I done lost my mind

I have lost my brain.  Seriously.  I get up in the morning and get distracted.  I eventually realize that the children are going to need to be fed, and sometimes I dither about what that will be until it is too late to make them anything.  They are starting to look at me sideways as they get cereal more than usual.  I think if I had no commitments, I would spend the day in my jammies, unshowered, hunched over the computer.  I kind of do that anyway.

Do you know what it entails to move to Okinawa?!!  And do you know how much more complicated it is to get a dog there?  I have looked up every site I can find. I have scoured the web for information and read millions of other people's experiences. I have joined facebook groups and made some virtual friends over there.  I am emailing the real friends I have that currently live over there.  I almost feel like I'm getting a handle on it.  Then I look up and realize it is 5 pm and doggone it, the family wants to get fed again tonight!

It is crazy. I cannot focus on anything except research.  I feel like my world has tilted a bit and I can't quite get it back.

I have already scheduled dental appointments for the kids and requested records there.  I put in records requests for the doc they were seeing off base, and from my off base doctor.  I still need to schedule physicals and medical screenings for them.  And for me.  I scheduled my eye appointment, but not a dental. 2 of our kids need passports. I have to schedule the move.  I learned that TMO doesn't exist here.  Here it is "Personal Property" and they do not want you to come into the office.  You now have to do it all online.  Aack!  I'm not smart enough to do that.  I have questions.  Lots of them.  How on earth can I tell an online form that I need to schedule 2 shipments of stuff- one to go and one to stay. (Actually, it is suppose to be 3 separate shipments, but I think we're gonna skip the Express one.)

I have already locked up the website once and I haven't gotten time to go back and see how much of my work was saved.  I didn't realize scheduling a move online was going to take me hours.  Sigh.  I don't have time to brush my teeth, much less spend hours screaming at the computer as I try to decipher what I'm suppose to be doing.

Did I even mention what the dog needs?  It doesn't sound TOO bad.  He needs a microchip- check!  We already did that 18 months ago.  And even better, it is one of the brands acceptable to Japan.  Yay! Next, he needs 2 rabies shots 30 days apart, and after the second shot, he needs a titer count to check the effectiveness.  Not horrible, right?  Oh wait!  But each of those documents has to be stamped by an official UDSA stamp.  And where does one get one of these?  One must have a vet who can mail the documents off to get this stamp.  Ug.

Now it gets confusing.  There is a 180 day quarantine involved that may or may not start after the titer results.  There is a 10 day or 72 hour check up that may need to be done before we fly out or after we fly out.   Or both.  That is all a little unclear. My delightful vet here, who knows this stuff says that there does need to be a check up done 10 days before we fly and that it, too needs the stupid official seal.  It has to be overnighted out to get it. And by the way, if the air temp is over 85 degrees, they may not fly him.  Um, we're leaving in JULY!  Aaack!

It is all crazy!  I'm going crazy.

And oh.  Look. It is time to feed the kids again!

We're What?!

I had grandiose plans to take great selfies to go along with this post, but I did not get around to it.  Sorry.  You'll just have to picture me in your mind making outrageous faces as you read.

So, Dan got an email on Tuesday from the monitor.  He had been trying to get in touch with this guy to get any info on where we might be moving.  The email said, yeah yeah, you want west coast or overseas, fine, I have you marked for the Okinawa slot, gimmee a couple days.

Yay!  At last, finally some news.  But what?  Do we really want that?!  Yikes!  And I don't know if I want to get excited about it.  But it felt okay and I didn't violently object.

And then we waited.

How long IS a "couple days"?!

Thursday the monitor let Dan know he was in for Okinawa.

Today, Dan has Web Orders, so it looks like it is going to happen! Unfortunately, Dan understood the monitor to be offering him a specific spot on Okinawa.  Maybe he was, but when the orders came down, they were for a B-Billet.  This is not so hot for him.  He was excited about the spot he thought he was getting and this B-billet could end up being a lot less desirable.  But it is too late now.

We're going to Okinawa!

Now the true insanity begins.  So many things to think about.  So many things to do.  So much sorting and purging and planning.  And the dog.  Aaack!  Why did we get a dog?!!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Thinking

Yesterday we had a Relief Society Birthday Brunch.  They had asked us to share times when we had been served by others. I could not think of any off the top of my head. I am not sure if I have a really bad memory or if I don't notice when I am being served.

