Half-Way Settled in Texas

It's been a while since my last post, and I'm sorry for that, but things had been kind of hectic the past month or so:

        We arrived in Fort Hood on a Thursday night and checked into the hotel. The drive had been pretty smooth, barring traffic in Dallas (but I think that's just the natural state of Dallas. So glad we don't live there!) We pretty much went straight to bed and we slept in Friday morning. Josiah didn't have to check in until late Friday night, so when we woke up, I started looking into housing once again and we used the day to drive around and explore a little bit. 

        On Saturday we stopped in at a couple rental agencies and went on a couple of tours. The first house we stopped in at was a 2 bedroom 2 bathroom duplex. And it was super tiny. It was nice, but it was actually smaller than our apartment in Virginia had been, and I just couldn't do it. The second house was also a duplex, with 3 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms. We basically walked in and said, "Yep, this is it." We turned in our application that evening, and were approved on Monday. We signed the lease on Tuesday and then moved in a couple days later. Our household goods didn't arrive until July 4th, so we had a couple days in the house with no furniture (except a really crappy air mattress that my parent loaned us.) It wasn't the most comfortable, but we made it.

Here is but a small portion of our boxes waiting to be unpacked.
Thankfully, nothing has been broken or misplaced so far. 

        The 4th was pretty relaxed. Fort Hood was putting on a massive fireworks show and a free Andy Grammar concert, but Josiah and I decided that we didn't particularly want to prove the crowds or the heat (it's way to damn hot here..) so after our household goods were delivered, we headed over to my Aunt Shelby's house, who only lives about an hour and a half away. Yep, I have family near by! Which has been amazing; I've seen Aunt Shelby more in the past month than I have in the last 10 years probably. She's actually planning on coming over again on Saturday to help me out with a couple of projects. And we don't have a lawnmower yet (haha, we have a lawn to mow!!) so my wonderful cousins are going to come mow my lawn for me. They're the best. 

        Then, last week on Tuesday, my parents and grandparents came down to deliver Peter back to me. He had stayed with my parents for the couple weeks since our visit to Missouri, because I didn't want to have to have Peter all cooped up in the hotel. Mom was kind enough to send me periodical updates on how he was doing, and he seemed really attached to Dad, but I think everyone is very happy that he's settled back home with me. 

        Peter wasn't the only reason my parents came down though; On Wednesday, we all (minus Josiah, because of work) headed down to San Antonio to visit my brother and support him as he graduated from Air Force Basic Military Training, which he excelled at. It was great to see him, but he seemed so different to me when I saw him in his uniform. My little brother is all grown up now, and is an actual real adult. We were able to spend the weekend with him, visited the Alamo (Remember the Alamo, y'all), went to the movies, and played the family-favorite game of Phase-10. On Sunday evening he headed out to Mississippi for the next phase in his training.

Here he is, lookin' sharp, front and center

                   

                         Robert and I won, in case you were wondering.

3 generations of Airmen here

        And now I'm just sitting at home doing nothing for the next two weeks. Josiah is busy with work right now, so I'm on my own. I have a few small projects and errands to do, but for the most part I'm just getting the house in order. I'm hopeful that our washer and dryer (which I ordered 3 AND A HALF weeks ago) will arrive within the next two weeks, because laundromats suck. Wish me luck.

T-Minus 3 Days

          Josiah is finally home! He's been home for a full two weeks now, but it's taken me a while to write this post because we've just been being lazy and haven't done much worthy of sharing. For the first couple of days, he was really jet-lagged and he spent most of his time sleeping. We did go to the movies the day after he came home, because I'd been waiting to see the newest Avenger's movie and I was tired of avoiding all the spoilers. We had watched all the others together so I didn't want to see it without him. We had the whole theater to ourselves, which is what happens when you go to a 3 o'clock movie on a Wednesday. It was a great movie, but I was a little disappointed at the end!

          Then we went to Busch Gardens last week and rode a bunch of roller coasters. It was great, because we went on a Tuesday and had almost no lines all day. We rode all of the coasters except for one, I think.

He refused to take a decent photo. This was the best that I could get.

And we got to see wolves, too!

          On Saturday, our friends Cat and Bryan hosted a Going Away Party, and we were able to spend time with all of our friends. Saying goodbye was hard and I cried a little. I've been so thankful that Josiah's friends adopted me so readily; they were the support system I needed while Josiah was away. I'm sad to have to say goodbye. 

          Since Sunday, we've just been vegging out and catching up on TV shows that we used to watch together and have started several new ones too. We also go on walks at the nature center just around the corner. I think we're started to get a little bored, but that's about to change quickly! 

