What a Week!

Monday: Nathan started school and I went with my sister to take some pictures of his first day and witness this little boy growing up.

Tuesday: The drama started. This was Nathan's first time riding the bus. Nathan has been wanting to ride the bus for years. He's see the other kids getting off the bus in the afternoons and ask everyone why he couldn't ride the bus and we'd tell him "Because you don't go to school yet. When you get a little bit older you can ride the bus." Anyway, my sis put Nathan on "The Green Frog" bus in the AM. However, he was not put on "The Green Frog" bus in the afternoon. Nathan was lost for a few. Thankfully, this brave little 4 year old boy knows his mommy's phone number and luckily there was a nice mommy at the bus stop who saw this scared boy and offered to help. My sister got a phone call from this nice lady saying that her son Nathan was with her in a completely different part of the neighborhood. Some foul up happened at the school and Nathan was put on the purple flower or some other bus route.

Wednesday: I finally went to Pinkberry which opened in Colorado Springs months ago. I'm kind of obsessed with the Pomegranate Pinkberry. mmm Cue mouth watering. Also visited Old Navy and DSW where I picked up some new shoes for our R&R trip to Vegas!
I tried a new recipe. Something I adapted from a friend. I pan fried some Pork chops with olive oil and some S&P. When they were all cooked up and happy I threw in a chopped red bell pepper and an onion and a large can of Diced Tomatoes, some more S&P and about half a tspn of crushed red pepper flakes. I put all of this into a baking dish and threw it in the oven at 375 for about 15 mins just to get all the flavors happy. I made some whole wheat rotini pasta on the side and proceeded to stuff my face.

Thursday: I visited my friend and forced her to watch PS I Love You, because she hadn't seen it yet- weird, right?

Friday: I got busy with a friend. We had some lunch and popped into JC Penney then saw The Change Up-- so funny. It was vulgar but hilarious. It's always nice to giggle. :) I tried another new recipe: I started with a marinade two tablespoons Dijon mustard, rosemary, parsley, S&P, olive oil and a lil water. Threw in some Chicken Thighs and let them marinade all day. I pan fried them with some olive oil and had some green beans on the side. YUMMM!!

It's officially been Saturday for 5 hours and 44 minutes 6 hours and 5 mins. For some reason I went to sleep about 1030ish and have been up since about 230. Saturday is off to a stellar start. This Am (in about an hour) I'll be heading over to Fort Carson for the Walk for the Fallen. This is the 3rd year in a row I've participated. It's always heartbreaking to be there. It's humbling. The last two times my husband had just returned home from deployment (the first time) and back from extended field rotations last year, so I was feeling especially grateful to have him by my side. This year he's on the other side of the world. I'll miss him. I'll be walking with friends and kiddos for a great cause.

How was your week?

Humbled

First off, I no longer feel craptastic (per my last post). It took about a day and lots of water and I finally was feeling like myself.

I wrote on Facebook: "Being a grow up sucks.. Especially when all your grown up business is 6000 miles away!" 

Well it does. In case you guys don't know it's especially hard to handle the random things that come up in life when they aren't around the corner or available to you via mail or the telephone. Stuff happens, things fall into our laps that we have to manage and deal with and sort out... I feel like that's the definition of "being a grown up." 


Here's what happened: I was contacted by the lien holder for our car (in Germany) that they needed our proof of insurance (actually they said since our insurance lapsed they had added their own insurance to our account, which is expensive). In fact our vehicle is covered lest the proof of that lies in Germany -- out of my reach. The lien holder said they tried to contact us via mail... oh but they've been sending mail to our Colorado address (you know, where we no longer reside). The whole thing has been beyond frustrating! So, I got myself a handy dandy phone card and tried to call my German insurance company they don't answer. Anyone in Germany or about to PCS there should know that the Germans are great people... truly they are. BUT they work on their own time. So I've had no luck getting them to answer the phone.

