It's 3 a.m., I Must be Lonely

Well, not really. But that Matchbox 20 song keeps rolling through my head, and it is actually 3:30 a.m.

What's that, you ask? What am I doing up at 3:30 a.m.? Well, our alarm went off bright and early at 2:30 so my Marine could be on his way out the door for a 15-mile hike, and I couldn't get back to sleep. And although I'd like to blame my husband, in reality if I weren't working myself up over tihs move I'd do what I normally do: roll over and drift back into a solemn slumber.

Yesterday I attended a 3-hour workshop on moving overseas. While this workshop contained many good "briefs" and answered many of my questions, it created a mountain of paperwork, a sense of urgency I hadn't felt before, and one more full page on my to-do list.

The very first thing they told me was, "Oh, you're going to Camp Futenma? They're moving that base."

Exsqueeze me?

I didn't actually know they could do that. Apparently they can. They are "relocating" the base from the central part of the island to the northern part of the island. Hmmm. Well, isn't that special?

My friend Jen tells me they are a long way off from completing that process. But still, many questions arise. The first being, are you freakin' kidding me? The second being, are we going to have to move [again] halfway through our tour? Ugh.

Whatevs!

Right after this convo, they asked if anyone was bringing pets. I raised my hand, and the Corporal said, "oh, no." Oh no? This is not what I want to hear. Particularly since I still haven't been able to get a vet appointment!!!

Anyway. I promise not to make this blog all about the annoyances of our move. I'm sure this weekend will lead to at least one good story. Unfortunately, it won't be about the commissary since I went there last night and it was (gasp!) uneventful!

It happened.

I knew it would. I just didn't know when.

Everything was fine. And then I read a post on the Okinawa ning about how the summer flights were already full for pets.

And then I freaked out.

I am still sort of freaking out, actually. There are little watery tearlets forming that I cannot get to go away!

All I can keep thinking about is trying to plan this stupid move. The one that is still 5 months away. The one that is already driving me CRAZY because I don't know what I'm supposed to do first, and no one has handed me a nifty little packet or checklist that TELLS me what to do first!

What I do have is a knot in my shoulder that feels like someone is boring a hole into it. And a self-made list two pages long of things we have to do, but that cannot be done until Tommy graduates this stupid class on May 14 and has time to do them.

For the love of God. I don't even have a passport!!!

I know it will be fine eventually. I know it will. But getting to the point of eventuality is the problem. And if my cats cannot fly with us, there will be a very LARGE problem. A problem that will require me to fly to Japan AFTER my husband and child do while I wait for the next flight that has space available for my two cats.

Oh, and I have I mentioned that I still need a freakin' VET APPOINTMENT???

Hee...Haw... Hee... Haw... Yes, that is me practicing my birthing breathing technique!

Hiding the Veggies

How do kids know that they are not supposed to like vegetables? Are they programmed to know this? Because Tommy and I eat them all the time. And we've tried giving Wyatt ALL types of vegetables, to no avail. He tries everything, but inevitably spits it out or makes a face and refuses to eat more.

So I've resorted to hiding his vegetables. At first I tried to hide them in a casserole, but after he tasted it and figured out the "v" word was in there, he simply picked around them or stopped eating the casserole altogether.

So then I got serious about it. We discovered he likes to drink the new V8 Fusion and V8 Splash, which has a full serving of veggies in it. (Interestingly, he will NOT drink plain V8!) It's expensive, but there are internet coupons available this month for it for $2 off, so I printed as many as I could.

I also started buying crackers with vegetables in them. He loves crackers, and so far hasn't noticed that the crackers I switched to actually have veggies in them! So score one for mom on that one.

Then Wyatt discovered Hummus. I personally love hummus, and I got Wyatt to start dipping his crackers (I tried raw veggies...didn't work) in hummus, and I started buying hummus with veggies in it, like Roasted Red Pepper hummus. Plus, it has protein in it, which is another area he doesn't get much of!

Once the farmer's market opens (tomorrow!), I'll start buying zucchini and making zucchini bread for our Sunday bake days. Hopefully he'll like that.

