Tomorrow Is Another Day...

Broadcasting Live From South Carolina

We're here!

Actually, we've been here for almost a week now, but things have been just the teensiest bit hectic.  Starting with the 13 hour drive from Louisiana to South Carolina, to the arrival in a home without electricity or gas resulting in yet another night in a La Quinta, to the depositing of over one hundred boxes that needed unpacking, the past six days have been exhausting.

But even with those setbacks, we truly love our house, and despite the endless loads of laundry and epic dish washing marathons the house is really starting the come together and look like a home.  Most of our furniture is in its final resting place, all of the rooms are fully functional if not beautifully decorated, internet and television will be turned on tomorrow, the downstairs will be painted within the next weekish, and the dogs seem to have realized that this is home for now.

Colby left this morning for a month-long school about 8 hours away, so it's just me around these parts finishing the unpacking and potentially hanging some pictures once the walls are painted.  When I first moved to Washington, I spent a lot of time sitting around the house by myself watching tv and feeling lonely.  I'm going to try very hard not to let that happen here.  Even if it's just to get out and drive around or go see a matinee, I want to make an effort to get out of the house at least a few times a week.  Actually put on clothes and makeup and enter into society.

My New Year's resolution is to force myself to be less of a homebody when I'm not working and Colby isn't around.  I have a small collection of friends here and I hope that eventually I'll find a support system that keeps me as busy and entertained as the friends I left behind in Washington.

But that starts tomorrow.  Today I am reading a book, watching movies, and laying around in my pajamas all day, feeling just the tiniest bit sorry for myself.  Tomorrow the plumbers, the painters, and the cable guy.  The day after that, the world!

Endings & Beginnings

I feel like the events of the last post I wrote took place in another lifetime.  Since that day, we have packed up all of our belongings, moved out of our house so that tenants could move in, lived with a friend for a week, and are now about halfway through our trip from Washington to Louisiana.

Surprisingly, everything has gone off so far without a hitch (I say that now, and tomorrow we'll probably go 500 miles in the wrong direction or something equally ridiculous).  Our movers were friendly types who seemed to take pretty good care of our stuff as they spent two days packing and then loading up all of our worldly goods.  It's amazing what a pizza and some cranberry juice can do for the movers' morale.  Our tenants moved in just hours after we finished our cleaning, and we headed about 20 miles south to stay at a friend's house until it was time to start our drive.

It was sad to say goodbye to our house, but we didn't really have time to get too emotional.  I feel good about the people who have moved in, and as much as I'll miss my friends, I can't say that I'll miss Washington too much.  It was really nice to have that last week free to take care of last minute errands and scratch items off of our to-do list.  We closed on our South Carolina house on the 11th, so it's officially ours now--empty and just waiting for us to arrive.  We enjoyed quality time with our Washington friends, though it was sad not getting the chance to say goodbye to all of our friends in person.

The road trip started on the 12th, kicked off with a final goodbye drink at Starbucks, a stop-off in Salem, OR to visit a friend and an overnighter in charming Ashland, OR.  We made it down to San Francisco on the second day where we camped out for two nights, visiting friends in the city and playing tourists for the day.  The next night was spent in San Bernardino after a nightmarish two hours of Los Angeles traffic, and tonight we're in balmy Tucson, AZ where we've enjoyed a delicious dinner with my cousin and his wife and a hotel viewing of Speed.

We still have two more La Quinta nights ahead of us before we make it to Louisiana where we'll spend the week of Christmas with our families and then it's off to South Carolina to kick off our next Air Force assignment.  I'm going to make an effort to check in again more often between now and the actual move, but in case I'm not back in time, Merry Christmas to those of you who celebrate and Happy Holidays to the rest!

November

This month has certainly been... eventful.  First, we buy a house.  Second, I actually start hearing something that *may* just be the ticking of a biological clock.  Third, we celebrate another anniversary.  Fourth, I experience my very first Black Friday at the stores.  We've already discussed point one and point two, so let's discuss anniversaries and shopping a little more in depth.

Indeed, just three days ago I celebrated our second anniversary with a full day of work, a glass of wine and So You Think You Can Dance while Colby flitted about the Middle East.  Our first anniversary I spent throwing up and sleeping off a rotavirus.  I'm honestly not sure which anniversary was more disappointing.  There is no lack of mushy gushy writing on this website about how darn great I think that guy is, and suffice it to say, he started to look even cuter when he was holding babies.  Just saying.  So, I'm pinning all of my hopes on our third anniversary.  Flowers are nice, but actually getting to spend time with your spouse is even better.

Thanksgiving was a quiet but highly enjoyable day.  I whipped up Paula Deen's recipe for loaded mashed potatoes (oh my God, amazing) and bought my little can of Ocean Spray cranberry jelly and headed over to a friend's house where we watched the Thanksgiving Day parade, the Purina One dog show, the Raiders vs. Oakland game and the Peanuts Thanksgiving and Christmas specials with multiple eating and drinking breaks.  I felt so lucky to have such great friends that were willing to welcome me into their family for the day, but I still missed Colby who was spending Thanksgiving in Germany.

This morning, after a fitful night of sleep in which I dreamed about waking up at the crack of dawn for the Black Friday sales only to find that entire stores were sold out, I woke up at the crack of dawn and hauled my weary body to Best Buy where I found that not only was the store not sold out, but in fact very willing to sell me many things.  The key to skipping the Black Friday lines at the store?  Purchase major appliances.  I came away with a Samsung front loader washer and dryer to take with us and a refrigerator to leave at the house for the renters all for just a little over $2000.  It was... not as much fun as I'd imagine spending that amount on clothes and shoes would be.

BUT, I'm incredibly excited about our washer and dryer (oh my God, how lame have I become??).  Our current washer seems to mostly just get clothes wet and put tiny little holes in all of my favorite shirts, so I'm really looking forward to a washing machine that allegedly washes and hopefully will not destroy all of our clothing in the process.  Plus they're pretty.  I just got the white ones because shelling out another few hundred for a "designer" color seemed silly, but they're such a shiny, lovely white!

Tomorrow I'm going to a friend's house to watch the Tigers dominate the Arkansas Razorbacks (please, God, please?) and the rest of the weekend will be spent preparing the house for the movers to come on Tuesday and Wednesday.  Then on Thursday, we will officially become the homeless owners of two homes.  Time sure does fly when you're stressed to the max!

Tormented by Timing

Timing is everything these days.  Two weeks left in our house.  Less than a month left in Washington.  One month until we visit our families for the holidays.  A month and a half until we close on our new house.  And that's just the moving related timing.

Lately I've been starting to think very hard about the future.  As my life is currently scheduled out, I will take the next term off of school to deal with the move.  I was hoping to return to class in January, but because I get a reduced military tuition, I have to take off the entire term, meaning I won't return until March.  That will put me finishing classes at the end of August, and *hopefully* beginning my 16-week student teaching period from September through December of next year.

At which point I will begin looking for an actual teaching job.  In a county that just laid off all of its first-year teachers and is now hiring back RIF-ed teachers and those laid off first year teachers before even looking at any outside applicants.  In a county that is not even currently in need of substitute teachers.

If I am *lucky* I'll be able to find a teaching job for the 2011/2012 school year.  At which point I will be just months away from turning twenty-nine.

And let me let you in on a little secret.  I've been thinking a lot about babies lately.  And I don't think I'm the only one in my household whose mind has edged a little closer to that track.  Am I ready to start popping out infants the moment we get to Charleston?  No.  But am I thinking it's a little unlikely that I'll actually want to hold out another 4 years or so until we're settled into our next assignment?  Yes.

Another factoid that is less than a secret is that I have no desire to be a working mother.  I place absolutely no judgment on those who ARE working mothers, and in fact I appreciate their decision at least in part for the fact that it's currently keeping me in a job.  But I've worked in daycares off and on for my whole life.  They can be really wonderful environments for a child, but that's just not how I want my child raised.  We're lucky enough that Colby's job could support a family independently, so it is my hope that I can be home with our children.

But are we seeing how the time lines are starting to get a little mangled at this point?  If I finish school and start teaching in the fall of 2011, that's right around the time that I'm starting to think I may want to get pregnant.  And so I sit here wondering, have I just thrown away all of this money on my education?  Is it the right thing to continue spending thousands of dollars on a Masters degree that, it is beginning to look highly likely at this point, I'll never get to use?

I honestly don't know what to do.  There's a big part of me that feels completely disappointed in myself.  Why did I wait so long to pursue my teaching dreams?  Why can't I be a more modern gal and be okay with the idea of working and raising a family?  If I don't stay in school, what the hell am I going to do with myself for the next few years until I actually manufacture a child?  Am I just being a giant quitter?  I have no idea.

I've got just over three months to figure this out, and if the speed at which the past three months have flown by is any indication, that is no time at all.  Maybe it's time to pull out that Magic 8 Ball?

Home Sweet Home Times Three

It's starting to become very confusing when, in conversation, Colby or I allude to the place of "home".  Responses generally go something like "Which home?", "Louisiana?", "You mean in Washington or South Carolina?" etcetera, etcetera, and so forth.  As we are learning, home is where the heart is and also where the majority of your stuff resides.

After three days spent touring approximately thirty homes just outside of Charleston, we were able to find a great house that will pretty perfectly fit our needs and has just enough room for improvement that we may be able to actually recoup our money and then some when it comes time to sell.  I'm loathe to place too much hope upon that thought, but let's just say that the prospects for the South Carolina house are much better than the Washington house.

I wanted to use the idea suggested by a couple of you and sort of "live blog" the house hunting experience, but we had very spotty internet at the friend's house where we were staying, and honestly, by the end of the days we were so worn down from crunching numbers and imagining furniture placement and thinking about mortgage payments that I just couldn't bring myself to write about the process.

