New Neighbors

I really don't do well in social situations with strangers, so I do my best to avoid them. But when we got new neighbors, I knew I had to go over and welcome them. Our next door neighbors came over to welcome us when we first moved in, so now it my turn to pass on the torch. It can be hard when you're at a new military base and don't know anyone. Especially when that Army base is at least a five hour flight from the rest of the country.

To make things less stressful, I just bought a package of break and bake cookies. No need to worry about mixing or cleaning or making sure you don't poison anyone. When it came time to bake, I was disappointed that I had only bought a 12-pack of extra large cookies. I still kept four of them anyway.

After baking and cooling, I placed the cookies on a paper plate and topped it with aluminum foil. Eight cookies fit perfectly on the plate. I wrapped some twine around it and attached the little card that I made on PicMonkey and printed onto cardstock. On the back of the card I wrote a little message and included my phone number.

It took a bit of convincing to get me out the door, but I finally headed over. Out of all the four places that we've lived, this has been the only place where the neighbors came and introduced themselves. I had to keep reminding myself how nice of a gesture it was. I timed it perfectly for 11 am to make sure that no husbands would be home on lunch break. I had no interest in dealing with that awkwardness.

After introducing myself and Adri, handing over the cookies, and chatting for a minute or two, I was back on my merry way home. I was glad that I went with "welcome to the neighborhood" instead of "welcome to Hawaii", because it turns out that they had literally moved over from the community across the street from us. How anticlimactic. I'll just consider this time a practice run for when we have a new family PCS here.

Have your neighbors ever stopped by to welcome you to the neighborhood?

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Cleaning Out My Closet

You know how they say that mothers forget the pain of child birth? I'm not sure if that's completely true, because honestly, I'm still traumatized by the birth of my littlest nugget. But, the concept definitely applies to the torture of unpacking boxes. Jeez, I had no idea that setting up our new home would be such a pain. I'm not sure if it has to do with the fact that we've collected so much crap along our little journey as a family, and we keep adding munchkins, but damn! We have a lot of crap! I don't ever remember unpacking being so difficult in our previous moves.

I finally got around to opening up the boxes that said, "master bedroom, hers, clothes". It was a bit of a challenge, considering that currently, my "walk in" closet is tiny. I need to make a trip to Lowe's to pick up some additional shelving. In the mean time though, I had to get rid of a bunch of items that have probably never even been worn, in order to make space for the stuff I actually use.

I got a bit of a kick out of a few of the pieces that I've held on to for far too many years. I'm not even close to being done opening all of my boxes, and I know many more embarrassing clothing choices await me. Don't worry, most of these gems ended up in a donation box.

In case there's a take-your-spouse-to-work-day

There were several like this. Some were half the length.

I admit, even though I graduated high school almost 10 years ago, I couldn't get rid of this one. 

Fake designer purses, anyone? I have TONS!

There was also a top, if you could call it that, that I couldn't even take a picture of. It was more like a bikini top with an infinity scarf around the neck. Needless to say, it wouldn't cooperate on a hanger, and really just looked like a small piece of bunched up fabric. I kept it classy back in the day. 

I was surprised by how satisfying purging my closet felt. I've kept many of these things for a while just in case I ever need them for a dress up party or something like that. Guess what, Alex..?! We're not in college anymore. I'm loving the small amount of empty space that I have, and can't wait to fill it with new grown up clothes.

Anyone else as bad as I am when it comes to parting with old clothes?

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That Time a Tornado Blew Through Hawaii

The weather has been a tad wild on Oahu lately. It's been super windy, the waves on the North Shore have been extremely high, and just the other day, a tornado blew through my kitchen. If you remember, I like my natural disasters to come with advance warning, so that I can prepare, and let me just say that I was not at all prepared for the mess left behind. It was scary.

The movers dropped off all of our belongings on Monday. At first, we had asked them to unpack the kitchen boxes, but since it took them so long to get everything inside of the house, we just let them leave without worrying about the kitchen boxes. That was a huge mistake on our part.

Since we only unpacked a few kitchen items when we moved from Georgia to Missouri eight months ago, I completely forgot the amount of crap that we had sitting in boxes. Holy hell!

