Packing Up!

Wow, it seems like it has been a long time since I have posted.  SOOO much has happened since stepping off the plane from NYC.  Micah left for Saudi soon after we returned on May 13. Between May 13 and May 20 I spent most of my time organizing, cleaning, getting paperwork together, and doing our last minute shopping.  I also had to figure out where everything was going.  My 3 options were storage, sea, or air shipment. It is very challenging to figure out how much stuff to bring and what should go air, etc. I understand that many of you have no idea what it is like to have a moving company do your moving for you.  Let me just say, it is AMAZING.  I hope to never move without them again.  Here is a very basic walk through.

First the movers come in and get a basic walk through.  I did my best to remember what was going where and I had labeled a decent amount of my stuff before hand. After they feel like they have a good idea of the house and whats going on it is basically a whirlwind.  They move in tons of empty boxes, wrapping paper, tape, and even put down floor protectors. 

After they have most of their supplies inside they disperse throughout the house and get to wrapping and packing.  For our house we had 5 people packing everything up.  The air shipment was packed up first and I was able to run through the house and add a lot more stuff to it than I thought I would.  It is pretty amazing to watch how quickly they can wrap and pack stuff.  They were completely done with wrapping everything and putting everything in boxes by 5pm. 

Our house packing required a few "specialist".  There was a specific team that came in to break down and transport our pool table (which went to storage).  Another team came just to crate up our TV's.  Plasmas apparently do not transport well so they have to be extra careful with them. 

                          

They next day they returned with a truck to take storage items and a sea crate to take our sea shipment. The sea crate did not arrive on time so the guys started moving everything out into our garage/drive-way.  I think they were ready to be done. Once the sea crate arrived, they had our entire house loaded and cleared within 3 hours. 

I basically didn't do a single thing during these two days. I occasionally answered questions, bought the workers food, and sat in a chair in the kitchen and watched. My wonderful Mom was there with me both days for moral support and helped keep me company.

As the packers finished rooms, my Mom and I would work behind them cleaning out the cabinets and floors. At the end of the day we were able to leave behind a clean empty house. Now, we just need someone to buy it.

NYC

This past week Micah had training for work in New Jersey.  Before his training Micah traveled to Washington D.C. to visit his friend from high school, Andrew.  Since he went without me, he has no pictures and nothing to write about it ;).   However, I flew in on Monday and met Micah at the hotel on Monday.   Tuesday we were able to go into "the city" to see a Yankees game.  This was Micah's anniversary present.  We had great seats and even had our own waiter to get our food and beverages.  

On Wednesday night the company Micah was training with brought us to Time Square to a great restaurant called "Carmine's"  we had all we could eat and drink.  We had a great time.  Thursday was Micah's last day of training and we were leaving New Jersey for NYC for the weekend.  I decided to head in early by myself to get some shopping time.  Navigating the trains with a huge suitcase by myself was an interesting experience.  Shopping was fun.  I actually felt lost in Macy's most of the time I was there.  I'm pretty positive I walked over 3 miles that day before Micah ever even made it into the city.  Our first hotel in Times Square was....interesting.  It was old, dated, and reminded me of a Europe hotel. Check out the wallpaper. 

Thursday night we met my family friend who lives in Manhattan for dinner. We were able to see a part of the city we may have never gone to without her.  We walked around some of the buildings of NYU.  It's so strange to have a college "campus" that is nothing like the traditional campus.  

Friday we spent almost the whole day in Central Park.  It was amazing to see such a beautiful park in such a huge city.  There were places in the park where you could completely forget you were in a city.  We did a lot of people watching and imagining what it would have been like to grow up in Manhattan.  We even stopped for a few minutes to watch a little league game.  They were not very good though. 

