Keeping us on our toes...

The Navy sure likes to keep us on our toes.  We have been planning a trip back to the states for Nathan's parents' 50th Anniversary celebration and finally bought our tickets about a month ago.  It took some time...between watching fares (Miles will be 2 so we have to buy three trans-Atlantic tickets...ouch$) and getting approval from Nathan's job, but we finally got the green light and fares looked ok (well..ok as they ever are).   Then Nathan called me with a bomb on Friday.  He is being deployed.  Soon.  (Can't give too many details...loose lips sink ships)  It's only for 8 weeks...but it happens to fall smack dab over the already-purchased plane tickets.  It doesn't matter to Miles and I...we are going out for longer than Nathan was given as leave anyway (I wanted to get our money's worth out of those tickets) but Nathan's is going to take a bit of configuring, praying, begging, and a little smidgen of luck.  I'm hoping we can still get him home for his parent's 50th without having to pay exorbitant change fees for the ticket. 

Just goes to show you how you should always plan on the unexpected, especially in the Navy. 

Roots or Wings

It doesn't happen much.  In fact, the opposite happens more frequently...but every once in a while I itch for stability.  It is usually triggered by a friend's post about a new house or a photo of a group of friends who have been friends and lived near each other for more years than you can count on both hands.  I can't tell you what sparked this most current longing, but it is sparked none the less.  I find myself longing for a house with a leaky faucet that needs fixing and a basement to fill with holiday decorations.  A lawn that needs mowed and a tub that needs caulked.  A yard with a large oak tree perfect for building a tree house.  I find myself wanting that secure feeling of roots.  Knowing that you can buy that table or couch or whatever and not have to figure out what piece of furniture you'll throw out to compensate for the increase in the weight of your household goods. (we are given a limit and have to stay under it for our moves or we pay the extra out of pocket)  Knowing that we could buy that expensive rug or piece of furniture and not have to worry if it would fit in our next house.  Knowing that the fine china I want to collect won't be broken in our next move.  Hoping to be able to do all those cute little home improvement projects I see on Pinterest.  I wish we had a neighbor who had a son also Miles' ago who he could be friends with from now until high school graduation.  I wish we had a neighborhood that held a traditional 4th of July block party, and had trick-or-treaters for Halloween, and streets lined with houses covered with Christmas lights. 

Nathan echoed some of these same sentiments today while we were cleaning up dinner.  We know that we are blessed beyond measure to live this Navy lifestyle.  It affords us the great opportunity to see many things we never dreamed of seeing, and the chance to live where others go on vacation.  BUT, you can't have both roots and wings (name that movie).  Ours is a winged lifestyle, it always has been and always will be (at least until retirement in 12 years) and I wouldn't change it for the world. But still I find myself longing for a porch swing where I can sit and watch Miles play in the yard with his best friend and an attic in which to store the memories. 

Fifth time's the charm... ?

So life hasn't been super exciting lately...except for the fact that we're now living in another country.  I have lots to share...food, church, flights, jetlag, etc. but it will have to wait.  

We're going house hunting tomorrow...again.  We've seen 13 so far...we're scheduled to see 5 more tomorrow.  I'm sending up all kinds of good vibes because I REALLY want to get this housing ball rolling.  Italy isn't known for it's swiftness...and when you add military into the mix it really gobs things up.  After we find our house there is a lengthy and infuriating process before we can move in...and it takes anywhere from 30-45 days.  Yep...that's AFTER we find the house.  Sheesh.  And since we're currently stashed into the spare bedroom of some (wonderful) friend's house...I'd like to get the process going.  

So here's to hoping house hunting day #5 is successful!! 

All systems go

Well, we have a passport for Miles.  His passport picture is seriously hilarious...I had forgotten how funny it was until we went to go sign his passport for him.  It looks like a baby mug shot.  I will post a pic of it when I think of it.  We mailed off our Visa applications (turns out mine was never mailed...the Navy travel office kept mine so mine and Miles' could be mailed together) and those should hopefully be back the 30th.  Which would be nice since we're leaving town the 30th to spend some time with family.  We also have our plane tickets to Naples...we leave on the 10th of January. 

The reality of all this hit me yesterday and I had a bit of a meltdown.  Ok...more than a bit.  But things are a little better today. I just got overwhelmed with everything that has to happen before we get on the Italy bound plane...sorting, packing, painting, cleaning, Christmas, my birthday and a 1500 mile drive on I-80 in the winter...I get heartburn just thinking about it.

