Girls' night in...

Today I feel like I got a lot accomplished, but I cannot seem to find out what. I did get the deadbolts put in the doors and that was surely turned into a job. I hired a locksmith out to get the job done, but I realized I could change one deadbolt by myself - after all the door was already drilled for a latch one. So I ran to THAT store and got the right deadbolt, came home and swapped it out. Then I decided to put the old one in another door, and the door knob from door number two in door number three. Then the door knob in number 3 went in the trash - with only two extra screws. Yes, N, I know where the extra parts go. I actually started a drawer for that, ya know? You are right! How do I get myself into these situations? My molehills keep turning into mountains! My locksmith added two deadbolts and I changed 3 doorknobs.

Raelee and I needed some time together. I don't think we have had much time since the boys were here and papa left. So I asked her if she would like to spend the night. It just so happened she was excited about the idea. So...

She scrapbooked these pages with granny...




I did her weekly manicure (she is in to PATT-a-renz now)
...and boy is she in to some colors! I think her Joe is going to dunk tomorrow!

We read piles of books, and I do mean piles. I did not take a picture of them because it might scare the average person away :-) Library day is tomorrow, so we had 9 to read. However, it is after we read those 9 and a few more that she told me she had already read some of them. Maybe granny should have asked before, but we had a giggly good night reading, scrapping and manacuring. We were flat out laughing at her choice of colors.
And finally at midnight, she went to bed - on papa's side of the bed! Then she came in quiet and sad and said "I need to sleep in my bed." I asked her why and she said she was afraid I would push her out of bed! I have never done that and told her she was thinking of the wrong grandma (hehe), there IS a story here. She thought about it a minute and said, "I just need to sleep in my bed." When she asked for more covers, she asked for her mom's unicorn blanket. I have no earthly idea where that is right now, so she said, "ok, with papa's blanket."

After we got her all snuggled in, I realized she missed her papa and sleeping on his side of the bed is not as fun if he is not there to bicker with her. I went back in and told her I was going to take a picture of her to send to her papa with his blanket and her eyes lit up - so her she is papa :-) Missing you but cuddled in your blanket. We both miss you.

Mission Accomplished...

Well, almost! I have sorted pictures for two days. My car has not even left the driveway! I finally got it down to 1.5 shoe box full of pictures not sorted. GO ME! I might feel like doing it in a day or two, but not today. I have sorted 17 hours today. I sorted 16 hours yesterday. But I got it so close to done... rofl...

I put them safely in the safe. Now I can rest a bit. I think my pictures are important, but I think my genealogy stuff is too important to take a chance on loosing. I have original family documents from the 1800's! My sister has copies, but as you know, they are not the originals. I have always worried about them. Now I don't have to. At least they have some protection. You can even see I have some room left. Don't worry - it is spoken for.

I had a horrible thought today about leaving for Singapore. Steve said about the only American TV we will get is CNN. Now I am not a fan of CNN anyway, but I realized I am going to miss all our favorite shows! Not to mention any new favorites from the fall lineup. Guess they won't become my new favorites... 

I am still wrapping my mind around all of this. How different life is going to be. How very different.

Shame on Me!

What I am working with now....

 

Tubs I started with - FULL!

Just a few left :-)

I have put off sorting these pictures for years. We used to have drawers under our bed (think waterbed style - with no waterbed) and I had 3 drawers of pictures. When we got a new bedroom suit, I pulled them out of the drawers and piled them neatly in plastic containers. At that time they were sorted. Then I had to dig through them periodically to find one set of pictures and then another... you get the idea. Evenually I got to this mess - to which I tossed in the new ones.


Now I have 'punished' myself until I get this mess sorted. 2 days ago (when my arms were too sore to move) I thought about doing it in boxes with years on them. WOW! What a CONCEPT! This has made my chore so much easier!


I should be finished by today - God willing and the creek don't rise. I will be so glad to have this out from under my belt. One more thing to scratch off my list of things to do.

I have even made envelopes with pictures I need to give away. When I come back, I will go through each box and toss some away, give others away, then either scrap or put them in albums.

Please, please, don't let your pictures get like this!

Ahhhhh, but the memories of where we have been... the heart strings of those people we have left behind... and the ones we have stayed with. 

How we have all changed, grown and ....

... gotten older.

