Here at last!

This was a WELCOME sight! We are finally in the house and surrounded by our things! We are exhausted. It's been a LONG day. We received our shipment, said goodbye to the crew, jumped in the shower and headed to the SNCO induction ceremony tonight. I did not even doze off. This is an exciting night, this is a HUGE milestone and I love to get to be a part of these good times. 

It's off to bed for us, we are going to be at it up and early in the morning and try to knock out getting this place de-boxed! It's been fun, some damage for sure and more to follow I'm certain, but overall it's going well. I'm thinking we have way too much stuff. We haven't seen it for over a year and we haven't really missed it so the looming question is - do we really need it? I think NOT. We already have a HUGE pile to take to the Airman's Attic and I think there will be more before we are done!

NIGHT! I'm sleeping in my own bed tonight, ahhhhh!

Thursday Thoughts: We have the house!!!

We have signed for the house, so the cleaning and moving in has started. I immediately started cleaning, then unloaded the car. We have the bare necessities (think T.P. paper towels, hand soap, etc) and it is pretty clean at this point. I'm heading to the commissary in just a bit to pick up real food to stock the fridge and pick up moving day snacks and start getting the pantry restocked. I am thankful for coupons!

This my friends is my future space to have my scrapbooking things...I am pretty stoked about that, it's going to be a great space to work with and make very usable. I am already planning a trip to IKEA! It will be fun!

The latest is that we will NOT receive our HHGs tomorrow as we originally thought. Yes, I know, I am a bit disappointed as well, but they are now scheduled for Saturday a.m. so we are thrilled. We got a call on our way out to sign for the house, I had hoped they were calling to ask if they could deliver today! But no, it was to delay for another day, such is life and at least we see a delivery date in sight!

Hoping you have a terrific Thursday!

Thoughts!

• I like things clean.
  
• I have high standards...
• Are high standards a bad thing?
• I'm going to be in a real house soon!
• I think I need to bake a chocolate cake!

On it's way!

Oh how I hope it's true. I'm pretty sure it is, I mean I actually spoke to BOBBY, the driver, this morning. So I'm thinking all is good. That makes me feel good. He is supposed to deliver on Friday. We are signing for the house on Thursday a.m. cause, well, you just never know and I would feel better knowing that we are good to go should Bobby show up early. However, I am going to be ready for him on Friday cause that is what he told me!

I am ready to hang my new shower curtain, I'm ready to stock the fridge, I am so ready to just be in space that is mine, I am ready (I think) to re-learn to cook on gas. It's been a few years since we had gas and I'm sure there will be some burnt, uh, I mean scorched things as I get used to cooking with gas again. But I really do like gas so it's all good.  We will have a gas fireplace too. Haven't had a fireplace for a while and have never had gas so that should be kind of fun. Well, if it ever gets cool enough to turn it on!

It's been a long week already and it's only Tuesday. Sheesh this could be a really long week by the time Friday rolls around. And we have an event Friday night so it could get real interesting on taking delivery and getting back out the door to make it to the formal, yes I did say formal event on time!

I'm off to do some laundry, then fix pizza for dinner...don't get too excited it's a frozen one but I think it will be yummy. Sure looks good!

Ciao!

So I could be excited but I'm not...

I am so thrilled we have found a church! That is ALWAYS, always a good thing in my world. I'm overjoyed I have found a suitable place for dry cleaning. That is always a great thing in MiBs world! I'm happy to know where the local post office, library and Hobby Lobby are. I have joy for the fact that I have met women here that will become good friends. Thanks God, I know you had a hand in that :) I love that MiB and I are together again. 

I will be so much more excited about being here when I can feel settled, when I can really find my routine and get in the groove. But right now I am not. I am just a bit down with the whole HHGs thing. I mean, honestly, I am really annoyed that we have heard NOTHING from the "moving agent" who was assigned to us. She has not returned calls or emails. Our things are supposed to be here by 24 August and as of this moment they are still in a warehouse in Plant City, FL. There "might" be a driver in the morning; that gives me a bit of hope that maybe we will get to move into our new home before the long weekend. That would brighten my world for sure, but I don't want to get too excited due to not knowing for sure. But I will be excited, I really will when we move in, I promise! 

