Long Time No Speak

Ah, where to begin other than "It's been a while, eh?". Well, it has been a while and I have been rather busy, but now I actually have some time to write...

We're officially living in New Mexico now...and it's definitely not Belgium. Truth be told, I miss Belgium with a passion like you wouldn't believe. I've met some wonderful people here so far, but, I'm not a fan of the heat. Or the drivers...the ridiculous amount of time it takes to get from one side of town to another. Just..meh. I miss the lush greenery of Europe in addition to how slow paced it is. New Mexico..uh, Albuquerque to be specific, is a whole different beast that will take some getting used to, that's for sure.

Since we're going to be here for a while, we ended up buying a home which is now my personal project. We STILL have stuff in moving boxes since my attention had been divided between working and painting projects. Now, I'm no longer working due to a Viper infesting the work environment... I didn't get paid enough to put up with constant verbal abuse. So, I opted to leave and start my painting business that I had going when I lived in California. Hopefully that will pick up some speed and I can rely on that for a main source of income rather than being someones personal whipping bitch. Besides, who wouldn't want to be their own boss and do something they love? Plus, now that we're back in the States, I can get my camera fixed and get back into photography since there's some pretty interesting desert scenery to capture on film.

There's so much more to catch up on, but frankly, I don't have the focus right now to type out everything. Lots and lots are going on at the moment, but, I figured I'd at least do a post so people knew I was still alive and kicking.

Now that I have time, I should be able to post more consistently.

Take care,

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Ramping Up

GAH! So much is going on!

I'm trying to keep track of all the stuff we're counting down to. Next month is going to be a complete whirl wind since I'll be going on a trip, packing to move, shipping to move, then twiddling my thumbs till it's time for us to leave. 

Like I mentioned, I'm going on a trip...to Scotland to be specific. I'm rather excited to get over there since I really REALLY wanna check out the castles. Plus, it's a gorgeous country. I mean, who wouldn't want to go there? 

Over the last week, we've been busy with appointments in order for us to get everything set up for the move. OH my gosh. There's SO much to get done, it's a little overwhelming. I still need to plow through my office to get it all organized for the movers. Not to mention, there's a lot of 220v we need to sell off since we obviously have no use for it when we're back in the States. I have a funny feeling that the movers are going to pack some of that stuff anyway because they'll literally pack anything / everything (including garbage). If any of those 220v items happen to hitch a ride to the US, at least we're going to a massive base where the odds of someone else moving to Europe is pretty high and we can still get rid of them...I'd just prefer not to deal with them at all, lol. 

THEN, I gotta ship off my beloved Xterra. That's going to be a little hard for me since she's my baby and I'm rather fond of having my independence. The last time we had to ship her off, the place where we dropped her off were jerks to me...wasn't exactly a good experience (in my eyes). Oh well, at least Eric and I will make the best of it since we'll be over by the French border and venture around there for a little bit...

Our flight has already been arranged to fly back to the States. I'm very...VERY sad about leaving Belgium. Well, Europe in general, but we're very very fond of our little Belgie. Luckily, the people in charge of our traveling managed to get us a straight shot to our destination since we're concerned about our fur babies enduring multiple layovers, especially since we'll be in transit when it's still fairly cold every where. 

Of course, once we're back in the States and get our bearings together just a smidge, Eric and I will be heading over to New Mexico to finish up all the paperwork required to get our home! I'm SO excited about having a place of our own! I've been corresponding with our Realtor ever since we found out where we were moving to ...finally found *the one* in terms of a home earlier this month and have been signing whatever we can. Luckily, a friend of mine was able to do a walk through on our behalf with the Realtor to make sure the house was on the "up & up"...gave us the lowdown and ultimately gave us the thumbs up. Like I said, I'm VERY excited to get our own place :) 

The fun part is the whole "waiting game" in terms of our stuff showing up. The guy in charge of the movers told us it'd take about 55 days for our household stuff to show up in New Mexico, and the same thing goes for my Xterra. What we'll probably end up doing is that I'll stay behind in California for a little bit in order to catch up with friends and family while Eric & John stick around in New Mexico since John needs to get back into school. My truck is actually being sent to California, so when that arrives, I'll be able to pick her up, hang out for a few days till Eric is able to meet up with me and then we'll tag team the drive back to New Mexico. LOTS and lots of work ahead of us...it's kind of crazy. I'm thinking that there really isn't going to be any sort of "relaxing" done until..hmmm...June. 

Aye aye aye..

PS: Like my new signature? I was fiddling with an app on my iPad and I was able to bust out with the way I actually sign my name. Now I'm all super legit..WOOT! 

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Sparatic Update

I figured I'd do a update about the various things that've been going on other than posting my weight updates and food stuff. Change is good, right?

* I'm retaining water like crazy and it's driving me nuts. Mother Nature is definitely rearing her ugly head my way because I can't even take my rings off...so...this weigh in is most likely going to suck ass. Fabulous.

* As I mentioned in a different post, Eric and I will be spending our 4 year wedding anniversary in Venice, Italy!

I'm VERY VERY excited to spend some down time with him because this is only..hmmm..the 3rd trip he's been able to go on with me since we've been here. Our other trips were to Bavaria for Mothers Day last year and when we went to London earlier this year. So, the fact that we get to take a flight somewhere is rather nifty. While doing some research on things to do there, I stumbled across this interactive site that Venice has (here you go) and you can get street level views all over the place..it's better than Google Earth. Word. 

* Eric's currently sick with something that's taking his voice (and energy)..so he sounds like he's hitting puberty all over again. As entertaining as it is to hear his voice get squeaky, I feel pretty bad for the poor guy so he's milking it for all it's worth to get some pity from me.

* Tomorrow is the 20th Annual Sint. Elizabeth Run. Thanks to blowing my knee out, there's no way I can really participate in it along the lines of how I was wanting to. So, no 5k running for me..but I'll most likely walk the last mile with the elementary school kids, or I'll just volunteer to help with water for the other runners. At least the official race shirts this year are actually nice looking, lol. The last few times, they've been highlighter colors (bright pink, bright yellow green, etc)..and this year they're black with gold writing. I'm thinking they did that since it's the 20th year or so. Who knows, lol

* Last week, I signed up for a pottery making class that lasts for 10 weeks. The group of us that's doing it meets up once a week for three hours while our instructor, Danny, helps us out with our techniques. Tell ya what, he makes it look SO incredibly easy when it comes to keeping the freaking clay in the middle of the potters wheel! I haven't made any pottery in YEARS, so it's slowly starting to come back to me in terms of how to do it. Although, I DID manage to make a cute little pot (which was refined into a mini tea cup today), so that was very cool.

Oh, and then there's Karl:

He's Dannys dog and I totally love him! Karl is so sweet and his fur is incredibly soft :) Apparently his breed is called "Muensterlander" even though he looks like a large springer spaniel. Either way, he's freaking cute and he's turned into our "coffee break" buddy since he likes to gossip with the gals and beg for our snacks.

* In about 2 weeks, I'll be attending a Hobby Market and selling a bunch of Pampered Chef goodies since I have a massive inventory. I was originally stockpiling because I was supposed to attend a "Spring Bazaar" at a base in The Netherlands, but the gal that's organizing it is lacking in her communication skills. So, I'm tired of all this stuff taking room in my cubbies, wardrobes and other storage areas around the house ..so, I'm on a mission to give 'em all new homes! Besides, I can use the money towards the Venice trip :)

I've been REALLY sucking at reading my book! It's a great story so far, but it seems like I don't have the time to actually unwind and read! I'm determined to finish "To Defy A King"!!

 

That's all I can really think of off the top of my head!

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