I'm Itchen' To Get In

Sometimes choices are made that for common sense purposes you know were right but you just can't wait for the time to come when it is right.

Last week we got word that our base housing is ready. This is the call that we have been waiting for since we got here. We are very very fortunate that we were able to find a rental that was available right away and that was on a month to month lease. This place, although small, has been exactly what we needed. Now, when you sign your 'lease' for base housing the allotted money you're given to live off base stops being given and with a month to month lease you have to give 30 days notice...all and all we had to wait the full 30 days in order to get all our money to cover the cost of the last 30 days before we get into our base housing. This also means we have to wait to get our stuff from the moving company and are left living our simple camping quality of life. This isn't such a bad thing because it is making us appreciate what we have that much more and it will also make it that much greater when we actually get our things.

Some of the things we will not be taking for granted:

1.) Our mattress. Although we have an air mattress I will not miss having to re-inflate it every 3 days or result in butt on floor feeling when one of us gets up.

2.) Our couch. My giving mother bought us 4 camping chairs to use which we then can reuse when we attend bbq's or bon-fires but they are not to "cuddle friendly."

3.) Our kitchen-ware. An extended version of our simple lifestyle has been take-out or items which do not include pots, pans, or a microwave. This does include cereal, sandwiches, salad and chips and dip.

4.) Our clothes. Although I would l-o-v-e to go out and buy a ton of new clothes I just can't justify it (that and in the desert you choices are some what slim) and I have way to many at home anyway. However, it is getting a little old wearing the same 7 or 8 outfits. On the other end, everything will feel new once I finally get it!

5.) Our 2nd car. I have enjoyed being able to spend so much more time with Jake but waking up at 5am to take him to work and waiting around between 4 and 6 to pick him up has been a quality of life that has somewhat out-worn it's welcome. I am not a morning person...at all.

With that said, based on my lack of things to do around here because Jake is gone all day and my only friend I've made so far has been gone for the past 2 weeks, I have been full on obsessing about the townhouse we are getting. It is much smaller than what we had back home which means there will be a lot of purging once our stuff gets here. On the other hand, selling the excess will help fund the improvements that I have been obsessing about.

living/dining area

Now, we understand that there are things I will not be able to change (i.e. carpet, light fixtures, cabinets etc.) but there are things that can change like the paint color - yes, we get to paint! We just have to prime the walls before we move out which is fine with me. Paint is the easiest and cheapest way to change the look of a place.

Stay tuned for our military make-over and hopefully there will be things that everyone can apply, especially for those of you who are renting.

Best Day Thus Far

I would say "best day ever" but it doesn't really seem fair since I don't know what the future holds, however, this has been our best day thus far while living out here and it comes pretty close to our best day thus far in our marriage...it makes the top 10, at least :)

Today jake and I discovered something here in the desert that we truly enjoy. Joshua Tree National Park. This humongous park is literally in our back yard. I wasn't sure how I would feel about it because it is so darn hot out here but after some talk we decided that we would give it a try this weekend. I think that I have become some what accustom to the heat, for sure enough to enjoy a day outside as long as I kept hydrated.

So, we woke up, got ready at our leisure, packed our lunches and then headed to the park. We talked about it and decided to invest in a year long pass since a one day pass was $15 and a year long pass was only $30. (I was certain we would use it at least twice in the next year but now I'm certain I'll be using it at least twice a month over the next year.) We got a map and just started to explore.

The first place we went was mountain climbing! Now don't jump to the conclusion that we were hanging from ropes with harnesses climbing up a vertical mountain wall - because were weren't. This was more like finding a mountain of boulders and finding our way to the top. We had to be careful because there are quite a few dangerous aspects to wildlife out here and luck for us we didn't come across any (that we know of). I was nervous at first but the fun aspect very quickly surpassed the nerves and I loved it! Jake, of course, has done training which includes climbing like this and knew he enjoyed it and we extremely happy to find out that I enjoyed it too! And it is much bigger than it looks :)

Second, we went to this group of boulders called "skull rock" and it seriously looks like a skull! Can you see it?

We climbed around there for a while as well but because it was about 103 we decided to move on to our last stop....