When we first got married, Hubster and I were simple people.. We lived in a small apartment with a small kitchen. We didn't have half of the kitchen utensils that we have now, and somehow, we survived. Then we bought our first house and started entertaining and having people over. I'm pretty sure that's where we went wrong. We started buying serving platters, fancy gadgets, and high-tech machines. We had a huge kitchen, and plenty of space for it all.

Together, we decided that we probably wouldn't be doing much entertaining in Missouri, since we'd only be there for six months. That was partially true. I think we had people over for dinner three or four times in the last month we were there. Still it was fine. I managed without every kitchen tool known to man. And while I was managing to get by, I completely forgot about the boxes on top of boxes in our garage loaded with cooking supplies.

And now we're living on post in Hawaii. I have to admit, it's a really nice house, and we have a decently sized kitchen. Still, it doesn't compare to the size of our Georgia kitchen, and I'm having a hard time finding locations for everything. For about three days, we had all of the homeless wine glasses and serving dishes just hanging out on the island. Thanks to a gigantic closet in our laundry room, the majority of the eyesore has been hidden away. I plan on attempting to sell a couple of items, because after all, who needs a regular coffee pot when you have a Keurig?

Now, we have the rest of the house to work on. The kitchen has taken about a week. I'm scared to see how much longer the rest of the boxes take. 

I'm curious to know your unpacking experiences. How long does it take you to get the entire house put away and settled?

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Today is the Day!

Wahoo! We are finally getting our household goods delivered this morning! It's been just over three months since we've had our stuff, and we will be reunited in a matter of a few hours. I seriously can not wait.

I can't wait to sleep on my own mattress, which isn't wrapped in plastic. I can't wait to snuggle up and watch TV from our couch. I can't wait to ditch the 19 inch TV for one that isn't easily blocked by Adri's gigantic head.

I've been debating which boxes I want to unpack first, and I'm pretty sure it's going to the kitchen gear. I've missed using my KitchenAid. After cooking on crappy cookware, I realized that I took having good quality nonstick pots and pans for granted. I'm looking forward to having more than four place settings, and not having to wash dishes after practically every meal. It'll be nice to have oven mits, and not have to use my only kitchen towel to pull hot cookie sheets out of the oven.

Pretty soon I'll be able to open my Etsy shop back up. I've missed crafting so much. I might even get around to finishing the scrapbook that I was making as Hubster's welcome home gift. You know.. For that deployment he came back from a year ago..

Cross your fingers that everything goes well for us. The original email that Hubster got said we were getting 2300 pounds delivered today. The delivery guy clarified and said it was more like 8000, which made me feel much better. Hopefully there won't be any issues, especially since it is a federal holiday, and I'm not sure there will be anyone available to help us.

Hope everyone has a wonderful week! I can't wait to share what our furniture filled house looks like!

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Our Luck With Moving

It's relatively safe to say that we haven't had the best luck when it comes to moving. No matter how much I plan and stress, there is always something out of my control that goes horribly wrong. So far, this PCS has only been overly annoying and inconvenient. Just wait until we start opening up our boxes though. I can almost guarantee that 67% of the furniture will be smashed and our most prized possessions will be missing.

Each move has gotten progressively worse, so let's start from the beginning, shall we. When I moved to Georgia, I was totally unaware that I was supposed to keep my jewelry and expensive stuff with me. Naive, I know. Never trust a stranger with your jewelry. Duh. Anyway, I didn't have a lot of furniture or anything, so all of my belongings made it, and in one piece. Except for my jewelry. Oh yeah, and the Christmas cash that I had stashed. I still feel like such an idiot for making that rookie mistake.

The move from Georgia to Missouri actually wasn't all that bad, with one very large exception. All of our boxes and furniture made it without any significant damage and actually, we didn't even unpack the majority of the boxes. Easy peasy. Aside from the part that we were robbed at one of the hotels that we stopped at for the night. The crooks got away with over $12,000 worth of stuff, but we were lucky to have our renter's insurance cover a good chunk of the loss.

Source

And now Hawaii. You may have read last week, that our stuff was still in Missouri, two whole months after we had left. It's supposed to be arriving this week, but it's already Wednesday, and we haven't heard from them, so we'll see. In the meantime, we have some loaner furniture from the housing office. We were supposed to move in yesterday, but the house wasn't ready, so we'll finally be moving in today. I can't even begin to describe how excited I am to finally cook my own dinner.

