Caught a snowflake on my tongue 30 January 2011

Well, folks.  It’s that time again.  My time here in Rhode Island is now at an end.  I admit I am very sad; Rhode Island has really grown on me.  Initially the accent grated on me, but now I find it almost charming.  I still will never drop my r’s or add them where they don’t belong (Korea = Korear but career = careah), but that’s the southern in me.  Can you just imagine mixing a good ol’ southern accent with the Rhode Island one?  That way spells trouble, I am sure.  Not to mention a split personality.

I admit I am pretty much stressed out of my mind.  I really shouldn’t be; I’m not the one who’s doing the packing.  I’m so worried about how much stuff we have, but then I look around and realize I’ve done a very good job of purging over the last three years.  Just today I got rid of three full garbage bags of kids’ clothes that my girls have outgrown, not to mention the changing table that was given us when Grace was born.  Their new room in Virginia is a bit smaller, so it was necessary to scale down the amount of furniture there.  Besides, the more furniture you have, the more stuff you will accumulate.  And stuff is my enemy at the moment.

We’re scheduled for two days of pack-out and a day to put everything on the truck.  I’m guessing it won’t take that long.  It took a while when we moved from Washington, mainly because we had the garage packed full of… junk, I guess you could call it.  I’ve done so much purging and getting rid of that Kurt is insistent that we have only a fraction of what we had before.  Most of it’s in boxes anyhow, so theoretically the movers could simply mark it “owner packed” and call it good.  Nothing’s breakable in there anyhow.

I’m hoping that they won’t unpack most of my bins.  Some companies insist on putting everything in a box and carrying the bins empty, while other companies will allow you to keep your bins packed.  Clearly I’m hoping for the latter since it’ll be less work for me on the other side.  But I am not sure yet.  We still haven’t met with the movers, though they usually do a pre-move inspection of our stuff.  I guess it’s kind of clear we don’t have much, and nothing terribly valuable unless you count our Obnoxiously Large TV.  Fortunately they already know about that.

I suppose I should just quit worrying.  I’m at the point where there is very little for me to do anyhow.  I’ve got most of the stuff we’re going to need for the next couple of weeks packed up already.  I just wish I had more information.  It’s still not clear when we’ll be getting our stuff.  It could be as early as Friday of this week, but it has to be delivered no later than Monday of the following week.  I’m hoping for Friday because I really do want to watch the Super Bowl in my own house.  My parents would be fine with me hogging their TV for several hours on Sunday, but I’d rather not have to do that.

I don’t handle transitions well, is the problem.  Once I’m there, I’ll be fine.  And being here, I’m fine.  It’s the getting there that’s the issue.  But I’ll be as positive as I can manage and will everything to go as smoothly as possible.

Hey, at least I don’t have to sell my house or look for a new one once I’m in Virginia.  That’s all taken care of, so I really don’t have much to worry about.

Let’s just keep our fingers crossed that the moving truck doesn’t go up in flames on the way down.  It happened to one of my friends.  She lost everything.  Can you imagine the conflagration all my books would cause if a fire broke out??  Yeeesh.

And now, it’s time to relax, chill out, sip my Scotch ale, and maybe read a little.  Just… breathe.  Breathe I can do, one breath at a time. Starting now.

Get down and go out and just lose it all 19 January 2011

You know what would be nice??  If something would go right in regards to this move.  K just called me to tell me that our leasing company has no record of my signing our 30 days’ notice.  Good thing the woman I talked to made me a copy because I sure as hell did, thankyewverymuch.  Now it looks as though I’m going to have to go back in to the office today.  Joy.

At least the office is right around the corner.  And I have nothing much to do today, aside from straightening the house in preparation for having guests over tonight.

I do have some good news.  I’m getting a new cell phone!  I am ridiculously excited about this, mainly because I am so tired of my current phone. It’s a smartphone, one running Android, which I love.  But the battery life has always been downright awful.  I know smartphones suck battery life, what with their huge screens and all, but my phone is ridiculous.  I pretty much cannot do anything online while I’m away from a charger because my battery drains so quickly.  At that point, what’s the use of having a smartphone?  I could just go back to having a texting phone. Sheesh.

This summer I finally got tired of my phone and called Sprint because I’d sent two text messages and uploaded a photo, which caused my battery to drop to 60%.  Sprint sent me a new battery, but that didn’t solve the problem.  So then I took it in to a Sprint store and they ordered me a replacement phone.  The battery issue seemed to be a bit better on the “new” (i.e., refurbished) phone, but my phone has gone completely non-responsive three times in 24 hours, to the point where I had to pop out the battery to be able to restart the phone.  I’m pretty sure two of those times were a battery issue, but there’s no reason that my battery should die when it was reading 60% before I talked to my mom for 30 minutes.

Last night I called Sprint (and immediately got a human to speak to, and one residing here in the States to boot), and was given several options.  I could: a) take the phone to a Sprint store, where they would probably issue me a “new” (refurbished) phone by the same maker of my current phone, or b) use my upgrade and buy a whole new phone.  I chose option b, even though I shouldn’t really be spending money on a cell phone right now.  During my conversation with the Sprint guy, he told me that phones by the maker of my current phone tend to have a lot of issues, and he confidentially told me that he wouldn’t recommend them to me.  He also told me if I bought my new phone online, I could avoid shipping charges and an activation fee, so it’s not like he was just recommending the expensive phone to get a better commission.