Barker damn - it was used during the mining days and we had heard that there had been quite a few reports of people seeing big horned sheep. Lucky for us, we did!! Jake was sort of scared at first because they really were not that far away and 3 of them had gigantic horns and looked more like rams then sheep. I say there were 3 because they kept fighting and knocking heads trying to become the "king of the mountain"... literally. Every time the knocked heads it sounded like a gun shot! It was so exciting though!

I am so glad that I was able to find something that I really enjoy out here in the middle of no where and I am even more happy that it is something jake and I can do together. Thank you God for the blessing I have and those I have yet to discover.

Leaving On A Jet Plane & Returning In A Car

As some of you may know our dear friends are finally getting to tie the knot over Labor Day weekend and Jake has been fortunate enough to be asked to be the best man. Although we have only been out here for 6 weeks (well...when Labor Day approaches it will be 6 weeks) It will be so nice to see our family and friends for this eventful yet short weekend. We are also going to finally get our other car out here which means no 4am wake up calls for me to take Jake to work! whoo hoo!

{ Disclaimer: the following blog should no way, shape, or form reflect our excitement to be there for some our closest friends. We would have done anything and everything humanly possible to get there for their big day!! This blog is more or less me venting about how annoying this situation has become because of the military. Yes, I do understand that this is military life but please give me a break - it's my blog, I can do what I want :) }

The stress of making this happen is finally half way over...well maybe a little more than half. Since we are so new to this whole military lifestyle we knew that it would not be easy for us to make this endeavor happen but in our reasonable minds we had taken some precautionary actions so that it would up our chances. When a military family gets stationed somewhere the military personal usually gets up to 10 days off to assist in the move and to look for housing. These are not part of the liberty that Jake has earned because he has been in for so long. This is somewhat standard. Other married Marines in Jake's unit got to take these days off, other Marines who, based souly on performance, are not as good as Jake (did I mention that even though he isn't a lance corporal yet he is a team leader for his unit (this is a really good thing!)) We opted to not take any of these days off at first so that we could enjoy ourselves at the wedding and drive the other car back out here afterwords. Technically he would be assisting me in a move...technically.

Now, in anyone's reasonable mind, wouldn't this help our cause? Jake hadn't taken the days he is suppose to get, and really we were only asking for 5 or 6 of the days, not all 10. Jake has shown that he is a very capable Marine and in most other work environments this would be rewarded. Not in the military. We didn't get any of the days off - none. And, to top it off he has to be on duty tonight (which means he is gone all night long). Needless to say, I was ticked.

Here are the repercussions of not getting any of the days off:

Jake (God willing) will get off work Friday night before 6:30. I will pick up up and we will drive 3 hours and 40 minutes straight to Las Vegas to catch a plane that leaves at 11:15pm. We are going to try to make this easy on ourselves by bringing carry on luggage only. We then will fly through the night and and get to Indianapolis where our car will be waiting for us (thanks to my wonderful in-laws) and will then drive another 3 hours and 30 minutes to Evansville, Indiana where at 2:00 Jake will need to be in his tux for pre-wedding pictures. The actually wedding will begin at 5 and all the festivities will be held after. We will get to see our brother and sister-in-law for less than a day (since they are leaving Saturday night) and our nephew and brand spankin' new niece will be leaving with them :(. I also don't get to do a cross country trip with my husband. He will be flying back Sunday night and I will being driving the other car with the next best guy in my life - my dad.

Now, since I am such a planner and I have such wonderful family and friends that are willing to help us we won't have to pick up the tux because the bride and groom will be picking it up with their tuxes. No one will have to wait for us at the airport because my wonderful in-laws are going to drop off the car at the airport so we can just hop right in and take off. And I will still be able to drive the car back home since my dad, luckily, had a business trip not to far from Twentynine Palms scheduled for the week after the wedding so he will get to see where we live and have a short visit :)

If I look hard enough the good can outweigh the bad...but sometimes it takes real focus to remember that. I am very grateful for my friends and family that are making this possible. We wouldn't have missed this wedding for the world! However, without the help we would have been cutting it even closer then we already are. We just happy that we get to go and on top of it all I get a cross country trip with my mom first and then 6 weeks later with my dad. It should be something to remember :)