Ive been BAD!!

Awww.. NAUGHTY NAUGHTY!! I can imagine your thinking DIRTY things.. but pull your heads up out of the gutter.

I just got a new piercing. Now yes, I know what your all thinking.. NOW WHY IN THE HELL DID YOU GO AND DO THAT.. And honestly mom, it was not TO UPSET YOU! I truly can admit that I really enjoy my piercings and like the persona I have with them. I like being different and wild and spontaneous.. and well I only drink an occasional glass of wine, and Im not a druggy,,, !!!

So piercings and tattoos are my way toward a bit of adventure. Okay, so this is short.. sorry dinner is awaiting,, and a movie and wine with my hubby. Ill blog this weekend I SWEAR!!

Oopss. its not that I forgot about my BLOG!

Okay,, so lately I have been a HORRIBLE blogger.. I know IM SORRY! It just doesnt seem to be enough time in a day. or week. or month. or a year. But I did return wonderfuly from my 4 day with my besties. We diffently did what all we could to have fun...

Friday, drove out to Mannheim.. I THINK??!! did a little PX shopping and hit up the Sinsheim Museum. Its an air museum but had everything from cars to trains to war like things. It was alot of fun ... they even had alike a mini ride area set up outside and you can by a ride.. Its 1 euro and you get in this round thing... push the button and your FREAKING SPINNING!! I of course did not get the lap bar on tight enough and was litterally holding on FOR DEAR LIFE!!!

Saturday, drove back our to Mannheim to go to Sealife that was really really neat,, BUT way to expensive for what all you see. I think I could have seen Ripleys Aquarium in South Carolina 3 times for the price i paid for this place but what can ya do. We then drove into Ramstein... GIGANTIC AIR FORCE post. Got to have a REAL american dinner and ate CHILLIS!!!

Sunday, had plans to go to Tonneswunderland.. which was set to OPEN on sunday, we drive out there and ITS DEAD<>

Monday we chilled. Literrally relaxing and recooping and convinceing ourselves to prepare for the week.

And here I sit on Wednesday, just calm and relaxed. And for the first TiME in forever we truly saw the sunshine in Germany today. My daughter and I walked our neighbor, played at the park and took wonderful Oscar for a much needed stroll.

Spring TIME please come!!?? There calling for snow on Friday... NEED I SAY MORE@!!! URGH!

So, cyber buddies,,, your officially caught up.. Ill be nice.. Heres a few pics..

Ive got the WORST LUCK!

Seriously Im starting to wonder if theres some type of conspiracy against me and gaining strides. My wonderful husband and I have been living in our NEW home for ALMOST a month. We did an advance on first months rent from the army because as all of you military know OHA can take a bit to kick in from finance. Well the last check for feb reflected SOME BAH, at that point I didnt think it was right but though maybe it would reflect more on the next pay period. Umm.. YEAH NO!!! So now we have gone into finance to be told we dont get the UTILITIES money cuz housing didnt send it over with utilities needed!???!! WHAT??!!! So off to housing my hubby goes to sit there for a bit and be told they cant find OUR folder.. uh huh thats right.. I feel an ICE complaint coming right along...

All in all at this point... housing didnt screw up.. Darn it.. Usually they do. My hubby has copies of the requested OHA forms and its all correct. So somewhere in here finance mest up and they owe me QUITE a bit of money at this point. There making it VERY VERY diffucult to pay my landlord on time, but thank god I have a very respectful landlord who understands.

Like I briefly mentioned earlier.. I have a VACATION coming.. 4 DAYS to be exact and I can honestly say at this POINT I NEED IT!!! OMG do I NEED IT!

I do however have a good weekend minus the part when my husband had to go into work to deal with some private who couldnt resist drinking while on some QRF. And had to do some major smoking on saturday and didnt get to join myself and the mayfields for our ikea extravaganza. Where I can honestly say I didnt spend that much but got quite a bit. I still have things I want to go back and get and will in the coming weeks when finance can get my paycheck fixed. But Ill attach a couple photos so you can see a few things. Im off to post at this point,,, and then to the gym. My one lifesaver of stress. I can run off my fat, and my stress.. How lovely!