A sweet, sweet friend I made in my short time in Germany responded to my status and said that she'd be back in Baumholder on the 15th and could go by the place for me. At this point I have no other option but to accept her offer. I just feel humbled by it. We haven't been friends that long and she offered to pick me up from the air port when I fly back to Germany. I sent her the key to my apartment because when you're gone for an extended period of time Rear D likes someone to have access to your house and she took it upon herself to go by every so often and open the windows for me and clear anything out of the fridge that wouldn't make it 6 months. So I feel craptastic about accepting her help with anything else!! She's done enough. :( Beyond that I sorta just feel like I've failed in someway because I'm unable (as a product of my choice to stay in the states) to take care of this crapolla on my own.

Pride comes before the fall right?

Gotta put my pride aside sometimes and accept that I cannot do everything and that everyone needs help now and again.

Military Wife Complaints

zSo, do you guys know the military spouse that complains about EVERYTHING: TriCare, MyCAA, employment opportunities, housing, MP, neighbors, uniforms, deployments, Military OneSource.... the list can go on and on and on; it's never ending. I don't know about you guys but I have found far to many martyrs in our ranks. (I'm sure this will be another of my unpopular opinions, so be it). I'm kind of over it. I get it's tough. I get some have it tougher than others. Honestly, I don't want to hear "woe is me" all the time. I am a firm believer is none of us our victims of our choices; we chose to be where we are, therefore you should embrace it. All of it. The good with the bad. Furthermore, I don't feel TriCare is the devil. I was raised a military brat; with doctors on base, in uniform passing out 800 milligrams of Motrin (aka Vitamin M) like it's candy. However, there are downfalls to all insurance companies ::cough cough:: premiums ::cough cough::

I have just come to the conclusion that some people will never be satisfied. Some people will always concentrate on the negative verses the positive. Some people will bitch and whine regardless of all their blessings.

My favorite complaint is how the military moves our active spouse around all the time making it impossible for the milspouse to maintain a career. As valid as this may be... I say "So what?" I was raised by a working-milspouse-mother and an active duty service member. I know many other career oriented, working military spouses. It's do-able. However, you do have to choose a practical (to the lifestyle) career. I always hear "But then you throw kids in the mix.." following the "I can't find or maintain a career" argument. I kind of feel like these constantly complaining milspouses won't be satisfied until they are provided salaries as there active counterparts are. It bugs me.

I feel as an Army wife I support my husband, I maintain the household, pay the bills, I miss and I worry for my husband while he's deployed. I fight for my marriage when he's home and we battle through reintegration. HOWEVER, I will never sacrifice or serve the way my husband does. He earns the paycheck- I do not. There is a huge leap from the soldier to the spouse.

Again this is my opinion based off complaints of milspouses that I know.

This is my life because I chose it knowingly. I complain to. This is not holier than thou vice woe is me. I get that nothing is perfect. My point is simply that this life verses any other is no better or worse. All lifestyles have problems and ups and downs, positives versus negatives. This is life.

Count your blessings. That is all.

Social media is cool right? Everyone does shares photos, experiences and other random shiz on Facebook. People tweet (not always me- I know; I suck at it). And there's probably a handful of other sites and social media options I don't even know about. But now there's this Google+. I mean really. I checked it out. It is Facebook, with a different name. How many different sites do we need to invest in: upload all my coolest photos, find our old, long, lost homies on and attempt to reconnect with??

Keeping up with the new hotness is exhausting. I'm over it. I feel like I'll stick with Facebook because I'm too lazy to invest with the next thing.

Will you try Google+? Did I miss some outstanding aspect to this Google+ that you all should enlighten me with? Thanks.

5 Reasons...

I wish I were in Germany:

1: R&R someplace exotic like Greece or Crete or the gorgeous shores of France or Italy. Can anyone else say Mediterranean Cruise?!

2: It's easier, and much more plausible to secure a job in a place that you actually live- I could have sworn I heard or read that someplace before.

3: Build my friendships. I met some weirdos in a few months in Germany. But I also met some pretty awesome ladies I can't wait to get back to.

