Well. That's done.

Last weekend we made one last round of trips to the apartment to pick up a few odds and ends, and to clean. Jay and Hayden packed up the car and I stayed behind to scrub and vacuum and whatnot. It was nice to have a few minutes to myself to reflect on our time in the apartment. As I wiped out the fridge and scrubbed the tub, I found myself surprised that I had zero attachment to those walls. I remember standing in our apartment in Germany, closing the door one last time and trying not to cry. THAT place, where I spent almost five years and went from newlywed to mom in what seemed like a blink, where we brought Oscar and Hayden both home to, where we had friends over for good times and bad...I was so sad to leave it and so terrified for what would come next. But I guess this time, I wasn't sad to leave it because I knew I was headed home. Truly home, to a house I own, that we will make a million new memories in with new family members. I'm grateful for our little transition apartment, but I had a much harder time saying goodbye to Hayden's old daycare than I did to Lake Brandt Place apartments! Jay turned in our keys yesterday and we officially only have one residence now!

What's this? Enough down time to blog?

Remember that time I got a job? Well I started the 10th. Sort of. My start date was the 10th, but thanks to the snowmageddon that wasn't, I didn't actually start until the 13th, and then it was a two-hour delay. This would have been more awesome if I had gotten PAID for said missed snow days, but I am not yet that kind of employee. I start amidst utter chaos, which seems to be the theme for my last two jobs. Is it me? Maybe.

Anyway, I started my job and I love it already. I really do. I sort of forgot how much fun it was to A) work with civilians in a world where NO ONE knows any acronyms relating to the Army and b) work with students. I really love higher education as a trade, and it's so different from Salem that I don't feel like a traitor. *Sidenote--I have friends that went to Salem that have gone on to work at similar schools and that's okay for them. I, however, could never sell a school like I could Salem. If I could, I would have gone there instead.* I learn new things every day and am so grateful to be employed! Right now I'm sort of a gopher, doing the stuff no one else wants to or has time to, and it gives me the chance to learn stuff all over the financial aid map. Even better, a full-time, real-live, salary and benefits option has opened up and I applied for it today. Woohoo, fingers crossed.

Jay is in full swing of third-shift work and going to school. Bless his heart, next semester we'll do a little better planning around his schedule but for now we're just making the best of it.

Hayden started his new daycare on the 10th, because they don't close for snow days! Only if the power goes out, which is awesome for us. That meant he got to ease into school by going a few hours for each of the first three days before full-on all day at the end of the week. He is adjusting well and doesn't hate to be dropped off as much now that he realizes we always come back at the end of the day for him. And sometimes he gets to see his cousin Zoe, his aunt Erin or his uncle Eric, depending on how early he gets there. Bonus points!

We have also found an apartment to rent. After some careful consideration, number crunching and consultation with a lender, we decided to hold off on buying. We are going to spend the next year getting settled and adjusted, paying off cars and loans and whatnot and learning how to be responsible home buyers instead of impulsive. I'm excited! We found a really great three bedroom place that has some breathing room, unlike our tiny and narrow apartment in Germany, and this one comes with a dishwasher. Finally! I get my first dishwasher! Bonus points for the indoor pool, the outdoor pool, the walking trail for Oscar, the stock pond for fishing, the playground for Hayden and the fireplace. We move in early next month and are counting the days!

And finally, Hayden has gained one inch and three pounds since we moved back to the states. America agrees with him!

The joys of the DMV

We found out shortly after we returned from DC that our car had been delivered to port and was ready for us to pick up. We were so excited to have it on American soil and to be a two-car family again! We headed to Portsmouth, VA after packing up all our Black Friday, NYC and assorted other purchases. We promised Hayden and Oscar this was the last time they'd be squished for awhile.

After about two hours we arrived and soon heard our names over the loudspeaker. We would soon learn that it meant nothing, and we waited about an hour and a half before we were able to pick it up. Since our car was shipped from overseas, of course it had no plates! So once we had our papers, we had to go to the DMV to acquire a travel permit that allowed us to drive without plates. Soon we were gassed up, split up and back on the road to North Carolina.

