I got the word on Sunday...my husband will officially be a Ranger tomorrow!!! I am sooo proud of him. He made it all the way through without recycling! He got sick in 2 of the phases and we thought for sure he wasn't going to make but he kept telling me that he was definitely being watched over. Today I get to pick him and a couple of his buddies up for a pass. We're going to do some shopping, eat some ginormous calzones, and come home to relax. He told me to set up the living room so his buddies can just sit there and zone out. So we have the game consoles, the laptop and a big box of junk food.
I am really excited about graduation tomorrow. I've never been to any of his graduations where he gets a new patch before. I hear the demonstration is awesome. I find it funny that he feels like he has to remind me to bring a camera. I take tons of pictures, I just never post them! I am not looking forward to security. Apparently when a General's son is graduating all the Generals that live close by also attend but it makes getting into the ceremony a nightmare. At least I don't have to drive on-post. I'm told that's one of the worst parts.
Then...it's Hawaii!!! It's finally real! Everyone kept asking me if I was excited and I was, but not knowing when you're leaving makes it that much further away. We can be there no later than one month from Thursday! In a few weeks I'll be laying on the beach trying to figure out where we're going to live. I guess we could always pitch a tent. So now it's the mad scramble to get things done but my husband will pretty much be useless at least through the weekend.
On another note...ever since I was shunned by a few of the neighbors for not having kids, I stopped trying to make friends on our street. So new people moved in and I made no attempt to talk to them. Our neighbors across the street probably moved in about 4 months after us and we've said hi once. Our neighbors next door to us expressed interest in getting together but we just do our daily greetings. They pick up our mail when we go out of town. And we got brand new neighbors behind us. They moved in while I was in Texas. I never said hi and slowly it passed that point in time where you can introduce yourself as a new neighbor. But I figured, who cares? I'll be out of here in a little bit anyways.
Yesterday, I was cleaning the stove. It's got this layer of what looks like paint that forms every time you turn the burner on. We started cleaning it when we first moved in but we figured out there was no point in cleaning it if it would only form again the next time I used the stove. And keeping up with it, did not make it easier to clean. So I have spent the last 5 days cleaning the stove and so far I have 1 clean burner. That's with spending 2 hours per day scrubbing. Anyways...
I'm scrubbing the stove and going back and forth between the stove and the sink and I see moving trucks in front of the house of the neighbors across the street. I watch my neighbors sitting in their driveway on coolers and trunks for about 1-2 hours before I realize, I have folding chairs I can bring over. I bring them over and tell them if they need anything during the move, to not hesitate to ask...something I should have asked 6 months ago when they moved in. I told them I felt their pain since we'll be doing the same thing in a few weeks. So we ask where the other is moving and we're both moving to Hawaii! We talk for a little bit and realize we've both been shunned by the neighborhood even though I thought she had an in with a toddler. We both like to take walks and wanted walking partners but sadly walked alone for these 6 months. She stayed couped up in her house and I stayed couped up in mine. It was truly sad. Then I ended up talking to her husband for about 30 mins and couldn't figure out why we hadn't hung out before this. So I gave them all my info and hopefully we'll link up in Hawaii.
Of course, then I decide I'm going to talk to all the neighbors who haven't excluded me. The one next door invited us to a BBQ they're having at their house next weekend. The one behind me thought they were the only ones in the neighborhood without kids and have pretty much stayed to themselves. We plan on doing dinner before we leave. Craziness. So this is why I try so hard at the beginning and try to make friends with basically anyone who will talk to me. Because somewhere there are people who want to be my friends, I just have a tendency to choose the wrong ones until we're getting ready to leave.
So as I tell myself every single time we PCS...the next post will be different! I'm looking forward to it! And now to finish cleaning up so dirty Rangers can come in and destroy my house!
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Friday, March 26, 2010
Procrastination never helps anyone!
My name is Cynthia and I am a procrastinator. I have always waited until the last possible minute to do things. I hate being stressed out but I do my best work under that stress. Well, I had a long "To Do" list that I was supposed to get done before the 1st of April. Unfortunately, none of that has been done. Now I'm running out of time! I'm feeling so overwhelmed that instead of throwing myself into getting things done, I feel myself shutting down. So instead I've done absolutely nothing this week!
