Shave and a haircut... 2 bits!!!

What a flippin' week I have had.

Monday started out with the packers showing up late - 10am when they should have been there by 8 - and they packed my entire house. I get that things happen and they were delayed, so it was no biggie. They managed to finish by around 8pm. My dog and cats were in an uproar, with Raf, the fat cat, hiding under the sofa the entire time. Boxes littered my house! Who knew we had so much stuff, even after I managed to sell a lot of it or give it away??!!

Tuesday was brutal! The driver called and said he was having battery trouble and was going to be late. They showed up around 1030am - again, they were supposed to be there around 8 - and they proceeded to load all of our belongings. Took them to about 7pm or so, and then they took the truck to weigh it. Turns out, all of my household goods weigh 9280lbs!!! For hubby's rank, we are only allotted 9000lbs, but a good note is that all of his TA-50 (Army gear) doesn't count against our weight - so we lose 500lbs for that! Whew! We are under and don't have to pay any extra. ;)

Once everything was out of the house Tuesday night, hubby and I started cleaning. Now, I know that when you live somewhere that isn't yours, you obviously have to clean in order to avoid charges etc. when you move out. Well, here on post, it is completely different. And the standard isn't followed by each residential community. What one does, the others don't. Not really fair, but James and I knew we had our work cut out for us. Yep - we cleaned. (I did have a lady booked to come and clean for us, that way she was guaranteed to pass inspection and she would have been there the day of inspection... unfortunately, she called to cancel because her mother fell and either broke her hip or dislocated her hip. Either way, my thoughts and prayers went out to her.) And so with such short notice, there was no way we could get a cleaner to come in at the same or close to same price we had been quoted.

So, we tackled the cleaning like a couple of champs! Learning from other people, and going to the housing clearing brief taught us that each community center judges things differently. Our friends Misti and Durwood - cleared with no problems. Our friends Ana and Ralph - Good Lord, they were given a hard time! So, we started out with the things that would go quickly. James tackled the windows and cabinets while I motored around the house with my friend Colleen's vacuum. Colleen - she is a life saver! She helped us so much, I don't know if we are ever going to be able to repay her!

Wednesday we woke bright and early and headed back over to the house. Colleen met us there and we went to town on the bathroom and kitchen. Now, to be fair, I clean a lot normally, so there wasn't a whole lot of extra to do - we just had to make sure that if they came in with white gloves, that we would pass the inspection. We hit one small bump... I placed a rubber sheet in the bottom of my bathroom cabinet - the kind that is holey and bumpy... anyway, when I pulled it up, most of it stuck to the cabinet! Ugh! So I grabbed the backs from our 3M hangers and started scraping the crap out of the cabinet. Colleen got in there with me and we got most of it up, but alas, some of it remained. No matter, we finished the bathroom and moved on to the kitchen. Colleen and I hit the fridge next. She gave me all of the pieces to clean while she worked on the inside, then we traded out and I did the freezer. We knocked it out of the ball park!

Colleen then took me around to drop off my frozen goods at Janet's (where we are now staying) and then what didn't fit we took to Colleens. Her husband Matt is so funny! He said he didn't need to grocery shop now because of all of the food we gave them!! Haha

After that, I went back to the house to finish off the little bit that was left, while James drove the steam cleaner around the carpets. They were our biggest worry. Learning from Ana and Ralph, Rhicard Hills are arse's about the carpets. So James hit it good with the steam cleaner. Another late night for us!

Thursday - Clearing Day!
We got up and went to the house to do a final once over before the ladies showed up to look at the house. We were ready to go. A thunderstorm rolled in and poor Daisy had to stay in the truck. She couldn't come in the house after we had already did the carpets! How ridiculous would that have been? lol So finally, the lady showed up and started the walk through. She opened all of the blinds, turned on every single light in the house and proceeded to look through everything. We were worried about one spot on the carpet in Mike's room, but James covered that up by standing on the stain and acting like he was texting.

Finally, the lady turned to us and said "Everything looks great. No charge!!!" w00t!!! We are actually getting money back! Pro-rated for the last 4 days of the month! We are sooooo excited. haha! (Note my sarcasm) lol

So yep, now we are crashing at my friend Janet's house, driving her insane, making her wish she never agreed to this. Oh - and we have proof because she locked us out yesterday afternoon!! Not intentionally of course. Force of habit has her locking her doors, just like I do. ;)

Now we are waiting out our time to leave the North Country.
I wonder what trouble we can get into? lol

I almost forgot - last night James' Platoon took him out for dinner in order to present him with a plaque from Maintenance. We all went to TGI Friday's. It was a great time!  When they presented James with the plaque, James blushed. Ventura said a little speech, so did Malik. Then SSG. Lemon stood to say something about James and I was choked up. Her words made me so proud of my husband. I love Maintenance... and you can answer every single question with Maintenance! We Bust Nutz!!!!

Bowling, Bar-B-Que and a Fat Lip

I had a great weekend.

Saturday morning started with an early rise and shine to make sure that the house was presentable because Dad and my youngest sister Rhonda were coming in for the weekend. James also rose early to help out. I love my Man.

