Sniffle, sniffle

I think standing outside for over an hour yesterday in 50 degree weather did me in. I decided to vote early. I figured if I waited until Tuesday, that would be the day that Eric would need the car all day, and I wouldn't be able to get off post to vote. So I went to the county election office with 40 of my closest friends who also decided to do their patriotic duty. Unfortunately, there were only 20 seats inside the office, so the rest of us were outside.

I get there, I go inside to sign in on a yellow tablet and fill out a one sheet affidavit. Then outside to wait. Five minutes later they call my name. Cool, I think to myself, I'm on the fast track. Must be the only one in the crowd who requested a republican ballet, so they're getting to me first. Nope, I filled out my paperwork as Melissa Cryer, not Melissa D. Cryer. They called me in to put a D in 4 places. Sigh.... Anyway, an hour later, I finally got to vote. Only 5 machines in the back, which is why the wait was so long. I've never voted touch-screen before.

But this morning I'm not feeling so good. Actually, this whole week I've been feeling run down. I guess all the stress has caught up with me.

Monday was good. I had bought 2 bookshelves for my 'sewing' room - aka the dining room. I got them assembled and most of MY books on the shelves. I was pretty proud of myself. Then I went out into the storage room to look through some other boxes. When I opened a box marked "Christmas", I found it was totally filed with more of my sewing stuff. Sheesh. I had no idea that I had so many quilting books! In the old place, I had stuff stored in 2 different places. Here it's all in one room, and IT'S OVER TAKING THE WORLD!!! Eric has the same reaction with all his military gear and his radios, so I don't feel so bad.

But the downside of messing with the bookshelves and the books is that my back finally gave out. Spent most of Tuesday on the couch with a heating pad. Did take Nathan to Wallyworld that afternoon to look for a halloween costume. He still says that he's not wearing it for trick or treating, but his class does have a party on Friday that he wants to wear it to.

He picked out Batman. Black body suit with a fake enhanced chest. It was supposed to come with a belt, a cape and a mask. Unfortunately, since we basically waited until the last moment, none of the remaining costumes actually had any of the accoutrement's. Luckily, he has a cape that he got at Six Flags this summer. I also let him buy some batman gloves. He thinks those are the best part. So we get home, and he immediately stripes down to try on his new costume. Not the body suit, mind you, but the gloves. So imagine him in scooby doo under-roos and black gloves that almost reach his elbows, striking a heroic pose. He kept asking us if we thought he looked cool. Another challenge as parents is to not fall out of your chair laughing at your child and hurt his feelings.

Dancing

One of the joys of any parent's life is to record his or her child's antics for future embarrassment. (Must have some redeeming value to the Alvin and the Chipmunk soundtrack.

NAF sale

Okay, so we went to our first NAF sale yesterday. NAF covers the stuff on post that are paid for by entrance fees - bowling alley, guest logging, library, golf courses - rather than the stuff that Congress pays for. Occasionally NAF will sell off furniture and equipment as they remodel. The ad in the paper said it started at 8:00. We got there probably about 10 after 8. ALL SOLD!!! Tons of armoires, end tables, tvs, headboards, desks and dressers. 90% of which was all sold in under 10 minutes. I had to ask one of the employees how that was possible, cuz I was thinking that the staff had gone through the night before and marked everything they wanted for themselves. She said that buyers were lined up well before 8. Apparently either the employees give you slips of paper when you come in, or you come to the sale with your own 'sold to john doe' and a roll of tape. Once you get in, you dash to what you want, slap your sold sticker on it with tape, then go to the cash register to pay for it. Cherrywood armoires were going for $35!!! We could have used a couple of those for pantry use. She assured me that they're having another sale in another month or so. I guess next time we'll send Eric (the morning person) bright and early.

So after that, we dragged Nathan to a couple of yard sales. Neither he nor I were all that into it. The yard sale gene apparently passed me by. Luckily the OU game was an early one, so we had a good excuse to go home. Eric wouldn't have minded standing in the drizzling rain looking for a $100 radio marked down to $10, but OU football trumps a yard sale crawl.

