home

Our trip home was insane.  We literally had engagements breakfast, lunch, and dinner every day for two weeks, some days with coffee in between and drinks after (yes, I had an excel spreadsheet).  Add to that shopping trips to Costco, Target, the grocery store and the mall; two graduations (my little sister graduated college and Joey's little brother graduated high school - congratulations Lizz and David!); daily yoga classes for me and visits to Spartan Strength to get his ass kicked for Joey; and shuffling one car between three people (my mother was gracious enough to share hers with us) and by the end of the trip we were both absolutely exhausted.  Dare I say it - we almost looked forward to the long flight back to Abuja for an opportunity to do absolutely nothing for 24 hours (the upgraged business class tickets probably didn't hurt).  Nonetheless, it was incredible to have two full weeks together in Des Moines, awesomely fattening and delicious to savor two weeks of meals we can't cook in Abuja; reconnecting with all of our friends and family, even if only for a few hours, food for the soul.

With Joey, his brothers and my sister-in-law at David's graduation.  Sadly I didn't take any pictures at all this trip home, luckily my mother-in-law got one!

des moines

I'd scheduled my trip to Des Moines such that I gave notice to my old job, worked the last two weeks, got on a plane (or 3), spent a whirlwind 8 days at home, got another plane, and started my new job the next day.  Which was supposed to be yesterday.  Now I don't have a concrete start date and am quickly running out of things to do, especially with M. doing the breakfast dishes and making my bed (I love her), so I figured I'd elaborate on my trip to Des Moines.  Maybe I'll even start blogging about R&R. 

You know you're homesick when you're admiring the whitewashed buildings against the brilliant blue sea in Santorini and thinking about Des Moines.  Emphasis on sick.  So with the promise of new, more lucrative employment, over the last few days of R&R in July (yes, over dinner at some darling outdoor cafe in Rome.  I did emphasize sick.), Joey and I discussed a trip to Des Moines.  Together.  Until we returned to Abuja and started pricing airfare.  Three thousand dollars a ticket.  Yep.  Three thousand dollars.  When my sister came to visit she paid half that.  And guess what?  Roundtrip prices from the US to Abuja are always half that of those from Abuja to the US.  Why?  Supply and demand.  What a bunch of shit. 

Naturally, Joey and I reeled at those prices and said nevermind to our trip to Des Moines.  But I still wanted to go home.  So badly.  And with time off in a new job uncertain and other trips already booked (a word of advice to new people moving abroad: maybe in month 1 you think you won't want to go home and you should use your time off to explore the world.  By month 7 you will not feel the same way.  Plan the trip home.  That's what it's there for.), this was the only time I could go.  And then Joey was offered a training in DC in the middle of September.  Which meant he got a ticket to the US.  So we bit the bullet and bought my ticket to Des Moines.  We ended up spending the same amount we'd planned.  Only one of us got to go to Des Moines and the other one gets to go to Washington.  And not at the same time.  But he gets Five Guys and Ben's Chili Bowl and I can assure you my fat kid husband with a ridiculously unfair metabolism is cool with that.

I thought it'd be fun to surprise my parents.  It'd been eight months since we'd seen each other, and they weren't expecting to see me until early 2012.  So, with some careful scheming between my sisters, our Aunt Missy, we arranged to surprise Mom and Dad at their friends' house.  So after 30 long hours traveling (that's a hard journey to make alone.  Especially because husbands are not only fun to talk to, but they make great airplane seat extensions too), Mal and Lizz picked me up at the airport, from where we met Aunt Missy and surprised Mom and Dad at their friends' house.  Lizz recorded their reactions on Mallory's phone; here's the link:   http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=614267692534 I wish I was tech savvy enough to just post the video but unfortunately I'm not.  Hopefully it works even if you're not friends with Mallory on Facebook.  Anyway, Mom and Dad were beyond surprised and a few tears were shed by all.  Their friends, Ann and Mark, cooked the perfect first-meal-in-America-in-eight-months anyone could ask for: cheeseburgers with fresh jalapenos, Iowa sweet corn and Costco cake.  After a lovely dinner, the whole Soda family piled in Mallory's new convertible and Mom and Dad promptly got shit on by a flock of geese flying above.  Mallory and Lizz and I thought it was hilarious....I digress.  Mom and Dad put clean sheets on my old bed and I slept like a baby.  It felt amazing.