Much Better Today :-)

Thanks for all the thoughts and prayers. I feel much better today than I did yesterday. I am tired already, but that is probably normal.

I am working through paperwork to take to Singapore and trying to get all of my bills moved over to bill pay. I hope it all works out. I won't have the mail forwarded, but I need to have everything in place to be able to pay everything on line.

Steve called a bit ago. Dallas and him have been looking for an apartment. Dallas will probably get one in the same place we do. All of the non-furnished ones they looked at today were between S$4000 - S$4600 a month! The S in front of the money means Sing Dollars - which is more than our dollars. 

One sing dollar compares to 73 cents here. So I guess that means prices there would be 25% (roughly) more. YIKES!!

Steve and Dallas went to eat supper tonight. He said each got a rack of ribs and 2 beers - for a total of S$133.00 

Gosh, sounds like a lot of money. Are we spoiled here or are they overcharging there? Probably a bit of both...

5 Hours Later...

My left arm hurts like he#!

My right arm hurts like he*!

My left hip hurts like he@!

My right hip hurts like he#!


I got 10 shots. 11 innoculations. I was wrong. I could not figure out why both hips were hurting - and then I thought about it. Wait! I DID get a shot in each hip. I looked at his papework, he has checked off 11 - one was to be given with another. I looked at the charges. I was charged for 2 less than I got 9. I KNOW I got the Hepatitis A & B and I was not charged for it. I will take that up with the office Monday - because I know I got the shots and they did not mark my international immunization record. Ugh.

I don't ever want this many shots again. Whoever thinks it is ok for kids to get half a dozen shots at once should have to get them first.


I walked hoping it helped the soreness. It didn't. It made me hot and miserable - and sore. Oh wait. I was sore before I started.


My focus: The reward is in the end product. I get to be with Steve.

(I found out later that I did not need all these shots if I was only going to be in Singapore.  However, Singapore is so easily accessible to the rest of Asia and so many third world countries, I was glad I had taken them all.)

NINE shots!

Well actually, I had 10 innoculations today, but thankfully, only 9 needles. 'Thankfully', used as a tongue in cheek statement. However, I guess I can say that thankfully I did not get TEN. I got 8 shots in my arms and 1 in my backside.

This is my first round of innoculations against every creepy crawly around apparently. As I was so graciously paying my $605 fee, a man behind me (staring at my pin cushions... errr... arms) said "I only had to have TWO and I am going to Africa! Where are you going??" To which I replied, "Singapore and Korea". He snickered and said, "Oh yes, those were my shots from several years ago. Asia has ALL the creepy crawlies. Good luck sleeping tonight - Asia shots were rough for me."

Thanks buddy for the vote of comfort.

I had just recieved a 30 minute "instruction speech" from "Dr Bob", whoever the heck HE is. He read me the riot act of what TO do and what NOT to do - and how to be prepared if I got the flu. He said to assume it IS the bird flu and demand the magic potion to cure me - it was better to be safe than sorry. He also advised me on the 'coat of spray armour' (special repellent) they sell at Wal Mart for protecting clothes (?!) from mosquitoes with strict instructions to be buy it and USE it. It is bought. I feel safe. haha.

And as I politely walked out of "Dr Bob's" office, he followed me with his printed stack of 14 pages of what I need to read and memorize before departing our great country. He also reminded me of the follow-up boosters I will need to take in 1 week and 5 weeks.

Yeah, this is going to be fun.

30 Years Ago Today...

4 Days Old

30 years ago today, a beautiful young girl came into my life. That young lady made me feel total and complete. I was loved unconditionally, depended on for life, smiled at on a whim - and she took my breath away. I realized God blessed me with this wonderful young person to raise and cherish - and oh, what a responsibility I felt to do it right.

She was absolutely beautiful. She was 9 lbs, 15 oz! A real chunky, dunk considering I was only 87 lbs when I got preggy with her. She had a very, tiny cry - and only when she needed anything did she use it. She was a 'good' baby from the moment she came into our lives. If she was hungry or her diaper was wet she let us know. Otherwise, she was content. Stephenie grew into a loving little girl; very soft hearted and caring.

She rarely did any thing wrong and crocodile tears whelled up when she was corrected. Soft corrections were much better for her than stern ones. She was always worried about others and was always thinking of ways to make others smile.

