I cannot believe it

WE ARE GETTING A BRAND NEW HOUSE!!!!!!!!!! Those of you familiar with military housing know that a brand new house is nearly unheard of! When we found out in December that we would be here for a while, we decided to get on the 5 bedroom list. I called last month to find out our position, and we were number 7. Imagine my surprise when housing called my cell phone on Friday, then called my parents house and left a message for me. Of course, that would be the day I forgot my cell phone on my kitchen counter. I returned the call bright and early this morning. Of course, she wouldn't tell me on the phone, but she would make an appointment for me to come in to update some paperwork and talk to her. Off I went at 11:00 this morning. I had to update my contact information, give her a copy of my power-of-attorney, a copy of Mike's orders bringing us here AND the kids social security numbers. Why she needed those, I have no idea. Anyway, she was adamant that I have all of the paperwork. Of course I did, just not with me. Thankfully, she loaded us up in her van and drove us to look at our house. Imagine my surprise when I discovered we're getting a BRAND NEW HOUSE!!!!!! Five bedrooms. You can look at a floor plan here. The housing lady says it's 2700 square feet. Huge compared to the maybe 1400sq.ft. I have now. I am so excited! Here's the kicker though.....I can pick up keys to the new house on Wednesday, but I have to be OUT of my old house by Monday. I have no idea how I will accomplish it all, but it will happen. If God can perform a miracle to get me a new house, he will perform a miracle to get us out of this house in time. Right? :-) Amy is coming over tomorrow to help me pack boxes. Becca and Ruben will help me move stuff to the new house. I think Rear D might be able to help a bit on Thursday. I'm hoping a crew from church will help on Saturday. Hopefully between all of my helpers we'll get it done. I wish I could have had keys today, but an exception to policy couldn't be made. Hmph. :-) I did have to alter our plans to go to Florida a bit. We're leaving Monday instead of Sunday. I think that means we will miss the first week of co-op. I hadn't thought of that. Ugh. I guess I shouldn't be, but I am a bit surprised over the kids reactions. They are absolutely stoked that we're getting a new house. It means the two older kids will have their own rooms. BUT, they're going to miss their friends here. They're already exchanging phone numbers. I assured them they'll still be able to get together with their friends sometimes though. Me? I'm secretly glad that we're getting away from here. My kids don't get along very well with a lot of other neighborhood kids around. Our new neighborhood still has a lot of empty houses. It'll be very quiet there. :-) I better get busy packing boxes. Until next time.............

Fun with the YH

We had a blast with the Yarn Harlot on Wednesday. I would definitely go again, given the opportunity. This picture of the line doesn't even show the line at it's worst. By the way, that segment of the line was behind us. There were maybe 20 people or so in front of us. Not bad at all. We were able to get great seats in the theater. Who knew there were over 700 knitters in Atlanta who wanted to see the Yarn Harlot? Our first seats would have enabled us to take great pictures, but we were packed in like sardines. I am not even sure we would have been able to knit! So, Becca and I moved a few rows back. We were still packed in tight, but we did have about 6 feet of leg room in front of us. Much more comfortable. It was fun to sit there and knit. There were tons of hand-knits to look at. Some of them were begging to be touched, but I did restrain myself. :-) After the YH finished speaking, we got in line for the book signing. I think we may have waited longer to have our books signed than we did to get into the theater? It was totally worth it though. I was able to get my book signed, AND get a picture with her. Oh, and I got to touch the sock.
A special thanks to Amy and Ruben for watching the kids. Without you both, I wouldn't have been able to go. :-) Thanks to Becca for the ride and the fabulous time! Until next time............

Tomorrow is the day

You know the day I'm talking about....the day I get to see the Yarn Harlot! Mike calls her the Yarn Whore though, 'cause he says that Harlot is really an old fashioned name for whore. HA! I am excited. I think I've got my bag packed. I cast on a toe tonight, so I'll have a stockinette sock to work on if I need it. I'm thinking I'll definitely need it. :-) Clapotis is in the bag as well. I'm at the point where I don't feel like I'll ever finish it, even though I know I will.
We're in the 2nd week of school here. Last week went fairly well. Someone please tell me whos idea it was to start school the day after we returned home from our nearly 3 month vacation????? We didn't finish everything I wanted to accomplish, but we did pretty well. This week we're adding Latin, History and Science. Devin is LOVING Latin. He wanted to do three lessons today. We're using Getting Started With Latin. I really like how you can download the pronunciations in MP3 format. Very nifty. I didn't want something really in-depth for this year, something just to get their feet wet. This seems to fit the bill nicely. Today was the first day adding in History. I had forgotten how long it takes to do all of that Sonlight reading, but the kids really do enjoy it. Well, maybe not so much now that I require handwritten answers to the questions for the Readers. HA! Flying Creatures is going great. We did a fun little experiment today that the kids really enjoyed. I did take pictures, so maybe I'll share more about that later. Until next time.............