I could go on and on about how stressful the experience was, but honestly anyone who has been through it will know the toll that house hunting takes on your entire being, so instead, let's just get to the good part:  the house!  The new place has about 300 more square feet than our current house, the yard is substantially larger, we have a great pond view, and the neighborhood is my favorite of the entire town.  It's an interesting twist on a neighborhood in that it's more of a living community--restaurants, shops, a grocery store, a gas station, pre-K through middle school, a pool, a gym, doctors offices and more are all located within the neighborhood, mere minutes from our house.  Coming from a neighborhood where it takes at least fifteen minutes to get pretty much anywhere, this is absolutely miraculous to me.

On top of that, we're about 15 minutes from the gorgeous Isle of Palms beach and 20 minutes from downtown Charleston--that's driveway to parking lot.  And oh, how I LOVE Charleston!  It feels so much like New Orleans, but with a slightly less gritty and substantially less abandoned feel.  The architecture is beautiful, the live oaks are plentiful, the sweetgrass sways in the breeze, and you can't swing a cat without hitting a charming little shop.  I cannot wait to call it home for a few years!

And now, for optimum stalking ability, here are some photos of our soon-to-be home (as always, just click to enbiggen!):

 

I love the brick in the entry of the house and would love to find a way to face the steps in brick as well.  There's also a great screen porch in the back and we're thinking of switching the steps to the other side and adding a patio where the dead hydrangeas are now.

Two story foyer with the formal living and dining rooms to the right when you're walking in and the powder room, garage, and laundry room off of a hallway to the left.  I LOVE this entryway and can't wait to see it with some color on the walls.

The living room is currently set up as a bar and right next to it is the formal dining room.  We're talking about keeping the living room as a more informal sitting area with a hutch, maybe a tall bistro table and of course, some paint on the walls.  We love the burgundy in the living room as well as the wainscoting, so probably won't change too much except for the 80's-ish brass chandelier.

As you continue through the foyer, you end up with the kitchen on your right and the open great room on the left.  I've got big ideas for the kitchen, including a warm goldenrod yellow on the walls, Silestone counter tops and a tiled back splash.

Upstairs there are four bedrooms and two baths.  This is a photo of the master taken from a sort of sitting-alcove.  We'll have the other bedrooms set up as a dedicated guestroom, an office, and then a sort of miscellaneous craftroom/excercise/bonus room that can be used as a second guestroom.

And finally, the screened-in porch with pond view.  We spent some time sitting on the porch the evening of the house inspection, and watched as a grey heron swooped his way around the pond.  It really started to feel like home in that moment.

We still have a long road ahead of us before we're there, but I can't wait to make another part of the country "home".

So Cultured I Should Be in a Petrie Dish

Current count of Washington days remaining?  Forty-three.  And nine of those will be spent house hunting in South Carolina.  So, I've been a bit busy to say the least.  I've been working regularly.  We've been working to keep the house presentable on a regular basis should any prospective renters want to check it out.  And of course we've been doing all of those fun Washington things that we won't be able to do in a month and a half. 

Over the course of two weeks I went with friends to see Pink Martini in Tacoma, with my opera pal to see La Traviata at the Seattle Opera, and then on a double date to see A Streetcar Named Desire at the Theatre on the Square in Tacoma.  Pink Martini put on an incredible show and reminded me of a band that would have played at The Tropicana with Ricky Ricardo.  La Traviata was absolutely gorgeous and deliciously tragic, and Streetcar was thoroughly depressing but surprisingly well performed for a community theater presentation.

Aside from that we've just been continuously freaking out about the move.  We leave on Monday to spend a little over a week getting to know the Charleston area.  We're going armed with an army of worksheets, an extensive spreadsheet of houses we've been tracking, a preapproval letter, and the knowledge that the government is completely unsympathetic to our flight. 

When we bemoan the state of our mortgage situation, helpful folks tend to remind us of the house-buying program for mlitary members who are being made to move during the current housing crisis.  Bummer for us, we bought our house two months too early to qualify for that program.  Then when the internet made me aware of the fact that the home-buyers tax credit has been extended through 2010 and is now available to current home owners, I actually got my hopes up for a moment before finding the fine print specifiying that eligibility is restricted to people who have owned their homes for more than five years.  We're hovering right around three.  You know, it's not that I expect the government to bail me out, and I fully appreciate the fact that there are people who are in far worse situations than I, but it's still a little disheartening every time you realize that some people are eligible for handouts and you aren't.  But still, I'm a firm believer is smaller government anyway, so whatever, I DON'T WANT YOUR NONEXISTANT MONOPOLY MONEY ANYWAY, AMERICA!!

So, that's pretty much that.  I'm excited about Halloween this weekend and the chance to spend a whole day thinking about something OTHER than the jumble of debt to income ratio, neighborhood crime statistics, and the vast difference a 5.0% interest rate can make on your mortgage payment as opposed to 5.25%...  Sigh.  In the words of Alice, it would be so nice if something made sense for a change.

Oh, Charleston? So Glad You Asked!

Somehow, the only possible explanation being some kind of rift in the space-time continuum, it is now October.  This is exciting for a few reasons but a little terrifying as well due to the fact that this means we now have just a few days over two months left in Washington.  Based on the alarming speed at which the past two months have flown by, I'm a bit overwhelmed by all there is that's left to do.

What this means is that if you're alone with me for any reason, or unwise enough to strike up a conversation with me in a fit of boredom, you will likely be subjected to an hours long litany of the ways that I am simultaneously excited, nervous, sad, thrilled and horrified by the prospect of moving to South Carolina.  I'm not even exaggerating.  I'm pretty sure I talked my parents' ears off about this subject for a minimum of two hours on Friday and then spent an entire baby shower on Saturday trying to staunch the inevitable flow of verbal diarrhea whenever anyone so much as glanced in my direction.

All that's left to do is document my current emotional state here.  Let us imagine that you've wandered over with one of my delicious lavender-lemon sugar cookies to pay me a compliment on the delicate balance of flavors, and then politely commented that I must be getting awfully excited about moving.

Well, I say to you with a smile, I certainly am excited.  Of course, I'm sad to leave my friends behind, but I'm very much looking forward to moving back to the South, and we're lucky enough to already have a few friends living there, so hopefully I won't have to spend as many months feeling like a social pariah as I did when I moved to Washington.  And of course, we'll be closer to family and I'm very much looking forward to being back in SEC country.

You nod, with a still slightly interested smile, and ask whether we're planning on buying?

I tilt my head ever so charmingly and give a self-deprecating smile.  We are indeed, but it's turning out to be a much more stressful situation than I had imagined.  You see, when we bought our house here, we were wide-eyed and full of hope, certain of our wise financial decision and proud of our ability to purchase our dream house.  Then, of course, months later the market came crashing down around our ears and we've spent the past two and a half years wincing at each property value assessment that arrives, biting our nails nervously as houses in our neighborhood sit on the market for months and then sell at a fraction of their purchase price, and more and more frequently "For Rent" signs are in yards instead of "For Sale".  Don't even talk to me about Zillow.

We've made the difficult, but at this point only feasible, decision to keep our house in Washington and rent it out, which makes getting a second mortgage quite challenging.  We're much more realistic now about the pitfalls of home-ownership, so while we're happy to be moving to an area with a slightly lower cost of living, the romantic associations we once had with house-hunting are more than a little tarnished after our acquaintance with the harsh realities of the real estate market.

At this point your eyes have glazed over, your cookie is digested and you're searching for a way to extricate yourself from the conversation, correctly judging the fact that I've really only just gotten started on my monologue.

Fortunately, I say, smiling through the tears, we have a friend whose father is a property manager, so he'll take care of finding our renters and doing the "landlord" business, and we are fairly certain with a rental contract and the probably use of a VA loan, we more than likely won't be homeless in Charleston.  We could rent there of course, but we prefer owning--even after our experience owning in Washington, believe it or not.  We know a lot more now about how to pick a house that we love, but that also has better potential for resale value, and have educated ourselves a bit more about the risks that we are taking.

We're hoping to have a rental agreement and preapproval letter in hand by the end of this month and will be visiting Charleston the first week in November to house hunt, armed with spreadsheets, checklists, lists of questions, and inexplicably, a St. Joseph medallion despite the fact that one of us is a lapsed Methodist and the other a lapsed Catholic.  I figure, in these trying times, one simply cannot be too superstitious... or religious... whatever.

Your head suddenly jerks upright and your face is suffused with a joyful glow as you suddenly realize that this conversation isn't real, you're simply reading a blog, and you know exactly where the exit button is.

The Palmetto State

So much has happened in the past few weeks, I hardly know where to begin. I know when a blogger that I read doesn’t update for a while, I sort of lose track of them and when they “come back to life” it’s always a little surprising that they were off living their life without my knowledge. And yet, life does go on away from the blogosphere, and mine has been a whirlwind of late.

It all started about two weeks ago when Colby came home and delivered the news that we had finally gotten our next assignment, and in less than six months we’ll be calling another part of the country home. In the words of Rhett Butler, “I’m going back to dignity and grace. I’m going back to Charleston, where I belong.”

We’re hoping to leave Washington in mid-December, head down south through Oregon and California, hit I-10 East, be home for Christmas and then continue on to our new home. It’s still a little surreal, and I’m unsure as to how this will go over with my company since I’m supposed to be starting back to work in September and now will need to be terminating employment in just a few more months…. but overall, I’m beyond thrilled to be moving to Charleston. It was our first choice, and I think I’ll feel much more comfortable and happy back in the land of crawfish, SEC football, and Spanish moss.