Friday night we went back to the hotel to get ready to go see Wicked on Broadway.  This was my anniversary present.  As we were about to walk out of the hotel I looked at the ticket and realized it said THURSDAY!  Yes, that's right, we had missed the play.  I had completely screwed up.  Besides just missing my anniversary present, I will admit my ego was hurt.  However, Micah being the great husband that he is got online and bought me tickets for the next day.  How amazing is he!  So our plans for Friday night had to change.  We decided to go to this hole in the wall pizza place we had heard about in Brooklyn under the Brooklyn bridge.  We rode the Subway to Brooklyn, ate some amazing pizza, and then walked back over the Brooklyn bridge.  It was so much fun!

Saturday we finally were able to see Wicked.  It was amazing of course.  After the play we just roamed around the city.  We sat in Bryant Park and had a few beers and a fun conversation with some old (my grandparents age) British folk.   It was so fun to just take in the city and watch the way people live there. 

We Love NYC!

Schools Out Forever!

Friday was my last day at Landolt Elementary.  I spent a great 2 years (almost 2, didn't quite finish this one) at the school and was fortunate to work with a wonderful team.  Despite the worries and warnings before I took this position, everything turned out great.  I loved working in the public schools and loved getting to be in the gym all day, there is no better place at an elementary school.  It is great to hear the laughing and chanting and loudness of the gym as kids are playing games and learning new sport skills.  I'm not sure if I will ever actually be in the schools again but I learned a lot about kids during my short career time. 

Heres what I learned:

- Rock, paper, scissors can solve almost any argument

-If 2 kids are fighting over 1 thing, they both loose it

-I LOVE saying the most hated parent phrases such as "Because I said so".  I also believe every kid needs to learn how to accept these phrases 

-Never reject a hug from a kid (until they get older)

-If you want to know what kids think about you, teach Kindergarden! They say exactly what they are thinking no matter what

-the best laid plan can go very wrong- have back-up plans

-You have to teach kids how to win and how to lose and that it is a fact of life (most schools try to not teach this and I believe that is the worst idea possible)

-If you are having a bad hair day, kids will let you know

-Four  women  CAN  work  together in close quarters and get along (who knew?)

-When you start yelling, you've lost em', most kids start to tune out or know that they have won

-Never make a threat you can't keep

-Admit when you make a mistake.  Kids need to SEE how that is done and learn by example

-Most of all: kids learn by watching and they are watching your every move.  Live the way you want them to live and talk the way you want them to talk.  If you want them to be respectful, show them respect.

 Here is a picture of my wonderful team.

Ode to my car

Tomorrow I will be selling my long time friend to Carmax.  I went to get a quote from them last week and Micah and I have decided to sell it to them as the "hassle free" option.  As I was walking to my car after getting my quote I started.....crying!  Now, I haven't been that emotional about anything that pertains to moving yet and I'm pretty sure there is something wrong with me if the first thing that makes me cry is my car.  However, the more I thought about the more it made sense.  


This wonderful car was given to me when I left home for college.  I am so blessed to have parents that not only gave me a car but gave me a Firebird.  It was the fun, fast, cool car.  My friends and I have many great memories in that car.  We used to drive around campus with the T-tops off and try to find people to yell at. I love driving with the wind in my hair and sometimes would take the tops off and drive just to drive.  This beloved car also got my pulled over 12 times!  That is no exaggeration.   I have actually been pulled over 14 times but 2 of them were in other cars.  Who doesn't love to pull over a young girl in a Firebird with out-of-state tags?  Although it was frustrating, it does make for some good cop stories.  The Firebird drove Holly Fasold Jackson, Christina Wiemers, Kendra Anderson, and myself to Louisiana to surprise Anna Dobbins Jamison for our Fall break. On our way home we should have ran out of gas on the Interstate but somehow, the car made it to a gas station.  Going on a girl trip in the Firebird became tradition. The next year it drove the same people to Houston.  Why my friends agreed to ride on 11 hour and 8 hour car trips in the back of a Firebird, I will never know.


I understand now that saying goodbye to my car is not just about moving across the world.  It is about saying goodbye to a period of life. Saying goodbye to the fun, care free days. Saying goodbye to cool cars and hello to Mom cars.   So long dear friend.  I hope someone has as much fun with you as I did!

