Isak is having a sleepover at Niki’s while Anja is at her second swim meet - her first pentathlon - while I’m at home, catching up on some sleep and rest.  While I feel bad for not being at her meet, after her last meet coupled with the last few weeks of work, I’m beat.  And I have a birthday party to go to today that involves driving an hour each way and as tired as I was, that would probably have been a dangerous prospect if I hadn’t gotten more sleep.

So yeah, work.  I’ve settled into work and am enjoying it very much.  I work with a great group of people, I’m getting involved with the ship, and I finally feel like this is why I reenlisted.  That said, everything is not roses:  my day is extremely long - I’m up at 3:45, out of the house by 4:30 for a 20 minute drive to the base and a 2 hour ferry ride to the ship.  We work our butts off until 3:30, when I do the ferry and drive back home, finishing my day around 6:00pm.  And those hours in between are crazy busy, and while I do like the pace, sometimes it’s frustrating because there just aren’t enough hours in the day to do everything that needs to be done.  My job is one thing; I can handle the stuff in the office just fine.  It’s that we’re in the shipyard getting lots of repairs, upgrades, etc. and we’re trying to get ready to get OUT of the shipyards and go back out to sea.  That involves lots of training, meetings, drills, exams, and what is probably the most frustrating is the attitude of many of the people on the ship.

I’ve been disappointed with my peers.  There are a handful of very strong ones who have good attitudes and are willing to help other people out, but for every one of them there are 10 people who are lazy, negative, and some bordering on incompetent.  Them’s fightin’ words, I know, but really…more than once, I have been astounded by some of the things I’ve seen and/or heard.

Anyway…I’m finally getting into my own groove and as long as I’m surrounded by positive influences, I do enjoy myself.  I’m finally meeting people, making some friends, settling in and making the ship my second home.  It’s not quite as nice as our beautiful house that we finally moved into, but…it’ll do.

And since we’re at the present, here are yesterday’s Halloween costumes.  Anja wanted to be Coraline, but no one seemed to sell a yellow rain slicker or yellow galoshes in her size, so we made do with what we had and what we could find.  Isak was a Croc-footed Ninja, having left his black shoes at his friend’s house the night before.  How he got home, I can’t figure out, except that he is a Ninja, you know.

This was my first week working on the ship.  After a month of leave, I was excited to be going to work and get this show on the road.  I had a great week, I have a great crew to work with and I’m excited at the opportunities I’m going to have.  As I said last Sunday to B, I’m finally off to join the Navy.  12 years in and I’m glad I’m finally getting to a ship.  I had a great time when I went on the one deployment,  but it was so short and intense, and then I left so I don’t remember ANYTHING…so now I’m back to square one.

I have a crazy wake up time - 3:55am in order to be out the door by 4:30 in order to catch the ferry at 5.  It’s a 2 hour ferry ride, and while everyone sleeps, I haven’t quite gotten the hang of falling asleep right away yet and only end up sleeping for the last half hour or so.  Today I bought a pillow and blanket to help the cause of me getting more sleep…I am hoping it helps.  Getting an extra hour or two of sleep would be fantastic. 

A couple of observations from my first week at work:

• I am reminded where “curse like a Sailor” comes from
• People on ships are highly motivated by soda
• The Navy’s use of acronyms is ridiculous…even the acronyms have acronyms in them! (SPMIG, anyone?)
• “Finding Nemo” reminds me of the Navy…you network enough and you can get ANYTHING done
• I know more than I ever thought I knew about my job…and I’m excited that I have people to pass that knowledge down to!
• I am going to need more than 24 hours per day to accomplish everything I need to.  And yet - I feel strangely confident that I am going to be just fine.

On a completely unrelated note, but one even more exciting…today we went to the house to sign the last paperwork before closing accepting the house as-is.  Our inspection FINALLY got done yesterday and it is in remarkable condition considering it’s a foreclosure.  There are only a couple minor problems, most of them superficial.  The problem with the water ended up being a $180 part in the master bathroom shower, and we were so frustrated by it not getting done after 2 weeks that we were ready to walk away from the house…over $180.  They wouldn’t let US pay for it, they wouldn’t let the selling realtor pay for it (since it’s bank owned), but no one was coming out and getting it done.  It was a 15 minute fix, and when the ultimatum was thrown down, it got fixed almost immediately.  I had a very fun time making crushed ice today when we went to sign the papers. 

So everything is done…the VA certificate is done, the inspection is done, they have all the documentation they need.  All we do now is wait for the appraisal to be finished and the paperwork to be sent to underwriting, and then…we’ll be homeowners!  I can’t believe it. 

It’s been a very exciting, albeit stressful, last few weeks and I can’t wait to have a place to go to relax after work that doesn’t necessitate walking through a lobby and catching an elevator.

Fortunately today (so far) has been a day of “ups”.

The water has been our source of ups and downs - first it’s going to be done within the next couple of days, then we have to extend our inspection because they couldn’t fix it as quickly as expected.  As of this morning the water should be fixed today and we can finish the inspection as early as tonight; however, Wally the Inspector can’t get in to finish the inspection til Sunday. 

Sunday is good because Monday I start working.  After almost a month off work, I am ready to go back.  I just really, really wish we were in a house when that happened.

Also related, our appraisal is DONE, the VA certificate is DONE (after a bit of incompetence on the part of the VA), I have written my required letter explaining that my credit report has been pulled for this homebuying process, and I have one more letter that needs to be done by my command stating that I’m not in any sort of legal or administrative trouble that may affect my pay.  That will be done by Monday, and that will put us in the clear for everything to get finished. 

On a somewhat related note, we found out the information about the kids’ school and we have a great location for the bus stop that will make getting them to school a little easier. 