I did manage to go through all our boxes of books. I think I can finally make myself get rid of the Time Life Books Atlas of the World from 1980. I probably don't need to keep the Who's Who's of High School seniors tome that I've been lugging around for 20 years. Bookshelves. I really need bookshelves.

I did get all the pictures unwrapped. I need an interior decorator to give me 2 hours of his/her time. I can't seem to bite the bullet and hang things on the wall. I just need to have someone else tell me what things to hang and where. I have 2 cousins with design degrees. One of them should be able to come out here and help me out, right? I need someone to 'freestyle' my stuff.

Nathan is insisting that he won't dress up for Halloween or go trick or treating. And he's been this way for a couple of weeks. So we haven't gotten a costume. If the kid decides on Friday that he wants one, I'm gonna make him wear the winnie the pooh costume that my mother sewed decades ago.

Eric says he's going to walk to work tomorrow. As the crow flies, that would be 2 miles, about what he did at Sill. But straight line goes through a densely wooded area. Probably not how he wants to go for the first time when he's trying to get to work on time. So the safe way on the sidewalk is closer to 3 miles. Problem with that is that it goes past the water treatment plant. Pee-yoo! Stinky!

He's got his work cut out for him. For the past 4 years he's been with a band that's had continuity and a fairly regular job parameters. Here, on the other hand, lots of turn over and VERY young soldiers. I think after all his years in admin, that he will have a good impact on the band and will be a good mentor to the younger bandsmen. He was working with a soldier on Friday about jazz improv. You'll have to ask him what happened.

Not every post I make it going to have a black and white photo on it, but I'm enjoying this at the moment. Today would have been my grandparents 73rd wedding anniversary. I always liked thinking about how being in the military brings people from different ways of life together. My grandfather, an Indian kid born in land-locked Indian Territory, joins the navy and is stationed in Connecticut, where he meets my grandmother, the daughter of Polish immigrants. He brings her back to Oklahoma. Now, what kind of culture shock is that? If he hadn't joined the military, they probably would have married somebody from their own neighborhoods, and life would have been a lot different.

Rainy (day) in Georgia

Fall has finally hit us here in the sub-tropics. Highs have only been in the low to mid 70s. Yesterday it was overcast, and actually pretty nippy. I was fairly productive. Reassembled Nathan's desk and dealt with the washer exploding on me twice.

Eric brought home most of his real army equipment. Times sure have changed since the last time he was in a division. Heavier and more of it.

Today it rains. I did manage to get the trashcan and most of the recyclables to the curb. It's really nice that they have curbside recycling here. And they take a heckuva lot more stuff than Ft. Sill. The down side is that they only come once a week. And they come EARLY! I barely got it all to the curb. We were overflowing with bags.

Anyway. I'm in my favorite long-sleeve shirt of Eric's, flannel pants, and a fresh pot of coffee. My only goal until Nathan comes home is to short through our boxes of books. (Tough, isn't it?) We were just going to leave them in boxes until we bought some bookshelves, but now we can't find what we need. (I had them quasi-organized at the old place. At the the books were stacked into generic categories - my fiction, Eric's war books, music textbooks, etc. The packers obviously did not appreciate my system. Hmpt!)

Maybe I'll just sit on the couch and surf the web for true and bizarre stories. For instance, msnbc is reporting that stinky farts in mice might help regulate high blood pressure. foxnews is reporting that a college student in Taiwan died after participating in a competitive eating contest. See what you're missing while working at your job? HGTV is 2nd on my agenda.

The picture is my great-great-grandparents on my dad's side. They got married on Oct. 23, 1895 in Indiana. So yesterday would have been their 113th wedding anniversary. I believe this picture was taken on their 50th. Certainly hope she was friendlier than she appears in photos. No real reason to post it, just felt like highlighting some family tree stuff.

What day is it?

Now that I'm not punching a clock, I have a hard time keeping track of days. Today was the first day that both Eric and Nathan were out. Spent most of the day trying to make since of the junk that had just been thrown into the closets as we unpacked boxes.

