Don't look at the Camera or Smile

From one of our trips to a playground this past week:
Try as I might, I can't get them all looking the same way much less looking the same way and not looking like they're sitting on a cactus (Joey..) or goofing around with their hands or making faces (girls..)

But there they are, on a Big ole rock..

because I take them to the playscape with the soft-for-falling ground under it and they think the gigantic granite landscaping rocks are more fun..




On another note- the kid's one-day-a-week-when-it's-not-a-holiday-or-teacher-confrence-day-charter-school teacher sent out a mass email asking to send our kids a "HEALTHY SNACK" for school. I wonder if that's directed at the oreo's I'd been sending.. hmmm.. I should send her an email back and tell her the oreo for snack is my kids' favorite reason to GO to school..

What's you're favorite part of school?
"the snack you send"
what else?
"uh, I dunno"
Do you like the kids?
"I like one, but [2 boys' names] are rude and mean, they [fill in the blank- called names, pushed, took their lunch...]
Do you like recess?
"no, they make us go outside and the balls are all lost, so we don't have a game to play, only freeze tag" (their "playground" is the parking lot)
Do you like your teacher?
"yeah, she doen't make us do school like you do"
huh?
"she makes it fun and we don't have to do the hard stuff"

Common, it's kindergarten. Hard stuff? You need the translation.. here it is-
Hard stuff in Sonia language is sitting and writting a letter more than 3 times or writing more than 3 letters a day. In school they write a letter 3 times and are done. Period. For that letter. Granted I do not have a early elementary education degree, but I'm pretty sure it takes doing something more than 3 times for them to do it right. Especially when they let them do the first 3 times however they want to...

Maybe I should send the artificial color laiden fruit snacks.. those are always good for my kids' concentration..

Counting the days here...

OK Forget the pictures for now..

And check this out:

From house hunting this weekend

What the online real estate pictures don't show:

"Upgraded Kitchen"














The Ginormous plywood building next to the real house.




The Exotic bird breeding house- That's the dining room floor. The birds were flying free through the house. Sign said "do not pet, they bite"














Where the birds belonged:






The formerly 2 bathroom, now 1 bathroom house:






The 3rd bedroom is in the Camper top for the truck in the back yard:






The Chihuahua breeding house. SMELLED like it, too.
Sign said "do not open door, they bite"









I've started to loose hope in finding a house we can both afford and stand to live in.
Larry's still pounding the internet and pavement. I'll let him. I've had enough.

And, yes- you see the kids go on these adventure with us. And at the end of each adventure we go to the yogurt place where it's self serve frozen yogurt with all the toppings you can imagine. I hope it keeps them from hating it. Right now they seem to think it's an adventure- ohh.. what weird and exotic or annoying animal will we find breeding? What strange hole in the wall can we climb through? What house has a pool we can fish in??

OK. the fish might be an exaggeration ... but only a slight one..

Because life is more interesting than Parenting Magazine leads you to believe..

I don't know if you can tell, but they have matching forehead bruises- one from Kayla's run into the doorway last week and the other from JM running into a pole at the playground.


And above is evidence of what happens when you mix toddler + coins + paper shredder.

(I DO have sense enough to keep it unplugged. But he was putting coins in and then knocking it over like a bear knocks over a garbage can to get the contents.. )

And his new nickname is PooBear.

Why?

Because this week JM took the 200 or so count travel package of wipes out of his go-to-nursery backpack while we were driving and emptied it, one at a time all over the van. I picked them up, folded them back up and they were sitting on the dashboard when Larry got in the car.

And.. he asked "what happened here?"
(like he couldn't figure it out.. ) and I look at him and gave some sarcastic response along the lines of "You have to ASK?" and he responds "oh, does a bear poop in the woods?"

And henceforth he will be known as PooBear.. a bear pooping in the woods, metaphorically. And literally..

(Disclaimer- I live with 5 year olds, talk of poop is the most hilarious thing, second only to talk of passing gas and making nonsense sentences.)

For Sale

A home based business who wishes to remain anonymous.

