This is IT!!

Picked up my passport this morning and went to the base travel office to get my plane ticket. They put me on a flight leaving Friday morning!!! Less than 48 HOURS!!!

Snuffles secured the love shack for us (the second house) and is all moved in. As of yet, he hasn't received my email letting him know that I will be landing on Saturday afternoon so I am anticipating a gleeful call from him very soon.

So much to do before I go! I got almost all of the utilities canceled today. I loaded up my car one last time with stuff going to my son and drove up to Austin to my parent's house to drop it off.

It was hard saying goodbye and tears were shed. It's difficult when you will no longer be a simple car ride away! I love my mom and dad so much and I feel bad leaving them. I guess I raised them right though and I think they will be okay on their own LOL!!

I won't get a chance to see my son before I go so that is hard too. I am just so grateful for cell phones and instant messaging and email - keeping in communication will be very easy.

So tomorrow is another run around like mad day. I need to drop off the cable box, cancel my cell phone here in the States, and sell Snuffle's car. Going to Carmax for that.

I've got a taxi scheduled to pick me up WAY TOO bright and early Friday morning.

This is really happening! I AM MOVING TO KOREA!!! EEEEEEEEEEK!!!!

Thanks, Michael! This is cool!!

14 months in the making, 42 countries, thousands of people!



And these are the clips that didn't make it into the video:

Going Down?

*sigh*

I decided to get busy today and get all the remaining dumpster stuff out of the house. About eight loads worth. I took everything down to the first landing. Then I took everything down to the second landing. And then I took it all down to the ground level. I knew I was getting tired and my legs were getting shaky with all the stairs but I got the first seven loads down just fine.

And then the eighth load. Oops. I missed the last three cement stairs and landed on the sidewalk below. It's okay, nothing broken. I'm a little bruised on my left leg and I must have really torqued myself when I fell because my back is radiating a good amount of pain.

I'm stocked up on Aleve and instant heating pads so bring on the night!! We'll see how well I can move in the morning - or if I can move at all!

Other than that, no news. Same old, same old. And believe me, it is getting old. Being in limbo is something I don't care for and I can be patient for only so long.

Giggle Time

Knock on wood, we have a house!

I'm not holding my breath this time though. We will know for sure after next Wednesday, after the inspection and key money paid.

This house is much smaller and shabbier than the yellow one, but it is a private house (no one above or below or beside) and is much closer to the downtown area where we want to be.

If you click on this, hover over the outlined box at the top more left side of the screen and it will say "orange tile roof house" or something like that (you can click on it too!) and that is our house.

Here is the slideshow of the house as well.

I think I can make it look nice.

Pppppbbbbbbttttttt!

I wrote this last night but for some reason it isn't showing up now so I will repost:

This has been a fun night (not). Multiple phone calls from Snuffles, starting with "The realtor called and the landlord changed his mind about renting the yellow house to us".

Yes, I know it was obscenely yellow but I really wanted it! Huge, bright, close to the base.

So Snuffles dashed down to the realtor's office to discuss it; no reason given, just that the landlord changed his mind. The realtor took Snuffles to another apartment behind the back gate of the base but there are a lot of hills, the back gate isn't always open, and it was 40 pyong compared to the 50 pyong size of the yellow house. Also, no storage areas and only three bedrooms.

At this point, the best option is the Life Apartments but that means living in a low-rise apartment building and it's quite the hike from the main shopping drag of Songtan. Plus Snuffles would have to drive to work every day.

Right now, Snuffles is off to walk around his old dong (Korean for neighborhood, and yes, I giggle when I say it) to see if there are any For Rent signs about. Tomorrow he will go to the housing office and take the "Housing Tour" of apartments that are available for rent immediately. And he will also keep the inspection appointment scheduled for next Wednesday and stop in and see if the landlord of the yellow house has changed his mind again. He also has another realtor lined up to work with too.

Keep your fingers crossed. The Life Apartments, which at this moment is the best option, is just so far from where we want to be.

What a frustrating night! And what a wonderful man Snuffles is to go through all this turmoil.

Confidence Instilled? Negative!

I managed to get in touch with the passport guy today!! Minor victory. Very minor.

When I said I was calling because it had been three weeks, he said "Why are you calling? It takes five to six weeks!!"

I reminded him that he said it could come as early as three weeks and he had told me that I could call. He agreed to "check the status", whatever that means. He came back on the line and said, "Negative."

Then he said he would be emailing my husband next week. I asked why he would be emailing him. He said, "To tell him that your passport is here." Oooookay. I asked if he had Snuffle's new email address as he was already in Korea.

Passport guy said "YOU'RE the dependent?!" Um, yeah. "He's navy, right?" NO.

*sigh*

So somewhere, somehow, a navy guy in the United Kingdom with a Lackland AFB email address will be notified that my passport is in.

Passport guy DID "okay" me to call him next week. How very gracious.

Not that I want to leave my family and friends here in the States but I will be joyfully gleeful when I have that passport in my hands!!