Home????

Look who showed up..  I picked him up yesterday, we had a wonderful lunch with friends, and headed home. He brought home with him a backpack, and laundry. We chatted on the way home about his trip, and the boys.  Once home we had coffee, and went for a walk.  A nice quite dinner with the boys, and we were all exhausted and ready for bed...

Here are some of  our conversation(s)

Ian is walking around the kitchen opening and closing cabinets 

 

Me:  Baby, what are you doing?

Ian:  looking for a bowl for the salsa.

Me:  Oh, bottom cabinet on the left

Ian:  Thanks 

A few minutes later and he is still opening and closing cabinets 

Me: now what are you looking for?

Ian: the Salsa.

Me: In the cabinet by the fridge. 

Ian: thanks

Me: chips are on the top shelf..

Ian:  Yeah, I need those to..

Fast forward to bedtime.  

I walked into the bathroom...

Ian:  I didn't bring my toothbrush..

Me: No biggie use mine (OH, come on he is my husband)...

Ian: Where is it? 

Me: in the cabinet 3 rd row. It's orange

Ian: Thanks 

fast forward to 4 AM this morning 

I walk into the bathroom  

Ian: I have to use your razor, I didn't bring mine

Me: Well, shit, what the heck is in that backpack? 

Ian: obviously not much

Me: OK, well today I will grab a few things that you can keep here

Ian:  That would be great,  and maybe put some post its on everything fricking thing in the house.  You know so it seems like I actually live here!!! 

Send Post it notes!  Maybe some cute pink and purple ones... 

The weekend thing!

This week hasn't been as bad as the last few.  Not as much running around to do.  I did manage to get Christopher the all important bus ID that is required to ride to school.  Now my teenager, the same one that can't ever find socks in the morning has 2 ID's to try and keep track of.  I have a funny feeling me and the nice bus pass lady will become fast friends.  It will get lost. 

Noah and I were able to meet his teacher yesterday.  Mr. C seems like a very nice man.  He is soft spoken and directed all of his questions to Noah.  I explained how we plan to work things this year, and all went well. Noah was just super excited he wasn't put in the peanut free class! Oh, the horror. But, when you are 9 and have peanut butter crackers EVERY SINGLE DAY for snack these things are important. 

We are sorely lacking on pool time for the week, but tonight will make up for that.  There is a pool party on main base for the families of Ian's command.   The boys and I will be heading to that.   Right about now they all 3 need some space to play, away from each other..

I still have laundry following me around the house.  I often think about inventing disposable clothing.  Hey, you never know it could work.   I could make a mint, and live out my days on my own private island.  

Well I am off to ponder what my house would look like on that island, while I fold the non disposable laundry!

I think it's a man thing!

I spent this week organizing the boys for school.  There school, and our school.  Friday we had our appointment with the middle school counselor.  Let me just say it was a welcomed change to have a counselor who was genuinely interested in my kid.  Mr. C loves his job,  is here for the kids, and it shows.  I was amazed at the difference.  In Yoko Christopher's counselor was a moron!  I turned in his test scores, and explained what Christopher and I wanted.  Mr. C listened, gave his feedback, and we are off and running.  Christopher will take band ( he is playing the trumpet), Japanese 1, and Algebra 1.  Japanese 1 and Algebra are both high school credit courses.  Mr. C actually talked to Christopher, wanted to know what Christopher wanted.  I just sat back listening, thinking the entire time that Mr. C is what we need more of in the school system.   Once we had that taken care of Mr. C walked Christopher around to show him where he would need to go.  The school here is broken up into a few different buildings.  Poor kid has Japanese on the 4 Th floor.  As we were leaving Mr. C gave me his contact information, and told us both if we need anything to let him know.  We are both excited for Christopher to start the trumpet.. 

