I'm Back [again, maybe]

Every time I come back from a long break from blogging, I almost feel the need to apologize for my absence. But life happens, so I can't really be sorry for getting caught up in the moment.

What's been happening with us for the past few months?

Well....

We bought a house.

We went on a mini vacay to Dallas [and fell in love].

I took a 16 hour road trip with a toddler and a dog, all by myself.

We got a new pup.

Adelei turned 2!

Nanny came to visit.

And finally, life is slowing down a bit. So maybe I'll finally have time to blog again...soon ;)

Moving Again

Saturday morning, we got up bright and early.

Got ourselves & baby girl dress and ready, and made it to the realtor's office by 9 am.

We got a list of rentable properties in our price range, and they even gave us the keys so we could take our time & look at them on our own.

By 11:30, we had looked at 6 houses all over town & headed back to the office to give them the keys.

When we got there, they said they had one more house they wanted to show us. Someone had just put it up for rent a few minutes before we came back. We went to look at the house & we loved it, but it was too much. But then they offered to lower the rent. They lowered it to just slightly over our price range. It was within our reach! I didn't want to make a rash decision. I think that's what they wanted us to do. I needed to think some things through.

So we left.

We headed back home & spent the rest of Saturday night & ALL day Sunday talking about it.

We crunched numbers.

We weighed the pros and the cons. 

We tried to imagine our life in each house.

It was such a hard decision!

But at some point, I just knew. I felt at peace when Aaron asked me how I felt about one house, & I felt uneasy when he asked me about the other.

Both houses were beautiful & in nice neighborhoods, but the price of one would allow me to sleep better at night.

We put in our application this morning for the house we decided on, and found out around noon that we were approved! We move in in two weeks!

While I'm not excited about the moving process, I am excited about being in our first house!

The Move

I had this really long blog post written about all of the 'fun' stuff that happened to us along the way, but lucky for you folks, when I hit publish it disappeared.

Now, here I am, kind of in shock, and I honestly don't feel like giving another play by play, so here are the highlights:

Monday

*A got a flat tire somewhere in MS.

*While he was in the process of changing it, it started storming...bad.

*Add hail to the rain.

*Our car was packed to the brim, we were stranded on the side of the road in the middle of nowhere & Adelei decides that is the perfect time to relieve herself. This resulted in me having to change her while she stood up in my lap. Awesome.

*Made it to the tire store only to find out they had 1 tire to fit his car, not 2.

*Got to our hotel at 10 instead of 5.

Tuesday

*A went to the Firestone close to our hotel to get another tire.

*He got lost & drove around for an hour trying to find our hotel. [aka wasted an hour of precious travel time!]

*Dallas/Ft.Worth is a beast! But I conquered it.

*The townhouse we reserved a month ago was nothing like what we were expecting. [aka another night in a hotel & search continued for a place to live.]

I'm back!

You can all breathe a little easier now ;)

Seriously, though...I'm breathing easier [aka less stressed].

There is a little stress left, but not too much.

If you follow me on instagram or twitter, or friends on fb, you know that we made it to our new duty station.

Of course, nothing went the way it should have [in my mind!]. We were thrown curve balls from every direction, but I think that we did pretty good at catching them & staying in the game. I've learned so much from this move, it's astonishing.

The biggest, most important thing I learned is that I am a strong woman [mentally & emotionally]. And that is giving me the confidence I need to be 1,000 miles away from my very best friends and family.

This is all for now, but stay tuned for the gory details of our trip and soon...a giveaway!

Landlord Drama

Today we got a note on our door from our Landlord stating that they will be entering our unit on Thursday to do inspections and for us to have our apartment thoroughly cleaned and free of clutter to make it easier on them.

I stared at the note for several seconds, reread it, and laughed.

One more thing to stress over? I think not.

We are moving in two weeks. Boxes everywhere.

Our movers aren't coming until NEXT Friday.

Did I mention that we have a graduation AND birthday party to prepare for? 

Decorations & Cupcake stands everywhere.