          We leave in just 3 days! Our moving company just called earlier today to set up an appointment for tomorrow morning; they're coming to scope out the building and take a quick inventory of our stuff, so that they're prepared on Saturday when it's time to pack and load up. We hope to have everything packed and loaded by mid-afternoon, so that we can get on the road. We'll be visiting Missouri for about the next two weeks before finally getting to Texas mid-June.

Things are moving both very quickly and very slowly. I feel like we should be extremely busy, but we've just been laying around the house for the past few days. Maybe I'm missing something major, but I've decided that I'm just not gonna worry about it any more than I already have.

The Countdowns Begin

        Well, it’s happened. PA application season has begun! I’m five days in and already drowning. Please send help. I spend all last weekend writing essays for various programs and updating my application from last year. To be honest, I’m already over it. Self-reflection does not agree with me, apparently, and I find it difficult to write about myself.

        Also, can we talk real quick about how expensive the GRE is? I took this test last summer, and still have to pay $27 per school. I’m applying to 12 schools. That’s a lot of money. I don’t understand how it costs $27 to send my scores from one computer to another, but apparently it does. Ah, the things I do for PA school. My plan is to have everything done and submitted at the end of May, and I'm mostly done already. The longest part will be waiting for my letters of recommendation to be written and submitted. But I'll hopefully have everything done before then, so when they're entered I'll just have to click that button real quick.

        In other news, it’s less than a month until Josiah comes home. We are so excited! Things will move quickly once he’s home. My last day at work is May 17th, so I'll be done with that by the time Josiah is home; I didn't want to worry about wrapping up things at work while also planning a move and a visit home.

        We’ll be packing up and moving early in June, hopefully. Counting down these last few weeks is difficult. I’ve been able to stay distracted for most of the year, but now it’s next to impossible to keep my mind off of it. So much is about to change, and we’re extremely excited to just be together. One other thing I’m excited about is finally getting to see Avengers. I can’t see it without him, so I’ve been very VERY careful about being on social media recently. You never know what spoilers you may find. So Avengers will be the first thing to check off our list.

        Then it'll be time to say goodbye. It's gonna be rough. I've only been here a little while, but I've made some really great friends. I hope we can plan a good-bye party or something; it can be hard to get everyone together all at once sometimes. I'm trying to not think about this part quite yet...

I didn't have a recent picture that I liked, so here's one from our first Christmas. Virginia's state "motto" or whatever is "Virginia is for Lovers" and we found this sign while on a trip to Busch Gardens with friends.

Babies and Birthdays

Many of you have already seen on Facebook, but this past weekend was one to remember! Thankfully, I was able to fly back home to Missouri for a surprise visit to one of my best friends, Jena. Jena is 9 months pregnant with a baby girl and she had her baby shower on Saturday, so that was the perfect time for me to visit. It was so amazing to see her. She looks absolutely fantastic! We were able to keep it a surprise that I was coming; for those of you that haven’t seen it, the reveal video is on my Facebook page. It’s definitely worth a watch! Jena had NO CLUE that I was coming.

This was after she had calmed down a little bit. I'm surprised I didn't send her into an early labor!

My parents and Rodney also made a trip down for the baby shower. I always love seeing Rodney! He had fun at the shower, and designed a block for baby Ellie and helped Jena and Jacob open some of the gifts, too.

I’m so thankful that I was able to make it, because this baby is going to be my first niece, so I could NOT miss Ellie’s shower. She is going to be the most spoiled and well dressed baby I’ve ever seen! She's due on May 11th, so I'm hoping we'll be able to stop in Cape Girardeau to visit on our way through to Texas. She'll be about a month old when I finally get to meet her.

In other news, today (April 18th) is my other best friend's birthday! Happy Birthday DeAnne! We were born only a day apart, so we were destined to be best friends from the beginning. Sadly, we don't get to spend our birthdays together this year, as we have so many times in the past. I'm sad that I can't live closer to all my friends; I feel as if I am missing so much. But I guess that just happens when you grow up, you all kind of move in separate ways. I don't like it, but that's just what I get I suppose.

This was last year, when she came to visit me in DC for our birthday!

When we move to Texas, we'll be a couple of hours closer than we are now. So there's that. If anyone feels like visiting, it's only a 10 hour drive from my parents' house to Fort Hood! We still don't know when we'll be moving, so bear with us.

Other than that I don't have much else in the way of news. I have nothing big planned for my birthday tomorrow, though I do have the day off. I'll probably just hang out and read Lord of the Rings. I'm falling a bit behind in my reading because I'd been busy at Jena's. Time to pick that up again, I suppose.

Approximately 34 days until Josiah is home.

Trams, Buses, and Trains. Oh my!