The next week was filled with touring as Colby’s parents came in town and we nearly killed ourselves driving to the far reaches of the region from the Oregon coast, to the Fremont/Ballard areas of Seattle, and Friday Harbor in the San Juan islands. We packed all of that and more into their five-day visit, and I also scrambled to finish three weeks worth of school in one so that I could go on vacation without making time for homework every night. My in-laws left on August 5th and we had that one day to run all of our errands, finish last minute chores, and throw some swimsuits into our suitcases before our 8:15 am flight out of Seattle on August 6th for HAWAII!!!

And that’s where I’m reporting to you from now. I’ve got tons of material to write about from our time in Kauai, but I think I will save that for a later post. Always leave ‘em wanting more, right?  We’re sitting at the airport and boarding for our flight to Oahu in about 10 minutes, so right now I need to put away my computer and start praying for the remnants of Tropical Depression Felicia to give us a break so that our beautiful 20 minute flight doesn’t turn into an Oceanic Flight 815 kind of experience…

Washington Bucket List

There's so much I want to talk about right now, and the past three days have been jam-packed with fun and productivity, but I have a paper due tomorrow that I've only just begun, so I'm going to insert a cop out post today.  This may be a bit premature as apparently the email that Colby got a few weeks ago about receiving his assignment in June with a report no later than (moving) date between October and January apparently gets sent out every quarter and only applies to a select few of the recipients.  But still.  My mindset is still that we won't be here through the winter, because honestly, that's the only way I'll be able to make it through another winter here.

So, Colby and I have begun compiling a list of all the things we want to do before we leave Washington.  From the length of the list, you'd think we did nothing but sit around the house twiddling our thumbs, but it's just that the longer we've lived here, the more things we keep hearing about that we must do before moving.  Plus there's a bit of Oregon and Canada thrown in just for good measure.  And, to our credit, we've done almost all of the major tourist attractions in the area, so our bucket list is sort of a graduate level Washington course.  I'm definitely taking suggestions as well, so if I'm missing something it's either just because we've already done it or we haven't heard about it yet!

◊    Woodland Park Zoo

◊    Asian Art Museum

◊    Whale Watching—San Juan Islands?

◊    Seattle Opera

◊    Weekend in Port Angeles

• Start at Port Angeles, and drive west on highway 101. You will see one of the most spectacular alpine lakes in the region. Crescent Lake is nestled amongst deep green firs, which rise in dramatic slopes from the waters edge. Nearby, Marymere Falls and Sol Duc Hot springs are great diversions in you’re staying in the area.
• Forks

◊    Sounders Game

◊    Mt. St. Helens

◊    Bainbridge Island Ferry

◊    Victoria, B.C.

• Tea at the Empress
• Butchart Gardens
• Craigdarroch Castle

◊    Winery Tour

◊    Discovery Park

◊    Lakeview Cemetery

◊    Steilacoom Beach

◊    Alki Beach

◊    Dash Point State Park

◊    Rhododendron and Bonsai Garden in Federal Way

◊    Saltwater State Park

◊    Southern Oregon

• Ashland, Oregon Shakespeare Festival
• Crater Lake

Hm, maybe we will need a few extra months in town to get this all scratched off the list!

And So It Begins...

I keep thinking it's Friday.  It is not, Friday, but Thursday in fact.  This is repeatedly disappointing to me.  I have no idea what I'm going to write about today, this is one of those new fangled "stream of consciousness" blogs where I just write what comes to mind in an effort to get myself back into the blogging habit.  You should be excited, because I am pretty sure there is going to be some stellar writing up in here.

A crazy thing happened a couple of days ago.  Colby got an email from his squadron saying that we could expect to get our next assignment some time in June and then have a report no later than date between October and January.

!!!

On the one hand, YAY!!!  On the other hand, SHIT!!!

Let us deal with the YAY!!! first.  Even if we don't move until January, that means that I will never again have to endure the most soul crushing months of the year in Washington--February and March.  In January, it is still expected that when you go outside you will need a heavy coat, galoshes, and an umbrella made of reinforced steel.  By April, there are generally enough gorgeous, sunny days sprinkled throughout the month to keep you from throwing yourself off of the nearest overpass.  But February and March are just an endless progression of cold, rainy, grey days with no light at the end of the tunnel.  I hate them.  I will not miss them.

Hm, now that I'm spending some time really thinking about this, that's really the only YAY!!! I can come up with...

Now for the SHIT!!!  There's a lot more here, surprisingly enough. First, the practical.  According to Zillow, our house has depreciated in value approximately 21% since the day we bought it.  HAHAHAHA.  Fuuuuuuuck.  We are working on refinancing right now for somewhere between 4.75 and 5.185%, which is lovely and will bring out mortgage down to a level that we could feasibly charge renters, but that means we'll be renting it instead of selling.  There are a lot of ways that I would love to spend our nest egg.  Funding a short sale is not one of those ways.

Second, the neurotic.  There are a number of things I don't love about Washington.  Namely the weather, but also the obsession with outdoor winter sports, camping and sporting good supply stores, and the criminally insane politics, but what if our next location is worse?  I've heard from a fairly reputable source (i.e. some guy at dinner the other night) that Alaska is off the table for the next round of assignments.  HALLELUJAH!  But you know what is still on the table?  Middle of nowhere Oklahoma and middle of nowhere Nevada.  Do I actually think we will get one of those assignments?  No.  Do they still haunt my dreams and every waking moment?  Yes.

Third, the emotional.  I have made some seriously fantastic friends here, and I really don't want to leave them behind.  I know this is just part of military life, but much like going through a breakup, it's so awful to imagine having to start all over again with a new pool of potential friends.  Of course everyone says they'll stay in touch, and between the Facebook and email, generally people do, but we all know it's just not the same anymore when you move across the country.  There's a chance that some of us will end up in the same place, particularly since there aren't that many options given Colby's careerfield, but there's a greater chance that most of us won't.  So that's sad.

Plus, of course this just means that the hassle of loading up our belongings, finding a place to live, and hauling ourselves to the next house begins again, and honestly, we just did that.

Anyway, that has been the peakiest peak of excitement around here lately.  That and the endless cycle of work, eat, sleep, 30 Day Shred, television.  So, if you can spare a minute, I wouldn't be mad at you if you'd send a little bit of a Charleston or San Francisco vibe my way, and hopefully sometime in June I'll be getting the good news that one of those charming locales will be my residence for the next 3ish years of my life.  (This is me making an attempt at optimism.)

P.S. This turned out way less stream of conscious than I was expecting.  My apologies if you were waiting for something Joycian to evolve out of this.

Resigning From Life

BLEEEAAAAARRRRRGHHHHH!!!!!!

I quit.  Consider this my two week notice.  I am turning in my resignation letter to the Department of Living Amongst Society and moving to a hut on the beach in an as yet undiscovered island.  I'm not leaving a forwarding address.  I go alone.  Don't come looking for me, because I am DONE.

I don't want to clean up after a destructive dog who will pull items out of thin air if there are none within reach that he can rip to shreds in my absence and then prance about proudly when I return home.  I don't want to clean the bathroom, wash the dishes, do the laundry, vacuum the floor only to have to do it again in what seems like mere hours.

I don't want to be a law abiding citizen, vote in elections, throw my garbage in the trash can, give money to causes that need it more than I do, and be a generally good person, only to be given a $340 ticket for not registering my car in the state of Washington, when I had no clue that I was supposed to.  I'm not registered to vote here, I don't claim residency here, I'm a military nomad and I'm sorry you Office-Space-Boss-Looking-Asshole Cop, I have never been made aware of this rule.  I'm not claiming that ignorance of the law is the perfect excuse, but how easy would it have been to have given a friendly warning and gone about your day?  You can take your, "Have a nice day, ma'am," and shove it up your power-tripping, quota-filling rear end.

I'm tired of being tired.  I'm sick of exhausted kids who treat me and each other like crap and make me dread the day I see two lines on a pregnancy test.  I'm flummoxed by my suddenly shitty gas mileage that makes me suspect a gremlin is sneaking into my garage at night and siphoning the gasoline out of my car.  I wish the damn cd player in my car would stop overheating and spitting cds out at me with a snotty "Check CD" message on the display every time I try to listen to something other than our lame radio stations.

I'm so over feeling negative.  I want the fucking sun to shine.  I want to wake up and feel excited about another day.  I'm sick of being a single wife.  I'm worn down from the constant stream of "what ifs" running circles around my brain about where we're going to live this time next year, how we'll sell our house without losing our shirts, whether or not we'll be able to get another mortgage, and what furniture or precious family mementos will be destroyed in the move.

I'm just so ready to check out.

But I can't quit.  This is my life.

As shitty as it makes me feel sometimes.  I love my retarded dogs.  This job is the first one I've ever had where I feel like maybe I'm making a difference.  I know I need to just suck it up and have a little faith that God won't dish out more than we can take.  The military infuriates me on a daily basis, but it has also been very good to us over the years.  As for the cop and the ticket situation... well, I tried, but I can't find the silver lining there.

I just want to escape from it all.  But then I guess everyone does, and we just keep riding this completely absurd roller coaster of life.  In the meantime, thank you Jesus for wine, carefully cultivated savings accounts, Gossip Girl, and giant, liquid puppy dog eyes that just won't allow you to stay angry for too long.

But I'd still rather be in Capri.

You Take The Good, You Take The Bad...

It has been quite a week, hasn't it?  It seems like such a strange week--so many great things have happened, but there's so much sadness in the world right now.  Our house is finally starting to turn into a home, we've made lots of progress on our long list of house projects, Colby is home, the sun has been shining, I finally found my camera, Sanjaya finally got the boot on American Idol.  And yet every day there's nothing but bad news from the rest of the world.  I find myself changing the channel constantly because I just can't hear another story about one of the Virginian Tech victims, or another tale of a gun turning up in a kid's backpack, or one more break-in or DUI or hit and run.