Home, Sweet Home?

Maybe not, but I'm home none-the-less. :-) I came home to a disaster, but I think it's fixed now. :-) I did get a sweet new computer out of the deal. :-)
So, Becca and I are going to see the Yarn Harlot on Wednesday. I am so excited! It'll be a blast, I'm sure. I'm going to have to figure out what to take in my knitting bag. I'm not sure I want to work on the Clapotis, socks it will be. However, I'm not sure working on Cross-hatch lace will be a good thing. I don't have the brain capacity to memorize the pattern right now. So, we'll see what I come up with. I do want to knit up a hat really quick to donate to charity. I wonder what I have in my stash for hats?
Mike has earned another award this deployment. It's an award I would rather him now have earned, but it is what it is. That's his most favorite statement lately..."It is what it is." He's earned a Purple Heart. He's fine, so he tells me. His tank was hit by an EFP. That's a fancy name for a big roadside bomb made of mostly copper. This was his 5th hit. The other 4 times, he's gotten off scott free. This time, he took shrapnel to his leg. His thigh to be more specific. He said they did x-rays to make sure all of the shrapnel was out, and it is. He said it hurts, but it's not above his tolerance level. HA! Praise God that it wasn't worse.
Fire ants. Have I told you how much I loathe fire ants? Liberty went outside this morning for a quick minute, and came screaming in with atleast 10 bites on one foot, and a few on the other. Poor kid. I filled the kitchen sink up with some water, threw a bunch of ice-cubes into it, and let her soak her feet. I gave her a few measuring cups to play with to take her mind off her feet. Seems to have worked. She's happily playing outside now with shoes on. :-) Devin carried something out to the trash and said the back yard is full of fire ants. I hope it's not, as Richard will be here shortly to mow for me. It's a jungle out there! I'll be glad when it's mowed though. There are lizards everywhere. Yuck. I hate lizards. They're not very big, and I know they're harmless, but those suckers jump. I've seen them all over my patio furniture. Yuck. Until next time.............

So I'm home

As soon as I got home on Sunday, I wondered why I even WANTED to come home. Seems that's the way it goes though. I don't have time to post all of the reasons why, but let's just say, I'm computerless right now. I'm posting from the neighbors computer. She was nice enough to give me a house key so I can check in while she's at work. HA! No worries though, I have a very lovely brand spankin' new Dell on it's way to me. The estimated ship date is Tuesday, but I'm praying it ships before then. :-) Until next time..............

Random thoughts

We're going home in three days. Why is it that I have so much to do, yet I feel like it's too early to do any of it? I mean, we can't pack our clothes yet, as we still need to wear them. :-) I suppose I could just pull out a couple of outfits per person and pack the rest. I should do that tonight. I would rather spend my time working on lay-outs and knitting though. That's exactly what I did last night. After a grumpy day with 5 kids, I put them all to bed at 8:00, worked on a lay-out and knitted on the Crosshatch Lace socks and the Clapotis. Oh, I should mention, Devin was gone, so I didn't make my teenager go to bed at 8:00. :-)
We had a fabulous Labor Day weekend. We spent Saturday at a fair. I won't even try to spell the name of the county we were in, but it was a blast. Perfect weather, and no crowds. The kids had a blast riding the rides. Let's just say I'm glad Dad was footing the bill. $51 for 65 tickets. With five kids and most rides taking 4 or 5 tickets, they didn't last long. We ended up with two sheets of 65. They did have fun though. Liberty and I had talked all week how she would be able to feed the sheep at the petting zoo. Once we got there, she fed the goat once and decided she didn't want to do that every again. :-) Sunday, we headed to my parents cabin, which is five miles in the woods. We spent the night, but I don't think any one of us slept much. Well, maybe the dogs did. The kids had a blast though. I was good, and didn't even yell at them when they fell in the brook. HA!
I feel so behind because we haven't started our school work yet. I know flexibility is the beauty of homeschooling, but still..... I'll just tell everyone we're following NYs school schedule...they started today! :-) Next week will be a good time for us to get used to no TV until after lunch. TimeWarner can't install my cable/phone/internet until the 14th. Have I ever told you all how much I hate TimeWarner? Ugh. Oh well. Thank God for cell phones, eh? I just hope Mike has lots of minutes left on his phone cards. HA! Until next time..........