They were supposed to leave around 8 in order to be here by 10... I received a phone call a little after 9. It was Dad. Car trouble. Seems the curb protector on the underside of the car decided to come off and drag along the highway! So they were at the dealers getting it put back on or taken off or something. They were finally back on the road and heading this way with an ETA of 11:15am!

They made it safe and sound, and with enough time to spare before we had to run out to a bowling tournament put on by the MWR. It was a doubles tourney, so of course James and I were partners. I bowled a 197, 115 and 196. Dad blamed me talking to him and Roo instead of paying attention to the 2nd game. I think it was because my head wasn't in the game and so I wasn't trying to even figure out the lanes. Either way, I improved once Dad told me to go pay attention! lol

We came home and hung out for a bit, then James, Roo, Mike and I headed to the commissary in order to get grub for the nights dinner. Bar-B-Que Baby! Steaks for the guys and burgers for Roo and I. Corn on the cob, potatoes and carrots with garlic on the grill. Fabulous dinner. I don't know why, but I could live on potatoes and carrots in butter and garlic on the grill! For real. I wouldn't need anything else. Then of course it was all followed by mint chocolate chip ice cream for dessert.

After we cleaned the kitchen, we were all feeling pretty stuffed and just hanging out with a movie on. Mike fell asleep on the floor, and of course I managed to snag a couple of paparazzi photos of him! James was having a hard time keeping his eyes open, Dad - he was content, and Roo - well, she wanted to french braid my hair. So of course I agreed. It is a rare thing for me to have my hair played with, and I absolutely love it! I tell people that you would think I am into S&M because I love the knots to be yanked out of my hair. Seriously! There is no better feeling that a comb or brush in my hair - as long as it is held by someone other than me...

Ok, anyway, Roo made me wet my hair down and she proceeded to do crazy stuff. She decided against the braid, so instead she did some funky ponytail thing. Then she said she wanted to straighten my hair. I go ahead and plug in my flat iron. She gets to working on my hair while I am desperately holding onto my ears for fear she will burn them off! Haha! Of course she didn't, but I wasn't taking any chances! Then she wanted to curl my hair, so I plugged in the curling iron. She put a couple of spirals in my hair... then she was done. Poor thing.

I gave Roo my flat iron. I don't use it and anymore I only use my big fat barrel curling iron - that is if I even let my hair stay down. And she said hers wasn't all that great - so why not? It isn't a Chi - heck, I am not that rich! lol

About 6 years ago I bought Roo a Cabbage Patch Doll. Haha! It looked exactly like her so that's why I bought it, but at the time she wasn't really into girl things (She is a tomboy like me) and she probably would have just ruined it. (She agrees) So I kept it in the original box. I finally gave it to her last night and she immediately opened it. She loved that it looked like her and even had her dimple. I also gave Roo all the clothes I bought her for Christmas... yeah. I should have wrapped everything because then she would have taken it with her. But out of all of it, she took one shirt. The one from Hollister. Go figure. But it's ok because Tara is coming this weekend and I will give them to her. ;)

Then Roo and I were outside talking, and I tried to convince her that she needs to try out for the Jr. Boys Football Team. She is already on the wrestling team, so I figured why not? I also tried to explain to her that her shoulder pads would be completely different from the boys, because she would need extra protection over her chest. Well, that turned into me acting silly and telling her she would have bullet proof titties! Hahaha! We laughed for a good 10 minutes straight, and then giggled even more for the next half hour. We were coming up with some of the stragest things that could be bullet proof for a woman. Let's just leave it at that! I am surprised we didn't wake dad up because we were laughing so loud!

We finally went to bed. I was awake by 6:30 this morning, so up I got. I scared the crap out of dad. He looked like he was still sound asleep, which surprised me, so I said to him "Daddy-O"! I startled him so bad, he jumped about an inch off the mattress! Haha! Dad got up and of course Roo and I wanted 'cottage' for breakfast. What is cottage? Oatmeal. Yep, oatmeal. So dad made it for us, we had toast and such. Good morning.

Then Roo and I were on the sofa, and for no reason at all, she decided to kick me in the kidneys! What a punk! So I decided to get back at her by tryin gto give her a horse bite. It was working out for a while, but Roo is ticklish real bad. Next thing I know, I get Roo knees in my chin and I bit my lip!!!!!!!! Ugh! Beat up by my baby sister!!! lol

Finally we took pictures, gave hugs and Roo and Dad were on their way back home.

All in all it was a fabulous weekend.

(Bowling tourney - when we left Saturday, we were in first place, but there was a second set, so as of right now, we don't know what place we finished in. Will update when we find out!) ;)

Melatonin is Evil!

Last night I took melatonin in order to go to sleep early and wkae up early. Dad and Rhonda are coming in today, so I wanted to be sure I was on top of everything. For those who don't know, melatonin is produced in your body through your central nervous system. It regulates the sleep/wake cycle. So by taking the herbal form of melatonin, you are giving your system a natural sleep aid - and you do not wake up feeling groggy and sluggish.