I was going to do my taxes today. I've given up on finding an alternative to the Tax Center. I was going to go in and see how long I'd have to wait, but I decided the smart thing to do was call and see if I could get an appointment. It's a good thing I called because if you own a house that you're renting out, you have to make an appointment. But because I waited so long to call them I can't get an appointment until a week before taxes are due. Maybe next year I'll be more prepared...
Next up, sending the car. If I can get the car to the shipping place by next week, we'll only have to rent a car for 2 weeks. If I had shipped it a few weeks ago, our car would have been waiting for us when we got there. Now I have to find someone who's willing to drive to Atlanta to pick me up after I drop the car off. So far, it's not looking good. I also have to figure out what I'm going to do with the Jeep. Pay to ship a worthless car or try to sell a car in 2 weeks? I'd like to put it on the lemon lot but once I ship the other car, I'll have no car to drive.
Since I haven't been doing anything productive this week, I've been watching reality TV shows about hoarders. I've always had a tendency towards hoarding but now I'm turning into one of those crazy hoarders. At first, I was just a collector of things. I can't bear to throw things out if I think at some point I might use it or I might be able to give it to someone else to use. None of my things have it's proper place and if I were not married to someone who forces me to move every few years/months, I could easily fill my house to the brim with junk. But this week it's gotten worse. I can't even clean up after myself. I've been leaving garbage and dirty dishes every where. With the possibility of my husband coming home in a week....this is not good! So today I took some big steps by throwing out my collection of old wallets. Every time I get a new wallet, I keep the old wallet in a drawer. I have a whole drawer of old wallets and cell phones. If you're not a hoarder, you can't possibly know how hard a process this is. I tried to get my mom to throw out some of the magnets on her fridge this past summer. Some of them are soo old they have to be scraped off the fridge. I was able to throw out 4 magnets before my mom started grabbing them out of my hand. This does not bode well for my future. So I need to take care of this problem before it gets completely out of hand!
Today, I am having a friend over for dinner. That means at least the minimum has to be done. Wish me luck!
I was going to do my taxes today. I've given up on finding an alternative to the Tax Center. I was going to go in and see how long I'd have to wait, but I decided the smart thing to do was call and see if I could get an appointment. It's a good thing I called because if you own a house that you're renting out, you have to make an appointment. But because I waited so long to call them I can't get an appointment until a week before taxes are due. Maybe next year I'll be more prepared...
Next up, sending the car. If I can get the car to the shipping place by next week, we'll only have to rent a car for 2 weeks. If I had shipped it a few weeks ago, our car would have been waiting for us when we got there. Now I have to find someone who's willing to drive to Atlanta to pick me up after I drop the car off. So far, it's not looking good. I also have to figure out what I'm going to do with the Jeep. Pay to ship a worthless car or try to sell a car in 2 weeks? I'd like to put it on the lemon lot but once I ship the other car, I'll have no car to drive.
Since I haven't been doing anything productive this week, I've been watching reality TV shows about hoarders. I've always had a tendency towards hoarding but now I'm turning into one of those crazy hoarders. At first, I was just a collector of things. I can't bear to throw things out if I think at some point I might use it or I might be able to give it to someone else to use. None of my things have it's proper place and if I were not married to someone who forces me to move every few years/months, I could easily fill my house to the brim with junk. But this week it's gotten worse. I can't even clean up after myself. I've been leaving garbage and dirty dishes every where. With the possibility of my husband coming home in a week....this is not good! So today I took some big steps by throwing out my collection of old wallets. Every time I get a new wallet, I keep the old wallet in a drawer. I have a whole drawer of old wallets and cell phones. If you're not a hoarder, you can't possibly know how hard a process this is. I tried to get my mom to throw out some of the magnets on her fridge this past summer. Some of them are soo old they have to be scraped off the fridge. I was able to throw out 4 magnets before my mom started grabbing them out of my hand. This does not bode well for my future. So I need to take care of this problem before it gets completely out of hand!
Today, I am having a friend over for dinner. That means at least the minimum has to be done. Wish me luck!
Thursday, March 18, 2010
bumps along the road...
I'm really excited that I get to put my 30 day notice in for housing. That means we're almost there! But then I realized I did not get a general POA. I have about 6 special ones but we failed to get the general one. What does that mean? I can't put in notice without my husband. The bad news came yesterday when I was told that by the time my husband gets home we will only have 15 days before we leave housing. With that being insufficient notice, I would have to pay the extra 15 days we won't be here. So I put on my sad face, which was not difficult with the day I've been having, walked into the office, and told them I had no idea what to do about putting in notice. The lady walked me through step by step until we got to the part where she asked for my POA. Then she put her sad face on and told me she couldn't help me. When I explained that he was in Ranger School, she told me in that case, the 30 days notice was waived! Yay! So now he just has to go in and sign the paperwork! She even let me request the days and everything.