The next day we went to the License Plate section of the DMV to title and register our car. Since it had never been registered nor titles in the states, we read online about all the required documents and showed up with about every identifying document we had for our car and ourselves. Wouldn't you know it, we didn't have a customs inspection that no one told us about. Further, they only do said inspection M-F from 8-10 am. It was noon, and Friday. So we called to see if they would do it for us but no dice. Unfortunately, the trip pass we had from VA only allowed us to drive the car through Saturday, which meant 30 minutes on the phone with our insurance company to get the documents we needed to acquire yet another permit. At this point, it was 4pm on Friday, and the LAST place I wanted to be was the DMV, which was a different one than we had been to earlier. Lucky for me, the guy inside found out I was a military spouse and that Jay was in the Army, and waived me through saying "I served for 8 years, give her anything she wants." So we finally had the trip permit and plans to get the inspection done on Monday.

Monday morning came and we showed up nice and early at the DMV for the inspection. It literally took 2 minutes in the freezing cold, and we had what we needed to go BACK to the OTHER DMV. Ugh. But this time we had everything we needed and saw the same guy we had seen on Friday. We waited while he processed all the paperwork and were so close to our plates when he told us what we owed. We were expecting under $100 with the registration and plates. NOPE. We bought our car from a military dealership in Germany, which means it was sold to us tax-free. When I read about it on the website, it mentioned a tax bill that would come later. No no, that's the county tax bill. We now had to pay the sales tax on the vehicle, which brought our bill to SEVEN HUNDRED TWENTY EIGHT DOLLARS.  Definitely not expecting that. Alas, we paid it and had plates and registration. Only to be changed a week later, when the Purple Heart plates and new registration came in.

Guess who's excited to go back to the license plate DMV to re-title Jay's new truck? Yeah, not this girl.

Packing up

Time is flying by as we prepare for our return to the states! They packed up our household goods on Sept 30th which was quite the adventure. The Army contracts movers to come in and pack everything up, which is nice because it saves us the trouble. Also, anything we pack isn't covered by the Army so if it gets broken, we're out of luck! But everything packed by the movers is covered. Jay was walking out the door to take Hayden to school as the movers arrived, so the first hour was definitely the most stressful. We had separated some things out to not be packed and wouldn't you know it, those were the first to be packed! Once we rescued the "PCS box", the passports and my work clothes, we were good to go.

 Holy cow did we have a lot of stuff! We didn't come over with much, but four plus years in a foreign country when you add in a dog and a baby adds a lot to what you own! We didn't want to just toss Hayden's clothes when he outgrew them since we're planning to have more kids, so there's all that. Plus every baby toy he ever played with. Then there's the clothes and dishes, the keepsakes from our travels, the books and DVDs we picked up and the scrapbooks I've completed. Did I mention the new furniture and the antiques? We were amazed at how much stuff we had! The movers did a great job and we tried to keep them happy with food and of course, by staying out of their way!

That evening we slept on our air mattress and Hayden enjoyed running around in our furniture-free house. The next day they dropped off government furniture, so now our house looks a lot like it did when we got here in 2006! It's definitely challenging to cook the things we're used to with limited kitchen ware, and we only have four forks so there's always dishes to be done! It's kind of nice to live simply, and it made us realize we have a lot to throw out once it all gets to our house! We've held on to a lot of stuff that we really can do without, and less is definitely more in our house! I kept a few dvds, a few books and some scrapbooking stuff and it seems like we have more time to do the things we enjoy when there's not as much other stuff hanging around.

Speaking of scrapbooking, I have finally FINALLY finished Hayden's one year album! And just two months shy of his second birthday :-) I have a few things to work on for his next book, and I'm mid-October 2009 in our family album. I'm hoping to be finished with 2009 before we leave here, but that remains to be seen!

The next step is to ship our car, which is made much easier by having our 2nd car that will be sold just before we leave here. That way we can ship the good car early and have it waiting on us when we get home. That should be done next week, and then our unaccompanied baggage goes on October 30th. UB consists of the things we need here longer and need sooner in the states, like our air mattress, one of the TVs, Hayden's crib and a few kitchen items. We've thrown away a lot, recycled a lot and taken a lot of things to the Thrift Shop for consignment. It's starting to happen!