It took several days of pondering to come to the conclusion that I'm either hard to serve or I really do not remember when it has happened.  I do know I will be forever grateful before my dear sweet neighbor in Cherry Point who was always there for me and a wonderful friend, especially when Dan was deployed.  I guess I always put that under the "Friendship" category, but it was service as well.

I did come up with one true act of service that touched me in it's simplicity.  We had to move houses when we were in VA.  We were moving a mile away and doing it ourselves.  I do not know how the bishop's wife knew what day we were moving stuff over, and I doubt we'd asked for help at all.  But she showed up with a plate of amazing brownies and walked in to help.  It touched me because she just came in quietly.  She didn't ask what she could do, she said, "I'll help with this" and did it.  She helped move my kitchen and it was lovely to have her.  She only stayed maybe 2 hours, and she left as quietly as she came.  But that was what impressed me.  She came, she worked and she left, without ever making a big deal of it. Plus, those brownies were so yummy and were truly what I needed to feel better about the crazy that was going on around me.  The bishop's wife was a quiet lady, super nice, but liked to stay in the background.  Yet she saw a way to help and did it without any fanfare.  She soothed my soul that day.  I want to be like her.

Great Adventure: Thursday: Dachau

On Thursday we drove to Dachau.  We visited the memorial site of the concentration camp.  They essentially turned the entire thing into a memorial.  It was pretty amazing. And very sobering.  We spent 4 and a half hours at the site and I spent half of that in the museum reading all the panels about the history and events of WW2 and Dachau.  It was informative and depressing and very very intense.  So no selfies from Thursday!  It has really given me a lot of food for though.  It makes you examine your own life and political climate and wonder if it could happen again.  It also makes me wonder how I would have responded.  It certainly seemed like anyone who stood up for right was mowed down.  I'd like to think that I would stand up, even f it cost me everything.  Like i said, lots of food for thought.

The sign at the entry.

The front gates to Dachau.  It means "Work makes you free".

This is the model in the museum.  It was a very well laid out place. 

One of the memorial plaques.

This sculpture was really disturbing and really appropriate.

They left 2 of the living quarters buildings up and this was the restored inside of one of them.

The view from the square.

One of the memorials to those who were killed there.

-- -- -- -- -- -- -- --

And Thursday was the last day.  Friday we left by 7am and were on a plane heading home shortly thereafter.  10 hours to Atlanta, a 2 hour layover and another hour into Jackson, MS.  Oh, and then the 4 hour drive home on Saturday.  Awesome trip overall!

Great Adventure: Wednesday: Neuschwanstein Castle

We had a great day trip to Neuschwanstein Castle.  It is the one that Walt Disney patterned the Magic Kingdom castle after. It is an enormous castle on top of a huge cliff.  It stands up there with chasms on 3 sides. You have to walk about a mile up the hill to get there.  It is a steep hill. Totally worth the walk, but it was enough of a work out that I took off my jacket and went in my short sleeves.

They run tours every 5 minutes.  We took the tour, but it was super fast.  I was a bit disappointed we didn't have time to roam around the inside and look at stuff.  It was a whirlwind tour though the rooms. They herded us thorough each room quickly after a brief shpiel.  It was too short a time to see everything, but what I did see was amazing!  Ornate paintings in every room.  Ornate everything in each room!  No wonder he bankrupted his country and never managed to finish it all.

After the rapid tour, we made the hike to the bridge that puts you in the position to get the very best picture of the castle.  It was amazing!  We had a good day and I really enjoyed the castle.

 For a princely sum, you could take the horse carriage up to the castle.  Why would someone choose to do that?

 Well, this is the view from the bottom!  You had a steep, mile long walk up to the castle.

Almost there!! 

The funny thing is that the castle looked very different from each side. See, it looks like a totally different place here.  And I took of my jacket during that long hike up!  I warmed up nicely.

This is what is on the other side, away from the castle.... nothing!  Fine, not the best photo.  You can't really tell that it is a steep and very deep drop behind me.

The front of the castle.  This is the entry to the courtyard.

Inside the courtyard.  Pretty awesome!

This is the last side.  So from each side, it looks like a totally different castle.

No photos were allowed inside the castle, but it was AMAZING!

I'm on the hike to the perfect shot spot.

Looking down into the valley.  We were pretty high up there!

 Oh my!  Yep, you can see how it might have inspired Walt Disney!

It sure is spectacular!