4 days... til vacay!

March 13th... OH mY!

Oh my bloggers!!! Coming up on March 13th is a very very special 4 day. A requested leave by my husband and my best girlfriends husband. Thats right people an official vacation by the Mayfields slash Davis'. I think we may call our selves the MayDays. I am beyond psyched for this fantastic 96 hours of fun with our second family. We had a place in mind to travel too in Austria called the minimoondiss??? yeah spelling way OFF!!??!!! But of course it doesnt open til April. As we have discovered with all the neat places we thought of going. But it truly doesnt matter. We have planned several key places to check out and can do it all in the 4 days.. Like umm A GUMMY BEAR factory and of course I am dead set on going to the Birkenstock factory. For those of you who do not personally know me, I LOVE BIRKS.. i hug tress thats right im a tree hugger.

But in the search for thingfor things to do we discovered Movie Park Germany OMG like Universal Studios inthe states.. were going. We dont know when but we are SOOO GOIN!!!

Okay so its a short blog but I needed to prepare you for the 4 day of WONDERFULLNESS before it truly occured! This is gonna be fantastic. Oh I love the MAYFIELDS!!

Weekend Extravaganza~

Once again we reunited the roadtrips with the Mayfields. Its always fun when the hubbys drink, it makes for way funnier conversations and much more laughter from us wives. Micheal bought these liter beers from a german esso. It has like 10% volume in it or something ( its just freaking huge and super strong) So by the time we arrived in Graff.. only about an hour drive the men were truly TOASTED to say the least.

We had fun shopping and eating and buying NEW WINE!! Oh how I LOVE IT TOO!! This trip created the 4 day we are taking here soon with the Mayfields. Now we have never done a true true overnight road trip but I must say I am very much so looking forward to this if we can find a dog sitter for my mut.

The evening continued to be amusing with the wine bottle exploding in the back seat at the shoppette, and the men drinking wine on the way back with there coronas. We arrived fashionably late to Brian and Beckys house for GAME NIGHT! OMG! You think rockband night was entertaining... I so wish I had had my camera for Game night. We played pictionary.. Vajayyyjayyyss vs. Winkers.. OH !! there is so HAND signals for that too that would have you peeing in your pants. I will have to upload video....umm thought to ponder...Must speak with Becky on videoing her vajayjay vs. winkers move...

Lets just say vajayjayyysss KICKED winkers BUTTTSS!! Twice.. in a ROW! Thats right even with the WINKERS whinning about saying the pic first and US letting them have it we still BEAT EM!! UHH HUH!! Ladies RULE!

So, I myself and my family had a fabulous evening... Daughter even locked herself in there bathroom, We were able to talk her through unlocking the door and event rescued!

I must now take a moment to ponder the wonderful friends I have made here recently and truly give a shout out to them. I love em all to death and even though this upcoming deployment will suck, it wont suck as bad as it could. I have great friends to stand by and be depressed with. And that cyber buddies is true friends!

On to today, I took out some time to pull up some weeds. Considering my cute little german house has not been lived in, in quite some time my yard and flowering shruberies are looking like something died up in here. So I grabed a knife, some gloves and started yanking up some weeds and cutting back some bushes. Drive way done. Looks alot neater and cleaner and maybe this spring that bush will look less like a dead mess. umm...

Kids got to play with there new sidewalk chalk on there VERY OWN DRIVEWAY!! They love this house...:) as do I!!

Enjoy the grins on my kiddies faces from today. Happy first week of March to you all.

back to Taxes...

Okay,,, everyone scroll to the lower half of the blog.. Re-read the one on taxes...

Now come back to the top and lets go into more detail.

