Boom Boom

It's so great to be crazy! Well I know that we must have been crazy to have gone out to see the Ft. Hood Fireworks. It had held off raining all evening and so Grace and I stopped and got a picnic dinner and headed off to an elementary school on post to watch the fireworks. We had our nice pinic dinner and then settled in to wait for the show. and then drum roll please........................... it rained. Yep. and that made it really cool so the picture of us was actually taken on July 4, 2007 in central Texas and those are jackets we are wearing because we are chilly! Man oh man we have odd weather here.

Grace sort of enjoyed the fireworks. She probably would have enjoyed the professional show more if there weren't rude people shooting off their own squeakers and poppers next to us but she did eventually settle in and enjoy the sights.

Oh about the other picture -- it is a rainbow we saw before the rain started. It was actually the second rainbow we saw today. The first was from the bus on our way back to our car -- lucky us to catch two rainbows in one day.

Happy Fourth!

Happy Fourth

ok so really i'm a little early but i'm feeling patriotic tonight. i've got a wonderful flag to display tomorrow. it is being flown in honor of neilson of course.

i talked to our fav. soldier and he is doing well. he is done being deployed -- can you blame him? as of today he has been in the sandbox 9 months 1 day. however we did have a great chat that left us both in good spirits.

while crusing my favorite scrapping board i ran across this patriotic quiz.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19552808/

i have to brag a bit and i scored a perfect 100%! yep that's me miss nerd. actually i just take multiple choice tests very well as i can eliminate wrong answers.

grace and i will be attempting to go to the fort hood freedom fest tomorrow. we will drive onto post and take the shuttle to the stadium so we don't have to fuss parking close. hopefully i'll get some good shots of our little firecracker.

God Bless America and the US Army!

Sleeping Beauty

She made a nest of pillows on the living room floor and took "a little rest mommy."

Exterior Shots

Today was spent beautifying the outside of our house. We scored a great deal on pots of geraniums to accent the little bed by the front door. I've also included some exterior shots of our house in general. As you can see we have some serious work to do -- but I'm working with housing on that. OH! and we found a beautiful American flag to display off our carport so we can be patriotic this fourth of July.

Madame Fifi's Beauty Parlor

Gracie had a good time fixing my hair today. As you can see she has a real knack for it. And her motto is more is more!

Jinx

I called my dad at noonish today and announced that we had not had rain in Texas for two whole days. And then it proceeded to get dark and yucky and rain like crazy this afternoon.

Despite the rain we did get a lot done today. I was able to clean up my kitchen and I have decided that my stove and dishwasher need to go. I'm going to talk to housing about the appliance issues I've been having and see what I can do.

I also hired someone to cut the grass! He's going to do my neighbors yard too and he'll come every two weeks --- grass doesn't grow so much in the summer in Texas. :) We got him to cut a deal since we're neighbors and he only has to come out once to do two jobs.

And I ran some errands and had dinner with my neighbor Kristen tonight. She is really sweet and I'm hoping we can become friends. It was nice to have adult conversation!

No pictures today yet but I'm planning on organizing my closet after the pooh goes to bed so you may get a peek at my bedroom and closet but I make no promises.

And I instant messaged with our fav. soldier today and he reports nothing new which is good. Continue to pray for peace and resolution to this mess so all our soldiers can come home.

Speaking of soldiers I'm going to end with a cool quote that I saw yesterday:

There are only two people who agreed to give up their lives for you. The first is Jesus Christ who died for your sins and to give you eternal live and the second is the American Soldier who is willing to die for your freedom here on earth.

Mom's New Career

I can't believe that I have waited so long to tell you of my mom's new career choice. Grace has taught her how to play the maracas and now she is looking for a regular gig with a mariachi band.

ok so maybe not but she could with as much as grace had her playing the maracas the week she was here. everytime she got in the car grace handed her one and told her to play along to the cds. hahahahaha

and if i do say so myself she's pretty good! :) so there you go, a fun fact about mom that you probably didn't know before.