Includes enough inventory to fill a house. You will need 3 of the largest uhauls they make to come pick it up from here and the warehouse it's clearing customs in. We'll throw in the ugly trailer if you have truck to tow it. We can't advise you how to store it, we're still trying to figure it out, ourselves

I think it makes a profit, but you'll need an accountant to figure that out and a private detective to find all the receipts we need for it for tax time. You should probably hire a tax attorney to stand by as well, since the pile of receipts in the file cabinets and scattered through the storage closet and garage system isn't really audit friendly.

Also included is the mascot. Among his tricks include stripping and flinging poopy diapers. We should have named it little-Apes.

If you're just interested in the mascot, I'm sure we could work out a deal as well.

International Trade part 3

If anyone one is thinking about going into a business that involves importing things, please let me know. I will talk some sense into them.

It is now business day 4 into getting diapers from ship into our possession.

I found the key to keeping the kids out of my hair: after breakfast- announce that we're going to get dressed and do school OR clean up. They disappear. Except the toddler who runs outside and lets the dog escape (and one of these days (soon) I'm not going to chase her)

BUT quiet and out of sight kids means one of 2 things-
1. they are dead or kidnapped
2. they are finding something/doing something they shouldn't be and don't want to get caught.

Today I saw them sneak into the backyard while I was on the phone (I already said I spend HOURS on the phone with each shipment, even now that we use a customs broker instead of doing it ourselves). I figured.. well they'll be quiet, it's fenced, they'll be safe. They'll probably ride the jeep or bikes. Joey had asked for permission to ride his bike, so the other figured it was blanket permission.. because when I put my finger to my lips to tell them "shhhh," shake head no, say/gesture 'shhh'.. it translates to "mom's busy, let's do what we want.." UGH.

And minutes later I hear shouts for joy which means 1 thing- either Santa landed in our backyard or they're doing something they shouldn't be.

They decided at 9:30 am it was warm and sunny enough to turn on the water hose and play spray-each-other with it. Granted, we do live in paradise, but at 9:30 it's still about 60 degrees.. So.. drag them back in, send them to get dressed so we can get leave the house to Overnight something that should have been there 3 days ago.. and they're fighting. So it's a good sign- they're not getting into extraordinary trouble.. but it also means they're NOT getting dressed

Another day in Paradise~~

Real Estate Part 2

I'm speechless. I know. It doesn't happen often but I am.

I don't know how to put into words what life is like for the ethnic majority living here.

BUT I think pictures say it all:


Yes. Those are Side by Side refrigerators.
As in- 2 refrigerators- side by side.

What happens here is several families move into one single family home. It seems the closer the relation, the fewer walls???.. but some then have the ambition to put up walls, some make additions, turn porches, garages or patios into apartments... Some put extra doors to the outside giving private entrances.

SOME add multiple kitchens- THIS 2355 sq ft house has 3 kitchens. And the description reads "Home has foundation issue, code violations and needs CASH BUYER OR FHA 203k Rehab Loan ONLY. Large home on expansive view lot. Home is currently configured as a three-unit property. Home has to be converted back to SFR, per zoning regulations and code enforcement. Property includes 1 fireplace and 1 wood stove. Tons of Potential! BTV all measurements and info given herein. CORPORATE OWNED PROPERTY! Home to be sold AS-IS. Seller acquired property through foreclosure, has no material knowledge of property and is exempt from providing a TDS. Buyer to do their own thorough investigations. All offers must include a copy of your earnest money check, pre-qualification letter and proof of funds. Buyer to verify all info/measurements given herein."