I complained recently on the delay to my taxes, to only find out they were taking back 350 dollars from our refund claiming my hubbys combat needed to be added to his wages and salaries.. THIS CONFUSED the crap out of me. And well the nice little IRS lady I spoke with wouldnt go into more detail except that it needed to be added to his salaries. Now for you non military bloggers, my hubbys combat pay is NON taxable. It has its own special little place in your tax returns just for the combat pay. So I figured I would check with my army tax people just to make sure I didnt truly screw up. When I initially spoke with them over the phone they figured it would be a simple admendment and we would get the money back in time. HAHA!!!
I get into the tax office he does the taxes just as I did and ... THERE RIGHT!! I didnt do anything wrong. I put all my info in the correct place. In short, the IRS is screwing me out of 350 dollars. SERIOUSLY!!??? I mean I know were in a recession but our country can afford to help billionares become trillionares but my hard working husband, fighter of our country, protector of my and your freedom doesnt need his 350 dollars???!!! Im still in complete shock that this has happened to us. I mean I do everything right on my taxes, I file early and try to help the economy bu shopping as much as I can .. hehe .. but they take 350 dollars from me??? Like its truly gonna help the hell hand bag our country is turning out to be??!!!

So to all you military followers,,, DOUBLE CHECK EVERYTHING!! If you get a delay and they claim its due to your combat pay money FIGHT IT! I am sceduling an appt with the tax attorney and Im fighting for my 350. Mainly because we do not pay for the attorney, its army provided or I would let it go. Considering in Civilian world the attorney would cost me more then what the IRS owes me. Plus, I should get interest on the money as well.

You know, what do you think?? I was tongued tied over the situation and slightly humored by it. But with time I will stick my sock somewhere in someones butt for the rip off. Humm. I feel better already. :)

Pleasant evening all.

Its been awhile.. RIGHT??!!

Forever.. Its truly been forever. OH, How I have missed my cyber buddies. Theres so much to share here. I MOVED.. Yup thats right all my dear cyber friends.. I have moved, out of the nasty mold infested.. run downed dalapidated building (the army claims to be family housing) and into a HOME. I mean truly any house can be a home as long as you make it one but this truly feels like a home. My children and my dog have yard all there own!! To play and frolic as they should and a drive way to ride there bikes like all kids need too.

Here I sit in room 1 of 4 that I currently have. The computer room and playroom combined. Listening to my children enjoy the freedome of being loud and obnoxious and only truly annoying myself and my husband. No more shoes to trip over on the first floor landing , no more nasty armoa of smoke or inconsiderate neighbors who have no courtesy what so ever. Freedom, the true underlying release of ones self.

I love this home. Even though I have killed four of the BIGGEST spiders Ive ever seen in my life. I will just tell myself they were here first and I shall just kill them off one by one til there in heaven together again. Its better there for them.

As I shared with you all before, my hubby and I moved a bunch of things on our own before the movers arrived in an effort to hurry along the moving process. Thats funny now that I think about it. Considering my measily little apartment took them roughly 6-7 hours to pack.. then jsut one to unload it all. In a blizzard at that. The morning the movers arrived our post was shut down entirely due to the amount of snow we had. But I still managed to move without a problem and now less then a week later I am pretty much unpacked. I mean theres a storage room in the basement full of boxes.. with things in them that I probably dont need but could careless at this point to go through so sitting they shall do til I deam ready to attack. My childrens rooms are done and looking rather snazzy I must say.. and will look even more COMPLETE when there fabulous YAYA sends there new room items. Im elaborated by new bedding!!!It gets my blood flowing. My 2 year old cant say enough about her "pink room". Every little girl should have a pink room at some point in there life and she has reached that mile stone, Im quite proud.

Even more news to share,,, we have located a car for the hubby. OH THANK GOD is all I can say. I mean I did 2 days of 5 am PT call,,,, and Im sorry I can not go to bed at 10 and get up at 5 drive 20-30 min to post to take him in for pt.. drive back home leave again at 8 to take the son to school and then end up having errands to run on post then not enough time to come home jsut to have to turn around and go back for him. I can really say Im like a zombie. And I thought for sure I would sleep in this wonderful saturday morning.. UMMM no. Our fun lovin pup is now on that 5 am pt schedule and wanted to eat and pee. So I got up at 630 only to see my 2 year old appear at 7 so there was no going back to bed.