4: Random trips: So far I missed trips to Edelweiss Lodge and Resort, MWR trips to Paris, scheduled trips to The Netherlands. One Easter Egg Festival and One Tulip Festival. And most tragically The Sound of Music tour. :(

5: I will have lost 8 months out of our allotted 36 in Europe (down to 28). Just gone- BAM. In fairness so did my husband. We'll make up for it right??

Color me sad. I'll be using this as motivation to thoroughly enjoy all the remaining months we're given in Germany!

Schoolz

On Sunday I finished up classes I was taking with University of Phoenix. Ending these two classes also solidified the fact that I LOATH UoP! Yeah, you heard me. I know everyone else LOVES them but I LOATH them. They make everything hard-- in my experience. One example: when I was registered as a stateside student my Financial Advisor told me that the school had my Pell Grant funds and was working on having them certified (whatever that means) and I should receive disbursements after my next course. Yeah, that was evidently a gi-nor-mous LIE! When I re-registered in Germany my new FA told me that the school never had my funds because of an issue with paperwork. Oh and PS the 2010-2011 school year is coming to a close so I'd be lucky to have the funds instated in enough time to receive any kind of disbursement. Swell! There's 6 g's from the government I can just piss away-- down. the. proverbial. toilet.  This is just one example of all the issues I've had with University of Phoenix.

After I figure out what the deal is with my Pell situation and the hubs and I can get the Post 9-11 GI Bill business worked out (that process has left quite a bit to be desired as well) I'll be transferring to Ashford. Have you guys heard of them? Taken classes with them? What has your experience been? I'm looking forward to the change and getting back to only 5 week courses. I'm excited to change my major and getting focused! :) So, far my experience with Ashford has been great and they offer larger discounts than UoP. For active Duty and their spouses it's just $750/course. The book fees and everything else are waived. UoP I pay over $1000/course PLUS resource fees. No. Brainer!

Chillin'

I hate reading the "I'm sorry, I haven't been blogging" posts too... too bad this is one of those. I'm feeling random and uninteresting. I can't seem to focus on one thing long enough to get my thoughts together and form an entire post. The hubs and I got our R&R plans worked out a lil' better. Which helps. I'm still working. Still learning.
Speaking of learning. I was never really driven to "be" anything in particular. I wanted to "do" something that would be practical for my lifestyle, that I would completely loath 100% of the time and that would have the potential to earn money. I knew that being a stay at home mom and wife (SAHM) wasn't going to work. Unfortunately I'm not getting my education in a particular vocation. I've never cared much for nursing or something equally specific. My drive to get my degree comes from wanting, generally to be employed, and higher education seems more and more a necessity. I've had two people that they think I should "be" a writer/editor. I automatically think novels and fiction when I hear "writer". I said "no no I can't do that!" I really don't think I'm creative enough to write anything people would actually want to read. I'd never in a million years think up a world where Vampires sparkle in the sunlight and are not vicious for fun ::Cough cough::... I've been pondering it for a little while and I'm starting to really consider the editing idea though. I'll have to research it a bit and see how I can make it work with the military but I know I can "do" and "be" anything I put my mind to. I'm kind of excited about the idea. We'll see where it goes and how I can manage it.

In other than being inspired by my closest friends I've been busy doing average things, to include: spending time with my family, paying off debt, talking my husband out of cars we cannot yet afford, and dreaming of not absolutely hating buying a swim suit.

Coming up... more of the same. Plus a lil' girl's 2nd b-day party for this weekend. I'm excited, I've only had her gifts for about 2 weeks. I hope she loves them!

Baby Time

No no... this is NOT a "Baby on Board" Announcement. Haa! I know my mother-in-law (who reads everyday) was just slightly offended she didn't get a phone call versus being told of her next impending grandchild via Blogger. All the same, I am now the only person that I know and actively hang out with that doesn't have a child. As a matter of fact most everyone in my age group is on child numero-dos. I'm 26. I don't feel old. I've been married 3.5 years but have only spent about 1.75 of those years with my husband (if i'm lucky). You know, Deployments, NTC, other trainings and travels. However, I have had "the fever" come and go, and come and go.... you follow.

