Saturday, April 19, 2014

Lastest DIY Projects

In our new house (which I've still yet to share on here, soon soon) we will officially have a guest bedroom. We have always had a 2 bedroom house both in Hawaii and in the South. Perks of living on post I guess, or down fall really. So the 2nd room was the Hubbs gun room / office which shared a futon were our guest stayed when they came to visit. Our new home in TN has 3 bedrooms and so we finally are able to have a proper guest bedroom and the hubbs still has his gun room. 

I had been looking for a queen mattress and box springs for the room on line but didn't want to pay full price because I know its not going to be used all the time. The plan was to get rails and then I was going to use pictures as a headboard. I found someone selling a new set of mattresses on the Ft. Jackson Trash and Treasure's FB page and when I went to check them out she told me I could have the bed frame as well. Although it needed a bit of work I jumped on it because it looked great! 
The plan was to sand it completely down and repaint it. I've always wanted a white bed for some unknown reason but the hubbs doesn't like white furniture. This worked perfect, I got my white bed just in our guest room. What I didn't realize when we started this was how much work it was going to take. Getting in and out of every little square with the sander and then painting in each square. Talk about time consuming and tedious. But I love the way it turned out and I can't wait to see how it looks in the guest room. 
 Going along with the guest room I needed / wanted night stands. I've had these 2 old stools for a while now that I bought off the Ft. Jackson Trash and Treasures page for our down stairs desk before we bought our new kitchen table. My go to is pinterest, of course its everyone else's to. I found a similar idea to these using a stool converting it into a night stand but my sweet Spouse (Sarah) found this idea and she sent it to me. It will go along with the theme of the room great so I went for it. Painting the stools and tops were a piece of cake. The hubbs screwed on the tops and then I did the "shelves". That was time consuming and so messy but I love the way they turned out. Although I wish the table top would have covered the entire stool seat, I couldn't bring myself to pay $20 for the bigger one and to be honest I think it would have been to big. 
I can't wait to get settled in our new house and get everything decorated and set up. I started off wanting to get all new of everything and since then I've regrouped and changed that idea and have enjoyed redoing some projects and making things into my own. It saves money for sure and it gives me something to do, not to mention makes our home unique. 

Friday, April 18, 2014

Our last day's

The last few day's in our Cola house looked like this…..filled with boxes upon boxes. 
Sleeping on a air mattress in our living room floor, living out of our upstairs bathroom because that's were all our stuff was we didn't want the movers to pack.
Eating off of paper plates because our dishes were packed away. Shredding cheese with a potato peeler because I forgot to leave out our cheese grater. 
Watching movies or TV shows on our laptops because we had no TV. 
Using Commissary bags as trash bag's because we threw out our trash can so the movers wouldn't pack it. 
Life in the mist of PCSing oh the joys!!! I can't wait to get settled at our new place and have everything back to normal again. 
 Wednesday morning I woke up early went and picked up donuts for our movers and came back to finish up a few things before they arrived. Their ETA was between 8:00am and 8:30am I figure closer to 8:30 so I had a little time to spare. NOPE, they arrived promptly at 8:10am just shortly after I got home. The moment I saw the moving truck pull up in front of my drive way my heart sank. Not that everything leading up to today wasn't a sign of hello we're moving but I guess it really hadn't hit me yet. Well it did today. I kept reminding myself of all that we have ahead of us and this is not the end of my time in the South but only the beginning. We will be back! (just not to be stationed at Ft. J)
It only took them a matter of 3.5 hours to wrap up all the furniture and load everything up. They left our couch and hutch for last because they are two of the biggest and heaviest pieces of furniture we have. Cleaning up the upstairs while they finished packing the down stairs reminded me of the way the house looked when we moved in. EMPTY! Life as a Milispouse and the joys' of PCSing. 

Wednesday night was last time I cooked dinner in our Cola house. I made Chicken Fried Rice, one of our favorites. It was easy, quick and we had everything there to make it.  We sat there on our air mattress eating off paper plates enjoy our last moments in our 2nd home together. 

Thursday night our last night in the house we decided to go out to eat. I didn't want to make a mess in the kitchen. The stove, oven, counters, and everything else was already clean and I'd like to keep it that way. We decided to ask our neighbors Mr. Larry and Nita to go with us. And thankfully they took us up on our offer. I was a bit nervous about how the dinner would go but it was great, there was never a dull moment and I'm so glad we asked them to go with us. They are the sweetest elderly couple in the world. Mr. Larry retired from the Army in 1985, he and his wife live on post one door down from us. Mr. Larry pulls the trash can's and recycling bins out to the curb for the entire neighborhood every morning and takes then back up after trash runs. They hand write Christmas cards for everyone in the neighborhood and always have a little something to go with it. A couple days before the movers came they brought over this beautiful cross-stitch that she had done. This way we would always remember them and have a piece of the beach every were we went. 
I'll truly miss them and their sweet hearts. I'm sure the pups will to because they always came over to say hi and give them loves. 

 Friday morning at 10am we finaled out of our house and officially were done with cleaning, packing and stressing over this house. We've heard mixed reviews on how the housing clearing process goes. I've heard that it's similar to a white glove test and then I've heard its really not that bad. I didn't want to chance anything so we made sure that everything was spic and span clean. I'm happy to say we didn't have to pay for anything extra other than the carpet cleaning which we new we were going to have to pay for. We opted to have them do it vs. us paying for someone to come in and do it and it still not be up to their standards. 

When one door closes there's another waiting to be opened, when one chapter ends there's another one to start. 
Goodbye Cola house! 

Tuesday, April 15, 2014

It's Pack Day….