Day gets better.. back to the we located a car. Went and saw it today its a 93 bmw 318i series.. painted 2 tone.. blue and orange.. Oh it gets better.. the inside holds a shrine to all things pink. The roof inside is covered in pink velvet thats right people pink velvet. Now my husband would just take it down, but REMEMBER back to the pink room... daughter LOVES pink.. she would kill him if he took it down. Its even got matching seat covers that she will more then likely insist get put in. I see fun times in this car... Perhaps..?

Alright I assume for now I have blabbed to satisfy all you loyal readers for the day. I am off to snuggle in with my fam, and prepare for more needed sleep. I swear to share more tom. I swear.

Night cyberers...

Happy Valentines Day

Happy love day to all. I am SUPER busy. We are doing everything we can to get as much stuff moved on our own so that the movers get things done quickly on Tuesday. I just would hate to sit around all day and watch them pack things, THEN UNPACK it all. We accomplished painting the kids rooms and I have most of there things up on there walls and I got all our coats moved to new closets. Tomorrow my wonderful hubby has to work.. and has to work Monday. All day. His stupid soldiers and there stupid behaviors affect our family as well. Youngins needy a swift Kick in the ass. So I will be going at it alone tom. I hope to move alot of the kids cloths and perhaps somethings out of the fridge so that I can clean it!! I managed to clean out 2 of my cabinets which is huge for me. I hate Kitchens and Bathrooms. I would so hire a maid just to clean those rooms. I can manage all the others. Its just that kitchens and bathrooms hold all things gross and gooey feeling. YUCK!

Even though today is special LOVE day, my husband and I dont ever go all out for these holidays. I mean I love him everyday and show him that everyday... Why would you do something different otherwise right? But we did take most of the day off from moving and only did a quick drop off of a few things. We instead are spending the evening with our other lovers the MAYFIELDS. And here I sit on Saturday night, Valentines Day watching my rockband family perform FABULOUSLY!! haha. Lets all think back to rockband night.. Awww Just gotta love it.

I will post pics of the new place once I get it all decorated. Im a neat freak and I must have things organized first. I did however find a great corner desk for sale that will be delivered tom for me! Even better Tim and I can sit at it at the same time. And the computers will finally be out of my living room and in the computer/playroom.

Happy Valentines Day to all. And a congrats to my aunt for her new baby boy, Cole Ryhs born yesterday ... yes friday the 13th I couldnt of done it. Congrats, Evening to all.

Im in Love .. Check it OUT

http://www.lensbaby.com/lenses-composer.php

Moving INTO MY HOUSE!

Okay, so its been a few days since I last blogged but I wasnt ready to announce it outloud until it FELT REAL!

TOMMORROW MORNING I AM PICKING UP THE KEYS TO MY NEW HOUSE!! Thats right people I am finally MOVING! I have to sit out at the new place all day friday and wait for appliances to be delivered and then our furniture will be packed and moved on TUESDAY!!! This weekend is gonna be BUSY BUSY!! I have to paint the kids rooms, take over things I dont want the movers touching,,, like ALL MY PHOTOS!!! haha. And start moving kitchen things too.

I am sooo excited. I cant belive it has finally worked out in my favor. We clear here on post next thursday so i will spend the day wednesday cleaning. hopefully i can get most of it taken care of this weekend and just do basic cleaning.

Along with that news, Abbie had her first tumbling class today and ITS WAS FANTASTIC! She is so into it and seemed as if she really enjoyed herself. So, every wednesday into the future her and i will be tumbling together. I like to think shes a natural I mean I did gymnastics and loved it up until they wanted me to flip on a balance beam,,, YEah HeCK nOOOOO!!! But I think I did well and I think she will too.

