Thursday, March 17, 2011

Events As of Late

Oh the joys of activities due to the warmer weather! I guess it's a good thing that I've been too busy to post. We've been socializing a lot more and just getting out and doing things. Taking walks, going to our new favorite bakery, taking Missy for rides in the car... It's been really great.

Over the long weekend we had over the Beckers. There is a new brewery that opened up about a block from our house and we decided to try it out. The service left something to be desired but the micro brew was fabulous! As of late I'm not big into drinking... Tyler says, "Your just grew up, that's all." But I did try Tyler's beer's he ordered and found them delicious! We all had a really good time.
That same weekend we had over Lucas Deem for dinner. The kid loves my cooking and comes over pretty regular to partake! Lucas has the best stories, so while we dine he regales us with his tales. I fixed oven fried chicken, macaroni and cheese, twice baked potatoes, deviled eggs and peas. Lucas now says he needs to go to Missouri to find a wife! I told him I had a sister :)
For our last visit of the weekend we went over to see how our friend Cassandra was doing since she had her lasik eye surgery. (Something I'm really wanting to do!) We brought her a card and a tart. I looked really hard for a braille card at the PX but sadly, no luck! She was doing really well and before I knew it, it was close to 10! We always have such a good time with the Aldarondo's that time just seems to fly by.

We also have been getting care packages in the mail from my family. To people in the Army, mail is a very important thing. Despite all the technology, nothing beats a letter or getting a package. This time my mom sent us some homemade jalapenos (Tyler's fave!), some makeup I ordered, and pictures! The latter being my favorite. It was so great to be able to look at my parents, sister, brother and sister in law! I miss them more than you can imagine and cannot wait to make our international move back to America! I know there are those people who move a state or two away and say, "I miss my family. I haven't seen them in months!" but all that pales in comparison to being ocean's, time zones and days away. Count your blessing that you live on the same continent!

We have another 3 day weekend coming up and came to realize we only have 105 days left in the blessed country! I've started packing some of the valuables as I said in previous posts. It makes me feel that much closer to being home. Each day I mark off the calendar is a small joy and victory!

I am excited for the local markets to open up. They sell just about anything and everything you could imagine and even some things you can't! This means camera fun for me! As I've said before, it's so hard to make this place look pretty through pictures. I am going to try though! I know it's getting close to that time when you hear the men in their tiny Korean trucks with the beds full of produce, on their loud speakers announcing what they are selling! Tyler always jokes about this and does his awesome Asian voice "Rary good radish! I sell world best clemintine! You try!" I laugh every time. It never gets old!

Finally, I saved the best for last on this post. I have been seriously looking around at schools for when we are stateside and have applied for the MyCAA program that awards spouses of active duty military money to return to school... I was accepted and now have $4,000 to put toward my education! WooHoo! I was beyond elated when I read the email. It's just so inspiring when you pray hard for something to go your way and it shows itself! God has really blessed me and I cannot wait to finish what I started and become a college student again! For those of you wondering what my major is, it's Health Information Technology. Basically, I will handle the clerical side of health care. I eventually hope to help develop new technology and programs for health care settings like hospitals and physicians offices.

Well it's lunch time and I know I will have a hungry soldier walking through the door at any moment. Better get to it!

Wednesday, March 9, 2011

"Almost" Spring Cleaning and Looking Forward

Today I began "Spring" cleaning and realized several things about our home and where we are going in life. Some bad but mostly very, very good!

I think I will start with my house first by saying, I hate the hardwood floors throughout our whole apartment! I know everyone else on the planet will disagree with me but I don't think most of you people realize how great carpet is until you are without it for a year and 9 months! My top 2 complains about the hardwood are: 1. It is the hardest thing in the world to keep clean. 2. It hurts my feet and back from standing on it. I love the look of it when it's clean and polished but getting 1500 square of feet of it to look and stay that way is a huge undertaking. Even for housewives like myself. I never realized how much dust accumulates in a home over the course of just a few days. I hate the feel of dirt under my feet and how my white socks become brown. So needless to say, at our next duty station, we will be on the look out for "carpet throughout."

Keeping with the home realizations, Tyler and I both agree we strongly dislike apartment living in general. Our main reason is the noise level. I don't really like knowing what my neighbors are watching on tv or hearing their children run and scream through the house. When we first moved in, we became acquainted with a young couple and their baby. I agreed to watch their baby one day while the mom went to the gym. After that, she began coming to our house everyday wanting to me to be her free child care! People seriously amaze me. It's not that I wouldn't be more than willing to help her but I am certainly not a door mat for you to use when you feel like it.

Okay... I'm off my soapbox now and on to the "where our life is going" section:

Over the last several months, Tyler has been in the process of putting in his "application" for a very important job. More like, a once in a life time opportunity, job. I am not allowed to reveal where or what this job is just yet because we are not 100% sure of it's certainty just yet. All we know is if this happens for us, we will be in the states again! And if Tyler really likes the job, it could be the place we call home for a very long while. That's right friends: a permanent duty station! The city we would be in will hold lots of things of things to do, see and experience for the first time. It's near the ocean, which is somewhere I've only dreamed of living. While I do realize that it takes more than just where you are living to make your life complete, we can fly to see our family for just $250 and that is something to be very, very grateful for. I am probably jumping the gun quite a bit but I've been doing lots of research on the city, it's public transit, shopping and dining area's, crime rates, housing, parks, and much more! My friend Cassandra used to live there and has helped me so much! So far, from what I know and what our friends have told us, we love it already. We've been praying so hard for this great opportunity and it's looking like it's in our favor but as I said before, we aren't 100% sure.

I've been wrapping up valuables for our PCS in July, because no matter if we get this great job or not, we are going to be moving internationally.... again. I am the real life version of "Army Wives"! While doing the cleaning and organizing I've been throwing out lots of old stuff and things that just seem to accumulate over time and it's felt so great. I'm one of those people who really dislikes clutter so when doing things like this I have a rule: If you don't use it, love it or make money with it, throw it out!

I am so excited to be able to go back to school and finish what I started. You'd think that I would be able to go to college at the same time I was over here... Trust me, it's harder than you think. Either they want to charge you an insane amount per credit hour, don't allow overseas students or they give you completely useless subjects to major in. For me my major is in health care and of course, it requires clinical hours to complete your course work. The one hospital here, does not work with students. So as you can see, I've had a little bit of difficulty. I am determined to finish, it's just taken a bit longer than I had foreseen.

This next PCS (relocation to next duty station) will be so great for us. We really miss America and our family and can't wait to see what is in store for us. I will also be able to take pictures of beautiful things and sites instead of the ugly country of Korea. I will also be able to do more "home projects" like making art and recovering furniture, like I used to do. I can't wait to be able to do my hobbies again!

Here's hoping everything during our last few months here goes smoothly and we are able to transition to our new duty station with ease and a clear focus. Life is so great and should be looked at in a positive light. I hope to continue being able to do this! God has blessed us beyond measure!