Noah will follow the same track that we followed in Yoko.  He will attend school for half a day.  I sat him down and asked what he wanted, and at first he wanted to go all day to school.  But, the other day he said, no, mom, I want to just do half.  Honestly I think Noah loves the history and reading we do here at home.  And, that is totally OK with me.  I turned in his paperwork a few weeks ago, and figured I would just have to battle it out on the first day of school.  To my surprise I received a phone call yesterday from the school counselor.  We talked for a bit, and she informed me Noah would have either Mr. P or Mr. B.  I had to stop by and drop off more paperwork, and we ran into both misters.  Maybe it's a man teacher thing, maybe the teachers here are just happy.  But, They were both wonderful.  Talked to Noah, asked him a few questions, and Friday I will meet with his teacher for about 20 just to prepare for this year.  

Now, let me add here that Christopher did have 2 male teachers last year and loved them both.  Dr. B taught science.  Dr. B was adamant that the kids could not learn science sitting in a class room. Most if not all of their classes were outside.  His other teacher Mr. C had a rubber chicken that he used in the class room.  Let me tell you it WORKED!  

I think there is just something different about male teachers.  The few that we have encountered just seem to LOVE what they do, and really enjoy teaching the kids.  What do you all thing?  If your kids have gone to school, what was your experience?   

Like riding a bicycle??

You know the old saying.. well to be honest I don't know the exact saying.  Something along the lines of It's just like riding a bike.  You never really forget.  Once you learn you have it down. blah, blah! As we get older, we tend to not get on the bike so much.  In my case, I am old, flabby, and have no sense of balance.  But, I still use the phrase that I don't exactly know.  

Ladies and gentleman sea duty is NOT just like riding a bike.  Once you experience shore duty, going back to sea duty is NOT easy.  I feel wobbly, and out of sorts.  Trying to get my baring with 3 kids, school, a house to run, and OMG do you all know how many times a day my kids need to eat?  

My days are comprised of breakfast, dishes, cleaning, snack, the pool, lunch, dishes, snack, dinner, and they all want a snack AGAIN before they go to bed.  I feel like I am raising baby goats.  

I still have wires all over my house, no bed as of yet.  We are STILL sleeping on an air bed.  Which I have to say is not all that uncomfortable.  I would just like to be a few more feet off the floor.  Yeah, I have issues.  Not to mention all of my clothing is sitting in baskets, and my floor is covered in books.  I still have no book shelf.  I find myself avoiding my room.  

Being productive is just not happening these days.  Peyton and I are still reading, and coloring but that is about it.  Between the laundry (that I swear is following me around trying to kill me), mopping the floors, and scraping the 4 inches of dust off everything.. Japan is the dust capitol of the world.   I just don't seem to have as many hours in the day as I used to.  When Ian was on shore duty we would cook together, he would swap out the laundry while I read to the baby, and we just had a great routine.   My routine is now rooted in mess.  I won't even mention other things that I am NOT doing with said husband who is gone to a far away land.  

As of today I have exactly 35 months until normalcy returns to my life.  I have laid out a plan for those 35 months.  The boys and I will travel to a few countries, hit as many ITT tours as possible without me getting totally car sick, ( that is of course if I ever get a car)  and we will spend our summers at the pool.  Mix in football, gymnastics (I have found a wonderful gymnastics school here for Noah),  swimming lessons, Karate, baseball, and everything else that goes along with taxing 3 boys all over Japan, and 35 months will fly by.  Somewhere in there I will buy a set of training wheels, dust off my bike (you remember the one with the old banana seat and pink basket) and try to learn to ride this bike all over again!  Send band aids I fear this could get messy!!! 

There once was a lazy mother, who planned to attend the ball.

Once upon a time (OK, today) there was a lazy mother.  Yep, that would be me.  She had so many children (where did they all come from),  she found herself standing in the kitchen and could not for the life of her remember what she was doing.  (that happens a lot around here).  

