New Girl On Post

Friday, January 30, 2009

He Calls Me....Muffin Top

Today is soooo much better. For one I'm having a good hair day. Thank God.

Secondly...it's Friday! I do love me some weekends. At this point I'm not really sure why I'm excited because I obviously haven't had a stressful work week...but you get the point.

This morning started off very exciting. Sean had a formation this morning at 5:30, so I set the alarm last night for 4:30 and he set his phone alarm. We awoke this morning to his phone ringing and someone asking him exactly where he was.

Uh..yeah...it was 5:25.

I felt bad, but I have NO idea why neither alarm we set went off. Sean was upset because he's new here and it doesn't look good for him to be late. He told me later that this was the first formation he'd ever been late to in his military career.

Later today I'm headed over to Transportation to give them an address to send our household goods and unaccompanied baggage.

Ok..when we were first PCSing they told us our household goods would be there in about 90 days give or take. However, the other day in class some guy told Sean that his took about six months. European gals, please tell me that's a rare case. I don't want it to be July before I get ANY of my stuff. Not to mention I'd have to buy a whole new summer wardrobe, but then again, that doesn't sound too bad. Hmmm....

One more question. Why in the heck do bathtubs in Europe have the shower head in the middle of the tub? I for the life of me cannot figure that out.

That sort of illustrates what I'm referring too, but ours is directly in the middle.

My husband has come up with a new nickname for me and insists on using it, just because he knows I hate it. Ready for it?

Muffin-top.

Yeah...who here would be flattered by that? My guess is none. I asked him yesterday if he had any idea why I hated it so much. "No...I call you that because I love the top of muffins."

Ladies...he is lying. I told him today in no uncertain terms that if he called me that again I'd have no problem giving him a swift kick you know where.

I'm hoping that solves the problem.

(Ok..and can I just add that I do NOT have muffin tops? Hence my confusion over where this nickname came from)

I'm a little disappointed because I've been to the gym here on-post several times and I have yet to see anyone as freaky as those that were at Ft.Polk. Although, there is a guy that works there that reminds me of Dave Chappelle. He was doing Michael Jackson moves behind the counter today when he thought noone could see him. Little did he know my trained eye picked it up.

Muah ha ha.

So any big plans this weekend ladies? I'm hoping mine FINALLY involves some pictures, although no Florence trip for me. On the bright side Sean is cooking tonight AND I'm going to stop at the shoppette for some wine. I'm going to branch out and try something new.

Have a great weekend!

Ciao!

Thursday, January 29, 2009

A Day of Diasters

Ok..so it's been more like a 2 day period of disasters, but that wasn't as catchy. So maybe they weren't really disasters, but more inconveniences.

I was doing my hair yesterday, using my hairdryer and curling iron with the adapter for the European outlet. I learned early on I could use my hairdryer on the low setting and be ok and my curling iron was fine too. However, I nixed using my straightener whenever it started smoking after I turned it on.

So, there I was almost done curling my hair when, "sizzle, snap, crackle, pop" comes from my curling iron. Then the electric proceeds to go off. At first I was unsure whether my curling iron had caused it or the fact that they've been working on the electricity on our street off and on for the past month was the cause.

Come to find out my curling iron caused it and finally Sean found the breaker box and fixed the problem.

Fast forward to this morning (after I'd gone to the PX to buy a dual-voltage curling iron) and I realized I must have blown the adapter, because it no longer works. So now here I am, walking around post with craptastic hair. Currently it's in a messy ponytail.

Today, at the request of Sean, I walked over to the hotel to do laundry. Picture all five foot four of me lugging a massive laundry bag over to the hotel. Currently I still have grooves from the strap in my shoulder. Ok..I might be exaggerating a little. As I'm taking the load of darks out of the dryer I notice a pen. Yes, a pen that my husband left in one of his pants pockets. So now...he has black pen marks on one of his good shirts, two of his PT shirts and one of his tan shirts he wears with his ACU's. All of which he asked me to replace while I'm out today. I did apologize, but quite frankly I don't feel as if it's my duty to go through his pockets before I do laundry. I think at 29 years old he's old enough to do that himself.

