Dear Oliver

Dear Oliver (the cat),

If I could stop you for a just minute of your crazy play time...

(he runs and plays around the house all day... it's like his giant playhouse)

We love you very much.  However, we need to have a serious chat with you.

The previous owners had a cat.  You know this because I see you smelling everywhere the other cat might have been.  The previous owner had a kitty door installed for their cat.

This kitty door goes to the basement to your litter box.  You know this too...

The previous kitty obviously used it...

Why can't you?

You are good at opening doors.... you do it all the time.  You are always trying to escape when we are not looking.

Why will you not go through the kitty door?

If I tape it open for you...

You will go through...

but it is so cold down there and I do not want the kitty door flap open all the time. 

And oh, the troubles we have when Harry and I leave you for the day.... and the not so stronge painters tape fails to keep your kitty door open....

Please Oliver...

give the kitty door a try.  I now the noise scares you.  I know the size of the door reminds you of your travel carry case and we know how you hate that carrying case.  I know it smells of the previous kitty.  (and I know the door needs a good sanding and paint job)

Please just give it a try... we have been in the house over 2 weeks now.  And it's getting old.



And I am not sure if you know.... but this is our "box" not yours....

Yours is in the basement. 

We love you regardless, but you are stressing us out.  Pooh belongs in your box. 

Your box is in the basement. 

You have to go through the kitty door to get there. 

At this point it's up to you. 

Love,

Manic Monday

Greetings,

1.  Finals week.. need I say more?  I am a little worried.

2.  Ordered new kitchen cabinets this weekend.  Harry is worried because he had to spend a little money with little notice.  we were still in the planning phase when the guy up and said we were finished and ready to order.

3.  Celebrated my grandpa's birthday and my other grandmother's birthday this week.... from Norfolk.  Harry did not want to ask for leave from work, being new and all.

4.  Not much house work going on... feel guilty for not doing school work... so I just sit and do nothing all day.  It's very productive.

5.  Extremely excited Dancing with the Stars comes on tonight.

6.  Debating whether to take classes next semester or take a little break.

7.  Miss Peabody is adjusting... Oliver is happy and content.

8.  Harry and I are eating Lean pockets in hopes of saving money and losing a few pounds.  I do not like either of these activities.

9.  Going to Charlotte, NC later this week. 

10.  Oh, and  want Sharon Osbourne to win on Celebrity Apprentice... I think.  So far she is m favorite.

Really quality stuff this week....  s it okay to have an off week?

Blessings,

Church Hopping again

Greetings,

Harry had service on his ship today for the first time. 

He had a sparse crowd, which is not bad considering he does not have a Chapel, musicof any sort (or the means to play it), pews or even pew Bibles. 

He has nothing... yet.
For those of you who know Harry, it will only be a matter of time before he acquires all that he needs.  He has a way of finding things / people and making it work. 

He had a 9 a.m. service, which allowed us time to go to church / Chapel afterwards. 

So the church / Chapel hopping began again today....

Harry comes home to change out of his uniform and into church clothes.  We decided to try a different one than last week.  As he is changing clothes I google the service times to find we are already 10 minutes late.  
I rush him out the door (as if anyone can actually believe I was ready and on time) this particular Chapel is only a few minutes down the street.

We make it to the base, only a few minutes late... to find the normal gate is closed.  So we have to find a new entrance.  Once we finally find a way on base, which is not the gate closet to Chapel... we make our way across the base back towards the Chapel.  

We struggle to find parking; one of the streets (the one with the gate we wanted to use) is blocked off.  So we circle around to find parking. 

Right about now, we are just at 30 minutes late. It's okay... we have just missed the singing; hopefully we make it for the preaching?

The parking is not really close to the Chapel.  After a brief hike, we try to find the entrance to the Chapel.  You would think it was clearly marked, but the door we thought was the main door... was locked. 

We circle around the Chapel to find the right door.  After about 3 doors and several arm jerking motions later... we find a side entrance. 

Harry yanks on the door. 

Nothing.

He goes to push on the door...

and it opens.

Bright shining rays of sunlight beam directly into the dark Chapel ... just a few feet away from the pulpit... where the Chaplain is in full swing and well into his sermon. 

We looked like idiots. 

Hoping the Chapel goers were blinded by the light... we hurriedly closed the door and sprinted back to the car. 

We were too embarassed to go back to the front door and (instead of yanking the door outwardly) push it gently in... to open. 

So I have no clue what the singing is like.  I am clueless if Chapel is liturgical or evangelical, traditional or contemporary.  The only thing I know about this particular Chapel... is to push in on the front door to open it.

It was a nice try...

better luck next Sunday?

