rattling up past aquaintances

In cleaning up the desk area for our move, I came across email addresses for two of my friends that had moved in December.  I wrote to both of them to see how they were doing in their new places (one went to Tx, the other to Ky).  I am happy to report that both families are settled and doing well in their new digs. 

The only unexpected news was to discover that one of their teen daughters is now pregnant (unmarried).  In this day and age when "safe" sex is promoted in almost every type of media, it amazes me that these things still happen.  And while I am well versed in the fail rate of most BC methods, the truth is.. most unplanned pregnancies come from a lack of BC more than anything else.

I know that these parents are second-guessing themselves.. Did we give her too much freedom, not enough freedom.... etc.  But you know.. I think that sometimes life unfolds the way it's going to unfold inspite of our plans. We can do all that we think is possible to give our children good guidelines and sound advice, or we can be silent and hope that they will stay innocent longer than we did.  But ultimately certain decisions are theirs to make.

Paul and I talk with our kids all the time about these topics.  I hope that means they will continue to make good choices.  I am praying for my friend and her daughter.  I know that they have a hard road ahead of them.

 

Post "moving" Day(s)

Moving is such a labor intensive thing to do.  Even when you have movers coming in to actually do all the "hard" work for you.  We've been slowly trying to get everything "ready" for the move for the last few weeks. 

That means the kids and I have been going through stuff and weeding out things that we don't need any more.  With the kids, it's things they've outgrown or broken or don't want.  For me, it's getting ruthless and shedding clothes I don't wear because I don't like them. As well as lots and lots of paper junk.

Saturday our stairwell had a farewell BBQ for the Milligans.  They live on the top floor of our stairwell.  Or at least they did until Monday.  They are now heading to Ft. Bragg, NC.  One of the sad things about military life is that you are always saying goodbye to good friends.  It does help to know that we will most likely run into them again at some future point.

Sunday and Monday, Paul and I were going "gang busters" on the rest of the apartment.  Getting rid of things we know we aren't going to need (like 220v appliances), getting ruthless on everything else.   Some dusting was done so that we wouldn't end up transporting dust bunnies from Europe.  But .... you know how it is.. no matter how much you dust.. there is always a dust bunny waiting for it's chance to go public.

Tuesday and Wednesday the packers were here packing our things and getting them on the moving van.  Everything went surprisingly smooth.  Our packers were really good.  I was quite pleased with the way they handled my stuff.  The only hard part is not being able to help and feeling like you are constantly under foot.

This morning, the temporary furniture is arriving.  Overseas assignments have what we call "furniture support".  In recognition of the long wait between when you arrive and when your furniture arrives, the military maintains the basic comfort needs of a family.  We are being provided with beds, living room furniture and dining room furniture for the rest of the time we are here.  When we leave this apartment, the furniture will stay behind (with probably a few more pieces added, like dressers) for the new family that will one day occupy the apartment. This way they have something to sleep on, etc until their furniture arrives a month after they do.

So... now we are settling into that slow move towards our departure.  We fly out of here on July 25.  Between now and then we will be caught up in finishing up what we have going on and getting the apartment ready to return to the government.

This weekend, however, we are taking a break and heading up to Berlin.  We are having a kid-centric time there, going to the Zoo and the Aquarium and the Egyptian museum. Oh... and having at least one dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe.

 

All stressed out and no one to choke!

So, darling daughter Kendra wakes us up this morning at 4:30 AM to let us know she is having pain in her back (kidneys, most likely).  I ask her if she's been taking her Septra (prophylactic antibiotic).  Her and her dad inform me that she's been out of them for the last TWO weeks!!!!  ... Well.. hell.. I know what is wrong with her, she has a kidney and/or bladder infection. 

They are trying to deny that this is what it is. I'm pissed off because at this point, we have no military medical facility to take her to for "urgent care" (our closest facility is in the process of closing their doors so they are no longer open 24/7).  This means our options are to take her to Nurnberg and have her seen at a German urgent care facility.  NOT my idea of a fun time...language barrier aside, I don't care for the "wait and see" process that German doctors take. OR we can wait until our post clinic opens on Monday Morning to call and see if we can get her in.

So.. I'm pissed off at my daughter and husband because they obviously were aware of the lack of medication, but yet did nothing to take care of this issue.  I left my room because inspite of my years of experience with Kendra and knowing how things go with her health... these two are trying to tell me it's NOT an infection. Well.. I'm done talking to Mr and Miss denial, so I left the room. 

