Jason Wrote This Blog!

Talk about making friends and meeting new people! So tonight, we decide to go out for BBQ, some of that Carolina kind! Nicole decides she isn't feeling it and will stay home, so it's just me and the girls! Today was Ava's first day of school so the entire evening was Layla and I listening to the many going ons of a 5 year old in 1st grade. As dinner is coming to an end Layla must interject to add her two cents on a particular important matter regarding lunchboxes or something??? Out of the corner of my eye I see Ava's eyes grow big as she puts her hands over her mouth. "WHAT?" I practically yell at her, and feebly she replies "My neck." OK, daddy panic modes sets in and I jump to my feet and yell at her to "HOLD IT IN!" Does she? She tries! Lord does she try! Her cupped hands make the puke like when you put your thumb on the end of a water hose to make it spray every where. End result is about the same be it water or puke! So I attempt to cup it and just end up with a handful of vomit all the way up to the elbow and some way some how it ended up in my eye! Like not on my face, not near or around my eye, IN MY EYE! I glance around the room at about 15 or so people staring at me standing there with a handful of vomit and eye closed shut from the burning and a little girl they're afraid is gonna blow again! Layla glanced over at what happened... shrugged it off and continued eating her chicken nuggets! At the time SHE was the ONLY person eating their dinner in the whole place! Soon a waitress came and quickly grabbed Ava and took her to the rest room to hold her hair for her, and began cleaning her up! A family nearby, hesitantly said they'd watch Layla for me so I can go check on Ava! I clean up and Ava gets cleaned up and we head back out to the dining area! Apparently Layla made some new friends and they had already mopped up the mess. Huge THANK YOU to the staff at THIG'S BBQ! The waitress brought Ava a glass of water, and every one said they hope she feels better! That kind of hospitality you can't find anywhere in California! Ava kept her cool though, did not cry, did not panic, just simply puked! All she said about the whole matter was, "I just didn't want to get my new clothes or shoes dirty!" She is such a girl! Apparently amidst the talking and eating of dinner Ava had downed an entire 16oz of chocolate milk, and it just didn't agree with her stomach! Lesson learned Daddy! And boy did Mommy pick a good night to skip dinner or what?

Who Knew...

So, you know where we are at...North Carolina...home to hurricanes and who knew...earthquakes. We just reek of good luck, don't we!

Let's just start with the earthquake...because obviously, we thought we were leaving those behind in California. I just have to laugh at that. Jason and I both thought there HAS to be a training area somewhere around our new house. We both were baffled and an earthquake never even entered our minds! We are AWAY from California. Far, far away! We were actually watching the Weather Channel to learn about the hurricane, since we just got cable yesterday, we had a lot of information to catch up on. Never thought we would be in an earthquake in North Carolina.

I'm actually a little ticked off about it. I thought I didn't have to worry about those anymore. Hopefully, it takes another 114 years to produce an earthquake out here like that again. (That's the last time a 5.9 hit Virginia, the largest ever recorded!). Hopefully by then, I will be long gone! And I mean...LONG gone.

Now, Hurricane Irene. We are in love with her...well, as long as my Roomba gets delivered as scheduled on Friday...oh and our furniture, too. Like UnKen said, let the furniture be damaged by Irene BEFORE it comes out of the truck...then we aren't liable for it! Good info!

We are looking forward to this storm. Obviously, they are still iffy on where it will go, but we are in for a lot of rain and wind. And the house we rented...the lawn needs A LOT of water! So bring it on! We stocked up on essentials if the power goes out...so we are ready if need be. We even withdrew cash. Cash feels like a weird thing in my wallet! Reminder...I need to fill up on gas!

So, with all this chaos...Ava starts 1st grade tomorrow! She is so nervous! She has her clothes all layed out...she's showered (shocking), backpack full of supplies and I have her lunch packed! We are ready!

I will write more about North Carolina soon. Probably once all our belongings get here. It's really not fun living on an air mattress (the only piece of furniture) in a new house! We are so ready to make this house our own! If only it were as easy to make it a home as it is for the dogs!

Oh...one more thing. We are good neighbors to our new neighbors...we got rid of all projectiles in our yard today...just in case! Now, if only USAA would allow us to get renter's insurance and change our car insurance over...we would be set! I know I wanted "weather"...but I wanted "weather" AFTER we got settled! USAA won't let us switch anything to North Carolina until Irene passes. Here's hoping we just get TONS of rain! And some loud thunder...I love thunder!

It's empty!!

At 4:00 this afternoon, our entire house drove away and it should be delivered back to us 2 weeks from today! So once we are in our new house, we will only have to be without our stuff for 5 days. Hmm. At least it's better than 2 weeks! It will give us time to get Ava registered for 1st grade and explore! Oh, and buy a trampoline!