The next morning Mallory, Mom and Dad and I drove through a gorgeous Iowa thunderstorm to Council Bluffs for a violet-themed birthday party.  This time Mom and Dad got to partake in the surprise as I hugged my grandparents.  When my grammy saw me she reacted exactly the same way as my dad: her face went completely blank, then confused, shocked, and finally into a huge smile.  What a fun surprise.  I spent the afternoon catching up with my mom's side of the family; I can't believe how much my cousins' kids have grown.  After a tour of my cousin Tiffany's beautiful new home, we headed back to Des Moines for a delicious spaghetti dinner with my dad's side of the family.  Since Mallory had already posted the video of my parents' surprise on Facebook I didn't get to surprise my other grandma, but it was still great to see everybody.  More disbelief at how big and smart my cousins' kids have become as I met the newest member of the family.  Then it was back home to my comfy old bed.

Mallory and I spent the whole next day together.  Hot yoga followed by mani/pedis, then some shopping at my favorite department store and then more shopping and lunch downtown Des Moines.  That night my Uncle Tom treated us to a fabulous dinner at one of my favorite restaurants in Des Moines. 

Tuesday I had lunch with my friend Allison and her beautiful baby girl, Molly, and then spent an hour wandering in childlike amazement at the grocery store while I happily sipped my Starbucks that I'd purchased there.  Though I'm loathe to admit it, God, how I'd missed the suburbs.  Somehow I managed to spend $200 on protein powder and candy.  Then my sisters and cousins and I spent the night at the bar.  It was a blast, which is a good thing since I spent the whole next day paying for it.

From left: Lizz, me, Mal, P and Maria.  Yes, Maria and I are each holding two beers.  It was two-fers night.  Ouch.

Wednesday I was up early for coffee with my friend, Lee, where I ran into my lunch date, Kate.  Only in Des Moines!  Kate and I caught up a few hours later over sushi.  I think we could have talked for days.  Dinner that night was low-key at home with the whole family; the only person missing was Joey.  We laughed so hard Mallory snarfed her milk. 

Thursday Lizz and I spent a good two hours at Target.  She was very patient with my need to marvel up and down every aisle at a snail's pace, so afterward I treated her to Mexican for lunch.  My mom met us and she took me to Trader Joe's, where I bought more candy and some cheese, and then to the running store for new shoes.  Thursday night my friend Lauren took me out for dinner at the Cheesecake Factory and then to see her new photography studio.  It was really inspiring to see how far she's come with what was once a hobby!

Friday Mom and I explored Costco and then since we had some extra time but food in the car, she was patient enough to wait in the car while I ran in Old Navy and DSW.  Then she dropped me off at the dentist, went home, unloaded the food, and came back to pick me up.  I bet it really made her miss the good old days of playing chauffeur to three busy girls.  That night Dad's whole family came over for pizza for his birthday.  I'm so glad we all got a chance to see each other again before I left.

Saturday I sat around and did nothing all day.  I was exhausted and although my original flight was scheduled to leave the next day, my best friend was scheduled to come to town Monday, and I'd hoped to be able to leave Tuesday instead.  So I didn't run any of my remaining errands under the assumption I had an extra day.  Then Saturday night we enjoyed dinner with Mom's family again.

Sunday morning my dear husband woke me up bright and early at 6 am to tell me he couldn't change my flight.  I knew I should have bought the meat sooner!  So quickly I took a shower and drove to the grocery store, where I filled a cart with steaks and sour cream and ricotta cheese.  At the check-out I realized I had forgotten my credit card (why do I always do that?), so I had to drive back home, find the card, drive back to the store and get my food.  I stuffed everything in the freezer and went to church with my dad. 

After Mass, Dad and I ran the last of my errands, while I returned things to Target and Old Navy (it's amazing what you will buy when you haven't been there in 8 months) and found an anniversary gift for Joey.  Then I packed my suitcase, we stuffed the half-frozen meat in a cooler and headed to the airport.