I was hugely impressed by the Sprint guy.  I plan on contacting Sprint and letting them know how awesome he was.

So now I’m getting an HTC Evo.  I admit I have been lusting after this phone since I first saw the commercials for it.  A friend of mine has that phone and adores it.  I have to say, I much prefer Android over iOS4.  I have an iPod, and while it’s not quite the same as having an iPhone, I don’t particularly care for iOS4.  Android gives me a lot more flexibility and control over how I want to arrange my home screen, and I love having widgets available for when I don’t want to open up the full app.  I can even check the current temperature without waking my phone up completely.

I think my old phone knows I’m getting a new phone because now it’s behaving.  It’s still reading a full charge even though I downloaded five updates to my apps this morning, plus sent several texts, plus spoke to K for a short time.  Usually I’d be down to 70% already.  It’s too little too late, though.  I’m definitely eager to get my Evo!

Off to the leasing office now.  Wish me luck.

Not where but what you think that really matters 15 January 2011

Hmm.  A three-month hiatus.  That’s probably the longest I’ve been away from here.

I admit it’s been a difficult winter.  Kurt left just before Halloween to join his new ship in the Mediterranean.  He was worried about leaving me with the girls all winter long, but he’s had some awesome experiences out there.  He was able to visit Israel, Greece, and Turkey — places I couldn’t dream of seeing.  Yes, yes, I know.  I need a passport.  Maybe I’ll do that once I get back to Virginia so that my mom can keep the kids while I go swanning about Europe with my husband.

I like this plan!

Fortunately, I’ve had the support of a few amazing friends here in Rhode Island.  There’s one in particular I could not have done without.  We met almost a year ago, but never exchanged information until I happened to run into her at a store this fall.  We went out to lunch, and have been very close ever since.  Not a day goes by that we don’t at least text each other to check in.  And what’s nice is that my kids love her as much as I do.  In fact, one night last week, ME started fussing, and when I asked her what she wanted, she started crying for my friend.  Good thing she loves kids!  One night a few weeks ago, I had had a rough night with the girls.  Grace wasn’t listening, she was racing around the house after I told her to settle down, and all of a sudden, I hear a huge crash from the playroom.  She came running back into the living room, scared and crying, because she’d broken the lamp.

Come to find out, she hadn’t just broken the lamp.  She had shattered both of the lightbulbs (it was a floor lamp with a reading lamp attached to it), one of which was a CFL bulb.  And the lamp itself was broken beyond repair.  That didn’t really bother me; it was on its last legs anyhow.  It was just how it had happened after such a difficult night with the kids.  I called up my friend and asked if she could possibly come sit with them so I could go to Walmart by myself to replace the lamp and get a breather.  She was there within minutes, and I was able to get out of the house and cool down for a bit.

Unfortunately, I will be saying goodbye to these folks soon.  In about two weeks, I will be headed back to southern Virginia, not far from where this blog started in the first place, almost eleven years ago.  Kurt’s ship is homeported out of Norfolk, you see, and where he goes, I go too.  I admit I am a little disappointed to return to my roots.  I was born there, you see, and spent most of my childhood shuttling between wherever my father was stationed and Norfolk, where my biological mother was living.  It’s very familiar to me, and I figure I’d rather go someplace new if the Navy’s going to pay for it.  I mean, how else did I end up here in Rhode Island, of all places?!

I have really enjoyed my time here.  Rhode Island is a very distinctive state, moreso than anywhere else I’ve lived.  Rhodies have their own accent, their own slang, their own food, their own stores.  Where else can you get coffee milk at any locally own cafe?  I am pretty sure it’s the state drink, and it was even offered for a time at Grace’s school in the cafeteria.  Rhodies even have their own clam chowder, a delicious version that’s based around a clear broth.  I’m a fan of the New England style myself (tomatoes do not belong in clam chowder, sorry), but the Rhode Island version is quite tasty.  I also love that I can traverse the entire state in just an hour or so.  Nowhere is far away when you live in the tiniest state in the Union.

Also my kids are getting the services they need here.  Mary Ellen is receiving three hours of speech therapy a week, and Grace is in a kindergarten/first grade mixed class.  Once we move, ME will most likely lose all her speech therapy services, and the elementary school in Norfolk only offers half-day kindergarten, which would be a huge step back for Grace.  I’m sure it will all work out for the best, but it’s nice to have all of these options here.

But there are also benefits to moving to Norfolk.  For one thing, there are MANY commissaries scattered around the area, and they’re open seven days a week, instead of being closed every Monday like the one here.  Plus I bet I could buy chicken any time I want to, instead of being forced to shop on a Tuesday just to be guaranteed the products I want.  There are Trader Joe’s all over the area, and I’ll finally be in the same state as a World Market.  I’ll also be much closer to my parents, so I’ll be able to head up there on the weekends if I wish.  And I already have friends there, folks we’ve been stationed with before, and people from this area are moving south too.

Maybe one day we’ll find ourselves in Rhode Island again!  I can only hope.