I suppose it's a product of living near a big city.  There's a lot more opportunity for bad things to happen because there are just a lot more people.  I've always been afraid of having my home broken into--I don't know why for sure.  It's never happened to me, and I've never lived anywhere near a high crime neighborhood, but for some reason ever creak of the house settling sends me into spasms of terror.  Now I'm living in a neighborhood I don't know well, I have no campus police patrolling or gated community to give me that false sense of security, and I have dogs that go ballistic every time the neighbors leave their house.  I'm guessing with time I'll get used to things, but I tell ya, I really miss hearing any sort of good news on the television at night.

I am very much enjoying myself during the day, however, when I'm not afraid of homicidal maniacs.  Colby's 10 day deployment was cut short, and he was back home after only a week.  I had the great pleasure of going out to lunch with some friends that I'd known for years through the internet--and now I can finally consider them "real life" friends.  The books in the office have all been alphabetized, and I can see the light at the end of the filing tunnel.  Although there have been many glares of death from Colby when I admit to shredding his 10 year old bank statements, and growls of frustration from me when my attempts at organization are questioned, I'm really loving finally being with the boy.  And in a surreal moment of truth, I realized this morning that we are just days away from our one month anniversary of moving in together.  One month.  Gone, in the blink of an eye and a flurry of boxes and packing paper.

I'm trying very hard to hold on to each day and really enjoy it for what it is instead of longing for the day when we have grass in the backyard, all the rooms painted, and every box unpacked.  There's always going to be something that needs doing, and I'm learning that enjoying the process is just as important as the end result.  I think this is a lesson that I've been trying to learn for years now.  What can I say, I'm just a very goal oriented gal.

But anyway, as I said, the camera was at long last located--just yesterday mind you--under a pile of crap.  It was exactly where I thought it would be, but the trick was properly identifying the correct load of crap.  So, finally, for your viewing pleasure, some random photos from the past month.  Enjoy!

First a gratuitous adorable puppy photo.  Two dogs, brought together by fate, forced to like each other.


The most enjoyable part of wedding planning--CAKE TASTING!!  Oh my God, the cake is going to be fabulous.  We decided on the traditional white almond wedding cake with 3 layers--grand marnier and Bavarian cream, chocolate doberge, and Hummingbird (raspberry, cream cheese, and pecans)--with an ivory buttercream frosting.  My mouth, it is watering right now.

 

Show tune Karaoke:  Because a post with pictures would be incomplete without my big mouth behind a microphone.


Innocent Angela, sitting on campus with her fiance, never suspecting what was to come next  during the mysterious "Levee Walk: 2007"


BLING!  BLING!!  Okay, it was really windy, and neither one of us are terribly good photographers hence the bad hair and blurry picture.  But there's a slightly better shot to come.


At the engagement party held by Colby's side.  I felt like I was at a photo shoot toward the end with all of the obligatory family photos.  This is the parents' shot and one with my unfairly hot sister.  I think I'll make her wear a paper bag over her head on the day of the wedding...



Arriving at the Jack and Jill Shower held by close family friends on my side (oh my God, are those my hips or did the Great Wall of China sneak into my pants??) and hanging out with my maid of honor and two bridesmaids.  We go waaaaaaay back.  We're like sisters--except we all like each other.  (Well, and one of them actually IS my sister.)


The Magnificent Table of presents--I loved this party.  And on the right is the amazing collage handmade by one of the hostesses of the event.  It's amazing.


And finally it was moving day, and we had to fit the entire Magnificent Table of Presents into the car with us, along with all of the stuff I'd moved home with, and Colby's luggage.  For a minute there, I thought I might be riding in my rocking chair on the roof rack.


Here's how I spent most of the four driving days...


And here's my good natured chauffeur.  I don't know what it is, but put me in a car and I am completely useless--it's better than Ambien.


One of the amazing sunsets we witnessed... when there was still a sun to be setting.


And here is what I discovered when I was carried across the threshold--chocolate and a mess of absolutely indescribable proportions.  Note:  This is BEFORE my stuff was even delivered yet.  Sigh.


But we rolled up our sleeves, got to work, and got to painting... To Be Continued!

That's as up to date as I can get you for pictures right now, but since I've located the camera, as we get rooms finished I'll start working on a virtual tour for those of you who are as nosy as I am about other people's houses.  This weekend we're heading out to a pig roast (!?) and Sunday we're doing engagement photos and then going the see A Light In The Piazza in Seattle.  And I am so hungry right now that I just typed "pizza" instead of "piazza".  I think it's time for a little of the snack that smiles back.  Later dudes! 

Looks Like I'm Heading to the Grocery Store Tomorrow...

Y'all, I have been putting this off all weekend in an attempt to stave off the inevitable.  I kept thinking that in my overhaul of the office and guest bedroom I could avoid an epicurean fate worse than death.  Alas, it seems as though these lips of mine will soon be experiencing the one thing they fear more than any other--the taste of a green olive.

I have searched high and low, turned piles upside down, dug through boxes, and there is absolutely no sign of my camera.  That's just how my life works:  Camera cord shows up, I cockily make an announcement that pictures will be coming soon, camera disappears.  And I have no idea where that sneaky little bastard could possibly be--I don't even remember the last picture I took.  I'm completely at a loss.  And of course, in my desperate search I turned up my old film sporting Pentax--it just surfaced to spite me.

So, instead of pictures, I guess you'll just have to put up with some rambling from me.

Colby is gone for the next week and a half and I have of course set all kinds of Herculean goals about what I'll have accomplished by the time he gets back.  Office: Organized and books on the shelves.  Guest Room: Remove painters tape, arrange the furniture, clean out the closet, decorate.  Master Bedroom and Bath: Boxes all completely unpacked, new shelf liners in dresser drawers, random piles of crap eliminated.  Garage:  All items we're giving away loaded in the car to drop off when I pick up Colby, some attempt at organization made.  And then there are just the day to day tasks included my runs, dealing with suddenly dueling dogs, writing thank you notes for all of our fantastic and very much appreciated shower gifts, and finally taking care of Colby's very much overdue birthday present.  My life, it is so fascinating.

I've also realized that somehow in my unpacking obsession I have completely lost touch with the outside world.  I haven't spoken to friends or kept up with emails properly and I've become a total hermit.  I really want to take advantage of these Colby free evenings and try to do a better job of staying in touch with everyone.  The hardest part is adjusting to the time zone here.  I'll get into the zone working on filing or alphabetizing books and suddenly I realize it's 8 o'clock already which means that it's 10 o'clock back home.  I don't know about you, but any phone call I get after 10 o'clock I automatically assume is bad news--I think that's my age starting to show there.

Anyway, as much as I miss Colby terribly, I'm a little relieved to have this week and a half on my own.  I really was beginning to feel far too dependent on him to do quite a lot of the house things, and it's been nice remembering that I'm perfectly capable of hanging curtains and assembling shelving units.  Not to mention I can hole up with a pile of papers for 5 hours and throw away whatever I want without anyone questioning me--MUAHAHAHAHA!!!  But seriously, who really needs bank statements from 1996?  No one in this household, I can assure you of that.

Ah well, I'm feeling very much on a roll now in my Mission: Organization, so I'm off to register all of our appliances even though I've never been really sure what that actually accomplishes.  I'll do my best to locate my camera in the next few days, and maybe some day my mom will actually send me some of the pictures she has on her camera and I can get something posted here.  Until then, farewell my friends.  I'll be back soon with a permanently soured green olive face.

Just Two Crazy Kids Trying To Make It Work

Well!  Hello there strangers!

There have apparently been lots of changes in the blogging world since I dropped off the face of the earth for an extended and unscheduled hiatus.  I'm trying to catch up on everyone's sites, so forgive me if I don't have the time to comment yet, I've got tons of reading to do and soon I should be back to normal commenting conditions.

As for me, wow, what an amazing two weeks it has been.  The week that Colby spent in Louisiana flew by at an unbelievable pace.  We got so much wedding planning taken care of, and now the majority of my list consists of confirmations and final details that have to wait until closer to the date.  Aside from wedding planning we had a great time getting him reaquainted with the old homestead and spending tons of time with family and friends.  The Friday and Saturday night following our whirlwind week our family friends threw us two big bashes to celebrate our engagement.

Oh, because did I tell you?  We're officially engaged now!  After an afternoon of burritos, ice cream, and college campus wanderings, Colby brought me down to the levee by the Mississippi River, got down on one knee and popped the question for real.  And then he dropped the ring and had a minor heart attack.  But it all ended well with the ring on the correct finger and that night we had a lovely formal engagement celebration in his hometown followed by a more relaxed Jack and Jill shower on Saturday back in Baton Rouge.

With about 4 or 5 hours of sleep each we got on the road early Sunday morning with the car literally packed to the roof and then some.  After four loooooong days of traveling, most days not ending until eleven or midnight, we made it into Washington and I finally laid eyes on our new yellow house.  When we got to the door Colby grabbed me and carried me--romantically, albeit not very gracefully--over the threshold.

He had warned me that the place was a bit of a mess, but I really don't think that "mess" was the proper term to use.  Over a week later and the upstairs still looks as though some kind of paperwork/laundry bomb exploded.  We're still waiting for all of my things to arrive this Friday, so hopefully once we have all of our furniture in the house we can start putting things in their place and it may just begin to look like an actual home that people live in and not a deserted crackhouse.

As far as pictures go, I have plenty to share with you, and I promise that as soon as I can locate my camera cord I'll get those downloaded and posted.  Of course, I've got about 4,000 pounds of crap coming my way on Friday, so it may be a while before I can find a tiny 2 foot long cable.  Talk about needle in a haystack.  But hey, maybe if you just wish hard enough and clap your hands a miracle could occur.

