The Anatomy of a Mess

"If it ain't a mess, it'll do till the mess gets here."--No Country for Old Men

I have a love/hate relationship with moving.  Part of me finds it exciting and fun.  The other part of me thinks it's one of the biggest pains in the a** challenges a person can experience, especially when there are children involved.  Of course, the most difficult challenge is saying goodbye to friends and, sometimes, family.  Moving is never easy, and moving overseas presents its own set of issues.  One of the most ironic conundrums is the anticipation of receiving household goods.  It takes a good 1-3 months for the prized possessions to travel across the ocean, and the excitement begins to build after living in a hotel or a house without furniture for weeks on end.  Then, the magical day arrives!  The crates are lined up on the truck, and the unloading and unpacking commence.

Having your material life stuffed into big wooden boxes is a bit disconcerting.  Un-stuffing those boxes is downright daunting.  Piles everywhere.  Masses of stuff.  Neverending heaps of paper and cardboard.  The excitement quickly dissolves into dread.  I often plunge into the depths of despair, not knowing where to begin and wondering if there will ever be an end.  

May I present to you a glimpse into moving hell.  This particular version of Hades began in Florida, took a brief sabbatical in Rhode Island, and is still in process on its way to Guam.  When we moved to Rhode Island, we put about 80% of our household goods from Florida in storage because we lived in a furnished house in RI.  While we've already received the items we took to RI, we have yet to receive anything from storage, and we probably won't see anything until the end of September.

Dining room in Florida...will I ever see this stuff again?  Do I want to?

Can't wait to get my bed!

Won't be seeing the piano or the desk in Guam  :(

Crates on the way to storage, truck #1

Movers taking a siesta here in Guam, where we received almost none of the stuff shown above.

The disaster in my new kitchen

Now, you've seen just a snippet of how enjoyable moving is.  I feel like I have been moving for the last 2 years, and I still have more unpacking to look forward to.  Dare I even type the words, but I can't wait to be settled for a while.  Eek!

P.S.  The kitchen looks a lot better now, I promise.

Summah-time

Most mothers of school-age children are counting the days until the kids go back to school, or maybe they've already taken the obligatory first-day-of-school pics and sent them on their way.  I, on the other hand, am one of those crazy moms who actually likes summer.  Yes, I am not looking forward to school starting.  Gasp!  Shriek!  Zoiks!  I know, I've lost my mind, right?  Actually, it really boils down to a little thing called laziness.  I like not having to get up in the morning and quickly herd everyone out the door, barely managing to make the bus on time.  I like not having to pack lunches every.single.day.  I like the relaxed schedule, although summer is sometimes as busy as the school year, but not quite.  I hate the impossibility of school year activities.  There's never enough time, with sports, music lessons, school activities, church activities and homework.  Summer is the crack-free, sober version of the school year.

Now, I didn't say that I love how my adorable angels kids fight.  Or hearing "I'm bored!" 20 times/day.  Or feeling like I have to take them somewhere or do something with them, just so the guilt doesn't set in.  Those are summer travesties I can certainly do without.  I love them dearly, but a break from their ever-so-sweet little faces is definitely nice sometimes.  And, with that, we are going to enjoy the rest of what summer has to offer, even if it is a whole lot of nothing.  Remember that laziness thing?

The Good, the Bad and the Newly Learned

Wondering what it's like in on Guam (that's what you say, since it is an island)?  Being that I've only been here a month, I can only really validly give you my first impressions.  While first impressions do count for a lot, I've also learned over time that they aren't always correct.  Let's just hope the good stay good and the bad....well, they can just do what they will with themselves.  Here goes nothing....The good, the bad and the newly learned:

• It certainly isn't big, but it's big enough.
• The people are very friendly.
• You can see water from just about anywhere, and the beaches, tropical jungles and water itself are beautiful.
• It reminds me of Mexico in a lot of ways.
• The people are very proud of their heritage and culture.
• The locals are some of the nicest people I've ever met....I already said that, didn't I?
• Every car on the island must have a ding, scrape, dent or other impairment of some sort.
• Most things are way overpriced, including cars.
• The weather is hot and humid, although I don't find it to be overly hot.
• You can get sunburned walking to your mailbox.
• My hair hates it.
• I've had the pleasure of visiting the biggest KMart in the world, the Micronesian Mall and the Home Depot on island.  All that's left is Ross.  Hey, that's more than we had in Niceville, FL.
• It takes forever to drive anywhere because the top speed limit is 45 mph.
• The sunsets are amazing.
• Snorkeling is fabulous!  The island is surrounded by reefs.
• I think I've seen just about every Nemo character while snorkeling, minus Bruce, although my friend, Nancy, saw a shark while we were snorkeling.  The rest of us missed it.
• Coral reefs do not feel good on the legs or hands.
• Chickens and boonie dogs....might need to learn to love them.
• Brown tree snakes...wasn't sure they really existed until I spotted one in a trap.  Yes, there are traps everywhere.
• Just like Jamestown, we are on island time, and I'm pretty sure it suits me fine (most of the time...at least for now).
• I like it here and think you should come visit.

Ask me again in a few months, and I may have a different story to tell, but I have to say that life is good here so far.   Good night, good morning, farewell, hafa adai wherever you are!

Told ya so!