Blessings,

Office Space

Greetings,

Organization is key....

So I have organized all the office junk into the corner, until I have somewhere to put it.

The problem seems to be.... we had ample space in Atlanta. 

We had 2 floor to ceiling bookcases downstairs...

Another one up top...

And in addition to those, we had smaller ones (about 6 or 7) scattered throughout the house.

I hope to have this space problem figured out before another couple 100 or so books arrive from Greece.  Debating whether to buy bookcases or have some installed.  The other alternative is to get rid of some books.
Blessings,

Three's Company Too

Greetings,

I miss  Kayne.  The house just seems oddly quite without him.
So this is for Kayne...

Come and knock on our door.....

We've been waiting for you......

Where the kisses are hers and his and his,

Three's company too.

Come and dance on on our floor......

Take a step that is new.....

We've a loveable space that needs your face,

Three's company too.

You'll see that life is a ball again and

laughter is callin' for you

Down at our rendezvous,

Three's company, too!

I think I have been watching too much TVLand at night.

Blessings,

My Ladies..

Greetings,

Tonight... I am missing my Souda Bay ladies.

We took this on my last night in Souda. 

I miss you girls.
Top Five!

Prayer request...

Greetings,

Please keep this family... 








A Little Pink in a World of Camo in your thoughts and prayers as they go through this unthinkable troubling time. 


Blessings,

Lost and found?

Greetings,

Okay military ladies...

what do you do when you have scoured box after box and have several items missing?

We are missing Harry's beloved coffee pot.

Oliver's automatic watering bowl.

And my sewing machine.

and those are just the items I have remembered having.


The only boxes I have to break down are the ones marked China.  I have opened and dug through them and do not see any coffee pots, watering bowls, or sewing machines.?..

What do you do?  Is there a form for completely missing items?  Is there a lost and found for household goods?

I just want to find Harry's "grind the beans" coffee pot, it's  all  he can talk about.

Blessings,

1920 Paint Choices

Greetings,

We are still plugging along on our progress. 

The downstairs is painted all one color minus the kitchen... still debating about a new kitchen, so we have decided to wait on painting. 

I am ready to start the upstairs... when a few people have commented on the boringness of the entire house being one color. 

I like things to match.  I am matchy matchy beyond normal.  I want all paint, all moldings, all windows, all window treatments, all electrical outlets, i.e. e v e r y t h i n g to match.

But... I decided to research a few more 1920's colors to see if there is anything I might want and deviate from Cafe Latte.

Cafe latte looks a lot like 29Y7 Drab...


Right now the kitchen is similar to the 29Y283 Light Gray, but I think I am going to stick with Drab.

That's so me... Drab.

Man I wish I could buy it for $1.42 per 5 gallons... it's running about $80+ per 5-gallon at Home Depot.

Blessings,

Having a breakdown

Greetings,

Nope the breakdown is not me...

It's the boxes.

It may not look like a lot, but it is.  If you were to stand a small child beside them... you would see the progress. 

The bad news is...

this is only a small portion of the boxes. 

I still have the basement boxes.

The kitchen boxes.

The closet boxes.

The office boxes containing books.

And all the boxes coming from Greece.

Thoughts of all these boxes... did cause a minor breakdown on my part...



so,  I bought these...

Oh, there are so yummy.  I ordered the holes (because you feel less guilty for eating a handful of those) **just so you know** Krispy Kreme no longer offers holes, they now have mini's. 

20 mini's per box.

Within 24 hours... we had devoured our mini's.

There were just so good. 

They taste so good. 

They smell so good.

They even look so good.

And I love the feel of the flaky sugar coating as it hits your lips.

I am making a point not to drive by the Krispy Kreme street any more.  It's too tempting.  And I have no discipline when it comes to the HOT sign. 

Blessings,

The guilty look?

Greetings,

She looks up to something? 

Or done something bad....

I just cannot find what it is.  Yesterday, she chewed my highlighter into a billion little pieces.  Miss P has this thing for highlighters?  She cannot contain herself.  The poor highlighter was on the table (beyond her normal grasp) and she somehow managed to grab it.  And oddly enough... it's only the yellow ones. 

Must taste different?

The rest of my highlighters are intact so I am not sure what she has destroyed today?


Blessings,

Manic Monday

Greetings,


1.  Today is my Grandmother's birthday.  Weird how I do not have to strategically time my call.  We went from an 8 hour time difference to 1.  HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

2.  Steadily unpacking boxes.  Boxes.  And more boxes.  An unending amount of boxes.

3.  Visited with some Souda Bay friends this week.  Weird seeing Souda friends here.  "Mabies it was wonderful to see you"!