So now that Nathan is walking to school, he and Eric both decided he was perfectly capable of walking to and from school without parental assistance. I'm more worried about him getting distracted along the way, and therefore being late, but so far he has done what he was supposed to. On Monday, Eric went to the school right before they got out. He stood off to the side and watched Nathan look for us and then start walking home. Nathan was so proud of himself when he got home. I almost went today to find him. He's never in the first wave that gets out of the school. But I managed to restrain myself. But one of the things I was looking forward to was walking him to and from school. But I guess he doesn't need me (sniff! sniff!)

He had his first bad behavior mark yesterday. He says that 3 other kids in the class were misbehaving, but they got him in trouble. So instead of a blue star on he calendar, he got a yellow one (not good!) Today he managed to redeem himself. He's already complaining about homework. I didn't figure we'd have these kind of struggles until he was older. He's still impressionable enough to threaten with loss of toys to coerce him into doing his work. He mentioned today that he has 2 best friends. I'm thinking, "great! we can arrange for a playdate this weekend! What are their names?" "I don't know." Hmmmmmm.

I had to go to a spouse workshop yesterday, to learn about different programs on post. It lasted 3 hours. Probably everything I needed to know could have been condensed into 45 minutes. I was tickled to learn that if Eric had a girlfriend and designated her as a payee on his life insurance, the army is legally bound to send me a letter. The army can't tell me who the other beneficiaries are, or how much they will get, but they do have to tell me. I haven't received a letter yet, so I'm guessing it's all good.

Still haven't received any real mail since Sept. 25. Good thing most of my bills are paid on-line.

We will be getting new local cell phone numbers. For family and friends, email me if you need the new numbers. I'll probably have my going by the end of the day tomorrow. Eric, on the other hand, is resisting. He's got so many numbers in his phone from army buddies around the country. I must make an apology to my mother-in-law. I think she would crater into a fetal position without her cell phone or a land line. I don't really talk that much on the phone. I just don't have to be that connected. I must apologize, however, because I never realized that Eric was just as bad as his mother! His phone usage is 3 times what mine is! So my apologies, Rebecca Alice - I must be the odd duck in the fam.

Vista bites! I just lost half my post!

Any-hoo. According to my inbox - this is myeloma awareness week. Spend a moment on wikipedia and educate yourselves.

You'll all be pleased to know that I did find the legs to the couch. They were in a box on the front carport marked "tools". Yeah, can't believe I didn't find that earlier. The rollers for the bed frame are still MIA.

Couch legs?

I'd say we're about 75% through emptying boxes. Have not, however, been able to find the 4-inch screw-on legs for the couch. Nor can we find 2 of the rollers for the bed frame on our bed. I cannot intuitively guess based on the packer's hieroglyphics which of the remaining boxes might contain them. So both the couch and our bed are sitting lower than usual. Might have to feng sui the whole house and go for that asian feel.

Anyway, the house is starting to take shape. It may be 20 years older than the house we just left, but for the most part, it's square footage is more balanced in the rooms. For all intents and purposes, it's the same layout. But the living room is wider, plus it has carpet. Eric actually thinks our mismatch furniture looks better. Wall to wall carpet does wonders. We have a laundry room on the first floor, not a laundry closet, nor is it part of the kitchen. Rather than a large closet/pantry on the first floor, it's actually a walk-in closet on the 2nd floor. I lost the double skin master bathroom with the walk in closet, but actually I have more closet space than I did in the other house. None of the bathrooms have windows, so they're pretty stark. Nathan's bathroom is now sporting a tropical fish shower curtain that he picked out himself (slight improvement over the Spiderman motif).

Drawbacks - there's almost no airflow upstairs. That's not gonna fly. The stairwell and upstairs doorways are kinda narrow (glad it wasn't me moving my dresser up the stairs). And the kitchen! It's what you would expect in a NYC efficient apartment. Tiny little galley style. I can touch the counters on both sides, and walk through it lengthwise in less than 6 steps. But small square footage is manageable. The real problem is the cabinets. The only cabinets wide enough to allow for dinner plates are the 2 cabinets above the sink. All the other cabinets are so narrow that I can't get plates, or mixing bowls, or pots and pans in them. Most of the cabinets are 8-10 inches wide. My dinner plates are 10-1/2 inches. And the cabinets are particle board from the 70s. The counter tops are the exact same as we had at Campbell and our first place at Sill. The army most have gotten a heckuva deal on these.