She carried her teddy bear "beah" with her every place she went. She offered beah to others if they were hurt. She offered beah to me if I was hurt. She was such a loving and giving young lady - and one that has grown into a wonderful adult with a child of her own.

As I look back, I realize I made a lot of mistakes when she was growing up. After all, she was growing up with her mom. Having her so young gave me a huge disadvantage in some ways - but in others I think it helped us. We had picnics in the back yard. We cooked silly pizza's with faces on them. We cut sandwiches with cookie cutters and threw away the crusts. We cooked cookies and cakes for the silliest things We planted a garden and harvested food together. Surely, not many mom's played 'toot toot and go 'round - but I did :-) We built tents using chairs, tables and whatever else we could find to make it stay up - and we slept in them! We played dress up and make up and even used mommy's heels. We took bubble baths with lots of bubbles, cooked supper together for daddy - and we snuggled in hospital beds and colored. 

Sometimes, we even cleaned up after ourselves. We always found time to play - even if I was not a good housekeeper or cook, and even if I was not the best mom around - I always found time to be a kid - with my little girl. 

I have long since forgiven myself for my mistakes. I finally realized I did something right to have such awesome kids. I see them doing some of the same things with their own kids that I did with them. Some things they never forget - even if they think it was their own idea, they probably learned it from someone. It is nice to think sometimes, maybe that someone was me. 

I miss the hugs she used to so generously give, but she will never loose the caring compassion she was born with, her quiet private nature; nor will she ever loose being wise beyond her years. Of course, I still get to see her through a mom's eyes - so there is not much she does wrong. I may be looking through rose colored glasses, but she still makes my world twirl. Somewhere along the way, she grew up. But to me, she will always be my little girl. 

I love seeing the sparkle in her eyes when she looks at her little girl now that she is 'all grown up'. I could not be more proud of my daughter than I am right now

Stephenie, I love that you are old enough to think through what is best for her, and even though I wasn't - I don't regret the time we had. We might not have done it 'right', but we did it and we had fun.

Seal every moment you have with pR in your memory; for she too will grow up. I love you. Happy Birthday.

How Long Does it Take to Change a Door Knob?

5 minutes to remove the old one - after all, I had to find the screwdriver.

2 minutes to remove the new one from the plastic.

3 minutes to figure out where the extra piece went - it went in the trash. Who needs it?

and 5 minutes to install the new one! It works perfectly!

Now if I had just done that, I would have gotten everything else done today that I needed to.

Instead

I kilzed the door. I painted the door. I painted the trim. I painted the crown molding (is that what puny little strip is called?)

THennnn, I took the curtains down on the window in the shower. Who the heck puts a window IN A SHOWER - and more imporantly one that faces the main street in front of your house??

Can you imagine the silhouettes neighbors could see? Haha, I have frosted glass, then blinds, then shower curtains over that window. Silhouettes don't happen. Unless, of course the kids...

Nope. They wouldn't do that.

Would they?

I sanded and painted the window sill. I painted the trim. I got this crazy whim to paint the crap cabinet in there that we keep wanting to replace - still need to finish THAT hairbrained idea.

Needless to say, that 15 minute door knob? It took an entire day to change it - and I still have to finish painting the cabinet.

Family and guests will not get locked in the bathroom again - my all day door knob project actually left me with a working door knob! Gosh, kids, don't you wish I had done this when you were little?

GO ME! I am still wondering what that extra piece was all about...

Starting Today...

I need to have a real focus and concentrate on getting ready to go to Singapore. There are some things I need to really learn, some things I need to work on, and some things I need to do to get ready at home so I can leave long term.

Today, I am setting some goals:

1 hour of personal time (walking and birdwatching)
1 hour of Singapore enrichment
1 hour of Photography enrichment
1 hour of Home Improvements
1 hour of Business (setting up bill paying, notifying credit cards, getting Dr appointments, getting perscriptions refilled, etc)
1 hour of family time (Steph and family, Jeremy and family, Liz, Danny, Shari, Steve...)
I will do this in whatever means I need to, personal, e-mail, pictures and phone conversations)

6 hours a day to get ready for a new life.

Thought for today: Steve called 30 hours after he left to tell me he had finally made it to the Singapore airport. He was exhausted.

Reality is starting to set in.

If It Wasn't for the Last Minute...