When I moved from Texas to Hawaii and then again from Hawaii to South Carolina everything was done on one day. Not this time, we have a pack day and a moving day. Kinda random but I suppose every company has there own way of doing things right?.?.?. 
Over the last couple week's I've slowly began getting our house ready for the movers to come. Taking everything off the walls. A deep deep clean on all of our belongings and not to mention the endless dusting. I wanted everything to be nice and clean before it was boxes up, this way it helps for when I have to unpack everything at the new house. One of the ONLY plus sides to moving is going through the house and getting rid of stuff and junk we DON'T need any more!!!! I HATE HATE clutter with a passion. My motto is if we don't use it or we have to put it in storage (other than holiday decor and some childhood things) its gotta GO!!!! My husband is the worlds worst at holding on to EVERYTHING. His favorite saying is well what if I need it later?!?!? Well I guess we'll find out then won't we. 
I'm a very OCD person when it comes to our home. I like to have everything just a certain way and everything has to be nicely organized as well. That's been no different this time around either. All the wall decor has been placed in one area. All the "new" spare-bedroom stuff has been collected in one area, cookbooks together, surround system together and wrapped up. You get the idea right. The hubbs has reminded me multiple times that it is the job of the packers to wrap, box and take care of everything but I can't help myself. Since I won't be there when all of our stuff is delivered (I'll save that for another post) I want to make it as easy as possible when I do get there and organizing the house. Hubbs has been put on strict orders not to unpack or set anything up unless its his gun room stuff. I know I'm going to want things in a certain spot and it will just save us both the hassle of doing it twice if he waits till I get there. Besides to him it really doesn't make a difference one way or the other. Men I tell you, sometimes they just don't understand lol. 
Well the day has finally came and our house is getting packed up, TODAY. The packers are here, as I'm typing this, my kitchen is slowly becoming empty. My precious collection of dishes now sits in a giant box in the corner of our dinning room. There's one guy up stairs and one guy down stairs and their hard at work. I haven't even been up stairs since they started. I'm kinda nervous to go up there and see everything packed away. I know its only temporary but this has been our home for the past 2.5 years and its hard to go through another move. No matter how much I HATE Ft. Jackson or how much my husband hated his job at times, it doesn't make it any easier to move. We've built a life here, we've made friends, I've got a job that I enjoy and I have to leave it all behind and start over. Don't get me wrong I'm extremely excited about our future and what's to come at our new duty station. (I can't wait to fill you in on all of that, another post, another day maybe) But it's still going to be hard to see this chapter come to a close. Life of a Army Wife though right!!!! I wouldn't change it for the world. 
Side Note: I for got how much of a pain going through box after box is until I just looked over at a empty kitchen. You mean they will take it all out of the cabinets and drawers but they wont put it all back in?!?!? Kidding Kidding I know, I'd want to do it myself any how but still holy cow its a lot of work!!! Good thing I'll have plenty to keep me busy when we move for the first weekend. Not to worry I'll have it all unpacked and set up in no time. I HATE living out of boxes and in a disorganized mess!!!!! The OCD will kick in, in extreme over drive and take over!!! 

This is just a glimpse at what our house looked like last night when we went to bed. :( 
This morning it was even worse as I finished up last minute organizing and cleaning waiting for the packers to get here. 

Friday, April 4, 2014

3rd Times a Charm, Right?!?!?

In this case yes it is. 2 weeks ago the hubbs started the train-up for EIB (Expert Infantry Badge) The 3rd week was testing week. See he'd gone and tried out twice before, once when we lived in Hawaii and once since we'd been here. Sadly enough though for one reason or another he didn't pass and we re-cycled. This week was a big week, he HAD to get it. I mean it was his time for sure!!! Monday was the PT Test and all went well. The rest of the week was spent at the range. He texted me when he had completed each day to let me know he was still good to go. Tuesday he passed the lane day, Wednesday he passed the lane day with one "no go", Thursday he passed the lane day. I prayed and prayed ALL day every day. It was his time, It just had to be. He wanted this so bad. Friday was the last event. A 12 mile road march in full gear, with a 8lb rifle and a 35lb ruck sack along with 100oz of water in his camelback. This had to be completed in 3 hours, which as a 15 min mile pace. I honestly wasn't to worried about today but deep down I was hoping with every ounce that he would make it through. Friday morning he left the house around 3:30am to meet up at the starting point by 4:00am. The road march started at 4:30am and they had to be complete by 7:30am. I took the morning off work to attend the Graduation. I wanted to make sure I was there, to show my support and let him know how proud I am of him. I was up getting ready and it was about 7:15am, and I still hadn't heard from him. I was planning on making my way to Post Headquarters were Graduation was being held regardless if I'd heard from him or not. He had 15 minutes to make it through the road march, He couldn't come this far and not make it. I was a nervous wreck all week as well as was he but this morning I was sitting on pins and needles waiting. Finally about 7:20am I got a text from the hubbs saying HE MADE IT. I was so happy he was finally getting his EIB pined on. It was over and he'd never had to go through the course again. I was and am one proud wife, he's such a strong Soldier and never gives up!!! 

Out of 72 Infantrymen that started the course only 24 of them ended up completing it. That's about average, its apparently a pretty hard core course to go through. He was so sore and tired after he was done. He said every part of his body was hurting, poor guy couldn't even walk normal. I mean I'm sure I wouldn't be able to either if I'd done something like that. 
During the Ceremony…front row right side, 2nd from the end. 
All that hard work for this blue rife EIB pin!!! It really is a big deal!!!! 
His CO, CPT Campbell and 1st SGT Jones came out to show there support and congratulate him!!! 
So glad I got to be there and pin him!!! Love this man with all my heart and so proud of everything he's accomplished during his army career up to this point!!!! 
ummmm, That face!!! What a handsome fellow!!!! So Proud!!!!!!