I remember when I first got married everyone was like "YAY! When are you gonna get pregnant?" I just don't get that school of thought. Why does my being married mean that I have to immediately procreate? Oddly, enough I wanted to get to know my husband, strengthen our marriage and relationship as a whole with Kevin, get to know my new life and role as a wife, make peace with the Army, finish school, travel about, start a career and generally just live more of my life prior to it being taken over by my babies. That's my take. I do not feel there is anything wrong with having children right away.. just didn't feel it was for me.

When did you have your baby(s)? Did you wait? Did you get on the ball immediately?

Share why!

I wanna go!!

Today I made the mistake of checking out the USO website listing their tours for the next coming months. It makes me really sad that Kevin and I are both losing this time (almost a full year) of Germany and travel opportunities. I'm thinking of all the places on my "list." All the places I want to see before we get a new assignment (Dec 2013).

Paris
London
Ireland
Italy

These are the places I realllllly have to see. I mean, I'm sure Amsterdam (for example) has lots of awesome things to offer I just wouldn't be devastated if I don't get there.

What trips have you taken throughout Europe that'd you'd recommend? What places would be on your "list"?

Insight into myself

I don't have to prove that I'm a good person to you, or you... or you over there. I know it. I know it because  I have the love and support of dear friends that would do anything for me. Not to mention my family and my husband who've yet to fail me and are always there.

I can't please everyone all the time. I can only hope that people won't be so hasty in the future to assume I'm a horrible person... yet to take my words at face value, and going forward will consider my entire post (and all the words making it up) prior to commenting on only one part that was more than likely taken out of context (not considered with the rest of the information provided either in the sentence/paragraph/or entire post). I say what I say (as most people do, unless they're lying) because it's my life experience. I face every experience and encounter with a positive attitude, because I've found that I receive better results going into things with that out-look versus a negative "everyone sucks" or "I'll get nothing from this" or "it won't be successful for me" attitude.

I'm here to help. I'd give you the shirt off my back if I could, the last dollar in my wallet if you truly needed it. I'll also, (always, without fail) offer you a practical, real-life idea that could potentially help you... I'm logical and real. It's how I roll.

Please don't assume that in sharing my experiences that I am short-sighted enough to believe what works/ed for me will help everyone 100% of the time. Shouldn't a good friend share things with the people in their lives that've been successful for them? Kinda what I thought.

I'll leave you with one of my all time favorite quotes:

"No one can make you feel inferior without your consent."

Eleanor Roosevelt

Happy Wednesday all!! Today, all I want... is for people to give others the benefit of the doubt. :)

Change of Plans

About four days after I arrived home to Colorado my moms neighbor (who is a realtor and takes care of all of our realtor related needs) calls and says that the commissary on Fort Carson is hiring for stockers at night which pays like $20/hour. So I figured, "what the hell" I can at least apply and see what happens- nothing saying I'm actually going to get it. So I applied and turns out I got it. Yesterday I was a mess about the decision. My place is in Germany. But I feel like it's time to contribute where I can; sadly there aren't job opportunities for me in Germany. Staying here for the next 7 months will allow for my husband and I to start the next chapter of our lives completely debt free. Sacrificing my independence, missing my bed and my things is worth it in the end.
For the record I know how this will be perceived, I know that it'll look like I just can't hang with the deployment... but it just so happened that this opportunity came my way- why would I pass it up???

I'll miss Germany and Baumholder, and the opportunities to travel... on the other hand we'll have two more years there and TOGETHER!

Perfect Day

Today has been perfect!! I spent last night at my Pops house which is always good- love him. Got up this morning and watched some TV and putzed around the house a little bit. Then I cooked up a sauce for my Daddy and whipped up meatballs and sausage. Tonight we'll have pasta for dinner (shocker, huh?). So after I finished cooking, my sister messaged me on Facebook and said Grumpy Old Men was on CMT! She knows I love these movies! I watched Grumpy Old Men even though the sequel, Grumpier Old Men is my favorite. So after that finished I was walking to go get into the shower when I heard the beginning of Grumpier Old Men! I am so excited this is on. It's one of my all time favorite movies!

