacking during the day while I work and I unpack at night to play catchup. Our guest room is almost ready, the office and spare room are almost unpacked, and yesterday we emptied the master bedroom closet of all boxes.  Let me tell you... I was beyond relieved to find some of my summer clothes!  I have been cycling through the same (very limited) selection of summer stuff since April.

 Our house has been every kids' dream come true! We have enough boxes to build the ultimate box fortress!  Unfortunately our "kiddos" have had very different reactions to the clutter and boxes around the house.  Hannah leaps through the house as if she is singing "Falalalalala, spring is in the air!" She loves hiding in random places and jumping out to scare people when they pass by.

Begley on the other hand is very afraid of boxes. We have to be careful when placing boxes in the hallway because Begley  ends up "stuck" on one side of the house.  This is how he spent the time we were unpacking boxes in the closet.

With settling into one place comes belated birthday presents!!  Celebrating a birthday while living in a TLF and in the middle of training isn't exactly fun... but I think the grill made up for it!  

   

I am looking forward to getting completely settled into our new place. For now, I have to make it through Wednesday and get packed for my trip to Florida!  Can you believe that the precious little girl on the right is graduating??

Welcome to California!

We have been in California for a week now and we have stayed busy!  We kicked off last week with an afternoon of house hunting.  John and I have been looking forward to buying a home since we left Alaska.  Boy were we in for sticker shock!  I believe that if you are going to go into debt to buy a house, you might as well love the house you are in. Unfortunately, we have not been able to find a house that we loved within our budget.

During our house hunting adventures we did stumble across a home that, as landlords, is our worst nightmare.  The outside of the home was gorgeous and it had an awesome back yard.  When we took a peek inside... we were shocked.  The tenants' dog had torn the walls to shreds in some places, the grout in the kitchen would have had to been replaced, the carpets needed to be deep cleaned or replaced, and the garage smelled like cigarette smoke. Oh yeah...during our tour I found a melted push pop in a cabinet. o.O The tenant was supposedly a realtor.  How could the tenant let this happen??? All I could think was "What if this happens to our house in Alaska???"   The market here doesn't appear to be buyer friendly, so we have moved on to Plan B- renting.

 We are close to settling on a house to rent. We are hoping to look at one more house this week before making a decision.  At this point, I'd be ok with setting up my bed in a park.  I just want to sleep in my own bed.  Since December 15th we have been in hotels or TLFs for all but 3 weeks.  I miss my stuff. It would be nice to not cycle through the same summer clothes over and over again.  I would like to microwave a meal and not have the Internet crap out on me. I would like to have a clean and spotless bathroom. A thermostat that actually works would be a major bonus at this point.  Oh yes..  in Alaska, our TLF thermostat  was stuck on high so we had to open the windows to cool off.  Now that we are in California?  Our AC doesn't work at all and we have no fan in the room. *facepalm*

We did manage to arrive to California just in time for allergy season.  Poor John has been suffering all week.  Supposedly June is better. I guess time will tell!  Speaking of June... my sister graduates high school in just a couple of weeks!    If we can get settled into a home before my flight out, I should be able to spend some extended time in Florida.  I'm stoked! I'm ready for some sunshine and time with family and friends.

So tomorrow begins a new week!  My fingers are crossed that we find a place to call "home" soon!

A New Adventure Begins!!

We are finally in California!  

Rewinding to Thursday...New Mexico was freezing! We did not anticipate 48 degrees in May.  After we hit the road Thursday morning, we ran into some crazy weather (this seems to be a recurring theme in our road trips). When we stopped to get gas, we noticed that it looked stormy in the distance.  We thought we wouldn't run into any problems.  Hahaha!  John gassed up the jeep while I ran inside to get some drinks.  When I came back out... it was hailing o.O

 Thankfully it wasn't too bad so we were able to keep driving.  

Thursday was a "short" trip day... only 8 hours of driving.  Other than the hail storm, it was smooth sailing.  Cell phone signals were still pretty sparse, which meant dropped work calls and desperate attempts to accomplish as much as possible while I still had a signal.

                                                              Hannah, our navigator

  

Thursday evening we arrived in Lake Havasu, AZ. Our evening consisted of good food, great beer, and even greater company.  There was no debate when we opted to stay another evening.  Despite the fact that we have spent most days sitting in a vehicle... traveling is exhausting.  It' was also  a great opportunity for the furbabies to have some fun and not be cooped up in the car all day. 