But those are just minor inconveniences. Location trumps tiny kitchen. We live on a cul-de-sac, and there are kids EVERYWHERE! If we could just pry Nathan the hermit out of the house, he'd probably have the time of his life meeting kids. I've noticed that after moms drop off their kids for school in the morning, a lot of them go for walks in the neighborhood, either by themselves or in groups. Hopefully I'll be able to plug into the neighborhood vibe now that we're actually here.

texas is beating mizzou 35-3 at the half. Blech.

Shout out to my mother-in-law. I had my first cup of coffee in our new place with one of my new red coffee cups. Thanks!

There was some anxiety this morning, trying to get the OU game and figure out the wireless network. A little extra money to Comcast, a 15 minute call to Belkin tech support, and we were good to go. Yeah Sooners!

Eric just rocked a brisket. Best one he's ever made. Good thing, too, since we have a LOT left! ;). He tried sea bass for the first time last night. I thought the flavor was good, but watch out for the bones.

Nathan and Eric will go look for gaters in the neighborhood tomorrow while I tackle the laundry. What fun...

Boxes of books everywhere! I did try to purge before we moved, but dang! Neither of us can through away books or music. We have a box of vinyl records, which we have not listen to EVER! In fact, they have some water damage. IMO, we could have thrown them out, but Eric couldn't do it. I'd get all my books in e-book pdf form, but you just can't take a bubble bath with your laptop. Wouldn't be prudent!

Don't think I can stay up until 11:30 to watch SNL tonight for Sarah Palin. I still haven't gotten used to the time change. I don't think I've seen the evening news yet, because I just can't stay up that late.

I'm still weirded out by spanish moss. Technically I don't think it's a parasite, but sheesh! It's everywhere.

How we felt the last week of motel livin'

I'll probably be served with a cease and disist order for using Bloom County pictures.

We're in the house, we're online, but I'm too tuckered out to blog more. Maybe tomorrow.

Ah! Sweet Solitude!

It's Tuesday morning and I finally have the 'house' to myself. Eric started inprocessing today and Nathan went back to school after the Columbus day holiday. We tried to make it easy in ourselves as this gypsy life continues to drag out. We rented the room next to ours for the 3-day and we rented a car for the rest of the week. But this has been no joke. I think the next time we look into getting a motel room with 2 cats I may have some PTSD issues. I should probably look into therapy for Roxy.

Let's see, what have we done since the last time I posted? Well, I don't think the OU game needs to be addressed. Eric keeps saying that it's no shame in loosing to the #5 team in the nation. My thinking is that that's okay for anyone ranked #6 or lower. If you're ranked #1-4? Not so much.

After that debacle, Nathan and I explored one of the on-post play areas for kids. Indoor playground the thousands of nerf balls and the cannons to blast them with. Nathan worked up quite a sweat in the 3 hours we stayed there, but afterwards called it boreing. Since when did he become a teenager?

Sunday rained all freakin' day. That put the kibosh on going to the beach like we had planned. I finally went stir crazy and went into Savannah to find a bookstore. Found Books a Million. Somewhere there's a Barnes & Noble and a Waldenbooks, but that seems to be it. Did find Michaels and Hancock Fabrics while I was out, so future shopping sprees should be fruitful. Did get the book I've been waiting for all week (post living is nice, but the PX isn't going to have that big of a selection). Also picked up a couple of quilting magazines. I'm itching to get my sewing stuff out and have fabric exploding all over the dining area in the new house, but I'll try to control myself until after the boxes are unpacked.

Monday was just more of the same - Nathan watching tv/playing ps2 in one room, Eric watching tv/surfing the web in the other. I usually buried my nose in a book. I did have to find a laundrymat in Richmond Hill. The only one I found was pretty darn rough. I didn't stay any longer than necessary, so those clothes that were still damp got festooned in both rooms to air dry. I did also have find a copier for Eric plus shower flip-flops.