I'm nervous but excited for the adventure that lies ahead of us.  I am heartbroken to leave our home here...I really do love it; which is so funny considering I didn't want to move here.  I am just hoping I'll fall in love with Italy just like I fell in love with Chicago. 

Moving along

Preparations for the move are coming along...we are still waiting for a passport & visa for Miles.  This was causing me terrible amounts of stress.  You see, to move to Italy we have to have a Visa...in order to get a Visa you have to send in your passport with the Visa application.  The Italian consulate here in Chicago takes 20 days to return a Visa (um...yeah "20 days" it's been almost 25 and we're still waiting for mine...) I was worried that the packout days & the travel day would come and go and we'd have no documentation for Miles so Nathan would have to go ahead to Italy by himself and then I'd follow once we got the paperwork.  Yeah, uh huh...I'd have to do a trans-Atlantic flight...with a 7.5 month old...and a cat...and a litterbox...and a stroller & carseat...and 2 carryons & 4 checked bags...BY MYSELF.  Yep....now you are understanding my stress.  So to help we set a deadline: if his passport isn't back by this Friday we're pushing the move back.  We talked to Nathan's bosses and explained the situation and they were totally awesome (whoah...80's flashbacks) about the whole thing.  They said they'd just modify his orders and send us a couple/few weeks later.  (insert HUGE sigh of relief on my part)

Part of me hopes it comes in time...and another part doesn't.  I {really} love it here and I would not cry at all if we had to stay another couple weeks.  The other part of me just wants to get it done and over with.  Get packed, moved and settled in our new home.  So I guess we'll just make the best of whatever happens. 

You wanna see something funny?  I was curious how many miles it was from Chicago to Naples so I typed it into MapQuest...this is what I got: (click on it to make it bigger)

Here is the funny part...a wee bit bigger:

HA HA!  Should I tell the Navy this?  And on another note...that is super far away (4,943 miles to be exact...5.884 miles from Salt Lake) 

Happy Independance Day!!

Please take a moment today to think of those who spend their holidays away from their family & friends to protect our safety & freedom...as well as those who provide the music for the many holiday celebrations.   :)    (love you Navy Band!!)

Question for you military folk...

So, this is mostly for my military friends...but also any of you who have moved a bunch.

Since the place we call home will change every three or so years I want to find a way to recognize/remember our past homes. Here's one I've heard of...its not exactly what I'm looking for, but you'll get the idea: There is a little wooden house. A chain of little wooden signs hung from the house that had current and previous addresses painted on them.

I've thought about getting license plates from each state and hanging them (sounds crazy, but it would match our decor)...or a collage of pictures of our previous houses. What, if anything do you do to commemorate all your previous living places? It needs to be something that can be added to as we move, but not seem empty right now.

More funny business

We left early (3:30am) Wednesday morning to get to MEPS. (I thought Nathan was leaving Tuesday?? Yes, so did we. We got to MEPS and it turns out that they had screwed up a piece of his paperwork and so they couldn't ship him that day...so we had to go back down Wednesday) On the way I my mom texted me this photo:

This is the remains of my dad's truck. He was going home from work (he works nights) and went to cross a set of train tracks and just as he got to them he noticed out of the corner of his eye a little light. He slammed on his brakes, hit black ice and slamed into the train. He's lucky he saw the little light (which I believe was a headlamp on a helpment of the driver)...otherwise the train would have hit him instead of him hitting the train. Turns out they were moving train cars around and didn't turn on the train lights, crossing lights or put the arm-thingy down. The truck is totaled...obviously. And my dad was very sad about that. (Funny thing is that this is his old, ugly work truck...he has a brand new Dodge Ram Megacab at home. My mom thinks he would have been LESS sad if that truck were totalled instead)



Here's something else that's funny:

This is all the booters (slang for new sailers going to boot camp) sitting in lines in the concourse of the O'Hare Airport. They treated Nathan really well...told him to go hang out at the USO office...so he did. He sat on their couch and watched TV. And he fell asleep. He woke up Thursday morning and realized he'd been left behind. Seriously. But he took a cab and now he's at the base and all set. Oh, my funny honey.

I swear I am not making this stuff up...