This past week was a busy one. I had visitors and finally have something to write about!

Last Friday, after work, I drove to Timonium, Maryland to meet up with my grandparents and spend the weekend with them. My grandpa is a civil war buff and they were in town for the annual Baltimore Antique Arms Show. I visited them there last year as well, and its actually a lot more fun than it sounds. We were there all weekend and I left to go back home on Sunday evening, with more people in tow.

It had been decided that my mother and brothers were going to meet us there in Maryland on Saturday night and then they were going to stay with me for the following week. They also brought along my other grandma and surprised me with a visit from Hannah, my closest cousin.

For those of you who haven't seen it, my apartment is very small, 2 bedrooms and 1 bathroom. It's always difficult with visitors because there just isn't much room. 6 people is a lot and I always feel that I'm stepping over people wherever I turn. Totally worth it though. We did some cool things while they were here, but it was mostly a pretty chill visit.

On Monday we visited Arlington National Cemetery and took a tour on the tram. We drove past the Kennedy gravesite, the Lee house, and several sections of the cemetery. We were able to watch the changing of the guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. Then we came home and mom made my favorite meal. Chicken and Dumplings, yum yum! On Tuesday we rode the metro train to Union Station and hopped on a night tour around the National Mall. It was fun, but it was too cold to ride on top of the bus, so visibility wasn't great. They should really redesign those buses. 

Just look at the smile on Robert's face. What joy!

Wednesday we did the bus tour again and stopped off at a couple museums. Grandma and I had some tea in the Holocaust Museum cafe while the rest of the group took a look around. I had seen it before and, quite frankly, have no desire to see it again. It messes with my mind and makes me upset for the rest of the day. Which is the point, I suppose. But still uncomfortable. We visited the American History Museum too, which was a much happier visit. Rodney got to see the Bat-mobile, I got to see Dorothy's ruby slippers, and Mom and Grandma were able to see Julia Child's kitchen. 

I used to be obsessed with this movie when I was younger.
Ask my Mother about it sometime. 

The day ended with a visit to Madame Tussaud's wax museum. The display included all the U.S. presidents and several popular celebrities. Rodney was really freaked out a first, but he came around eventually. Me and Hannah were much impressed with the likeness of Zac Efron. Then we had a very long and crowded ride home on the metro, during rush hour. It was a bit miserable, but it was the only time we ran into that particular problem.

Just chillin' with Abe

Thursday was rainy and gross, so we spent it watching movies and getting frustrated with Rodney's attempts to play video games. Lego Harry Potter is too complicated for 4-year-olds, in case you were wondering. Honestly though, it was nice just being able to relax after being out and about all day Wednesday. 

Friday was another pretty chill day. We hung out at home all morning. I had a haircut scheduled in the afternoon (which are very difficult for me to reschedule, due to work and the fact that my hair stylist is an amazing wizard). While I was doing that, the rest of the gang went to the Manassas Battlefield. We met up for dinner after and then drove to the National Harbor to take a ride on the Capital Wheel. Which was great, except it was ridiculously cold and windy. The wait was miserable, but the ride was fun. 

Another winning smile from Robert. Also I just realized
I'm wearing the same scarf in every photo. Go me.

Everyone left Saturday morning Luckily, Nicci (my hair wizard and best friend out here) invited me to run a 5K with her. We had a sleepover last night and got up early this morning. The impromptu 5K went ok. I didn't do great, but I didn't finish last either, so here's to small victories! I did feel slightly nauseous after crossing the finish line, but it resolved after a good breakfast at a local diner. 

And now it's just Peter and I sitting in my too-empty, too-quiet house. That's always the worst part; after everyone leaves, I feel even more lonely than before. Tomorrow it's back to my regularly scheduled programming, so hopefully the blues don't last too long.

Approximately 60 days until Josiah comes home.

A Boring Update

        I am sorry to say that noting much has happened in the last month and I have no news to share. It's been pretty boring around here. I've just been working and watching entirely too much Netflix. Have you seen Call the Midwife? Because that's my current binge. I'm halfway through and have no idea what to watch next. I did go to the movies with my friend Nicci yesterday (she's the one who does my hair, by the way. She's basically a wizard). We saw "Isn't It Romantic," which was ok. Not the greatest though; if you haven't seen it yet, just wait until its available on Netflix or something.
        We still have no new news about Texas or when we'll be there. I talked to Josiah the other day and he told me that he needed to attend a briefing in order to move forward. I don't know why this briefing is so important, but there you have it. We won't have any news until that's been checked off the list, I suppose. In the meantime, I've been purging and trying to organize the house a bit. Throwing out things that need throwing out, donating clothes that no longer fit. We don't have much, so this shouldn't take too terribly long. I just want to make it easier to move later. I know I've moved before, but I've never packed up an entire household and moved before. I know that it's packed up for us, but honestly it almost makes me more anxious to have strangers pack up and take away our stuff...
        I'm just trying to stay calm and get through these next two weeks. Things are really going to start getting busy after that, so I'm just trying not to stress. I'm meeting up with my grandparents in Baltimore later this month for a weekend. Then Mom, Robert, Rodney, and my other grandma will be visiting for the week after. I took the week off work and we have some fun stuff planned. Then in April, PA school applications open. I'm applying to 11 schools this year. Wish me luck.
        There are approximately 11 weeks before Josiah comes home. My hope is that ill be busy enough that they just fly by.