So today was the start of 'normal'. Again Nathan complained about going to school. He started to come around once we got in the rental car. But once we got to the school, Mr. Sensitive came out again. Apparently the kids line up class outside. I didn't know which line was his, and he said he didn't recognize any of the kids. He's only 7 and he's only been with that group for 3 days, so I can believe it. I asked one of the monitors which class was his, then she came over and tried to get some of other kids in the line to be his buddy. That just embarrassed him more and started more tears. I felt so bad for him. My momma instinct was to find his teacher and explain that he was a little sensitive this morning. But I managed to refrain. I figured he's get over it soon enough, and I knew we'd probably have the same story tomorrow. Sigh...

I did get the whole cable/phone/internet taken care of this morning. Heaven forbid we not have tv or internet by Saturday at 3:30! After scheduling the service tech for anytime between 8-12 on Friday, I remembered that the movers are supposed to come on Friday, so it could be very hectic that day. Both Nathan and Eric will be off work/school. Them, plus the cats? Cozy!

2 weeks down, 1 to go

We left Lawton 2 weeks ago today. Since then we've lived in motels. Ugggg. Here I sit in our Days Inn Room, watching the dow jones futures tank, listening to one politician after another saying, I'm right, he's wrong, yet either not qualified to remake the economy into a vibrant, healthy, forward-looking one. (I've obviously spent too much time watching TV lately). Who needs Iceland anyway? I did register to vote in Georgia last week. I think I'm just going to vote anti-incumbent. Doesn't matter what side of the aisle - just throw the bums out and start over.

Any-hoo. Nathan started school on Wednesday. Eric and I both took him. We were a few minutes late because we hadn't anticipated both school traffic and PT traffic intersecting in our new neighborhood. Went to his new classroom. His teacher asked him if he was excited to join the class. He looked up at her and said, "Well, I am a little nervous, actually." She reassured him a little, then said to the class, "I need a buddy. Who wants to be a buddy?" Every little boy arm started waving wildly. AJ showed him where to hang his backpack and they all settled down for storytime. So we left and looked at each other and thought - what do we do now? We've been a trio for 10 days straight. It seemed strange not to have him with us.

But we managed to survive the empty nest syndrome. Eric took a nap and I applied for unemployment and found the local public library (TINY!). I went solo to pick up Nathan. He seemed happy with the school. He only complained about the succotash at lunch and no recess.

Now, getting the kid out of bed yesterday and today has been a challenge. School doesn't start until 8:00, but with the travel time and going through the gate, he's gotta hit the road shortly after 7:00. Unfortunately, the poor kid takes after his momma. Neither of us are morning people. I can make myself get up early, but that's because I'm an adult. Nathan, on the other hand, doesn't get the idea of consequences. We had a crying episode this morning with Nathan yelling that Eric is so bossy and it's just not fair. Poor little guy. This should be the last morning he has to get up quite this early. Next week we'll move to a hotel in Hinesville to be closer to the post.

We've got a long 3 day weekend. Not sure what we'll do. Of course, the game is on at 12:00 on Saturday. I may take Nathan to explore some of the parks on post after the game is over. Then on Sunday and/or Monday we may explore Savannah more or try to find more beach. Tybee Island is having a Piratefest this weekend. Arg!

Tuesday, October 7, 2008

Okay. So we've moved from Savannah to the Days Inn in Richmond Hill. Got Nathan enrolled in school and he starts tomorrow. Kept to ourselves most of the day. The boys had a protracted 20 minute pillow fight. (The post where I detail just how much Eric acts like a 7 year old will come at another time).

Now, the Days Inn is low-budget, but so far we hadn't had any complaints. However...right in the middle of Nathan's shower this evening, we lose water. Call the front desk, and a water pipe is busted somewhere on the property. "But the city is out working on it, and you should get water back in about 30 mintes." So, males that they are, Nathan and Eric must investigate, and, if necessary, supervise. (Nathan is just in a pair of Spiderman pajamas. But just why is it that you have to go to the bathroom the most, just when there's no water? The cats and I are enjoying the quiet while the boys are roaming the property.