Onto the weather, man its been awhile since I was on here. We've had some really interesting weather here recently. Its cold as crap, you wake up to snow,, only to melt into a soggy mess and THE WIND! BOy, I could tell you this wind here could pick you up and toss you right into CZECH! I am SOOO ready for spring and tanning and day trips to PLAYMOBIL!!

I will have so much more news and pics for all you blogg followers in the days to come. So, hang with me and SMILE WITH ME!! Im PSYCHED! :)

Saturday Birthday Party

Today was so enjoyable. We had a birthday party at the Spieloase Jola Playhouse. Germans celebrate birthdays differently they we Americans do, so its always neat to do birthday parties at German places. You can literally sit back and watch the differences in parties take place. WE GO WAY OVER board compared to them. !! HAHA!

The playhouse in Germany is very similar Discovery Zone in the states. Everyone has to take off there shoes, including the adults and then you just have had it. Literally. Theres mini go carts to drive... trampolines and all kids of things to climb on.

Today the party was themed Superheros and the kids got to dress as there alter-ego super hero. My son was Flash of course. Since he was about 3 he has had a major obsession with Flash. My daughter(pause), you guessed it, a princess! Are little girly girls anything else? NO!

So for your enjoyment photos of our very adventurous day.. Oh and I almost left out the best part. I decided to flirt with my husband on the trampoline and attempt to take him down. Well, that did not work out in my favor and I took a major nose dive right into the trampoline and lost the better part of my FACE! Yup.. forehead, nose, and chin royally sandpapered to death. I will leave out that photo for my own protection. Trampolines now come with a warning label. Do NOT, I repeat DO NOT try to tackle your husbands on a trampoline. Its destiny that you will lose anyways, let alone injure YOURSELF in the process!

Evening to all, Im heading to doctor my poor, poor face!

Tax Time And The Irritaion Of It All

Okay, so my husband and I dont have any weird things to file for taxes so we always do them ourselves. Its pretty self explanatory and there are so many websites on line to assist you in filing your own. Well, when it comes to money I am NOT a procrastinator and we are in the process of moving and money goes a long way. I filed my taxes on Jan 23, as soon as my husbands W2s appeared.

Usually you receive your return within 7-10 business days with direct deposit. Well, here I sit expecting them today according to what the IRS website page said all last week and the week before. Up until TODAY! They changed my expect refund date to the 17th NOW! A whole week later then what they orginially had my date. And according to there website now they only issue refunds ON A FRIDAY!! Well, hell I wish I could only pay my taxes on a FRIDAY!

Our government may be in a major depression but what I truly dont understand is that we as a government can afford to bail out Wallstreet TYCOONS in one afternoon just to watch them the coming weekend take there workers on extravagant vacations (cough couch to celebrate cough cough) there win against our government.

Im not sure what I did differently then some of my friends but I havent really heard of anyone else having an issue getting theres back. Everyone I know has received there in the normal time frame. What the heck????

What makes this even odder.... I already received states refund??!!! That usually takes at least 2-3 weeks AFTER I receive the federal refund.

I dont know whats going on with our government right now, and god help us into the future. Nothing is truly ever secure and Im waiting for the SMALL benefits I do get from having a husband in the military to start diminishing as the government cries for more of our money to give to STUPID billionaires who dont know how to give back to begin with. Honestly, who the hell NEEDS a trillion damn dollars anyways. There should be a cap on high business men. Once you hit it, if you can earn more then that,, THEN THAT MONEY AUTOMATICALLY goes to support our future children and paying the HEAVY cost of Universities. Not to mention paying our soldiers in war ZONES more money.

That my friends is a whole other topic for discussion. One that I can truly say probably should not be discussed. As Im sure you all who are not military related think we make bank while our husbands and loved ones fight in zones that could LIKELY get them killed and at times DO. You would seriously cry as a nation if I gave you the numbers my husband made for being in a war zone. And when I watch the news over banks and companies filing for bankruptcy I just know my husbands little benefits we receive will start to be cut back.