What I can't understand is why they would be inspecting our apartment BEFORE we move out.

Isn't that something they do afterward to assess what needs to be done before the new renters move in?

I mean, surely they will have to do it again once we leave, so why do it twice?

Am I thinking way too far into this?

Probably so.

I Cannot Lie...

When I first found out that we would be moving to Oklahoma in May, I was upset and nervous.

I already had plans.

Adelei's first birthday party

Working until October to save up more money

Going to my nephew's 4th birthday party

Going to my niece's 1st birthday party

You know, family stuff.

But when I read: "You will be living off post", I panicked.

I have been living in a fantasy land. I thought everyone could live on post if they wanted. Boy was I wrong.

So I got my tail into gear and started researching housing areas.

I found some good ones, and some not-so-good ones.

It just so happens that, the ones in our price range, were in questionable areas.

My heart sank.

We wanted a house.

But I carried on with our search because living in a hotel until we could find a place was not an option in my mind.

After two days of researching, I found a property full of townhouses.

I contacted the leasing office for more information, and was elated. It's in a nice neighborhood. Close to base. Close to a Hobby Lobby [haha!]

We could get a 3 bedroom, 2 bathroom townhouse for less than what we will be getting for BAH, which means we could use what was left over to pay utilities.

*whew* After 'finding' a place, we still had to apply, put down a deposit, pass a background and credit check.

Luckily, everything fell into place seamlessly.

To say that securing a home for ourselves lifted a lot of stress is an understatement.

It wasn't until all of this happened, that I started to get excited about moving.

Now, when people ask me how I feel, I'm not bitter.

Yes, it will be hard moving 16 hours away from my family, but I knew this was coming.

At this point in my life, I think it's time for us to go. To travel. To be on our own. To depend on each other more than we do our family.

& I'm excited to tell you all about it along the way!

Sweet Home....Oklahoma?

We found out for sure today that we will be moving to Oklahoma. I'm nervous & excited. I'm a little overwhelmed.

We knew that Aaron was going to have to go there for his training. But I guess I just assumed that we'd actually get stationed some where else.

But there it is, in black & white....PCS [permanent change of station].

So, for the next month, we'll enjoy the Alabama heat, our family and friends, all while he finishes school and I train someone to take my place at work.

Then in May, it's off we go!

To new places & new faces.

Oh what an adventure lies ahead of us!

Boxes for days

Since Aaron is leaving soon for training, we decided to start looking for places to stay, as our lease will be up on our current apartment. Also, since there will be nothing left to keep us in the city, we are going to move back to my home town during this transitional period.

In 22 days, Adelei and I will be moving into a small house closer to 'home'.

There are obvious perks.

It will be nice to be closer to work & closer to family. No more driving an hour back & forth every week. Since we'll be saving so much money on rent/gas, I can cut back my hours at work, which means more quality time with my daughter & family.

I'm not going to lie, though. It's going to be weird at first. We've lived in this same apartment since 2009. Some of our greatest memories happened here.

But this is my life as an army wife.

Packing up, moving on, but not leaving our memories behind.

It's Official

T-3 months & we're out of here!

Or, this apartment at least.

Aaron found out that he is leaving June 1st for BOLC [Basic Officers Leader Course] in Ft. Sill, OK.

What we don't know yet is if Adelei & I will be able to go with him, or if we will have to stay here.

In March, we should find out what our first duty station will be.

If it isn't Ft. Sill, we will stay here, hopefully rent a town house until October & wait for him to come home & to move us where ever!

If it is Ft. Sill we will be able to move with him at that time.

I'm so excited.

And nervous.

But this is definitely going to be an adventure!

Dear BlueBelle, This is for you!

BlueBelle was interested in my 'save the date' cards I had made up, and asked if I would post a sample.


Well, here they are.
Kind of generic, for an artsy girl like myself.
But given my work schedule and trying to get my stuff ready to move, I didn't have much time to make them myself.

*sigh* I'm not quite sure why I thought it would be a good idea to pack up my whole apartment BY MYSELF in two days, but here I go....