Family Day and A New House!!

Good morning!! I won’t be around much right for now. We get our internet and cable hooked up at the house next Wednesday, so I’m using my work computer. And now that we’re finally staying in our house, I’m not going to be getting online before bedtime until we have internet in the house – too far to drive into work to use the computer.

Yesterday was Family Day at Remington Park on post. It was rainy, so Ryan and Robbie didn’t come out. Robbie went to day care and Ryan worked on stuff around the house. We finally managed to get the mattress upstairs – after much cutting on Ryan’s part. Not the mattress, but the ceiling area over the stairs. Once he’s done with the fixing it’ll look really nice. I was the team captain for the Battalion’s 1-Mile Fun Run Team, and we won!! We got a HUGE trophy for our efforts – it will be displayed in the BN building. Next was the raft race. That was an 8-man team and we had to carry the raft about 15-20 feet from the beach to the water, get in, paddle down about 200-300 yards and turn around and come back, then carry the raft back up the beach. Well, we didn’t do so well with that – we had a hard time steering the raft since my side of paddlers was stronger than the other side. We couldn’t get the raft to turn to go around the turn-around point, so we all just turned around on the raft, finally managed to get around the point and got the raft back. About 15 feet from shore, most of us jumped in the water and swam back pulling the raft. I had to go back in the water to help one of the other females out as she was having trouble swimming while carrying her paddle (most of us had thrown them in the raft when we jumped out). We finally finished in just over 8 minutes (about the same time as it took us to run a mile) and we ended up getting the Broken Paddle Award for the slowest time. But we sure had fun, and that was the main point of it!

After that, I left to go home, and Ryan and I went to Lowe’s and got our cabinets figured out for our house. We ordered half of them for now and they’ll be delivered later today along with our stove and dishwasher. They’re unfinished, so Ryan will get stain to match our existing cabinets. We got Robbie from day care and then went to the local hardware store for a shower curtain rod and blinds for the bedrooms. We stopped at a little Chinese Buffet place in town on our way home.

We slept in our house for the first time last night – sure was nice sleeping in our own bed again!! I only woke up twice during the night. The first time Robbie was screaming. He is sleeping on our sleeping bag right now, and somehow he managed to get into a corner of his room and he woke up and was in unfamiliar surroundings. I went up and got him back on the sleeping bag and cuddled with him for a while. Then later it started raining and it was windy and our blinds were blowing so I got up and closed the windows part way.

The kitties are settling in nicely and seem to be having fun exploring all over the house. They’ve ventured all the way up to the 3rd floor already, so I guess they like their new house.

No more jungle

We got up this morning and had breakfast at McDonald’s. The continental breakfast for us transient guests on post doesn’t start until 8 on the weekends and that wasn’t early enough for us. By a little after 8 we were at the U-haul place picking up a truck to go empty out our storage unit. A couple of my coworkers met us there to help, and then they followed us to our house to help unload the truck. That sure was nice of them and made things go a lot quicker. We got everything in the house and our only problem is that somehow we have to figure out how to get our mattress and box spring up the stairs. It’s about an inch of clearance not enough, but Ryan thinks he may have a solution. We’ll see. . . My friends left and Ryan went to take the truck back (he left his truck at the U-haul place). While he was gone, Robbie played with some of his toys and had fun running from window to window in the house and looking out and I brought some stuff upstairs to their respective rooms. Of course, I stopped to play with Robbie from time to time, too, and he also helped me bring a few things upstairs – a roll of toilet paper and a couple of other small things. He likes helping. He’s doing really good with all the steps – goes up and down on his hands and knees.

Once Ryan got back, we started on the jungle. The seller hadn’t gotten anyone to maintain the lawn while the house was on the market, and the grass was over 3 FEET tall in most places. We went over it one time with the lawnmower (borrowed, along with the weed-eater) at it’s highest level and then again at a normal level. Ryan did a little of it, but I did most of it. He used the weedeater around the edges and stuff. Then it all needed to be raked up – 3 lawn & leaf trash bags full! Oh, we went to lunch before we started on the lawn. It sure looks a lot better now. I wish I had remembered to take my camera with so I could have taken before pictures. Oh well. . . Ryan also got our mailbox almost all put in – got the post in the ground, but the mailbox isn’t on top yet. He needs an electric drill, and I’ll borrow one tomorrow so he can finish the mailbox in time for our first delivery on Monday! That’ll be exciting – our first mail in our new house (even though we’ve been using the addy for a month and a half already, but we’ve been picking it up at the post office).

