My New Addiction!

I absolutely HATE paying full price for anything....I will shop until I find the best deal, use coupons etc... I discovered Craigs List a while ago, but In Amarillo the listings were sparse. Here in NOVA there are hundreds of postings a day. Wayne actually found the house we are in on Craigs List. Since we donated so much stuff before the move and all at the last minute, we are a little short in some furniture areas. But I don't want to get anything expensive. I have been scanning CraigsList and Freecycle looking for deals. It has almost become a game to see who can get something first. Yesterday I found a medium sized entertainment center for....$20.00. It is not fancy and definitely worth the $20.00. It looks good and has extra shelving with it to boot. We are going to use it in our Master bedroom so we can get the TV off of the dresser. I am currently on the lookout for some bookshelves for Carson and for the basement.

IF you haven't found Freecycle yet... it is really neat too... everything is free...some good stuff...some cr@p. It is a yahoo group so search Yahoo groups for your area and join. It is like garage selling from your computer. I donated a bunch of moving boxes on Freecycle... saves me putting them in trash or recycling and helps someone else out.

Christian the Lion

This makes me cry almost everytime I see it. Enjoy!

Ok...I Feel Silly...

In my post from this morning, I mentioned that I was missing the charger for my point and shoot camera. I specifically remember packing it in a safe place... who woulda thought I would have packed it in......get this... the camera bag! DOH! I know I looked in that bag at least a dozen times...Oh well I am charging both cameras as we speak... so expect some new photos soon.

These are some pictures from last week when we went swimming.... This was at another of the county pools. This one is an Olympic size with a large shallow end. Carson met a few kids and they played catch for a while. We may head back that way this afternoon.

Just so you don't think it is all fun and games here, yesterday Carson and I headed out to get his new pediatrician and therapists all line up. I had previously made contact with a pediatric practice accepting new patients, so all I had to do for them was drop off his records and they would get us an appointment. Here, Carson has to have a complete physical to start kindergarten, so I definitely needed to get that scheduled. His therapists were a whole other story. Our insurance gave a list of all participating providers, so I started calling, no one was accepting new patients until October or November. I finally found a practice and when I called them I realized that it was the clinic for the medicaid and without insurance group. No biggie right... they accepted our insurance... so off we go to the clinic. I fill out a ton of forms, they want our complete financial history... and all I kept telling the girl is that we will be covered under insurance. Finally get all the paperwork filled out and a new medical history as well. Turn in the papers and we are told we have to wait to see the billing supervisor, because we actually have insurance, but they have to verify it. So we wait and wait and wait some more. We spent the better part of the day getting a new therapist and pediatrician. But I have appointments for Carson the first week in August. It was a real eye opener, while we were waiting yesterday to see the billing lady, the police bring a gentleman in in handcuffs, he is a psychiatric patient and needs to be committed, and it seems that this clinic is the place to do all that. Carson being Carson wanted to know what that man did to make the police lock his hands. Then he wanted to know if this was the jail and was he gonna be locked like that too. Of course he doens't ask quietly, he blurts it all out loud and within earshot of the man in handcuffs and the police. I wanted to crawl under the chairs. So I called this morning and got on the waiting list for the therapist that can see us in October. We will keep with the clinic until then.

Oh and if you were a charger for a camera, and I put you someplace safe for the move... where would you be??? I can't find the charger for my point and shoot...I have missed a few photo ops because the camera is dead.

Saw Something Today...

That I haven't seen in a while...WIND... yes you heard me right. I was out on the back deck and all of the sudden I realised that the wind does blow here...just not very often and very hard. Back home in Texas, you get used to the constant 30mph light breeze. You get so used to it that when it doesn't blow, it is almost a holiday. Here there is hardly ever any breeze and believe me there are times I would almost kill for a small breeze to help cool things off. The weather men here talk about strong sustained winds of 18mph as being windy.

We are not adjusting very well to the weather yet. The temps have not be high by Texas standards (mid 90's) but the absence of a breeze, and factor in the 987% humidity, and it is drenching. The air conditioner never seems to cut off.... I am really dreading the bill when it comes. I used to live in Virginia, twice as a matter of fact. As a child, until the age of 13 and again as a college student. I really do not remember the humidity being this bad, maybe I forgot that part, maybe it is because I am way older now. Either way, I sure hope we can adapt. Carson on the other hand has no problem whatsoever. He was out yesterday with Wayne at the park, playing hard and dripping wet, with his face beet red, but he wanted to go back out. We wait until dusk, to do ANYTHING outside.

Yesterday afternoon we took off on a Sunday afternoon drive. We headed out west this time and of course we took back roads. We drove through some of the prettiest country ever. Through some beautiful horse country, large pastures with the standard white horse fence and green rolling hills. There are some very large horse farms here that have produced several racehorses. Anyway, we got a little lost, but had fun doing it.

In other news, I am almost completely done unpacking. We unpacked all the crystal, china and milk glass yesterday. Just need to rearrange the china cabinets to get it all in there nicely. I actually hung curtains today too, in the dining room and living room as well as the kitchen. The garage is the only thing that really has not been tackled, but.... guess what ? I am not touching that one.

Success!!!!

The whole family is on board....YES! My father started their blog last night, my sisters started theirs on Thursday and Friday, and my brother has an old one he never updates! Just have to get him rolling. They are all posted on my blog roll and until I hear otherwise from them, they are available for viewing.

The response to the challenge.