I wouldn't get anything done! Raelee loves shopping at the Dollar Tree for anyone having a birthday. Cheap stuff and fun for a 5 year old. We went shopping for Papa's birthday and she tossed this in the basket and said "papa needs this", not having a clue what it was or what it said. I told her to wait a minute (I had not read it yet), but once I read it I said, "yeah, papa DOES need that."

This statement fits my hubby perfectly! He is a procrastinator; a MOWgrastinator, SHAVEcrastinator, TRAVELcrastinator and a PACKcrastinator. He is infamous for waiting until the last minute to do anything. Granted he works very well under pressure, but I don't. I start packing weeks in advance, he packs minutes in advance. I get tickets months in advance, he gets them the night before - even for a 'round the world trip. Got the idea?
 

Last night did not go as planned. I anticipated a nice quiet evening watching tv and relaxing. I cooked a nice pot roast for us, knowing it will be the last 'home cooking' he will have for a very long time. Once we get to Singapore, our lives take new changes - and menus will be one of the largest changes we will go through. Anyway, he cleaned his shop for the truck to go in it, put the truck in it, picked up things he needed to before leaving, and we ate. By the time he got to packing it was 10:30pm. We got to bed after 12:30 - finally after packing, showering and getting everything by the door ready to walk out while half asleep. It was not a nice, quiet evening.

We had to get up at 3:30am. My favorite saying when I don't want to do something like get up is BAH HUMBUG! Man, did I say that this morning! We got up, fumbled through getting ready and out the door. We did not talk on the way, and if he looked at me I started to cry. Not a good start to a crummy day.

At the airport, we ate beignets, said our goodbyes and yes I cried some more. My stomach was rolling as it has been for a week. This did not help it.

He got in the "Elite" line (read quick) and went through the security gates. As he did, I looked down and saw a bag under the dividing lines in the normal line - unattended. Mind you the normal line for security was very long and the bag was near the front. I watched it for a few moments, and realized - THERE WAS REALLY NO ONE WITH THIS BAG!! Just as I went to say something to the guard, someone else beat me to it. Security encompassed it immediately and started clearing people. A man from the back of the line came to the front and asked what the problem is... and claimed the bag saying he was watching it the entire time. Yeah, right. He was 25 feet away and there were dozens of people between it and him - there was no way he could have seen it. 

I got to see 6 stern guards take the man and the bag away. Just as all this began, I got to see a last glimpse of my hubby. I don't know what happened with all of that fiasco, but I was glad to hear Steve made it to Houston safely. This is not how I wanted our last 24 hours to go.

Anyway, if it wasn't for the last minute last night, Steve would still be here today. He is such a last minute guy - and that is one of the very few things about him that annoys me. I shake my head in disbelief (with my tummy in knots) while I wait for him to get to "the last minute"... rofl...

I keep thinking about today. He has been traveling now for 13 hours and still has not made it to Japan. After he makes it there, waits through his layover, he still has hours to fly to get to Singapore. I will be doing this in a month. How does he do it? How will I do it?

We are literally going to be over a half a world away. I thought the world was getting smaller... now I realize it is not. Even with fast planes we will still be more than a day away from home. There is a 14 hour time difference. Singapore is 14 hours ahead of Louisiana. We will be snoozing at the end of tomorrow, when you are just opening your eyes to it. Geeez.
 

Need a prayer today - and a hug...

We just finished shipping boxes to Jeremy and to Singapore. The boxes to Singapore are the manuals Steve needs and 3 books I wanted. It was $1200!! YIKES!


Jeremy will have his toybox, trucks and Lego's that he grew up with. I hope he gets to step on a few like we did when he was little. That only cost $200 to mail - the rest was Steve's Singapore 'stuff'. And he says *I* have stuff.


Now that we are down to being together the last few hours for more than a month, I am starting to get weepy. Our lives are changing. I am not good at change - and I am really not good at it alone. I have tons to do before my trip to Seattle and then on to Singapore, but that does not change what is getting ready to be the biggest change of my life. 


I have never been outside of the USA (except Juarez Mexico - does that count?) and I am getting ready to go halfway around the world to a new country, with out my hubby, clearing customs, not to mention a 20 hour flight. Trying to make sure I have nothing that will get me in trouble in another country terrifies me. Yeah, I am scared right now. Yes, I miss him already. We are supposed to be settling in now for 'the good times'. 


Can someone tell me please - when does that happen?