Now I'm off to track down the Veteran's Affairs department in Washington so that I can get a frustrating unemployment debacle straightened out, and hopefully get some money into my account some time in the next few weeks.  Being jobless sure is relaxing, but it isn't very financially secure, and those bills just keep rolling on in.  Oh, and memo to the sun:  It sure was great having you around for the past two days, please come back again some time soon... please.

You Guys Rock

Thank you so much for putting up with my incredibly whiny and venty post of last week.  Also, thank you for putting up with the fact that it has greeted your bright shining faces for so long, somehow weeks just keep blowing by and before I know it it's been 10 years since I last posted on my blog.  Oh well, it happens, right?

So, what have I been doing for the past week?  I'm still running a lot--almost every day I go for about 30 minutes and not only have I lost about 10 pounds but I'm getting to the point where I actually kind of enjoy it again.  We're about halfway through this program that will get us to 30 minutes of running and then I've found another program that I want to start some time in May that will work me up to six miles in about 3 months.  I think I'm quitting there though--I've never been interested in running races or marathons or anything and 6 miles seems like a good goal to reach and hold steady.

You know, though, this is a perfect example of my contrariness.  I was so ready to get out of the Air Force so I wouldn't have to run anymore, but now that I don't have to run I can't wait to get out there every morning and get my heart pumping.  Go figure.

Colby and I also had to finish a "Premarriage Awareness Inventory", basically a 115 question test about different relationship and marriage topics.  Or as I like to call it, "Instant Divorce: Just Add Honesty".  I guess these things are made for people who have decided to get married, but have yet to actually speak to each other.  Aside from a couple of valid questions that may spark interesting discussion, the questions were either ridiculous or completely offensive.  Case in point:  "If you could change any physical feature on your fiance, what would it be?"  Okay, now, first of all, you cannot physically change any features on your fiance, so this question is entirely pointless and idiotic.  Secondly, there is no way you can answer this question without hurting someone's feelings.  You've already decided to get married, so it's likely that you're fairly at peace with one another physically--why even bring this up?  Alas, it's a prerequisite to answer the questions and we have a "counseling" session on Tuesday with our officiant, who is also a very close family friend, so that should be... interesting.

I've started thinking about what I'm going to do job-wise when I get to Seattle in a couple of weeks.  I've thought about temping so that I can easily take the time for the wedding and honeymoon in the upcoming year, and I've had a few people very kindly offer to help out by circulating my resume, so there's that.  But then I've also been thinking about possibly going to esthetician school.  I've done a little bit of research and requested some information, but it was sparked when I went for a highlight and cut at the Aveda Institute last week.  I was talking to the girl doing my hair about how I'd always wanted to go to beauty school, but I didn't want to deal with people's hair, and she filled me in on the fact that there are estheticians that solely do skincare, and that is way more up my alley.  I can file for unemployment for 6 months once I get to Washington and that seems to be about how long the school takes if I do it full time.  So, we'll see.  I still have to talk to Colby about it and see what he thinks, but it's on the table, and I'm taking everything one day at a time right now.

Anyway, I'm down to T-24 hours until I finally see Colby!  Actually, I just looked at the clock, and it will be almost exactly 24 hours from now that I'll see him.  His parents are going to the airport also and then I'm spending the night at their house, so I'll have to share him for a while, but it should still be pretty awesome.  I'm so used to it being forever before I see him again though that I still can't wrap my mind around the fact that I'm seeing him tomorrow.  Weird.  But I am under strict instructions from him that if the first word out of my mouth when I see him is "presents" or I mention presents at all within the first hour of being back together, he's bringing everything back and I don't get anything.  He knows me so well...

I Don't Even Know Where To Begin

Well, for starters, I'm not dead, so that's a plus I suppose.  It all started off that I was going to take a little break from writing to figure out my priorities.  Then a few more days than I had expected went by and suddenly it had been a week since my last post.  So I sat down and I wrote a few intro lines, hated them all and proceeded to get distracted by something shiny.  And then another day passed and another day after that and I just got so overwhelmed trying to figure out what I should write about, I felt guilty for not writing so I avoided my website, and then suddenly it had been almost two weeks.  So today I am writing something.  It will probably suck and be of no interest to anyone, but I will be posting and I will no longer fear the judgment of the blogosphere.

I've been home for just over two weeks now, and with one slight bump in the road wherein I nearly committed patricide, things have been going quite well.  I officially received my Air Force discharge papers a couple of days ago, so today I'm going to attempt to file my unemployment claim through the Washington State Employment Security Department website.  Don't I live a wildly exciting life!

I've gotten a lot of wedding planning taken care of or prepped for the week that Colby returns, which is now officially less than two weeks away!  Can I tell you that I'm terribly excited?  Because I am TERRIBLY EXCITED!  In some ways I want to say that the past 5 months have flown by, but then I remember how much it felt like the days were dragging by and it seems rather flippant to say how easy and painless this has been.  But regardless of whether it was easy breezy or torture, it's almost over and soon we'll be able to put the "long distance" aspect of our relationship in the past.

One of the up parts of these very up-and-down weeks was Mardi Gras.  While I had approximately zero desire to head down to New Orleans for the drunken, overpriced debauchery of Fat Tuesday, I did feel that the day could be properly celebrated in a gay bar singing karaoke.  And not just any karaoke, this was Kamikaze Karaoke which meant that you signed up for a slot to sing in and then when you got on stage you found out what song you would be singing.  It was quite possibly the most fun I've ever had doing karaoke, which is really saying something!

A down part of the week was on Thursday when we went to New Orleans for my wedding hair and makeup trial.  Typically a drive to the Big Easy takes an hour to an hour and a half depending on traffic.  On Thursday we started the drive just before one and didn't get to the salon until almost 4 o'clock due to a wreck between two 18 wheelers on the spillway.  Fortunately, the visit was totally worth it because HELLO hot Angela after the girl did her magic on my face--of course we totally forgot to take pictures so you'll just have to use your special imagination cap to visualize the Hotness.

So those are really the highlights of my time here in Baton Rouge.  Oh and for those of you who are super confused about where I'm living, I am in Baton Rouge for the next few weeks, and then when Colby gets home from his deployment we're driving up to Washington together.  This is just sort of an extended "visit" I guess you could say.

Now I'm back to my 24 marathon and later tonight I'm going to a game playing/Oscar watching party, and hopefully the Oscars don't go too long because if I've learned one thing it's that under no circumstances should my bedtime be any later than midnight.  Or I'll turn into a pumpkin.  The End.

Slinking Back in Sheepishly

So, I didn't update yesterday, as promised, ever so sorry!  But really it was probably for the best, unless you're really interested in reading about how I laid on the couch all day watching daytime television.  Not really newsworthy, is it?

But let me tell you about Friday and Saturday, since things actually happened on those days.  I got into work at 8 on Friday and set about trying to peel my Little Rock Air Force Base decal off of my car with an ice scraper.  Let me just tell you now, if you ever think that you'll be able to peel anything but ice off of your car with an ice scraper, you are ever so sadly mistaken.  One of my troops pulled into the parking lot around 10 after 8, and I commenced looking cold and miserable (believe me, it wasn't much of a stretch) and enlisted his assistance  With the aid of a pocket knife we got my sticker off by 8:30, giving me 30 minutes to race around the building to get all of the last minute items checked off of my list so that I could officially outprocess through Separations at 9.

When I got back to the office for my 9 o'clock appointment, my troops were waiting for me with Sonic breakfast burritos and presents--the most sure way to my heart.  They presented me with a Victoria's Secret Pure Seduction bath product gift set and a little Precious Moments figurine for February.  When they gave me the gifts they said that since I was going off to live with my fiance, I could use a little seduction and they knew that I would always remember February fondly as the month I left the Air Force.  They know me so well...  I laughed so hard--and believe me, the gifts were so much better than the cheesy going away plaques I was expecting to receive.

I made it back home at 10:30 and started getting things ready to load in the car.  But why is it that no matter how much preparation you do in the days leading up to a vacation or moving, it still takes about 5 times as long as you're expecting for car loading procedures?  I'd been up since after one in the morning the night before boxing things up, and cleaning the apartment, and still it took me 6 hours to get everything out of my apartment on Friday.  Of course, it didn't help that I met a friend for a goodbye lunch and that went over schedule by about 30 minutes.

Eventually, I got my car packed and the dogs loaded, and all I had left was to turn in my keys to the front office.  Now, I have a very bad habit of losing keys, so I was so proud of myself that I'd been able to keep track of the second key to my apartment for the past 2 and a half years, particularly since I rarely have a need to use it.  So, I had a little pile of keys to turn in all ready to go on Thursday night, but by Friday at 3:30 my second key had vanished.  I scoured every surface of my apartment, I looked through the bags that I could still get to in the car, and after 30 minutes of searching gave it up for lost.  I was so frustrated with myself because I was fairly certain that I'd have to pay some kind of key replacement fee, but I went ahead and turned in what I had.  I asked if there was any way I could mail in my key if it turned up, but after all of my worrying and delayed departure they said not to worry about it, they were just going to replace the locks anyway.  Of course they were.

Finally at a little after 4 I hit the road, after deciding to give Jack the second half of the Dramamine to maybe help knock him out a little for the car ride.  With very minimal sadness as I left Little Rock, I made the 7 hour drive without the luxury of seeing anything but luggage when looking out of my back windows.

Saturday was my sister's birthday, so after breakfast with the family and a shopping frenzy at Target (my last hurrah until I resume real life with a paycheck) we got ready for her party--a "Pretend Like You're 12 Again" sleepover.  I'd just had a sleepover the weekend before with my girlfriends in Little Rock, so I felt pretty practiced at it and people started showing up around 8.   One of the requirements to attend was to bring a drink of some kind, so there were chocolate martinis, pomtinis, champagne, wine, Bloody Mary's, mimosas--it was like an alcoholic's heaven.  We had an ice cream bar and cake, and played charades and Taboo until about three in the morning when we all finally crashed.