We have 4 days now to live like this...it shouldn't be that bad. Right?

Jason eating on the counter since we don't have chairs.

The bedroom, living room and kitchen. It's like living in a loft. ha ha. Obviously, we were going for the tacky look here.

My dining table and china cabinet better be in perfect condition when it's delivered! I miss looking at it!

Poor Jason doesn't have a mancave anymore! He has to suffer through soaps with me in the "loft".

The girls have set up shop. They separated their sleeping bags into "rooms" because Ava says Layla snores. (She really does! We think she has a deviated septum. We have actually recorded her snoring multiple times to play for her Dr. Well, when we find a Dr in NC.)

No more bunk beds hiding where Jason spilled pink freakin paint!

I miss these too! :(

It just doesn't look like a master bedroom anymore. The queen air mattress is going to stink. Again, I miss our king bed already! I think I really like our stuff!

I promise we won't make Cali sleep in there all alone. Especially since all her friends are gone. (Clothes and shoes.)

We can park our cars in there until we leave! Yippee. It's the little things! 

And finally...while everything was getting loaded today...I made bow holders for the girls. So much fun. And I seriously mean that, not being sarcastic at all! All their bows do not fit...so I think I want to make a larger one. The pot with the 3 flowers, the stems were supposed to be longer, but all our scissors are packed so I just had to break the stems where they broke. Still cute though! And the pots, they were the only ones I could find at Wal-Mart when I was getting my oil changed! I wanted little pails. Anyways...my cutie patootie bow holders!

Don't critique on my leaning flower...it was my first attempt!

And finally...for good measure...trying to calm Stella down last night since she was so uneasy!

We put a blanket down to prevent her hair getting on the new couch! Although, all she has to do is stand next to it and it's a magnet for Stella hair. We tried!

It's happening...

So, (do I start all of my blogs off with "so"...probably about half!). Anyways, like I was saying, so, after getting stood up yesterday by the movers. Yeah, we were left hanging...and then told that pack date wouldn't be until Monday...we leave Tuesday. I flipped the hell out. Poor Jason. He cringes anytime he has to tell me bad news.

I won't go into that, because it ended up being OK. The movers came today and were wonderful! Our entire house is boxed up now...the only thing left to do is take down the furniture and then load the semi tomorrow. Jason, bless his heart, stayed behind and helped them all day! He is falling asleep on the couch...although he has said he didn't do much. OK, he said he ran around a lot describing depression glass and teaching them how cool "Swamp People" are. OK, I know...he did a lot. And I would probably be exhausted to. Maybe.

So, I came home from Shannon's today with 2 assignments done and a new tan. I had it easy. Stella and Cali...not so much. Stella couldn't figure out why she was outside most of the day and what she did to get in trouble. My poor girl. I told you she was going to be the one that stressed the most!

So the fun part...our house tonight!

This is the closet full of stuff that is coming with us in the cars!

The only thing in the garage that is staying, is the couches. Our renters bought them!

Loading will be tomorrow! Although I am not looking forward to keeping the girls out of the house all day again!

The nice thing about tonight though...THE CHARGERS ARE PLAYING!!

I told you Jason was dead tired! 

When I was loading these pictures, I realized I hadn't loaded pictures from my camera since June! Wow! The two best pictures from the bunch...

It's her way of getting attention!

So, let's hope that everything goes as smoothly tomorrow as it did today and I will be a happy camper. I'm a planner and freakin hate surprises. My whole mojo would be off if tomorrow doesn't go as planned!

It's Almost Time!

It is the start of a very LONG 9 days! It's moving time! EEK!

Just a nice way to start this off. I had my first "Girl's Night" in years, last night! Thank goodness I talked them into going to the casino...I walked away with $708...to be exact! I think it was Pechanga's way of saying they are going to miss me!

Let's start with the fun stuff. Fun. Sure. No, not really. First, I have another huge 10 page paper due on Monday. I started it today. Oops. But I don't want to focus on that...other than I did make the Dean's List! Who would have thought that! Buppa was still somewhat himself when the list came out...his response..."hell froze over". Yeah, that about explains that. ha ha.

Tuesday I get to separate EVERYTHING in our house...what needs to come in the cars with us...and what the movers are taking. They come on Wednesday to pack us. We are going to be without our household belongings for AT LEAST 2 weeks...if we are lucky!

Side note real quick...Layla just came running into the living room yelling "here comes me" at the top of her lungs. I asked her who is me...she replied...the girl going to bed.