I am soooo not trying to be a Debbie Downer, just sharing my inside voice thoughts today. It's been 16 months since we had our things packed up and put into storage and I have really had a great time this past year traveling and being a nomad but I'm ready to have a bit of stability now. And like I told MiB I don't even think it's really about the "things" it's more then that. I ready to have our space again, that's it I think, just want to be in our space!

I gotta run, we are bowling tonight with the ones who are left behind when their loved ones are deployed!

Eating!

Well, we have been eating again! I know, I know and it was going soooo good...it still is and I am getting exercise in on a somewhat regular basis so it's not as bad as when we were on the road!

So today we tried a little place that was really good! MiB got the burger, he said it was definitely the best he's had to date in this area! So we have a semi finalist for sure!

I had the veggie plate...fried okra (AWESOME), black-eyed peas (ummm, okay...), squash casserole (oh yeah, baby!) and rice with gravy (yummmm, and yes, I know it's not a vegetable but it was one of the choices so I got it!!!). The bonus was the "water cornbread" Ever heard of that? Yeah, me neither! But it was fantabulous, like bring me more please!!!! Then to top it off MiB ordered the coconut pie, I know, I know, we didn't need it. However, it was really, really yummers. The crust was just slightly underdone and not as flaky as I would have liked in a perfect world, but the coconut filling was good, very good and the top was not meringue like most, but a dense nice whipped topping with a hint of cream cheese and shredded coconut. All in all it was yummers as I said!

That was my day...then this evening we had dinner with the Directions and it was divine. Let's just say home cookin' was nice! The ribs and taters were tasty, the canned and I mean home canned green beans were awesome along with some Sister Schubert rolls that may become a staple in my own kitchen not to mention the really good fruit for dessert (well, some had cookies, but not me, I had blueberries, strawberries, cantaloupe and grapes).  It was a nice night of easy conversation that I think we all enjoyed!

Tomorrow church and finding a LifeGroup! Night!

A Sign

Not a lot of words to go with this, cause it pretty much speaks for itself...

We were out driving through the countryside and happened upon this sign. I tell you I can't make this stuff up! I wish I would have taken the time to take pictures of others we have seen, but we are usually whizzing by and today we were just out driving so we stopped to get the picture.

Thursday Thoughts!

NOTE: We interrupt your regularly scheduled reading of Adventures in Blue to report that while I did schedule the below post as written, I am now reporting this...we have no idea where our "stuff" is, seriously, I am not kidding you or making this up; so therefore we are still in billeting without any updates since Tuesday. We think our things are still in the warehouse, but we could be wrong (I hope we are!!!!). Ahhhh, such is the life!

 

WooHoo, I am not sure where I am...I mean I know where I am right now, but not sure where I will be when this post. I am "scheduling" this to post on Thursday. Because on Thursday I may not be available, like I might be BUSY unpacking my "things" and if I am I won't have internet to post. So I am taking care of that early and scheduling it. I know, I know I could technically post from my phone, but I am not. I know, I know I could just not post (GASP), but I have some time so I am writing it up today (not gonna tell you what day 'today' is but it starts with a T)

So I do hope I am unpacking today, and if not I hope I am receiving, I would be good either way. Tomorrow MiB has the day off for a goal day...that is exciting stuff right there. An extra day off is ALWAYS good in my book, but it would be even more awesome if we do have our stuff and he is available to help. Mind you he might not really be much help but I like having him around so it will be more fun if he is home helping in his own way.

It's still way hot here in case you  might be wondering, though I see that some up north are cooling off we are still in triple digits. It's all good, I will not complain, I'd rather be hot then cold.

Thoughts:

• LA people seem so nice, but rude...
• I need to buy TWO new shower curtains!
• It's gonna be nice to sleep in MY bed again
• Across the river, seems to be where most things are here!

How's your Thursday? I really do hope mine is good, I really hope I am walking in a maze of stacked up boxes and have the excitement of Christmas morning as I unwrap and put away our things. I hope I get it done in record time, I am ready for the challenge, I am shooting by Monday as long as we get it before Friday. I mean we don't have that much 'stuff' should be a piece of cake, right? We'll see and after this move I may have even less stuff. After all, I have lived without it for so long do I really need it????