The Bane of My Existence

Yes, a lawn mower. The number one reason why I watied soooooo long to buy a house. Why I lived in apartments surrounded by concrete. I hate to mow.

I never mowed growing up. That was Wade's domain along with mom and dad. I can count two times when I mowed while I lived at home. Once when I high school and we lived on 17th street in Leavenworth and I did part of the backyard. The second time the week after I graduated High School as a suprise for my parents.

After the constant rain the grass looked a little long so I decided that I should mow the grass. Keep in mind that my mower has sat empty of gas for two weeks and I'm not sure it had been run yet this year. (My neighbor in KS was mowing for me). So Grace and ran to the gas station to buy a new gas can and some gas. After 15 minutes of fighting it I finally got the mower running and 30 minutes after that I was done.

Yes 30 minutes. No we don't have a huge yard but it is bigger than our old one. And for the most part it's flatish. AND there are no terraces to contend with so that cut down the time. Can I say I'm glad I don't live in the other side of this house. They have a HUGE front yard, a comparable side yard, though it's not on a hill and an equal backyard to ours. AHHH a small blessing.

Being the good mommy that I am I have properly taught Gracie to respect/fear the mower so she stays on the driveway/patio/porch/deck whatever the case may be and yells at me the whole time to be careful!

Tomorrow I'm going to start looking for a lawn service for July and August. I can do this when it's cool but not in the triple digit heat.

Photos From Iraq

Here are a few pictures that our favorite soldier has sent me. the first one is him getting ready for a mission the second one is him and a bunch of other guys at a town meeting for the city they are in Mook-Dad-EE-Yah - well that's how it's pronounced anyway, I can't spell it.

Neilson is doing well and enjoying the pictures I've posted of his new house. Hopefully he'll be home in 2007 to see it!

101

yep, that's how many posts i have. i realized when i logged on today that the momentous 100th post was yesterday. darn, i really should have done something more dramatic.

anyways, i have some more home pictures for your viewing pleasure. these are the main bathroom aka gracie's bathroom aka the girl potty. gracie has decided that we have two bathrooms so one is a girl potty and the other is a boy potty. ha

the theme of this room is fish. our newest pet mermaid swims on the counter. and we have fish towels and my mom is making a quilt shower curtain that will have fish on it. --- super cute!

Home Pictures - Kitchen

These are pictures of my kitchen. Please notice the super cute curtains made by yours truely under the patient instructions of mom. I'd also like to point out the lovely "Rosie the Riveter" picture. Rosie has been in every house I've lived in since moving out of mom and dad's. To the right of that window is the very cute and very bright cross from the Foxy Flamingo in Belhaven.

WHEW

we made it. i will spare everyone the gory details but rest assured we are in our new huge house in texas and finally have internet access. hopefully tonight i'll post pics. :)

We Made It!!!

This is brought to you from Ft. Hood, TX. We rolled in about 9 ish and went to the new house. IT IS HUGE!!!
I don't think we have enough stuff to fill this place - seriously.

We didn't stay long, just enough to unload the car a bit and look around. I will post pics soon but I must warn you that the grass is looooonnnnngggggggg. Fort Hood Family Housing will be getting a call about that soon. :)

But we crashed in a hotel last night and possibly tonight depending on when my stuff arrives. But I wanted to update you all and tell you that we made it safe and sound.

GRRRRRRR

look at the date of this post --- June 15 2007. i am supposed to be driving to ft. hood today. instead i am sitting in my friend laura's kitchen waiting for the ubiquitous (sp) movers to call me and say they are on my way.

it's a very lonngggg story but the reader's digest version is that my stuff, my lovely crap is sitting in my house all boxed up and ready to go and there are no movers. they are supposedly in olathe (20 min from my house) but they have not called to say when they will be arriving.

and to top it all off i'm not a patient person. i hate waiting. i've been waiting for 8 months, 1 week and 6 days for neilson to come home. yes that is an exact number. i've been waiting for longer than that to move. i'm waiting for this next step to start. grrrrrr.

don't fret about grace, though, she is with papa and mama in manhattan. as soon as i unload my house of it's contents i will be jetting out there and we will be starting south. hopefully today. hopefully soon. hopefully we can hurry up and get this fun over with.

