The Unpacking

It has begun... the great unpacking. We have a newly renovated house (yeah!) on Post! There are boxes everywhere, and we are tripping over piles of stuff in our feeble attempts to make it feel like home. Our junk arrived last Wednesday. We quickly realized that we have more stuff than we have house. To be more specific, we lost a garage. We really didn't lose it; we just had one, and now we do not. Just stop and think for a second about what you keep in your garage or attic (which we cannot use either). Camping junk, Christmas decorations, bicycles, yard tools, regular tools, and about a zillion other things. Now picture all that in my living room. Because there is no where else to put it. Other than the middle of the driveway. That's where it sat for a few days. Then we went on a hot date to Home Depot and bought a shed. After putting that together (not good for the marriage) we filled it up. Now we are looking at dates for a yard sale. We are gonna be the most "simplified" and "clutter-free" family by the time the Army's finished with us! On a more pleasant note, the house is very nice... like new on the inside, and the closet space is good, too. We are right across the street from the pool on one side and right across from Elijah's school (we think) on the other side. It is nice to look out the window and see green trees and grass. It's refreshing to hear the thunder of an afternoon storm. And (love you, Amy!) I can drive off Post in about 10 minutes and be at Michael's, Hobby Lobby, AC Moore, and Joanns. Not to mention all the restaurants you can imagine or desire. We'll be broke in a month. Hopefully my next blog will be from home. My own computer. In a room I can actually walk into.

A House?

Could it be true? We have a house! We left Ft. Irwin knowing we were on a Waiting List for Housing at Bragg. Our spot on the list put us at mid-August for getting into on-post Housing. When Dan got to Bragg and checked into the Housing Office, they told him we had moved WAY up on the list, and that we could have a house in the next three days! Needless to say, after our lovely experience waiting for a house at Ft. Irwin (9 months!), we were excited! But, the Housing at Bragg is old and needs improving. There are lots of improvements being made, and there are lots of cute nice new homes, but none are available to us. So, Company Grade Officers get the old, in-need-of-repair homes.
The one they could give us had old carpet, old blinds, old flooring, old (1970) tile, broken bathroom fixtures, old cabinets, no ceiling fans, old metal closet doors, and a washer/dryer hookup in the middle of the kitchen. Please don't think we are snobby. Please don't think that we think we are "above" living there. We aren't. And, we were ready to take it. But, then the Housing dude told Dan that the other homes just like this one were being renovated. Completely updated and improved. Some (including the one next door) were already done. And, ours (if we took it) would not be. So, our HUGE monthly housing payment would pay for a run-down house that needed improvements. And, our neighbors would be paying that exact same amount for their newly renovated house. (That's the insanity of Housing!) Somehow, this didn't seem fair to us. Or the best use of a hard-earned dollar. SO... we went on yet another "list" for a renovated home. The wait? 10 weeks. Or more. That meant school would be starting, and we wouldn't have a house. We resigned ourselves to the wait.
The boy was fine with it all. He's been with grandparents since early June, and the thought of spending 9 more weeks at the farm was appealing to him! (I, however, began to sign him up left and right for every swimming lesson, art class, and VBS in a 100 mile radius!)
Then, just a few days after making this decision, the Housing dude called Dan. "It's good news, Captain Urquhart!" he said. And, boy was it! We could have a renovated house by July 11!! A renovated house that wasn't available earlier had just come open! (Thanks to some poor family who had to PCS sooner than planned.) So, we took it!!!! July 11 is a whole heck of a lot sooner than September 1! I am still holding my breath. Waiting for something bad to happen. I have issues like that. But, I am grateful. Very grateful.
I had just asked my "Iron Peaches" to pray for our situation. I actually asked them to pray that things would move faster. Way to go, my girls! Thanks.
If all goes as planned (I said I have issues), the movers will come on July 16. And, then the fun begins again. It's like Christmas... opening boxes and not knowing what you will find... But, I can tell you all about that another day!

The Big 4-0!!