As for that, say thank you for your freedom. Even if right now the economy sucks, your still free living in a country thats trying to fix this damn mess. Rather then being in one that is killing its own people for its own benefits.

Remember, no matter how much you dont understand why we started this war and why were there,, people are dieing over there, children left parentless for US.. YOU! At least there dieing somewhere else,, and not in your own backyard. Imagine being torn from your own and watching your children die so that someone can use your window to shoot at your very own protectors of our country.

I support my husband in the war on terror, no matter how much I wish we werent at war. We are, and as a country we need to back that decision and say thank you for the ones going there and fighting so that your senior can go to college rather then be drafted to help.

File your taxes on time, and sit back and whine about how long it takes to get your money back when you give it to them each month on time. Its our Freedom.

First Steps To Getting THE HOUSE!

Okay, so I got the almighty PHONE CALL!! The landlord of the home we looked at will do a military contract and is even willing to drive to post and meet with housing to do contract together and then do inspection!! Can you believe it??? Maybe just maybe for once things are starting to look up in this whole housing department.

So, I am trying very hard to be patient and take things slow. Germans are not like Americans and are not about hurrying up and doing things. Tomorrow morning I will go into housing and meet with the off post represenative and give them the gentlemans phone number to call and set up the time to meet and get it all done!! Holy Cow, this could be really happening. :) Im so giddy on this end of the keyboard. I have a bit of paperwork to turn into my realtor, and of course I have to pay the landlords realtor as well. Odd I know but thats how the Germans do it.

Come tomorrow I should have more info.. Info stating officially that I have permission for the house and that it will be mine in the coming days or weeks.

So, go jump up and down, eat a piece of cake and pour a glass of wine. Im feeling sunshine---YYY!!!

Fabulous evening to all.. It certainly is for me :)!

Merkendorf Haus

Back to the house hunting in Germany. I finally saw the house I have been looking at online now for a month. I loved the outside from the beggining, and today I saw the inside. ITS PERFECT. Im scared to get all excited about it considering what took place with the last house I loved. But this could truly be the one. Its far enough from post to stay out of the drama of Army life, but close enough to get to post in a reasonable amount of time. Its truly everything were looking for except the kitchen could have more cabinets which we could purchase ourselves. So, here I am again at the point where I could truly be moving FINALLY!

Keep your fingers crossed for me! I will so blog more about this when I know if its truly mine or NOT! :) Its a short blog this evening, I must go prep for the dentist tom. I am truly truly TERRIFIED. If you know me personally you know why. If not, lets just say the dentisit is my phobia,,, true horrifing phobia. I cry the moment I walk in the door, I have no control over it. Lots of luck I need right now.



Good Evening to all...

New Bedrooms

I love shopping!! I mean I am a die hard shopaholic. When we moved to Germany 2 years ago, my kids had beds. Our son had a toddler bed and my daughter had a crib of course. Well the movers pretty much demolished his poor toddler bed and at one point it was together with duct tape. Our WONDERFUL PX at the time had a small selection of furniture so my husband and I bought a twin mattress and box spring. Of course they didnt have any cheap little metal frames like the ones you get in the states when you get a bed and we figured we would just keep a look out for them to come in. Well, sure enough our PX umm... DOWNGRADED... Haha they claim they remodeled to bring in more items. COUGH COUGH bull shit COUGH COUGH! All furniture ceased to exist here on our very little base. And of course we dont have some MASSIVE SUV to haul things from another post. So we dealt with the mattress on the floor. Up until last February when I couldnt take it anymore and went in search of a Nice childrens German BED. I succeeded in that for our son and he got a really cool high bed with a ladder. Well, we decided to take our then almost 2 year old out of her crib and into the big bed. Leaving me again in the same scenario I was previously in. The DAMN bed STILL sitting on the floor. I had done it to myself again. I began looking in the American classifieds for a twin set. Everything I found was to far away , and no one would bring it to me. I mean , geez, my husbands deployed, honestly how do you think a 5 foot 3 inch 135lb chick can carry some massive bedroom set up 3 floors on her own. RIGHT??? Well, just the other day in the paper low and behold A BEDROOM SET!! IN MY AREA, AND they'll deliver TO ME!! YIPPEE!!! 2 whole years later I have succeeded and both kids have rooms. COMPLETE REAL ROOMS.

