Let's talk about snow baby!!

Let's talk about snow baby!!  Let's talk about you and me!  Let's talk about all the good things and the bad things.... Oh, whoops that's sex.  And, really isn't snow much better to talk about? 

 Since the day we landed in IL it has snowed.  Now, I am not opposed to snow.  It's pretty, fluffy, and well pretty.  Driving around the suburbs, watching the horses frolic in it, is relaxing.  Apparently there is some special breed of horse just up the street.  If IL is good enough for the horses well then it's good enough for me!  Not...  I am trying that say it out loud for 30 days and it becomes true technique.  Whoever made that shit up is a moron.   I shake non-stop.  Cracked ribs here I come.  Who knew it snowed this much ANYWHERE?  Not me!  That is who!   My internal temperature stays about 40 degrees ALL DAY LONG!  

Ian is loving our move to IL, it's bringing out the best in my fashion choices.  Anyone know of a good sale on sweats, and parkas?  I have a feeling I am going to need it.  Getting Peyton out the door in the AM takes about 15 minuets.  Snow pants, hat, hoodie, coat, gloves, and on and on and on... Truth be told I question how he is able to potty at school?  No accidents so far, so he must be managing.  

We have a guy who drives the snow plow.  Every morning when I wake up, just as I hit that semi-conscious state I listen for the snow plow. A freaking month in IL, and that is the VERY FIRST thing I do.  Even before my eyes are open.   I cringe internally as soon as I hear him.  I mean, I am certain he is a really nice guy, just trying to make a living for his family. BUT PLEASE, PLEASE let it end now! 

Starting the car 15 minuets before going anywhere should be illegal.  All the gas I am wasting.  But, I flat refuse to even think about driving before heating the car at least a little...  

They say IL has grass.  I am sure they are right, it's just well, I have not actually seen it yet!  Maybe it falls to faith, I just have to have faith that the grass is real, and someday I will see it.  I might even be so excited that I mow it.  If you mow it, it will stay forever...   Anyone think that applies? 

And, apparently that stupid groundhog  Puxsutawney Phil   (thanks to my friend Rebekah I really do know his name) is either hitting male menopause or he clearly drinks way to much and should not be relied on to predict the end of winter.  In the past it never really affected me one way or the other.  Now, I am frantically planning a trek in his name, in hopes that next year he will say spring is HERE NOW!  What the hell do groundhogs eat?  Think I can bribe him with a bag of nuts?  

Last night before bed I checked the weather. I really must stop doing that.  To my surprise we are expecting still more snow. Some news stations are saying we could get up to a foot. YIKES!  What the hell people?  I mean, really, why stay.  Florida is right down the road, and they have beaches, and flip-flops, and OMG someone save me.  

I intend to write a letter to the secretary of the Navy explaining geography to this man.  Last I checked it was a required course in school.  Did he forget?  Let's give him the benefit of the doubt.  Once upon a time the Navy had 3 recruit training bases.  1 in CA, 1 in FL, and this one here in IL.  I have to ask who's bright idea it was to say... Yup, let's close CA and FL and keep these poor saps and their families in IL!  I mean really??  

For those of you reading this saying to yourselves.. She is over reacting... I have two words for you all.. STOCKHOLM SYNDROME!  You all must clearly be suffering from it... 

Home!

As I sit here in the dark, on my hotel room floor, home is what I find myself thinking about.  It's 4 am in IL, everyone is sleeping trying to recover from jet lag. I am trying to find home.  We have accomplished a lot in the few days here, but I find myself wanting nothing more then to go home.  Back to Japan.  It is all so much, so overwhelming. So loud! So big!

As an American who has spent most of my life overseas, learning to assimilate to new countries, I realize this is no different.  In time this will become home, and all the little nuisances will fade away.  Or will they?  I sure hope not.

We walked into the Verizon store (gotta have cell phones) and WOW. The guy that helped us could tell we were exhausted.  He took his time explaining everything we needed to know and even let me in the back to use the restroom.  The entire time his manager watched like a hawk. He was taking to long to make the sale.  Spending to much time on custome service. I could tell the manager was pissed, and the salesman was watching her out of the corner of his eye.  I felt bad for that guy, isn't his job customer service?