I AM WOMAN!!

oh yeah! i'm rockin' the world right now.

first off, two different wives from neilson's unit have called me this week :) the second call i got was from brandi. she lives in my village too. well.... she wondered why i only got a two bedroom? after much discussion with her i decided to call fort hood family housing and request a change of quarters.

oh yeah we got a three bedroom - oh yeah we got three bedrooms! and here's link to our new floorplan :

https://onestop.army.mil/_hqd/BaseHousing_show.asp?base=67&planid=25&rid=5&k=0

yeah that's our new pad. it seems as though you have to ask for what you want, not just count on them to give you the right house. thank you brandi for the heads up! yes i'm excited to have the extra bedroom but i'm really excited to have the extra bathroom!! two full bathrooms mind you! and the house is overall a little bigger.

and i got ahold of my movers and we have a date!! thrusday afternoon. so by friday night i'll be in my new digs.

oh and yeah, i sold my house. all by myself thank you very much. just keep praying that all the paperwork goes through.

and now i hear to boxes calling to pack to i'll sign off.

a new project

yes just what i need another project to do. in my defense these are super cute and i just don't want to pay what she is asking for these adorable bags. rather than try to describe them i'll just post the link to her website:

www.campfollowerbags.com

the work on these bags is amazing! i especially like the fun funky fabrics on the inside. i think i can figure out how to make these puppies and i know i have plenty of raw material --- did i mention neilsons 3+ boxes of old uniforms in storage?

yeah, in neilsons six years in the army he has gone through 3 differen combat/battle uniforms.
first it was the bdus. those were the green/brown/black numbers. then came dcus aka desert combat uniforms. the pattern on these frocks looked very much like the pattern on the bdus but these are in pallate more compatible with the desert - think tan/beige/brown. and now my hero hubby wears acus. they are pixilated (sp) and in a sage/gray/tan color combo.

3 different uniforms means 2 huge piles of outdated uniforms and well no real need for them. but how do you get rid of them? they have name tapes on them, patches and some have even seen combat. so i was thrilled to see these bags as possibilites. i'm also imagining rugged quilts for the park, beach or car. hmmm.... so many possibilites. look for exciting projects under your christmas tree soon!

Counting Down

We are counting down our days in Kansas. As mom can atest to, my house is filling up with boxes and I'm almost embarassed by the mound of trash for the garbage men tomorrow.

I've buried St. Joseph in the front yard and have my fingers crossed and many prayers said that my house will sell. My neighbor is interested and has talked to the banker but as you all know selling a house is an emotional roller coaster. It's my home, and I hope that someone finds it appealing and wants to buy it. SOON!!

We also took Ramona out to Manhattan to live with mom and dad. That was not easy. Gracie is attached to the old cat and was very sad to see her go. I'll spare you all the details but rest assured she is doing better today.

Neilson is back on days so I'm back to staying up late to chat with him. However now I can sleep in the next morning instead of getting up for work!

And speaking of work I may have a job at Grace's new school. That is something I need to go in and talk to them about when we get moved.

And I'm feeling a little unorganized as this scattered post proves. Just now I'm thinking I need to go to Walmart to get the business cards you print yourself with my new info on them so I can pass them out to friends, family whoever. I also need to get some sort of planner/organizer for all these cards I've been given with important info on them. YIKES.

And that is where we are now -- living in a fortress of cardboard, two emotional women (hee hee) and trying to pull of this move!!

We're Not In Kansas Anymore

Ok really, we still are in Kansas but it has been a whirlwind week.

Today is Tuesday. A week ago today I was done with my career as a preschool teacher. Graduation was done and I was frantically packing for my quick trip to Texas. I feel I should fill you in.