We finally left the house a little after 4 and headed back to the ghetto to drop off Ryan’s truck and figure out where we wanted to go for dinner. We decided on the Golden Unicorn again, and just had sandwiches. Robbie had a hotdog with no bun (he doesn’t eat them right now), I had a tuna melt and the tuna actually squirted out when I bit into it there was so much!, and Ryan had an egg salad with olive and cheese sandwich (olive pieces were mixed into the egg salad). He said it was the best egg salad he’s ever had. And it only cost what it would have cost to go to McDonald’s or somewhere like that and it was WAY better food!

We stopped by the PX on our way home to get a few things for tomorrow’s work, and then it was home for showers (for all 3 of us, but Robbie sure didn’t like it) and bedtime for Robbie and stitching/relaxing time for me and Ryan. I think all 3 of us will sleep good tonight!

Home Sweet HOUSE!!!!!

We closed on our house today!!! We spent the morning running here and there and everywhere it seemed – Carthage Village Offices to take care of water, the post office to check our mail and tell them to start delivering it on Monday, the cable company (hook up won’t be until 5 July, so we’ll still be offline until then), Lowe’s to buy our dishwasher and stove (saved almost $100 because of their 10% military discount!!), and then to bring Robbie to SSG Q’s house – she watched him while we went to the closing. We finally met the seller and he’s a really nice guy. I signed a million (ok, maybe not that many) pieces of paperwork and after about an hour and a half, we got our keys! We got $200 cash from the seller since there were still a couple of things sitll not fixed from the inspection (we had our walk-thru yesterday with our realtor) and they’re things Ryan will be able to take care of fairly easily. And we handed over our part of the closing costs. The first place we went after we were done was out to Carthage to get more keys made – they only had one of each. Then we went to OUR HOUSE and finally emptied my van out. My poor plants aren’t going to know what to do – they’ve been in the back of my van since the end of April.

Then we went and picked Robbie up and went to the PX to get Ryan’s new glasses and then back to the ghetto for a bit – got a coupon I won at our church’s spaghetti dinner for a free pizza at Little Caeser’s. We went to Sears to get a cartridge for SSG Q’s weedeater (she’s letting us borrow that and her lawnmower to take care of our jungle) and then to Little Caeser’s to get our pizza. We came back to the ghetto to eat it – not bad, but it’s not Papa Johns (which they don’t have around here).

Before bedtime, we walked around the field across the street from our building for a while and then came in and got Robbie put to bed. I’m tired – you’d think I was busy today or something. But WE HAVE A HOUSE!!!!!!!!!!!!! We’ll probably be staying in the ghetto until Monday – gotta make sure we can see our NASCAR race on Sunday! LOL

Oh, our household goods won’t be delivered until 5 July – that’s the earliest we could get it. So we have a house, but nothing much to put in it for another week and a half. It’ll give us time to paint and get cabinets/counters in, though, so that’s not too bad.

Riverfest

Today was a fun day. After morning formation at Batallion (first and last day of the week), and a quick stop for breakfast and e-mail check at the business center (during which time Ryan brought Robbie to daycare), we left for Alexandria Bay. It’s a quaint little town right on the St. Lawrence Seaway. We had tickets for Riverfest which was sponsored by MWR and AUSA, two organizations that do lots of recreation and morale stuff for soldiers. We took an hour-long boat tour of the Thousand Islands area in the St. Lawrence Seaway, and then we went to the Boldt Castle on Heart Island. You can read all about the castle here: http://www.boldtcastle.com/ It was really pretty and will be even moreso once they have more renovations complete. We had a picnic lunch on the grounds of the castle and that was really neat. We both had a great time and we’re definitely going to go back again sometime – maybe when mom & Dad & Rick come to visit us. The day was certainly worth the $15 we paid for each ticket.

After we got back from the island, we looked through a few of the shops along the main street and bought a couple of souvenirs – had to get a magnet of Boldt Castle for our refrigerator. Then we headed back to Ft. Drum and got Robbie from daycare and then went to Lowe’s to look around at stuff for our house. We were pleased to find out that they offer a 10% military discount!! That sure was a nice surprise. We got supper from Wendy’s and took it back and ate in the ghetto. Then we played cars and balls for a while with Robbie before bed, and after he was down, I crocheted on my doily. I’m almost done with it – only 1/2 a round left to go!!

No news on our house yet. . .

Promotion time!!