4.  Debating whether or not to go ahead and install a new kitchen.  Do not want to unpack all the kitchen boxes if I am going to pack everything up again in a few months.

5.  Received Harry's deployment schedule... not really sure what to think just yet.

6.  Harry is up and running on the ship.  It is a new program... so he literally and physically has NOTHING.  First things first... he needs a Chapel and some Bibles.  This tour should be interesting.

7.  Oh, I should add.... Harry is very excited about #6.  I say it sarcastically, while he loves a good start up project.

8.  Still behind in school... we try not to talk about it, but I am relatively 90% sure I will not graduate in May.  At this point... I just want to graduate (and not get thrown out).

9.  House HGBG work has come to a standstill.  The shear volume of boxes makes it hard to do anything.  Also, I feel guilty when I am so behind in school. 

10.  Feels weird (I have used this word a lot today... but things are just weird).  We are settling down here, but it just does not feel like home.  Not sure if I still think Greece is home?  And then when our household goods came from Atlanta.... I feel like Georgia should still be home.  Oddly enough... I miss all of them for various reasons.

Just another manic Monday.... but do not want it to be another church hopping Sunday.  Waiting for things to normalize out and quit being so weird.


Blessings,

Church Hopping

Greetings,

We went to a church today...

it was not the same.  I think we miss Souda Bay and our Chapel friends too much to enjoy anywhere at this point. 

Harry will have service aboard his ship next Sunday.  He will have a 9:00 a.m. service, so afterwards we will do another hopscotch trip around Norfolk.... looking for the perfect church. 

As if we could find anything remotely near and dear to what we had at Mount Paran and Souda Bay. 

Blessings,

Christmas in March

Greetings,

That's what it feels like....

Christmas in March.  It has been so long since we have seen any of our old Atlanta belongings. 

It's so nice to open a box and get that little feeling of surprise when you open its contents.

Hello bed... we are so excited to see you.  The air mattress is not all it's cracked up to be.

We needed a sofa, but this is not one I usually let Harry sit on...

I forgot the amount of books we have acquired through the years.... and the boxes just keep coming (not to mention about 20 more boxes coming from Greece).

Our dining room table... oh, I have not seen you in about 7 years (long story)...

Oh good, Harry's old loft futon... now he does not have to sit on the other couch.

Oh, the kitchen table chairs.... we can sit while we eat now, instead of the floor... not sure where this chairs mates are?

The dining room chairs... I have not seen these in almost 7 years (again, with the long story)....

Oh good, the complete set made it intact...

More books.... and another desk? and office chair?  that makes 2 sets (one here and one coming from Greece) in addition to my junk store find... may need to send a few back to the junk store.

I think these are clothes or bed linens... either way, I am extremely excited to open these little nuggets of a makeshift Christmas present...

Hah... a dollhouse I bought for my niece when my sister found out she was pregnant with a girl... (Kadence turned 5 years old last November).  I think I will make this one of my goals while Harry is on deployment.?..?

Oh treadmill, not sure I ever saw you before... other than in passing.  Not sure I want to see you again, although I should....

Yippy... my bed.  It's my "surprise" anniversary bed that Harry "surprise" bought me.  I printed out and circled this bed for about 3 years... then Harry "surprised" me with it while he was away for training. 

Unfortunately, the mattress is in Greece and will not arrive until late April (?).  But I am super excited anyway.  The current mattress reminds me of yucky hard European sleeping.

These are a few of our favorite things...

I think it's going to be like Christmas all week... I might even drag it out until next week. 

There seem to be more boxes than I anticipated. 


Blessings,

Roll out the Red Carpets

Oh happy day

Oh happy d-ay

When my stuff ar-rive-d..

From At-lan-ta....

PLease notice, our neighbor is not as happy as we are...

It seems... there is a problem with the truck ... as it came down the street..

it ripped down a few cable lines. 

notice the one cable line still on the roof of the truck.

 feel real bad for the neighborhood... our first week on the block and we take out the cable.  For some crazy reason.... not ours though.  So I hid inside and made the truck driver talk to them.  (And that afternoon... when we were exhausted and wanted a few mintutes on the sofa in front of the television... I felt a little bad for the neighbors... so I closed the blinds so they could not see us enjoying t.v.... It's wrong I know).


Roll out the red carpet

Harry is not scared of a little hard work....

He will supervise ... when needed.

Few boxes in the kitchen...

Harry checked out those... as he refilled his coffee...

A few more boxes in the dining room...

A few boxes in the office.  I think we had a total of 18 boxes of books.  (I need book shelves)

With the red carpet service came a parting gift from the movers....

A broken pane in our front door.  (I wanted a new one anyway!)

Now to start unpacking.  It will be like Christmas.

Blessings,