Bad Blogger Award

Image found here.

Ok, so no tricks are up my sleeve, but things have been so busy around here!  Moving internationally has been no joke.  Here's a quick update on what's been going on, and hopefully after our stuff has been shipped and we are chillin' in a hotel, I can resume regular blog posts.

- We sold our house!  We passed inspection, and are just waiting on the final walk through and closing, which we will do in two weeks.  The movers are scheduled to come next week, so we will be homeless after that.  It will take about three months to get our stuff, so can I get a big "boo" for temporary government furniture?

- We sold both of our cars!  I hand over the keys to mine this weekend, and I am very sad about it.  I love my car, and she has been fabulous to me.  Hardly any issues outside of scheduled maintenance.  I will miss her and our adventures.  I've had her longer than I've known Joel!

Joel's parents actually want to but his car.  We gave them a sweet deal, so they will come by a few days before we fly out to see us, and then they will drop us off at the airport and make their way back to Oregon.  Crazy, but I am so thankful to them.

- We have orders!  And plane tickets!  Without saying exactly when, we have less than one month before we fly to Japan.  So much to be happening in so little time.

- I put in my resignation at work, and have a job interview for a teaching position on base in Japan this week.  I hope it goes well.  With the 14 hour time difference, it might be at 3am, which is when I got the call informing me they wanted to interview me.

- Pugsley is 100% vaccinated, chipped, rabies free, and ready to fly when he's allowed in November.  I'm not sure if I mentioned this, but pugs are forbidden to fly until after 30 September.  I am going to miss my stinkers, but I found a lovely foster to take care of them in the meantime.  Gomez should be good, but the base vet "lost" his medical file, and his information is loaded on his US chip, vice his international one.  We are in the process of figuring out how to change it.  I may lose it at the vet's office in the meantime.  Our vet is fantastic, but Joel just had to get this done on base instead.  Lesson learned.

Jaeger is supposed to be allowed to fly with us, so we have to call and make reservations for him to fly on the plane.  This whole process with the pets is so ridiculous, and has been the worst part of this PCS.  I am about to lose it over all the conflicting and, oftentimes, wrong information that we have received.  Why can't they fly on the plane in a seat?  Hell, buying them a seat is cheaper then shipping them later.  And they'd be much better behaved than some of the hellions I've flown with.

Weekend Update

Good grief, where in the world did this weekend go?  Wherever it went it did it fast!  Gosh, I can't believe it's Monday again.  I know these next six weeks or so are going to fly right by, so I'm going to enjoy all of the time I can here.

First up?  Let's talk about Cyndi Lauper and Cher.  Why?  Oh, I won free tickets to their concert, that's all.  And ever though they were nosebleed seats, it was a fabulous concert.  Joel didn't really care for Cher, but we were both belting out some Cyndi Lauper.

Chere had a costume change after almost every song.  She is certainly a diva, but she worked that stage!  She could have put a lot of younger artists to shams, sans Pink.  No one can outshine Pink at a concert.

Saturday we had plans to go out on a boat with a co-worker of mine.  We went, but it rained a majority of the time, so no new tan lines for me.  Also, did I mention that we drove through a tornado warning?  Because, unaware, we did.  It was quite terrifying after the fact.  Pandora will do that to you.

 

Sunday we took all three pets to the vet to get their records in order for the move.  Two dogs and a cat at the vet are a nightmare, but the place we go is absolutely fantastic.  I will miss them dearly when we leave.

Then it was a night of The Tonys and Game of Thrones.  Of course, the Tonys were fabulous, and it seems like I was a fan of most of the shows this year.  It was fun to see Idina Menzel sing a song from the show we saw a few weeks ago, and Ramin was fabulous in the 3 seconds he actually sang in Les Miz (why couldn't he sing Bring Him Home for me?!).

Game of Thrones, well...let's just say it's going to be on this Sunday during the finale.  We already have the episode penciled in on our girls' trip.

Weekend Update

Happy Monday!  Well, maybe it's a happy Monday.  I haven't decided yet.  Gomez, who has been fully crate trained since he was 5 months old (so for almost three years), has decided that sleeping in the crate isn't what he wants to do anymore.  So, for the past three weeks, he has decided it would be fun to bark from about midnight until we let him out of his crate.  We tried the "cry it out" method (didn't work) and the "we'll let him sleep in bed just tonight" method (also failed).  I don't know what to do.  He doesn't have to go to the bathroom, he didn't miss dinner, and the vet said there's nothing physically wrong with him.  But there will be, if I don't get some sleep soon...  Any advice?

Anyway, moving on.  Friday night, Joel and I went to go see Sheryl Crow and Rascal Flatts in concert.  It was at an outdoor theater, and since a cold spell decided to hit the Midwest, we had quite the chilly night.  It was a great show, although s little short for RF.  Their last concert was at least an hour longer.

Gloves, scarf, and jacket...check!  And also a blanket.

Sheryl Crow.  Crappy phone pic, but we had great seats!

Rewind tour!

