Happy Halloween

It's the end of October.  That means there is just 2 months left in 2013.  WHERE did this year go?  I know we say that every year...but really..where did 2013 go?  I guess when you move halfway across the world, time seems to just fly by...but I am not ready for November..or December. 

Moving to Georgia has been quite the change for us.  Today is October 30.  It is 80 degrees outside.  SAY WHAT?  Shorts and Tshirts instead of jackets and sweaters.  Am I wrong to say that I miss real, fall weather?  Yes, we had maybe 2-3 days where it only reached 70 for a high during the day.  Yes, our nights get down into the 50's.  But I want to have the smell of homemade soup filling the house, a fire crackling in the fireplace and cudding under a blanket on the couch.  I should be happy that I haven't had to turn on my furnace or worry about buying firewood yet.  But having spent the last 4 years in Korea where there are 4 beautiful seasons and the leaves changing on the trees in the mountains is just breathtaking...I feel jipped! 

So enjoy your fall weather, slurp your soup (yes, it's okay to slurp!) and cuddle under a blanket watching your favorite movies.

BzzAgent Campaign..TruMoo Milk..and GOOSEBUMPS!

As I have posted before, I am a BzzAgent and I am lucky enough to get to try out great products and spread the word about them.  My most recent campaign is for TruMoo Milk.  They have chocolate and vanilla flavored milk at most major retailers.  I picked up a gallon for my family to try less than 24 hours ago...and we are already down to half a gallon!

I am not one to buy a lot of chocolate milk, but my kids love it.  One of my biggest concerns is the amount of sugar in chocolate milk.  If you are anything like me, you will be pleased to find out that TruMoo brand chocolate milk has 35% LESS sugar than other brands!  This is fantastic news to a parent of a child that doesn't react well to extra sugar.  Of course..less sugar usually means less flavor, right?  WRONG!  TruMoo has a great smooth flavor and in our opinions, tastes better than the other brands we have tried.

And now, in the spirit of Halloween, TruMoo has a GOOSEBUMPS promotion going on.  There is a special code on the lid of your milk that you can enter online for a chance to win a Goosebumps Haunted Hollywood Vacation.  Also, you can like their facebook page and get a coupon that can be applied to a Goosebumps DVD.

So sit back..get your scare on with Goosebumps..and enjoy a nice smooth glass of TruMoo Chocolate or Vanilla Milk.










As a member of BzzAgent, I am given the product for free to sample and review.  I am not paid for my reviews and the opinions expressed are mine!

BzzAgent Campaign!

Years ago...before we left to go to Korea, I was an avid BzzAgent while living in Kentucky.  I had the opportunity to take part in several campaigns.  It was a great way to try new products and share my experiences with friends.  Once we got settled here in Georgia, I decided to start up again.  A week after signing up, I am getting my first BzzAgent Campaign.  It doesn't start until the 20th of September, but I am looking forward to get another new product that both myself and my kids will enjoy!

Stay tuned for more information and our own personal reviews of the products!

Miley did WHAT??

Okay.

So I have not voiced an opinion about Miley Cyrus.  Until now.

/anticipation/

Did you all watch the VMA's??  And Miley Cyrus' peformance? And poor Robin Thicke?  Of course you did.  It was all over Facebook.  And Twitter.  And the million Blogs.  And Entertainment news shows. 

Did I see it?  Of course.  It was hard to avoid.  But you know what?  I was actually looking forward to seeing what she was going to do.  Days before the VMA's, it was on a news show that she was quoted as saying something along the lines that she planned on her performance being bigger than Madonna and Britney.  So why was everyone so shocked?  Why does everyone think this was some big scandal?  They had rehearsals and she stated that it was going to be big. 

In 2 months, Miley is going to turn 21.  She's not a little 11 year old in Hannah Montana.  She grew up into a woman.  So I don't understand why people expect her to continue acting like Hannah Montana?  I asked my 12 year old daughter, who grew up watching Hannah Montana on TV and Movies, what her thought was on how Miley dressed and looked.  My daughter told me that other than ugly hair (LOL!) she didn't see anything really wrong with Miley.  She is growing up and having fun.  Ahhhh..the amazing attitude of a 12 year old. 