Best Day Ever

Or at least in the top 10. We would probably would have been better served by getting Nathan enrolled in school today. But we chose to make memories instead.

Our first stop was Ft. Pulaski on Cockspur Island, GA. And we finally got our first glimpse of a gator in the moat. Looked to be about 4-5 feet. The boys made jokes all day about going into the water to 'rastle' it. Enjoy the picture of 'General Nathan' on top of the paraphet.

We went back to Tybee Island to play in the water again. Much different pace of life since it was a weekday. There were a few grandparents with their preschool grandchildren, but mostly adults. There was an overcast sky, which made it a little colder than the day before. Having recently been in Oklahoma, to me, this is fall. It's not so hot there now, the leaves are starting to turn, and the air just feels different towards the end of the day. Not here on the coast, however. It's still summer. Maybe not blistering hot, but autumn is still distantly on the horizon.

I'll try to upload some more photos of the day to my flickr.com account, for those of you with access. You'll see a lot more pictures of Nathan and Eric, and none of me. This was a father/son bonding trip. I was just the official recorder. And that's okay. If we're facing a deployment next year, I'm glad that we've had this time to be tourists and make memories. The sight of Eric and Nathan karate-kicking the waves, 'living like Larry' (Spongebob reference), Nathan trying to pull Eric into the surf, looking for seashells. Eric forcibly making Nathan face the waves, yet being his anchor, and giving him the stability to be adventurous.

Lunch was at the Crab Shack. More touristy, gimmicky eatery. But, they did have their own baby alligator pit. Approximately 30 allegators, 1-3 feet. Eek! And yes, you can feed them yourselves! I didn't care for the exotic birds - too noisy. Have to include a picture of Eric's lunch. The seafood sampler was huge! And messy. By the time you shuck and crack and pick out the food from the shells, there isn't all that much food. By the time I shelled and de-armed my plate of shrimp, the magic was gone on the whole fresh seafood experience. I go out to eat so I don't have to prepare my own food. I was seriously need a wet-nap by the end.

Went back to the hotel for a couple of hours, got some laundry done, then took Nathan to the Chuck E. Cheese, which was right across the street. Now, I'd rather clean my kitty litter box than to go to CEC. But since it was a weeknight, the place wasn't totally overrun with screaming kids. It was bearable. Nathan of course enjoyed himself. Eric played a couple of games, himself.

So tomorrow it's back to the bizarre no-man's land life. But today? Pretty sweet.

Tybee Island

Not sure if the video will work. Our camera will take video, but no sound. We played tourists today at Tybee Island. It was really nice to not be hanging around a motel room. Can't say that the shrimp at the local seafood place tasted anymore fresher than the frozen kind in Oklahoma. But that's not the point. We were eating GEORGIA Atlantic shrimp.

weekends in Hinesville

I've had a little more time to wander Hinesville in the past few days. I'm not sure how long Hinesville has been in existance, but it seems to me like it's sole purpose is to support the post. It's almost totally service industry - there's not manufactoring or white collar jobs. If I can't get a job on post, I may be working either sales or a cash register. Oh well, I'll kick up the job search once Nathan's in school. I've always been pretty lucky with the jobs I've gotten, so I'm not too worried.

It's a pretty little town. Lots of trailers in the rural edges of town. I think I'll like getting around town for the next few years. There are, however, serious drawbacks to shopping. NO bookstores! NO craft stores! NO quilting/fabric shops! I'd have to run into Savannah anytime I want those items, or order online. There is a Walmart superstore, but there isn't a mall. There's a Sears, something called a Peebles, and a Cato. Lots of Dollar General, Dollar Tree type stores. There's a Chilis and a Ruby Tuesdays.

Eric says that once we move into quarters on the 16th, he's not leave post again except to be deployed. It would be funny if I didn't know that he meant it. Anything to avoid going through the gates.

He did take Nathan to get a haircut this morning (barbershop was in walking distance of the hotel). Eric usually tells the ladies to give Nathan a high fade. Well, this was a REALLY high fade.