Speaking of movies, go check out my buddy JMo and enter to win in her give-away and her 100th Edition of Theater Thursday!  (you know, since I live in Europe and I'm ineligible! *wink wink*)

Day 22: Self Portraits

I have (what amounts to, basically) (not confusing at all right? haha) this cousin on Facebook who (evidently) thoroughly enjoys looking at herself. She's constantly snapping pictures of herself at all angles in all kinds of outfits and posting them on Facebook for the world to see. Do you do this? Do you know people like this or have them on your Facebook page?

She's a really good looking (ok, she's hot) girl but I mean.... I can't imagine being that' impressed with myself, where I'd have to stop almost daily just to snap a few pics of myself on my iphone and automatically assume the rest of the world cares enough about my puckered lips, awesome hair and gorgeous eyes. I'm just saying.... While she's very attractive that's not the point. Right?

Whatevs... 22 days in and I'm already back to my overly critical ways. I love my (basically) cousin but enough's, enough!

Day 1: Staying Busy

Today, I hit the ground running. Not literally, of course- I loath running. I got up (always a good start), watched Army Wives (color me unimpressed), worked out, mopped floors, fixed myself for the day, had a friend bring me a box of brownie mix (yes, just the mix, for me to bake later, haha), went to the Commissary and PX and then I ate.

Best part I heard from the hubs. He's good but still knows nothing.... we're waiting to see where he'll end up and who he'll be with ect... Hurry up and Wait, such is life!

Today, I accomplished my goal to stay as busy as possible. Thankfully, I have some other friends to visit with and other chores to complete this week. Here's hoping, I'll have plenty to keep me physically and mentally busy over the course of the next few months!!

Bickering McBickerson's.

Hello, my name is Samantha and I'm kind of narcotic. I'm mostly(totally playing) happily married to Kevin, who is usually easy-going, laid back, et cetera, et cetera... My hubs is not perfect but neither am I. Lately the un-perfect sides of us have been butting heads more than the perfect-for-eachother sides of us making nice with each other. 


Now don't go and get up on your high horse; judging me. Evidently I'm a flawed person and so is my husband. We fight, we argue and we bicker. If you don't... well then good for you. But here at the McBickerson's that's how we roll. We may do all this bickering but we love each other. I've found that after we grew out of our "honeymoon" phase we learned more about each other, became closer and loved each other more. 


Enough explanating our normal behavior. I have to say I'm not really enjoying the amount of bickering going on lately here in The McBickerson's. The stress from leaving the family, moving 6,000 miles away from anything familiar, THEN being cramped into 300 sqft for 43 days is a recipe for disaster. 


Well, my name is Samantha and I'm a Bickering McBickerson. First step to every 12-step program in America is admitting you have a problem, right!? 
 

Bad News

Being so far away from home definitely has it good moments and it's BAD! We're the kind of family that is  (sometimes overly) involved in each other lives. We gossip about each other (in the best way possible, i mean we're only trying to find out if everything is ok or if so-and-so really did that to her!), but we also love each other. when I was out of work for almost 2 years I built very strong relationships with my sister and her kiddos. When my brother-in-law was deployed I was her surrogate husband during her pregnancy with Logan and was there for everything. I loved being able to be there for the ultrasounds and for the scary bits and last minute ER runs. I like to think of my self as that go-to person. I loved it. I really like to help my family out when they need it the most. With that being said our baby (yes, he isn't just 'theirs' he's Ours- as a collective) Logan has been in the hospital for 4 days now.

Isn't he the cutest? (little boobies and all) We like our babies chubby (no offense to the skinny ones ou there). My sister emailed me this picture two days ago. I cried. I can't believe under his little tear-drop eyes is a nasal cannula! 