Cracker barrel for dinner and Peyton said "mommy, can we go home now, it's to big.  I wanted to scoop up my baby and take him home. But, where is home?  It is IL. So we stayed, talked and ate half our dinner. The portion sizes here are just way to big.   He was asleep before we left the parking lot.  

I feel disjointed.  It will warm up soon. We will move into our new home, get unpacked and settled and in time big will be replaced with something else. We will get there.  Learn to love our new home. After all it's what we do.

Until then I will spend time trying to find something small and quiet here.  

P.U.B.L.I.C. School!!! Fun times ahead!

We are moving.. Yep, it's true.  I have reached the point where if I keep telling myself it's actually happening I won't melt down when the time comes.  Chicago O'hare and I have a sorted history.. 

The year was 2001 and we were flying to La Maddalena, Italy.  We had 2 small boys, 2 car seats, carry ons, and luggage.. Our flight landed at O'hare and we had 20 minuets to get from the domestic terminal to the international.  Like everything with the GOVT. they screwed the pooch big time..  There I am standing in the middle of O'hare throwing a fool fit!  I can give any 2 year old a run for their money, ask Ian!    After asking 5 employees for help finding our gate, and getting no where I thought maybe trying the 2 year old approach would help. 

And, boy did it!  We had a nice little man drive us, and all our crap straight to our gate.  :)  

Anywho.  2 weeks from today we will land at O'hare and begin our lives in IL.  I will conquer the airport..  The Internet is an amazing tool.  With the use of FB I have managed to secure a house to live in, hotels to sleep in, and a car to drive temporarily..  A nice white house, with green shutters and a garage. Me thinks a garage is needed when living in the frozen tundra :)  In case you didn't know the temperature in IL was something like 8 the other day.  I mean 8. JUST 8!  How cold is 8 degrees?   

With the move coming in the middle of the school year, getting everything started from this end was a must.  I really don't want my kids to miss to much school.  To be honest Noah and Peyton would be just fine.  Turns out middle and elementary school's don 't give you much fuss about moving.. Now high schools on the other hand.. Look out Linda!  Here we come..  

Public school has always just been in the abstract for me.  I mean, I know people who attend them. I even know people that teach in them.  But, I never really gave public school much of a thought.   Until about a month and a half ago.  Deciding where we will live was based 100% on the public schools in IL.   I spent hours on line researching the schools in the area.  Some are really well, um, not good.  While others seem to be great.  I guess time will tell.  

Now as someone who has never really had to deal with a public school my first phone call went something like this...

ME:  Yes, good morning. My names is Sabrina ____ and I am calling from Sasebo, Japan. ( when calling a business in the US I always say this so if the phone call drops I don't look rude)  I need to speak with someone about registering my son for school. 

Nice Lady On the Other End: You need to speak with the registrar.. (she transfers me)

Now, about this time my heart rate is slightly increased.  I am moving my kids to the US and putting them in public school.  All be it a great public school (according to greatschools.com) but still a public school.... 

Registrar:  Good afternoon this is D___ .  How may I help you?

ME:  Good morning.. I am blah blah...calling from blah blah..  And, I need to get some information about enrolling my son in your school.  We will be transferring to IL in about a month.  

The buzzing in my ears has started, and I am thinking frantically about home schooling. I am sure I stuttered like a moron.   Then the nice registrar started talking, asking me questions AND!! 

This lady has calmed my nerves 100% about moving my kids to the US.  She is AMAZING!  Wonderful!  And, did I say AMAZING!  We have spoken on the phone several times and she has gone above and beyond to help us get everything settled for Christopher.   Any reservations I had about public school are half gone just from dealing with this one AMAZING lady.  

There are still some things that we will have to adjust to.  Schools here are on a block schedule, there he will have 8 classes in a day.  Christopher would like to know how anyone learns anything in 40 minuets?  I guess he will find out.   

Did you know that to enroll your kids in school in the US you have to provide a copy of your birth certificate?  I didn't!   We have always used the kids passports.  

You also need a state physical, dental exam, and eye exam.  I was a bit confused by this.  What do people do who have no insurance?  Do they just not do it?  