So this isn't really a disaster, but a big gripe. When I first got to the library today, two mothers were in the computer room with their small children. One of them was at least four and insisted on talking AND yelling at an extremely loud decibel. The other child was much better behaved. Anyway...after 10 minutes of yelling, finally one of the librarians comes over and tells the mother she needed to quiet her child. After all this was a library. Ok, so I understand that children have their moments, they can't be good all the time. Increasingly though I've noticed horrible behavior in the library. Seriously, all of us here do not want to hear your screaming child, so get off the Internet and take them outside. I just think that's common courtesy.

So far I think that's all my disasters, although my back is killing me today. I think it's a result of Turbo Jam. Darn that Chalene Johnson!

I picked up Confessions of a Shopaholic yesterday at the library, mainly to prepare for the upcoming movie and finished it all last night. So after perusing the library shelves for a new book I'm headed to the ITR office to find out if we are indeed going to Florence or not.

Oh...and I didn't mean to make it sound that I wouldn't be going to Florence at all if I wasn't going with ITR. I just thought going with them first would be a good intro to the city. Once I get settled in my apartment I'll be out and about exploring and capturing Italy with my camera. You can bet on that!

Enjoy your Thursday!

Wednesday, January 28, 2009

More Insights and My Scale Phobia

Thank you, thank you, thank you to everyone who commented yesterday. You guys are so sweet! Reading your comments seriously made my day.

Ready for another edition of things I've noticed in Italy? Let's begin.

1. Almost everyone (women that is) wear their boots tucked into their pants. Ok, as a shorter girl with legs resembling more of a tree branch than a twig, I'm not so sure my legs will cooperate with this trend. Also, tights with boots and short skirts are big here too. Again...not so sure I can work the tight-wearing trend. I'll give it a try though. Especially because I LOVE the boots they wear here. Buckles and high heels galore!

2. A good way to tell you are an American? Wearing blue jeans. I have yet to see jeans on an Italian woman or man. I'm sorry, but I just refuse to give up my jeans.

3. So, I noticed on post that there was a building called the Italian Mensa. I thought it a bit odd that there would be a Mensa society on post, but dismissed it. Only later did I find out that mensa means cafeteria. Ha!

4. AFN sucks. Seriously. I have been stuck watching wrestling for what feels like the past three nights. Me? I'm up for some Six Feet Under. Sean? Loves the fact that pay per view wrestling is shown for free. This man hasn't watched wrestling in ten years, yet can't get enough of it now. Yes, he knows it's fake.

5. The best AFN "commercial" goes a little like this. "You can laugh and joke around", said three times showing three different groups of people living it up. "But Not at the gate!!!" To the effect you can't joke around about bombs at the gate. Seriously, is anyone that stupid to joke around about having a bomb on a military installation? I hope not.

I went by the ITR office yesterday to sign up for the Florence trip. Bad news though. It seems that we won't be able to go. Evidently 25 is the minimum number to go and I was like the 10th person to sign up. I'm sad! I want to see Florence dang it!

I've been decent at working out this week. I went to the gym yesterday and did Turbo Jam this morning in the room. I do enjoy Turbo Jam, but the host, Chalene Johnson annoys the crap out of me. Nobody should be that perky about kicking and punching. Nobody!

Although I've been trying to cut back on my food intake and upping my working out, I still refuse to step on the scale. I have my digital scale with me, but I'm frightened to get on it. I'm not sure I've gained weight, as my pants still fit great and aren't tight, but I'm just too scared to face the truth of what the scale says.

I know, I know...I'm a sissy.

Well, I'm off. Hope everyone has a lovely Wednesday!

Tuesday, January 27, 2009

A Confession

Today has been another dreary sort of day here, luckily not dreary enough to hamper my view of the lovely mountains.

My morning consisted of waking up at 5:30 to the sound of the electric going off and the back-up generators starting up across the street at the health center. Besides a full night of raining, I'm not sure what could have possibly caused the electric to go out. It was back up and running though in a couple of hours.