Almost nightly I read stories to Peyton.  I used to read to Christopher and Noah. Now they prefer to read to themselves.  Something or other to do with the voices I try and use.   Reading these wonderful fairy tales I have learned a few things.  First off Cinderella is alive and well.  She lives in Japan under an assumed name.  The singing mice are even there every now and again to cheer her on (yep, I have seen them).   Rest assured she is not so far gone that she sees pumpkins turning into carriages or anything, but she sure is ready to skip to the good parts.  You know the part where her handsome prince comes riding in with her glass slipper.  Oh, well even with that comes a huge sea bag of dirty laundry.  

Speaking of Cinderella I vaguely remember her attending a ball.  Well it is once again ball time.  Here in a few short weeks I will be attending 2 balls.  One is a Khaki ball, the other is the Navy ball.  Ian will be here for the first, as of now he will miss the second.  No matter I have not 1 but 2 wonderful dates.  The 3 of us will dress in our Sunday best (or maybe something a bit fancier) and have a great time.  

Have you ever shopped for a ball?  Or fancy party?  HOLLY HECK ON A CRUTCH BATMAN!  OK, that is out, I feel loads better.  Ian and I have attended Christmas parties, and other semi-formal functions.  But, we were younger, and I could pull off anything. When you are in your 20's it all looks good. I am now a bit older, and well lets be honest things have fallen.  This is going to take some major work,(were talking duct tape and super glue). Something about adding the word ball and everyone goes all Cinderella on you.

I did what any resourceful wife living 6000 miles for a Kohl's or Walmart would do. I began shopping on line.  First I found a wonderful website Nordstroms.com.  They have a dress department. (way overpriced dresses)  The makers of the website are gracious enough to teach the world all about body type.  As it turns out I am an apple. This means I need a dress that can hide my middle section.  I should buy something called an Empire waist.  As I was clicking through their on line store I realized that I would not be ordering a $500 dress, so of to other sites I clicked.  I also decided I did not want to wear black.  I know, I know, but, black is slimming.  Well, I will just have to look non slim.  I then though about purple, pink, and red.  Nope, those would make me feel old, or cheep. Brown of any sort is out.  That is what all the guys will be wearing. So there I was right back to black.  I decided to walk away from the computer and give it some time.  On a whim last night I checked back with Kohl's and found a wonderful black and white (mostly white) dress that I think will do the trick.  I even secured (what I now hope and pray) is the perfect dress, for $30.  Of course just to be safe I ordered another dress.  Now I need shoes, jewelry, that little ridiculous bag that everyone caries, and the appropriate hosiery.   So fairy tale land after all of this I have just one question..  Where the Fuck is my fairy God Mother?????  Because I still have a long way to go, and she better show up to do my hair, and bring the damn duct tape and super glue! 

A place to call home!

I finally have an answer to the burning question "Will we or won't we be moving again"?  We will NOT be moving.  With the state of the Navy's budget we have been informed that we will be staying here, and Ian will be transferring to a different ship.  To be honest I am overjoyed that we are staying.  The thought of packing up and moving again was beginning to make my eyes twitch.  They boys were concerned that I would curl into the fetal position, requiring them to feed me lime jello until Ian's return.  

I can now start looking at cars.  I am sure it will be a long process. I am unwilling to overpay for a car that we will only own for 3 years.  I understand that people want to get some of their investment back, BUT!  If I am going to spend $3000 for a car, I will buy it from a local dealership with a warranty, and they pay the JCI.   Right now I am looking at an Ipsum.  Ipsum's are funny looking 7 passenger cars.  While the 7 seats is a plus, what I most like about them are the 5 sensors on the front, sides, and back.  I call this idiot proof driving.  If (or more like when) I get to close to the other drivers, pedestrians, or those pesky motor scooters,  the car will beep and let me know to back off!  Thus Sabrina proof! 