Great Adventure: Tuesday: Innsbruk

On Tuesday we packed up and left Italy.  We drove a couple hours and headed to Innsbruk, Austria.  There is a Swarkovski Crystal tourist place there and we stopped there to see what there was to see.  It was.... odd.  It was interesting.  They had this big mound, and the museum was built under it.  That was interesting.  The museum was mostly just weird.  I thought it would be more about crystals and the mining of them and how they cut them, but it was not.  They had some interesting things on display, but mostly funky stuff.  There was a really bizarre mechanical theater, and a really neat round sparkly room.   The best part was the end, where they had a great display of a bunch of different things that had been created and used crystals.  Stuff like fancy sparkly shoes someone wore to the Emmys or a sparkly tiara worn in an opera.  That was cool.  Then you walked into the shop. Oh my!  So many pretties!  I did buy some earrings and I love them.

Next we drove to the center of Innsbruk and we had every intention of going to the Old Town section.  We did make it there, but Carnival was in full swing there.  It may not have been Carnival, but there were a ton of people, most were in costume, and there were at least 2 different stages blasting loud music.  Needless to day, our photo ops were not to come to fruition.  Sigh.  No worries, we enjoyed the visit!

Unfortunately, with all the crowd and commotion, we got turned around sand completely lost.  At least in Venice we had a map and an idea.  In Innsbruk.... well, we had neither!  I didn't mind the wandering.  It was a lovely (but COLD!) and it was fun for me to look at everything.  We eventually made our way back to the car and all was well.  And we headed on into Germany, to the Edelweiss Lodge.

This is the sort of thing you can purchase on a mountaintop McDonalds in Germany!

Lovely scenery on the way to Innsbruk.

The welcome sign to the Crystal Palace Museum.

The Crystal Palace museum was inside that mound behind me. Pretty cool!  You walked around to the door and it was all under there.

This was a giant dome room, with crystals all around.  It was pretty, and if you stood in the center, the acoustics were fascinating.  it was an interesting room, but it certainly did not photograph well.

Sadly, this crystal tree behind me did not photograph well either.  It was amazing and beautiful, but you can't tell from this.

Aparently black lights don't photograph well either.  This was a gorgeous crystal gown that sparkled.

What the heck?!!  This room was weird modern art.  Actually, most of the museum was.  Some of it was a little hokey and this was just plain bizarre.  the face here says it all.

Finally!  my favorite part!  The bejeweled couch and gorgeous shopping opportunities!

A better shot of the bejeweled couch!  I'm loving it!

A lovely crystal display in the shopping area.  I want a dress as sparkly as that!

Even the bathroom was fancy.

Beautiful view in Austria!

Innsbruk- So pretty!

We came to see this area.  I have no clue what it is!

But I was here, in this very important tourist spot.  Do you like my hat?  It was cold out there.

The architecture alone makes me want to move to Europe!  Why can't be have such pretty buildings?

The place was crowded with people. 

Not as many costumes and definitely not the detailed elaborate kind we saw in Venice.  Still a lot of fun to see.

 I never got tired of the buildings. Check out the paintings on that green one!

During our escape from the packed crowds, we managed to get lost.  Who cares?!!  We were in Austria and it was gorgeous!!

Yep, I was just happy to be seeing beautiful sights and enjoying the scenery.  And we did eventually find the car!  It was a good way to break up the drive and we had a good day as we journeyed to Germany.

Great Adventure: Monday: Venice

 WARNING:  Lengthy post with a multitude of photos, and I mean, a multitude of photos, ahead!!

Monday we went to Venice.  We'd heard in church on Sunday that Carnival was in full swing.  Since we hadn't seen any evidence of it in Verona on Saturday, we didn't worry about it.  That was probably a good thing, because had I known ahead of time, I might not have gone, and I would have really missed out!  I hate crowds and would never willingly have gone to an unknown foreign city with that many people.  But it was SO MUCH fun!  I realized it was because I had no children to worry about.  I didn't have to freak out that someone was going to get lost.  And we didn't have to be anywhere. There was no schedule and no place I had to be running off to.  So it wasn't stressful.  It was a good time!  We spent a good 6 hours walking all over Venice.  Part of that last hour was totally lost, but it was still great!  Venice is gorgeous.  So beautiful, no matter where we were.