My mother-in-law gave me her copy of Deceptively Delicious, so I need to start reading that for more good ideas about how to hide vegetables. But in the meantime, I'm taking suggestions. Where else can I hide the veggies? Leave me a comment!

Time for a Funny.

So as previously mentioned, I need to get the girls their second rabies vaccination. And by “girls,” I mean my cats, Tenga and Peaches.

It would be helpful if I could get an appointment to do so. So I call the veterinarian a couple weeks ago, just days after receiving word of our relocation to Japan. It is the middle of the day, and I received a voice mail that, while I may have improvised wording in some areas based on my recollection of the event, sounded much like this:

“You have reached XXXX. Our hours of operation are Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. – Noon and 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. We do not answer the phone on Tuesday or Friday, as we are busy seeing patients. We are closed the last business day of every month, and will be closed April 23 and 27. This office is subject to closure without notice. Please do not leave a message unless you are cancelling an appointment, as we will not have time to get back to you. Thank you and have a nice day.”

So here’s my question after listening to all this: Given this information, when exactly am I supposed to call you to make an appointment for my cats???

Seriously?

Yes, seriously. I had to call back several times just to make sure I heard correctly. And I did.

So I made sure to call between the designated hours on the designated days. For almost two weeks I did this, with no results. Machine every time.

And then one day, I broke the rules. I called outside of the designated time. 7:30 a.m. to be exact. GASP!

And guess who picked up the phone?

Well, I don’t know who. But someone did. And that’s the point.

I was so surprised I dropped the phone! And then I got all excited because after 20-some odd phone calls to this place, I finally had a real, live person on the phone! I started babbling about how we were moving to Japan and needed vaccinations and paperwork signed and this and that. And then she interrupted me.

“Ma’am?” she said.

“Yes?” I asked.

“Our appointments for April are full. You’ll have to call back next week to get an appointment. We should have the May calendar ready then.”

[INSERT VERY LONG PAUSE HERE.]

“You mean you don’t book appointments more than a couple weeks out??”

“No, ma’am, I’m sorry. We should have the May calendar by next Wednesday or Thursday.”

[Insert inner monologue here: Are you freaking kidding me? For the love of all things holy! You know they make calendars well over a year in advance, right? I would be happy to furnish one for you. I mean, next Wednesday is April 22nd. Which is only one week PRIOR to the first day of May.]

Instead, I say, “When would you recommend I call back so that I have the best opportunity to speak to someone regarding this?”

Her answer?

“In the morning. We get busy after that.”

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOhhhhh! I didn’t realize that if one was merely busy that one didn’t need to answer the telephone! Now I understand!

My plan: I will call Wednesday morning. I will call repeatedly until someone becomes annoyed and picks up the phone. And if that doesn’t work, I’ll show up at the doorstep Thursday morning at 7:30 a.m. before attending my Overseas PCS workshop, and bring you a freakin’ calendar in hand, with my appointment time already booked and highlighted for your convenience.

That'll teach 'em.

Okay, I’m done now. End of rant. Letting it go..........

He Peed in the Potty!

Three times today, actually. Every time I asked him to. And he pooped in it, too! I definitely think he "gets" it. It's like the light bulb went on today!

There's just one small issue. A question, really:

What the heck do I do now???

I wasn't actually prepared for him to understand the concept quite yet. He's only 21 months old! Mostly, we were just trying to get him used to sitting on the potty, so that when we became 'serious' about potty training, the potty wouldn't be unfamiliar to him.

So my 21-month old son is light years ahead of his mother, because mom has no idea what to do now. Do I keep him in diapers until I know he can be consistent? Or do I switch to pull-ups instead of diapers, or go directly to underwear and just do pull-ups at night? I have no idea.

Also, what do I do about daycare? They have a potty in the room, but they don't really work with potty training until they turn 2 and go to the Toddler room. ?????

Clearly, I have not done my research and should be more prepared next time for my over-acheiving son to outsmart me!