Moving is Stressful

Holy cow. That's all I have to say about moving with the military. So here are some things I'm quickly learning, even though it technically hasn't started yet:

-Be adaptable. Thank God I had a childhood that required me to adapt to numerous stressful situations, or I would be a lot worse off right now.

-Take on the stress and show it who's boss. I guess this goes along with being adaptable, but stress will happen with moves, so I just have to know that it will eventually get better.

-There isn't much I have control over right now. So just breathe and keep on going.

-Don't get too attached to any one thing. Bring your most treasured possessions with you, but you can't bring everything, so don't get too attached to it. The moving companies are notorious for breaking things, but things can be replaced, especially when they have to pay for it. People and pets can't be replaced, but they're coming with you!

-Happiness in the military will only come if I make it happen, so I can either mope around and complain how annoying this whole situation is, or I can take it with a grain of salt and look forward to all the new adventures to come my way. I take the second one!

Good-Bye Jerry and Smeagol

As the move to Mississippi looms over us, I had to do something I hoped I never would need to do: give away my pets. It's a sad day indeed. Last week I had to give up the Betta, Jerry. He went to a very good home, my best friend's sister, Amanda. I know she will take excellent care of him. I absolutely love Betta fish. They are gorgeous and make the perfect home decor while still being something I can take care of. They are also easy to clean and maintain so they make the perfect pet for even the laziest of people (which I'm not, by the way). I hope Jerry doesn't miss me too much.

Today I had to give Smeagol the goldfish to my wonderful co-worker Emma. I've had Smeagol for 4 years and survived many trips from Seattle and Moscow. And he never complained. He was always excited to see me walk past his tank, although that might just have been because he was trying to smooch some food off of me :)

Giving my fish away is making me sad. I know they're just fish, but I love having fish; they're so relaxing. I don't know if I'll be able to have more, since fish count as a pet when you live on an Air Force base. I'll eventually be able to get more, but until then, I'm content with knowing that my fish have found good homes and in a few months we will have not only a Bearded Dragon, but a new puppy as well!

Recent Updates

Dearest Readers, I must apologize for the lack of posts in the recent days (ok, weeks, but who’s counting?). Between Matt’s commissioning and graduation, our trip up north, our friends’ visit down here, and our days busy packing and organizing for a move, I haven’t had much time to reflect on the days’ happenings. But I have found a few minutes, so here is a basic overview of the past few weeks:

-Most importantly, Matt and I are now on the waiting list for an adorable little golden retriever puppy! He is not born yet, but his due date is June 5^th (is this date familiar at all? YES!). We will be able to take him home around July 31^st. Hopefully everything goes as planned! We are having trouble coming up with names, though. So far we can only agree on Arrow. I might be persuaded to agree on Bauer, but that’s only if we can’t agree on anything else.

-Matt is now both a 2^nd Lieutenant and a college graduate! He commissioned on May 7^th, and graduated the next day with a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering. It was a great weekend, our families both came out and we were able to say good-bye to my sister and my dad. L

-We went up to Seattle the day after graduation and stayed for four days, to say good-bye to family and get some shopping in (for me, anyways). We had dinner with my grandparents: Nana and Grandpa John, and Poppa, and had meals with our parents and Matt’s sister Brittany. It was sad to say good-bye to everyone, but we had a great time.

-Right now we’re not so patiently waiting for the military to set up our move. PAIN IN THE ASS. I do not wish this on anybody. At this point, we are fully prepared, and half expecting, to rent a U-Hual at the last minute and move ourselves. I REALLY hope it does not come down to this, but that’s the military for you.

-On a positive note, we both got our updated military ID’s. We will have to update them again once Matt gets processed at Columbus AFB, but at least it should make it easier for us at the moment to get anything we need. It also works as Matt’s medical insurance card, so he has insurance now!

-On an even more positive note, we have a confirmed house at Columbus AFB! An official address! YAY! We will have some place to live- and it’s a 3 bedroom house, complete with a yard for our puppy, a dishwasher, laundry hook-ups, a storage room, and 1100 square feet! Whoot! Cannot wait to move in! And since it’s on base, I will be closer to the other wives and the action. And with 3 bedrooms, I will have a dedicated scrapbook room. SUPER YAY!

-I am busy reading The Idiot’s Guide to Positive Dog Training. Learning lots! I’ve never had a dog before, thus never trained one, so I’m trying to cram all that information in my head before we get the puppy. Too bad I don’t have a week in the car or anything to continue reading it.

-As of right now, these are the biggest tidbits of interesting updates I can think of. I will probably be on the next few days, ranting about moving companies and the like, but we’ll see how it goes. The next week is bound to be stressful, but there’s not much I can do about it, so I will just have to be patient and go with the flow. Fortunately I’m an adaptable human being.

Pacific Northwest vs. the South

Our arrival to Mississippi is getting closer and closer! While I am excited about the move, I also have my trepidations, which the recent deadly storms in the South are not helping. I thought that for your entertainment (and so I have something to do since I really don’t want to do the dishes), I would make a list of goings-ons that I will miss about Portland. Believe it or not, while I still would prefer to live in the Seattle area, there are things that I will miss about Portland (or maybe just the Pacific Northwest in general. Here goes:

Things I will NOT miss about Portland:

-Weird People. Don’t get me wrong, there are weird people everywhere, but Portland is infested with them.

