Boxes, boxes eveywhere, and not an end in sight

I am currently sitting in a house that is full to the brim with boxes and piles of belongings. Since arriving now two weeks ago at Ft. Lewis, life has been surprisingly busy for the Kennedy family. We spent the first weekend here in a daze of trying to figure out all the roadways and wrong sides of the tracks (every town has them, and Army posts always seem to be around some seedy places). We are so lucky however to have gotten the post housing, and be able to live in the thick of the Army community. Our housing looks familiar to all the houses I grew up in that seemed to pop up after WWII and have very long lives. Even as I sit here now and look around, I have a hard time imagining how many other families have lived in this house, walked around these rooms, and touched these doors. There is never any trace of the family before since the Army likes to paint the walls and doors between each set, and I have a feeling that the secret notes I used to leave in closets for the next kid of the house always got thrown away by some cleaning crew. My favorite part of the house is that we have a great backyard with two huge trees that I could maybe close my arms around half of when hugging. Someone left a bird feeder nailed onto the trunk of the left tree, but looking at it now as I type, I come to the realization that it is going to stay there- maybe I should buy seed for the birds to eat. Then I can be like my grandma and watch birds while sipping the morning coffee.

Despite everything that we got for the wedding or inherited from our parents, we still had a need for furniture, and have spent bits of the last two weekends shopping for pieces. We are even lucky enough to have an Ikea nearby, but while we love the designs and think they look awesome, after two hours of wandering the showfloors, we began to realize that European minimal is not our style (we did snag a desk for Dereck and bed frame though- have you seen their prices?) We also started going to a church in the area that people from my church in Birmingham recommended, and feel like it might be a good fit for the duration of our Ft. Lewis stay.

The biggest blessing this week, without a doubt, has been the weather. The first full week we were here Dereck had to work on "in-processing" and filling out Army paperwork, which left me with an empty house, no internet, and constant rain, and that is one dangerous combo. Weekend 1 we bought a coffee table and used that as our everything table while sleeping on the guest bed, and by weekend 2 we bought a couch for simple desire to have something beside the bed to sit on. Of course I knew that Seattle is a rainy place, I just didn't realize it is more of a constant drizzle than falling rain like in Alabama. The gray skies and empty rooms the first week were enough to drive me batty, so the sunshine out my window at the moment is super welcome. Yesterday the good weather inspired me to walk to the hospital for my appointment, and the short 20 minutes each way was fantastic. I got a great view of Mt. Rainer my whole walk back, and lots of people looked at me like I was crazy as they sped by in the vehicles. Think what they may, they are the ones losing out! I like to look at the days and think what it would be like to have a dog for long walks and games of fetch. And on that topic, the Kennedys are looking for a dog. We have some breeds in mind, and entertained the whole pound puppy deal also, but have decided on a Vizsla, if we can get it! Vizsla are medium-sized hunting dogs with rusty red coats, and the more we learn about them the more we like them. My secret hope is that in a matter of time I will be able to blog about having my own in the house, and I even have a name picked out secretly.

The whole job deal unfortunately has nothing to report on at the moment. The waiting game doesn't feel like a fun one, but on the plus side I have more time for all the boxes. Our movers surprised us and came a week early, promptly telling us the night before. And, in true Army style, the moving day also happened to be Dereck's first work day, so I was all on my lonesome to handle it. Luckily between my mom and the understanding truck driver, the whole process went smoothly, and unloading only took two hours, making an unsuspecting new Army wife think that unpacking boxes can't possibly take too long, right? Oh gracious how wrong I was! The tough part about the whole ordeal was that I was doing more than the standard box unpacking I knew as a child, I also was unpacking new wedding gifts still in store boxes, and seeing items I didn't even know I owned. This added another layer of chaos as I tried to process what should go where and how. At this very moment we only have 6-9 boxes in the house, but the millions of items from other boxes lay strewn about in piles. The kitchen and our bedroom are done, and in those places I like to take my breaks since the small goals of unpacking by room can become daunting when combining two newlyweds' stuff. We have a ton of crap, and I never would have thought that before unpacking. I truly fail to understand how people who collect and hoard manage to move. My hope is that within the next week we can have all of the items melded together into one place that looks like a home. If that miracle is achieved, then pictures should be to follow.

At the moment I need to hope in the shower since Dereck found out on Tuesday, his first day as a Platoon Leader, that we have a Winter Ball tonight. Thank goodness household goods came a week early, otherwise I would have had to buy a dress and shoes, and no newlywed budget likes that. Being adults is one expensive undertaking!