The count down has started....

ONLY 22 Days left of SCHOOOOOOOL!!!!!!!!!!! Craziness, but beautiful. The other amazing thing is that Dave will be back soon as well.

New adventure: Being a city girl, I was a little disturbed by the fact that when I got home yesterday (mind you this was after all normal businesses have closed for the day) half of the property was flooded and the other side dry. Hmmm, could it have only rained on the south side of the house??? I thought this a little strange, so when Cooper and I went to get the mail I did some more investigating and noticed that there was indeed a problem. Quite a bit of water was coming up from the ground around the pump AND the pump was making a pretty cool buzzing noise which Cooper was impressed with to say the least. He tried barking at it and that did not work so I had to try plan two. Still not completely sure of the issue, I did proceed to open the yellow pages and call a few companies around here that service wells. No bueno, no one is home!!!!! Or actually everyone was HOME, no answer.

I decided that I needed to go to the Band concert in which I had volunteered to help monitor the 7th graders as they waited to perform. I could have gotten out of that but I knew I would never hear the end of it from my students if I did not show. Needless to say, there were multiple painful renditions that I proudly stood to clap for because they are my children and I am proud of everything that they are proud of and usually more.

Thankfully, my wonderful friend and colleague Tammi (who was also at the concert) has a Superman of a husband that came out last night to check it. He discovered that yes, we did have a busted water line. He mentioned quickly that we may have to dig it up to find the leak, which meant tearing up the concrete driveway since the water line went under it to make it to the house. JOYFUL!!! When Cooper heard that he was excited. If you don't know Cooper well, he is an avid digger and when he gets really excited he can dig really fast!!!

I was instructed to take a FAST shower that night and to turn off the breaker that goes to the pump and leave it off. Today, Andy (Superman) came and dug up the line and found the leak. Luckily the leak was close to the pump so the driveway is still intact in case you were worried. He then proceeded to cut off the broken pieces and reattach the pieces together to make a new pipe line for us. GOD BLESS THE USA, we have water again!!!!!!

Moral of the story: When Dave is not home, shit might hit the fan!

Hi friends....

Ok, I spoke with Dave and he has received in the past few days packages from the following: Mom A, Dad A and Aunt Krissi. THANK YOU!!!!!! Krissi, the books were a hit. Dave left a stack in the bathroom (go figure) and he went back to check today and they were all gone!


FYI: Dave says please do not send any more books!!!!! He is starting to ship things back to me since he will not have a lot of room when they fly him home. Before you send anything please let me know so I can check that he will be able to get them before he leaves. THANKS TO EVERYONE WHO HAVE SENT PACKAGES!!!!!!!!! The guys are SOOOOO ready to get back to a place where they are loved.


Dave has found two fellow Aggies on the base there and they are going to hold their own Muster on base tomorrow, April 21st. Check out the link to get more info on this amazingly sacred tradition. http://muster.tamu.edu/

I got my invitation to Muster that is held in Jacksonville every year, however sadly I will not be able to make it. My team leader will be out of school for a book adoption and I have been given the honor(?) to "man the fort" while she is gone. This group of kids is crazy!!!!!!! You think I am kidding...it is a fact.

We had our cheer banquet on Saturday and Alexis turned two as well. Today is our 1 year anniversary on buying the house---that seems extremely crazy!!! I cannot believe we have been here that long. Bianca is going to help me take the trash again to the dump---always a joyful experience :-)

If you did not get my email about donating to http://www.bakethecycle.org/ . Please take the time to read about it and pass the link on.

Miss you all...

Peace...

Securing the perimeter...

It is peaceful right now at home---IT IS FINALLY SPRING BREAK!!! Wow, for a while there I didn't think I was going to make it without going mad. We have one week to recover and then we have one week of mass chaos before the CRCT. Can't wait!

Cheer tryouts are over and we have an outstanding group of girls for this next year. Piseno and I can't wait to see their potential. Really, it will be exciting. Cooper agrees, he is sitting right here breathing on my foot.

