…a beach mural in the garage. Shows how much we’re missing Guam and the beaches. We thought this would be nice to see everytime we drive into the garage especially in the dead of winter.
Here’s what the final result looks like: 
We may even pull up a couple of chairs, the hammock and hang out there 🙂
Now back to reality and all the unpacking…it really is a true “labor” day weekend for us.
Posted in Travels | 6 Comments »
…with iron. That’s what my doctor told me on Wednesday right after he let me know that I am “severly anemic.” Of course, the news came just in time to spend the whole next day receiving our household goods which were delivered a day early. Talk about exhausting.
I should have known something was wrong with me when merely reading V’s blog “Did You Run Today” made me tired 😉 After all our travels and the move, I felt all my symptoms were normal: little run down, dizzy at times, a little more difficult to concentrate. According to the doctor, because I’m in such great shape (his words, certainly not mind), my body has been adapting to it as it worsened.
The reason for all this: a pesky and large fibroid. Thankfully, I finally found a doctor who actually LISTENED to me and will help me get “rid” of the problem on my terms. First things first, I’ll be taking lots of iron pills ~ as any of you who have or are taking them know they are no fun but I’m thinking if I can function at such a high level and I’m severly anemic then I’ll be “superwoman” when I’m back to normal. Who knows what I’ll get done ~ might even join FM on a few of his runs.
I will have to undergo an MRI ~ if anyone has gone through that, I’d love to hear some words of encouragement. I’m not fond of enclosed spaces so I hope I don’t freak out in the “chamber.” Maybe they’ll play me some good music to take my mind off of things.
Posted in Miscellaneous | 5 Comments »
When we registered FG for school, she had to take a series of tests which is given to all new students. I hadn’t been warned about the test or the length of time it would take. After an hour and a half of waiting around, I was getting a little worried that there was something wrong ~ did she somehow forget how to mulitple/divide over the summer? BUT, on the contrary, the counselor came out and told me that FG did fabulous on both the reading and math tests but especially on the math test.
So, Grandma Betty decided to send her a congratulations balloon, with a bear, bouquet ~ FG was so shocked when the delivery man came to the door. As was I since it was a lot of balloons.
A bonus was it added a lot of color to our otherwise barren house.
Posted in Favorite Girl | 4 Comments »
We’re moved in and are settling into our new home. We get our household goods on Friday, not Wednesday as I previously thought. Our “hold baggage” had enough essentials to carry us over but I must say the blow-up mattress is not the best for my back/side/neck!
Once our furniture arrives, we’re going to attempt to do some quick unpacking before Sunday when our first guests arrive. They’ve been warned we’ll all be surrounded by boxes.
Fort Drum is no doubt experiencing some growing pains. The housing waitlist is long, it takes awhile to get scheduled for household goods delivery and any kind of hookup or delivery takes at least a week to schedule. BUT I have to say, the Garrison Command is doing all they can to ease the pain of it all and, hopefully, once the summer rush is done, there will be an easier time for those coming in later on this year. I’ll keep you posted, Angie, but the key will be to plan ahead for everything!
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Yippee!! We got the keys to our new house today ~ won’t have our household goods until next Wednesday ~ but we’re glad to have the house. Our hold-baggage will be delivered tomorrow with the usual assortment of pots, pans, dishes, towels, a card table and some chairs. Unfortunately, no beds but we’re working on it.
We move in tomorrow and the internet, cable and phone won’t be hooked up until Monday and, we’ve yet to get a cell phone, so I’ll be unplugged for a while. At least, we won’t be reading by candlelight. I’ll probably troll around the neighborhood to see if I can pick up someone’s Wi-Fi. Actually, that’s a little too creepy ~ maybe I’ll just find a nice, cozy internet cafe to hang out in.
Funny thing about the cell phone is I was seriously considering NOT getting one. Someone at FM’s work was putting together a new roster and asked for his cell number to which he replied “Don’t have one and probably won’t get one because they are expensive and we have to sign a two year lease.” No doubt that drew an incredulous look. The next day, the roster was sent out with the note “I’ll be taking ‘FM’ to AER (Army Emergency Relief) so he can take out a loan for a cell phone.” Cheeky, eh? In the end, I decided I’ll get one for emergencies in case I get stuck in a snow drift or something. Hope I don’t become so self-important with it that I end up like half the people around here who have it GLUED to their ears at all times ~ drives me a little crazy when I see that ~ really! who the heck can talk that long on a phone (unless you’re 15 or so!)?