The points list for 1 July promotions finally came out this morning, and they dropped the points for Staff Sergeant to 733, just enough to get me!! I’m so excited that I will finally be promoted. Robbie and Ryan will be taking part in my ceremony, and I’ll try and get it videotaped so those of you back at home will be able to see it as well. Woohoo!!!! I’ve been in a promotable status for 2 years now, so I’ve been waiting a while.

Other than that, my day was pretty blah. I typed up a couple of things this morning, and then after lunch SGT B and I moved stuff from the rehearsal hall to the supply annex. There’s a Reserve band coming in next week to do some concerts (and do part of their 2 weeks Active Duty Training) and they’ll be using our rehearsal facilities. Once we were done with that, he went out and helped SGT M finish up the weed-eating, and I just sat in the office with SSG Q and chatted and played on the computer.

We went to Bob Evans for supper tonight, and boy that wasn’t fun. Robbie was fussy, our service was not the best, and they were training new cooks in the back so Ryan’s food wasn’t what it showed in the menu. He finally ended up talking to the manager about the situation, and his part of the meal was free. I don’t think we’ll be going back there for a while. I think we’ll stick to Cracker Barrell instead.

No news on our house yet, but there’s still a few days left this week, so maybe. . . Keep your fingers crossed for us.

Hot

Well, summer is here again. It was hot and then it was cold for a week and now it’s back to being hot again. I think it probably got over 90 today. One time/temp sign we saw after church a little after 11 said it was 88.

After church this morning, we went shopping at Lowe’s for Ryan’s Father’s Day gift to Ryan – he got a couple of things and only went 80 cents over his “gift certificate” amount. Then we went to lunch at Applebees, a little bit of grocery shopping (fun stuff like cat food & litter, water, and yogurt for my lunches), and then we stopped at a yard sale on the way home. We got a set of 4 TV tables with a rack (like you have, Rick, but these are more oval) for $10. Ryan’s going to refinish them, but they’re not in all that bad condition. We were planning on getting some eventually anyways, and $10 is lots better than $40 for new. Even with the cost of refinishing, I think we’ll still come out ahead.

During Robbie’s nap, I stitched a little, and after he got up and we had played for a while while watching the end of the race, we went to Walmart to get Kleenex and paper towels and then we went to McDonald’s for supper. Robbie sure gets excited when we pull into the parking lot of such places. After we ate, we went to the playground on post so Robbie could run around and play for awhile before going back to go to bed. I made my weekly phone call to Mom & Dad and got some more stitching done.

Relaxing Day

We slept in this morning and just got going at our leisure. We went to a place we ate dinner at before for breakfast. They have an all-you-can-eat buffet and it was really good. Robbie and I had omelets (custom made – and the girl making them even made Robbie’s smaller than normal!) and Ryan had yucky stuff – biscuits and potatoes and sausage and eggs all with icky sausage gravy on it. Then we drove out to Clayton – a quaint little town about 1/2 hour away, right on the St. Lawrence River. We walked around there for a while – went to a couple of yard sales, a small craft show the local craft club was putting on, and into a few shops. Before heading back, we stopped in a little ice cream shop for ice cream! It was a lot of fun. Once we got back, Robbie went down for a nap and I stitched for a little bit. But when I started “sleep stitching”, I decided to go join Robbie in nap-land.

The evening was spent at another band get together, this time at SSG D’s house. He has a pool and we all had lots of fun. SSG Q and SGT B didn’t go in the pool, but Ryan and me and Robbie did as well as SSG D’s 2 girls. We had brats and burgers to eat as well as potato salad and chips and fruit. We stayed until after 9 talking and having a good time. I bet Robbie sleeps good tonight with all that fresh air today. For that matter, I bet we all sleep good tonight!

And now I’ll leave you with a bit of fun. . .

You Are Scooter

Brainy and knowledgable, you are the perfect sidekick. You’re always willing to lend a helping hand. In any big event or party, you’re the one who keeps things going. “15 seconds to showtime!”

The Muppet Personality Test

PT Test

That’s what we did at work today. I did 45 pushups for 94%, 67 situps for 84%, and ran 2 miles in 18:41 for 75% and my total score was 253. There were 4 of us taking the test, and I did more situps than anyone and had the highest score! That was all we did today. We did have to come back in at 10, and we were going to finish up the lawn, but it’s hard to do when none of the equipement works. So one guy brought it in for repairs and I just kind of played around on the computer until we were told to go home. When we were released, SSG Q and I went to Walmart and got our nails done! She just got a pedicure, but I got a manicure and a pedicure. What a nice way to relax after a PT test! It was fun hanging out with her and chatting (but not as fun as hanging out with my buddy K back at Ft. Gordon).