Logan has been diagnosed with RSV (so far they are waiting for the doctor to review the chest x-ray to see what else is going on). He was admitted because his oxygen levels were in the 80's (should be 100). We're worried about possible Asthma or pneumonia at this point. (fun fact: I was in and out of the hospital as an infant with asthma related complications.. was not a fun time to be or my mother- only difference is, I don't remember it. Thanks mom!) 

Many prayers and thoughts are needed!! 

Water

{source}

I spoke to Housing today and good news (!!!): we're still on schedule to sign for our house this week! You all know how excited I am to be getting our house so that I can have my things back (I've only blogged about missing my bed, pots & pans, more times than any one person should)! Something else I'm excited to try making pitchers of water with fruit. I know, I know- where the heck have I been? But, since getting more healthy is a goal I have, and I'm so over soda it's not even funny I'm fiending for an ice cold glass of water (with fruit). I don't know about you but I don't/haven't taken the time to slice up a lemon at home (as they do in restaurants). Beyond being a great way to spice up (teehee) commonly, un-flavorful water, it looks really pretty! Don't you think?

Do you do this at home? What are your favorites, Oranges, Lemon/Lime, Apples, Cucumbers???

PS: Yes I just blogged about water... lol.

Givin' it a try...

Are you a fan of resolutions? I'm undecided. But... I have come across a few things I really would like to try to become better at, change about myself, or test drive for a while. Here's a few new things you can expect to see talked about on my bloggy over the coming year:

Meal Planning. I've seen a few people taking part in this. I think it's a great idea for a few reasons. 1) Keeps waste down so I'm not throwing out rotten fruits or veggies that don't find themselves used in a suitable timeframe. 2) Things are more fresh over here in Germany... things go bad sooner. For instance Milk. Milk is just weird here in general- I'm sure I'll grow accustomed to it soon enough though. 3) I LOVE Pioneer Woman and Our Best Bites. IF you haven't checked in with either of these sites, you're doing yourself a great disservice. Another goal along the same lines with this meal planning is to eat and cook more healthy foods. I've found quite a few recipes I can't wait to try! Stay tuned for the favs.
Exercising 4 times per week. Yes, I'm making that same, tired ol' "resolution" you hear every second person you know make EVERY year. They start off motivated but by MLK Day they've given up. I think this is why I don't like to call them resolutions. It's not a thing I'm interested in only doing for 2011, but a life-change I'm pursuing for my future. I'm not planning on becoming a gym head who spends every spare second I have there. But I am planning on Walking more often. Playing more Kinect (which believe it or not keeps one very active. I'm sure I will make it to the gym once or twice though. haha
Travel! The opportunities once inside Europe are endless. This was one of the main motivators for pursuing orders to Germany for Kevin and I. We're looking forward to gettin' around once we're further settled. (have I failed to mention recently we're still in a hotel room without a car??) The travel goal is negotiable in my mind, but for now stands at visiting at least 5 new countries this year. I say this is negotiable because we still have absolutely no idea if Kevin will remain on rear-d or join his unit in A-stan in a few months. Whether Kevin is here or not I still plan to see sites and get around (haha) but it will be greatly scaled back as I would like experience most places with Kevin!
School: Take 3 courses without breaks. I've sent an email out to the POC for the colleges here on post and I'm waiting to hear back from them. Once I've gotten all the preliminary shizzle out of the way I want to hit the books, HARD. While I am motivated I have this lingering sense that I would take a class or two then slack off for a while and find myself right where I am now. So, here's the goal: I want to take 3 classes (back-to-back) (or more than one at a time) and then entertain the idea of a break. It's been a while since I've really engulfed myself in school so I think this is a sound goal and will keep me in line to achieving my "Big Picture" goals.

So there you have it. There's some of the things I'm going to work my hardest at. Is it fair to say that I'm not going to start until after we have our house? Or is that just an excuse? I mean, really I can't cook much here and who wants to see a weekly meal plan consisting of Grilled Cheese, canned soup and Kraft Macaroni and Cheese? Good news though, we may sign for our house as early as next Friday!!!! Woot woot! Fingers crossed please.