OK, OK, OK!  It's been quite a while, but nobody can say that I didn't predict that I would fall short on the whole blogging thing.  I think I might have mentioned that in my very first post.  I often have what I think are amazing ideas for blog posts as I'm driving down the road or sitting in a doctor's office, but those ideas never seem to make it to the computer.  Anyhow, here's a quick update on what's been going on lately....

We are Guamanians!  We landed on Guam precisely 1.5 weeks ago, and I have to say that things have been pretty darned good.  As you know, I was very worried about living here.  I suppose I was mostly worried about the logistics of the move and how it was all going to pan out.  We had a few bumps along the way, but we managed to arrive to an island that welcomed us with a tiny bit of a typhoon and some more than wonderful people at the airport.  We are now neighbors with the airport brigade, and we couldn't be happier.  Yes, we have neighbors, which means we are living in a house!  We moved into our military-issued house about a week ago, after staying in a temporary lodging facility for 4 nights.  This was actually an old base house that I think should be condemned.  Why, you might ask?  For the love of God, that amount of mold and mildew is just not healthy for anyone.  I had to douse the shower with Tilex, but there wasn't a thing I could do about the AC vents.  Not the kind of adventure I enjoy.  

I digress...we're not so sure when we'll get our household goods.  Let's just say that this is the fastest we've ever moved into a house, and this is the absolute, hands down nicest base house I've ever seen or lived in (I've only lived in 2, so that's not saying much after all these years, but I've seen quite a few).  We visited the housing office the day after we arrived, they handed us a key and that was that.  I have to note here that I am not bragging...I'm just in shock, that's all.  It's never worked that way for us....ever.  I'm just acknowledging a wink from God.  

Here's what we've accomplished/discovered so far:

Our new home!

The new "Guam Bomb"

Coconuts!

Our first snorkeling adventure:  Gab Gab Beach

Gab Gab

Girls in love with snorkeling

Breaking all kinds of rules picking up that blue starfish  

Sunset view from our front porch...a site I'm sure we won't get tired of seeing.

I have "Tales from the Trip Crypt" to share....coming soon, so stay tuned.

And the winner is.....

Guam it is, folks.  Still no official word (orders), and who knows if there will be anything official for a while with this whole potential-government-shutdown-debacle.  I have a lot of thoughts on that, but I'm not going to go all political at this particular moment.  For the record, I'll just state that I'm mad as hell.  Maybe I'll collect my thoughts and write something about it when the government shuts down tomorrow.  Just wanted to update the assignment situation.  Steph, that blank would have had me living in the same state as you.  :(

Dazed and Confused

Here's the scenario:  You are told, "Hey, you're going to be assigned to Guam," but when the assignment office sends the virtual congratulatory assignment letter, it says, "Congratulations, your next assignment is              ." In other words, it doesn't say Guam.  What would you do?  Freak out?  Blow it off as a simple mistake?  I just need this saga to end.  Please.  Now.

Germtastic

Those of you who know me well are already aware of the fact that I am a germ-a-phobe.  To-the-extreme.  I carry Germ-X in my purse and have a big bottle of it in my car.  My kids know that the first thing they do when they walk in the door is wash the hands.  My own hands are normally dry and cracked from my obsessive/compulsive behavior (attractive, huh?).  In my defense, the cold weather doesn't help the dry hand situation.

This is an illness that stems from college.  As a Biology major, I think I took one too many classes and learned more than I needed to know about microbes, bacteria and viruses.  Microbiology.  Human Physiology.  Human Anatomy.  Genetics.  After changing my major to Biology my junior year, I simply didn't have time to take Pathophysiology, but man, I really wanted to.  Maybe I need to refer back to my Abnormal Psychology notes to diagnose myself.  Sometimes there is danger in knowing too much.  It may also be related to the horrific stomach bug I had the pleasure of experiencing when I was 8 months pregnant with the youngest.  That one lives on, and on, and on in my memory.  Anyhow....

So, rewind to last Wednesday night (insert annoying tape rewinding noise that my husband likes to make with his lips here)....I put the oldest to bed with a cough and cold.  I was pretty convinced she wasn't going to school the next day.  She just didn't feel well.  I went about my business, read my book, fell asleep...woke up to the youngest crying, "Mom, my tummy hurts."  Cough, cough.  Gag, gag.  "Go to the bathroom!", I yelled.  You know how the rest of the night went...and the next day.  Two sick kids with two different ailments.  Oh, but wait!  The kicker was...the husband was home sick, too!  Cold and fever.  Wha?

Lawdy, lawdy, Miss Claudie (that's what my NaNa used to say)!   If I would've had access to a biohazard suit, I would've been wearing it that day.  The germ-a-phobe in me just couldn't take it.  I wanted to run out of that house as fast as my freezing feet would take me.  (Did I mention that we woke up to a few inches of snow on the ground that morning?)  What does a girl do with a house full of sickos?  Why, clean, of course.  I scrubbed the bathrooms, the counters, the computer keyboards, washed the bedding, and washed the hands repeatedly.  I admit it.  I have issues.

I really wish I didn't have this affliction.  I can make myself sick just worrying about getting sick.  I'd go to the doc to talk about it, but I'm afraid of what I'll catch in the clinic.  Don't even ask me how many times I washed my hands in the physical therapy clinic when I was going through PT.  I'm sure the people in that place thought I was certifiably cuckoo.  And ya know what?  I'd have to agree with them.