Saturday we went to the Belleville Art Show which, believe it or not, is actually rated #2 in the country.  It was still kind of cool out, but it was a really beautiful, sunny day.  We had such a blast.  I'm not really one for art museums, but I love me some art fairs.

Sunday, we had a house showing, which means taking the dogs to the dog park for an hour.  The people that toured the house really liked it, but they found a newer home that they wanted, more.  The realtor did say if the other house fell through they were interested, so fingers crossed that something works out.  It makes me sad that we've had so many showings, and no real interest yet.  I love our house, and we put a lot of sweat equity into it.

Anyways, the boys had a blast at the park.  I think our foster appreciates it the most.  He's such an easygoing boy.

Yes, it's true.  I am back to the blogland!  The past week I've been busy hosting Joel's family, so today's Friday Five will be mostly comprised of time spent with the in-laws.

1.  Well...I did it!  I officially graduated with my master's degree.  I have been hooded and everything.  I am so thankful to be down with that journey, and can hopefully actually use this degree someday, vice my B.S., which was fun and rewarding to get, but has been basically worthless so far.

2.  We basically took the in-laws on an "our favorite food tour" of St. Louis.  Pretty sure I gained a pound or two.  Wasn't I trying to lose weight this spring???

Bogart's BBQ (3rd rated in the country!)

Budweiser Brewery

Fitz's

Mango Peruvian Cuisine

3.  We also started a birthday cake tour!  St. Louis recently celebrated their 250th birthday, so they placed 250 "cakes" around town to celebrate.  Here are a few examples.  Can you guess where they are from?

4.  We went to our first Cardinals game of the year.  For some reason, Joel and I have only seen them play the Cubs together.  Funny coincidence, huh?  This time they won though, and despite the crappy, cold weather...we had some great seats!

5.  Non family related...tonight is the Rascal Flatts concert, and since it's an outdoor theater, we may have to take a blanket.  It's supposed to be in the forties tonight.  What's up with that, May?  Get your act together, stat!

Weekend Update

I feel like this is becoming quite the Tuesday tradition.  I do have a valid excuse this week, though.  I swear!  Joel and I took the day off yesterday to finish up the house to get ready to put it on the market today.  The realtor will be by after work for us to take pictures and to get everything ready for the listing.  To say I am nervous is an understatement.  The market hasn't really rebounded in this area, and we haven't owned the house long to get much equity into it.  Fingers crossed for a quick sale!

Last week, I forgot to mention that Joel and I say Il Divo in concert.  Don't know who they are?  Well, if you are a lover of musical theater, Google them.  I don't have enough great things to say.  We had total nosebleed seats, but the music was beautiful.  We also stopped by Hard Rock on the way there, and I discover that they had margarita flights.  The food was sub par, but the drinks?  Worth the trip back.

I also had the chance to finally get a picture with an STL Birthday Cake.  There are 250 all around the city, and while I have seen plenty, this is the first one I've snagged a picture with.  How fun!

I also made a fabulous discovery.  Folks, I have found a new favorite beer.  For those outside of the Midwest, you may just have to take my word for it.  I don't know if you could find it far from this area, as it's made at a local Missouri place.  It's called Crown Valley Brewery (they also have a winery), and it's their seasonal ale.  Run, don't walk, to get yourself some.

Other than that, it was a lot of cleaning and reorganizing.  And I finally got a chance to put down our new rug in the dining room!  Ignore the mess behind the table (that's all clean now), but I couldn't be happier with the rug.  We bought it from Rugs USA online, and I was nervous buying it sight unseen.  I'm a pretty picky person, but I am just so in love with it.  I think it really adds a pop of color to the room.  Don't you think?

Christmas Recap

Gosh, this has to be one of the best Christmases on record.  We were sans family this year, who we miss, but it made everything so relaxing because everything was on our schedule (and we barely had one) and full of cookies, naps, and pug cuddles.  It was fantastic!

We started off Christmas with a bang!  We went and saw the Trans Siberia Orchestra on Monday night, and it was quite the show!  I had never been before, and didn't really know what to expect, but I figured this was our last chance to go for some time, so we took a chance.  There's a small story involved, which was kind of weak and didn't make a whole lot of sense with the music.  There was a lot of ling hair Rock N Roll and some incredible singing, and a whole lot of crazy lights.  All in all it was a good night, but it was also a long night.  They went on for three hours!!

Christmas Eve is when our family had most of our Christmas celebrations, since we have German heritage,  We opened our gifts and I cooked a massive Thanksgiving dinner for two (we still have leftovers)!  I didn't take pictures of our gifts, but I got a gorgeous set of earrings, a case for my autographed Dan Marino helmet, and a lot of other little stuff.  It was perfect!  We couldn't stay awake for midnight Mass, so we went on Christmas Day.  That was followed by Joel's family tradition of eating bagels with various cream cheeses, meats, and regular cheeses.

It was a great and relaxing holiday.  We had Thursday off, too, but are back to work today.  Then we get another two whole days off!  I must say that this Christmas may have been one of the most relaxing ones, yet.  We even had the boys in their holiday sweaters until they tuckered out.