The trip was a total whirlwind and wiped me out, but it was so worth it.  I was in such a better mood on the way back I only bitched at one person in line to the plane to Abuja (if I can feel your breath on my neck, I'm going to let you know I need my personal space).  Somehow the meat arrived still cold and I couldn't have been happier to see my smiling husband, despite his buzzed head (buzzed as soon as he dropped me off at the airport a week earlier).  M. was delighted with the pink Drake tee shirt I brought for her and cried when I gave her little girl some sidewalk chalk, a jump rope, crayons and Sponge Bob coloring book.  She and Joey have been quickly picking off the giant tub of jelly beans from Costco over the last two days.  I'm enjoying temporary unemployment and quality time with the boys.  And tonight I'll be enjoying some thick Iowa ribeyes for dinner.

i am updating my blog.

The 30-hour trip back to Abuja wasn't nearly as exhausting as the 30- hour trip to Des Moines.  Maybe it was the margarita in the Minneapolis airport that cost as much as my salad, a better selection of movies on the plane or fun playing with my new Nook reader.  I know having a window seat and the accompanying aisle seat on the flight to Abuja made a difference.  But I think what really made the trip back to Abuja more palatable was how calm, centered and happy I felt after seeing all of my friends and family back home.  I can't explain it, but for some reason just being home and sitting on the couch next to my dad; having a real, face-to-face conversation with my mom; enjoying manis and pedis with Mallory and wandering Target with Lizz; going out for drinks with my cousins and playing with their beautiful kids (not in that order); and all the wonderful lunches and dinners with friends and family in between made me feel so much stronger.  It felt incredible to take hot yoga classes and run in the crisp, clean, Iowa air.  I ate cheeseburgers and sweet corn and pasta and sushi and key lime cheesecake.  And I got to see and hug and talk to almost all of the most important people in my life, and for some reason, now I feel like I can handle living here a little bit easier.  Maybe it's the freezer packed with Iowa beef I smuggled in my suitcase.  But I think it's all the love and support that truly only family can provide, even from 5,000 miles away.

a harbinger?

Today is December 26th.  Our packout is tomorrow morning, December 27th, at 8 am.  Our flight to Abuja leaves on Tuesday, December 28th.  And we are stranded in Des Moines.

My flight was originally scheduled this morning at 7 am.  Joey's was scheduled at 10.  Last night I received a late Christmas gift of coal from Delta who called to inform me that my flight had been cancelled and I had been reassigned to a flight leaving here at 3 pm and getting into DC almost twelve hours after my original flight was due to land.  Pain in the ass enough if all you have to do is go to work Monday morning - giant fing catastrophe if you're scheduled to be packed out Monday morning to move to Nigeria for two years! 

Obviously I am freaking out.  Saying goodbye to my family to move to BFE is bad enough and now we are adding travel delays starting in Des Moines - I can only imagine what the next few days are going to be like.  I took Joey to the airport an hour ago.  As soon as I got back to my parents' house the phone rang: Joey.  His flight is cancelled.  The earliest American Airlines thinks he'll be able to get into DC is 10 pm.  TOMORROW.  No big deal, we're not moving to Africa or anything.

Oh, and by the way, if we don't get to Nigeria before the first of the year we have to spend an extra month there.  Our two days in December count for the whole month of December.  So if we don't get there in December, that month doesn't count.

So Lizz and Ashley are on their way to the airport to pick up Joey.  Who is currently working the American Airlines counter on his ticket and making sure with the Delta counter that my ticket is still a go.  Because the people at American told him that no flights are landing on the East Coast today and that mine will probably be cancelled as well.  So I guess we'll see.  When I took Joey to the airport he said that as we begin our life of international travel we should probably just learn to roll with the punches but quite frankly I feel more like I dropped the soap.