Then I had to go home and deal with the rest of the stuff. I decided to re-pierce my ears last night. I've had my ears pierced since I was 4 but I lose earrings like it's my job. So growing up I was never allowed to wear earings unless it was a special occasion...and even then I would lose one. This made it so I've never felt the need to wear earrings and my ears will actually bleed if I wear them for more than a few hours. About once a year I put an earring in just to make sure the hole stays open. In June, I was in a wedding and brought my earrings only to find that the hole in one ear had closed up. I tried to force it through but it simply wouldn't go. Oh well, no big loss. Last night I decide I must reopen that hole! So I try to stick an earring through and it doesn't work. I push it a little harder and nothing happens. I'm determined to reopen the hole so I spend an hour pushing and prodding and spinning until the post finally gets through. I thought about using a needle but I didn't want to go through trying to get the earring back through after I pulled the needle out. An hour of torturing myself just sounded like the better plan. Now I have earrings on, but my ear is also throbbing. It could be that it's infected but this is also what it normally feels like when I have earrings on. I'm gonna give it another day. I can just see my medical file, 30 year old woman tried to pierce her own ear...unsuccessful idiot gave herself an infection.
Yesterday morning while I was feeding the dogs, I noticed there were pieces in their food that didn't belong. Their food is brown, these pieces were red and not even the same shape. So I thought it was probably like when you get a stray onion ring in your french fries...bonus! I threw the few pieces out and didn't think twice. Well this morning, I notice there's even more mixed in. Most people know how paranoid I am about my dogs' food. I've switched them about 4 times since the dog food recalls and every time it gets a little more expensive. So I was pretty upset that I'm finding random bits of kibble in their bowls. I called the company to ask them if they even make a dog food that's red in color. I had to leave a message. Yes, I'm still the crazy dog lady. Now I'm trying to decide if I should switch their food again.
While I was dealing with the food, I noticed a big puddle on the floor next to the fridge. Score! My refrigerator defrosted itself! The stuff in the fridge was still relatively cold and the stuff in the freezer had just started to defrost. So I put a work order in. They came by within half an hour and told me I needed a new fridge. This was when I almost did a happy dance since we live on post and it doesn't come out of our pockets. But I had to empty out the fridge. Lucky for me, I had a few friends pcs and give me their food before they left. Not like my fridge wasn't already filled to the max. So I hauled our 2 large coolers out and started emptying. Pulled out the last few condiments as they pulled up with my NEW fridge. Well, not really new. So it had some blood stains and something watery left over from the last tenant, no biggie. The plus was that it had already been running over night so it was cold. I couldn't do a scrub down like I wanted, but I was able to rid the fridge of the really nasty stuff.
That's how my day started. I'm supposed to make Irish soda bread for a get together tonight but I'm hoping they still have some left at the store because it just ain't happening!
Then I had to go home and deal with the rest of the stuff. I decided to re-pierce my ears last night. I've had my ears pierced since I was 4 but I lose earrings like it's my job. So growing up I was never allowed to wear earings unless it was a special occasion...and even then I would lose one. This made it so I've never felt the need to wear earrings and my ears will actually bleed if I wear them for more than a few hours. About once a year I put an earring in just to make sure the hole stays open. In June, I was in a wedding and brought my earrings only to find that the hole in one ear had closed up. I tried to force it through but it simply wouldn't go. Oh well, no big loss. Last night I decide I must reopen that hole! So I try to stick an earring through and it doesn't work. I push it a little harder and nothing happens. I'm determined to reopen the hole so I spend an hour pushing and prodding and spinning until the post finally gets through. I thought about using a needle but I didn't want to go through trying to get the earring back through after I pulled the needle out. An hour of torturing myself just sounded like the better plan. Now I have earrings on, but my ear is also throbbing. It could be that it's infected but this is also what it normally feels like when I have earrings on. I'm gonna give it another day. I can just see my medical file, 30 year old woman tried to pierce her own ear...unsuccessful idiot gave herself an infection.