Happy Belated Birthday to Dan! Now just in case there are those of you thinking I missed my own husband's birthday... I didn't. We celebrated in Pensacola with all of his family, and we celebrated on the actual day in Atlanta with Daniel and April and Noah. This message is the only "belated" part of the whole event. Moving and setting up temporary living with my parents has put a wrench in my blogging. And in my computer's ability to upload photos, apparently. So, pictures will have to wait. Happy 40th birthday Dan... just a few days late. Now that I think of it, I have pictures from Father's Day, too. I also have pictures and stories from Florida. And, I have pictures and stories from visiting Noah and his parents in Atlanta. I'm doing ok with making the memories and I'm pretty good at preserving them. But, my apologies for not sharing them as fast as before. Anyway, Dan turned the big 4-0 last week. We made plenty of old-man jokes (and we still are), and we decorated with black balloons. So cruel. It's ok, though. We all think he looks WAY younger than 40, and he's been known to act very much younger than 40. I just hope his "advanced" age causes him to forget all the teasing and joking in time for my 40th. Which is still a few years away, thank the Lord.

Before I Forget

I need to take a few minutes to fondly recall our trip. It's been several days since we "officially" arrived. I can say with all honesty that I do not enjoy driving across the USA. I know some people do it for pure pleasure, and I can respect that. It's just not for me. Maybe I dislike it because the Army tells us to do it. Maybe I dislike it because it feels like we are on a strict time schedule. Maybe I dislike it because I'm going to the unknown. (We all know how I feel about the unknown.) Anyway, it's over. This trip seemed to go a little smoother than two years ago.

The first photo is of our moving truck and our boxes... some of them. The next picture is a sight I saw for many miles... the boy in the back seat with his toys and his "girls" (picture #4). I drove the Jeep with Elijah and the cats and so much stuff I couldn't see out of the back window. Dan drove the truck with himself and a good portion of the luggage in the back. We did manage to squeeze in a few fun adventures... picture #3 is a Salt Wash in Utah.

I even have some nice memories... the beautiful deep canyons in parts of Utah, the unbelievable Rocky Mountains (we drove through snow at Vail Peak!), the fun restaurant in Denver (Mexican Cliff Divers!), the Oz Museum in Kansas, the rolling hills of Kentucky with their obviously expensive horse farms, and all the green grass and trees! (Finally!)

I did not enjoy the extra day we spent in Denver when the truck broke down. The money we spent having that repaired. The day that Elijah sat in gum (his own) in the back seat and proceeded to peel off all his clothes. (I was so afraid we were gonna be stopped for indecent exposure.) The winds in Utah that were almost impossible to drive in. Stopping for gas and having to fill up two vehicles. (I will spare you all the pain of telling you just how much we spent in gas alone to get here. It's too painful.) Unloading and reloading the two vehicles every night and every morning at the hotels. Trying to keep the cats (cat) from escaping and running down the hotel hallway. Dealing with an active 9 year-old at night in a hotel after he's been in the car all day. I suppose if those are the worst things that happened... we are all doing well. Blessed. And, as I "blog" this, I am surrounded by family. That's a nice happy ending to a long exhausting journey.

New Time Zone

We are back in Eastern Time. Actually, I'm blogging from Dan's parents' house in Florida, so I am vacationing in Central Time. But, this family has finally landed. This will be a quick post, and I will add pictures later, but we are done driving. (At least until we leave here to go back to SC!) OK, maybe we aren't done driving, but we're taking a break. 2500 miles with two cats and the boy and a MOUNTAIN of crap we obviously needed. We have a few "road stories" to tell, but we will save those for another time. We appreciate all the prayers for safety... We are so happy to be with our families... We had a blast with the Wrenns... We miss the Fort Irwin gang (me especially... hello to all my Iron Peaches!) We are gonna enjoy a few more days of "relaxin" before reality returns with a vengeance.