Our closing deadline is September 4th but we’re on schedule to close on the 28th, and certainly if we can close before then we will be there!  It’s very exciting to think about finally moving into our very own home.  Especially after 12 years of living in Navy housing and apartments.  Keep your fingers crossed for us that things continue to go well! Thanks!!

We have now been living displaced for 26 days, in this same small hotel room for 20 of those 26 days.  It’s an Extended Stay “Deluxe”, which offers a kitchenette with a microwave, stove, oven and fridge.  These things have made living here just a tad bit easier to deal with since we can make eggs and pizza and other somewhat home-y things to eat instead of fast food. 

However, the room remains a small, cooped up space which offers us no privacy from each other and as such, tension can get a bit high.  We have a game, and some paper for drawing and writing, and of course there’s TV.  The other day I bought a few books, a book for each kid, and today as tension in the kids was mounting, I decided off with the TV and on, instead, with the books. 

Due to the lack of space, the kiddos share a bed to sit on to read, and though Isak refuses to sleep on it with her - she’s a pain in the butt to him when it’s time to go to sleep - it’s the only comfortable place for him to read.  So there they were together, on the bed, and Anja is very obviously getting frustrated with him.  I couldn’t understand why as Isak was just laying there on his half of the bed, reading.  Her whininess increased until Isak finally demanded, “What?!” to which she replied, “You’re thinking something of me, you’re thinking in your mind, ‘She’s doing something wrooooooooong, she’s not doing it right!’”

Ah, this is so much fun.

We found a house on our second day of househunting that we really, really liked and felt was the right house in the right neighborhood for the right price, and we put in our offer - asking price.  Understanding it’s a buyer’s market right now, this house is a steal and we have not yet found another house close to what this one is for the price.  It’s bank owned, but unlike most bank owned properties it was obviously well taken care of and was left in great condition.

So we put in the bid, the bank came back with a counteroffer HIGHER than what we offered but upon some thought we decided it was still a steal and was worth the small amount more.  We accepted their counteroffer with the stipulation that they pay closing costs and from that point we were in mutual acceptance.

The inspection was scheduled for this morning.  On our way driving to the house, our realtor called and said that there had been a problem de-winterizing the house - “something about the water.” 

What do you mean, something about the water??  WHAT about the water?  She said she didn’t know; the selling agent didn’t expound on what kind of problem it was but they weren’t able to turn it on now because of said undisclosed problem.  At the same time, our inspector was coming to inspect our semi-uninspectable home to see if there were any significant problems.  Like that pesky significant something about the water problem.

Wally the Inspector did the parts of the inspection not relating to the water - structural, electrical, roof, pests - and the house is in fantastic condition.  With the exception of a minor problem with the garage door that B can easily fix and a non-functioning pilot light in the fireplace that I don’t really want anyway, the house looked perfect. 

Except for that whole water deal.

The good news about the water is that on visual inspection, neither we nor Wally the Inspector found any hint of any water problems anywhere in the house, old or new.  The guess is that when the contractor went to de-winterize the house, there was a small leak that most houses sitting for long periods have had happen.  Since our house has been unoccupied for a year now (but only on the market for 17 days when we put our bid in on it, what is that all about?), chances are it is a minor problem.  The bank that owns the home is going to pay for any repairs, but more likely it is something that fixes itself when the water is turned on completely.  Great news.

However, until we get the final blessing from Wally the Inspector, we’re still in limbo waiting to hear whether it will really be ours or not.  We’re very excited about this house, so please everyone keep your fingers and toes crossed that we have a dry and happy home to move into soon. 

I can’t wait to share the photos and I really, really can’t wait to have our stuff back.  In our OWN HOUSE.  Where the upstairs alone is bigger than our entire house in Spain, and where we don’t have to wait in line to use the toilet.  Which hopefully flushes soon.

Because we’re living in a hotel room for over a month, we tend to get cooped up and our options on things to do are relatively limited.  Plus it’s been so hot (we moved from Spain to WA to be caught in a record-breaking heat wave? Really?) that doing things outside have been more difficult than usual.  Enter: the blueberry “festival” in Arlington.  It is a day of “u-pick” blueberry picking with burgers, brats and dogs for cheap, pony rides for the wee ones, and some nice shade and cold water to refresh yourself.  The perfect thing to do this hot weekend.

So up we went, surprising the kids with something actually fun to do (for some reason they’re not as enthusiastic as we are about driving over and over to “our” house to gawk in excitement at the house that will soon be ours).  We filled up a couple of buckets with blueberries (8 pounds in total) and at the end I gathered the Siglets for a photo of their blueberry booty. 

What is so funny about this picture is that as I’m taking it, Isak is alternatively elbowing Anja and shoving her with his hip, and Anja is standing there with this huge smile plastered to her face while saying between clenched teeth, “Isak! STOP IT RIGHT NOW!”

There is a lot going on right now that I’d like to write about but I’m going to have to wait a little bit to make it all public.  We’re still househunting and have stayed with the very gracious Niki until tonight; tonight, we’re going to a hotel closer to the base.

In the meantime we’re doing little things here and there - we’ve picked up the car, I am getting my license today (hopefully), and we’re doing a lot of back-and-forth driving between the base and Niki’s (close to an hour each way) so we’ve been doing a lot of eating out.  

I forgot that one of the greatest parts of America is free water.  Yes, I said it: Free water ranks right up there with free speech.   We sit down, and we get water, and it just keeps getting poured into our cups, and now we don’t have to yell at the kids that that one cup of water from the $4 bottle has to last their entire meal.  Last night we went out for Thai food and we all ate and drank for a total of $25.  That was including the tip.  I love America!

Hotel living starts tonight and hopefully we’ll be in a permanent place soon where I can tell you all everything that’s been going on.  Til then…drink lots of free water!