Last night we had to drop some stuff of at one of our friend's pads.  We got there, parked and went in.  I noticed there was a 'Permit Parking Only' sign and I asked our friend about it and he said we would be fine.  We were there for maybe 25-30 minutes.  When we walked out we noticed a couple guys standing by our car talking.  Come to find out one of them had JUST booted our car.  JUST.  He wouldn't take it off, he wanted $70 first.  We forked it over, I mean, what other choice did we have?   Booting Nazi.

Nathan's parents warned us about the impending storm so we made sure to get up early enough.  When we backed out the driveway we immediately knew it would take longer than expected.  It was snowing and windy and the roads were snow packed.  With clenched jaws and white knuckles we made it to the other end of the canyon about an hour later (just to give you an idea it usually takes abut 15-20 minutes).  We got to MEPS just in time.  We got in and went to the Navy office and waited...and waited. Come to find out there was an error in his paperwork.  MEPS blamed the Navy Music department, I blamed the recruiter...we found out later that it was MEPS' fault.  The guy at MEPS said there was no way Nathan was leaving today so we should go home and he would call and let us know if he would be leaving tomorrow or Thursday.  

We started heading back home and turned on the radio to check weather.  The freeway was closed just a couple exits ahead of us and when I tell you why you'll call me a liar.  A semi truck driver had fallen asleep, hit a barrier and spilled his load all over the road.  Guess what he was hauling?  Quarter pound hamburger patties for McDonald's.  Guess how much spilled?  43,000 pounds.  You can see the full story with pics here.   

We continued north and we noticed that the farther north we got the worse the storm got.   We were both getting sleepy (after all we were on only a few hours sleep) so we pulled off and killed 20 minutes or so walking around Smith & Edwards to wake up.  We got home and immediately went to sleep.  

At five we were worried because we hadn't heard from MEPS yet so Nathan called them.  He talked to someone (not the guy from this morning...he was gone), and yes he is slated to fly out tomorrow.  Sure was nice of them to call and let us know.  Jerks.  Nathan called his detailer (the guy who decides where we'll be stationed) and told him he didn't fly out today just as an FYI.  Then he called the recruiter and he asked if we were jinxed.  He has NEVER had anyone be this hard to process before.  

So we'll try again tomorrow.  Please keep your fingers crossed that everything goes well and the weather won't be too bad.

The Ball is Rolling

I just dropped Nathan off...he's off to MEPS. {finally} That means that barring a horrible performance on the ASVAB by the end of tomorrow we will have a DATE!!!!


And I realized that not all my bloggie buddies are military, so I made a short list of the military jargon I throw around to help that confused dazy look some of you get. (I told you...super techy spy software...)

MEPS - Military Entrance Processing Station. This is where they test to make sure Nathan is 'fit' for service. You know, the turn your head and cough bit. He'll also get to swear the oath of service there...I'm kinda bummed I'll miss it. The first time he did it I forgot my camera, now this time I won't be there to see it. :( Hopefully my hubby will think to have someone snap a pic on his cell.
ASVAB - Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery. A test all military personnel must take to see what type of job they qualify for. You can take a practice test here and see how good you do.
TPU - Transient Personnel Unit. This is like refresher boot camp. This could be two weeks or two months...however long it takes to get everything done and make sure Nathan's records are all correct in the system. (Given how long it has taken to get this far, I'm planning on two months)


So if you read this today, keep your fingers crossed for a good ASVAB score and no unknown appendages hiding on his body.

It worked

Nathan's paperwork got processed and he's headed to MEPS on Friday.

Thanks to our awesome fam...especially to Timothy. :)

Sky Miles

Since we are going to probably be doing the Navy again...I say probably because Nathan still has to audition and the Navy has to say its ok for him to get back in...we want to get a credit card that will give us sky miles.  

My questions to you, o blogging buddies are these:

1 - Have you ever had a sky miles card?

2 - Which one? (Visa, mastercard, etc.  as well as the airline)

3 - Did you like it?

4 - Was it easy to get tickets?  (as far as blackout dates, etc.)

5 - Do you still have it, and if not would you get one again?

6 - Do you fly a lot...and do you LIKE to fly?

Thanks oh friends of blog world. :)

Poll

You may have noticed a poll on the sidebar.  By me having the poll, it does not admit to any action, rather just a collecting of information, if you will, to possibly act in the near future.  

Please vote - you know, for informational gathering reasons. 