Well.. THAT really makes me want to buy the place. (not to mention we don't happen to have the cash to buy it and fix it)

Or THIS house's description- "BACK ON THE MARKET. .. .. SHORT SALE PACKAGE COMPLETED NEEDS LANDSCAPING, IN FRONT AND BACK * HOME WAS REBUILT IN 2007, LIVING AREA IS A COMBO OF DINING AND FAMILY ROOM * A GREAT ROOM * EVERYTING IS NEW, ENERGY EFFICIENT WINDOWS * NEW PANEL DOORS NEW CARPET, WAITING FOR NEW FAMILY TO MOVE IN. QUIET STREET, BURNED DOWN BECAUSE OF AN ELECTRICAL PROBLEM IN GARAGE.BUYERS TO SATISFY ALL MEASUREMENTS, no repairs, property "as is"OWNER HAS BLUE PRINTS NEW CONSTUCTION, HOMEOWNERS INSURANCE WENT DOWN * BUYER TO RESEARCH HAZARD INSURANCE FEES, OWNER IS WORKING ON REMOVING WEEDS, HOME IS SOLD AS IS BUT WE HAVE THE TDS, NO WARRANTIES OR TERMITE REPAIR "
(emphasis mine in bold. The listing agent must have thought the all caps typing was going to bring in more offers. You should see the picture- go ahead, click on it and you'll see why it's still for sale 240+ days later)

And there are such jewels as this- THIS Jewels' asking price is $270K and it's bank owned.
And lastly- This one. The description reads "FIXER, FIXER, FIXER great investment oportunity. Great Location. Views day and night(lights)Do not let anybody else take it. Hurry it won't last too long in the market." Uh huh.. right. I'll snatch it right up especially when you post the pictures of the water damage, holes in ceiling from where the sheet rock got wet and bulged out (opposed to the holes we see cut intentionally to fix said leak) and other "character pictures such as this:

Like my new picture up there?

Not to gloat, but that was taken within the past month.

We finally have reached the point where we almost enjoy going places. And now that Joey has a big kid bike without training wheels, he is ALL about riding his bike.

And hurray!! There is a bike trail here. (note to self, I LOVE living near bike trails- the Huckleberry trail in Blacksburg, and the San Luis Ray one here..) Anyway. We are 3 miles from the beach by bike trail. We're a good mile long hill down to there and up to home from the trail, so we drove to the trail.

Anyway..it's been something Joey's wanted to do for forever. To ride his bike to the beach. His sisters didn't quite share his enthusiasm, but thought riding their bikes on the bike trail would be fun.

I frankly wasn't sure we'd make it there and was less certain that we'd make it home. The last mile I was dragging Kayla's handlebars and pushing JM in the stroller. I was wishing for a rope to tie to it to drag it easier.. and what should be there on the ground?? a bunch of that yellow construction tape- the plastic stuff to keep people out of something? There was the remnants of a repaired ditch, so I assumed it was left over and left as trash.

One man's trash is another's saving grace.. I doubled it up, tied it to the handle bars and dragged her on her bike, with frequent suggestions that she try peddling. We were the commedic relief for the serious bikers, walkers and joggers on the trail. We rarely see casual users there, usually I feel like I'm riding a donkey along a freeway. And they have bells on their bicycle-- that say "get out of my way!" or "move right!!" or just "RIGHT!!!!!" as they whiz past. At least with me dragging her, they laughed as they whizzed by and didn't yell for us to move over. (there wasn't anywhere to go, anyway..)

As you can tell- we did make it there, the kids had a wonderful time and Joey wants to go back. And next time, I'll actually be prepared and have towels and a change of clothes. They got wet and sandy at the beach and as I'm sitting there thinking "it's about 1.5 hours to sunset, we better head back.." I don't think it took that long to get there, but I was pretty sure it was going to take longer to get back home. And I wasn't looking forward to the complaints of chafed skin and cold and wet that I was pretty sure I'd get..

So.. I texted Larry who was due home/post call between 12-5 in hope he was awake and home and able to pick up the van and pick us up. And God was smiling down at us, so he was and did.

So.. the next day that we all need a fun filled day.. we'll head down to the bike trail with towels and clothes and try again..

It's just like when you bring your car to the mechanic

And it doesn't make the noise that you're worried about..

I have a speech/language appointment for JM and he started communicating. REALLY communicating. I'll be darned. The kid was paying attention and I'm dumbfounded.