And, the best one.. We will have to pay a shit ton of money (OK, well to a family of 6 moving across the ocean anything thing is a shit ton) to register our kids for school.  Total for all 3 kids is something like $500.  Again, I ask, so if I don't pay it they can't go?  I mean of course I will pay it, and have all the required physicals.  But, WOW!  Who knew sending a kid to school is the US was so complicated.  

School lunch.  WOW!  All, I have to say.  Really, they have some sort of pot-pie bar, it's all a bit confusing to me.  When I was in school we got nuggets and fries.. Public school really has changed... 

On a good note. We did find out Christopher is eligible for drivers ed.   The buzzing is back, and my heart rate is through the roof!  Maybe we need to rethink this moving to the US and public school thing... :)

HOLLY CRAP BATMAN!! suburbs here we come!

When last we talked (OK, I typed and 2 of you read) we were planning a move back to the US in about 7 months..  Then the Navy said: Let's play a really funny game, and move them NOW!  As I sit here typing this, my house is in chaos.

Tomorrow the packers will arrive, put all of our worldly possessions into crates and take it to IL.   Yup!  You read that right tomorrow.  We will all be leaving Japan on Jan 28.  It doesn't seem real to me, that in less than 6 weeks we will be living in the suburbs..  In IL!  And, I do me the suburbs!  It doesn't get any more suburbs then where we will live.  Good thing I got rid of the hot pink hair I had been sporting.. Wouldn't want to frighten the neighbors...

I have spent some time trying to process how this happened so fast.  Trying to get the kids school organized, medical, dental, my job, renting a house, trying to get a car, and the list goes on and on!  Moving is a HUGE undertaking when you have 7 months to get it all done..  Doing it in just under 2 should be classified as inhumane..

None the less I will get moved!  No choice!

The kids are taking this all in stride, Ian is GREAT under pressure..  I am in need of liquor!  

Once we are settled in IL, I plan to take a year and write.  Really write.  Sit down EVERY SIGNLE day and write!  About everything and nothing all at the same time.   I will take a few months off from working, get the kids settled in and try and learn how to drive on the right side of the road again!  

At the end of every day I tell myself Panera Bread is on the horizon.  That will keep me going! :)

So.... Who wants to talk politics??? Dear President Obama!!!!!

NOT ME!  Except to say this:
President Obama I invite you to Sasebo, Japan. Yes, there is a Navy base here!  Come and see some of the US Navy ships you refer to in the debate!!!!  PLEASE come...  

Sabrina....

Just the pics please.....

 It really has been a busy few months around here.  Christopher was promoted to PO2, and made the armed drill commander of his JROTC unit.

 We picked Ian up from his LAST long deployment.... YEAH!!

 Peyton just finished up his last soccer season in Sasebo.  Notice the missing front teeth.  Yep, he back flipped off our sofa.. Knocking himself and his teeth out.  The next few Christmases he will be asking for them back!

 Ian and I attended his Khaki ball.  This was our last Khaki ball here in Sasebo.  We had a great time.

Our baby girl turned 2 and is quite the character.  We are having a great time trying to keep up...


There you have it in a nut shell... Just a few of the things that keep up hopping here!

A little bit of car talk...And, a lot of Vodka!!!

When I think about shopping, I envision a nice long day with friends.  Usually window shopping, strolling the Ginza, lunch at a quaint little restaurant where we can't read the menus but the pictures sure are nice... Ending the day sitting at Starbucks people watching....

I do not think about CARS!  With the realization that we are moving back home staring us in the face,  I have spent the past few weeks perusing the Internet for a car.   My first thought was "we will just do what we did in Japan".. Purchase a nice used car for CHEAP, with low mileage and enough room for our Hockey team.  In keeping with the spirit of shopping I made the best cup of Blueberry coffee, grabbed a throw, curled up on the sofa and got down to business....   Within an hour I realized something.... People in America think WAY TO HIGHLY of their vehicles...   Sing it with me OVERPRICED!!