The Motel Room - Broke :-(

For years we used our camper regularly. Since Steve has been working this job, we can never plan a vacation, because his jobs are so intense he cannot plan dates for taking a job. So our once very used camper has become an extended part of our house - a motel room. When we have a huge amount of people come and we cannot put them all in the house, we open 'motel Bryant'. 

This visit, as the guys went to open it - it did not open. Jeremy and Steve were doing it together for old times' sake. However, it has set so long it broke when the guys went to put the top up.

Sooo.... they improvised. They took 2x4's (see them on the corners?) and inched it up until they had it at full height, then stabilized it with the 2x4's. Steve decided after the family left he would fix it. Yesterday we worked on fixing it. *sigh*

I walk in the camper and I can *smell* all the vacations and adventures we have taken in it. It has been so many places with us that is makes me sad to see it sitting - or even being used as a motel room. Anyway, we nearly have it fixed and working again, but the rain has set in. We cannot put it down until it is dry. Steve leaves on Tuesday morning for his new adventure in Singapore. I hope we can get it down and secured before he leaves.

Anyway, it is sad to see it sitting, not vacationing with us - and more sad that it is deteriorating while we continue to hope we will eventually get to go camping again. Maybe it will happen. Until then - I hope someone uses it.

Off to get some more things ready for the adventure - packing the safe with important papers. Steve has assured me that he will help since he has anchored it in the concrete and I cannot drop it on him again. 

UGH! Men!

Learning Asian Countries

Well, since I am going to be living there, I decided I need to know the countries surrounding me. I went online and got a map to give myself a test. Whew! Did I need work! I started out with 48 of 96, but after much practice, I just got 93 of 96! I might get this yet! I took the test about 10 times and tomorrow - I am going to ACE it! lol... what a goal!

Here is a link in case you want to try: http://www.lizardpoint.com/fun/geoquiz/asiaquiz.html

If you take the asiaquiz.html off, you can get a chance to try all the different countries of the world! Yeah... I will try that SOMEday. I need to figure out where I am going to be living for now.

Steve and I had some great news today! He went for a chest/lung CAT scan with/without contrast and WHOOO HOOOO! Very little signs of Emphysema - and they said it was so little, the considered it a 'normal' CAT scan! 40 years of smoking and after 6 months NOT smoking he is LOOKING GOOD! I am so darned proud of those results it is crazy! He is going to be with me a very long time :-)

Except... I almost killed him today. See that safe above? We went and got this huge 850 lb safe to store some important things while we are overseas. While offloading it from the truck, I was scared to death it would fall, so, I had the cell phone in my pocket just in case. Thankfullly it didn't. Two women even stopped walking to come ask us if we needed help. We did, but said no thanks. We needed 4 good sized men. We had us. We left after we (him and I) got it off the truck - yeah THAT was fun. While we were gone, I put the cell phone in my purse.

We came back, and were in the process of taking it off the pallet and lo and behold the pallet broke. THE SAFE FELL ON HIM! He was on his knees working with the pallet, and saw it coming. Thank GOD he thinks quickly, because he turned for it to fall on his back. 850 freaking pounds on him and I had to manhandle it with no phone, no way to let go, nothing in reach to help me prop it so it didn't fall more - and no way to pick it up.

God gave me the strength to lift it enough for him to help, because there is no way I could have done it myself. I am SO thankful we made it through that incident to get that good news phone call.

It could have been SO much worse! I can just see me calling 911 and telling them my husband is a pancake - he has a safe on top of him - send LOTS of people :-( Thankfully that did not happen. Gosh, it was so terrifying!

God is with us - watching over us and giving us blessings. I will take that as a good sign.

Saying Goodbyes :-(

It is always difficult to say goodbyes. Cheyenne, Jeremy, Marcus and Aedan left today. We loaded in "papa's Dodge Ram - BIG Dodge Ram" as Aedan calls it, and headed for the airport. Once there, we casually visited and let the children play with a wire and bead toy they had. When it was time to get in line, all was ok - until Aedan realized he was leaving granny and papa here. He raced back from the line and was bawling! When he looked up at me with that sad face, I wanted to snatch him back and take him back to granny and papa's.

He loves home though and once he gets back, he will settle right in again - until he sees a "DODGE RAM! That is a little Dodge Ram - papa has a BIG DODGE RAM!"

