My dad always says that he’s trying to shove ten pounds into a five-pound sack. It’s insane how much we tried to pack into today, yet we managed to get everything but one thing done.
Go, us!
Our day started before 7am this morning. If you’ve been reading me for any length of time, you know that I am not a morning person. Amazingly enough, I was able to fall asleep last night not long after I went to bed. Usually when there’s something I have to do the next morning that involves me getting up at an insanely early hour, I can’t sleep. My mind just races round and round and round, and I can’t shut it off.
The early hour was dictated by Kurt’s re-enlistment ceremony. Yes, folks, he has signed up for another four years of defending our nation against all enemies, foreign and domestic. I couldn’t be prouder, of course, and my heart grew three or four sizes to see him stand up in front of all his buddies and coworkers (a veritable sea of varying shades of blue) and swear allegiance to our great nation. I wish I could have taken photos of the sea of blue, but I was part of the ceremony. The girls were amazingly good, so well behaved and beautiful and sweet. I can’t wait to get the photos back from the official command photographer.
Besides, I had on my new outfit (thrift store — $5 each for blouse and adorable skirt), so I looked awesome. Haha.
After the ceremony, every guy Kurt works with came up to me and assured me that they’d help me with anything I needed while Kurt was out to sea come October. I joked with Kurt later and told him he ought to make up a watch bill for when it snows, so someone would always be available to shovel my driveway. Brilliant! And that’s really all I need. Everything else is taken care of by the housing company.
Kurt hadn’t been able to re-enlist till today because of his schedule and that of his command, which sort of left it till the last minute. Our ID cards expire tomorrow, see, and without IDs we can’t get on base or be covered under our medical insurance. We showed up at the ID office at 2:30 this afternoon and noticed a sign on the door that said they wouldn’t take walk-ins after 3pm.
They still wouldn’t take us, though they didn’t close till 3pm. They won’t start the process of issuing the ID cards that they can’t complete before 3pm, you see. Gotta love government efficiency, and the fact that customer service ends at 3, not 5pm.
*rolls eyes*
So now I have to get up first thing tomorrow to renew my ID card. I am not relishing the idea of dragging my two kids with me to sit for a few hours while the system prints a new card, but it has to be done. You know how people moan about the DMV? Those are people who haven’t had to deal with the DEERS system in getting a new ID. The last card I got before I was married (I was a Navy brat, so I’ve had an ID since I was two), it took a good eight hours, waiting at the DEERS office, to renew my ID. Granted, the DEERS system was going down after every card that was made, requiring a reboot of the entire system, which took a good twenty minutes or so for every reboot. It was insane. But I had to get it; I was going back to college the very next day, so I had no option to come back.
I’m under a time crunch tomorrow too. I just hope nothing goes wrong, but I’m not terribly confident it’ll go smoothly. I have a history of breaking the DEERS system every time I need a new ID. Let’s hope I set a new record tomorrow.
The one thing we did manage to get done today was purchasing new tires. Oh man, how we needed them. I’ve been doing quite a bit of highway driving since we’ve moved here, what with having friends that live hither, thither, and yon. One time I took my friend E up to Massachusetts to visit the Target there, and as I hit 70mph (speed limit on the highway here is 65mph), she freaked out a bit and said, “What is wrong with your van?!” See, it would shake horribly as we’d go over 65 or so, though it would depend on the surface we were driving on. On Sunday I had to take another friend back home to Boston, and I had about an inch of seltzer water left in my can that I hadn’t gotten to yet. Within about five miles or so, it was completely flat from being shaken up so badly.
We had a $70 off coupon for tires at the wholesale club, so off we went. The awesome part about getting new tires on a Wednesday afternoon?? No one is there! We walked right in and were immediately slotted in to have the tires installed. Five hundred dollars later (!!!!), and we were on our way with tires with an actual tread to them. In fact, I can sink the entire tip of my finger into the tread. It’s so lovely. And as we drove down the highway on our way home, Kurt took it up to 75mph for just a moment — and there was no shaking.
YAY!
I can only imagine the horror of the tire installation guys who saw the state of our tires. They were that bad.
As Kurt said, that’s one more check in the box on the Must-Do List before he leaves on deployment. Next up is getting new inspection stickers for both cars, and renewing our base stickers. Of course, we need to get our ID cards first.
Happy September, everyone!
The Mind of Bluesleepy 
I have to admire Kurt for re-upping. There are so many for whom it’s mandatory and they hate being there. It’s pretty amazing to see a man who does it voluntarily. Please thank him for me and for my family. We appreciate all the men and women who help to forge and protect our freedoms.
I hope your “to do” list is getting smaller by now and that the ID cards were easily handled. I think I read on FB that it was a quick chore. I am also so glad that you can stay where you know the people, have friends and know how to get around the area. That should make time go by even more quickly.