Not long after signing our lease, we also learned that our housing allowance will be going up by $400 dollars next year. Craziness! Since we live on post though, all of that money is automatically deducted by housing.

Tomorrow our sweet puppy will also be here and I'm so excited to have him back! It might be the best thing to happen all week. I can't wait to bring him home. Poor guy is going to have a long day of travel. I need to get some shopping done today so that I can spoil him after he arrives.  Hopefully, since he sleeps a lot, he won't have a hard time adjusting to the time difference.

Do you have any nightmare moving stories?

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The End is Near

We are so close to finally being out of this hotel! I went to the housing office earlier this week, after not hearing back from our leasing agent, and I got confirmation that we get to move in the 17th! I can not wait to be in my own space. And not have to worry about being woken up by housekeeping. Or the wild little animals that like to scream and run down the halls at night.

We went to dinner off-post last night, and when we were driving back, we saw police cars and a fire truck directly in front of our house. I freaked out thinking that the house had possibly caught fire and we wouldn't be able to move in for even longer. After realizing it was a car accident, I felt pretty guilty. Later on, Hubs got a phone call that it was a lady who had run a red light and hit a motorcycle. Thankfully, the guy on the motorcycle was still alive and transported to the hospital. The speed limit here is 25 mph, so I'm praying there wasn't any major damage to the guy on the bike.

Hopefully, our household goods will also arrive next week. Hubster called again yesterday to try to get an answer as to where our stuff was. It was still in Missouri. Originally, we had cancelled our express shipment because we realized that it would only be a difference of a few days between when our express and regular household goods would arrive. Well, the moving company was confused as to which shipment was cancelled and decided to just hold on to our stuff. FOR TWO MONTHS. No phone call or anything to try and figure it out.

The bright side is that we're still in the hotel and not in an empty house. The moving company said they'd be expediting our shipment and we could expect it next week, but I won't hold my breath. So hopefully, it won't be too much time until we have all of our stuff again. Hopefully.

Today I'll be helping some friends move into their new place. They arrived on the island Tuesday night, and already have a place. I've used several choice words to describe them. Jerks. At least this will be our last weekend, and we already have some plans. After our play blate, Jen invited us over for dinner this weekend. I miss home-cooked food!

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The Flight from Hell

If you ever plan on visiting Hawaii. I HIGHLY recommend having a layover in Los Angeles and not Dallas. The eight hour flight from Dallas was almost too much for even me to handle. We started off with a two hour delay due to the navigation system crashing (that's exactly what you want to hear before your eight hour flight!) and then had to deal with head winds which slowed us down a tiny bit.

Half way into the flight, the girls were exhausted and cranky. Of course Adri made a scene by throwing multiple tantrums. If I didn't already know that I had the worst behaved kid on the plane, the lady in front of us with the stink eye, definitely would have clued me in.

I came prepared to buy airplane food, since I knew that kind of stuff isn't free anymore, but they ran out of almost everything before they even got to us, and we were row 25. Aside from being by the toilets, it must have sucked be stuck in the rows way back.

This momma was in dire need of an adult drink, but they were also out of my go-to, amaretto. The next best thing was a half bottle of wine. I'm not sure if the flight attendant noticed that Hubs was military or just saw the look of desperation on our faces, but my mommy juice and Hub's daddy drink were free.

I was a little disappointed that they ran our of just about everything only half way into our flight, so it was a good thing that I was prepared with all sorts of stuff for the kids. It would have been a painful flight if I hadn't been. The gummies are great for helping the little ones clear their ears. Even though they're over 3 oz., TSA allowed us to take fruit pouches though security.

Even after a hellish flight, I can't complain. We landed in paradise. I was a little sad that we weren't able to fly into Honolulu at sunset, but we'll have plenty of opportunities to watch the sun set for the next few years.

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One Step Closer

It's our last day on the mainland! The four of us are extremely excited for this journey. Not so much the flying part, but the part where we land in Honolulu and get to spend a few years there. 