Sunday and Monday I let myself be a total bum, and today I am easing back into life--I plan on actually taking a shower and getting dressed pretty soon and I may even get a little actual writing done today.  Tomorrow my sister and I are starting a running program around the lakes, and my goal is to remain as unslothlike as possible during these next few weeks at home.  Since my natural inclination is toward total laziness, we'll see how regularly that goal is attained!

Mini-Update

I'll have much more to come tomorrow, but I did want to let everyone know that Phase 1 of the moving process has been completed.  I outprocessed the base at 9:00 am Friday morning and after hours of cleaning and packing finally got on the road around 4:00 pm.  The ride was pretty uneventful aside from the annoyance that my cd player in my car has finally crapped out, and I made it home by 11.  Yesterday was crazy busy, and today I'm exhausted, so I don't have the energy to put much more effort into a post today.  Instead, I'll leave you with my Wise Bread Valentine's Day Gift Guide.

I’ve scoured the web to find the twenty best Valentine’s Day gifts for less than ten dollars, and I think I’ve found a little something for everyone. The toughest part was deciding how to categorize all of the items, but I decided on a list based on price, from lowest to highest. I’ll leave it up to you to decide to which gender each gift should be assigned, because if your boyfriend loves to smell like a freshly bloomed rose, who am I to judge?

So, without further adieu...  Continue Reading Twenty Valentine's Day Gifts Under $10

Lesson Learned

When you are cleaning out your household before a big move, and in the process of throwing away three quarters of your bathroom and kitchen stockpile, don't get the thrifty idea to save fifty cents on your grocery bill by choosing the store brand tall kitchen garbage bags.

Go a little crazy and splurge on the heavy duty Force Flex.

Just trust me on this one.

Pick Pick Pick

I swear, you people and your attention to detail!  You know, I thought long and hard about that post title yesterday.  I thought about actually doing my research to find out what sort of category an olive falls into, but instead I based it on my pizza menu.  Vegetable pizzas.  Olives come on vegetable pizzas ERGO an olive must be a vegetable, right?  WRONG.

According to Wikipedia (which is NEVER wrong, right?):

The [olive] fruit is a small drupe 1-2.5 cm long, thinner-fleshed and smaller in wild plants than in orchard cultivars. It is also green and sometimes can be black.

And in case you, like me, saw the word "drupe" and started laughing hysterically, here is another little botany lesson:

In botany, a drupe is a type of fruit in which an outer fleshy part (exocarp, or skin; and mesocarp, or flesh) surrounds a shell (the pit or stone) of hardened endocarp with a seed inside. These fruits develop from a single carpel, and mostly from flowers with superior ovaries. (Haha! My ovaries are better than your ovaries!!)  The definitive characteristic of a drupe is that the hard, lignified stone (or pit) is derived from the ovary wall of the flower.

So, in short, an olive is much more closely related to a peach than to an onion.  And that is just wrong--whoever heard of an olive and peach pizza??

Anyway, I'm still struggling to keep my eyes open during the day.  I've been sleeping horribly for the past couple of nights.  Jack is not taking this relocation well, and he spends the nights jolting violently awake from a dead sleep and barking frantically at top volume for no apparent reason.  This in turn jolts me violently awake from a dead sleep and subsequently I have spent the past two days cranky and yawning behind my desk.

I did however get a post up at Wise Bread yesterday, so in lieu of any further entertainment here, I urge you to go read about my love for Isaac Mizrahi (Have you seen his talk show?  I just want to squeeze him!)  Go, shoo, off with you now!

In Which I Make Bizarre References to Vegetables

So, my movers finally knocked on my door around eleven o'clock to say that they had everything packed and were leaving.  I rejoiced and made record time changing into my pajamas and getting to bed.  Then, just as I was dozing off to the soothing sounds of Basic Instinct, there came another knock on the door.  Jack went ballistic and I hauled myself out of my marginally comfortable air mattress and grabbed his collar, dragging him to the front door with me, in case one of the movers had decided to come back and murder me.

Instead of a murderous mover, it was the maintenance man (glory be, check out that alliteration!)  He was there to kindly inform me that my movers had managed to wedge themselves in a curve of the parking lot, snapped a cable, and had to leave the truck there to go get a new cable.  Also that they hadn't been able to fit my mattress and box spring INSIDE the truck, and so I should probably check it pretty carefully for damage when it all arrived in Washington.  I think he expected me to be more aghast at this revelation, but after spending over 14 hours with strangers in my house, I truly didn't care about anything but going to sleep, and figured that me stressing over my mattress wasn't going to make it magically be inside the truck.  So, I went back to bed.

This morning, when I left for work, the truck was still wedged in the parking lot.  I'll bet there are some pissed off apartment residents right now.  Whoopsies!

Anyway, today I am utterly exhausted, and also have a sore throat, but I don't care, because there are only 3 days left between now and Friday when I will be heading out of this God-forsaken state for good.  Honestly, I would happily press the delete button and erase pretty much everything that has happened over the past 2 1/2 years.  I think this era of my life trumps even high school in the suckiness factor (Although really, high school wasn't that bad--second grade on the other hand?  HELL.), in fact, I think I shall dub this period in my life The Green Olive Epoch.  I hate green olives.

But now I am onto bigger and better things, as I was reminded by the beautiful arrangement of flowers and sweet note that were waiting for me on my desk this morning from that cute boy in the -stan place.  The past couple of years may not have been the greatest of my life, but they got me from there to here, and I think here is going to turn out to be a much more black olive kind of place.  And I love black olives.

Liveblogging: The Great Moving Caper 2007

9:58

I was up until 2 o'clock this morning getting stuff ready for the movers and sequestering the things I wanted to keep with me for the next few weeks in the bathroom.  I got up at 6:30 to finish before the movers showed up at 8:00.  The movers showed up at 9:30, which is good since I'm still not exactly ready for them to be here.  My last load of laundry is in the dryer, and I keep jumping up to move things into the bathroom that I forgot I'd need.  I must look like some kind of incontinent freak.

I think the movers are annoyed with me because I have so much crap.  When I filled out the form to arrange for my movers in the Traffic Management office on base they said to estimate 3,000 pounds per room.  I counted my living room, kitchen, bedroom, and dining room as 3 1/2 rooms and rounded up to 4,000.  When the guy did the walk through this morning before they brought their boxes in, he sighed a lot.  I heard them talking while I was in the laundry room, and it was very grumbly sounding.  Of course, now that I think about it, it seems fairly obvious that I have about 4,000 pounds in books alone...

Oh well, I have cookies to make later.  Maybe that will help soothe the savage beasts.  Stay tuned, I'll update if anything funny/mortifying/hilarious happens.  Like the fact that at some point Mr. Mover Man is going to come upon my silicone bra inserts because they just won't fit in my suitcase, and I really won't need them for the next few weeks.  I should install some kind of secret camera to catch his facial expression when he comes upon those.

(Oh God, I've been caged on the couch by a wall of boxes and my coffee table.  Send help!)

10:40

I put all of the paper plates and plastic utensils, along with some easy to make food items, in my pantry and put everything else out on the counter to be packed.  I put a big sign on the door that said "DO NOT PACK PANTRY ITEMS".  I just went in the kitchen to unplug my phone for grumpy moving man and the entire contents of the pantry had been neatly packed in a carefully labeled box.  I guess they get points for thoroughness.

11:48

Oh my God, they just unplugged my cable... that was tragic.  I can live without a lot of things in life, but internet access is not one of those things.

12:48

Weird, it's been exactly one hour--I didn't even do that on purpose!  Current PackCon: (that's Packing Condition for you civilian types)  It looks like they've gotten about three-quarters of my stuff into boxes.  I haven't been back to my bedroom, so I'm not sure how much progress has been made there.  It's kind of unfortunate, I was nursing a secret hope that they'd need two days to pack everything so I wouldn't have to go to work tomorrow.  Bummer.  Maybe I could sneak around behind them and start putting books back on the shelves.  I'll be like the shoemaker's elves--only the opposite, I guess.

I wish someone were here to play with me, we could make a kickass fort in here right now.

I was really hoping they would leave to go to lunch, but it's 12:51 and they're showing no signs of pausing for a lunch-break.  I wish I could have a job that I could show up for 2 hours late and then get fed.  Except minus all of the manual labor.

2:17

Sometimes I hate being the way I am.  I just offered to get lunch for my movers since it's after two o'clock and they've still not made a break for some grub.  They said, no thanks, they'll just pick something up on the way home.  Here is where a normal person would say, "Suit yourself!" and get food for his or herself.  I am not a normal person.  I have a guilt complex the size of Texas, and I just can't bring myself to sit here and eat in front of them.  It's bad enough I've parked myself on the couch for the duration of the day while they slave away packing my crap.  I can't chow down in front of them when I'm sure they're hungry and just trying to get the job done before the end of the day.

So, here I sit.  My stomach slowly eating away at itself while I whine to anyone who will listen to me on AIM about how freaking starving I am.

Also, they keep leaving the door open when they bring loads out to the truck, and it is F-R-E-E-Z-I-N-G in here.  My heater has completely given up on trying to regulate the temperature.

4:03

The movers are still here.  I'm still hungry (though I managed to sneak a couple of M&Ms).  I'm still cold.  I've just realized that the screwdriver I set aside so that I could take down the curtains when the furniture was out of the way must have been packed at some point.  For it is no longer set aside.  I'm not totally sure what to do about this yet.  Do movers have screwdrivers?  Stay tuned for the exciting conclusion...

