Moving Progress

It looks as though we are really getting close! Half of the remaining dozen 7th TTSB Soldiers scheduled to depart to Bagram left Friday. The rest will go in July.

As much as I hate it that I won't see them come home, I'm glad I get to see them all off and train the new FRSA before I leave.

Our small shipment of stuff, everything we won't be carrying in our suitcases will go Monday, June 29. Then it's just one more month!

LTC Fletcher, CSM Bryant and the USAG Mannheim bid us farewell at this quarter's Hail and Farewell dinner. Stephen and LTC Fletcher just happen to wear matching shirts. I thought this was pretty funny. :)

They said nice things about Stephen and gave him a beautiful picture of the Mannheim Water Tower.

There is no photo of the Water Tower presentation because the camera battery died while CSM Bryant was saying nice things about me.

PACKED OUT!

All of our big stuff and most of our little stuff was loaded on a truck Friday and is headed for the ship! Tomorrow we ship the truck, and everything else we won't be carrying in suitcases will go next Monday. We're almost there!

Our patio chairs. I thought this was too funny how they wrapped up. These guys were IN-credible with the tape gun!

Now that all the dishes are gone, I put the spices in the big glass-front cabinet! All spread out like that, everything is easy to find!

It's been a while...

What have we been doing, what's been going on?I made a banner to send to dad Soldiers.

Stephen made some homemade pizza!

After a day of rain and overcast weather, the sun came out. Then the sun hid behind dark clouds. Then it hailed for a few minutes, and then the sun came back out.

And we've purged, sorted, packed and organized. Ready for pick up next week! :)

LAMPSHADES!

Jessica,

I can't find your email on your blog. But if you are still looking for lampshades for your fancy lamps, I just reconnected with an old friend via Facebook, and she just started a lampshade business. They are really cute!

Anyone else interested in cute lampshades (she is expanding into pillowcovers) check it out. :)

http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=6685835&section_id=5967379

Sad Sunday

Well, today was it. We sent the remaining soldiers downrange today. It was a sad sad sight. I'm proud of them and in awe of them and so impressed by the families of these Soldiers. I will miss them terribly and will stay in contact even after we leave Germany.

Unsettling

Or maybe just plain weird.
Twice now, our landlady has come by and let us know that a realtor will be showing the house. Twice now, it has been "in a few minutes." Like less than 20. We don't live in squalor. However, just now, we had to pick up some things (remember, we are also in the middle of packing our house) I had to drain the tub because I was doing a little pedicure for myself, we threw some clothes in the hamper, some dishes in the sink and stacked up some things that were being sorted in piles.
The last time this happened, we were quite literally sitting down to eat dinner. It was 6pm. In fairness, they eat dinner (of hard bread, butter and some cold cuts/scary meat) at about 8-9pm, so it probably did not occur to them that we might be about to eat. No big deal, we just ate while the people were touring the house. They have been very nice about it, but it's still irritating. Maybe a day's notice? Would that be asking too much? An hour, then? I dunno.
Whatever. We're out this house in 63 days!

Snowing in May?

I know it is difficult to see, but in person it looked like snow. But it wasn't. For the past week or so it appears to be snowing. It is snowing allergens! Little furry tree fiber things swirl around all over and make noses itch of even the most non-allergic! Just the sight makes my nose itch!

I know it's been a week...

I just don't seem to have anything to say! I went to an all day scrapbook event yesterday, but feel I need some finishing touches on all the pages I did, so I don't want to post them here yet. Been spending most days looking all around the house at different things and making mental notes about what needs to be purged, packed or used up! One month before the real packing begins!

Perhaps I'll have some riveting post material soon!

Holland/The Netherlands

Have you ever seen that Seinfeld episode where George and Jerry are discussing whether Holland is the Netherlands or is part of the Netherlands and either way, then who are the Dutch? Well...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holland
The Netherlands is often called Holland, which is formally incorrect as North and South Holland are actually two of its twelve provinces (see terminology of "the Netherlands"). The word Dutch is used to refer to the people, the language, and anything appertaining to the Netherlands.
So, per wikipedia, there you have it.

At any rate, we spent Thurs-Sat in Leiden, Holland. We drove Friday to Keukenhof, the world's largest flower garden. It was incredible. That afternoon we walked around Haarlem, a suburb of Amsterdam, and then to the coast to dip our fingers in the North Sea. It was ridiculously windy, so we didn't stay long at the beach. Later, we went into downtown Leiden for dinner at a Mexican restaurant. It was really good! Saturday we went to neighboring city Den Haag (the Hague), to the M.C. Escher museum, and the Mauritshuis Museum where we saw works by Rembrant and Vermeer among others. After the museums, we went to a market. I had hoped it would be a touristy thing, but it was more like a flea market. We didn't stay long.

After Den Haag, we drove up to Amsterdam and walked all over the city, saw the coffeehouses, the "red light" district, and ate at the Hard Rock Cafe. Sunday we drove back to Burstadt.

I loved the Holland landscape. Patures of cattle (dairy farming is a main agricultural business) as far as your eyes can see, flowers, windmills all felt somehow comforting. Peaceful. Country.

I'm working on some pictures. Hope to have them up soon.

Keukenhof/Amsterdam

We're out of town for the weekend!

Be back on the blog Sunday or Monday...
love~h&s