The challenge went out and so far I have two new family blogs.... Hayden my nephew has started his own blog and my sister Wendy started a blog as well. Both are linked in my favorites on the side. Haven't heard from the brother or the parents as to whether they will join me in bloggerland. My other nephew...Zach(says he's my favorite)...said he will be starting the Fields Journal (This would be a great blog name by the way) sometime this weekend. I tell you it is addicting. Wendy even posted a short video to Carson from her kids... so her is one or two right back at ya. Carson was sitting there waving and talking back to them, but of course when I had him on camera... I couldn't get him to say much. The first is for Momo and Papa, and the second is for Hayden, Hannah and Hunter. Excuse the sound quality....I couldn't hear it when played back on the camera, but when downloaded... it was kinda loud...so forgive me for making the boy shout.

A Challenge to my Family Specifically....

I know that most of my family reads this blog, if not daily at least somewhat regularly. Now that we have moved away... I feel that it is only fair that since I am posting about what is happening in our lives.... you should step up to the plate and start a blog as well. Heck, Hayden did.... you guys can too. We are not the best at remembering everything that goes on in our lives to let the infrequent phone calls keep us all up to date. BUT...we are all computer savvy enough to post about it. Take it from me... it is quite addicting. My blog is not private, and I don't expect you to make yours available to just anyone... but please consider starting one just for family. It is so easy to do. Use Blogger.. it is by far the easiest and allows for both private, by invite only and public blogs. I am using mine also as record of happenings during the year for us. I can go back and look at the end of the year and see what we did and when... sure makes keeping things easier. Plus I love to post pictures on mine... and again the simplest thing possible. I don't want to resort to begging... but I will.. if I have too! So Mom and Dad, Holly and family, Brad and family, and Wendy and family.... I am challenging you to start one. PLEASE! Oh and it wouldn't hurt to leave a comment once in a while either! :)

Ramblings...

Just wanted to drop a short post about how good God is. I am going to admit that I was really not happy about moving to Virginia. I wasn't dead set against it, but I never really voiced my concerns. I was afraid that this would be a huge mistake, that we would never be able to pull ourselves out of this cycle of moving that we seemed to be in. I would pray every single day for something, anything to happen so that we would not have to move. Then once I realized that there was no getting out of it, that we really would be moving 1600 miles away.... I started the rationalization that it will only be until Wayne gets a good job back home. After all it happened before when we were first married. I moved to Wichita, Ks. and after a year and a half Wayne had a job in Amarillo.

Now this is HUGE for me... I can honestly say that I really really am enjoying living here. Carson LOVES it... he loves going out in the evening and catching fireflies. He loves all the trees. He loves the green. He loves his school...we registered yesterday. I love all the windy roads. I love that it feels like we are in a small rural community, when all I have to do is drive 10 minutes and I am in some of the best shopping ever. I love exploring and finding a new way to get somewhere. I love picking a direction and just driving, knowing that I will hit either I-95 if I go west or the water if I go east. I love the beauty of the water. And I love that my son is getting to do some of the things that I got to do when I grew up in Virginia Beach, like playing in the woods, and building forts, and sweating as soon as you walk outside because it is so stinking humid. I love that we have neighbors that are open and friendly and most of all welcoming. I love that while we haven't found a new church yet, I know that God has the perfect fit for us. I love that Wayne is loving his job, and he is actually excited to spend so much of his day commuting on the train. He is getting to do some pleasure reading for a change. I love that he usually gets home in a good mood.

One thing I really am not loving is that fact that while all this is good and we are settling in...I miss my family and my friends. It is much easier nowadays with the Internet and phones and such. But I wanted all of you to know I do miss you, Carson says daily that he misses his Momo and Papa, his friend Caden and his teachers, Ms. Heather and Ms. Denyce.

Haircut & Scraproom Beginnings

I mentioned in my last post that we had finally convinced Carson to get a haircut. I really think it is my favorite cut on him. He wanted the top longer than I normally get it cut and the sides shorter... and I wanted it off his ears and trimmed neatly in the back. This cut suits him so well and he likes it. Plus with the top longer, I don't have to worry too much about sunscreen on his scalp.

For the past two days I have been unpacking the basement, which includes Carson's playroom, and my office/scrapbook room combo. We purchased the Ikea Expedit on Saturday. We got the medium sized one, and it did not take me long to realize that I should have bought the larger one. Anyway, I was really wondering where I was going to put all my stuff. I remembered that in the storage room in the basement there was this really neat old Art cabinet from a local school. It is huge and heavy... but oooh so full of potential as a cool place to store all my stuff.

I convinced Wayne that we needed to move it, and it was really simple really. The unit is in two pieces, so we took the top off and slid it on those moving pads (awesome by the way and worth their weight in gold). Moved the base the same way and Wayne bolted it all together. There were sliding glass doors, but I could not get them to close if I put the paper up there, so I took them off and stored them.

Isn't this COOL.... I love the storage that this has... I can hide a multitude of cr*p in it. Plus the four drawers are going to make organising easier too.This is looking down the hallway from the playroom area. To the right is the restroom and wet bar area (not shown) It is a disaster.... so forgive the mess.The picture below is from down the hall... this is a huge room. The previous owner used this as his media room, and art studio. The indentations in the walls are spotlighted and where he hung some of his artwork.

Anyway... I have been busy and am no where near done as this picture attests to. The place is still a mess, and I will post pictures when it is all completed. This picture is looking back toward the playroom and shows the ledge where the previous owner kept the media projectors etc.

While we were waiting for Daddy to come in from the train, Carson practised his hula hoop ... he is actually getting very good at it.