Sean and I had an early appointment at the housing office this morning for our pre-negoiations. The lady in charge of private rentals called our landlord and nailed down a few extra details. We are set to sign the lease on Monday and will move in next Friday. I am very excited. The only non-exciting part is we don't have our car yet and will be relying on someone from Sean's unit to shuttle us back and forth, but that's already been set-up so I don't feel quite so bad.

I've been reading a lot since I've been here. I just finished a book about the FLDS and Warren Jeffs, written from the perspective of one of the wives who had been in a polygamous marriage and then later escaped with her eight children. It was a very good read. I believe it's called Escape by Carolyn Jessop, if you have time you should check it out. Other than that I've mostly been devouring the travel books that the on-post library has. They have an unbelievable selection and I've been trying to get a feel of what places I want to go see in the near and not so near future.

I also have a slight confession to make. I noticed the other day on one of my posts that a few people commented about me moving here and being brave. Trust me, I don't feel brave at all. The first night we landed, I'm not sure if it was stress/jet lag or a combo of several other things, but I was a wreck. I had been so excited to move here for so long and then when I finally got here I felt overwhelmed. It was a new place, I didn't know the language, I was across the ocean from all my friends and family, etc. To put it mildly I was scared silly. So it means a lot that ya'll are encouraging and actually think that I am brave. So thank you!

For some reason Sean put me in charge of trying to find him some winter PT's...why this is my job I have no idea.

Ciao!

Monday, January 26, 2009

Decisions and Game Shows

Well, Sean and I made our decision. We weren't trying to really rush into anything, but with him taking this class over the next month which meant he had zero time to go look at more options and us wanting to settle in, we decided on the apartment.

Honestly minus zero grass, I think it's one of the better options I saw in the way of apartments. I don't know how they do private rentals at other OCONUS locations, but here they have computers that show all the info and pictures of your options.

I do think we'll be happy and I feel confident about the safety of the location that we have chosen. So, we start pre-negoiations tomorrow and hopefully we can get settled into our place in the next few weeks.

Now with that out of the way I can tell you guys about the most hilarious thing I've seen so far in Italy.

Italian Wheel of Fortune. Seriously, I wish you guys could watch this, it's non-stop laughs. Not because they are trying to be funny, but because it's so ridiculous you can't help but laugh.

Here are a few reasons why:
1. Their equivalent of Vanna White looks like one of Hugh Hefner's girlfriends and at random times they show camera angles, pretty much looking up whatever dress she has on that night. Also at certain times they request her to break into impromptu dances.

2. One of the contestants the other night had a little laser gun that he kept shooting at the wheel whenever his opponents were spinning. Yeah...I have no idea.

3. The catergory for one of the puzzles the other night? Uno hit per George Michael. No I am NOT joking when I say that.

At night we've been renting DVD's from the library and enjoying some seasons of shows we've never seen before. So far we have LOVED Damages with Glenn Close. It's this awesome lawyer-esque show and I cannot wait for the second season, which is currently playing on FX. We recently started watching the first season of Six Feet Under. I find it odd, but like it for some reason.

Last night I convinced Sean to go see Bride Wars with me at the theater on-post. I thought it was a cute film, although a little predictable. I did however, love whatever Kate Hudson happened to be wearing throughout the entire movie. Sean was convinced before we went that he'd be the only guy there in a movie theater "full of chicks", his words not mine. Obviously there were many men there with their wives and oddly we saw three single guys leave after the movie together sans girl. I'm not saying I didn't expect guys to go to a "chick flick" I just didn't think I'd see three guys all going together. I have to admit it was kind of amusing.

Well, I need to catch up on reading some of the many blogs I've missed the last couple of days.

Ciao!

Sunday, January 25, 2009

A Tale of Two Homes

Just a lazy Sunday here in Italy, Sean and I are at the USO using the computers since the library is closed on Sundays here. Always closed when I need to find a good book. Isn't that the way it goes?

I did however want to update all of you on our housing tours the other day.

First up was the pink house, which in reality isn't as pink in person as the pictures make it seem. At first glance it seemed great. I mean, a whole entire house to ourselves. Just what I thought would make the perfect Italian experience.

Then we got inside.

