Good to be back

Wow, it's been over a month since I've written! We have been very busy with visiting our families, house hunting, moving, and unpacking, but it's also a case of the longer you go without writing, the less you feel like you have to write about. I'm hoping to get back in the habit of it, even when I don't think I have anything to say.

Stryker and I took a couple days to drive down here. We left on the 29th, and only hit a little of this:



It was a pretty nice trip. As nice as an 18 hour road trip can be. On day two we decided to start taking pictures of all the different state license plates we saw. We saw so many! I am going to try and compile them into a collage. We must have gotten close to half. It definitely kept the trip interesting. Quick lane changes to catch a new one, tailgating, yeah...driver of the year! Not to mention what the other people were thinking when they saw a crazy man from Wisconsin trying to take their picture. Quite a few laughs that day.



We spent that night in Atlanta and had the most amazing dinner at Il Mulino. The food was amazing, and the service was even more amazing. Stryker and I like to go out to nice dinners occasionally, and this was a great pick.

Well, I'll leave it at that. It's time to go wake Fuzz up from her nap. Sleeping through the night has taken a hiatus, and we're trying everything we can to remedy that.

Sicky

Yesterday was our anniversary, we were woken up at 4:30AM by a sick Fuzz. Poor little bugger.

Of the four years we've been married, we've only actually been together for about two. And even those two were littered with field training, schools, and other separations. Such is the Army life. I think this was probably our hardest year yet. Here is to hopefully our best year yet!

We leave tomorrow. We're hoping Fuzz is feeling better by then, and that we don't contract it in the meantime.

Whirlwind

Talk about a whirlwind lately! My cousin's visit, my sister's visit, our lease ending on the first and us moving to a hotel until we leave, selling stuff... I have been one busy lady, and it's not going to stop any time soon.

We're getting settled into the hotel just in time to leave again. We'll be spending a week in Stryker's hometown, a week in mine, and then driving down to Georgia and hopefully finding somewhere to live quickly. We're already looking, but it's hard to commit to something without knowing the neighborhood, and more importantly, the smell. I have done enough apartment/house hunting to know that pictures of the place might look great, but nothing is worse than walking in and getting slammed with a smell that makes you believe cats, and only cats, lived there without a litter box for years.

Thankfully, Stryker's mom is going to fly down with Fuzz a few days after we leave. She does well in the car for about 20 minutes on a good day, so we're lucky we don't have to suffer through 15 hours with her. I would probably be bald by the time we got there. I don't do well with ear piercing screeching in small spaces. They don't seem to bother Stryker, which adds to the irritation.

How can that not drive a person to unthinkable acts?

A new definition

I think the Army was confused when they said PCS stand for "permanent change of station". I think they actually meant it to stand for "pretty crappy situation". PCSing..what a pain!

Poor Stryker. I mean, we're excited to start a new adventure, but are three different transportation appointments really necessary?? We do have a strange situation because we are in Hawaii, but our household goods are in Wisconsin, but it should be that difficult.

During his first appointment, the lady scheduled his unaccompanied baggage pickup (his army stuff that needs to be transported), but told him that he should get in touch with his next duty station to schedule the household goods pickup, because that would be easier. Easier for who? Yeah. Her.

So he called to see if they could schedule it from here or if he really had to call the next duty station. The woman on the phone told him that the lady at his first appointment should have done it and that he should come in to schedule it. So he went in last week and they sent him away because he didn't have yet ANOTHER copy of his orders. Wait, he's there to fix YOUR screw-up! Not to mention the fact that they already have 32ish copies of his orders. So he left, made another copy of his orders and went in there today. He sat in the waiting room for over an hour and they made him ANOTHER appointment to schedule the pickup. Nothing was accomplished today other than making him an appointment.

Really? All because the first lady didn't do her job? Wow.

Goodbyes

PCS season has begun. This past weekend we partook in a little get together for a friend who is leaving this week. Yummy Mexican food and a homemade cake (by me of course). It was fun. After dinner I came home with Fuzz and the rest of the guys went out for a few drinks. Well, maybe more than a few. Stryker got home and had the hiccups for about an hour and a half before he finally fell asleep. Haha.

This was the first close family that I have had to say goodbye to. I've been pretty lucky I guess. Married almost four years and this is the first one. Stryker and I aren't far behind, and neither are the other families that I've grown close to over these four years. I just hope at our new location I meet more couples and families like the ones I've met here. Maybe I'll meet some of you!

Looming PCS

First of all, thanks for the great recipes and tips! I'm still not sure what we are going to be eating. My friend De has the final say.

So, I have some news. After 6 years in the army, we will be embarking on our very first PCS. We're headed to Ft. Benning next summer. Although I know that a lot of people would never want to be stationed there, I have an open mind about it. I don't know anything really about that area, so I'm determined not to hate it before even giving it a chance. I've heard bad things about the area, but I've heard good things too.

I've never been down there. So, my faithful readers, what do you think of it? Don't worry about sugar coating for me, we are going to be there together, as a family, and that would make even the worst place sweeter.

Any great restaurants, must-see places, advice on nice places to live, or bad places to avoid, anything? Fill me in!