Last night we went out to dinner with Mal and Steve - it's the last time he's in town before we leave.  My friend Lauren just texted me - she travels for work a lot and she's leaving town for work on Saturday and won't be back until we're gone...everything is starting to move really fast now.  I mean, the fact that it's now late August, we've been to the fair, school is starting already - that is crazy enough - this summer went so fast!  But wow it's really only two weeks til our journey truly begins - that is still beyond comprehensible but sinking in ever more each day.  Things felt different when I packed up all our picture frames to "depersonalize" our house to put it on the market.  Things felt different as we watched our furniture move, room by room, out the front door into other people's moving trucks.  Things definitely felt different when we moved out of our beautiful house and moved into this loft with unfamiliar furniture and decorations and dishes.  There have been meltdowns - in this house, on the streets of Des Moines while walking the dogs, in restaurants - and there have been plenty of arguments (I would say, not surprisingly to any of you, almost all of which instigated by me), many about nothing having to do with the big move but really having everything to do with the move.  I am so excited to start this new chapter of our lives.  I am ready for it to start!  The waiting and waiting - I mean, yes you need time to prepare but really we've been waiting for over a year now and there's really only so much time you can spend cramming your clothes into SpaceBags and going back and forth to PetSmart to find the perfect devices to help your dogs on a 1100 mile ride.  I'm anxious to meet the new people, to see our new apartment, to find a new yoga studio, and to find out what fricking country to where they'll be sending us!  But I also didn't realize how sad, or maybe not sad but nostalgic I'd be about leaving.  It's one thing to not have your furniture or your picture frames but it's definitely in an entirely different world not having your mom and your dad and your sisters and the rest of your family and friends.  Joey and I have both been so blessed to have our family so close all of our lives and I know we are making a conscious decision to leave that behind but it's amazing how that support that we've grown up with continues to support us as we leave. 

Okay enough of that sappy business...I have a few updates.  As Joey mentioned, we did find a new place to live - about which I am so excited.  According to our owner, it's a historic row house that they totally gutted and refinished a few years ago.  It has granite countertops, top of the line stainless steel appliances, two bedrooms, two bathrooms - and over 1100 sq feet!  Plus, the landlord is a woman, which makes a huge difference in the furnishings (for those of you who have been to our loft, you know what I mean).  Also, there is no elevator to contend with (which means no instances with the dogs going crazy - at least inside the building) - in fact we only share our entry with one other person - so huge!  Even better, we have a little fenced in patio area - hardly a backyard but at least it's something for the dogs - and a grill.  This place is surrounded by yoga studios, bars, restaurants - there is a Whole Foods a few blocks away - and you don't need a car (although it does have its own parking space) - I'm super excited about it.  I found this workout place nearby called Bfit which incorporates the ballet barre into your workout and I definitely want to try that - although according to my super supportive husband who followed me on his bike Sunday night for my 14 mile run in the dark, I ran the whole thing duck-footed which is killing my IT band - so maybe more ballet may not work well with the running - I don't know how that'll work out, I'm just excited it's there! 

Our pack-out is August 31st.  So on the 30th we'll be trying to cram as much as possible into the Volvo and separating everything that's ours from our landlords.  They come early morning the 31st and take 450 lbs of stuff to DC and the rest goes into permanent storage, which we can't access until we move abroad.  A woman from the moving company came last week to get an idea of what we have and said she believes our wardrobes, shoes, purses and all to weigh about 500 lbs so since I have two boxes of picture frames and want our Christmas tree, we have been stuffing clothes into SpaceBags like it's nobody's business.  Those puppies hold a lot and though they shrink down quite a bit they are heavy! Unfortunately, three extra-large bags later we haven't made a dent in our closets.  I am determined to make it work though.  After our pack-out, we stay one more night in the apartment then drop the dogs off at the kennel and head to Tennessee.  Since we move out 12 days before we are allowed to move into Washington, we are allotted
$150 a day for lodging and $120 a day for food so we figured why not take some R&R before the craziness of DC.  Why Tennessee you ask?  No state income tax.  Yes, in addition to relinquishing everything else, we are relinquishing our Iowa residency.  We're going to register our car down there and then get drivers licenses and voter registration cards and then we are officially Tennessee residents.  So a few days in Smithville, a few days in Nashville and a night in St Louis later, we'll be back in Des Moines the 6th and 7th at the Staybridge Suites in West Des Moines.  Then we pick up the dogs and start our drive to DC.  5 hours the first day to Bloomington, IL, 6 hours the second day to Columbus, OH, 5 hours day three to Cumberland, MD and then finally 3 hours on September 11 to Washington, DC (I have to admit I find it a tiny bit unsettling that we're moving in on that anniversary but I guess it's probably safer that day that the other 364 days of the year).  Then Monday, September 13 Joey starts his job!  Wow!