Friday after work, I enjoyed a few hours in the pool with a bottle glass of wine. I enjoyed the time in the sun, but am definitely paying for it.  On the plus side... I arrived in California without ghostly pale skin- score!

 The drive to California was great! I enjoyed taking in the scenery and my first California sunset!

So far today we have accomplished restocking the kitchen.  This afternoon we begin house hunting by driving around with a list of homes we have found and figuring out what homes we don't want to tour later in the week.  Living out of hotel rooms is no fun and I am ready to be settled back into an actual house. Please be praying for us this week as we begin searching for our new home!

You're A Long Way From Home...

One thing I have noticed during the trip is that a lot of people will comment on our Jeep tag.  The conversation normally begins with "You're a long way from home..." and is usually followed by "How are you enjoying it here?"  or "How was the drive" or the occasional "You can drive from Alaska to here?!" (thanks to some maps, people think Alaska is an island...)  John and I love sharing our experiences in Alaska!  The funny thing about being a "long way from home" is that home really is wherever the Air Force sends us.  So right now "home" is a hotel room :)

During this trip, I've learned that traveling with pets is a lot like traveling with kids. Sometimes you are lucky and you have  a kid who knows to go to the bathroom when you stop, eat when they are told, and are generally laid back and can entertain themselves (in our case Begley).  Other times you end up with a whiny little brat who isn't happy with their food or the fact that they are having to breathe the same air as a sibling (in our case Hannah). Let's just say Hannah was lucky I didn't drill holes in the car topper and stick her up there today.

Hannah wasn't terrible... but we really did have a long day and her meowing didn't always help the situation.  (I really need to bring those kitty drugs to the front of the jeep tomorrow.)  We left Arkansas by 9 AM, loaded the jeep and hit the road!  Arkansas and Oklahoma were pretty uneventful. 

Texas started out nice...

It went from gorgeous to nasty in no time!  Well... the Texas version of no time, because Texas is huge.

The wind was absolutely awful!  We were already driving 5-10 mph under the speed limit in order to save on some gas, but the high winds we had killed our gas mileage. The wind had the trailer swaying.  With us fighting against the wind, we ended up with more stops for gas.  I would say the perk of such a long day was getting to enjoy our turkey salad twice!  We didn't intend to end up with such a large container of turkey salad, but if you have ever visited Four Winds in Pensacola, FL- you know the owner can talk you into anything.  :)

I ended up doing a lot of work from my phone today.  Working remotely on an iphone is not easy... especially when this much of your "desktop" is displayed.  It took a while to get things done, but projects were accomplished!  (I'm also thinking an ipad for Christmas will save me some future headaches)

 The wind storm finally let up around 8 PM and we still had a ways to go.  Funny thing about New Mexico... cell phone signals and gas stations are hard to come by.  We were just a tad bit paranoid about running out of gas!  After our last stop for gas, I was fighting to keep my eyes open and we still had another hour drive.

New Mexico sun set

We are checked into a hotel for the night (somewhere past Albuquerque).  Hannah just about had a heart attack when we took Begley outside for a walk.  I could hear her meowing down the hallway when we came back.  How we ended up with two pets who suffer from separation anxiety, I will never know...

750 exhausting miles today.  Thankfully, because we drove an extra hour tonight- it will (hopefully) be one less hour of driving tomorrow!

California or bust!

Well, it's been a while since I've been able to write. We have been going nonstop!

John and I had an awesome time in Boston! Considering we were only there a couple of days, we accomplished quite a bit!  

We even managed to squeeze in five games of Settlers of Catan.

  Katie came out the winner by the end of the weekend!

After Boston, we headed back to Dover to pick up all of our stuff. Since we had a change in travel plans we ended up driving straight from Dover to Alabama. John and I have awesome timing when it comes to weather.  We ended up driving straight into the ridiculous weather the south was having. I love a good thunderstorm, but the amount of rain people got was ridiculous. Roads were washed out and homes flooded.  My heart goes out to my hometown. The citizens of Pensacola always rally together to help each other out in a time of need, and this is no exception.

John and I enjoyed spending time with family while we were in town. We finally have both pets back, and oh boy... do we have some retraining to do!  Both of them were spoiled rotten the past few months.  Begley was a hoot when he finally got to see Hannah.  He was licking her face and surprisingly... she let him.