Today will be spent quadruple checking everything and charging every single electronic device that we own to keep the girls occupied. I'll be making lists upon lists to make sure nothing is forgotten. 

A shopping trip will probably be necessary. I don't think I'll survive without a Welch's 24-pack of gummies. 

Normally I do well traveling with the girls. This time, I'd be lying if I said I wasn't mortified of flying for hours in a tin can with a bunch of toddler hating passengers. Let's just hope that everyone is in the aloha spirit. 

What are your must haves for travelling? I know I'll forget something.

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We Made It

We are in Miami! After three long days of travel, we arrived at my parents' house.

After our final walk through on Friday, we went and picked V up from school. Her teacher made her the sweetest little book, with hand prints from all of her classmates. I broke down in tears in the middle of a preschool. Go me!

From Fort Leonard Wood, we drove until we were in Tennessee. We spent the night around Fort Campbell, and then hit the road once again towards Fort Stewart. I've always hated driving, but these seven and eight hour driving days didn't seem to bother me as much.

At Fort Stewart, we spent the night at my battle buddy's house. Our husbands deployed together, and so for the second half of the deployment, one of us was always sleeping at the other's house. It was just like old times.

While in Georgia, we also passed by our house. Hubster was horrified to see that our tenants installed a satellite dish on our roof. Gasp! I get it though. Some guy that works for a TV company, came and drilled holes into our roof. Hopefully there is no leaking or water damaged caused. We're almost positive it violates the lease agreement, but we're waiting on the property manager to get back to us on that one. Either way, I'd say a good chunk of their security deposit is going to be put towards repairing the roof.

So far, our time in Miami has been spent catching up. The girls are having a blast with my parents, I've spent a considerable amount of time with my best friend, and Hubster has made a calendar full of plans with his fraternity brothers.

They just opened a HUGE Target about two minutes from where my parents live, which I expect to occupy plenty of time at. Not having easy access to a Target for the past six months has been damaging. This new Target has EOS balls in colors that I've never seen. I had to stock up since I'm trying to grow my rainbow collection.

The remained of our Miami time will be pretty low-key. We're trying not to spend too much money, since we had to pay our entire way down here. Today we'll be heading out on the boat, to one of Veronica's favorite spots. The rest of the time? I have no clue.

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Military Mom Guilt

It's Veronica's last day of preschool today. I've been dreading this day for weeks. Although I'm pretty sure she doesn't care that she won't be going back, I'm completely torn up about it. So much so, that I've been crying about it. Just ask my husband how crazy I was in the Walmart parking lot on Wednesday.

We were completely blessed to have two of the best teachers at the preschool. At first I was upset that she was being put into the class with the younger three year olds, but it's been a fantastic experience and she's still learned so much. She's still pretty young and extremely resilient, but I feel awful about having to take V out of school. It's really even more of a daycare than school, but she's grown to love attending every other day.

I'm always shocked when V starts singing a song with all of the days of the week or the months of the year. She even knows what month we're in. I barely even know what month it is. She's made a best friend who she shares bracelets with and naps next to.

Having to pull her our of school for the first time made me realize that this will have to happen again several time over the next decade. This time I'm the one who is all depressed about it, but in the future it will be the kids. They're the ones leaving their friends and the classes that they've grown comfortable in. It sucks, but it's the reality of bring a military kid.

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Preparing for the Moving Company

The packers are coming today!! I'm nervous and excited! We had a really great moving experience when we left Fort Stewart and came here, so I'm hoping that this move is equally successful.

Before marrying my husband, I had never moved in my life. Actually, that's a lie. Back when I was a baby, we moved a few times, I believe. After my parents bought their house when I was around three though, I never left. Even for college, I lived at home. I never had any idea how much work it was to move. 

Even when a moving company is involved, there is a ton of work that goes into moving your belongings. There are certain things you have to do before the packers/mover arrive and certain things that they won't transport for you. Hopefully these tips from Allied Van Lines can help military wives, old and new when it comes time to PCS, or anyone else who is moving.

How to Prepare Your Belongings for the Moving Company

Moving Day is almost here! Moving on your own can be stressful, which is why many people decide to hire a moving company to pack and ship their belongings. But if you’ve decided to hire a moving company, don’t expect the movers to show up and simply do all the work for you – it takes a little preparation before they arrive.