Fire at the Temple

Firemen in full regalia tromped around Centro's patio as I walked to work at 7:25 this morning.  My manager and coworker sat at a patio table in their green aprons outside of Starbucks while the fire alarm blared inside.  While the three of us sat in front of the door, an innumerable amount of people stopped by (unsuccessfully) for coffee (or in the case of one fat regular customer, her morning lemon loaf) and each person responded the same way: increduously.  No one seemed to know what they were going to do - where were they to get their coffee and what would they do without their Starbucks?! (Gasp!).  I know: go to a differrent coffee shop.  Stop wasting $3 or $4 a day on lattes that make you fat.  This desperation became even more annoying when the interrogation started:  "Why aren't you open?"  "It doesn't look like there was a fire."  "How did the fire start?"  "When are you going to reopen?"  I realize most people were just curious but when you are asked the same set of questions for an hour it gets under your skin. Eventually about 8:30 we reopened, although the fire short-circuited some of the electrical systems and we couldn't brew coffee. For a solid hour the line was through the door - all of these people waited half an hour for their mochas!  Can't you deal with cafeteria coffee for one day?  Why are you really willing to waste that much time to stand in line: 20 minutes to order and then another ten to get your drink?  At 9:30 we closed the store again because the building management wanted to shut down the power and you wouldn't believe how many people read the sign on the door and then proceeded to try and open it anyway like it was some joke or something.  It's just coffee people - get over it!

It turned out Centro does their own laundry (tablecloths, napkins, etc.).  The electrical system in the basement is very old (you should see the old freight elevator - very cool) and combined with the dryer, caught fire.  No one was hurt and I'm not really sure of the extent of the damage, but there were some pretty smelly burnt rags outside after the fire.  I wonder if Centro will start outsourcing their laundry now...

On an entirely different note, after all of the doctor visits, X-ray, ultrasound, blood draws, urinalysis, gathering of medical records from three different institutions and personal interview with the State Dept doctor - I have received Class 1 medical clearance.  They cleared me to accompany Joey anywhere in the world - phew!  I would hate for him to have to experience living in the African jungles alone!

Some Lessons Learned

We officially closed on our house Friday - so even though we had 10 days to move, we were up until 3am Friday to finish packing.  We still had a few loads to make Friday morning - one to the dumpster, one to goodwill and a final one to the loft - so we woke up at 6:30 to finish.  We took the dogs on a quick walk around the block and upon our return, someone (Joey) realized he grabbed the wrong keys.  Instead of the apartment keys, he took the car keys.  Now this was an improvement from Tuesday morning, when he didn't grab any keys and we were stranded in our hallway with all three dogs to wait for the landlord (whom Joey called from the Hotel Fort Des Moines because we didn't have our phones either).  At least now we had a car, albeit full.  So Joey emptied the SUVload from 3 am into the basement storage unit (thankfully accessible through padlock) while I struggled to keep the dogs from attacking everyone that walked by on their way to work.  We then all loaded into the car and drove first to Joey's office (West Des Moines) to get the number for the landlord, then to his house to pick up the key (Johnston), then to Home Depot (Urbandale) to make a copy, which as luck would have it, Home Depot doesn't do, so then on to Strauss Lock, back to the landlord's house and then finally home.  So after 2 1/2 hours in the car with the dogs it was 10am and I had to work at 11, so Joey had to go back to the house alone and scramble to clean everything, patch the walls, touch up the woodwork and make the dumpster run, goodwill run and pack the rest...by closing time at 3. Very long day for both of us.  Here's what I'm taking away from this experience:

1. Ten days to move may seem like a great idea but it's not.  Everything you need is always at the other place and it just makes a painful process long and drawn out.  Move like you would take off a band-aid.  Fast.