The crowds were beyond insane.  At least half the people were dressed up in some way.  Many just had a mask on, but there were varying degrees of dressed up and it was a lot of fun to spot elaborate or intricate outfits.  We had hoped to have some good photos of St Mark's Square, but it was so packed with people!  And they were doing work on the big cathedral, so the pictures are not as glorious as I had hoped.  But we had a most excellent day!

The drive into Venice. Pretty!

Me and my favorite man in Venice!

I am in love with all the colors and facades on the buildings.  Why don't we have that?!

Me and the pretty buildings in Venice.

 We went to this neat Museum.  It was all about the history of the Jews in Venice.  It was really interesting, but you were not allowed to take any pictures.  My fingers were itching for the camera, but I did not disobey the rule! So this is all I got.  And it was pretty cool to learn the history. I like it!

That section of the city was the Gheto and we wandered all over it.  (It looked just like the rest of the city, in case you were wondering!)

My dad snapped this picture of us strolling down the street. I don't know why I do not look completely enthralled.  I certainly WAS enthralled! (I must have been trying to talk Dan into something!)

Another sneak photo by Dad!  Funny thing is, we'd lost them in the crowd, so this is me and Dan, scanning the hoards for a glimpse of my folks.  Apparently they knew exactly where we were!

The alleys in Venice were awesome!  I loved walking around them. Most were not this empty.  Mostly they were to0 packed to even consider taking pictures- seriously, it was wall to wall people and I feared losing Dan and my folks in it!

Me and the pretty building.

What the pretty building looks like without me!  I loved looking at all the architecture.  It was so amazing!

My first authentic Italian Pizza!  It did not disappoint.

Perusing the souvenir shop. Yes, I did make purchases!

More pretty buildings.  I swoon.  Every time.

Something important that tourists like.  I already forgot what it was, but it was impressive!

And now I can say, "I was there!"

These were just one of the millions of costumed people roaming the crowds.  They were very gracious about posing with everyone.  The really funny thing is, once mom and I stepped next to them for this photo, there was a audible sigh from the 10 people all trying to take a picture of them.  We were ruining their shots!

 We must have crossed at least 20 of these little bridges across canals.  Much cooler canals than back in Nola!

We found St. Mark's Square!  Awesome buildings!  

 It's me, in St Mark's Square!

Just look at this awesome stuff in the archways of the building!  Who does this?!!I totally want it on my house!  Well, maybe with a different theme.

 The other side of the square.

 See the crowds?!  And see how gorgeous the building is?  Those glorious painted domes above the door astound me.

And each one is different.

Proof I was there. You know, in case the other 500 pictures weren't enough!  

I know, I need to just start a "Selfie Blog" where I post all my selfies!  But this was a different angle with the cool domed rooftop!

There were SO many costumed people in the square.  Dad had to stop and get pictures of everyone of them!  And I had to semi-photobomb on this one.

My absolute favorite shot of all!  Dad took this.  It is totally untouched.

Some kind of creepy wicker people.

An interesting tree lady.

 The crowds and building in St Mark's Square.

The official picture of the sign.

I loved this picture- look at their faces!  My mom is hanging out, the dude is checking her out, and the lady is giving him a cross look.  

More crowd and pretty building.  I'm sure it is from a different angle, right?!  I just love the architecture!

 I'm not sure if you can see how jam packed the bridge is.  We had just come to the realization that we needed to cross that bridge!  Crazy crowds!

Carnival-ers in a gondola.

Ahhhhh, so incredible! I may frame this shot for my wall.

Having my first gelatto.  It was divine!

This guy was singing on a corner for money.  He was amazing! 

We walked past a plaza with this skate rink set up.  I thought these orange seals were brilliant!  What a way to have fun and not fall!

Lovely view of one of the alley canals.

The less beautiful, but just as fascinating non-watery alley.  See how narrow it is?!  Yeah, we walked around a lot of these!  Did I mention how lost we got?

Loved walking by these guys.  And check out Charlie Chaplin behind them!

When lost in Venice... Take selfies!

Did I mention we wandered through a LOT of these?!

And we passed a lot of these.  And yep, they were gorgeous every time!

Have I mentioned how much I love this view?

Best part of Carnival was seeing whole families dressed up.  And even better was this adorable little dog, in costume too!

My parents are so cute!

On the way out of Venice.  Love the city!

And then we went out to eat and a real restaurant in Vicenza, in the city. Oh. My. Yumminess!

Dad just went for the pizza.

A most excellent day was had by all.