It’s important to understand that a moving company cannot pack or transport everything you own. While movers can transport numerous items – even rare or hard-to-transport items like custom artwork, vehicles, etc. – there are some they will not take and some they do not recommend you ship:

• Hazardous materials. A moving company cannot move hazardous materials such as explosives, compressed gases, flammable liquids and solids, oxidizers, poisons, corrosives and radioactive materials. You may not think you have any such items, but they’re more common than you might think. Common examples include lighter fluid, nail polish remover, propane cylinders, matches, gasoline, paints, paint thinners and automotive repair chemicals. Instead of attempting to transport them yourself – a potentially dangerous act – it’s a good idea to simply re-purchase these items once arriving at your new location.
• Valuables. It’s typically a good idea to keep certain items with you in order to protect them, or in case you have need of them. For example, don’t ship valuables, family photos, heirlooms, important personal papers (like wills and deeds) or jewelry – essentially, anything that is irreplaceable or highly special to you. Instead, keep them with you as you travel to your new home.
• Other items. A moving company typically will not transport firearms or perishable food items, including wine. They also will not move your pets for you. Furthermore, most moving companies recommend you keep any necessary prescription drugs with you at all times.

In addition to understanding exactly which items the moving company will not pack and transport, you need to prepare your other belongings for packing and shipment. Consider this checklist when making your preparations:

• Unplug all of your electronics.
• Remove all items affixed to the wall or ceiling – such as ceiling fans, light fixtures, drapery rods, etc. – that you want taken with you.
• Empty lawn mowers and other gasoline-powered engines of oil and gas.
• Drain your garden hose of as much water as possible and connect the two ends together.
• Bring anything from your attic or overhead storage area to the floor level.
• Empty and defrost your refrigerator and freezer.
• Strip beds and wash sheets for packing.
• Bring rugs to the cleaners and leave in packaging for transport.

By preparing before your moving company even arrives, your move will be off to a smooth start. Have fun and good luck!

---

David Shapiro is a relocation specialist working with Allied Van Lines, realtors and other relocation service providers. He lives in Arizona and enjoys hiking, golfing, baseball and biking.

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Bye Bye Ashley!

Ashley Accord is on her way to Hawaii today! How exciting is that?! Even with the government shutdown, and the Army suspending PCS (Permanent Change of Station) moves, we were lucky to not be affected.

Since we're only authorized to ship one vehicle at the Army's expense, we're paying out of pocket for this one, and lets just say that it's a pretty penny. It was a difficult decision for us to make, but ultimately, it makes the most financial sense for us.

We don't want to sell the Accord any time soon, and we need the Tahoe to help us shuffle all of our suitcases and belonging around the country. We aren't ready to buy a new car yet, and we figured that the $4000 that we'll spend on shipping the Honda to Hawaii and back is probably less than what we would spend on a clunker and it's associated repair costs.

So.. The car is on it's way. We'll probably still beat it there, but it would be nice to have our own vehicle and not have to worry about the cost of a rental.

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Throwing Ish Together

We are nearing the end of our time in Missouri. Hallelujah! As time ticks down though, I find myself struggling to prepare for the packers to come box everything up. In the past, it hasn't been a huge deal. We always drove to the next duty station, so anything that the movers couldn't take, ended up in the back of a car.

Since we're flying to the next duty station though, we really don't have that option. American Airlines allows Hubster to  check five bags for free, and each dependent (the girls and I) gets two. In these bags will be the majority of our clothes, and a lot of the liquid items that the movers won't take such as lotion and perfume/cologne. We've learned that each set of packers does things differently, so we're setting aside a few empty bags for whatever they decide they won't take. We've been told yes and no on items such as candles, light bulbs, and batteries.

One thing that no one takes is food. You're good with unopened nonperishable items, but lets face it, almost every box in this house it open. Plus, I've got a freezer full of food that needs to be eaten. And that's where the fun comes in! The next few dinners in this house will be a lovely combination of anything and everything in the house.