2. Added to the list of adjustments I hadn't even thought about: keys.  We never used them in our house because we'd just drive into the garage and we had the garage keypad for when we weren't driving. 

3. We still have a ton of crap.  I really thought that we had done such a good job of paring down but after the last ten days, I now disagree.  After packing all the hiding places in the house, like under the sink in the powder room, I found a ton of stupid random things that take up space and are used infrequently, but I can't really get rid of, like vases and votives.

4. The chrome shelves Mom and Dad bought Joey a few years ago for Christmas have become invaluable.

5. A post-move vacation is a really, really good idea.  All marital strife is quickly forgotten when in the presence of Tigger and Pooh - and Tex.

Well I can't think of a better birthday gift for my friend, Bridget.  Much to her horror, we have lived in the suburbs for the last 4 years, and yesterday, her 26th birthday, was our first day in our downtown apartment.  After a weekend of packing (and sleeping in the family room), several trips in Mom's SUV and David's "boat," we have almost all of our clothes here as well as our toiletries, most of the refrigerator and pantry.  As the place is fully furnished, we really don't need much else to get by day-to-day.  After reviewing our landlord's selection of cutlery, we decided we definitely need more (I go through the 4 forks provided in a sitting), and our coffee pot also made the initial move (the one cup pot provided won't get Joey out of bed).  I'm glad that we had to make this interim move because it's helped me mentally separate what things I want to take with us from place to place and what things of others I don't mind using. 

I think this move is also going to help us get the dogs trained before we leave.  Which is going to be a monumental task.  After the car ride over (they were all bucked in, much to their chagrin), George decided it'd be a great idea to shit on the entry rug.  Shortly thereafter, I caught Moe lifting his leg over the recliner where Joey was sitting.  Each spanking was followed by attaching a leash, fielding the other two dogs while trying to leave the apartment, trudging down two flights of stairs to "go potty outside."  I believe that's all the accidents we had yesterday, but the rest of the night I couldn't really concentrate on much other than the dogs who were sniffing every corner of the apartment.  Trying to get them to sleep wasn't too bad but Moe was up roaming every hour which just made me nervous.  So, needless to say, I'm exhausted.  When the dogs woke us up at 6, I took Moe and George outside, who decided to charge a Marine in the stairwell and a chihauhau outside.  Our walk to Gray's Lake (where we got a shout-out from Ashley in her Buick) was was diverted due to flooding, but walking by the sculpture garden definitely helped remind me how all the amenities down here are going to outweigh the royal pain in the ass that the dogs have already presented.  I just ordered "the indoor barking dog deterrent" too so between that and the twice daily walks, I think we'll get by.

Here's a few pictures of the place:

One more week at our house!  Technically, we don't close until June 25th, but we take possession of our apartment June 15th, and seeing as that has furniture, we are so excited to move in.  Now that the shower is over and I don't have anything else to occupy my mind, it's suddenly become a lot more real.  Today I also met with the manager of the Starbucks downtown, who agreed to let me transfer to his store, which will be very convenient - only 2 blocks away from the loft.

Invitations to the August training class have all pretty much been sent out, and since Joey's clearance is scheduled to be finished tomorrow, we are 95% sure that September 13th is our official start date in DC. Having an actual date makes things a lot more real too!  We are also about 85% sure we have found a place to live in DC.  Actually, its in the "urban village" Shirlington, which is very close to Arlington, VA, which is where Joey will be training/working.  We're really excited about the place - its this super cute newly renovated apartment complex called Windsor at Shirlington Village.  It has a shuttle directly to the metro, and I believe where Joey works is right across the street, so this is clutch given DC's notorious traffic.  It also has its own 7000 sq ft exercise facility and is right by the running trail that takes you into DC (it's only 3 miles).  They usually only take 2 dogs per apartment (I've been confronted with this restriction at almost every one of the million places I've inquired) but Windsor agreed to make an exception!  Here's the link for the apartment if you're interested: http://www.windsorcommunities.com/apartments/northern-va/shirlington/


Another perk is the nearby Shirling- ton Village (see picture), which has tons of restaurants and cute shops and is apparently very dog friendly.  Also, two dog parks are within walking distance which will be crucial given the three dogs living in a 900 sq ft apartment.  Apparently Shirlington is also home to many other FSOs as well as other young professionals, which is really exciting because hopefully it'll be easy to make new friends.  It definitely makes it easier to move knowing where we are going is neat - be it downtown Des Moines or Shirlington, VA.