MOVING DAY :)

So not literally, and maybe packing/shipping day is more accurate; however, today nearly everything we own is being loaded on a truck in Plant City, FL. That truck will then make its way to us here in LA where we will finally get to move into our new home. To say I am excited is an understatement. It's been a looong time since we packed it all up and soon, VERY soon, we will be in the midst of unpacking. The "have to have it here by" date is 24 August and that my friends is only 8 more days. I suspect (and pray) that it will  be sooner, but I am still okay with it being on the promised date.  That is waaaay sooner then we were originally told so it's all good!

Not sure how it will all work out but I know it will! We will have two hours from the time they call us to receive our goods...this is a big (I mean really BIG) change from the last time we did this. TWO HOURS are you serious? Okay, we will be available from now until the 24th, and within 2 hours of the house...but does this mean on the weekend as well? Does this mean it could be a 2 AM call? or 5 AM? I am a bit confused and concerned on this aspect. I do hope (and pray) we are talking normal business hours here and M-F but somehow I suspect that I could be wrong. We are trying to get clarification on this right now. We are also trying to get a "most likely" time frame once the truck is loaded in FL. Like are we the last load and they are coming straight to us, or stopping inbetween? Or are we the first load and they will doing another pick up before working their way here? You see how many variables there are?  I have so many questions and I would also like answers, so far, I have none. We have a toll free number that ALWAYS and I mean every time we have called goes to voice mail. We also have an email address and so far no replies with answers. BUT I AM HOPEFUL! I do hope (and pray) for answers by the end of the day :)

Hope your day is good, mine is better with this latest news which brings us that much closer to being in a home again. WOOHOO! I am also going crazy with my brain thinking about what will go where and how we will make it all work/fit. It's always fun but extremely challenging. I will take pictures to let you have a peek into our latest humble abode as soon as I can!

Movie Day

Today we took in two movies...I know right! But it is just sooooo hot here and to do anything outside is crazy so we did the movies x2.

Movie #1 was The Help, good, very good. Makes you think...we have come so far and yet IMO we are still so far away from equality.

Movie #2 was Winnie the Pooh...yeah I know, but I love Pooh, and I wanted to see it so we went. It was cute and I'm sure lots of children loved it, I thought it was okay. It was not as good as I had hoped it would be but still a nice flick!

So now it is just chillin' in the room with chips and dip, we did Cane's for lunch, best fried chicken anywhere. If you pass a Cane's turnaround, trust me on this, it is worth it, extremely good fried chicken tenders. The fries are nothing to write about, nor is the slaw, it's average and the Texas toast, well let's just say if they would toast both sides they would have a winner, but they don't so I don't give it a second look, which is good since I have extra #s right now and bread won't help that! LOL But the tenders, they are AWESOME and the sauce is really yummers as well!

Hope you had a wonderful Sunday, we did and now as I said we are just chillaxin and enjoying the calm before another BIG week arrives. I can't even begin to describe it here, just know that if you are looking for things to pray for please pray for the men and women of Team Barksdale. Trust me... they need your prayers as do MiB and I as we have realized there are many things here that need prayer. I pray for those who seem lost, weary, broken, sad. I ask for God's hand to touch and intervene in the lives of those who so need it. We have seen too much all ready that is without the Master's hand involved; so we are praying for involvement of His power to help those who are most in need and to sustain us and empower us to help those who need it and to just be whatever we are to be.

Good Night!

DO I have thoughts!?!

Why yes I do, however, most of those today should just stay in my head!

Thoughts:

• No one makes you read this...
• Going to see The Help this weekend!
• It's still hot here and I'm mighty thankful for A/C

Easy day today, just a few things on my plate and lots of errands on the TO DO list were completed, tomorrow will be more of the same. The weekend is looking light and I'm thankful! It's been very busy and I'm glad for a bit of a slowdown!

My Day...

Today I had lunch with a new group of ladies. We went down to the Louisiana Boardwalk area and had lunch at a Pizzeria. The pizza was decent though next time I will try the calzone. They also had great salads. I got the combo so I got to try both the pizza and salad. What I did not have but would have liked to have tried was the gelato. It looked a lot like what we had in Italy. I have a reason to go back and take MiB, we will have to try the gelato!!!!

 

 Gelato!!!!