Last night's dinner was a "Mexican Slop", as Hubster refers to it. It was actually quite tasty. I fried up most of the tortillas in the house, shredded up some chicken from the freezer, threw in a bag of cheese, and combined a whole bunch of "Mexican" ingredients in a pan. Success! The husband was skeptical, but it was really good. Something I would make again.

Now I've got more fresh fruits and vegetables to get rid of, probably in some sort of Sheppard's pie tonight.

Is there a strange combination of food that you really enjoy?

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Tristan and Eve Titanium Ring [Review]

I received this product complimentary for review purposes. All opinions are my own.

Anyone who has ever met my husband, knows that he's sort of out there. He likes flashy things and being loud and obnoxious. One of the areas that he spares no expense in, is jewelry. However, if you've been reading this blog for a while, you'd know that we were robbed earlier this year while moving from Fort Stewart to Fort Leonard Wood. All of Hubster's jewelry fell victim to the thieves. 

Since we're not millionaires by any means, we have yet to be able to replace Hubster's missing sparkly items. Insurance only covered up to $1000 in jewelry, which left a huge gap between what was covered and the cost to replace everything.

When I saw that their was an opportunity to review a men's ring, I jumped at the opportunity. Hubster was away in Kansas when this lovely ring arrived. To say that I was anticipating his return and reaction to the ring is an understatement. As soon as he walked in the door the ring and the cute little bag that it came in were in his hand. His first reaction was to say, "What is this?". Like, how did my wife who stays at home with the kids and has no job, afford this.

That was pretty much the reaction I was hoping for. Although the stones in the ring are Cubic Zirconia, there is really no way that the average person could tell. The stones in these rings are optically flawless, and chosen for their sparkle and clarity. The ring itself is made of titanium which is ideal as a wedding band for someone in the military. Titanium is a strong, light metal which is scratch resistant. I think it's safe to say that a ring like this would do just fine out in the field or downrange.

Even though I received this product for free, had I known it existed before this, I would have purchased it myself. The ring retails on Amazon for $99.00, but the current sale price is $18.99. I immediately thought of all the young #MilSO girls on Twitter that are getting married soon, but might not be able to afford diamonds. For the quality and craftsmanship of the ring, you can't beat that price. I can not think of a more perfect piece of jewelry for a service member.

Even though the price of the ring is cheap. It's quality certainly isn't. Trust me, Hubs would not be wearing it if it felt or looked cheap. Another great thing about titanium is that it won't turn your skin green like other metals can, and it's hypoallergenic so there is virtually no chance of skin reactions.

If you're interested in purchasing a ring for the special man in your life, check it out here, for a ridiculously amazing price.




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My Huge Moving Mistake

It's our turn to host football at our house this weekend, and I can't say that I'm all that excited. Normally, I would be. Food, friends, and football, you really can't go wrong there. However, in an effort to make our lives easier, Hubs and I made a big boo-boo when we moved to Missouri.

Before leaving Georgia, Husbter and I decided that we would pack everything that we would need for day to day life ourselves, and let the movers handle everything else. When the movers arrived to deliver our house hold goods, just about everything that wasn't furniture went straight into the garage in it's box. We rented a small townhouse, because after all most of our stuff is packed away.

This is our garage. The entire thing is literally filled wall to wall, floor to ceiling with boxes.

 In all honesty, I didn't realize how long six months really was. Half a year without inviting anyone over? Yeah, that's not happening. So now, armed solely with a Crock Pot, one 4-quart pot, a frying pan, an 8x8 dish, and two cookie sheets, I'm making Saturday happen. I'm a little nervous, since we don't have any serving dishes or utensils, but I'll probably spend a few bucks at the dollar store and pick up some cheap plastic ones. I just hope that everyone fits into our living room. Boy, this makes me miss our house in Georgia!

Source

Although, that won't be happening, with enough beer, I don't think anyone will notice. And I learned a BIG lesson. Next time the movers will be handling it all, and it's all getting unpacked. Even if I don't think I'll need it. When the time comes to pack it up again, the movers will take care of that.




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Hoops

Who knew there would be so many hoops to jump through when it came to moving to Hawaii.

Yesterday I had to go to an EFMP (Exceptional Family Member Program) screening to make sure it was okay to send us. The point of the screening is basically to make sure that the military isn't sending you somewhere where they don't have the medical facilities to take care of you. I thought we would be good to go, but apparently my last physical isn't current enough. I scheduled an appointment for next week, so hopefully we can get approved shortly after that. The screening needs to be complete before Hubs can receive official orders.