The garage is finally clean!  After 4 hours Saturday and another 5 Sunday of sorting, trashing, sweeping, hosing and deck brushing, our garage is ready for a party!  I can't believe how much stuff we have accumulated in our garage alone (and we cleaned it out last year too).  Luckily for us, our neighbor took most of our gardening materials off our hands, and after a truckload to Goodwill and another truckload to the dumpster, we only have a few things left to get rid of, all of which are listed on Craigslist.  One of which was our grill - last year, our neighbor, Jake, bought a new grill and gave us his old one - a really nice stainless steel Amana grill.  It worked fabulously until one fateful day I grilled some chicken and then left the burners on high on a full tank of propane...all night.  Yes, I realize we are lucky the siding wasn't burnt, let alone the house, but the poor grill was toast.  So we listed it on Craigslist as free yesterday at 1:40 pm.  Within 2 hours literally 30 people had emailed about it.  Anyway, we called the first guy to come get it and this hillbilly in cowboy boots rolls up in this twenty year old beat up rusted out compact car.  He told Joey to just put it in the trunk, tied it up with some twine and away he went!  Now we just have to sell an electric trimmer, lawn mower, circular saw, lawn spreader, and 2 pink doors (I don't even know), and a vacuum.  If anybody's interested...

Today was a big day - we got rid of the last of our furniture. Our friends Kate and Matt bought our living room set, kitchen table and chairs and our bedroom set today. They were nice enough to leave us our mattress, box spring and bed frame so we don't have to sleep on the floor for the next month, but they took everything else! First we sold the patio furniture last week, then we sold the office furniture, then we sold the futon and now it's all gone. Thank God Mom and Dad were nice enough to loan us a few folding tables so we've got one in the kitchen on which to eat, one in the family room as our "staging area" (Joey suggested we clean out the garage and use that until I reminded him our house is empty) and one in the office. Joey's getting out the old lawn chairs now for the family room and he said "It's like 4 years ago when we bought these things" when we were waiting for our furniture to arrive in the townhouse! Kinda crazy how it's all come full circle.  Moe is totally confused. He really seems at a loss without the furniture. George and Max are loving all the extra room to play. I think I'm really going to miss my dresser tomorrow morning at 5:30 am when I'm scrambling to get to work on time and can't find my underwear.
It really does make things seem a lot more final. When we got home tonight from David's drum show and my cute counter table and chairs were gone it did make me a little sad but it is kind of cathartic and cleansing too - we are no longer going to be defined by our possessions I guess! The only piece of furniture we haven't sold is our settees/banquettes (whatever you want to call them). I can't decide what to do with them. I love them but I know I can't take them with me and I know I can store them but who knows if I'll want them when/if we are done with this adventure. Then there's the little things that I can't decide whether or not to take with me or store, like the art we bought on our honeymoon. If we leave it here and store it, we won't get to enjoy it but then we don't risk it being lost or damaged in transit. Lots of hard decisions!  Every time I move I'm reminded how much crap I accumulate.  Even after selling all the furniture and my parent's garage sale this weekend in which I sold a ton of crap, we still have so much stuff that we need to sort through.  I think learning to live with less is going to be a very valuable experience.

Starbucks rant

Okay I can't seem to get over this and so I'm hoping that writing it down will make me feel better.

Yesterday an order came through the drive-through for 2 Venti (24 oz) Caramel Frappucinos with extra caramel sauce.  I made the chemically ridden, fattening monstrosities with extra caramel and went to the window to hand them out.  Sure enough, waiting, practically drooling, was an enormously fat couple.  The woman was so fat she barely fit in the seat of her minivan.  Seriously.  So I give them their drinks, shut the window, scoff, and move on with my day.