The two of them are back to sleep in bed and I'm stuck here still awake and worrying about her. OHHH.. and Paul.. just before he goes back to bed, comes out here and tells me she's crying because I was so MEAN about the fact that she ran out of medication. WTF????

A Long Line of Love

Remember the song "I come from a long line of love"?  It was a country hit several years ago.  Anyway.. .. it suddenly dawns on me that Paul and I come from a long line of love.  My parents were married until my father died in 1991.  My grandparents on both sides were married until "death do us part", though tragically one marriage was much shorter than the other.  Paul's grandparents (both sets) were married until death, and Paul's parents are celebrating their 50th anniversary this year.

Paul and his brothers are sending their parents on an Alaskan cruise to celebrate the anniversary.  We (Paul and I) had so much fun putting together their cruise package online.  We set up airfare and transfers to and from the boat.  They have a stateroom with a private verandah.  We also arranged for their anniversary to be celebrated the second night of the cruise... and Paul's mothers birthday is right at the end of the cruise (17th of September), so we are having them mention that as well.

As a final "gift", we are trying to arrange a time when the whole descending family line (the brothers, their wives and children) can be in Phoenix to celebrate en mass.  It's looking like it's either going to have to be this christmas or next christmas for us (Paul is in a school for all of 2007), or everyone is going to have to come to us in Maryland, which I'm sure that isn't what the parents had in mind. 

It would be nice though... I have plans (in the back of my head) to rent a summer cottage on a beach following Kendra's graduation from H.S.  I could just make it a slightly bigger place and then everyone could come spend a week with us there and the only cost to them would be transportation and food.

Guess we'll see.

Wheels in my head keep on spinning

So here I am, 5 days since the last entry and panic mode has hit right on time. 

Every day the kids and I have been working on the house, going through closets, getting rid of old stuff we don't need.  I see bags leaving our house every day.  And while on some level I can see improvement, all I really see at this point is how much more needs to be done. 

Our cat had surgery on Tuesday to have the cyst removed.  They said it was really quite big and a rather extensive deal to remove, but no damage was done to the muscles, etc.  They still feel that there is no evidence of cancer, etc, but they have sent some to be further studied.   She's home now and extremely slow and well.. kind of loopy.. but she is recovering nicely as far as all that goes.

I think that this evening when Paul gets home, we are going to focus on the playroom (which was started today, with the kids and I going through all the games and what not.  Ultimately, we are trying to move stuff from Mac's room in to the playroom for packing and using Mac's room (since it's the smallest) for the place that things that should NOT be packed to go on packing day.  If we can get through all the stuff in the playroom, then I think we can start moving Mac's things into the playroom.

Once we get his things that should be packed moved out of his room... we can start placing things in his room that need to stay with us longer.

Brushing out the cobwebs

June 15, we are now 40 days away from our final day here in Germany.  I am not in panic mode yet, but I imagine it's just a matter of about 5 days!

We have all kinds of dates scheduled.  When the Household goods get picked up, when the car is shipped, when the "hold" baggage gets picked up.... and lastly, when our house inspection happens and when we finally slip the bonds of this assignment.

We have a plan for going through all the stuff, dividing what gets sold, given away, or thrown away and what we are keeping. The kids are out of school and I've given them notice that they owe me two hours every morning until their rooms have been totally finished.  I don't want to take all their free time, so I think this is a good compromise...two hours and then the rest of the day is theirs.

Of course, I only have 11 days to prepare for the movers.. they come on June 27.. that is the beginning of the long slow slide back to the states.

Having said all that, I'm trying to figure out which of my workout DVDs I want to keep with us and which can be gotten rid of (let's face it.. if I haven't used them in the last two years, what is the likelyhood I ever will?) and which can go ahead to the next place. 

Well.. enough of my lamenting... I have about 30 minutes before I wake up the kids and insist they start working.

 

Happy Birthday to me!

Here are some of the pictures from our trip to Berlin.  The first one is my sister, Susan, the second one is me. We had a great time during our weekend in Berlin, but the weather was a bit against us and there was some rain to contend with.

Today is my birthday.  I am officially 46 years old and no closer to my goal than I was at my birthday last year.  This just shouldn't be this dang hard.

At any rate, Paul and the kids got me a really great camera, I can't wait to use it.  No, it's not digital.... I prefer prints... but it is a sweet little number with loads of possibilities.  I also got a book that I've been wanting, "Guests of the Ayatollah."

I weighed in this morning at 220.0 , up a bit from last week...but I havent exercised or dieted, so I'm not complaining... and as we so often say "Tomorrow is another day."

Time for cake, so I'm out of here.  Hope everyone has a great day!