Ahhh, the memories! When he opened our DVD drawer when he first got here, Aedan screamed "THEY HAVE CARS!!" Papa says he will never think of Aedan again without hearing him scream at the top of his lungs "THEY HAVE CARS!!" like he thought we lived in the dark ages.

Surprise, we don't!

Mmmm Good!

There is something special about looking at all three of your grandkids at one time - and something even more special looking at them enjoying papa's bbq. Papa makes his own BBQ sauce - a little from a recipe and some adaptions here and there for his very own flare! It is the best bbq sauce - evah! It takes him a few hours to get it made, but it is well worth it!

Can you tell the kids love Papa's BBQ sauce as much as we do?

Singapore Average Temps

For a girl that doesn't like heat, here is what I am loooking at:

Singapore Monthly averages


January Avg Low: 76° Avg High: 86°
Avg Precipitation: 7.77 in


February Avg Low: 76° Avg High: 88°
Avg Precipitation: 3.23 in


March Avg Low: 77° Avg High: 89°
Avg Precipitation: 5.02 in

April Avg Low: 78° Avg High: 90°
Avg Precipitation: 4.98 in


May Avg Low: 78° Avg High: 89°
Avg Precipitation: 5.41 in


June Avg Low: 78° Avg High: 89°
Avg Precipitation: 4.01 in


July Avg Low: 78° Avg High: 88°
Avg Precipitation: 5.13 in


August Avg Low: 78° Avg High: 88°
Avg Precipitation: 4.46 in


September Avg Low: 77° Avg High: 88°
Avg Precipitation: 4.99 in


October Avg Low: 77° Avg High: 89°
Avg Precipitation: 4.82 in


November Avg Low: 76° Avg High: 87°
Avg Precipitation: 8.19 in


December Avg Low: 75° Avg High: 86°
Avg Precipitation: 8.88 in


Sucks to be me :-(


I keep telling myself, "one island surrounded by lots of little islands" and I get to island hop! Since I have always wanted to see the deep blue sea, I hope there is lots of deep blue sea surrounding it.


I talked to a man the other day that said Singapore is like the Carribean. Steve and I were going on a cruise to the Carribean for our 30th anniversary but it didn't happen. Now we are going to live in a similar place - so maybe that is a gift. I hope it works out that way.


Still very nervous. Still trying to see the bright side of it all. 

Not working.

Who Eats Marshmallows?

Jeremy, Cheyenne, Marcus and Aedan are here! We went on a swamp tour with them - a nice relaxing time. I took extra marshmallows - just in case!
Jeremy and Cheyenne did not eat them :-(


Marcus, Raelee and Aedan loved to eat the marshmallows! But they found out soon why we had to save them so we had LOTS or marshmallows :-)


Because GATORS LOVE THEM! Gators will break their necks trying to get to the sweet puffs! The kids had a blast feeding the gators and boy did we get to see gators! Lots and lots of them out on this hot Louisiana summer day! Great tour Antoine - we had fun! Thanks for taking us to 'gatorville.

CRAZY Days Like This Don't Just Happen!

My friends' 17 year old daughter wrecked her mom's car on Sunday. She was on the way to Baton Rouge for an orientation at the college there. Her fault - she ran in to the back of another car. Thankfully, everyone was ok. The other persons trailer hitch COVER was messed up adn that was it. Mom didn't fare so well; her car was caved in, radiator busted and well, it just looks awfully nasty. 

Today Todd and Steve went to haul it home on a trailer to save her a little bit of money. They get to and from the salvage yard where it was (about 50 miles each way) with the car tucked safely on the trailer. 

They were less than 3 miles from the shop they were taking it to and a pickup truck ran a stop sign, hit the trailer hard enough to rock the car back and forth, cause it to hit the L-beams on the trailer and leaving hefty scratches and dents in both sides of the car. Not only is the front of the car messed up now, both sides of her car are and Todd's trailer has a nasty looking fender and the tire and wheel are shot.

The crummy thing is, she will be dealing with 2 insurance companies now - one her daughter's fault and the other the other driver's fault. I am glad it is her - not me. I am more glad everyone is fine.

What a nutty day.

Birthday's

As you get older, birthdays are less important. Steve and I try to make them seem important, but they just aren't. By the time you get to our age, you seldom need anything so even buying for one another just isn't as easy. We also think in terms of storing it, packing it or getting rid of it now.