Posted in Fort Drum | 8 Comments »
Whenever we go to Watertown, we pass by the Go-Karts, Putt-Putt golf and batting cage complex. There are always people there,young soldiers with their dates as well as families, so we figured it must be fun.
FG and I decided to test it out on Monday. We didn’t try out the batting cages yet but we did the Putt-Putt golf and the Go-Karts. We figured right, it was lots of fun. We had such a good time, we stopped by with FM last night on our way to dinner for a quick round of Putt-Putt.
On Monday, when FG and I finished racing around the track, her first words were “Can we bring V. here when he visits?” V. and his Dad,N. are friends and previous neighbors from Neunkirchen, Germany where we lived for 4 years. They will be visiting in a couple of weeks and we’ve been checking out places that might be of interest for them. This one is a “for sure!”
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I love the sound of wind flowing through the birch trees and thought up this Haiku:
Birch tree leaves flutter
singing softly with the wind
moving so gently
Posted in Haiku | 5 Comments »
Some people eat comfort foods when they’re stressed, but not me, when I’m feeling stressed or out of sorts, I watch what I call “comfort” movies. We’ve been in temporary lodging for a couple weeks now and the house we were suppose to get yesterday won’t be ready for another two weeks so I’ve resorted to watching my comfort movies.
They are Bridget Jones and Pride & Prejudice. Love Actually is another good movie but it got packed in with the hold baggage. Normally, I watch the 1995 Pride & Prejudice mini-series with the delectable Colin Firth, but those videos are amongst our household goods yet to be delivered, so I went out and bought the 2005 “Pride & Prejudice” movie with Keira Knightley. I’m happy to report it’s just as romantic as the mini-series and just as comforting 🙂
Do you have a comfort movie?
BTW, just when I think it’s OK for me to complain about the housing wait, which if we hadn’t already been half way around the earth for the last 2 months wouldn’t be a long wait at all, then I meet someone who has it worse. I met a woman in the laundry room today who just got married, moved to Drum, her husband just found out he’s deploying AND housing told them they are 485 on the waitlist which means about a year or so. Yikes.
My two week wait just sounded a whole lot better!
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It was another gorgeous day here in the North Country so we decided to head further north to visit Kingston, Ontario. The city of Kingston is halfway between Canada’s two largest cities: Toronto and Montreal. It has a major port which allows for a lot of boating and boat cruises throughout the beautiful Thousand Islands. These are the islands scattered throughout the St. Lawrence seaway.
We had lunch al fresco at a yummy Italian restaurant called “Casa Domenico” on Brock street in downtown Kingston. It reminded us a lot of our favorite restaurant in Wurzburg Germany “Casa del Gusto” and we strolled down memory lane a little, chatting on about our time in Germany, while lunching.
The town also has a Lush store which has the most delicious bath products. Most of my friends and family know I love their stuff and I’m THRILLED to have a store so close. I can stock up every few months 🙂 I thought FM was going to have to leave the store though, because one of the store clerks had the most pronounced French accent any of us had ever heard and we’ve been to France several times. It was so strong, I really thought she was putting us on at first but she stayed true to it the entire time. FM so badly wanted to join in with his horrible French accent along with his not-so-bad French “laugh.”
The Casa Domenico’s patio looked across to the farmers market which is the oldest in Canada having begun in 1803! Everything was so fresh and tempting but since we have a mini-fridge and no stove/oven in our temp lodging, I’ll have to wait until the end of the month to enjoy some of those delicious fruits and vegetables.
As we were sitting out and enjoying the wonderful day with temperatures at a perfect 78 degrees, I couldn’t help but think of one of my favorite songs, “Fire and Rain” by James Taylor, which always reminds me of my Dad. The words:
“…I’ve seen sunny days I thought would never end, I’ve had lonely times when I could not find a friend, but I always thought I’d see you again”
kept repeating in my head. It’s hard for me to imagine the coming sub-zero temperatures and snow as high as my knees when it’s so gorgeous right now.
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While visiting Kingston, Ontario ~ we saw this cheetah bench for sale. FG and I vote for the cheetah one and FM likes the driftwood bench in the back. FM and I are usually so traditional but we’re trying to be a little more edgy. Mid-life crisis and all, you know 🙂
What do you think ~ Cheetah, Driftwood, either or neither?
Posted in Travels | 4 Comments »
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