-Traffic. I cannot wait to move to a town of 10,000 people where rush hour traffic does not exist. It makes my stress level much lower while driving.

-Construction in the worst possible places at the worse possible times. I don’t know what it is about Portland, but they have the WORST roads ever, and they are ALWAYS under construction. Seattle at least has the sense to do major highway construction work at night and on the weekends. Portland does it in the middle of the day, and they close the road down to one lane right where two on ramps are merging onto the overpass. Not to mention just daily traffic getting from one side of the city to the other side.

-Our current married housing from the University. While I love the fact that the scholarship pays for rent, and I really have gotten used to this apartment, I look forward to having: laundry machines; a dishwasher; a house with a door big enough for our couch to fit through; a shower that is not underneath a staircase; not having an upstairs neighbor who constantly overflows something in her bathroom that starts dripping into our bedroom; counter space in the kitchen; windows that actually open; a circulation system that actually works; an electrical system that post-dates the Triassic and has a ground prong; a fume hood over the stove;… I’m sure there’s more I could add to this list, but I’ll end it here. At least they got rid of the orange shag carpet that was in here before we moved in.

-The weather. I love the cold, but I do not enjoy the cold and the rain. If it rained less, I would love it more.

Things I WILL miss about Portland:

-Family and friends. I have lived away from them for the last five years, but the majority of my cousins and family have always been a half a day’s drive, even from Moscow. Now they will be a long plane ride away. And that definitely sucks.

-No sales tax. Need I say more?

-No tornados. Again, need I say more?

-The Pacific Ocean. If you know me at all, you know I love the beach and everything about it.

-The mountains. Mississippi’s highest peak is Woodall Mountain at a jaw-dropping 806 feet. Sorry, people of Mississippi, that is not a mountain. Not even close. You don’t know what a mountain is.

-People watching. While weird people are annoying and creep me out, I must admit that you can spend an entire day in downtown Portland and not get bored looking at passersby. Although, I am sure the local Wal-Mart can provide this luxury, but then there’s the fact that involves going to a Wal-Mart.

-Proximity of malls. And shopping in general. Not at the Wal-Mart.

-The seemingly needless, but very necessary, number of coffee places. I love how, from my work, I can go around the corner to a Starbucks, go less than a ¼ mile from there to another Starbucks, go around the other corner at work to another Starbucks, or I can walk across the street to the Tully’s, and across the street from the Tully’s is an espresso stand. The nearest actual Starbucks from our town is MS will be about thirty miles away.

The weather. I know I said I wouldn’t miss this, but the South is extremely humid, and I hate humidity, so I will miss the “dryer” air from the Western Cascades. Also, it gets hot down there, and I do not like hot. Hotter than 75 is too hot.

Powell’s Books. I love that store. Cheap books. What could be better?

Feel free to add to my list!

Sipping Starbucks: An Exploratory Session featuring Rayla and Brittany: My Favorite Camping Trip

Topic: Rayla wants me to write about my favorite camping trip

Author’s Note: You must excuse our lack of columns the last two weeks, my sisters have been very busy with school.

Let me begin by dictating my definitions of camping, since this word means something different depending upon who you ask. “Real Camping” can be defined as the act of shoving everything that you desire to bring with you into backpack, preferably rainproof, and hiking to a location that looks great to pitch a tent, but ultimately also has some major flaw that goes unnoticed until the next morning when you wake up. Peeing in the forest is also included in this definition, as well as becoming one with the mosquitoes and chipmunks, the latter of which enjoy stealing food, which is extremely funny if they happen to carry away an entire sleeve of your dad’s favorite food, fig newtons. “Fake Camping” is any act of leisure that involves a trailer, a vacuum, a building within walking distance that contains a shower and toilet facilities, and something never, ever found in Real camping, a mom. “Semi-Fake camping” is camping with a tent in a campground. At least with Semi-Fake Camping one is sleeping on the ground and depends on the fire for warm food. Or a Coleman stove.

Needless to say, my favorite camping trips have both been Real Camping, even though I haven’t had many trips that would fall under that classification. My favorite Real Camping trip took place way back in the 90’s, when my brother was still healthy enough to hike. Actually, I believe this is the only time that we ever went Real Camping with Evan. Anyways, I was about 8 or 9 years old and we hiked about two or so miles into Dorothy Lake (I don’t quite remember where this is, somewhere in the Cascades). With me were my sister, brother, Dad, and Grandpa John. No moms or grandmas in sight J. I remember this trip for both the really fun times, and the fact that I was injured or sick the entire 3 days.

When we first arrived to the lake, I naturally had to walk into the water. Stepping onto a really slippery rock, my 8 year old klutzy self did not see the error of my ways, and I of course slipped and sliced a nice big hole on the inside of my right foot, right where my big toe rubs up against my hiking boots. Even mole skin couldn’t relieve that pain. This made the next day’s hike to a waterfall extremely painfully, not to mention the hike back to the car the day after that.