Just another day

The weather here has been super chilly - and LOTS of rain. One of the weather people actually predicted snow, but luckily it didn't - I would be pretty mad if the tomato plants I have tried SO HARD not to kill were killed by snow :(

We finally have health insurance!! The cards came on Friday and I looked it over, now I just need to make an appointment, but I have to find a good Dr. first.

It is kinda funny, I was so excited to get health insurance because it brought us one step closer to adoption, but if I stay home after we adopt (which I want to) then our insurance goes away ...and Nathan doesn't work enough hours during the school year to carry insurance at his job - or to make enough $ to pay the bills if I do stay home.

So for now it seems that we are no closer to adoption than we were a year ago :( Not to mention we have to come up with the $20K-$30K to do the adoption. We can go through our church for lots less but I have had friends wait for YEARS in their system, waiting to be 'chosen' by a birth mother...that's why I like foreign adoptions, once you're approved you just wait your turn. Not that I don't think people wouldn't like us, but I have checked out the competition and we are not comparable - on paper & photos at least - I mean, neither one of us have our degree, we're in heavy debt, I have mental problems, I'm fat, Nathan's bald...

In happy news, my friend Ryann's hubby came home from Iraq yesterday...she and her girls decorated their home all cute for his homecoming....you can check it out, just click on Ryann on the side menu. We met Ryann and Terry when we lived in Virginia Beach years ago and we have kept in contact. She even sent me flowers a couple months back when we lost the baby - she is so sweet and such a good friend. I got to hold her oldest, Em, when she was just days old...she was such a beautiful baby. It is crazy to see her so big now!

Well I need to get back to the grind...hope you all have a happy non-Grey's thursday.

I'm a little calmer now...well maybe not

Ok, so after ceremoniously smashing the mouse and keyboard into the desk...you know, first essay of the semester - I finally finished the essay - it is a bit sub-par, but I was in NO mood to write an essay on Monday so the fact that I actually finished it was pretty good.

So I also had a geography quiz on Africa on Tuesday and I am pretty sure I got them ALL right - depending on how picky the teacher is on spelling...I might have switched some e's and a's around. I had an awesome geography teacher in 9th grade and I knew them all (and not just Africa - the ENTIRE world...he was one tough cookie), it is amazing how many of the countries I knew then don't even exist anymore....hello, Zaire?!
Today Nathan chose to skip his classes, stay home and sleep in our nice warm (winter blankets are on now) bed...funny thing is that I was too tired to tell him to go...I finally drug myself out of the warm cocoon about 12:15, quickly showered and headed off to work. I was exhausted - I felt like I could have slept til next Thursday!

So this morning I checked on our reimbursement $$ from the Navy (for the move) and we are getting like $6,000 LESS than I had anticipated - obviously someone somewhere made a mistake but everyone we talk to just gives us another phone number to talk to someone else...and that just plain SUCKS because that is A LOT of money - the V.A. is also being SUPER slow getting the GI Bill going so we have yet to see any of that money either...yikes.

Well I should go study for my Sociology test I have at 7:30am tomorrow...

Changes, Changes Changes

Hi again, long time no see...sorry I have been rather busy! So within the last month or so a LOT in our lives has changed...some for the better some not. First, we decided to get out of the Navy...we got word that all commands had to start sending guys/gals to Iraq and I was SO NOT cool with that so when Nathan's enistment was up we got out. He got a full-ride scholarship to finish his degree so we moved, bought a house and are now settling in. It has been fun having a house to decorate and paint...once I'm done I'll post some pictures of my handywork :)

Ok, so that's the good news, the bad news is that our kitty, Othello, died May 9th, he hwas only 3. We think he had a heart problem ( his brother from the same littler died at 7 months in almost the same way). Needless to say it was a tough thing, especially with everything else that we have gone through the last 4 months or so. We buried him alongside his brother so they could be together. So now we just have Winston, and that is ok, he is such a good kitty. He made the move really well...poor thing had to be drugged every morning and shoved in a crate for 8 hours in the car :( but he was a trooper and did really well.

I have been interviewing for jobs and hopefully will have something lined up by the end of the week...because we have a mortgage to pay! Nathan is working 2 jobs...from 6am to 2:30 and then from 4 to 10pm. But he'll only have to do that until school starts, then he'll only have to work one.

Well I need to run, gotta take him lunch :) More later

Holly