Wednesday, I did some wandering around post for some different information. ACS (Army Community Service) had a great booklet of phone numbers and basic information about Schofield Barracks. I also found out that I can donate my old cleaning products to them, since the movers won't take those items.

I also spoke to the travel people about airline ticket prices from Florida to Hawaii. Hubs was told that the Army would only cover the cost of flying us from St. Louis (the closest major airport) to Hawaii. Well, the estimated cost to do that is somewhere around $611. Since it's cheaper to fly from Florida though, we can buy the tickets upfront ourselves, and will be reimbursed when we get to Hawaii. Ticket prices from Florida to Hawaii ranged from $400 to $625. The crappy part is that we'll have to pay our way down to Florida.

We did some math trying to calculate how much it would cost us to get down there, and it isn't too bad. On the way down, we should be passing through the Fort Stewart area, where we might possibly be spending the night at my battle buddy's house. To say I'm excited is an understatement. I haven't asked her yet, but it's quite possible that she'll burst into tears when I do. Considering that she's like family, she's not allowed to say no either.

Source

Soon enough we'll have actual orders allowing us to leave this wonderful place known as Misery Missouri.

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We Found Out Where We're Going..

I did plan on posting about my puppy today and our dog park ordeal over the weekend, but instead I have news..

Yesterday, we found out where the Army will be sending us once Hubster finishes us the course he's currently in.

It looks like I'm going to have to suck it up and get used to warm and sunny tropical weather.

We're going to Hawaii!

I am nervous and excited! As I'm sure most of you know, we've been researching Hawaii like crazy already, but now it's for real.

I'm kind of freaking out about getting our dog over there and finding a place to live. It's kinda difficult when you're an ocean away. I made an appointment for Caesar for next week to get hopefully be able to avoid the whole quarantine dilemma.

We still have so many things to figure out. Like which car we're taking over, if we are going to live on or off post, but we still have a few months. Since Caes is like 600 pounds, it's been difficult to find a place that will rent to us. And since he's part pitbull, it's even harder. But more on that tomorrow. (:

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Our Duty Station Wishlist

After seeking the advice of many many mentors, Hubster submitted our wishlist for our next duty station last week. The largest factor when it came down to the ranking of list was availability for command, followed by where we'd actually like to go. Lucky for us, all of the better locations had slots open for command time. It truly was not the greatest list though. Ideally, he'd like to take command of a Company as quickly as possible and then move on to do bigger and better things in the Army.

We should find out next week where we are slotted to go. I'm beyond anxious waiting to find out. No matter where it is though, we'll have to make the best of it.

So here are our top five choice:

1. Hawaii x 3: There are actually three command slots available for Schofield Barracks, Hawaii, so in reality, Hawaii makes up over half of our top five. It would be the most amazing thing ever if we could get stationed in Hawaii, but there are also 20 other people in the class that have it at the top of their list. Lucky for us, since Hubs came home from deployment so recently, he could have a better chance of getting it. The one drawback of getting Hawaii would be that it's looking like there is a pretty long queue line to take command. We weighed the negatives though and Hawaii still came out on top. Plus, I really don't think I'll be too upset if we get stuck there for four or five years. I hatecold weather anyway.

2. Germany: Being stationed in Germany opens you up to a whole new world of culture. I would love for the girls to be able to experience German culture while they're still little sponges. An advantage of living in Germany would be the opportunity to travel all of Europe. You're at a stone's throw from many other countries and traveling there is a fraction of the price that it would be coming from the US.

3. Virginia: Alright, being stationed near DC doesn't exactly sound like the most thrilling thing ever, but it would be a nice experience. I'd imagine they do some pretty neat military stuff around some of the National holidays. Hubster has been stationed in the DC area before, and enjoyed it. It also doesn't hurt that some of our very best friends, Adri's Godparents live in the DC area. We were stationed together in Georgia, and although P isn't in the military any more, it would feel just like old times.