Why are people so judgemental on Stars?  There are a handful of TV/Movie stars that have really screwed up.  Miley isn't going crazy.  She hasn't shaved her head bald yet.  She isn't married and divorced.  She's never been arrested.  She hasn't been forced into rehab.  So please explain to me how a dance performance on an adult-targeted television show is going to send her straight to hell? 

To be 21 (almost) and in the spotlight has to be stressful.  But why force her to explain her action when she is just out having fun and growing up.  Keep having fun, Miley!

I am 34 and I listen to #MileyCyrus on my IPod.

Moving...love it or hate it?

So my husband has this amazing job that has given us the opportunity to move overseas and back.  Georgia is now our 5th duty station in about 8 years.  You would think after 5 moves, we would be pros by now. 

My friends..I must admit..I DESPISE moving!  At first, you think it's all rainbows and sunshine...you get to live in a hotel..eat out daily..have fresh sheets and towels every day.  But then reality sets in.  You HAVE to eat out every day.  You live in a room with 3 other people and barely have 2 minutes of peace and quiet while you're in the bathroom.  Speaking of bathrooms..there is NO privacy in a hotel bathroom.  So anyone sitting out in the main part of the room..yeah..they know what's going on in there.

After you finally pick that place that you are going to call home for the next 3-5 years, you then have to wait anxiously for the delivery of all your furniture.  Our first move..from Oklahoma to Kentucky..we had a doorbell that plugged into an outlet in the kitchen.  Guess what the movers packed.  Yep.  The doorbell.  You know what that means..our landlords were left without a doorbell for their next renters.  During our time in Korea, we moved from one Installation to another about 3 hours north.  It took a week to get our furniture after they packed it up.  What in the world were they doing with our items?  I guess we'll never know.  During our move to Georgia, we opened one box..and apparently the day of packing, Lance and the Kids had Burger King for lunch...because their Burger King trash bag was packed in a box.  Oh..and the movers also took apart our couch into 3 different sections.  That was fun trying to figure out how to put it back together.  They somehow lost the nuts and bolts and we ended up with some extra random bar that we're not sure where it was supposed to be attached.

Today..finally..we received our items that were put in Long Term Storage before we moved to Korea 4 years ago.  At least with the regular household goods, everything is separated by room..you know what to expect and have an idea with where to put things.  This shipment today is a hot mess.  I found one box that was full of coupons.  Another box was full of empty boxes.  There's trash, random stuff..items that the kids have way outgrown that I wonder why we didn't just sell it before we left. 

I hate unpacking.  I sit there and stare at the boxes.  I've learned to strategically shift things around the house so it looks like I got something accomplished during the day.  In Korea, I worked full time, plus overtime each week.  Heck..for the last 10 years I've had a full time time.  I am NOT cut out to be a stay at home mom.  Well..technically since both kids are in school, I'm not really a stay at home mom..I'm just unemployed..with a house full of boxes and clutter and it drives me crazy that everything is so cluttered..and it drives me crazy that I have no desire to touch any of it. 

So there you have it.  In another week or so, the house will be back in order..we'll be all settled in..and in another 3-5 years, I'll be going through this all over again.

Back on American Soil

WOW....so it has been almost 2 years since my last post. 

We finished up our time in Korea..said our goodbyes..and headed back to American soil.  We were so excited to be heading home.  We were looking forward to spending a few weeks withour families in Oklahoma before moving on to our new duty station at Fort Stewart, GA! 

As much as we were so glad to be with our families, you really begin to feel more like a guest, than family after a few days.  Living out of suitcases, relying on someone else's dinner plans, oh...and the no vehicle thing really put a damper on the visit.  We did have Lance's little Eclipse, but with 2 kids, a cat and 7 suitcases..LOL..that just wasn't really feasable.  We left all of the luggage at my parents house and crammed a weeks worth of clothes for 4 people in 1 suitcase, as that was all that would fit in Lance's trunk.  Oh..and did I mention that I can't drive a stick shift?