It seriously has been like a switch was flipped. He really only used about 6-8 words and mostly mumbled at that. His primary communication was crying interspersed with whining.

NOW.. he TALKS. AND signs. I can not believe it. Months of trying to use signs for more, milk, etc.. and he's just cry- not even point to what he wanted. Yesterday I asked if he wanted more of something and he did the sign for more.

I'm stunned.

AND this week we went to the grocery store for a few things and he saw a balloon and said balloon over and over and THEN.. as we're checking out.. He points to it, says "balloon" and then "I want it"

Picking my jaw up off the floor. That was 3 words. He made a sentence. HOLY smokes! From 8 words to sentences in 2 weeks.

SO.. now to the bigger question.. he still has his appointment in March.. (the first available was 8 weeks away from when I made it)

Much like the mechanic- do I cancel it and know that I'll want that appointment later or keep it and expect that when I get there the car won't make the troubling sound?

What happens when my back is turned

One of the things we've been working on here is chores and helping.

So.. yesterday I was doing laundry and the kids were loading the dishwasher after breakfast. The washer and dryer are in a room right off the kitchen. And I hear, "let's put the soap in an turn it on"

I call (yell?) "NO do not turn it on, it's not full."

I hear more arguing about who gets to pour the soap.. I repeat, leave it OFF, leave the soap alone.. (they seem to never hear me when I tell them not to do something.. only when I tell their sibling they can have poptart for snack from the other side of 3 closed doors and up a flight a stairs.. I know.. it's an area that needs improvement)

I was NOT thinking of what soap they were putting into the dishwasher...


So... this is a learning experience for me. I knew it was a bad idea to leave that soap there because I'd hear rumors and stories of running a dishwasher with dish soap filling kitchens with bubbles.. and I wasn't thinking we'd risk it.

I wiped as much up as I could and then rinsed, rinsed, rinsed..

GALLONS of water. And the bottom of the dishwasher was FILLED with bubbles. I'm thinking the rumor of what happens might be accurate.

Drained the dishwasher, repeated.

After dinner (remember, this happened right after breakfast) I went to load the last few dishes and the bottom STILL had 5 inches of bubbles.

So.. that was our experience- just in case you don't want to repeat it at home.

It took the better part of an hour to clean this up.. and I wonder why I always seem to run out of time.. And you know what 1/2 of the brood were doing at that time.. causing mayhem and destruction. The other half thought trying to "help" aka trying to climb in and reach the bubbles or finding water to pour in the vicinity of the dishwasher.... I think that was the time period where Kayla ran smack into a door giving her a massive bruise and cut (not deep enough to need stitches, but significant enough to warrant a few bandaids..and have the 'oh man, is she doing to need stitches on this 3 inch mid forehead gash and knowing how much fun THAT would be..) THAT took another 30 minutes.. then 3 diaper changes, bringing him back inside 4+ times from him escaping, sweeping up the entire canister of oregano that the dog chewed and then spread over the house.. (at least it wasn't onion or garlic..) I suspect the toddler was involved in the spice demise incident. I don't have proof but he smelled a bit like a meatball..

And if you think what they can do when I'm doing laundry is bad... wait til you see what happens when our diaper shipment/customs clearance/delivery/pickup has issues.. Yes.. every time. The little shipment of pins went spectacularly, I thought 'gee, we must be getting the hang of this' but.. no.. we do not. Every time. EVERY time there are things that come up. Some big, some small but everyone of them require me to spend oodles of time on the phone and computer to try to straighten out.

Soo.. give me a few days and I can guarantee I'll have more than plenty of ammunition, (uh, pictures) as to WHY I need to get out of this business and get a normal job.. like the fact that as I sat on hold, 20 minutes ago, my son went upstairs to launch his lego plane from the second story to see if it would fly. Unfortunately my stairway is a dead spot for cell phone usage, so It's hard to run upstairs and interfere without loosing the call. And since I don't have a pop tart to mention eating as snack, they're not going to hear me from more than 2 feet away.