After our L O N G lunch I had just enough time to stop at the room and leave my very thoughtful little welcome basket of goodies, which included chocolate so it wouldn't melt before I met up with MiB to head out to the East Reservation to see our new home. Yeah! We are getting closer to being in a home!!!!! So today we did the walk through and made requests for some things to be changed, fixed and cleaned before we take possession. Hopefully, that is going to be sooner rather then later. Our things are being released from storage on Tuesday, then the contract has to be let, then we hopefully get a time line of when they will arrive.

So here are a couple pictures of the house:

 

Gas fireplace in the living room...

Kitchen as it looks from the dining room.

Dining room view from kitchen.

 The laundry room, seems very roomy!

I am so not overjoyed with the MBR, but I will live. The laundry room, however, is quite impressive and seems so very roomy, I'm likin' it! There are decent sized closets and and a nice storage room to boot next to the laundry room. The garage is a two car and also has some decent storage area options so all in all it should be good. I just hope we don't get settled in and get told, "oh, your real house is ready!" Yep, this is a temporary house so I will be moving again when the REAL house is ready, I know, you envy my life don't you? NOT! LOL

In case you missed it this would be the temporary house....now if we were buying this would not be something we would really be interested in. However, when you have our lifestyle you take what you are given and usually you smile real big, say thank you, and thank your lucky stars that it isn't really yours!c!

Anyway, it is certainly getting closer to when we will be back in a real home (temporary or not) and living like real people again; which will not be out of three suitcases (for me) and two duffel bags (MiB) along with a rubber maid tub! Living out of a suitcase is a challenge for sure but I think I have perfected it over the past year. Well, for me anyway...it's workin'!

Oh, and tonight MiB took me over to Hanger II to do "cook your own steak" night, which BTW was outstanding! I was not sure how that would work out but he did an awesome job, it was just right!!!

My MiB, the steak cooker!

 So how was your day?

MyLittles

So it's been a few days since we've been gone but I have talked with the Littles and I am happy to report that they miss me...is that bad? I mean I AM glad they miss me, I miss them too! It was so neat to get to be with them more then usual this last year, and of course I miss them dearly! So last week when I was in AL and just strolling the BX I couldn't help but check out the 75% off racks. I found PJs for her and a neat T for him. I immediately put them in the mail and then I got a picture of them wearing their new things!

Aren't they adorable????

Their mom has been pretty good about sending pics and updates and things and I got this last week and thought it was worth sharing as well!

Just a little muddy!

Nails at the Car Wash...

SMARTie needed a wash, that seems to be the case lately, more so then I ever remember in FL but whatever...anyway, finding a good car wash has been challenging. We tried an automatic that was so so at best, we tried the DIY at the base, not a lot of pressure. We tried another one in BC and the first time it was okay. We returned today and I found these...

 

 HOLY COW BATMAN that's a bunch of tire deflaters!

I mean I get it you want to wash out the back of your truck bed but pick up your junk dude, that's bad...just one more thing to love about LA! Seriously, I know it could happen anywhere, it's just I have not ever had this happen until today! It did not make my day, however, SMARTie is clean so I guess in the big scheme of things it's all good!

WAR EAGLE!!!

One thing about AL was that the AUBURN Tigers left an indelible mark on our LilBlue, she still loves her some Auburn Tigers, she will be a fan for life I imagine. This thrills some of our most beloved friends in that state! It makes others who are ROLL TIDE fans shake their head and wonder what went wrong. AL certainly takes their football seriously, waaay seriously. I mean I really enjoy football, like high school ball real well, take pleasure in watching Sunday and Monday NFL games and always love college ball. However, these folks take is to new heights I had never before witnessed when we lived there and nothing has changed!

Anyway while we are here we thought we would pick up something new for LilBlue...can you say C H O I C E S? WOW...it's incredible! So what will she get???? This is just a few of the incredible things we had to choose from!

 Flip Flops!

 Basketball Shorts!

T's!

So at some point she will be the recipient of one of these so stay tuned there will probably be a post about it :)

Sweet Home Alabama

We are in AL for a few days. So far it's been awesome for me! I really like it here and feel very "at home" and while it is hot it's still good to be here in familiar surroundings and in an area that is comfortable!

Tomorrow is lunch with the ladies... F U N!! I'm soooo looking forward to it! These women are awesome and I love them!

Then on Friday we are having dinner with our awesome church friends! We love these folks and they are the BEST!

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