Back to moving...the house we are renting in North Carolina...we will be going straight into, so we have to prepare for the days, even a week (I hate saying that)...that we will be living there without our stuff! Luckily, we have saved a set of old dishes, glasses and such that we can just jam into a box to take with us. Ava starts school only 2 days after we get there...so her and I have already done all of her school shopping. We only need a lunch box and school supplies. (Note to self...make sure the movers don't pack her new school clothes and backpack).

I'm going to need to get the girls out of the house on Wednesday. The movers will probably go insane if the girls were constantly following them around the house talking about iCarly, Alvin and the Chipmunks and the new trampoline they are getting. Any person that comes into our house to do work (lately there have been a few since our builder came through with work orders)...but anyone that was here...the girls followed and talked to them about nonsense. So, they will be out of the house...somehow! Although, I do need to get Subway and gatorade for the movers. I want to "spoil" them so they are extra careful with our stuff. Especially our china and depression glass. They can't replace those if they break any of them. If I could buy them beer...I would. But that wouldn't help with the not breaking the old glass!

And Thursday...the movers will be back packing again! Thursday, I'm not sure what kind of food to spoil them with...not pizza. I don't want one of them having to use our bathroom for not fun stuff! ha. Sorry. So that is on my "to do list"...find a somewhat healthy, won't cause stomach problems, food to provide them!

Finally, Friday...our stuff will be loaded on the moving truck and start it's way to North Carolina.

Saturday, Sunday and Monday will be spent cleaning the house and carpet for the renters...while Jason and I sleep on an air mattress and the girls sleep in sleeping bags! Stella is going to freak! I mean freak! Stella is going to be the one that makes this stressful!

We are keeping our two smallest tv's to take with us...that way the girls can watch dvd's since all their toys will be gone...and I can watch pre season football! I'm going to miss the Chargers so much!

Somewhere in there...I think Sunday, we are going to Shannon's for a laundry party so we can have clean clothes to start our 6 day drive! You know you are jealous about not having a laundry party. So. Much. Fun.

And, the next phase of our military life will start on Tuesday, leaving California for North Carolina. I know I will be bored with a house full of NOTHING and will blog again before we leave...but we are excited and just ready to get there already!

Now, I really, really need to stop putting off my paper and go and analyze literature! Thank goodness I'm good at it...but by gosh, it's freakin boring! Luckily, this was a nice break!

I Will Help Carry You.

My last post was simply raw emotions...not holding back. It's not me, but I so needed to express how wonderful my Buppa is and how much I love him.

I went home a little over a week ago. Two days before I got home, Buppa was put on new medication. The medication worked wonders on him. He was alert, awake, talking, eating...it was amazing. We all didn't expect to see that side of him again. He's not lucid, he tells many stories and you are always confused...but we laughed. I was surrounded by mom and dad, brother, uncles and aunts and cousins...all of them (minus a few cousins and Krissy)...we laughed, we laughed more and we loved every minute of it.

It's not the best of circumstances, but I can honestly say they we cherished and loved every moment we were standing around Buppa telling stories, looking at pictures and just loving being in the moment.

Kevin had the wonderful idea of having Buppa putt!

Buppa kept telling Grandma she was cheating!

Buppa's first time sitting on the back porch, watching the golfers.

I will forever be grateful that my trip home was 100x better than I anticipated. Buppa knew who I was at least once everyday. My cousin and I were showing pictures of us when we were little, and he knew exactly who we were with no prompting. He knew who we were as children, but vaguely, if that, knew us as adults.

The hardest thing I have ever done, was telling him goodbye. To add to that...he kept saying, "you aren't Nicole"...which was comical at first...I knew he was looking for the "little me"...and I ached for him to have a moment of clarity. It was very hard.

But, what made it easier, was the weekend spent with the family. Telling the stories, remembering exactly who Buppa was and still is. He told so many funny stories while we were there, although we couldn't place them. I think God gave me those 4 days to remember Buppa for who he is, what he has done, to let me help him in ways that he has helped me. For every Coke I snuck him...he has snuck me millions, every kiss I gave him, he has given me a million more, every time I sat and listened to his stories, he has listened to mine 10x more.

I dug out an old poem that Grandma and Buppa gave me when I was confirmed...I think 14 years ago. On the back of the poem...it was the Footprints poem...Buppa wrote, "I love you and will always help carry you." He has carried me through almost everything in my life. Everything. It was my turn to do it for him. In what little I could do...Buppa was all that mattered while I was home. It really put into perspective how much one person can really mean to such a large family. He carried everyone and we all are so grateful and now we will carry him.


I was going to add more to this blog about the move (we leave in 15 days for North Carolina) but I think I will leave it with just Buppa again. He is such a special person and I think he deserves another blog dedicated just to him.

I will write more tomorrow. Promise.