Perfectionists Make Great Procrastinators

OK. So my favorite sister-in-law tells me that I have not updated the blog in a while. Yes. I know this. I also know that I have issues. Strange and odd things about my personality that make life interesting for the people around me. I am a ridiculous perfectionist. Not a horrible trait, but it comes with "benefits." If I KNOW in my heart of hearts that I cannot do something up to my (ridiculous) standards, I put it off. A LOT. For a LONG time. I also have this "problem" with doing "fun" things BEFORE "work" things are finished. (Once again, not an entirely bad habit.) I blame this one on my mother... In our house, you could not go out and play or watch TV until all homework was done. A great rule; and one that I use with the boy. BUT... I tend to take it to the extreme. So, if you combine all my quirks with this huge move we just made, you get the perfectionist procrastinator... putting off blogging. Putting off calling friends. Avoiding organizing all our junk. Among other things.
Anyway, this is my pitiful attempt to play "catch up" with you all. So starting tomorrow... just kidding. Here are the first pics from our whirlwind past few months.
We drove from CA to SC, rested a few days, and then went to Birmingham to see the Wrenns. I know this may be hard to believe, but we took no pictures. Neither did the Wrenns. The two "picture-taking, scrapping queens" took NO photos. I think it may have something to do with that perfectionism thing. Shannon would say it's because there are so many kids in her life now. Whatever the reason, we are sad and sorry. We did have a great time, though. It always feels like "family" with those crazy Wrenns.


From Alabama, we went on to Pensacola to see Dan's family. Elijah enjoyed playing in the rain puddles in Nana's yard. Don't forget people... we haven't seen rain in two years.



We also went to the beach and ate A LOT. Typical for a visit with the Urquharts. Funny how no one is complaining WHILE we eat! We also celebrated Danny boy's birthday. I did post a blog to say "Happy Birthday," but here are the belated pictures.



From there, we drove to Atlanta and stayed with Noah and his mommy and dad. Those are the cutest pictures of all, and they will have to wait. A boy is calling his mom.

Up and Running

The friendly little Cable man came yesterday, and we are back in the techno world. Sorta. Only half of our channels have sound. The friendly little Cable man is scheduled to return today to fix the problem... between the hours of 8:00 am and 7:00 pm. How convenient. Oh heavens.. I am starting to sound like a depressed, crazed, irritable middle-aged woman. In looking back over the last few blogs, I realize the need to complain a bit less. Sorry. I will, in time recover from the stress of this move and return to my old self. And, I promise pictures from this summer very soon! For now, enjoy this glimpse of the boy... running on the beach in Charleston. A much more nice and happy thought than the soundless TV channels!

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.