Bonus picture of Peter trying to avoid my kisses. I promise he loves me. 

The Next Chapter

        The news is in! We are going to Texas, and apparently there's no getting out of it. Josiah told me last week that he had finally heard: Fort Hood is to be our next duty station. That's in Killeen, TX, in case you were wondering. No word yet on when exactly we'll have to be there by. Josiah should be coming back to the states at the end of May, so it'll be some time after that.

        So. Now that we're for sure going to Texas, I'm actually quite excited. Excited to start the next chapter. I'm trying to stop myself from planning too far ahead, since I still don't know when. But I'm a planner at heart and I'm finding it very difficult. I keep pestering Josiah with questions and I'm sure that he's getting tired of it; I just can't help it. I caught myself looking at apartments today, and I've been thinking about the pros/cons of living on-post versus off-post. Josiah prefers off-post. 

        Still no word on PA schools as of yet. I'm preparing to re-apply as soon as the season opens, which is in April. I'll apply to the schools in Texas again, and probably add all the schools in Missouri, too. I'm about to spend hundreds of dollars to apply to schools again. Happy birthday to me, right? I'm only a little bitter about it.

        There really isn't much else to report. January was a quiet month; I spent most of the month reading. Last year for my birthday, Josiah gifted me one of those scratch-off posters. It's the "100 Books Bucket List," although it's actually 119 books, since there are a couple series to be read. I plan to finish it as quickly as possible. I'm 6 books in, and currently reading "The Help." 

        Josiah has just been doing the usual. He did have an overnight thingy (technical term) the other day and almost froze his feet off because he didn't use his sleeping bag. He's fine though, and probably still has all of his toes. 

I didn't really have any pictures for this post, so here's a picture of Judgmental Peter

The Introduction

          One of my New Year's Resolutions is to stay more in touch with friends and family. I regularly talk to my mom, but talk to others less frequently. Since the wedding, I have gained a whole new family, and I don't do well at all with keeping them updated (but, to be fair, neither does Josiah!) So I decided to break out a new blog. I had so much fun with my blog while I was in England, and it was a wonderful tool to keep friends and family updated back home. It should be a great tool again, since we live so far away from loved ones. I'm surprised I didn't think to make a blog sooner.
          The title, The Months Between the Days, was thought up by Josiah. He thought that it was the perfect description of our relationship, in which we have gone months without seeing each other just for a few days together. While I was in school, I would fly out to Virginia to be with him for spring break. Once I flew out for a quick weekend, and we got all fancy and dressed up and went to the Army Birthday Ball. Hopefully it will be reversed in the future, and we'll have months together before having to be apart for a few days. In the meantime, we'll just keep on keeping on. Taking the days where we can get them.

So on to the first update:
          Josiah is currently stationed in South Korea. He is a combat medic and works in the clinic on post. He mostly works as a medical assistant now, taking patient back to the exam rooms, taking patient histories and assisting in minor procedures. Other than that, he helps with and completes combat- simulation medic trainings.
          While he's there, I'm still in Virginia. I work as a medical scribe for an ENT practice nearby. I work 1 on 1 with a nurse practitioner; I attend all the appointments and document them so the NP can focus on the patient. I do all the medical charting and document all the procedures performed. In my off time, I mostly just watch a lot of Netflix. We have a great group of close-knit friends here, and they take care of me while Josiah is away. They adopted me soon after I moved out here and have been very supportive.
          Josiah should be coming home in the spring, probably (hopefully) in May. After that, we don't know where we'll be moving to next. The plan was Fort Hood, Texas. But as you may well know, plans change often in the military. So we don't know yet. I'm hoping that it will be somewhere with a lot of options for PA schools. I did apply this past April, but have had no bites yet and it looks like I'll be reapplying this year.
          I'll let you know when we find out. I promise to keep everyone better updated from now on, and I will post another update again soon!

Here's a bonus picture of us and our slightly overweight cat, Peter