Home Sweet Home

I know, I know. I sort of fell off the face of the earth, well, the bloggy earth anyway. I just haven't been in much of a bloggy place. I haven't been posting or reading. It's not like there hasn't been anything going on around here. A LOT has happened and I have so much to share and I really want to get back to regular posting. Maybe today can be the start?

Let's catch up! What have I been doing for the last month and a half?

We packed the house over a period of months. My sister was amazingly helpful, coming over weekly to help. She totally rocks! The Lizard King came home on leave on Thursday, June 24th and the whirlwind began. He got to see the house for the first time, which was so exciting! The next day, play structure construction began.

Here is the house, well, some of it anyway.

You will have to wait to see the rest of the house another time. There is still so much more to do! We moved on the 26th of June and spent every day LK was home working on the house. Before we knew it, it was time for him to head back to Afghanistan. That was an adventure as well! LK was on the KLM flight that turned around over the Atlantic. He did make it safely back to Afghanistan...eventually.

Now I need to rewind just a bit. Before LK came home, before we even closed on the house, we hired an attorney. We tried to handle things on our own with Needy Evie, the evil ex-wife. I told you about her here and here. I did all the work and gathered all the information, copied it and mailed it to the attorney. Needy Evie was served. She had until June 29th to respond. On June 28th she called the attorney's office and said that she wanted to come in and sign the papers stating that we were done paying her alimony. We were stunned. Could it really be that simple? After all these years and all the grief she has given us, would she really go down without a fight. We had a hard time believing it, but it was true. She signed!! The attorney overnighted the papers for LK to sign. This week the judge signed the papers, too. It is done. It is over. After 10 long years, Needy Evie is out of our lives for good.

Now I am working on unpacking and making a home for us. The Lizard King will be home on September 18th, Princess' birthday. We have so much to look forward to, but more than anything we are looking forward to being together as a family.

So, what's up with all of you?

A Little Whine?

I don't even know how to start this post. That's probably why I haven't posted in so long. I am feeling overwhelmed and stressed. Building a new house is really awesome and incredibly challenging when I am the one who has to stay on top of everything. There have been so many mistakes that I caught and at least one that I missed.

The one that I missed will cause LK a lot of work and I'm kicking myself for missing it. Of course he doesn't think it's a big deal, but I feel frustrated about it. He is so darn easy going. Thank goodness electrical work comes easy to him. The electrician who wired our house didn't seem to have much of a plan. A few light switches were placed in the strangest and most inconvenient of places. The Lizard King will be relocating three of them.

The house is so close. It looks like we should be closing on time and moving at the end of June. I've been packing for weeks and there is still a lot to do. We're getting down to the wire so I feel the need to step things up a bit. My sister is coming over tomorrow to help...again.

On top of all the house stuff we are dealing with Needy Evie...you remember her, the evil ex-wife. Well, after 8 long years of alimony it is coming to an end. Did you think she would go down quietly?! Absolutely not!! That's not her style. Now we have to prove that we have paid her everything. In my naive hope that she would be reasonable, I didn't save all the proof and have spent the last month on the phone with the bank (and other sources) gathering all the proof. After a little trip to Kinko's I have copies of everything which I will highlight and send off to our new attorney. Yes, we had to hire an attorney to handle all of this. Fun times.

On top of all this, I'm just missing LK. It's been nearly 13 weeks now and we've got another 3 weeks 3 days to go. Princess is missing her daddy so much. This time being so long has been so much harder on all of us.

Well, I think I've reached the end of my whine. If you made it this far, thanks for listening. I hope to be back again soon!

Where to begin?

It has been such a long time since I have posted anything, blogger went and changed on me! It's all new and they didn't even check with me first! Sheesh! For one, I'm a spell check junkie and I can't find the flippin' spell check! Help!

Thank you to all my bloggy friends who have emailed to check on me. You guys are awesome! I've decided it's time to claw my way out of my hole and find my way back to the bloggy world. There have been so many things along the way that I have wanted to share, but the thought of back-tracking, well...it is not going to happen. I will start fresh from this point forward.

As is so common in our little family, things have changed again. LK feels safe at the FOB in Afghanistan and we have decided that he will continue to work there. Our plans to spend 7 weeks with him in South Carolina have changed. The new plan: we are meeting in Orlando at Disney World to spend 5 wonderful, fun-filled days. After Disney, we fly back to Portland and will have a week and a half together before he deploys again. Unfortunately, my plans to meet up with some bloggy friends near Greenville just can't happen. :(

For now, we are very much looking forward to seeing each other at Disney on December 4th. Disney twice in one year! How cool is that?!

And now I will leave you with a few photos of our beautiful Princess.

A Month of Family Time

I have been putting off posting an update. I wanted to share all the things that we have done over the last month. It was amazing to have so much family time. There is one problem. I took so many photos and I want to share them all. So, I will tell you all the things we did and offer you a link to view all the photos at Picasa online.

We spent a lot of time hanging out and playing in our back yard (and took lots of pictures). I got a new camera. It is awesome! and I took lots of photos. I love the settings on this camera. You've got to see the pictures.

The garden is growing like crazy.

LK sold his Jeep and his Harley.

We went to the Enchanted Forest.

LK and Princess made burgers for the July 4th party.

Of course, a little dress up always happens.

We had a fun-filled week with LK's sister and brother-in-law. We went to Multnomah Falls (so beautiful), the Beaverton Farmers Market and Saturday Market. LK took them (Princess and I stayed home) to Cannon Beach.

We went to swimming lessons (and soccer).

Princess used her allowance to buy a tub toy. It's Barbie Mermaid. Fun!

After LK left we got back to school work...and we talk to him everyday using Skype online so we get to see each other.

Whew! I'm glad that's done. Hopefully, I hope I don't get so far behind again. Enjoy the photos here!

Before the day ends

I wanted to post and let everyone know that my cute-little-pink-laptop survived! Yay! The keyboard is shot, but that's a mere $50 max replacement part. I am working on my old, clunky and verrry ssslllllooooowwwww computer.

I am so behind on my blog reading! I miss you all so much! I am doing my best to catch up, but this is the best I can do for a post. I hope you all are well and had a beautiful Friday! I promise to have something good tomorrow...maybe even a consumer report after I use my consolation prize.