Yesterday morning while I was feeding the dogs, I noticed there were pieces in their food that didn't belong. Their food is brown, these pieces were red and not even the same shape. So I thought it was probably like when you get a stray onion ring in your french fries...bonus! I threw the few pieces out and didn't think twice. Well this morning, I notice there's even more mixed in. Most people know how paranoid I am about my dogs' food. I've switched them about 4 times since the dog food recalls and every time it gets a little more expensive. So I was pretty upset that I'm finding random bits of kibble in their bowls. I called the company to ask them if they even make a dog food that's red in color. I had to leave a message. Yes, I'm still the crazy dog lady. Now I'm trying to decide if I should switch their food again.
While I was dealing with the food, I noticed a big puddle on the floor next to the fridge. Score! My refrigerator defrosted itself! The stuff in the fridge was still relatively cold and the stuff in the freezer had just started to defrost. So I put a work order in. They came by within half an hour and told me I needed a new fridge. This was when I almost did a happy dance since we live on post and it doesn't come out of our pockets. But I had to empty out the fridge. Lucky for me, I had a few friends pcs and give me their food before they left. Not like my fridge wasn't already filled to the max. So I hauled our 2 large coolers out and started emptying. Pulled out the last few condiments as they pulled up with my NEW fridge. Well, not really new. So it had some blood stains and something watery left over from the last tenant, no biggie. The plus was that it had already been running over night so it was cold. I couldn't do a scrub down like I wanted, but I was able to rid the fridge of the really nasty stuff.
That's how my day started. I'm supposed to make Irish soda bread for a get together tonight but I'm hoping they still have some left at the store because it just ain't happening!
Monday, March 15, 2010
Post of the month.
Not a very good poster these days. I read the blogs almost every day but it's hard for me to get motivated enough to post to my own. Plus, my life just isn't all that interesting. I have no crafty ideas or recipes to share. I don't have any video clippings of chilidren to amuse people with. And let's face it, who needs to see more pictures or videos of my dogs?
A lot has happened in the past few weeks though. Hubby made it through the first 2 phases of school. If all goes well I will see him in less than 3 weeks. Keri and Skylar came for a visit. It was nice to have someone to chat with and watch Skylar terrorize, I mean play, with my dogs. I love that whenever I see old friends it's just like old times. I travelled to Texas for a wedding but also got to spend a week visiting with friends and co-workers. I stayed with Danna for the week. Spent time with both Mary-Anne and Ellen and their kids. It's fun to see how things have changed while other things will always stay the same. It was great visiting but it made coming home a little harder. While I was away, I had something to do on a daily basis. Now it's just me and the dogs, but I sure did miss them!
We have a little over a month left before the big move. I'm getting excited but also really nervous. There are some things that I've been putting off and I really just need to sit down and get them done. I'm trying to get back into the routine of doing chores and going to the gym.
I got to babysit a one year old over the weekend. At first, I was like...I don't know how mom's do it. How do they get everything done? But as I was getting into the swing of things I realized it's because they have to. There's limited time to do everything so if you don't get stuff done during nap time, it's probably not going to be done for the day. Whereas I have unlimited free time so I think, if I don't do it today...I can always do it tomorrow. Need to get myself out of that mind set. I just hate this waiting around.
Hopefully living in paradise will put me in a better mood.
A lot has happened in the past few weeks though. Hubby made it through the first 2 phases of school. If all goes well I will see him in less than 3 weeks. Keri and Skylar came for a visit. It was nice to have someone to chat with and watch Skylar terrorize, I mean play, with my dogs. I love that whenever I see old friends it's just like old times. I travelled to Texas for a wedding but also got to spend a week visiting with friends and co-workers. I stayed with Danna for the week. Spent time with both Mary-Anne and Ellen and their kids. It's fun to see how things have changed while other things will always stay the same. It was great visiting but it made coming home a little harder. While I was away, I had something to do on a daily basis. Now it's just me and the dogs, but I sure did miss them!
We have a little over a month left before the big move. I'm getting excited but also really nervous. There are some things that I've been putting off and I really just need to sit down and get them done. I'm trying to get back into the routine of doing chores and going to the gym.
I got to babysit a one year old over the weekend. At first, I was like...I don't know how mom's do it. How do they get everything done? But as I was getting into the swing of things I realized it's because they have to. There's limited time to do everything so if you don't get stuff done during nap time, it's probably not going to be done for the day. Whereas I have unlimited free time so I think, if I don't do it today...I can always do it tomorrow. Need to get myself out of that mind set. I just hate this waiting around.
Hopefully living in paradise will put me in a better mood.
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