I'm in the midst of a mini nervous breakdown and i need to get it out there somewhere because my head may explode. or implode. you know, I'm not quite sure what's in there and holds it all together.
Don't get me wrong, I'm excited about Japan. I think it will be fun. I think it will be a great opportunity for us. We'll get to travel, to try a different lifestyle and to just do something many people can't do. But I just want to be there already.
Point Loma NTC did our medical screening and told me we were good to go. What I did not realize is that they sent their screening results to Japan and Japan has the final say-so as to whether or not we will be going. They told us they would have an answer on monday. It's now wednesday and I was just told that we could possibly not find out until next monday what Japan thinks. TMO is coming to pack us up 2 weeks from tomorrow. This stresses me out. Not knowing 'for sure' if we're going or not. [Having been a milspouse for 4+ years now I realize nothing is ever a sure thing in the military, but I'm really struggling with it this time!]
Addy and K must be picking up on my stress because both of them are super clingy and whiny. Both have been constantly underfoot and crying/screaming/whining for absolutely no reason. This is adding to my stress because it means we are not having productive days at all. It also drains my patience.
So, I'd really like to be in Japan already. I'd like to have the organizing, packing, moving, goodbyes, paperwork, and chaos over with already. I just need to take a deep breath and try to enjoy all those moments that don't revolve around anything move-related, which is so much easier said than done.
Wednesday, March 14, 2012
Thursday, March 8, 2012
stuff
We live in a 2-bedroom 920 sq ft apartment. We don't have a lot of stuff. At least, I didn't think we had a whole ton of stuff until I started trying to organize our belongings into 4 different categories: things to be stored for the 3 years we're gone, HHG (household goods) shipment which takes 2-6 months, express shipment which take 30-45 days, and things that need to stay with us. I also think I'll come across things we'll be selling, donating, or throwing out as well.
K loves to help me. She makes her own piles from the piles I have and reorganizes them into better piles. She's funny.
We're potentially selling our car saturday. This is getting more and more real!
K loves to help me. She makes her own piles from the piles I have and reorganizes them into better piles. She's funny.
We're potentially selling our car saturday. This is getting more and more real!
Wednesday, March 7, 2012
Drama
Life in the military is crazy. The Mr just called me and said, "what do you think about moving our TMO dates to April 5th and then going to Chicago and Phoenix?" Wait, what?! Leave 4 weeks from tomorrow? I thought I had another 9 weeks to get ready to say goodbye to my home. Now you're proposing 4 weeks?
So, tonight and tomorrow, we'll be weighing the pros and cons and seeing if we're going to be leaving earlier than expected.
o.m.g.
So, tonight and tomorrow, we'll be weighing the pros and cons and seeing if we're going to be leaving earlier than expected.
o.m.g.
Tuesday, March 6, 2012
It's a date!
We finally have a date when all of our things will be moved. TMO will be coming on May 8th & 9th to pack our stuff and ship or store it.
This means we have approximately 35 days left to get ready because the Mr intends on spending pretty much all of April in Phoenix and Chicago. Then, we will have have one week before our things leave and then, most likely, we will be following suit shortly thereafter. We have yet to find out the date we will be flying, which seems backwards to me. Shouldn't they make sure we were on a plane before they sent our stuff? You know, make sure there's someone on the receiving end to ship to? I suppose they do it this way because we need to sign off on our things being packed and shipped, but it just seems funny to me.
Anyway, with a date in place, the realization that this is happening so soon set in today as I thought about my goals before we left. I need more time! Seems to be a common theme with me!
This weekend my sisters are coming to visit. The following weekend we have free except going to KaLeigh and Ryan's get-together (yay!)! The weekend following that Jared is here and the weekend after that will be April and we will hopefully be traveling. We have one 'just us' weekend left?! Hard to grasp.