We're going to Savannah for Sunday night. Probably won't make it over to Paula Deen's, but we plan on sightseeing, maybe at Tybee Island.

Makin' a list, and checkin' it twice

Man, have we accomplished a lot today! First was the promotion ceremony in the parking lot of the Richmond Hill Motel 6. Eric thinks it was his best one ever. Over in less than 2 minutes and no speeches.

We decided this morning that we just couldn't stay at the motel for another night. No offense to Tom Bodine, but we really needed more space and something closer to the post. The cats were unhappy with the move. Both have hissed at us throughout the day.

After the 30 minute haggling with the motel 6 clerk for leaving 3 days earlier than we had reserved, the next order of business was to find a storage unit to unload the UHaul. After 30 minutes of hard labor, it was emptied out and we had to find some certified scales to get it weighed for our partial-DTY move. There is apparently only one set of certified scales in Liberty County, and they are not in Hinesville. We had quite the scenic tour of rural Liberty County to travel through before we found them.

Once that was done, it was time to unload Rufus. Now, Rufus has been on a trailer since last Thursday. Rufus is apparently a delicate piece of machinery, who must be started daily for optimum starting power. This, unfortunately, has not been the case since Thursday. We found our new hotel and decided to unload Rufus there, and then we could return the UHaul. Eric climbed into the cab, gave it a couple of cranks, and nothing. He told me to get in the cab, put it in neutral, and he was going to push it off the trailer. While I believe that my husband can accomplish just about anything he decides to accomplish, I knew this wasn't going anywhere. He tried - no go. Then he tells me to get out and help him push. (!) Yeah, like that's gonna make a difference. We gave it the ole college try twice and decided that was enough. He used some sort of starter fluid and then tried to start it again. That thing let out the loudest backfire I have ever heard! Scared the living daylight out of me! Eric has laughed all afternoon about how I jumped and flinched.

Anyway, luckily a UHaul store was right across the street from our hotel. We drove over there to turn it in. Took forever! Apparently business was slow and the owner was in no hurry. Sheesh! Seems like we haven't quite acclimated to the slower pace of life in the south, yet.

After that we went to Nathan's school to pick up a registration packet. Seems like we missed the enrollment period for this week by about an hour. Now we can't enroll him until Monday, so he won't start school until Tuesday. I can foresee that mornings will be tougher than we're used to. Nathan is not a morning person (just like me). It was hard enough getting him up for the school bus by 8:30. His new school starts at 8:00. And unfortunately, none of us have quite gotten used to eastern standard time.

It was nice checking into the new hotel. Much more space. I left the boys and went to the one and only Walmart for some milk and kitty litter. As I was wandering through the aisles, it occurred to me how nice it was to be a strange city where nobody knows you. I mean, if I wanted to belch loudly in the middle of the produce section or cackle like a hen in the checkout line - who cares? I mean, no one knows me yet, right? Wrong! The one and only person I know by name and sight passed me in the frozen foods section - Mabel, our realtor. She drove us to 6 different houses, told us to call her 24-7 if we had a question about Hinesville, recommended travel routes and shopping centers. (Now, I know that all realtors will do that in the hopes of making the sales. And most of them know that they're only going to make a sale maybe 1 out of 4 times. But still!) But how random is that? The one person I know and I was desperately hoping she wouldn't recognize me. The guilt over wasting 4 hours of her time with no sale made me hurry through the store.

Any-hoo. We're all snug in our hotel now. Can't do anything with Nathan and school until Monday. Eric's on 'house search' until the 10th (which is already a fait accompli) and I'm not working right now. All the big obstacles on this move are, I think, taken care of for the moment. We might do some local sightseeing tomorrow. Saturday we'll actually get the OU/Baylor game on television! So Sunday we may actually play tourists in Savannah.

Promotion Ceremony

Nathan changed the insignia, I read the official proclamation, and Sam the Motel 6 handy man was the official photographer. Had to have the Motel 6 sign in the background.