Fort Hood is unique. Well maybe not, but it is odd at any rate. If you wish to live on post you must apply for it. And if you must apply in person, well not just anybody, the military member must apply in person. Since I am not the military member I got my handy dandy Power of Attorney and Neilson's Big Black Book of the Army and my Sacred Baggie of Paperwork and headed off to Texas.

Diane and I headed off to Manhattan to drop Gracie off with Mama and Papa and then drove straight down to Killeen. The drive was night and really quite uneventful. We did Dallas/Ft. Worth at rush hour -- OUCH! And I made a minor wrong turn that left us at a Little Caesars Pizza asking a young interesting woman for directions that included, "Go down to that street you know and go this was and this way and stay left." Ummmm yeah.

We stayed with a girl I met on my military wives website. Wendi graciously let us invade her house for two nights. We rolled into Killeen late and promptly crashed. The next morning we were up and at them early to get to Housing. The housing ladies were very kind. Of course it might have had something to do with the fact that I looked like a lost puppy that could burst into tears at any minute and I started each introduciton with, "I am a new Army wife. I have never done this before. Please help me."

With minor running around to get two more pieces of paperwork -- the Army loves their paperwork, we were given a house that day. Yes despite what you hear about military housing and the horrendous wait lists I walked into housing in the morning and was given a house that afternoon. This is of course because we only qualify for a 2 bedroom. They give you exactly one master bedroom and one bedroom per kid. Since we are the only wackados who have one kid there are an abundance of 2 bedroom houses and we could move right in.

I'm not going to post our address here because of safety reasons but if you email me I would be happy to pass it along. I'm not actually real sure of the house number. I'll have to check my paperwork. I'm also going to attempt to post two links. One will show you the floor plan of our humble abode, the second will show you a view of the exterior or something very similar.

floor plan
https://onestop.army.mil/_hqd/BaseHousing_show.asp?base=67&planid=16&rid=1&k=0

picture of exterior
https://onestop.army.mil/_hqd/BaseHousing_show.asp?base=67&planid=16&rid=1&k=0

map of our "village"
https://onestop.army.mil/_hqd/BaseHousing_show.asp?base=67&planid=16&rid=1&k=0
If you email me for our address I can tell you which house is ours on the map!

Our house has been remodeled and we are the first occupants! :) As you can see from the floor plan we have ginormous bedrooms and more storage than even we can fill! It will be good. And probably the best thing are the two mature trees in our yard, one in front and one in back. Mature trees = shade = cooler parts of the yard = happy Heather in Texas heat.

Thursday night we were witness to the great flood. Seriously! I have never seen a whole city shut down due to rain. I think we got 5 inches or more in the course of 5 hours. I cannot express to you how hard and how long it rained. Here is a link to a picture taken in front of Wendi's house that night! Notice how high the water is up on that car.
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y5/Sft2tch69/The%20Great%20Killeen%20Flood/Flood001.jpg

Since there was so much flooding and rain we decided to get up at 5:00 in the morning and get out of town to avoid the second round of flash floods. And it's a good thing we did. Killeen got hammered again and they even had a tornado touch down! Yikes.

Our drive back was uneventful and we were back in Kansas City by Friday night. So in the course of 72 hours I spent about 30 hours of them in the car driving. I lazed around Saturday and Sunday to recover. And then it hit me....

YIKES I HAVE TO PACK MY CRAP!! I'M MOVING IN 2 WEEKS!!!

ONE MORE DAY

one more day
24 more hours
two more programs
two pinatas

and i will be done.
done teaching.
retired.

and it can't come soon enough :P

seriously i'm getting very excited for my new career as stay at home mom and wife. i'm going to jump in with two feet as soon as school gets out tomorrow evening. wednesday morning i am heading down to texas to apply for housing and hopefully within the month i will be a resident of the lone star state!! i just have to make it through the next 24 hours.... tick tock tick tock tick tock

A Few of Gracie

I took a few pics of the princess at dinner and the bookstore the other night. Enjoy!