Since we are moving, we don't want a bunch of things to have to move, and since we are getting older, we don't want a bunch of things to have to ditch - or better yet for the kids to ditch when we pass on. Both of us are now within 10 years of when our parents died. How weird that sounds, but it is true. Time to start thinking ahead...

However, Raelee thought papa's birthday was special. She loves going to the Dollar Tree and purchasing gifts for whoever is having a birthday. Today it was papa. She really thought things through - then decided he needed bbq-ing supplies. It is always wonderful to see the magic in a child's eyes to bring back sweet memories of years past. 

The sparkle grandkids give us makes us want to take really good care of ourselves so we can be around forever to see them grow. 

Happy Birthday Papa, I hope you enjoy that chocolate/chocolate/chocolate cake that pR bought you - and I hope you love chocolate as much as your baby does.

Finding Communication

Ok, so we are going to Singapore.

My first fear is loosing track of the happenings with friends and family while we are there. Don't get me wrong, I know they will continue to live life and function perfectly fine without me. It is ME that wants to keep in touch with them. So I started looking at phone plans.

Yes, my current cell phone is a world phone (surprise to me!), but at several dollars a minute with AT&T, that ain't happening. Most plans I found were with me calling other countries - not living in another county calling the US.

When I asked Steve about it, he said most people there use SKYPE, so I googled it. Not sure about that yet - still need to do some reading and researching, but it seems to be internet tied. I am not really thrilled about that either.

I started searching for other alternatives. I googled (and found) a moving to Singapore site and read that someone took their Vonage phone from the US to Singapore and it works just like local calls, and only costs 2 cents a minute. Need to do more checking into this, but it sure sounds handy!  (Found out later - way to go!  LOVED it!)

There are so many things to consider with this move. Connecting with family is the most important to me. Of course I know I can e-mail, but hearing voices... there is no comparison!

I will continue to research this - does anyone else have suggestions?

Our Good News and Bad News

This is for real. Steve and I have been waiting on our transfer orders since they closed the Berwick shop.

The good news is we know where we will be working now.
The bad news it is Singapore – for at least the rest of this year.

The good news is I will finally be able to… travel?
The bad news is I will be gone and my family (and friends) will still be here.

The good news is I will be able to go with him.
The bad news is I can’t go for 2+ months – prior commitments.

The good news is he will be paid out of the US so we won’t have to sell our house yet – and it won’t mess up our retirement.
The bad news is what do we do with our house and/or belongings while we are there?

The good news is they use public transportation there.
The bad news is figuring out what to do with our vehicles here while we are there.

The good news is the company will be paying some of our living expenses there.
The bad news is we will not be living here but still paying our living expenses here to keep the house running.

The good news is we will not be here during the worst part of hurricane season.
The bad news is we will be a bazillion miles away if anything does happen this way. (I couldn’t find the real distance).

The good news is I am still absorbing it all and it has not sunk in yet.
The bad news is I am sure it WILL sink in… lol…

Hugs,
Euvah *who is doing her best to suck it up and think of it as an adventure. Not working. Yet.

Some people...

Ok, you are still being a turkey. Can't you let me get just ONE picture of you not telling me where I should put my camera?

I guess I will just publish you looking like I always see you from the other end of my lens. Here ya go, smile - you are published. Now everyone else gets to see what I get to see! rofl...

We lost our Lady today

I called Steve this morning and found out we lost Lady during the night. We were on our way to Animal Kingdom on the bus when I found out. I cried for almost 2 hours. It is so sad to loose a furbaby. I know she lived a long life, but I will miss her terribly. I don't think I will get another furbaby. Until our life settles down, we just cannot do them justice. They say "All dogs go to Heaven" and I hope that is true. I would love to have her back warming my feet. 

Good night Lady Lu. I am sorry I was not here for you. I know daddy took good care of you, but I wish I had been here with you.

Raelee's Birthday :-)

 

What does a five year old look like when she is in Disney World celebrating her birthday? Here is a great shot of her excitement!

 

She was so special the barber shop quartet sang Happy Birthday to her. I bet this will be a birthday she will remember for years to come. We all had a great time spending Raelee's Birthday wish with her. She decided she will have to wait a long, long time before she can go back - like when she is six. I hate to tell her, she might be a teen when we can all afford to go again! We sure had a blast though! 

Thank you Miss Raelee for wishing upon a star. There still is magic in the world. :-)