Gotta HOUSE

We went to housing today and got keys to 2 units to check out and we took one!  Its a three bedroom in the Mercury area.  I am posting the photo they have on Cannon AFB's website.  It has a carport and storage, a patio off the living room, a nice size kitchen with a huge pantry, built in bookcases in the living room, two full baths, and a great backyard.  AND there is a nice playground with swings behind our house!!   It doesn't have carpet so we will pick up some area rugs.  We bought a nice dryer today, it was discounted because it has a dent.  They are going to hold it at the store until next week.  We get keys on Thursday morning.  Our unaccompanied baggage will be delivered on Thursday.  Our Michigan Shipment will be here March 3 or 4.  And our Household goods should be here by March 13th.  When Dave made the appointment for our Unaccompanied baggage they told him it only weighed 350 pounds!!  HA!!!  AND our household goods were only 6600!!!!!  I am so glad.  Our Michigan shipment might be 1000 but not much more, we will see.  But we are definitely under our weight limit of 9000 pounds.  WHEW.

 

Finally a new home

It took us three days of driving but we made it!!  We stopped in Effingham, Illinois and Stroud, Oklahoma.  It was a nice drive.  Not too overwhelming since we stopped.  The dogs did so well.  And Nathan did fantastic.  We had an Elmo dvd and a Blues Clues dvd and between the dvds and his naps he was a happy little guy. 

The drive from Amarillo to Clovis was pretty cool.  So many wide open ranches.  LOTS of cows.  We have only seen the run down side of Clovis.   The other side, with Walmart and nicer homes, is up the road a bit.  We'll wander up there tomorrow.  We need a few things.  The BX and Commissary are small.  The BX reminds me of Selfridge, but its neat and organized. 

I am finishing up a few loads of laundry.   And I made dinner tonight.  We are tired of eating out after the three days on the road.  The room in billeting is very nice.  Very roomy. And we have free internet.  YAY. 

We should find out how long the housing list is tomorrow.  The girl at the front desk said folks have only been staying about a week or so. 

IT FEELS LIKE AMERICA.... The Land of Enchantment....

Last night in Japan...

This is it!  We depart tomorrow.  We are praying we have better weather tomorrow and we won't get stuck anywhere.  Living at the Inn hasn't been bad. But I am looking forward to getting to New Mexico and having a home again. 

Enjoy your superbowl festivities!  Eat a chicken wing for Dave and I as we will be in the air with no dinner service.  We have a lay over in Phoenix coincidentally.  So I bet the pilots will keep our flight informed on how the Cardinals are doing. 

See you all very soon! 

-Over and out-

Our last night at 1922B

We are moving to the base hotel tomorrow.  Rumor is there is no Internet in the room, but instead it is in a community room in the building. So we might not be in contact for a bit.  I will try to check in if I can.  Hopefully I can check email at least.  

Everything is coming together.  We have our bags packed, we sold our car, and everything is ready for the final shipment to be picked up tomorrow morning. 

 

Email us at tdmcmath1227@yahoo.com if you need to reach us. 

Hopefully we won't be out of touch. 

16 days

We have just over two weeks left in Japan.  Sometimes I wonder if maybe our 8 crates have already made it on a boat and are bobbing across the ocean.  I hope they are, but they are probably being shuffled around Japan on their way to a port.   It will be wonderful if the six week head start we gave them is enough and they are waiting for us to arrive in New Mexico.  We have 7 days left in the house, we check into the base hotel (billeting) next Friday.  Friday will be a hectic day, the movers are coming to take our unaccompanied baggage, Dave is having his going away at work, we check into the hotel, and Dave has some important paperwork to file to get us our dislocation allowance.  It will cover our Tax Title and License on the van! 

Last Saturday we got 10 inches of snow.  It hasn't seriously snowed since.  This year has been strange.  Much colder than usual, and we seem to only get snow in big dumps.  In past years we get 4-6 inches every evening, with only a couple large snowfalls.  But this year its 10-15 inches in one day, then for a week nothing more than a dusting.  Its very odd.  There are fallen tree limbs everywhere around base, they just couldn't stand the weight of the heavy snow

Hopefully this weekend won't be spent digging out.  Dave has a long weekend.  I am excited.  I hope the weather is nice enough to drive to the aquarium.  I think Nathan will enjoy it.  Next weekend I will be here cleaning the appliances.  I asked Dave to keep Nate at the hotel room so I can clean freely.  Monday the 26th FMO is coming to pick up the furniture they have loaned us.  Tuesday the 27th we hand in our keys. 

I will be a little heartbroken I think.  I worked hard to make 1922B feel like home.  I felt a twinge of sadness when our stuff was gone and it didn't feel like home anymore.  Its strange to live somewhere and get settled knowing you only have 3 or 4 years.  A lot of great things happened in this house.    I remember driving away from 3418 Thunderbird and how strange it felt to just leave, it was our home, and then it wasn't.   Oh well. Hopefully we only have to go through this a few more times, we should be in New Mexico until Dave reaches his 12 year mark.  That's more than half way to retirement!!

 

Nathan is changing a lot.  He takes awesome naps.  He starts rubbing his eyes, we lay him down, and don't hear a peep from him for an hour or two.  