And.. would you believe? Planes made out of legos do not fly. At least not on the first 2 attempts before the idea was abandoned as "not much fun." but the legos are where they landed. *sigh* once I'm off the phone I'll go enforce the pickup your crashed vehicle rule...

Well.. the search is on

For a new place to live. To buy. (Gulp)

Don't worry, mom it actually is well thought out. All you have to do is add up what rent will be for the next 2-4 years and we can afford to "loose" that much in the purchase/resell and if we "loose" less than that we're ahead. Since rent is now even higher than when we moved here, it's a fairly well thought out option. OR as well thought out as anything living here with someone in the Navy can be.

So.. that said.. we've re-entered the market. Talked to a mortgage officer. Nothing quite as humbling as admitting what "we" make and how much house we want to buy and the debt/income ratio... Add to that the fact that I don't have a out of the home job, so I'm "just a homemaker" (Excuse me-I am raising and teaching the future generation. I Single handedly balance 40 tasks at the same time AND keep food in the house and prepared, laundry done, the house cleaner than 100% of the foreclosures we've seen AND I am the owner of a internationally known company peddling diapers from my garage, I'm MORE than a homemaker I am an Excutive here. Would you look your mother in the face and call her "JUST" anything?!!)

And it's a conversation with a person who doesn't live in CA and doesn't realize that trailers on rented lots sell for more than what mansions on acres cost in middle America.

So.. anyway.. let me share a few laughs with you- or not laughs, but what he'd found this week..

Property 1- has a 16. yes. 16 foot lot. The Civic can't even park on 16 feet. I'm hoping that's a typo, but I honesty wouldn't be too surprized if it isn't. Other places have lot size in acres or .something acres. Not here. We're talking feet. It's a selling feature if your backyard is big enough for a pool. (other than a 4 foot kiddie pool)

Propery 2- made excellent use of the cropping/zoom feature on the camera. Looks like a nice property, right? IN A BARRIO. We're driving down the street past the half dozen pushing shopping carts dragging ragged children down the street.. muttering this can't be right and right there, behind the liquor store- is this affordable, cute house. But hey, the backyard is big enough for a pool.

Property 3- the picture says it all. A box so ugly, they had to put a fence around it to keep it safe.

Property 4- an example of what happens when a house is in forclosure- the occupants strip EVERYTHING Then can from it and sell it- cabinets, appliances, lighting fixtures, sink fixtures, sinks..they dig up the trees from the yard.. but that said, it's one of the current top prospects.

Property 5- scroll down. This house has been for sale since Nov 2007. It was purchased June 06 for $690K (yes. really, look.) Anyway. It was listed for sale in November 07 for $625K. It's now a short sale for $400K. See what I mean- a relative bargain.

And lastly-
Property 6- again, creative use of the camera. It does not show that what was left of the kitchen in those photos is now torn out - I assume the "repairs in progress" noted in the listing. Also missing is the fact that they put up walls everywhere downstairs (or semi verticle structures involving 2x4's, presumably renting space out. I do not understand how it was sold this fall for 332K, that it's bank owned now and that they're expecting to make a profit on this.. but.. I'll watch and see. Maybe learn something..

4 years of Kayla

Don't buy stuff you can't afford

Please forgive the commercial, I can't find one to embed without it. I find it super funny considering the content of the video..

Things I never imagined I'd say

Much less with the frequency I say them:

• If you pooped, can you please flush?!
• If you pooped, can you please wipe?!
• If you need to go potty, GO, (don't sit here telling me about it dancing and holding yourself)
  
• if your brother spit it out, you cannot eat it.
• That's not food, don't put it in your mouth.
  
• The puppy can't come to church/grocery store with us.
• It doesn't matter that you're "not hungry" it's time to eat.
  
• Don't hit your brother
• Don't hit your sister
• Didn't I tell you not to hit?
  