Almost complete... again with the whole shopaholic thing. My 4 year old has outgrown Thomas the train and its time to pass it on to someone else so we will redecorate his room when we move into that NEW house we have yet to find. But perhaps its out there somewhere waiting for me to decorate it to death.

Of course knowing me, If i redecorate my sons room I must do my daughters as well. So I have been glued to ebay the past few days, hoping and praying for a massive POTTERY SALE somewhere on ebay. Pottery barn,, my one true love.. NEXT TO THE HUBBY ! If I could move into a pottery barn I would , I truly would live in IT!

For your viewing pleasure you may enjoy there rooms from the web. And when I find that right Pottery Barn bedding there will be more PICS. Im off for superbowl preparties. Go Cardinals.. Damn steelers have to many rings!

Friday Night Rockband

Who doesnt love Rockband, right? So, its become official. The Mayfields and the Davis are married. Let me fill you in on my second family. Ever since my husband returned from Operation Iraqi Freedom, or the desert we have made great friends. The Mayfields. Since early October we have spent just about every weekend together.. and there in the beginning we spent almost every day together. I have many many trips I could share with you, considering in Germany you can have open alcohol containers in a vehicle. We have traveled all over Germany visiting Monk Beer places, crazed Halloween castles where I was chased by some freak in a costume, visited crystal factories and spent quite some time in a stau on A9. I have truly fell in love with these people. Its simply impossible to meet a couple that yourself and your husband both like. Usually its the opposite. The wife loves the other wife but the hubbies just dont hit it off. This is not the case with us. We all fit together like a damn puzzle its freakin crazy.

So, back to this rockband situation. Zakary got a wii for his birthday back in July and we have guitar hero. So we brought it over to the Mayfields to let Mike give a whack at it. Sure enough he fell in love with it and decided he was buying Rockband for his playstation,,, the VERY next day he did. HAHA thats right HAD to have it. (Men have obsessions too) Since that moment there has been Rockband Nights.

Here I sit at 9 o'clock on a friday night, watching attentively, my husband and Mike play Rockband. Bare in mind this whole week my husband left for work by 5 am only home long enough to bring me the car back to take Zak to school and drop him back off at work. I have dropped off his lunch all week to him, so no more lunch dates together, and he gets home at 7 to eat his dinner cold after the kids and I have already eaten. He checks his email and showers and kisses me goodnight. Thats been my week with him, I swear I saw him more while he was in Iraq then I do when hes in the bed next to me. Army Life,,, have I mentioned how much I love it haha. Most adults have sitters on Fridays and are out enjoying the German life at pubs and clubs. But for this simple , (ha, very high class) army wife I am truly satisfied watching ROCKBAND!

So, for an easy and fun entertaining friday night go purchase Rockband, for which ever system you have, its so worth it and totally satisfying and terribly addicting too. And gives you alittle bit of adult/child time with the ones you love. In a fun kickin rockin butt kind a way.You get to be the American Idol of your own living room. ROCK OUT!