But, I am not a quitter, so I kept at it.  Certain that I would find the perfect car for our family.  Day 1 ended and I was still optimistic.   Enter day 2.  This is where reality set it.  We are stuck.  Back in the maze of paying way to much for something that we MUST have!   Finally I gave up the car search and declared us a public transportation family.  We would all just take the bus!  Yeah, that was short lived.  Imagine getting all 6 of us on the bus, sanitizing the seats, all the while trying to maintain some sense of sanity was not a good picture..  It did horrible things to my hair..   Back to the car search.

I tried approaching it from a different angle.  What if we get a used car that is only a year or 2 old.  We all know the theory.. Let some poor sap drive it off the lot and depreciate it for us.  OK!  Still in the game.  So...... I began to look at year old models.  This is where I should have broken out the Vodka.

At first I was finding wonderful deals on nice used vehicles.  Crossover's is what they are being called in the US.  Something not as big as a bus, yet bigger then a car.  Hallelujah!!  We can do this.  I checked several web sites, building and rebuilding crossovers to my hearts content.  Staying within an amount I thought we could swallow.. Ian came home from a hard days work, and I had all my pretty, built cars saved to show him.. "Look honey... We can have a Journey, Mazda5, or Encalve...  I was SUPER excited!  Heated seats, a nifty little button that will start the car from our house, and the most important thing, a camera.   The camera is a MUST.  I have been driving on the wrong (well our right) side for 7 years.  I will need all the help I can get.

So, my amazing husband starts looking at my hard days work, and BAM!  Crashed all my dreams with one sentence... "Um, yes, babe these are nice, but whatever we get has to have AWD (all wheel drive)"....  "Oh, OK!  I can do that, its easy, see all I have to do is go back to the home page and add it onto the car"..... GULP!!!   ITS A SHAM I TELL YOU!   A RACKET!  We are all in the wrong business.  Do you know how much adding AWD adds onto the price of a car.  Roughly $8000. Yep, that is 8 GRAND!   Well, as you can imagine I immediately blame Ian.. I had a car.  A nice one all picked out with my camera... And, yep it's gone!

Enter financing.. A reality to most.  You put a bit of money down, sign your name on the dotted line and promise to make payments until you own whatever it is you are financing...  I hear people in the US are taking advantage of this to get their nice new shinny I POHNE5's.. Something about a better battery life and camera.  Anyway...  Let's look at financing.

Now say we find a nice, OVERPRICED, used car that suits our needs.  The bank will give us a loan for 4.75% interest..  Most websites even give you access to a calculator, you plug in the numbers and have a rough estimate of your monthly payment...  I plug in the numbers and YIKES!  Heartburn sets in (and no it's not the coffee, by this point I have moved onto Vodka)...   I sit starring at the screen, shaking my head and once again declare us "bus" people...  Judging by the amount of Vodka being consumed being bus people might not be such a bad idea.... I hear they have 44OZ big gulp cups in the US.  That can hold a lot of juice....

I began to read the page on the banks website, and found myself confumbeled once again.  If we choose to purchase a brand new car they will give us a financing rate of 1.75%, and 72 months to pay if off.  After doing some not so quick math I realize that is 7 years.. To pay off a car?    Um, WHAT?  Let me make sure I understand this.  If i were to buy a used car.. Something already built, thus saving our precious resources.  Believe me resources are precious, every time I sit down in a public bathroom on base in Sasebo, I wind up starting at a nice little flier explaining how we are in a water shortage...  OK, back on course...  Should we buy a used car to try and save a bite of dough, in the end we wind up paying MORE because the bank says nope, hold on there, you will pay a higher interest rate and no way are they giving us 7 years to pay off some overpriced used car!  I am so confused..  

Once again the car shopping has gotten the better of me.  I decide to just leave the issue, lower my blood pressure, and stave off liver failure from the Vodka.   Things will look better in a week or 2.  Surly I am missing something.  Let me talk to my friends and family stateside and get some much needs advice.

Well here I sit writing this blog, and facing the realization that we are now the poor saps that will probably be driving off a car lot with a brand new car... And, Oh, what's that I hear.  That is the value of said car dropping by $8000.. Probably the $8 grand we will be paying for AWD!  

Those of you living states site that read my blog (all 3 of you) any info would be a great help... It must be able to seat 6, and have a 44OZ big gulp holder for my Vodka.... :)

Have a great day... Tomorrow chat will be all about gas prices !!!
Sabrina