Monday, December 10, 2012

Ay Yi Yi

Goodness.  It's been a while since I updated, unless you count my wee post about the pop music mashup, which I do not.  So what's been going on?

I think the answer to that question is what's NOT been going on?  In the last two weeks, the Mister & I have moved out of our apartment in Norfolk, bought a BRAND NEW CAR, we've been camped out in a motel until we can move into our new apartment, the Mister started his new job and I just got back from a cookie-baking marathon with my mom & sister in Atlanta.  Whew.  It's a good thing I accidentally dropped all my trips but one in December or I'd be a pooped lady.

So first of all, my NEW CAR.  Guys, I am beyond thrilled.  I have never owned a new car before.  My first car was born 4 years before me, my second car was born 2 years before me and my youngest car was 11 years younger than me.  So to get to have a car that nobody else has ever driven?  It was so exciting.  And I am loving this bad boy.  Or girl.  I haven't quite figured out the gender of my car yet, so it is also as yet unnamed.


It's a 2012 Chevy Cruze and it drives like a dream.  I'm averaging 33 miles per gallon, which is phenomenal. The motel we are staying at is quite literally in the middle of nowhere, so I've been driving back & forth to Fredericksburg a lot just to have something to do.  I am loving the freedom this car represents to me.  I definitely enjoyed not having a car for the last five years.  Sure, there were times that I wished I had a car, but I loved not having a car payment or an insurance payment and I didn't have to buy gas or pay for repairs.   Not having a car was easy in Minneapolis.  Not so much in F-burg.  While the apartment we chose is very ideally located in Old Town with lots of shops & restaurants within walking distance, there isn't a grocery store near enough.  And since the Mister will be driving about 35 minutes to work every day, a second car became a necessity for us.  

And speaking of the Mister driving to work, he started his new job last week.  He's going to be an instructor and he's going to teach other people how to be awesome Fire Control Officers, just like he was on his last ship.  This definitely wasn't our first choice for location (I'd like to eventually get out of Virginia, at least for a little while!), the Mister is very much looking forward to teaching.  The thing I continually heard from people on his last ship was how much they learned from the Mister.  He is incredibly patient and he's good at explaining things in a way that just about anybody can understand. 


Here he is eating yogurt on his first day.  He wouldn't let me take a traditional "first day of school" type photo because "That's something a MOM does" so I was super sneaky and took this photo instead.  He's so handsome in his dress uniform.  I guess he always wears it when he shows up for a first day on a new job, but I'm excited because he said he'll also be wearing it the first Friday of every month.  The rest of the time he wears a khaki uniform and he looks good in that too, of course, but the dress uniform gets me every time.

As for the cookie baking marathon?  Sometimes my sister gets ambitious.  We baked 10 different types of cookies in about 10 hours.  We actually started the night before with a couple batches that needed to chill overnight and there were three additional recipes we didn't get to.  Momma & my step-dad's sister-in-law Jackie drove down from Tennessee to help out and my second cousins came over too.  We had a Christmas station on Pandora and had a pretty good time until about 10pm when I got a bit cookied out & cranky and my sister was literally walking circles in the kitchen,  But I tell you what, the cookies sure are delicious!


Momma & Steph mixing up a batch of something!


Stacie working on the sugar cookies.  That girl is so creative and has such patience.  After she left, Aunt Jackie & I took over decorating.


Those were my cookies.  I liked decorating the trees & the snowmen, but everything else sort of left me at a loss.  How do you decorate a sled?  I don't get that intricate with frosting!


Me & Aunt Jackie unwrapping and chopping Candy Cane Hershey Kisses.  I promise I wasn't pissed off at this point.  That's just my concentrating face!  I don't have any photos of my sister because even though I brought my camera, I totally forgot to pull it out!  Luckily Elise took those snaps on her phone, so I stole them and here they are!

The Mister & I have one more week here in the motel and then we can FINALLY move into our new place!  I am beyond excited!

No comments:

Post a Comment