Two hours later, the drive-through dings, and we get another order for 2 Venti Extra Caramel Frappucinos.  Lots of people order this crap, so not thinking anything of it, I make them and go to the window to hand them out.  It's the same people!   Their 1500 calorie drinks weren't enough to tide them over for more than 2 hours and they shamelessly came back for more!  I couldn't hide my surprise and said "You're back!"  And they glared at me like I was the one with the problem!  You'd think they'd at least go to a different drive-through! 

So glad that my taxes are going to subsidize those people's healthcare.  Because they can afford $20 in Frappucinos a day but not their health premiums.

I really think that if they come through twice today I'm going to tell them that since bartenders are allowed to use their discretion as to when to stop serving their customers, as a barista, I'm using my professional discretion to stop serving their fat asses.

It's Back!

So I'm sprinting down Meredith, 3.75 miles into my 4 mile run, trying to get it done in 33 minutes (which was no easy task today considering the brisk wind and the intense pain in my hamstrings after yesterday's Spartan class (pulling tractor tires, aptly named "County Fair")), and I almost bowl over what?  A BIG FOX SNAKE!  I'm glad no cars were around to see it, because I definitely screamed and jumped and the stupid snake killed my time because my heart rate got too high. 

We signed a lease today.  We are officially moving into Mulberry Lofts on June 15. (http://www.mulberrylofts.com/ for anyone interested).  I think it's especially neat that our landlord is renting the unit from May 1-June 15 to one of the Chicago Cubs who will be playing for Iowa during that time.  Our landlord told Joey who it was but my dear husband, bless his apathy for sports, doesn't remember.  I'm going to find out and see if I can get some signed stuff!

We had to put a "diplomatic clause" into our lease which enables us to move out at any point during our lease as long as we give 30 days notice.  We thought for sure we'd be in the September A-100 (training) class, but apparently the diplomatic security agent finished his investigation today and told Joey his security clearance should be complete in no more that 2 weeks and that it was very likely they could call us for July or August.  Robert (the DSS agent) then asked Joey if the next time he was in town if they could meet to go over Robert's finances.  This is a prime example of what my mother-in-law refers to as "S.F. Joey"

Snake Update

Just in case anyone was wondering, Joey emailed that picture to the DNR, who declared it a fox snake.  And though creepy and icky and all around awful, fox snakes aren't venomous.  Actually, according to the woman at the DNR, you can discern venomous snakes from their pupils, which are vertically split like cats, whereas non-venomous snakes have round pupils.  The DNR lady then made a good point that most people won't get close enough to a snake to analyze its pupils.  Correct.

Pretty sure we have found a place to live for the summer.  Really cool furnished loft downtown in the Mulberry Lofts building.  Thank God that's taken care of.

I really don't like it when my husband stands behind me and reads as I write.  Or talks to me while I'm trying to form coherent sentences.  Now he's throwing George's seal at me.  I love being married to a 5 year old.

 This has been such a gorgeous spring with all of the blooming trees and great weather - makes me a little nostalgic about leaving our house - after the last 2 summers we spent planting trees and perennials and sprucing up the yard we won't get to see them mature - but we won't really have to put in the work either so I guess it's a trade off.

Speaking of our yard, found this in it today.  Actually, the dogs found it.  They were all up on the hill and I saw George spring off the ground like Tigger and then Moe followed suit.  Tina proceeded to howl at it and so I trudged up to see what in the world they were up to and sure enough there was this big, creepy snake.  Luckily the dogs were okay and Joey says it's gone now but I'm not about to go up there to check.  As far as I'm concerned I'm taking the dogs out in the front yard until we move.  Eww.

Titles are gay

Hence the title of my blog.

Over the last 2 days I have been in correspondence with about 20 different rental properties trying to find a place for my husband, his dog, Moe, George and me to live from June 25 until September 13.  Not like finding a 3 month lease isn't hard enough but try getting somebody to agree to do that and take your 3 dogs.  And this is just in Des Moines.

Joey has been dealing with the DC living situation and that is even more fun.   One place actually told him they don't accept beagles.  Given Tina's behavior last night (peed all down the stairs for no apparent reason), I wish I could say I don't accept beagles either.  But instead I married one.