6:03

Holy mother of God.  THE.  MOVERS.  ARE.  STILL.  HERE.  I was living in this dream world where everything would be out by early afternoon, and I'd have a nice leisurely day to loll about and enjoy my day off from work.  No one clued me into the fact that I was living in Fantasy Land.  I've taken down the curtains in the living room and the dining room, but there's still too much stuff in my bedroom to get to the curtains in there.  All of the stuff is out of the laundry room, so I've transferred the pupsicles in there where they Jack has been crying incessantly.  Ellie thinks she's died and gone to a heaven where the ground is covered in stray bits of dog food and dryer lint.  YUM!

7:30

Yep, it' 7:30 and the movers are still here.  Isn't there some kind of limit as to how long they can stay??  My bed still hasn't been taken apart, but I think we're down to less than 10 boxes now.  The median temperature of my apartment is probably about 40 degrees--a little warmer in some places, but not by much.  I've been keeping both doors to my bathroom closed, so it's created a nice little sauna area.  I just keep disappearing into the bathroom for long stretches of time when my hands have become totally numb.  A more money conscious person would have just turned the heat off altogether, but then I wouldn't have my little haven of warmth to recover in from time to time.

Okay, I think I'm going to go start vacuuming now.  My life is just one exciting adventure after another...

8:51

Everything has been moved out of my apartment, but the movers are still loading things into their van.  I'm done vacuuming and I just ordered my damn pizza, but it's occurred to me that I have no idea how they'll get in since the only way to open my gate for people is through the phone and my phone has been disconnected.  Oh well, we'll figure that out in 45 minutes.  I'm signing off for the evening, but thank you for bearing with me through my moving day from hell.  Next time we're doing this in two days.

And just for Carolyn... I'm Angela and this has been the longest day of my life.  Seriously.

T-7 Days

I would like to begin by saying that yesterday was a cold, rainy day, and I received a phone call at 6:45 telling me that the wing commander had released a delayed reporting time of 10:00.  Last night, we received at least 2 inches of snow and the roads were covered in sheets of ice until about 9 o'clock this morning.  Yet, we were expected to report to work at 7:30.  I watched two accidents occur and nearly skidded out of control on bridges three times.  Sometimes, you have to really wonder about people's decision-making processes.

Anyway, flashing forward to exactly one week from this moment, I will no longer be an Arkansas resident.  How long have I waited to be able to say those words!  (Though, technically, they won't count until it actually is a week from now...)

Have I started packing yet?  No.  Have I thought about starting to pack yet?  Yes.

I'm so overwhelmed, but I think I'm going to put everything in the hands of God and Mayflower Moving company.  I'll pack a couple of suitcases and stash those in the bathroom along with all of my liquids that shouldn't be packed and then tell them to just box up everything except the refrigerator, oven, and dogs.  I don't think puppies do terribly well in storage facilities.  Although, I'll admit, I am tempted to experiment.

I'm pretty excited about having a month and a half off from life as a working girl, though a bit nervous about living with my parents for the duration.  My plan is to attempt to stick to a schedule, and get as much wedding planning done as is humanly possible.  I'm also devoting myself to writing.  I figure there's probably not another time in my life when I'll be as free to take a stab at this "full time writer" dream, so I'm finishing that damn novel if it kills me.  And it very well might.  Then, if I'm not dead, and I'm feeling particularly ambitious, I'll start on my idea for my next novel that came to me in a dream a few nights ago.  Literally, it came to me in a dream.  Weird.

In other writing news, my Wise Bread blog on Target shoes was the only one to be quoted in the Carnival of Shoes and Bags and my article on the shipping kit for military addresses was picked up by The Consumerist.  Not bad for my first week on the job!

Since I've had nothing to do at work for the past couple of days, I've begun researching for the honeymoon.  We're pretty much decided on two weeks next March in Rome, Florence, Capri, and the Amalfi Coast, so I've been scouring Trip Advisor and have come up with a nice loose itinerary that I think could work very well.  If anyone has ever been to Italy, do you have a recommendation for a town to base out of along the Amalfi Coast for about 3 days?  I've been looking at Positano, but have seen some warnings that it's gotten pretty touristy.

I've been having a blast though--I don't know why people get travel agents, I've had so much fun doing the research and googling this and that.  Half the fun of travelling is when you get horribly lost on your way up a "hill" that turns out to be a mini-mountain or are unwittingly attempting to travel by the seat of your pants on a bank holiday and end up having to stay at the bartenders flat above the pub.  You'll have to remind me to tell you those stories some day...

Anyway, I've got a busy weekend planned.  I'm hosting an old-fashioned slumber party at my apartment Saturday night, complete with chick flicks, pizza, ice cream, and pajamas, and then all day Sunday will be spent in a panic preparing for the movers to come on Monday.

Expect my next post to be written as I'm cowering in an out-of-the-way corner, horribly embarrassed as a group of strange men tromp in and out of my apartment, hauling my furniture and possessions away.  Should be fun!

The Final Countdown

This is my last real week of work--next week the movers come on Monday, I think I'll take a day of leave on Tuesday, and I'll be done at work aby around 10 o'clock Friday morning.  Kind of unbelievable.  And no, I haven't started packing yet.

Colby asked me this morning if I was going to spend the week packing or wait until the weekend and stress myself out--which option do you think seems more likely?

My parents' visit went well though, they did their part of the packing process, which consisted mainly of bringing me more furniture and squeezing it into my already jam-packed apartment.  I think moving into the new house is going to be kind of like when you get a new storage unit.  You think to yourself, "Oh, I have ever so much room here!  I cannot believe how much empty space there is!  It will never, ever be filled up, because I didn't need it before, why will I need it now?"  And then, within the week, it's overflowing with junk you never even knew you had.

I'm afraid I have a lot of junk I never even knew I had.

This weekend, I also tested out my upcoming article on shopping for super-hot clothes at Target.  I love having this new writing gig because it totally gives me an excuse to shop as "research".  My favorite purchases were a gorgeous light teal trench coat and a hugely on sale ruffly black tuxedo shirt, which sounds kind of hideous, but I can assure you it is now at the top of my list of favorite shirts and will probably be worn every time I go out until it's knocked off the charts by a new acquisition.

But, to tide you over to that exciting article investigating whether Isaac Mizrahi for Target can pass for Isaac Mizrahi on the runway, here's a little tidbit about saving money when sending care packages to the troops overseas:

With so many soldiers deploying to serve their country recently, it’s likely that at some point in your future, you’ll know someone who is heading away from home for at least 4 months, and possibly into the combat zone for over a year.  My fiancé has been deployed for a little over 3 months now, and one of my favorite things to do has been sending care packages.  I try to send something each month, and between the packages, the emails and phone calls, the separation can be bearable.  However, sending one care package after another grew to be fairly expensive, and I wasn't able to send them as often as I wanted to—until I discovered an amazing deal offered by the post office.  And the best part is that anyone is eligible to participate simply by making one phone call.
Continue Reading...

Lots To Think About...

My parents are coming in today to help me start packing and do all of the stuff movers won't do.  There are so many rules about using movers--they won't take things off walls--what's that all about?  If there is a picture hanging on the wall and you want them to pack it you have to either take it off the wall before they arrive or they'll stand there looking at it and ask you to come take it down.  I mean, I can understand not packing perishable items, bleach, etc, but where on earth did the rule about the wall hangings start??

Anyway, I have a lot of stuff on my walls, so that should kill some time this weekend.

Lynn met with our first publisher yesterday, and I'm hesitantly excited about the prospect.  It's a subsidy publisher (more commonly known as a vanity press) out of Alabama, and while their prices are extremely reasonable, I think our book deserves a shot at a traditional publisher.  I've read a lot of articles online about "self-publishing" and it really seems like the people that opt to do so are the ones who only expect their book to appeal to a small audience.  I think we have such a unique concept, and if we can just find a publisher that gets behind us and understands our audience we could appeal to a very wide audience.  Of course, what author doesn't think that about their writing?  Any thoughts?  Opinions?  Random, spontaneous comments about cheese?

I will say one thing for sure, I love working with Lynn.  I think we complement each other very well (we compliment each other too--Lynn, you're quite pretty!) and balance each other out in a certain way that I can't quite put into words.  I feel comfortable sharing my thoughts about this process with her, and I hope she feels the same way.  This is kind of a unique situation for me, because really I usually work best alone.  I get frustrated with people who don't pull their own weight, or people who are too controlling, and it's rare to find someone who meets and exceeds all of my expectations in a work partnership.

And a BIG thank you to all of you who followed me over to Wise Bread yesterday!  I'll be posting again this weekend, so I'll put another teaser up here when it's published.  Now I'm going to go help myself to another Krispy Kreme--I brought in 2 dozen for the office and I think they need some help in the eating department.  Ridiculous "healthy" people!

Not So Grumpy Now!

As it turns out, this weekend was the perfect weekend to be cooped up indoors.  The sun didn't come out once, temperatures were below freezing, and it rained every day.  I got out of bed obscenely late, actually got dressed once, and caught up on TiVo and Netflix every day.  As negative as I felt on Friday night, it was actually my favorite way to spend a weekend.  The only thing that could have made it better was to have a certain boy sitting on the couch with me so my feet could stay warm.

We had Monday off work due to Martin Luther King day, so a notary came out to my apartment and we sat down for an hour signing all of the house closing paperwork.  I had no idea how many forms there were to be signed and initialed--I didn't count, but I don't think it would be an exaggeration to say that I signed mine and Colby's names at least 50 times.  I am glad I had the opportunity to sign his name though because I discovered that I have 10 months to learn how to write his last name without it looking like it was written by a kindergartener during an earthquake.  I know how to write my name in cursive and I pretty much dumped the rest of the letters after my 5th grade graduation.

I also decided that it's time to go ahead and actually part with those shoes I boxed up ages ago to sell.  Since I had a wee bit of interest shown here when I mentioned that I'd be selling shoes, I'll post the pictures and descriptions on Tuesday or Wednesday so any of you out there who wear around an 8 to a 9 can see if there are any you like.  They're all either never been worn or extremely gently used, so the new ones I'll start at $10 and the gently used will be $5--I'll take best offers from there.  Then, if I don't get any bites, onto Ebay I'll soldier!