House Hunting.. IN GERMANY

Okay, let me bring you all up to speed. My wonderful husband extended our stay here in Germany and we decided we would prefer to live off post in a house. Not just because of our extension, but we have encountered an array of issues in stairwell. The biggest concern is the massive MOLD issue. We had to go through an army of people to get permission to even MOVE out of our disgusting building. With the success of our ETP (exception to policy) we got word of a realtor wife of a soldier who was assiting families in locating homes in Germany and only charging a small fee of 300 dollars. THIS IS Fantastic considering if we looked for a home on our home the realtors here in Germany can charge you pretty much whatever they want and its always in EURO and with our economy on the crapper our dollar is very weak now. She found a home in a town not to far from post and it was wonderful, more then what we wanted. Everything was slowly working out in our favor for once. My housing facility we have on post, refused the German contract that the landlords company had given to me, I am assuming for several good reasons yet could never GET anyone to fully tell me why I couldnt do a german contract. So many people do german contracts without an isssue but I could not. So the housing represenative looked up the landlords address online and sent me directly to his home to retrieve the signature I needed for my contract. I was so happy about doing this, seeing as I was more then likely intruding on his own space. But I was so adament about getting out of our sick whole of a home and getting my kids better I went there. His wife of course didnt speak english very well and called her husband on his cell phone. I spoke with him over the phone explained everything and the military contract I had with me that I needed the signature. Bare in mind the contract I had was in english and GERMAN, so that both parties could read it. He was excepting and understanding and his wife signed it. Things continue to roll we get our money together because we have to put the money up front ourselves and the army will repay us.. IN TIME.. bare that in mind. Takes the army FOREVER to give you the money you deserve but for damn sure they will take it when they need it. Twice I went to retrieve my key from the landlords ground keepers. The final time we were actually in the HOME and going through it marking down the things we felt were messed up when out of no where these men wanted me to sign some paper that was in german. Yeah I totatlly refused to sign something I CANT READ. From there it all WENT down hill FAST. The gentleman come back saying they cant give me the keys without a german contract. EVEN THOUGH WE HAVE a military contract IN play already. A very valid contract. So I head back to housing. Only for them to tell me I cant do a german contract , again not explaining why. From there we decided fine we dont want the house. They call the ground keeper, and sure enough what do they say. "if they want out of the contract ( the contract they claim isnt vaild cuz its a military contract) they have to pay 3 months rent and find new tenants. Okay people,,, bare with me, I WENT IN SANE. I was crying hysterically cuz at this point I am beyond stressed over the entire back and forth situation. My realtor calls me and we explain the situation to her and well we actually thought we had it resolved. HAHA , yeah thats funny. Monday rolls around and I call the ground keeper to meet to get the key and give the security deposit back , only to be told again by them that the landlord now will only except a german contract. They state that my military contract does not meet german laws (FALSE) and that it is to vague. Well, well, well. Housing can no longer assit me they say, and send me to legal. YUP YOU READ THAT RIGHT. I had to meet with a lawyer on a home I HAVE NEVER lived in. Okay, so longer story cut short, the lawyer got us out of the contract. The landlord claimed I fraudulously went about getting his signature. Yes the same man that liked me and said we were very family oriented, said I was fraudulant. FUNNY. I laughed..

So here I am, 2 months into trying to move out of my MOLD disgusting home and Im still in it. Finding a home in germany is not easy and its VERY expensive. I have found a few online and I am hoping to see one that I like very much this weekend. Just waiting for my realtor to call with my appt time. Im sure your wondering why housing hasnt shown me anything. Well, according to them there is nothing available. However I can give props to Ms. VERA. She has been a god sent and is trying to help us the best she can.

First and formost. If you get moved to an overseas location. No matter how nervous or offset you are,, YOU WANT TO LIVE OFF POST. Had I known all the things about stairwell housing and neighbors and everything We would have NEVER lived on post.

If you are in the move to Germany and have some questions.. ASK ME!! I can fill you in on so much and give so many helpful links. A few websites to check if your house hunting.. remember german realtors can charge you 1-3 months rent just to look at a house whether you chose it or NOT, so becareful and ask A TON OF QUESTIONS.

www.immowelt.de
www.immobilienscout24.com

These are 2 really good ones. www.freetranslation.com can help you learn some words. Mieter is Renter.. Miete is to rent. This is what your looking for.

Fantastic day to everyone. Vent more later. :)

My First Blog

So, Welcome! Alright this is all new for me and I decided to do this becuase I can vent like no other woman. And considering in the last 3 years so many things have taken place for me I figured no better way to tell my experiences then to BLOG! Do bare with me as I learn this whole blog thing, and as I vent. So heres the beginning.. WELCOME!