• stop doing that
• One at a time
• Wait your turn
• Garbage on the floor of the public bathroom is NOT for you to play with (aka- DON'T TOUCH THAT!!)
• stop
• Stop
• STOP!!!
• Do not play with poop
• I don't care if it's dry dog poop, don't play with it
• THAT's Disgusting!! STOP!
• Don't spit
• Don't spit, even if he did it first
• WE DO NOT SPIT FOOD ON THE FLOOR!
• don't use your sleeve, you have a napkin
• not your sleeve
• not your pants
• Don't step on that, pick it up
  
• I SAID...
• DID YOU HEAR ME?!
• AM I talking to myself?
• Bugs belong outside
• No, a bug is not a good pet
  
• get your shoes
• WHERE ARE YOUR SHOES?!
• I said you need a coat
• Get a coat
• ARE YOU LISTENING?
• What did I say?

And..

• I said I love you
• that's awesome
• good job sharing
• You listened well today
• What a good helper!
  
• I'm so proud of you
• I love you to the moon and back
  
• wow, you're getting so smart
• you BUILT that? from legos?
  
• HOW did you figure that out?
• Can you stop growing?
  
• You will always be my baby.
  
• When did you grow up so fast?
  

What the difference a day can make

So...

I bit the bullet and hired a babysitter for the afternoon. And for about 45 minutes my house was clean or mostly clean.

And then her father picked her up and I started to make dinner and all chaos broke loose again.

Darn legos. I'd like a word with the inventor of those-- Could they PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE make them with a self cleaning feature? I know it's my kids, and not that the legos walk off themselves, but I find those things EVERYWHERE. I do mean everywhere- laundry, bathroom, outside, in the car.. everywhere. And they're not cheap, so it's like finding quarters everywhere, only quarters don't hurt when you step on them or sit on them when you put them in your pocket the wrong way (or, more likely, you have too many in there from picking them up from every corner of your existence).

Tonight is/was small group night, meaning that I cram dinner down everyone's throats and race out the door to be at church for bible study. Well.. since I was so busy cleaning, I didn't hear the phone to get the message that group was canceled until I had everyone in the car, buckled and we're backing out as I checked my voicemail and left Larry a text as to where we were going..
Anyway... bible study was canceled due to leaders' illnesses.

So.. why waste all that effort it took to get them fed, clean and out the door?
We went to ChuckECheese.

I realize in hindsight I could have just gone back inside and gotten ready for bed but that would have allowed them to mess up the semi clean house further and I wasn't ready for that. And.. we go for the kids' birthdays every year and this weekend is Kayla's birthday and we had her coupon for her free tokens.. or was it JM's coupon for tokens?? anyway.. it's tradition, I guess.

They had a blast as usual. I was actually relieved that it was relatively empty and quiet. I'm sure the sane people who are good parents would have their kids home at 7pm on a school night instead of venturing out to ChuckE's.. but we homeschool, we'd have been out anyway and I don't claim sanity is a strong suit of mine.

And ChuckE has been a learning tool- such as in economics. The economics of the tokens and tickets. It's those silly tickets that can ruin a perfectly good outing because at the end you have enough tickets to get a tiny lollipop but you really want the thing that costs 10000 tickets and you end up disappointed (or in the case of one couple we saw, they just kept buying tokens to get the tickets to get the prize.. I think someone should have told them they could buy the prize if they asked..) oh, yes- we found that out on our second ChuckE adventure- all those prizes- have a price- if you HAVE to have it, just ask how much it is. Seriously. Cotton candy is like $2. I can spend $20 in tokens to get enough tickets to buy it or I can spend the $2.

Anyway.. tonight's lesson in economics was Sonia's to learn. She decided she was going to keep her tickets separate from the rest because she didn't want to pool them together like we always have... she wanted to be by herself.