And I don't know about you, but I am beyond excited about today!  Because what is tonight, my friends?  Yep, you've got it--the SEASON PREMIERE OF AMERICAN IDOL!!  And best of all, the trainwreck of an audition process will be on for the next few weeks, and for two whole hours tonight.  I can't believe it's already time for the show to start again, but I can't wait to get emotionally invested in these people and spend my Tuesday nights frantically texting in votes.  I don't know about you, but I know Cingular is excited about that!

Grumpy the Grump

Well, here it is a Friday night at 8:00 and I'm surfing the web and watching Six Feet Under.  Living the rockstar life, I am!  Remember how I was saying things had really changed in six months?  Yeah.

Anyway, in all fairness I thought I'd be spending the night cleaning the apartment and preparing for the arrival of my parents tomorrow.  However, they have the virus that won't die, and don't feel that a 7 hour drive through potentially freezing rain would be the best way to combat that virus.  Fair enough.  However, it's another 3 day weekend that I'll spend entertaining myself and the dogs as I've already turned down all offers since I thought I'd be otherwise occupied on these days.  I bid farewell to my friends as they departed for such exotic locales as Oklahoma City and Dallas and here I sit, feeling grumpy and succumbing to the nerves that have overcome me.

Because guess what!  I'm out of a job in 28 days and moving to the opposite side of the country in about 2 months with a guy that I will not have seen in 5 months.  This is all starting to look more than a little bit crazy to me right now.

Here are the things that I have worried about and been brought to the verge of tears over in the past 24 hours:

1. Um, that whole paragraph up there about how I'm not going to have a job and am moving far far away with a boy whose face is beginning to look really fuzzy when I close my eyes and try to picture him.  He pretty much just looks like his MySpace picture in my mind now.
2. My shoes.  I know this is insane, but I've become incredibly worried that people won't like my shoes in Seattle, and they'll judge me and think I'm insufferable and materialistic because I hate hiking boots and Crocs.  I don't hate the people WEARING them, I just don't want to wear them myself!  Please don't hate me Seattle people--I'm really crunchy in my HEART!
3. The $1,100 that the Air Force will be charging me to move my household goods since I'm not moving back to my home of record.  This is an estimate.  It could be more.  I have a lot of stuff.
4. Filing for unemployment.  It's going to be a hassle and there will probably be at least a month between my last paycheck from the Air Force and my first paycheck from the government.  And the fact that people might be all Judgy McJudgersons when I go to file my initial claim.  I hate being judged.
5. That all of my stuff will break and/or be destroyed when it is moved from my apartment, to storage, to the house.  Also that there will be a freak tornado that swoops down on the storage facility and whisks all of my possessions to Oz.  And that I am then reimbursed $6.50 and a gift card to Sonic due to depreciation of the items over time.
6. Driving cross country.  Possibly in the snow.  Because it has been decreed that I can't just sit in the passenger's seat and snore for 5 days this time.
7. Have I mentioned the fact that I'm not going to have any income for at least a month?  I feel that it's worth mentioning again.
8. That this all seems like a great idea in Colby's head, but then we'll move in together and he'll hate me, but he'll feel trapped but that he has to do the right thing and we'll end up in a stifled marriage like Nate and Lisa (I have really got to stop watching Six Feet Under).
9. That this all seems like a great idea in my head, but then we'll move in together and I'll hate him, but feel trapped because I have nowhere else to go and we'll end up in a stifled marriage like Nate and Lisa.
10. Putting my dogs on an airplane all by themselves... the belief that they can go from Baton Rouge to Seattle in a little crate with nothing going awry seems awfully optimistic.
11. Not having insurance or paying an arm and a leg for crappy insurance for 9 months.
12. Everything I said in this post.  Oh, and especially this one.

And that's pretty much just the big stuff.  All the little details can nip at my ankles long enough to bring me down at times as well.  Have I ever told you how much I hate change?

However, it's all happening, and I just need to fasten my seatbelt and TRY to enjoy the ride.  I'm hoping that this is much like my experience with rollercoasters.  For years and years I refused to go on even the most tame kiddie rollercoaster, then one day I decided to give it a try.  I got on, screamed my bloody guts out, stepped off onto the platform when it was over, and with wobbly legs and a hoarse voice proclaimed how freaking awesome it had been.  I still hate rollercoaster rides--the nerves I feel while standing in line, the way I'm so terrified while the ride is going that I can barely scream--but I love the rush when it's over and I'm always the first one back in line to go again.

I'm just hoping to spend a lot less time upside down and sidestepping vomit while undergoing this process.

Breaking News!

Date of Separation Approved: 12 February 2007

Pre Out-Processing Appointment: 2 February 2007

Final Out-Processing Appointment: 9 February 2007

Knowing that you have exactly 1 month left in the Air Force:  Priceless

More Moving Nerves

So, as much as I talk about going out and parties and hanging out with friends, the real truth of the matter is, I am an extreme hermit.  I force myself out of the house to have fun at least once or twice a week, and I typically have an awesome time once I'm actually out there, but generally I'd much rather stay at home with the dogs, a bowl of cocoa puffs, and my Tivo.  I don't like talking on the phone.  I'm capable of carrying on an enjoyable conversation while in the waiting room at the doctor's office or when I'm smushed into the middle seat on an airplane, but I'd really rather people would just leave me alone so I can read my book.

I just find my own company very enjoyable, thank you very much!

Anyway, this tendency toward the hermit lifestyle is all well and good when I have an established set of friends who realize that sometimes it's just better to email than call, or that there are going to be nights that I just want to stay at home and it's nothing personal.  But when I'm in a new place and I'm forced to make a new set of friends, it's a little more complicated.  Let's face it.  I spent 2 years in Little Rock before I finally made friends with a group of girls that didn't drive me insane, and even now there are only three people that I'll really miss when I leave.  (I counted.)

I've also always had the convenience of school or a very well populated workplace to provide me with a pool of potential friend candidates.  However, I probably won't be working for a while after we get to Washington, and to be honest, officer's wives kind of terrify me.  Especially since I won't be a "wife" until November, and therefore not really a card carrying member of their club.  If you know many officer's wives, you totally understand what I mean by this.  The last thing I want to do is to latch on to Colby like he's my everything, and completely drain him of his life force.  Been there, got the t-shirt!

I want to find a way to be an independent girl, with a life of her own, who won't spend her evenings moping around the house when her man is away.  I really want to find a way to overcome my inner hermit, and be completely excited at the idea of being able to start all over with a new set of people and friends.  I just really don't have a clue how to meet people, aside from the friend of a friend introductions at parties and such.

There are classes I could take.  I've thought about getting back into dancing--not only would it be a good way to meet people, but it's exercise I actually enjoy.  I loved dancing when I was younger, and if we hadn't ended up with a dance teacher that sat on our backs to "help" us with our splits I would probably have stuck with it for much longer.  I love to sing, so I've been using my pal Google to try to find choruses or choirs that I could potentially join or audition for at some point... maybe...  (Because let's not even get into my intense fears of both judgement and trying new things that I also need to get the heck over--that's another story for another time.)  I have all of these grand ideas and am storing up my witty conversation openers, but I'm just afraid that I'll get up there, retreat into my cave and only send messages to the outside world through my dogs, whom I've convinced myself are fluent in English.

You can probably see how that would, ultimately, not really be enjoyable for anyone involved.

In happier news, Colby has officially been selected for promotion to Captain this summer, which mostly just means a lovely pay raise.  So, you know, he must have been remembering to breathe right on schedule for the past 3 1/2 years.  Congrats to him!

If It's Not One Thing...

I'm so frustrated with the Air Force right now, I could positively scream.

So, months ago, when I applied for my separation I put down a separation date of March 2.  This was before I knew that I would be moving up to Washington with Colby, but after that became the master plan I toyed with the idea of changing my date so that I would have a little more time to take care of business at home before moving to the other side of the country.  But I read up on our vacation allowances and saw that there was a 20 day permissive TDY (Temporary Duty--can be used in lieu of leave days) for housing and job search authorized for individuals separating under a voluntary separation incentive.  So, I figured that with those 20 days I could be out of the area by mid February, get all of my wedding planning taken care of and spend time with family all before Colby came home at the beginning of March and we began the road trip to Washington.

Turns out, not so much.

For whatever reason, the Air Force has decided that under this specific separation program those 20 days are no longer authorized.  The extremely frustrating part is that I know people who have already gotten their 20 days approved and apparently they're getting grandfathered in so that they can still take those PTDY days.  My friend is working her last few days of work this week before she starts on her 20 days and separates from the Air Force in January.  But since my separation date is a couple months later, I'm shit out of luck.

So, now if I want to get home in time to get anything done that I had planned for those few weeks I'm going to have to put in a request to move my separation date a few weeks earlier.  Which means that'll be out a paycheck and another day of leave that I'll be losing.  Not to mention the fact that it takes about 6 weeks to get separation requests approved and I only have 8 weeks between now and the time that I want to get out.

I would fight this, but if I take the risk and end up losing the battle in a couple of weeks I'll be stuck with my March 2nd separation date and there definitely won't be enough time to get it moved up.  Honestly though, this just reinforces my reasons for wanting to get out of the Air Force.  I grew up hearing about how the military was a family, and it took care of it's own, but ever since the day I set foot on base it's been one infuriating thing after another and now I just want to get out as soon as possible.  This isn't a family that I want to be a part of anymore--I'm tired of being treated as a second class citizen just because I'm a person instead of a weapons system.

Now I just hope that my request is approved in time for me to get on with my life.  I'm ready for the next chapter to begin.