But that’s not all. That night, as I am unfortunately prone to do, I got a migraine. A migraine bad enough that I was throwing up all night. I don’t remember if my Dad had packed any Tylenol, but having the mother I do, I’m sure she put a few doses into the medical kit. That night was absolutely miserably, filled with barfing and a toe that was throbbing in pain. My brother and sister, however, did not feel my pain and rejoiced over the fact that they would get to sleep that night in Grandpa’s tent, with Grandpa, who was just about the coolest person ever in our little kid minds (and never fear, he still is).

Despite the bad omens I was experiencing, I thoroughly enjoyed the trip. I even remember that we had a delicious breakfast of bacon, eggs, and Malt-o-Meal the next morning and I can even picture where we all were sitting while we were breaking fast. I wish I could tell you many more trips like these followed, but they didn’t. Having a brother with cancer, not to mention a mom who does not enjoy being cold or sleeping on the ground, definitely makes it hard to plan trips such as these. We had a lot of good times on Fake Camping trips, though, trips I wouldn’t trade for anything, even if they aren’t Real Camping.

My second favorite camping trip would have to be the climb up to Camp Muir on Mt. Rainer that I did two summers ago with my sister and dad. That, however, will be a separate column. SUSPENSE!

Attack Catfish

As most of you know, on Wednesday at work I was attacked by a catfish. Sadly, though, this catfish was only about 3 inches long, so it's not nearly as cool as being attacked at a river by a 3 foot long catfish. Anyway, the Pictus catfish (Pimolodus pictus) has really long "whiskers" with barbels at the end. Also during my research, I have discovered they have a sharp dorsal spine on the frontal end of their dorsal fin. I have no idea if it was the spine or the barbels that got me, all I know is that one second I was scrubbing a tank and the next minute my finger was on fire and the stupid fish would not let go. I was shaking it off my finger for several seconds until it finally let go. Holy cow, it hurt. A LOT. I got stung around the middle joint of my index finger, it swelled up to the tip of my finger down to almost on my thumb. It was bright red and extremely warm to the touch. The puncture hole actually bled for a little bit and was white in the near vicinity. This was definitely the most painful sting I have ever experienced. I would have ignored it, but the incident nurse that my work called told me I should be seen by a doctor passed on the symptoms. So $300 worth of antibiotics later, my finger is doing much better. You can still see the puncture, and my finger might be a little bit swollen around the area, but it's doing much better. And let me assure you, I will never, ever stick my hand in that tank again. Ever. Someone else will have to get the fish if any one wants one.

On an extremely happy note, the next day, one of the catfish was lying on it's side at the bottom of the tank breathing hard and it later died. I laughed at it. Serves it right.

Sipping Starbucks: An Exploratory Session featuring Rayla and Brittany: Brittany's Challenge

Topic: Since Brittany is my unpaid stylist, I had her try and pick out an outfit that she thinks I would love and look good in, then I would see if she passed or failed.

First off, her are the pictures of the outfit that she thinks I will look good in:

A ring

A bracelet

The adorable sandals

A cute top

And to finish it off, the jeans

Here is her explanation:

I think this outfit would be perfect for you for spring/summer. I know you aren't too big of a fan of heels, but these wedges will be comfy and easy to walk in all day. I would looooooove to get you into a pair of Seven's or Joe's, but I have a strange feeling I never will =p Anyway, the cut of these jeans are perfect for your body type and will look great with the shoes. They're also the perfect wash for the tone of the top. The top is pretty and feminine, perfect for a young wife such as yourself and has just a touch of purple, purely for your sanity. The accessories add a rustic and classy touch and could be worn with pretty much anything. If you had long hair I would suggest big, beachy waves, but I think your short/straight hair would also look perfect, maybe pin some of the layers around your face back. Makeup: put a little blush on your cheeks, a touch of eyeliner, smudged a little bit, super light/peachy eye shadow and a soft pink/nude lip color and you're set!! ♥

Here is my reaction:

I love the jeans. We will ignore the fact that they are $165, since I'm not actually going to buy this outfit. We will just need to kind jeans that look exactly like that for cheaper because I love them.
The top is also cute, but I think Brittany would actually have to be shopping with me to make me try it on. (And Brittany? The top isn't purple, it says it's brown on the website, but it does look more mauve-ish). So I think I would wear a shirt like this, but not this particular one.
The sandals are adorable. However, I cannot walk in heels like that. My knees would be killing me. If they were about two inches shorter I would probably buy them right now, but they are just way too tall for me.
I also like the accessories, but I do prefer silver over brassy or gold colors. And I'm not a huge fan of bracelets, they just seem to get in the way all the time, so you might have to force me to wear it, but it's definitely my style. Love the ring, too, but wish it was more silver-y.

Anyways, you will be proud to know that Brittany definitely passed! This outfit is definitely my style, and while there are some things I would change, I love the idea of this outfit! Can't wait to have more money so I can buy new clothes like this :)