05 March 2010

Two days of packing = air mattresses and suitcases

After two days of packing, everything here at the house in New York, as well as all of our stuff in the storage unit, has been packed and loaded. The movers were super nice and very efficient. It wasn't as completely painful as I had imagined. So with all of our belongings out and awaiting shipment, Liam and I are camping out until we fly to Texas next Thursday. I can't wait to be settled. Poor Liam is having a hard time with all the changes and constant running around. He definitely is not very comfortable on an air mattress.

Speaking of beds, I bought Liam some nice soft jersey sheets for his new room. We are hoping to get him in the twin bed. We'll see how well that plays out. My mom also bought him this Thomas the Train table and chairs.

Little Tikes Thomas & Friends Classic Table & Chairs Set

She had it shipped to Texas and it should be arriving right about the same time as us. He is going to love it!

So the next major even in our big move is the car shipment. We are scheduled to have a pick-up on Monday or Tuesday. I really hope all goes according to plan. Of all the details, the car shipment has had me the most stressed. I've got my fingers crossed.

28 February 2010

More about couches and our washer and dryer

So after I thought the couch search had ended, my mom happened to come across a couch/loveseat pair on eBay a few towns over. The are just a traditional style set, cream in color. Nothing special or fancy...just cheap. The bidding started at $135. At that price, what the heck! I waited until about 30 minutes from the auction's end and put in my highest bid at $150. In the last ten minutes, someone tried to out-bid me, but I guess they gave up around $147 and I won the pair for $150. I am going to go pick them up tomorrow evening. I had to rent a cargo van from U-Haul. But even with the truck rental, we'll still come in way below budget. We'll save for new furniture after this temporary move to Texas.

After much research, we decided on our washer/dryer pair and Chris went out to Best Buy last night and bought them!! We decided on...
LG 3.5 cu.ft. Front Load Washer

LG : WM2010CW 27in Front-Load Washer with 3.5 cu. ft. Capacity White

LG 7.0 cu.ft. Super Capacity Electric Dryer

LG : DLE1310W 27in Super Capacity Electric Dryer White

I am super excited to try them out! Chris set up delivery for March 13th. The machines received the best reviews of all similar machines in their price range. We did go a bit over budget, but we purchased warranty/maintenance plans for both and they are high efficiency/energy star appliances, so we'll save in the long run, I hope! And since we were so incredibly under budget for the couches, we coming out about even right now.

Too much snow

 
Just the beginning...

We had a four day snow storm here in the Tri-State Area and it dumped around 3 feet of the stuff on us! The meteorologists said if it had been the light, fluffy type of snow, we would have had around 5 feet! We didn't get light and fluffy...we got heavy, wet, hard to shovel, dangerous to drive in snow. The storm caused a ton of damage to our property and most everywhere else it touched. The tree in our front yard was broken apart. A branch fell on a car (luckily, no damage to the car); branches fell on our fence; there is a lot to clean up. We were among a lucky few that didn't really lose power (just a few blinks here and there). Thousands of people were with out power, heat or water.

 
Day 1

 
Day 3...it's crazy that it snowed for another day after this was taken!

 the broken tree

It was Liam's second venture out into the snow. (His first was just before Christmas and he didn't enjoy that experience too much.) He loved playing in the snow this time! We gave him a big spoon to "scoop" the snow. When it was time to go inside, Liam really turned on the water works! He would've stayed out there all day if we let him.
 
Getting ready to go outside

 
With his "scoop"

 
Double "scoops" 

 

 

24 February 2010

It's all coming together

Everything is set...
We have an address, the movers are scheduled, and the plane tickets for Liam and I have been booked!
Chris went yesterday to check out our house. It's in the first group of homes on the street, about 4 blocks from the library, and close to the BX and commissary. I am really excited. He took these two pictures, which I of course forwarded to everyone I know.

Yes, there was snow in San Angelo. These were taken around 2 in the afternoon and by dinnertime, the snow was pretty much gone.

I also made our first BIG purchase for the house. A 42" Panasonic Plasma TV!
Panasonic VIERA C1 Series TC-P42C1 42-Inch 720p Plasma HDTV

It was my "housewarming, thanks for working so hard and making the money to buy this" present for Chris. It was shipped out today and should be here by March 1st at the latest. I spent a couple of weeks researching. I compared LCD vs. plasma. And looked at prices and sizes and learned all sorts of stuff I never wanted to know about TVs.

I also went shopping for couches today with my mom and Liam. I really thought I had found a nice pair, but we hadn't planned on buying new couches (I've been scouring Craigslist for weeks) and they were twice the amount we had set aside in our budget. So we made the decision to cancel the order and go with a small used (but excellent condition) sectional I found across town on Craigslist. I definitely think it's the right choice. We still need to buy a washer and a dryer when we get down there and by staying in our budget we won't have to skimp on those.