Going Away Party

This past weekend was our going away party.  We had a huge crawfish boil at my parents house in North Houston thanks to my sister and her fiance.   It's very nice having Cajuns in the family that are able to cook some amazing food.  I need to start out by saying thank you to my parents for more things than I can count, Selena for the food, Micah's parents for the beverages, and Chad & Traci for brining all the tables, chairs and table cloths.  On top of all that everyone helped so much with getting everything ready.  


The weekend started on Friday with everyone (our family, micah's parents, Selena's family, and Chad's family) all staying at my parents house.  It was a blast.   We sat outside to the early hours sitting around the fire pit just talking.  I love family time like that and know we will greatly miss it.  


Saturday morning we started with the preparations.  Instead of describing I will just post some pictures. 

         

As the final touch my friend Lindsey once again made me an amazing cake. This time I "ordered" it from her.  She does such an amazing job.  The left side is a desert scene and the right is a crawfish pot with edible crawfish coming out.  

Micah and Adam were in charge of the cooking.  Micah cooked the Jambalya before the party and Adam cooked the crawfish before/during.  We had a good time looking at all the live crawfish before they were cooked.  My nephews had a great time picking them up by their antenna and I think Bailey may have even picked one up herself but I'm not sure about that.  

We had a bunch of great friends show up and tons of family.  It was a great party and we felt so blessed to have so many people join us at our party.  Love you guys!

Spoiled birthday girl

Yep, that's me. The most spoiled birthday girl ever. My birthday was this past Saturday but I need to start a little farther back to get the true effect. When Micah went to Saudi I used his iPhone. Needless to say I had a hard time giving it back. I kinda threw a fit like one of my kindergartens would but it didn't seem to work. Then one miraculous day while I was out shopping,  Micah went and bought me one! I was super excited and very happy thinking this was my birthday present.


On the morning of my actual birthday Micah took me to the mall. I was very confused as to what we could be doing at the mall. As we were walking through i saw this line :

And the next thing i knew, Micah was getting in it! At the moment i still didn't understand. He had to slowly explain to me that my real birthday present was an iPad. Even after being told, I was in so much shock I wasn't really understanding.  Now, I will admit i didn't even know that I wanted an iPad but i had told him i wanted an e-reader. So, being the researcher that he is, he decided an iPad was the best decision. I LOVE IT! Ive already downloaded several books, games, tv shows, and am even typing our blog on it right now.

On top of all that, we had dinner with our friends Brooks, Lindsey, & Gavin. Lindsey made me my very own cake! I think she knows that my favorite color is purple.

Then Micah and i had some yummy cheese and chocolate at The Melting Pot.

 

What a great birthday! 

Doctors

Today Micah and I had our physicals for moving to Saudi.  They started at 10:00am and we didn't finish until 3:00pm.  We had a short snack break in the middle but no real lunch break.  I have never felt so poked and examined in my life.  Just so that you can fully appreciate what I mean and so that my friends who get to do this in the future will be prepared, heres the run down of my day:

1. Physical- weighing, looking at ears, nose, throat, etc.  All the normal physical things

2. Woman Exam- thats all I have to say about that

3. Chest X-Ray- not really sure what that was about but it was pretty painless

4. 4 Viles of blood drawn- I'm not a fan of this so I had to look away and tell myself to keep breathing

5. Pee in a cup- pretty self explanatory

6. EKG- they hooked up a ton of electrical things, I kinda felt like a car.  FYI to friends, I was wearing a loose necked shirt and so I didn't have to take my shirt completely off so I would suggest you do the same

7. Hearing test- you sit in this little room with some headphones on. I did very well ;)

8. Vision Test- I passed with 20/20 but just barely.  I was straining to read the last line

9. SHOTS-  This ended up being the worst part.  I got SIX (6) shots! Micah received 5.  My arm is very sore from my tetanus.  

                                                   

I thought all these shots laid out looked very scary so I asked for permission to take a picture.  I can say that all our nurses and doctors were very nice.  Micah and I were able to see each other in passing and ended the day with a bonding experience of having our shots together. Good luck to all my friends who have to do this physical soon!