This means we have approximately 35 days left to get ready because the Mr intends on spending pretty much all of April in Phoenix and Chicago. Then, we will have have one week before our things leave and then, most likely, we will be following suit shortly thereafter. We have yet to find out the date we will be flying, which seems backwards to me. Shouldn't they make sure we were on a plane before they sent our stuff? You know, make sure there's someone on the receiving end to ship to? I suppose they do it this way because we need to sign off on our things being packed and shipped, but it just seems funny to me.
Anyway, with a date in place, the realization that this is happening so soon set in today as I thought about my goals before we left. I need more time! Seems to be a common theme with me!
This weekend my sisters are coming to visit. The following weekend we have free except going to KaLeigh and Ryan's get-together (yay!)! The weekend following that Jared is here and the weekend after that will be April and we will hopefully be traveling. We have one 'just us' weekend left?! Hard to grasp.
Tuesday, February 28, 2012
busy, busy day(s)
Lately I've been feeling like I don't have enough hours in the day. Take today for example:
Woke up late (8:30 because none of us slept last night), had breakfast, took addy to the dog park, went to the JRC and filled out passport papers 3 times for 3 people (9! applications-- so frustrating!), went to the commissary, went to lunch with my friend, came home and made dinner (did 3 loads of laundry between this morning and now), K took a nap so I took an hour and worked on my bible study, the Mr came home and I finished dinner (which included a run to Vons because our carrots were bad. Have you ever seen Hairy Carrots? Did the words 'hairy carrots' make you think of the Cubs? because I couldn't help but think of harry carry as I was contemplating using said carrots.) after dinner I had a doctor appointment. Got home at 8:45 and folded laundry. Now a mountain of dishes are staring at me. So, basically, I got laundry and passports done. I think it feels like I didn't get much accomplished today because I have a monster to-do list staring at me and I feel like if I could just have just a few more hours everyday then it would shrink. Tomorrow, I have small group, then K has a nap followed by her one year checkup with Dr. Park. I'm hoping to get to the farmer's market afterwards if there's decent weather and she's not too crabby after her shots. But if I do those 3 things then nothing gets done towards my Japan 'to-do'.
I need to figure out what we're taking with us. I think we're only allowed 2,250 lbs and according to a bunch of websites they say that one room is about 1,000 lbs! So that pretty much means one bedroom and the kitchen! Kind of nervous. But, at the end of the day, it's just stuff and it doesn't really matter. I worry about making a mistake that will set us back financially, but I really need to just rely on who is really in charge. I know God always provides and has always, always taken care of us and that is so comforting. He hasn't just provided, but has abundantly blessed us. So I'm going to rest in that knowledge.
Woke up late (8:30 because none of us slept last night), had breakfast, took addy to the dog park, went to the JRC and filled out passport papers 3 times for 3 people (9! applications-- so frustrating!), went to the commissary, went to lunch with my friend, came home and made dinner (did 3 loads of laundry between this morning and now), K took a nap so I took an hour and worked on my bible study, the Mr came home and I finished dinner (which included a run to Vons because our carrots were bad. Have you ever seen Hairy Carrots? Did the words 'hairy carrots' make you think of the Cubs? because I couldn't help but think of harry carry as I was contemplating using said carrots.) after dinner I had a doctor appointment. Got home at 8:45 and folded laundry. Now a mountain of dishes are staring at me. So, basically, I got laundry and passports done. I think it feels like I didn't get much accomplished today because I have a monster to-do list staring at me and I feel like if I could just have just a few more hours everyday then it would shrink. Tomorrow, I have small group, then K has a nap followed by her one year checkup with Dr. Park. I'm hoping to get to the farmer's market afterwards if there's decent weather and she's not too crabby after her shots. But if I do those 3 things then nothing gets done towards my Japan 'to-do'.
I need to figure out what we're taking with us. I think we're only allowed 2,250 lbs and according to a bunch of websites they say that one room is about 1,000 lbs! So that pretty much means one bedroom and the kitchen! Kind of nervous. But, at the end of the day, it's just stuff and it doesn't really matter. I worry about making a mistake that will set us back financially, but I really need to just rely on who is really in charge. I know God always provides and has always, always taken care of us and that is so comforting. He hasn't just provided, but has abundantly blessed us. So I'm going to rest in that knowledge.