We are anxiously waiting for a top tooth that is right there.  We can see it. 

Nate runs along the furniture like a pro.  He will stop and let go and stand on his own all the time.  We are always clapping and telling him great job.  So now he stands on his own and starts clapping and laughing.   He's a riot. 

 

Welcome Faith Quinn Schriber!!!!  We can't wait to meet you in a couple of weeks!!!

Our stuff starts the journey to New Mexico

The house is empty now. 
We had everything ready when the movers arrived yesterday.  They arrived at 8am with 6 movers.  They split off and got right to work.  After an hour and a half they took a break, then worked for another hour and a half and it was all packed!!  They were fast!  I took Nathan for a nap in the car since it would have been impossible for him to snooze at the house.  I drove the street that loops around the base three times.  It took exactly an hour.  Twenty minutes for each lap.  LOL.  By the second half of the third lap I was almost ready to fall asleep.  Dave and I had gone to bed at one am and woke up at six to finish everything up and eat before they came.  When I got back from driving Nathan's snoozing self around, the workers were on their two hour lunch/nap break.  I managed to make Dave and I turkey sandwiches and we ate and wandered around the stacks of boxes.  It was really cool, the movers wrote the contents in kangee(I know its spelled wrong), and then the main man translated it on the box.  When they came back from their naps they had a bunch of extra people.  Almost all of them had a dolly, and they just went back and forth taking everything out like little worker ants.  I have never seen anything like it.  One person would come in, two would take loads out, two would come back in, and three would be heading out with loads.  It took all of 20 minutes to get everything out on the street in front of the trucks.  It took about another hour to load the crates full.  But of course once everything was on the street, it started snowing.  This happened when we arrived here.  They got everything unloaded and a blizzard began.  It wasn't snowing hard yesterday, but still.
Our things took up 8 crates.  EIGHT!  We moved here with 3 and a 1/4 crates.  This time it was 6 full sized crates, one smaller crate with just the sofa in it, and one 1/2 sized crate.  We are a little nervous about how close we are flirting with our 9,000 pound weight limit.  But we won't find out until we arrive at Cannon.  I am hoping our 8 crates aren't more than 7,000 lbs.  We are estimating our Michigan storage is about 1,000 lbs, and our unaccompanied might be near 1,000.  Jeez we are nervous.  We are hoping we filled more crates not because we had SO much more, but instead because they packed totally different than the American crew did.  The Americans jammed every crevice full, then packed the remaining stuff in boxes.  But the Japanese, packed things like cabinets and dressers empty instead. 
The house echos like crazy.  There is nowhere to sit, but on our butts, or on the toilet.  FMO is bringing a table and chairs, a sofa, a bed, a crib, dressers, nightstands, and lamps tomorrow. I can't wait!  Then in less than three weeks we hand over our keys and say so long to 1922B, and hello to a room at billeting, where someone else makes the bed, and cleans... THANK GOD. 
BUT ON A FANTASTIC NOTE.. our neighbor had his preliminary housing inspection yesterday (ours is tomorrow (and they are having their house packed tomorrow)) and they told him, don't bother to clean, this place is going to be gutted!!!  We only have to clean the appliances.  And our washing machine and dishwasher are almost new, we just got them in July!!  WAHOOOOOOOOOOOO

p.s could that photo of Nate be any cuter?  I don't think so... He was helping Dave unplug the DVD player and VCR.. What a helpful kiddo eh?!

The Weather Outside is Frightful!

Here we were starting to worry our last winter would be a dud.  Well, that concerns us no longer.  We have been getting about a foot a day for the past week, except Thursday, and boy its been blowing.  Friday we got 13 inches, Saturday we got 14 inches, and all the while its been blowing 40 knots.  Today they have wind and heavy snow warnings out, I'd bet we get another foot today.  

Dave has Monday and Tuesday off this  week, he works Wednesday, then gets Thursday and Friday off...And then next Monday and Tuesday he won't be working because the movers are coming.   It has been nice, especially because the weather makes you want to make an extra pot of coffee and stay home!  We have plenty of things we want to get done before the movers come on the 5th.    Today I took down all of the curtains, and I'm washing and folding them.  I took down the rods, and cleaned them.  I took down the decorative shower curtains I had hanging in the kitchen to close off the washer and dryer.  I took down the decorative shower curtain in the bathroom too.  Everything is getting washed before we move.  Tomorrow, I want to clean the dressers, take out the drawers, and clean the dust and cobwebs underneath and behind.  I want to clean the nightstands as well.  Maybe I will get to cleaning the racks in our closet.  I don't want to move any Japanese dust bunnies to New Mexico. 

I didn't think to clean like this when we moved last time.  I remember the movers pulled the dresser from the wall, and I saw all the cobwebs, and was begging them to hang on so I could get a rag. LOL

Next weekend I need to pack our suitcases... Its strange to pack a suitcase a month in advance.... Takes a lot of forethought.

Well, we hope everyone had a fantastic Christmas.  Best wishes for a wonderful New Years.  Be safe.

OH. I almost forgot... Yesterday we celebrated our 7th anniversary! Can you believe that?  Dave bought me a pair of really beautiful earrings... He's the best.  I'm a lucky duck!