For now we will walk everywhere!  When you are walking, and it's 500% humidity, you limit the things that are important outside.  We walk to the commissary, mini market, pool, and Noah's swim lessons.  He is doing amazingly well with his swim class.  Like everything in Japan things here are done a bit different.  Noah has 2 swim instructors. Their names are Shin, and Yasu.  Both are younger Japanese men.  Yasu speaks near perfect English, Shin not so well.  During the lesson Yasu would speak to Shin in Japanese, and then to the kids in English.  Then Shin would repeat what Yasu said to the kids in English.  They both have a tremendous amount of patience with the kids.  Towards the end of the class Yasu asked me if Noah has taken lessons before.  I explained that he has once when he was 4.  Yasu asked me to bring Noah to the 9 am class on Thursday, he feels Noah should really be in the level 4 class.  I explained that Noah is a bit worried about the deep end.  When he gets into deep water he flips out a bit.  So Thursday Yasu and Noah will work on feeling comfortable in the deep end.. 

In other equally important news, Peyton is now FULLY potty trained.. YEAH!  PARTY TIME!  In his silly Peyton way, he has named his poops.  Today for example he said "Mommy, its a string poop"..  Yesterday, it was round poops. So the lesson here folks, if the toddler wants to use his poops as a teaching moment (hey, my kid knows what round is).. Then just go with it.  I could be stressed over moving! A little poop talk is small potato's!

Summer Fun!!!

We are all having a great summer.  The boys and I are missing Ian terribly.  But, swimming, going to the movies, and having Harry Potter marathons is helping us to pass the time.  
Noah will start swim lessons tomorrow.  He still has a long way to go before he can take off in the deep end.  I hope the next 6 weeks of lessons helps him become more confident in the water.  
Trying to get Peyton to smile on demand is becoming more and more of a challenge.  He wants to be the one taking the pictures.  
I am sporting quite the sun burn/ wanna be tan.  Oh, well I am using a good sun screen.  At least I will have a bit of color for the Khaki ball.  I can not for the life of me find a dress.. Maybe I can just wear a paper sack.  Or I could help recycle and buy one of those dresses made of of Capri Suns?  They even have the handbag that matches... 

We still have no word on where we will be living. At this point I can't do anything but laugh..  After all I have no control over where we will go.  I would LOVE to buy a car. The humidity here is BAD, walking around I should be loosing pounds by the step...

Rocking the boat!

We have lived in our house now for 9 days.  In that time I have had to call housing for a broken washer, leaky faucet, broken screen doors, and OH the house was DIRTY when we moved in.  

Having lived in Japan now for 3 years I was a bit taken aback by the condition of my house.  I did manage to get a new washer.  After many phone calls, and several attempts to fix this one.  The screen doors are still a mess.  I think the ones they put up are just not fit to the door.  

When you move into military housing you are required to fill out a "condition of unit" form.  I wrote down EVERYTHING.  Our housing inspector (who is a wonderful lady) explained that this tower is scheduled to be renovated in a few years.  Therefor they (who ever they are) do not want to put a lot of money into repairing the units.  Well that is just not going to fly with me.  

After 7 days of seeing the same food in the elevators, spilled soda all over the floor, bags of trash all over the entry way floor, and the HORRID smell when you enter our tower.  I broke down and called housing.   My BIG issue is the elevator walls.  They are trimmed with strips of metal.  In several areas that metal is sticking up, or broken out.   I do not understand how they can NOT fix and clean things.   We pay for the services of cleaning.  Why do I have to take pictures, and call over and over to get something done? 

Well I have a solution to the problem.  Get rid of the cleaning lady, and create a schedule for all the residents of the tower.  Each tower has 9 floors and each  floor has 8 apartments.  So roughly once a week each resident would be responsible for sweeping and mopping the hallway on their floor.  If you add in time to fill the mop buckets we are talking 15 minutes.    Once every 3 months each resident would be required to sweep and mop the elevator.  This is OUR HOME!  Give  us the responsibility to clean it and I guarantee that people would be more aware of where there trash is going, and what their kids are doing in the common areas..  Take the money that we are WASTING to pay for cleaning services and put it towards repairs of the elevators or units.  

Easy problem solved, and I didn't even have to convene a group, call a committee meeting, or lobby congress for change.... 