Roller Coaster

Things have finally settled down today. Eric is asleep, our cat Roxy has finally come out from under the bed for the first time in 3 days, Nathan is playing his ps2 with his headphones, we have a permanent address, and the senate has managed to pass a bailout bill. All is right with the world.

This morning we were looking at two different houses, considering which one to make an offer on, and this evening we have signed a contract to accept post housing. You can't get more bi=polar than that.

Every since Eric got the email back on January 3rd, telling him that we were moving to Ft. Stewart, he has been stressing about this move. That, and his promotion. He has worked hard to make sure that we as a family are taken care of. I am so proud of him. He's usually not Mr. Romance, but that's okay. He wants to make sure that Nathan and I are taken care of and provided for. IMHO, nothing means more than making sure your family is provided for. (now, if he would spontaneously think to do the laundry or go grocery shopping or suggest a family outing, hey - that's just bonus.)

I can't tell you the relief about getting quarters on post. While we both really liked the older house we were willing to make an offer on, it is just so much more comforting to be on post. Especially if he's going to be deployed. I just prefer the safety of being in a kick-a$$ gated community if he were gone. If the roof leaks or the plumbing goes bust, I'd rather call housing to come fix it, rather than getting bids to get it fixed.

Georgia. What to say about Georgia. I went to a grocery store yesterday. Harveys. Never heard of it before, but apparently it's a chain around here. Was happy with my options there. But when the canned store music played "Georgia on my mind" by Ray Charles, I had to wonder, "do native get tired of this? Is this so trite that it's unbearable?"

Boiled peanuts at a gas station. What is that all about? Why would you want to buy and eat boiled peanuts? How is that different from the peanuts you buy at say, a baseball game?

We are now at a division. Fort Sill was a tradoc post - tra meaning training. Division is combat. There's another level called Macom, but I'm not sure exactly what that means. It seems to include the superior performance bands like the Drum & Fife Band, the Jazz Ambassadors and the President's own - the bands who are the true performers and don't have to sweat the hard core details.

It was obvious today as were tried to get one post when everyone was getting out for lunch. There was WAY more people on the roads than we were used to at Fort Sill, and there was no parking. Reminds me a lot of Fort Campbell. I thought Eric would stroke out dealing with the traffic. His goal in life is to avoid red lights at all costs.

I can't over emphasize enough how different our situation is now, compared to when we re-entered the military in 1999. Eric was only an E4 - now he is an E7. We went through Consumer credit Counseling and paid off a lot of miscellaneous debt that was weighing us down. We have a kid. I now have experience in the social services field that will expand my chances at getting a decent job here. We've worked hard to overcome bad financial decisions we made when we were younger. And I have to give props to Eric. He has worked hard on both his physical requirements and his leadership qualities. He's finally reached a point where he is a leader. I don't think I could have said that back in 1999 when we re-entered the army. Going to Iraq with the 101st gave him a maturity that he didn't' have before. (I'm a firm believer that most men don't understand maturity and responsibility until they're about 30, but that's another post.) He's learned that at his position, one of his missions is to develop leadership in the soldiers under his command. I think one of the most crucial things one can do is mentor or groom younger soldiers/friends/co-workers into realizing their potential. I think Eric understands that and is positioned to make those choices as a leader.

I think tomorrow we can just enjoy discovering the quirks of Hinesville. We'll get Nathan enrolled in school and see about finding some hotel to live in that is closer to post, and then I think we'll see about just being the tourists and sightsee=ers that we'd like to be. There have been some quirks we've discovered - the guy selling shrimp and fresh fish out of his van at the corner of hwy 196 and 19. The fact that we're the minority off of post. The boiled peanuts at a convenience store. Spanish moss, pelicans and mosquitos.

This Motel 6 room is getting smaller by the day...

Home is where the army sends you.

Looks run down on the outside, but some lady in the neighborhood let us look in her place. Small kitchen, smaller kitchen cabinets. Wood floors and carpeting.

Eric will only have to walk 2 miles to work. There's a shoppette the next block over, and we can see Nathan's new school from our backyard. The only fly in Eric's ointment is no decent trees in the back yard for set up an antennae.