Anyway, I took one melatonin last night. No big deal right? Ugh. WRONG!

I went to bed around 10:30 and was just about asleep, then all of a sudden I was wide awake. I laid there for probably another half hour, if not longer, then finally had to lull myself by rubbing the tops of my feet along the bottom of the mattress...

Good enough.

Not quite.

I swear I was awake every hour on the hour! And it wasn't from dreams. See, melatonin has the ability to make your dreams very vivid. Bright colors and extreme circumstances. I did dream, but they were average dreams, nothing too exciting. But it seemed that with the end of each dream, I awoke. I can't even tell you what the dreams were, I know my husband was in one, my sister-in-law was in another, but there wasn't a single significant thing about any of them. So why wake every hour?

Who knows? I have taken melatonin before and never had this happen, so perhaps it was my anxiety of family coming that had me awake every hour. Perhaps because I wasn't really tired and was forcing myself to sleep was an issue. I really don't know. But I can tell you that I feel great today. I only wish I could remember my dreams... LOL

More on melatonin:
Melatonin on wikipedia

Fly Paper and Packing Tape

I have been sitting on this blog for a few hours, trying to compose sentences that will make some form of sense to myself. So much is going on right now that I don't think I can pinpoint each and every thing. Busy busy busy.

As you know from a previous post to my blog, my older sister had been found. Well, since then I have learned a lot. I would love to share some of the information, but again because it isn't my story, I refuse to divulge. However, it seems that she has decided that it was too much, too fast and so she has stepped back from the reunion - so to speak.

Frankly, I don't blame her one bit! She went from having her normal life with her family, to all of a sudden finding that she has a birth mother, a birth father, 5 birth sisters (3 from mine, 2 from birth mother's side), 4 siblings husbands and an unbelievable number of nieces and nephews. Heck - if it were me, I would do more than step back! I would probably hightail it in the complete opposite direction! I can't imagine for one minute what it must be like for her. My heart truly goes out to her and if there was a way, I would honestly like to let her know that I am ok with her decisions.

Well, I know that sounds horrible. Saying I am ok with her decisions... what? Seriously, they are her decisions to make and it doesn't matter what any of us think! She has to do this in her way and in her time and there is nothing any of us can do to change that. She doesn't know any of us, we are virtually strangers to her. I know for certain that 'Lifetime' has gotten it wrong time and time again. Family reunions are NOT always hearts and tears and bubblegum. There are so many hurdles to get over or around, I will not be surprised if in a year from now I still haven't spoken or emailed with her.

Yep, I have had no contact with her whatsoever. At first I will admit I was jealous because Teresa and my dad were emailing with her, then dad talked to her on the phone. But I have started to look at it from a different perspective. See, when you come in to our family, you 'get' the family but you also 'get' the flaws. No one is perfect obviously, so that's just how it is. Me? I am a little bit OCD, I am a partial mysophobe, I thirst for knowledge and I am a geek to the core. Dad? He is at times impatient and wants the outcome of any situation immediately. Tara, she is just busy. You would be lucky to catch her on the phone without making an appointment with her first. Rhonda, she is the baby and as such, she is spoiled. Yes, I said it. So? lol

The one thing I am most certain of though is that once my sister entered our family, even the partial way that she has, whether there is any future contact or not, she is stuck with us. Let me clarify this though... I can only speak for myself, My heart is like Fly Paper and she is a fly. She came close and got stuck in my heart. She may not know me, and may never know me, but I will carry her with me from here on out.  <3

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The packers/movers will be here on the 23rd of this month to pack and load all of our belongings. I have been working over the past couple of months to get rid of unwanted things. Things we haven't used since we moved here, things we don't use now that we used to and things that are simply just taking up space. What a trial it has been. Going through everything with a fine tooth comb is tedious and a giant pain in the arse. I know it has to be done though, because when we moved up here we were overweight, and if we move overweight again, we have to pay the difference. That is definitely not an option.

So, I have had a lot of stuff for sale and free - using facebook as a tool to help get rid of stuff. I can honestly say that I have gotten more hits from it than craig's list or kijiji. And to be honest, I prefer somewhat knowing who is taking what or coming to my house to pick something up. Craig's list creeps me out that way - emails are one thing, but giving out your address to complete strangers - yeah, not up my alley.

Starting tomorrow, I will be putting aside that which I am keeping for our travel. Clothes, laptop, personal hygiene etc. Can't keep a whole lot though because this time we aren't renting a uhaul trailer. If we did, it would be well over a grand for the number of days we need it, and the Army is only going to pay us for 3 days travel. Yep - that's it. We get paid to go from here to Ft. Campbell and anywhere else we go in between is solely on us. Makes sense to me. 

But here is the kicker:

James and I in the truck with the dog, 2 cats, our luggage and the 32" flat screen. James is insistant on keeping the small flat screen so that when we stay at our friends place for the 20+ days before we leave, he still wants to be able to play his xbox and watch his netflix, blah blah blah. What a big baby! So yeah, all of us crammed into the Mountaineer! How are we going to do it? I have no idea, but I am sure it isn't anything a little packing tape can't fix. ;)