Playing catch up

Whoo--first week of March is already over.  Time flies when you're having fun....

Yesterday marked the first anniversary for the hub and I.  It's been an eventful year full of lots of transitions and getting to know each other better--but we both feel that we've come out stronger.  And now we're moving on to year two!  We usually don't exchange gifts for each other, but while hanging the laundry yesterday I discovered him out in the garage working on a worm bin for me!  You should have seen the happy dance I did in the kitchen!! ;-)  We still have a few details to work out and we need to order the worms, but I'm so glad that soon we'll have a place to put those kitchen scraps.....and hopefully I can bring home some of the shredder paper from work for our "brown" ingredients.

Beyond the worm bin, we met friends for dinner the night before and then we went out for Mexican last night.  Restaurants are hit or miss in this area, so we tried a different Mexican restaurant---really good for here but still not up to par with the authentic cuisine we're used to back home.  It was the hub's idea to get Mexican though as it's what we ate on our first date and then what we ate with some friends the evening we got hitched too.

The new job is going well!  Definitely helps that I'd already been trained somewhat, so in the next week I will start doing the briefings.  The husband is on a crazy schedule again for the next three weeks, so between my adapting to work and his busyness we're both two tired individuals!  However that busyness also lets us enjoy more the down time we do have and makes us appreciate the little things that make us smile---like the dogs and cats.  For now lil' black cat continues to be with us and we named her Lady.  She's still not a fan of our other animals and spends most her time hiding in our bedroom, but at least she's being fed and she appears to think of this as her home now.  (Yesterday afternoon Major and her were ready to come in and I saw Lady jumping up to get my attention through the front window!!)

Lots of transitions coming up in the next few months---mainly financially and socially.  With having the second paycheck we should be paying off a few things and getting a second vehicle.  We sat down the other night and calculated out about when that should happen.  Quite a few of the individuals who we have been hanging out with lately are moving out of here by mid summer, including our friends down the street.  That's the way it is with military life though----people are always coming and going.  We've talked about moving out of our military housing in June in order to try to find something "cheaper" and with more room for the animals.

Technically the military provides a flat amount for housing each month based on the soldier's rank.  If you live on post, the housing company acquisitions the entire amount regardless of how much the soldier is actually spending.  The nice piece of this is that you don't have to worry about paying housing bills--other than internet and anything extra.  The down side is that you never really understand how much you're using of resources and in some cases the housing company is making more than what it would cost to rent off post.  Its still up in the air as to what we'll do, but one of the couples moving out of here has a 2 bedroom house off post with a fenced backyard that allows animals.  The house isn't as nice as what we're currently living in.....but it might be worth it even to help us get in the habit of having to pay separate bills again.

Regardless we attempted yesterday to re-seed part of the backyard that is missing grass.  (The grass here becomes dormant and brown in winter, so now is the time to seed.)  The seeds I planted on the first go for our veggies didn't start, which didn't surprise me.  So we'll probably just buy some mini-plants in the next month---once we're for sure out of the cold mornings.  The lil strawberry is still going though so here's hoping!

I think its funny as the gals at work all think of me as the office hippy, but I've decided I might as well live up to that stereotype albeit in a professional manner.  I'm not embarrassed to wash out my lil sandwich baggies and bring my homemade soup in reused glass jars.  They've actually voiced a desire to try to do some sort of paper recycling---it doesn't happen on post but I could put out a bin and bring it home....  I'm also hoping to get our office kitchen a bit more up to par with more real silverware and dishes so that less paper products are used.  I already brought in our extra Brita filter pitcher so that I can have better tasting water (the water here tastes funky).  We'll see what happens, but if I can get a few small changes implemented by example....then all the better. :-)

And I've gabbed long enough!!  Hope everyone's had a good week!!