I stopped at Arby’s drive thru on my way home for lunch and after I had eaten that, I got some stitching done before we went to go get Robbie. After we picked him up, we went to Carthage to a little fair that one of the churches was holding. The food was really cheap – we all ate (including dessert) for $13. Robbie got to go on some rides and he really enjoyed that. He fussed when it was time to leave because he wanted to keep riding, but we were out of ride tickets. It was a great fun family time!

No house yet. We’re still waiting on one tax thing re: the people we’re buying the house from. They’re a corporation, so they have to do corporate tax searches and stuff. Of course, you’d think they’d have done all this before if they were trying to sell the house, but oh well. As we keep waiting. . . .

Got stuff!

This morning we took Robbie to the doctor for his diaper rash. Talk about a morning. His appointment was at 7:25. We finally get called back around 8:10 and finally see the PA (doctor had called in sick, thus the wait – at least that’s what we were told. . .) about 8:20. Poor little guy has a mild yeast infection “down there.” Ugh. So then we go wait in line for the pharmacy and they have ONE pharmacist working. They have four different “kinds” of numbers, and some of the people with other kinds than me got taken care of before us even though they got there after. I think that if there’s only one pharm. working, then there should only be one set of numbers and do first-come, first-served. So we finally get called to the window, and his prescription (a small tube of cream) wasn’t ready. This is past 9:00 we’re talking about. Why is it not ready? So we wait probably another 10 minutes and finally get the prescription. By this time Robbie is quite the little fuss-bucket since we hadn’t eaten. We figured it would be a quick appt., quick trip to the pharm., and then to eat. Yeah right. So I took my guys to Burger King on post for breakfast and then we came back to the ghetto so Ryan could get his truck to bring Robbie to daycare and I headed to work. Got there around 10, but I hadn’t really missed much (I did call about 9 to let them know I wouldn’t be there at 9:30). I typed up a leave form, sent an e-mail and answered the phone a couple of times. Woohoo. . . At lunchtime I went to the MP station to get Ryan’s rifle from the arms room there (can’t have it in temporary quarters) and then home to change into PT uniform.

I grabbed a few Twizzlers for lunch (yes, I know – not very healthy) and left to pick up SGT B… to go to get stuff issued to us. After much waiting, we finally got our stuff – more boots, more socks, elbow & knee pads, ballistic goggles, the new type of kevlar helmet, and other stuff. I’ll even be getting 4 sports bras, but they were out of my size and had to order them. Of course, they had to order my cold weather boots as well. After that was done, SGT B left with SPC B from the band and I stuck around to get my uniform issue. I got 4 sets of ACU’s, some t-shirts, a hat, a boonie hat, and some rank and other stuff. Maybe I should get a pic of me in the new uniform for those of you who haven’t seen it yet. I finally got done with that just after 5 and headed back to the admin building to do a pass form for SPC B who is going home this weekend for her brother’s wedding. Everyone else forget that she was going on pass, so after making the appropriate phone calls, I got her taken care of. Then it was finally home to my guys and to leave for dinner and to bring Ryan’s gun to the gun shop in Carthage. The owner is going to store it for Ryan until we get our house.

And about the house – nothing yet. I didn’t get a chance to call our attorney today because I was so busy, but tomorrow starts the 2-a-day phone calls. I want OUT OF THE GHETTO.

Beds?

We ran 2 miles at PT this morning – the exact route we use for the PT test. We’ve got a diagnostic test on Friday. I ran it with plenty of time left over for me to pass the test, but not as fast as I know I’ll eventually be able to run it. The rest of the day was spent putting beds together in the barracks. Once we had all the right parts it went fairly quickly. It was lunchtime before we knew it, and then I finished up the little bit we had left after lunch – everyone else had other things to tend to.

Well, that’s it for my exciting day. LOL After we picked Robbie up from “school”, we went to a little diner to eat – great food and an old-time diner atmosphere. We’ve been there before, and we decided it was time to go again. On our way back to the ghetto, we stopped at Walmart and got M.A.S.H. Season 10 to watch, and Robbie got a new Bob the Builder DVD. When we got back, we played with cars and balls for a while and then Robbie went to bed. I got the laundry started and pulled out my stitching. Once I get back from here (the band hall), the clothes should be dry. I’ll fold them tomorrow.

No news on our house yet. Keep your fingers crossed that we can close soon.