Today, we began the first day of our four day trip to California. For the first two hours of our trip, Hannah would not stop meowing!  Lucky for her, the travel meds were out of my reach. Thankfully (for us) she finally calmed down.  

Hannah didn't miss John at all :P

We are traveling with a trailer this time.  I'm trying to do my fair share of driving....It's just really hard to stay between the lines when you are carrying 15 extra feet of cargo. Aiee.  It has not been fun for me.  I have to give props to my husband..... he is simply awesome and keeps our long car rides fun and entertaining :)

For tonight- we are in Fort Smith, Arkansas.  We enjoyed some fabulous BBQ while catching up with friends in  Little Rock this evening.  Being able to see friends along the way makes these long days totally worth it.

650 + miles covered today, let's see what we can accomplish tomorrow!

Farewell Dover!

Our time in Dover has finally come to an end!  

As fun as our time has been in Dover, I am ready to say adios!  Over the past few months we have survived every possible type of neighbor (or so it seems.)  We have had the couple that argues at 4 AM and plenty of families with kids who cry late into the night (or scream their little heads off).  There have also been the smokers,the snorers, the early birds and the late nighters. I am more than ready to settle in a home in California and cocoon myself in the amazing sound of silence (at least that is how I imagine it will be!)

Since arriving in Dover, I have learned to appreciate the simplest of household goods.   Like having a garlic press.Chunky garlic in food is no bueno. I have been longing for our blender so I can make a smoothie. You name it and I'm probably missing it right now.   I am beyond ready to have my car back!  I'm not a morning person, so I was only able to escape the TLF when John had classes that started in the afternoon. 

During our cross county trip last year I took up knitting. Knitting  been a lesson in patience and perseverance. I had to restart a hat when I was halfway through due to a stitch miscalculation. I learned that black yarn is the hardest thing to work with.  And now there are these fingerless gloves I've been working on. *sigh*  If I ever end up in the ER... it will probably be due to an accident involving  double pointed needles. Just sayin'! I can't bring myself to start the second glove and part of me is praying that wearing a single glove will magically become a fashion trend.  

John and I were able to sneak away to DC for the weekend. It was a much needed break from being stuck in a TLF studying/working.  Much to our surprise- it was the weekend for the Cherry Blossom Festival! Museums were packed, but we managed to accomplish a lot during our brief stay.  The weather was fabulous!  My body is apparently super deprived of Vitamin D.  Normally I would burn if I spent two days of trekking around DC, but I only ended up with a little sun on my shoulders. 

It disappeared within two days! :)

What's next for us?.

Another weekend getaway! :)  I haven't been to Boston since I was a kid, so I'm super pumped to go back and do some sightseeing! After Boston, we begin the nice long road trip back south to collect our furbabies! Our parents have been so gracious to watch them for us the past few months. Life hasn't been the same without our goofballs Begley and Hannah :)  I don't know how we would make it to California without Hannah providing her expert navigation skills! ;)

Our visit in the south will be brief, but I will be back at the end of May for my sister's high school graduation! (Holy cow, I can't believe that she is graduating high school! Wasn't she 5 years old yesterday??) 

I'll be blogging our road trip adventure! We are adding a trailer so the pets have more room in the jeep and this will be the ultimate test of my driving skills so be sure to check back! (Prayers are also much appreciated!)

2014: A Time For Giving

In the chaos of moving, I didn't put too much thought into a new year's resolution.  Truthfully I hate the end of the year pressure of a "resolution".  I'd much rather find my inspiration during the year and run with it.  Who knew that a trip to One Blood in January would be a source on inspiration for me? 

Growing up, I hated the idea of needles.  One day my sister and I went to get shots (I was about 13 so she was 5).  The nurse ended up giving me a doll to squeeze while I got my shot.  My sister? She watched the nurse give her a shot and didn't shed a tear.  What a trooper!  While shots still give me the heebie jeebies, donating blood is different for me.  It probably helps that the staff at One Blood (formally Northwest Florida Blood Center) are amazing nurses that make the process painless. 

I donated blood my first year in college. The Northwest Blood Center had their blood mobile set up on campus one day.  I'm the type of person ,who if asked to do something, more than likely will give it a go (unless it goes completely against my morals).  So when the nurse asked "Would you like to donate blood today?" How could I say no???  That is how I got sucked into the world of donating blood. After that, I made it a point to donate a couple times a year.  Since leaving Florida, I always make sure to donate when I'm back in town. I haven't been able to bring myself to donate outside of Florida. I blame part of it on my fear of needles and part of it on not trusting just ANY nurse to poke me.