Please send patience...

There are so many things I want to blog about.  Our trip home.  The airplane food.  Hyatt Place the hotel.  I have them all written down in a book, so I don't forget anything.  

BUT!  There is always a but.

Things are crazy nuts right now.  The boys have made some friends. It seems at their age friends just find them.  Wednesday afternoon I had a knock on my door.  Asking if my boys could play.  As it turns out there are 2 boys next door close in age to Christopher and Noah.  If I were a betting man, I think those boys were waiting around the corner the day we moved it.  Scoping us out to see if we had kids their age. 

Peyton is going pee in the potty!  (most of the time).  We still have the occasional "mommy, I have to potty". while he is running and we don't make it in time.  I am taking it slow, not getting upset with him (after all his bladder is tiny), and following behind with bleach and water.  We will get there.   

The house is as done as I am going to make it for now.  Along with Ian's promotion came word that we may have to MOVE!  YEP! That is right, we may (slim chance) have to once again pack up and move.  He was sent here to hold a certain billet (job).  Now that he has been promoted he will have to do another job.   Now we wait and see if that job is here in Sasebo, or possibly back in Yoko.  Part of me wished it were back in Yoko.  I have very good friends there, and would not feel so lopsided.  Making friends as an adult is hard work.  I am outgoing, bubbly, and  funny (even if I am the only one that thinks I am funny).  Getting to know people at first it hard for me.  Right now I feel a bit disconnected.  

I was able to talk to Ian for just a few minutes last night (again at the cost of a small island).  That helped.  He is my best friend.  And, I love him more than coffee.  Right now he is exhausted, stressed, elated, and loosing his voice.   I know once we get through the next few weeks, things will smooth out.  My only downfall in life seems to be patience.  I don't seem to have any.  Maybe I can borrow some from you all....

What a week!

The movers showed up Tuesday with all of our house hold goods.  The boys and I spent the next few days unpacking.  As of this moment I declare that I will NEVER EVER MOVE AGAIN!  I will live out my days right here in this house.  I refuse to go through another move. EVER! 
The movers were great.  They unpacked all the furniture, and put the big stuff where it needed to go.  
I was left with tons of boxes.  It seemed for a day or 2 that I was tripping all over them.  I somehow managed to get all of this into my kitchen.
I got to work, cleaning all the furniture and carpets, then unpacking box after box, after box. 
The boys were great.  Peyton had a BLAST at the CDC playing.  His teachers were the sweetest Japanese ladies.  He came home wiped out and ready for dinner and bed both days. 
Boxes and more boxes!! 
Christopher wanted to unpack his own room.  Thanks Kid!!
It didn't take long for the boys to mess the room up!  I will be cleaning again before bed.
I have yet to hang any pictures, or hook up Ian's monstrous electronic system.  That will all wait for Ian to get home.  
This tower is exactly like our old one.  There are a few differences.  Our house is set up opposite from the layout in Yokosuka.  I think I actually like this layout better.  There seems to be more wall space.  
I like the bar/counter.  The boys can sit with me and chat while I cook...
Notice my wonderful, beautiful NOT WHITE cabinets.  I was so tired of cleaning all the white cabinets in our old house.  

I had the house done by Friday, and the boxes picked up.  Feel into bed ready to sleep for days.  Saturday morning I got a phone call from Ian.  He made Chief.  In the Navy this is a HUGE deal.  He will spend the next 6 weeks going through indoctrination ( they can't call it initiation anymore).  There will be little sleep, a lot of PT, and other interesting things for him to do. Something along the lines of tearing them down to build them back up.   It is something all Chiefs look forward to, Ian included.  He will be in his element, enjoying (OK, or suffering through) every minute. On September 16 Th he will be pinned.  I will video tape it for our family back home... CONGRATULATIONS BABY!!  You deserve it.. 

P.S.  I have discovered Cherry 7-UP.. My life is now complete..

Have a great day!