A lil' o' this... n' that.

New Years Eve is tomorrow (true story: I honestly had to double check..) and I've been catching up on my blog reading from over the last few days (yes, I've actually been busy... but we'll get to all that). Everyone's been blogging about post-Christmas craziness, or their Fav's from 2010 (everything from TV show's to pictures to books), or what they hope for out of the fresh start the new year brings. I'm a huge list maker. I don't venture out of the house to buy more than 1 or 2 things without a list, something would surely be forgotten and I'd have to go back, and who has the time for multiple trips to the store... that's just crazy talk. I've seen a few ladies out here in Bloggy-Land recapping their lists from 2010 (what happened, what didn't, what turned out to be an epic fail). I'm starting to ponder this idea. Keep you're eyes out for that. I like that it's not a resolution to lose 10 lbs, it's more of a bucket list for the year... and I dig it.

I know I missed Wednesday but I've been busy (I'll recap what I've been doing next) I have to let everyone know I desperately WANT a massage! My back has been killing me. Either my boobs are getting bigger (Lord help me) or this bed has really taken it's toll on me. Either way... the back is aching.

Monday, I went with the girls down to the gym- we were ready for a Volleyball throw down! Sadly, no one showed. You see what had happened was, the ladies' husbands failed to register for the tournament in time to play and the other two teams that did take the time to register felt like they had better things to do- and didn't show. That makes us the undefeated-first place champs! HA... We showed up an hour early at 1 to practice and wound up staying until 4.... I hurt afterwards (could have something to do with the back pain huh? But that was 3 days ago... Anywho. Fast forward a day (Tuesday) a new couple we like took pity on us. We squished into the car and jumped on the Autobahn and headed over to Ramstein. The Autobahn out here where we are isn't too crowded- we're in the middle of no-wheres-ville, but it was still an experience driving 120MPH and it being legal. eeeek. Ramstein has the biggest PX (pardon me, "Exchange") in the world! It's a mall- straight up. Last week I told you all I wanted the Jack WolfSkin Ontario Parka in Black.. they had it at in Ramstein. No I didn't get it. I have a perfectly suitable winter coat. :( I still want it though. It's something to be excited over when our "exchange" here is the smallest I've ever seen and the Commissary only has 6 registers. We had Chili's for dinner and headed back in the snow... we made it back and all in all had a great time with our newest homies.

Today I'm off to schedule my hair appointment, take my USAREUR drivers license test (wish me luck), and get our application submitted for our travel passports. Do you know thanks to RyanAir the hubs and I could have flown to Dublin (Ireland!!) on this 4-day weekend for 127 Euro total, no each (round trip)?? Yes, we'll be getting our Passports ASAP!

Happy Thursday All.

Only A Day Away

Tomorrow, you know how the song goes right?
Anyway, tomorrow we'll be off on our whirl-wind journey to Germany for at least three years!

Kevin and I have been in-transit since September 27th when they came and got all of our things. We've been surviving out of 4 suitcases, in guest rooms and bathrooms, and have been on 6 different airplanes since the end of October, down 1 dog {insert pouting here}, down 1 car (well technically 2 since we dropped our Jetta off to be shipped to Germany this morning), rented our home and generally turned our lives up-side-down. I'm ready to get to Germany and get settled! With that being said I also have to be ready for that not to happen right away. We all know that things (with the Army) usually do not work as quickly or as smoothly as we want them to. Assuming I'll be in temporary housing until after the new year isn't pessimistic it's realistic. No need to get my hopes up for something that won't happen, right!? All the same tomorrow we'll be one step closer to our things! You have no idea how much I miss my things: my bed, my couches and tables and dishes and pillows! I can't wait to have a bathroom, bedroom, living room, and kitchen all of my own again!

I am so ready for this in-transit business to be over!

Who knows when I'll have access to the inter-webs again but I hope to be back ASAP! (there may be a scheduled post or two in your future- don't judge me haaahHA!)