Sully has taken over the new rug from Pier One (thanks to Papa Adkins for the gift card) in the bedroom and I have a hard time peeling him off. The only thing that has worked so far is "outside" and "hungry".

I have been able to talk to Dave for 3 days in a row!!!!!!!!!! Since I am home he can call me after he gets off of work. Time difference has been the biggest issue with his phone calls and the fact that every time I talk to him the card seems to only have one minute remaining. AHHH!!

Still counting down the days, but they are going a little faster, I think because this last month was SO busy. I am grateful though. Busy is my friend while he is gone.

Bianca and I have rearranged both the office and the guest room. I will be posting pictures soon along with pictures of the living room with the new couch and love seat (thanks Mom Adkins).

List of things I have done since Friday (get excited):

1) Vacuumed entire house three times-hairy dogs

2) painted the office

3) cleaned and refolded a HUGE above ground pool so B could sell it--I know this doesn't sound like much, but if you could have seen us trying to dodge all the spiders and jumping like little sissy girls when a leaf fell because we thought it was a lizard and then spraying it down and refolding it by standing on it to get the air out and then trying to tape it back up in its original box only to find out that the lady wasn't coming to get it because she was at the hospital with her son who almost bit his tongue off--yes CrAzY!

4) rearranged the office

5) had a garage sale (sold a TV and surround sound for a bad price according to Dave--BUT I did make someone VERY happy, it was a SUPER sweet deal)

6) called the mortgage company on an unfair late charge

7) called water people to come check the filter system and water pressure

8) met Bug man at house

9) met Yard man at house

10) almost got rid of our HUGE OLD antenna--pending pickup!!

11) rearranged guest bedroom

12) spot painted guest bedroom

13) steam cleaned some spots on the nasty carpet

14) made fresh homemade apple juice with my juicer twice!

15) made fresh homemade chocolate martinis

15) cleaned off and rearranged back screened in porch

16) tried to sell Dave's bike and truck (both are still here-dang it)

17) I am taking taxes to get done tomorrow

18) called dentist

19) mailed 2 packages (Momma and Dave)

20) spent my Pier One gift card!

21) watched a lot of Law and Order

22) did a lot of laundry

23) went to the dump for my first time with B--gross

24) drove Dave's truck for the first time to the dump--exciting experience (B fell out of the car, poor thing she is so short and the truck is TALL)

25) took myself and B to Marble Slab (yes, this podunk town did get a MSlab and Bianca had never been)

26) went to the bank

27) will call the fence man tomorrow (AGAIN)

28) worked on the claim from our move here almost two years ago (still they need more paper work from us before they can process the stinking claim, ai yi yi!)

I am sure there is more but these were the highlights and just think, I still have 4 more days!! What am I going to do with it!!!

Here are some pictures Dave sent---doesn't he look nice in his BTUs!

Miss you all :-)

Ahh, the joys...

Ok, so life has been a bit nuts. We have two large fallen trees in the backyard, the fence guy got in a car wreck on his way to work on the fence, I can't move the truck forward, one fallen tree almost hit the truck that I cannot move forward, water pressure is non-existent, the screened in patio is not really screened in any more due to some high winds and slippery, big-headed dogs, I found a dead and crunchy lizard under my fridge and list list could go on.

My life has been CHEERLEADING for a while now. On the bright side: Cheer tryouts are this week!!! We have 4 more days left of school before spring break!!!!! I have a GREAT student teacher now!!!! My great friend, Bianca came and helped me hang stuff on the wall and rearrange the kitchen (she is soon to be the next star on HGTV). I talked with Dave today for about 30 minutes :-D

Dave is good, again just ready to get back to a place where people appreciate his duty. He talks of his cross training a lot. He is ready to get his degree also. We just have to pay off his debt so they will release his transcript. We are also getting worried that some of his credits will no longer be useful since it has been so long since he was enrolled. Anyone know the rules on this?

We are down to about 55 days----WHOOOOOOOP!!!!!