Ok, so it wasn't horrible, but it wasn't great, it wasn't even close. For starters it's not finished. The landlords are painting, wires are sticking out of the wall, waiting for someone to finish up with that, etc.

I do love the room that it offers us. Our living room would be downstairs, where one of the bathrooms and the garage is.

Upstairs we have two larger rooms, a small area that would be great for storage and a kitchen. Boomer would even have a slip of a yard.

Then the landlords mentioned that a previous tenant had been robbed. Of course they added he never locked his doors or windows, but it gave me a bit of an uneasy feeling. I mean, reality is I'm going to be by myself for a big chunk of time while Sean is deployed and I don't want to worry about getting robbed. It's a scary thought.

So...we looked at the apartment. The rosso apartmento or red apartment. It's on the second floor, it's brand new and in a part of town where there is supposdly an excellent market. We have a locked garage, underneath our apartment building as well as a locked storage room across from it. The only thing I don't like about the place is Boomer has no yard to play in and the kitchen has nothing but a sink. Which of course the landlord said he could put in the rest of the appliances.

I think at this point we are leaning towards the apartment. We both like the house, but we think it could either turn out really great or really bad like the movie the Money Pit. Ever seen it? If not, it's a must-see.

Either way I'll be happy, there's just a lot of factors going into our decision. Personal safety is the main one for me, so in that way the apartment would be the better choice.

Oh..and in the way of travel, I'm going to stop by the ITR office on Monday to see if I can get signed up for the trip to Florence this next Sunday. It's a tour of the Ufizzi Gallery, which is supposed to be the best place in Italy to view art. I'll be uber excited if I get to go.

Hope you all had a great weekend!

Moscato and Greek Yogurt made mine quite enjoyable.

Friday, January 23, 2009

Honesty...Ten Truths About Me

So Sara and Mmm..Tastes Good both left me the Honest Scrap award. I wish I could put the pretty little award picture up with this post, but the post library computers don't allow me to access Photobucket or even save pictures on the computer so that's a no-go.

Here are the rules:

The rules:

1. Chose a minimum of 7 blogs that you find brilliant in content or design.

2. Show the 7 winners names and links on your blog, and leave them a comment informing them they were prized with "Honest Scrap." Well, there's no prize, but they can keep the nifty icon.

3. List at least 10 honest things about yourself.

So my 10 things.

1. I hate to ski. I've been twice and both times the only part I enjoy is the bunny slope. Beginner trails? Intermediate trails? Forget them. I went down them once and wedged almost the entire time. I hate feeling out of control and skiing definetly brings that out. Yes, I do realize I'm in prime skiing areas too.

2. I always wanted brillant, emerald green eyes. However, God instead decided to give me hazel ones. If you look at them under the light they are indeed green with brown flecks, but if you look at me just normally they look brown.

3.I put my hair up as soon as I get home from whatever I'm doing. I can't stand to have it on my neck or in my face. Some might ask why not cut it short. Because quite frankly I look bad with short hair.

4.I secretly love to watch those music infommercials. Doesn't matter if it's country, 70's hits or the oldies. I watch the entire thing AND sing along.

5. I hate when people think that I'm younger than I am. I've seen 15 year olds that look older than me. I'm sure one of these days I'll enjoy looking younger than my age, but at the age of 25 it's not flattering if you think I'm under 18.

6. I've still yet to find a perfect little black dress. I need one, I look for one, but have yet to find it.

7. I wish I could be a hat person. Sara is, other friends of mine are. I however have a large head so cute hats don't always fit. I still am wanting a cloche hat to wear.

8. I love Bingo. As in I love it as much as an old person does. I was so excited today when I found out they were going to start having Bingo nights here on post.

9.I always wished I had taken dance when I was younger. It's something I really regret not doing. One of these days I'm actually going to take a dance class and see if I'm even halfway decent.

10. I cannot stand it when people can't back up their argument with an example. For example, if you tell me I've been complaining alot and I ask you what I've been complaining about I expect an example. Not giving me one makes me think you are making it up.

I'm not tagging anyone because I'm pretty sure everyone else has done this.

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