Fort Bragg Bound

This may be the last blog from sunny California. We are just days away from the big move to NC. The house looks like a bomb went off in every room. Anything that doesn't breathe has been encased in a Ziploc bag. The pictures and curtains are down, and that funny echo sound is happening. We are attempting to clear out the fridge and pantry, so we are eating odd random assortments of things for meals. The packers come tomorrow, and the movers come on Thursday or Friday (depending on how much the packers do or do not get packed). So, the computer will be turned off and the Internet will be disconnected. Will we survive? Possibly not... the DISH will be off, too! So, I will take this last chance to comment on life in the desert.

Things I will miss about Fort Irwin:
1. all my girlfriends (Amy, Sarah, Donna, Teresa, Tambi, Jennifers, Michelle, and all my other Iron Peaches!)
2. bench time at the park (Amy! Sarah!)
3. the way it cools off the instant the sun goes down (even if it was 100 at noon!)

4. PEWS at Blackhorse Chapel

5. no humidity (I thought, at first, that I would never adjust... but I have learned to love it.)

6. the close-knit feel of a very small Post

7. the "baggers" at the Commissary commenting on how many times I've bought groceries this week!

8. my son's friends (Cameron, Charise, Cousins Ryker and Miriam, Josh and John, the buddies from school, and the pals from karate)

9. Elijah's TKD Sensei... Ms. Sharnae

10. the interesting, although strange, things that happen when you live at Fort Irwin (If you have ever lived here, live here now, or have ever visited here... you know exactly what I mean!)

Things I will NOT miss about Fort Irwin:

1. Summer (Don't misunderstand me. I love Summer. I do not love 120 degrees. From May 31 to November 15.)

2. the blowing winds (not breezes, people... WINDS that blow over small children and almost knock me off my feet... now that is a wind!)

3. the blowing sand (see #2)

4. the blowing trash (see #2)

5. my tiny backyard and the way it collects all of #4!

6. the funky smell that sometimes happens here (may have something to do with that wind)

7. living one and a half hours away from a restaurant, a mall, any craft store, and the movies)

8. living 40 minutes away from Starbucks

9. Fort Irwin Road

10. CA gas prices (see photo!) (This is an on-Post price... it's about 40 cents more off-Post!)

So, the next blog will be from my parents computer(?) in SC. Or, from Dan's parent's computer in FL. But, I have to get there first. 2000+ miles across the country. Two vehicles, assorted luggage, random junk we can't live without, two cats, and one boy... We would appreciate your prayers!

47 Degrees!

Yes. You read that title correctly. It was almost 50 degrees here yesterday. It was Elijah's last day of school and the first "official" day of "Summer Break." And, it was 47 degrees and raining(!) when I picked him up from school. Just 4 days ago, it was 107 degrees when I picked him up. Definitely not the normal temperature for this time of year here in the High Desert. But, the weirdness of it all IS normal for this place. So, our "little boy" is headed to third grade in the Fall. Yikes. I think it was on his birthday (a few weeks ago) that I had a BIG realization. He's closer to being a teenager than he is to being a baby. Oh Lord. That's a thought that could stress a mommy out. Let's not go there again. Anyway, we had a GREAT school year, a FANTASTIC teacher, and good friends. When I picked him up yesterday, his class was in the Cafeteria playing indoor games (because of the rain). We hugged Mrs. McGarty and went to his room to get all his stuff. When we got there, all the desks and furniture were pushed to the side of the room (for cleaning), and the lights were off. He walked in, got his backpack, and then sat down on a stool in the middle of the room with the saddest face. He was just sitting there... looking all around. He said, "I just want to remember it. I won't be coming back here." OK, so I'm tearing up at this point. I hugged him and told him he would LOVE third grade. And, that he would make lots of fun and cool new friends. Mercy. Who would have thought that a 9 year-old boy would need a "moment" on the last day of school? Well, to cheer you up... Just a few seconds later, we were walking out to the car, and I tried to get him under the umbrella. (Yes... an UMBRELLA!! In the DESERT!!) He took off running through the rain, screaming and jumping up and down. "I'm a third grader!! I'm a third grader!! I'm a third grader!!" Yes, little boy... you are!