4. Georgia: Unfortunately, we can't go back to Fort Stewart (where we came from), but Fort Benning isn't bad either. Columbus, the town just outside of post, is nice with a variety of restaurants and shopping available. There is an airport in town and Atlanta is only a few hours away. One of the best things about going back to Georgia would be being close to home again. We'll save money by driving home instead of having to fly.

5. Japan: One of the best parts of being a military family, is being able to travel the world and experience new culture. Somewhere like Japan would be the ultimate culture shock. We've heard tons of great things from the people that we know who have been stationed in Japan, so why not give it a try. A bonus would be that we'd be just outside of Tokyo. How cool would that be? I picture lots of lights and technology. Downfall would be that it would be at least a three year assignment. That seems like an awfully long time to be away from family and the world that we're familiar with.

Some of the other locations in our top 10 were: Guantanamo Bay, Cuba; Fort Riley, Kansas; and Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. Not that I have anything against Kansas (I do), but I'd rather not have to deal with tornadoes again.

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Life Lately

I hope everyone has had a great week so far! We've had a good week, but I am definitely looking forward to the weekend!

V has thrown a couple tantrums too many, so I finally looked into putting her in preschool. Now that she's fully potty trained, I don't have to worry about that keeping her out of school. She is incredibly smart, so I really think this will benefit her when it comes time to start kindergarten. She'll start out in the three year old class, but I'm relatively confident that she'll be moved up quickly. Hubs and I are going to check it out on Monday, and go from there. But, we have friends who have their daughter at the same school and they all love it.

Throughout the week, we've also been working on our wish list of duty stations. I'm almost positive he's spoken to every commander he's ever had along with any other higher ranking people that he knows. This afternoon he is going to meet with the first Lieutenant Colonel we had at Fort Stewart, to get his recommendations, and then he'll probably submit our list this evening. We're pretty sure we know what we want, but ultimately we're going to do what's best for his career.

Although the list wasn't spectacular, it's been fun researching all of the different available locations. PCS'ing is always such an exciting and nerve wracking experience. I've asked a handful of other Army wives for their opinions, all which seem to match up with mine. We'll see what the LTC says this afternoon, but let's just say that I've been focusing my research efforts on a certain set of U.S. islands. I can't wait to finalize our list and share it! We'll be getting projected orders in about a week and a half, which is even more exciting!

We don't have much in store for this weekend. We'll probably do some more research on our top three choices. Maybe some dog park on post or splash park with the girls. Hopefully I can bust out my camera that hasn't been touched in like a week. We had a hummingbird visit the flowers in our yard last night. I hope it comes back so that I can capture it! On the camera that is..

I've pretty much given up blogging on the weekends. I'm trying to stay off of the phone and computer while we're together as a family. So far, it's working out well. Sometimes I'll schedule something for Saturday, but that doesn't seem to be the case this week.

My friend Paulina has a pretty sweet giveaway going on. She switched URLs and in an effort to let everyone know, she's giving away two pieces of jewelry from her Chloe & Isabel collection.

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Hope everyone has a great weekend!

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We Got A List

Oh boy! Yesterday was an exceptionally exciting day! Mostly. Hubster finally received the list of the slots that will be available when he finishes up the Career Course. Although it's only a list of what's available, it was exciting to see where we could be heading in a few months. We'll have to create our wish list in the next couple of days and submit it to the Assignment Officer.

I spent the better part of the evening and afternoon researching some of the spots that will most likely be at the top of our list. I was excited to see that there are three Command spots available in Hawaii, but after researching the pet quarantine policy, I'm slightly concerned. There is also availability in Germany, but after visiting the post website, I'm kind of discouraged. I think I might be too lazy to try to read German words mixed in with English.

One of the places that I was kind of hoping to go, Fort Carson, Colorado, wasn't on the list at all. Even though I knew not to get my hopes up, I really really wanted to go there so that we could have the opportunity to buy another house while the market is still good for that. For now it's looking like we'll have a pretty good chance of ending up OCONUS (outside Continental US), which is exciting and scary! And since Hubster has relatively low dwell time (amount of time since he's been home from overseas), it's more likely that we'll get something at the top of our list.

I'm excited to get our list figured out. Once we figure out our top five, I'll be sure to share! Hopefully it won't be too long until we get actual orders.

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