Speaking of Craigslist, I have also been looking for little things for Liam to have in the new house. I found this giant Elmo chair!
Elmo Giggle & Shake Chair by Marshmallow

He is going to be crazy over it. The lady even threw in an Elmo throw pillow which I let Liam have in his bed now.

And because we chose to stay in the budget with the couch, I think I may reward myself with a food processor...and maybe a few little decorative things...we'll have to wait and see.

With just a little over two weeks until we are on our way to Texas, I am still in a state of disbelief that this is finally happening. And really, with such short notice, I don't think it will feel real until we arrive at Goodfellow and get the keys to our house.

20 February 2010

Weekend Getaway

Last weekend, Liam and I flew down to San Antonio. We had planned this trip before Chris' orders to Goodfellow came through, so he rented a car and met us down there. Chris said the drive wasn't too bad-only 3 hours.

On Saturday, we took Liam to the San Antonio Zoo. It was a great zoo; we were pleasantly surprised! The zoo was enormous. We actually didn't get to see all of it. We made it through half in about two hours-we saw all of the major animals: lions, elephants, giraffes, zebras, etc, as well as some rarer species. It was a really nice day out and Liam had a blast. He loved to wave to the animals and say, "Bye!" as we moved on from each exhibit. In the evening, we tried to go out to eat, but apparently everyone in San Antonio had the exact same idea. Every restaurant had an hour and a half wait or longer!! It was crazy. After driving around for over an hour searching for a restaurant with availability, we ended up at the County Line BBQ.
The hostess gave a wait time of 45 minutes. Not even close. We waited twice as long. Liam was a complete angel-so well-behaved. The food was good, but it was 9pm by the time we ate and we were so tired we just wanted to go to sleep (Liam actually fell asleep before we had finished eating). Oh well.

On Sunday, we met up with Chris' grandma, Eve. We went to the Puerto Rican restaurant that she loves. It has amazing food. We got the buffet and I was glad we did because Liam ate pretty much my entire first plate of rice and a ton of my second plate. We would have loved to go back to the zoo after lunch and finish the other half, but it was beyond crowded. So instead, we took Liam to a playground. He thoroughly enjoyed himself. Liam climbed through the structure and slid down the slides. I can't believe how well he can maneuver himself now. It's cliche, but he is growing up too fast.
For dinner, instead of braving the crowds, we ordered Cheesecake Factory takeout. It was a delicious meal to celebrate our anniversary and Valentine's Day.

Unfortunately, Chris had to go back to base mid-day on Monday. Liam and I went to lunch with him and then he had to get on his way. Saying goodbye hasn't gotten any easier. In the evening, Liam and I had the hotel shuttle take us over to the mall. We just window shopped and got pizza. Liam had fun running around the Disney store and watching the fountains.

It was a great weekend. Seeing Liam with his Daddy made me understand how completely important it is that we move across the country to be with him. Liam needs his Daddy everyday (and I need my husband!). The past 6ish months have been long. I know they will be worth it in the end, but I am ready for the long distance to be finished.

Liam and I flew back to New York on Tuesday. Liam seemed a bit sick again, the traveling is definitely taking it's toll. The poor guy. He had a well visit scheduled for Wednesday, but we ended up changing it to a sick appointment. He had a fever of 102 and was diagnosed with bronchitis. Geez! What a winter this guy has had! The doctor prescribed antibiotics and he's got one dose left, and hopefully, this is the last illness we have for a long time.

Together again...almost

So we have our move all set up with TMO (Transportation Management Office). The second week in March, they will come and pack up our stuff at the house and take everything out of storage and ship it down to San Angelo. Liam and I will ship the car and fly down a few days later. And hopefully, not long after we arrive, our TMO shipment and our car will be delivered. I'm so excited about everything finally coming together. Now I've got to start shopping for living room furniture. I can't wait to go shopping with Chris to pick out all of the decorative odds and ends. For Liam's room, I have already found a cute area rug with roads on it and a plush Elmo chair-he's going to go crazy when he sees it! Chris has a shopping trip planned for us to pick out new linens for our bed once we get down to Texas. Besides new comfy sheets, I'd really like to get a nice quality quilt-not a comforter. I really cannot wait!

11 February 2010

To begin at the beginning...

Becoming an Air Force family has been a long journey for us. Chris began the enlistment process in 2007. Finally after many obstacles, he left for Basic Military Training (BMT) at Lackland AFB, San Antonio, Texas, in October 2009. He graduated with honors in December 2009. Chris began the indoc. course for pararescuemen immediately after completing BMT. In January 2010, he learned that the pararescue career field was not for him. After about six weeks in "student out of training" ("SOT") status, Chris was reclassified. His new career field led him to Goodfellow AFB, in San Angelo, Texas. The training will last approximately six months. The length of this tech school qualifies for an accompanied assignment; that means that Liam and I are moving to the middle-of-nowhere, west Texas in a few weeks. I'm excited, but stressed at the same time. There's so much to do and not very much time before all of it has to be done. I know that this is going to be great for our family; Chris and Liam have been really missing out on each other.