I've decided 2014 is the year to change that.  My goal is to donate blood on a more regular basis and outside of Florida. Later this month I'll be visiting the Blood Bank of Delmarva to put their nurses to the test. :)   A few facts  about donating blood from the American RedCross:

• More than 41,000 blood donations are needed every day.
• A single car accident victim can require as many as 100 pints of blood.
• One donation can help save the lives of up to three people.
• If you began donating blood at age 17 and donated every 56 days until you reached 76, you would have donated 48 gallons of blood, potentially helping save more than 1,000 lives!  (talk about Superhero status!!)

Growing up my parents always encouraged and supported me in being an active part of the community  I have found that along with adjusting to the military life, developing that deep connection with a new community will take some time.  I'm looking forward to getting settled in California and finding ways to give back to the community, even if I do have to start with donating blood.


To all my family and friends with a fear of needles.... I would still encourage you to donate blood at least once.  It might not be as bad as you think, and even if you don't like it... that one donation will make a difference in the life of another. 

Don't forget... you too can be a superhero!

Photo credit to: www.adelaidenow.com.au/

Temporary Home

It has been a week since we were dragging our bags into temporary housing, exhausted, but happy to be able to unpack our bags.

Last Wednesday, we left Moody AFB  after brunch with a couple of friends.  John and I were prepared for a 12 hour 55 minute trip and our GPS let us down.  Although we went an undisclosed amount over the speed limit the whole way to Dover, the trip took close to 14 hours.  There wasn't any road construction and the traffic wasn't bad, so I really don't know why the trip took longer than expected.  We were relieved to finally make it to our destination and crash for the night.

Arranging housing in Dover wasn't easy (I am learning that dealing with military offices is never easy!) We were told that since John was TDY we couldn't get temporary housing, we could only have a hotel room. That's all fine and good... but 1) there are two of us on this trip  2) we also have 5 months worth of stuff with us.  I love John with all my heart, but 5 months, sharing a single room with all of our stuff... thats not exactly healthly for our marriage or our sanity. So John did a little investigating and found some regulation where it states where we should get temporary housing.  Their comeback? "Well, that's only if you have a child under 10." What. The. Heck.  What about families that have a child that is 12? 15? Where is the child supposed to go? Sleep in a cardboard box on the front lawn??? So John requested a written copy of the policy change from the manager.  Next thing we know... we have temporary housing. Surprise surprise!

During our stay in Florida John did receive an email from the manager stating that there had been some "mistake". At this point we were fed up with all the military offices that have these unspoken rules and regulations (i.e. Our whole Alaska residency fiasco  that took a month and getting legal involved to resolve).  John and I will put up with a certain amount of BS, but even we have a breaking point. Thankfully, a curt email from John fixed the "mistake"

"Home Sweet Home"

     

                                              

The kitchen is small.  I'm resisting buying more kitchen appliances and am challenging myself to learn to cook some new meals with the stuff we do have.  Homes make weird noises, and this one is no exception. Our bedroom fan sounds like this:

Sleeping without the fan on is not an option for me.  Since our fan sounds like a turkey, I will be tracking down some Melatonin within the next couple of days so I can get some better sleep. On the plus side, we did break down and buy pillows. The ones in our room were awful.  Here's to hoping next week brings better sleep!

On the plus side I finally finished my scarf that I had been working on for a month. I will wear this scarf until it is thread bare.  I had to start this sucker over three times. 

I also started a scarf for John.  Fifteen rows in and I began to wonder why I was knitting him a scarf.       After all, we are moving to California!  Hopefully it'll be finished before it gets too warm here. 

We discovered that the local Sam's Club isn't going to cut it for date night (nasty hotdogs and SO many flies around the condiments area,) We might settle for Chic-Fil-A for date nights :D  "Best part" is- it's right in front of a Lowe's.  Yep! The first thing out of my dear husband's mouth is "We should go to Lowe's!"  No.  Just no.  I do not want to see the inside of another Lowe's or Home Depot until we get a home in California.

So we have a Chic-Fil-A here...

Panera and Krispy Kreme are a no go though :(

                      

So this week I'm settling in to my new work schedule.  

I'm also looking for a new tv shows to watch to kill some time.  

Do tell... what is your favorite tv series??