I have called the lawn guy and he is going to come out and mow this monster of a lawn, can't wait!! What I REALLY can't wait for is the freaking fence (I am praying for the health of the fence guy too--I really think he is fine, he just hasn't called since his accident so I am getting a little worried)!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

HAPPY EASTER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Call!!

Poor Cooper and Sully, they just don't understand. Every time I say "daddy" or they hear what they think is his truck engine they run to go find him. Sully is standing here thinking in his little (big) dog head, "Where is my daddy?"

Gosh, it seems like we have so much to talk about and we talk non-stop but I can never remember anything that we talked about. It is so hard not being able to tell someone the things you need/want to tell them when they are never available to talk. I think we actually spoke for over 30 minutes and it seemed like 3. There were other people waiting for the phone so I had to let him go. He is always concerned about the rest of them, it is just who he is.





I spoke to a friend of his, Travis (I believe) he sounds like a cool guy. Apparently, Dave has been talking about me a little too much and so Travis said that he needed to check to see if I was really as great as I had been described?! I told Dave thanks for telling him all the good stuff and leaving out the rest, it makes me look good :-) As usual, he is ready to return. He is getting close to being at his halfway mark and he is excited!





I will be in Macon tomorrow, so everyone get excited, clap your hands right now...do it...did you clap?!!! This is going to be a big day. I do have a personal budget set, so no worries. I plan to get Dave something so he doesn't feel left out.





Oh, by the way, does anyone know how legit the "unclaimed property" sites are? I did a search and found some money out there for myself and some of you too. You all seriously need to google "unclaimed property, state that you reside". I have checked all cities and states that I have lived in. Check it out and let me know what you think.





Keep checking on the posts. Miss you all!!

Helloooo...

Here is Dave's last email in case some of you did not receive it:

"Hey everybody! It's been crazy here so not a lot of free time. Working a lot of hours and I finally got a day off. The job is as good as can be expected. I wasn't able to get to arabic class this week but I think I want to learn Kurdish instead. We will see. Not so much of the "hawking a lugi" sound. I hope all is well with all of you. I really appreciate all the care packages, letters and emails. Not too much longer and I'll be headed home. It's actually going pretty quick. Love you guys.

Dave"

Check this site... http://www.michaeltotten.com/archives/2007/04/meet-the-iraqi-police-in-kirku.php didn't read it all. About half way down you will find this picture and apparently Turkey is a huge problem specifically in Kirkuk. It was posted in 2007 so things may have changed but I am sure not by much.

I have been able to talk with him a couple of times since I last posted. It is usually the same old thing. He does sound good, mostly upbeat, but I know he is ready to step foot on American soil again. I sent a box off early this week that was from my students with lots of letters and their favorite snacks. They were excited to send it and always ask lots of questions about him and Iraq when we have a spare moment.

Last I checked he was only needing AA batteries. He would enjoy any DVDs that you can send and magazines are great too. Maybe a Kurdish-to-English dictionary since he is interested in learning!!

I am on my way this weekend the Macon, Georgia for a cheerleading competition. I am not so excited about the competition as I am the mall there. It has been some time since I have been to a mall that has more than one level!!!! Don't tell Dave I am going, he will get nervous about my spending habits. Just so you all know I have been doing exceptional on my saving lately.

Keep us posted on life around America...miss you all. Peace!!

Email from Dave...2/10/08

"Hey everybody, I haven't had any comp access for a couple of weeks and now I finally do. Well, I've been here almost a full month now and I'm getting pretty used to it. It's definitely starting to warm up. No more cold weather gear for me. My job is going well, me and the other controller are trying to get everything organized now that the last group is gone. We've implemented some new procedures and everything seems to be running smoothly. I can't really tell you any good stories but I will when I get home. Other than that, not much happening. I got a couple of care packages and everybody loves all the snacks. There is way too much for me so I bring it in to work and share with everybody. I miss you all and can't wait to get home. Love you guys."

Dave