No biggie.. I collect all the others in a cup and at the end of the night we have 100 pooled tickets from Kayla, Joey and JM - (he's a heck of a skiball/fastball player with his overhand throw, I wish they were a little further from the windows..) and Sonia had just over 20. JM doesn't need a choking hazard toy, so Kayla and Joey get a 40 and 60 ticket item respectively. Sonia really really wanted a 60+ ticket thing.. but she had 20 tickets..
But I was tickled when she realized, "MOM!!! I can get 2 10 things, because 10 and 10 make 20" Thrilling moments in math :-)

So.. we're home and the kids are (hopefully) passed out and I ponder the ticket thing.. Should I be teaching and encouraging socialism or is pooling resources and communal living and sharing in families a good thing to promote? Hmm... it boils down to capitalism vs socialism every time doesn't it? And I appear to be raising socialists with an independent capitalistic streak in them.

I decided next time we'll skip the tickets all together. On the ride home, Sonia was (still) bemoaning that she couldn't get what she wanted because of not having 1000 tickets so we had the talk that we go there to have fun, not to earn a cheap prize that will be eaten in 2 seconds or broken in 1 second. If they like the rides best, ride them and skip the games for tickets.. And Sonia says "yeah, the games that give lots of tickets are boring"

Out of the mouth of a 5 year old.

Why play something boring for the hope of a cheap plastic prize? I don't know, but I can tell ya ChuckE has that psychology nailed down tight.

Wordless Wednesday

Not a drop of creativity coming from the keyboard today

Or this week, for that matter.

My house is a mess, the toddler hasn't napped in days, I'm trying to follow through on his speech and GI consults and it's sucking time I don't have from me, I'm chronically a week behind on business stuff and I keep telling myself I just need to sell the business... As soon as we sell the next shipment of diapers sold off.. which is what happened to get us INTO business- we bought diapers and said, ok, we just need to sell them off and re-coup our investment. Repeat. again. several times.. And I'll be working outside the house again.. (details to come later once I get it together long enough to find the number I needed to fax my resume to make it official)

I signed the kids back up at their charter school despite my better judgment on the promise that as soon as I come up with a better plan, Larry would go through the hassle of un-enrolling them, but I *know* how well he's followed through on his plans and I dread having to go there and doing it myself.

And we started looking for a new place to live. Somewhere we can afford. I *wish* I had taken a camera to the forclosure we saw an open house for this weekend. It had 5- count them-5- bedrooms, more than 1000 foot lot and in a nice neighborhood close to base. Unfortunately, it seems that the previous occupants destroyed the house and the agent said 'oh, the bank is spending $17,000 to fix it up' and we laughed out loud- $17,000 wasn't going to fix 1/2 of the problem. It might replace the original 1970's carpet and put a kitchen back in, nevermind the moldy bathroom.. and pool!! (we learned that lesson in the VA house) BUT.. the happy note is housing is suddenly affordable here. Good thing since we'll be here a few more years.

It's actually unbelievable that you can now find a 4 bedroom house for under $300K. And while that amount would have made us choke and sputter in VA, it seems like an unbelievable bargan here. Especially when you consider what rent is around here.. Or what we would have paid for that same house last year when we moved here.

Just another day in paradise~~

And the Navy has spoken

As to where we will be next year:

We will NOT be allowed to pursue a civilian residency

We will be assigned with the First Marines unless something happens (that should be here or one of the outlaying clinics up to 90 miles from here)

So.... unless something changes we will be here for the next 2 years.

Visitors still welcome, it's still spring/summer here.

You will Never believe what I just did

I ordered 48 rolls of toilet paper to be delivered tomorrow.

I think that might last us a month.

Office Depot does next day delivery, which is cool since I don't have to GO there with kids in tow to buy the cases of paper we use.. I just go online, order and voila it show up the next day.

So.. I needed packing tape and didn't want to buy $50 of packing tape at once to get free delivery, I wandered the other pages of the catalog- and .. well..
It's an answer to having to buy something THAT bulky with the kids.. it will show up here tomorrow.

And what I've noticed, once you order from them they will send you coupon codes for your next purchase. I'm sure they figured out that once your order one time they'll have you hooked on it.

you mean I don't have to lug 50 lbs of paper or a dresser size package of toilet paper and try to push a stroller/drag a second cart and keep the kids from knocking over displays? Could life really be this easy?

If only Costco delivered for free.....