So we grabbed a rental car for me to load up with luggage and began our journey to Georgia.  It was a 2 day trip with a 5 year old asking every 5 minutes if we were almost there.  LOL.  I sincerely apologize to my parents for asking the same question on every trip we went on when I was a kid...because I now know how tiring that question becomes!  We stayed the night in Tupelo, Mississippi..which was about halfway.  Day 2 was just as tiring..but at least it was our final destination.

We settled in at the LaQuinta Inns and Suites of Hinesville, GA, which was a fantastic hotel.  The great thing about LaQuinta's is that they have no fees for pets..and since we weren't sure how long we would be in lodging, those fees would have added up quickly.  We had a nice big room, the continental breakfast was good and the kids enjoyed the pool.  For the first 20 days, I didn't have a car while Lance was at work..so the kids and I had to come up with games to play.  On top of that, laundry in a hotel is NOT cheap!  We ended up staying 33 nights.

From day 2, we started looking at homes to rent.  It was a harsh realization that we were spoiled in Korea.  Our house was 3 floors, 4 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms and almost 3000 sq ft.  To get that here in GA, you'd be looking at at least $2000/month...definitely out of our price range.  The first few weeks of house hunting were pretty painful.  We looked at some awul places.  AHRN is a good website to use for house hunting, but you have to keep in mind that there may be some places that haven't had pictures taken in a year or more.  Plus, learning about the neighborhoods is a must.  We found one house online that we LOVED.  We talked to the property managers every day for a week trying to set up a viewing.  She called me on a Thursday saying the owners would let us in that Monday.  Monday rolls around, I call the management company to find out what time we could see the house..and I was informed that they rented it out.  WHAT?? 

So back on the hunt.

We found 2 other houses that we liked.  We actually put in an application for one house.  It was big..but an older house.  The rooms needed painting, the carpets needed cleaning.  We asked the property mangers to contact the home owners to verify that they would either take care of the issues, or be willing to allow us to do it ourselves.  After a week, we still hadn't heard from the owners, so we moved on.  During the first week of house hunting, we looked at a house that Lance liked.  The location was good..the size of the house was decent.  Unfortunately it had a swimming pool in the back that was the most disgusting color of green and smell of sewage, I couldn't stand being anywhere near it.  It actually turned me off from the entire house.  Plus, it was at the very top end of our budget.  After we didn't hear back from the owners of the previous house we were interested in, I told Lance that I would be willing to look at the "frog house" (I called it that because the number of dead and bloated frogs in the pool was outrageous) one more time if the owners had started cleaning the pool.  We returned to that rental company and we were informed that just that day, the owners signed a cleaning contract for the pool.  We went back to look at the house again..and it grew on me.  It wasn't perfect, but compared to what we had seen, it seemed right for our family. 

On August 2, we signed the Lease.  YAY!! 

We didn't get to move in until 16 because we were waiting on our household goods to arrive from Korea.

Now...here we are..September 5.  The pool is CLEAN..our furniture is here..the kids are in school..and I am unemployed.  :/  But we have a house..and are settling in to our new life in Georgia.

At least I'll have more time to update my blog!

T-Minus 5 days!!!

Yes!  In 5 days we'll be boarding a plane to go back to the U.S. for our 30-day RAT Travel.  Also, while we are back in the States, we will be attending my brother's wedding!  I'm so excited.  So much going on! 

I am definitely keeping busy until we fly out.  Working 12 hour days, overnight shopping trips, Sunday work days..meetings..Christmas Tree lighting...Parent Teacher Conferences.  Oh my goodness.  It makes me tired thinking about everything! 

One thing I will be looking forward to when we return to Korea in January is that William will FINALLY be starting Speech Therapy at the elementary school!  We started the process in February and it is now finally here.  His IEP was established..we set up goals both with his speech teacher as well as his preschool teacher at the CDC...now I just have to go to transportation and see if they will bus him back and forth from the CDC to the school or if I will have to take care of it myself.  We have already seen drastic improvements in his speech and development over the last 6 months..so I'm excited to see how the next 6 months go!

I don't know if I'll have time to update while we're back in the states...but if not, I hope everyone has a very MERRY Christmas and a Blessed start to the New Year.