Thursday, February 23, 2012
Identity Crisis
I have never thought about laws and how they affect me because, largely, they never have. The big ones growing up were obvious-- no driving til 16, become an adult at 18, drink/gamble at 21, don't speed, don't steal... basics.
But what about residency? I am legally a California resident. When I move to Japan, where will I claim residency? I can't claim Okinawa. I won't have any ties to California. I suppose I could claim Illinois because that's where the Mr is a resident, but I legally don't have any ties there. I wonder if I should get an Arizona ID because I could use my parent's address, but I don't have any legal rights to do that, either. So, where do I belong?
Such a little thing to take for granted... Where are you from? I claim Riverdale, IL because I lived there until I was 10 and it's the longest I've lived in one zip code (I even had 2 addresses there!). I'm 28 and have lived at 17 different addresses (15 if you don't count my dorm addresses).
I'm looking forward to getting out of the military and settling down! This is fun now when it doesn't really matter to K where she lays her head down at night, but my dream is that K will be able to go back to her room she grew up in and show her children her childhood room. I want that kind of stability. I want deep, deep roots.
4.
K and I passed medical, so now we're working on the million things to move....
Just got home from a PCS brief. It was more frustrating/ confusing than it was helpful. I did learn that we are allowed to bring 2,000 lbs of our stuff. Looks like we'll be selling a lot of our stuff!
We'll be taking a flight (unclear on if it's a military or commercial flight) to Seattle which will then take us to Japan. Here's the frustrating part: We are not guaranteed that Addy will be able to come with us on the AMC (I asked The Mr what AMC meant, but I forgot) flight. Once we get to Japan we will be put in temporary housing until we are given our permanent housing. We could potentially be assigned housing that does not accept pets, so Addy would need to find a home. My parents have offered to take her if we can't bring her, but I feel like if I leave her somewhere for 3 years then she's no longer our dog. She'll be 2 in April and if we leave her here then she will have spent half her life without us. I don't think that's very fair to her. They should just tell military not to get pets. It's not fair to them and I didn't know that we wouldn't be able to bring here wherever we went.
I also found out I need to have a no-fee passport in addition to my leisure passport. It's kind of like my green card to be there. I went to the JRC (joint reception center-- see, military loves acronyms!) to find out what documents I need for the no-fee passport and this gal went crazy with her highlighter. It was kind of funny. She basically highlighted everything that was typed out in this packet. It reminded me of when I would flip through the used textbooks in college and whole chapters were highlighted. I always wondered who those people were. Now I know! :)
Just got home from a PCS brief. It was more frustrating/ confusing than it was helpful. I did learn that we are allowed to bring 2,000 lbs of our stuff. Looks like we'll be selling a lot of our stuff!
We'll be taking a flight (unclear on if it's a military or commercial flight) to Seattle which will then take us to Japan. Here's the frustrating part: We are not guaranteed that Addy will be able to come with us on the AMC (I asked The Mr what AMC meant, but I forgot) flight. Once we get to Japan we will be put in temporary housing until we are given our permanent housing. We could potentially be assigned housing that does not accept pets, so Addy would need to find a home. My parents have offered to take her if we can't bring her, but I feel like if I leave her somewhere for 3 years then she's no longer our dog. She'll be 2 in April and if we leave her here then she will have spent half her life without us. I don't think that's very fair to her. They should just tell military not to get pets. It's not fair to them and I didn't know that we wouldn't be able to bring here wherever we went.
I also found out I need to have a no-fee passport in addition to my leisure passport. It's kind of like my green card to be there. I went to the JRC (joint reception center-- see, military loves acronyms!) to find out what documents I need for the no-fee passport and this gal went crazy with her highlighter. It was kind of funny. She basically highlighted everything that was typed out in this packet. It reminded me of when I would flip through the used textbooks in college and whole chapters were highlighted. I always wondered who those people were. Now I know! :)
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