Tuesday, July 23, 2013

"Settling" In


Michael ran into work. The kids and I continued to try to dig out from under luggage and to create a "home" for the next "however" long we are here.

Last time we used the trailer Stacia still had binkies she desperately needed.  We had a good laugh when  I found one today. Memories...

No, this isn't a good look! 
Around 1100 Michael and Ch. S, our new Wing Chaplain, showed up at the trailer.  I am AMAZED at how quickly we could in-process here at Beale. Ch. S took us to the personnel building and all of our id cards are now entered in the DBIDS system for Beale and Michael met the CPTS commander and scheduled an initial in processing briefing for tomorrow a.m.

We did a windshield tour of main base and then went to the food court. My lands...it's WAY smaller than Misawa....about the same as Goodfellow AFB.  The people were friendly.  Ch. S left us at this point.

We continued on to switch our tricare from Pacific to West and signed  up for Peds and Flight Med. We have the option of seeing a civilian doc if we want as we are far enough from base. We weren't sure so just went with this for the time-being. The clinic IS very nice looking. VERY NICE.

We headed to the house with a load of things we don't need in the trailer. It is a very nice house. I had forgotten we always want/need to do some cleaning before moving in and this time will be no different.  We will not have our household goods delivered until we get some deep cleaning done...but it's going to be a GREAT house  in which to live.

Zander and Stacia love the palm trees..."We've been transported to Hawaii." ::snort::

We are discussing how we want to configure the space...a "projector" room/school storage upstairs and then library/school/office etc in the family room OR projector in the family room and books, office and storage upstairs.....I have a vision for the downstairs to be the hub of family life...rather than an upstairs "school/computer" room.  While all like the idea....Arielle likes having the computer and books sequestered in a room upstairs....we shall see...still thinking, praying and discussing.

It's a BLAST to have options!!!!!!!

This is the kitchen/family room....the room continues and ends with a fireplace.....The left corner of the kitchen is a desk.....and the space to the left is big enough for our "first" table in Misawa. The dining room is carpeted and  we will NOT be eating in it. ::snort:: We think the big table will be great in the family room for projects and entertaining..... but do we want to go ahead and put the bookshelves down here....and make it a family/school room.....or make it more of a traditional family room with the bookshelves up in the 4th room/school room.....so many options. The doorway to the right is the "butler's pantry."

 WE HAVE AN ICE MAKER!!!!

This house is BIG - it's just a matter of figuring out how things will fit best to create the environment we want. We're also trying to figure out what to do about window coverings on these lower arched windows in the living room. It's obvious the previous tenant taped something to the glass....What would you suggest?
Looking down from landing to entry/living room 
We also need to figure out how to CLEAN the upper windows....lots of birds feathers and poop out the windows. The windows are too lovely to allow that. ::snort::  It seems we have some doves nesting up high....what to do....

The kids have chosen rooms.....we think we figured out a spot for all the big furniture....the biggest surprise was the SIZE of the  master bedroom. We had seen photos....but really the photos didn't give us a real idea of the size of the "suite."  We made a video but it won't load...maybe tomorrow.

It has a walk-in closet that is HUGE - big enough to be another bedroom. There is no electric in the closet, but there is a ceiling light. We are trying to figure out if we can better utilize the space. There is a second closet which is normal sized and enough closet for us.

Stacia checked out the large mbr bath and said, "WOW - two can take showers at  the same time." ::snort:: You'll have to wait for the video.

We left the house and headed for our first dinner out....in Linda....and saw a really strange sight as we exited the restaurant. Some of us think it was a gray-haired, naked man sitting in the doorway....others think he had on skivvies....in any event....seriously classifies as strange. We left and went across to Walmart for breakfast food.

As we drove out of the Walmart parking lot Arielle commented there was something to be said to the Japanese culture where all strive to  "fit in"....all this individuality can be a bit much. Michael asked for examples. As she and I supplied examples I made the comment that it was, "Strange beyond all reason."

Stacia piped up with, "And we have to LIVE here for TWO YEARS! Can we visit Tokyo at least one time a year? We need to take lots of trips." ::snort::

Tomorrow we'll tackle the laundry, the rest of the unpacking, take another load to the house, try to schedule the delivery of our shipment and maybe even begin cleaning the new house.  We may not make it beyond the laundry....it's been 9 days.

Choosing Joy!

©2013 D.R.G.
~Coram Deo~
Living all of life before the face of God...

7 comments:

Wild Homeschool Family said...

Looks like you'll have plenty of space. Maybe need a tall, sturdy ladder for cleaning those high windows! LOVE the palm trees!!!!!!!

whatexackley said...

Your new home sounds wonderful. So glad you made it down to CA safely. One suggestion to urge the doves to move on is to put up some sort of pretend-predator. See http://get-rid-of-pigeons.net/how-to-scare-away-pigeons As far as the arched windows go, there are some nice accordion shades made to fit those spaces and some shades work by pulling them from the bottom up. Welcome back to the U.S. and praying that your upcoming travels go smoothly. -Lis from SHS

Anonymous said...

Sis: It all looks great. Looking forward to seeing the entire home. So glad checking in was somewhat easy. Does a washing machine and dryer come with the house? The Lord is Good. love/prayers - Mom t.

DeEtta @ Courageous Joy said...

Checking in continues but my part was quick and easy. LOL No, there isn't a washer and dryer - but we have a set.

Linda said...

DBIDS? You as a family have to have your ID's entered into the base? I don't know that we've ever done that in the Army.

Suggestion for the round-top windows...if you want any light from them, just put your rods up to where you'd like them, and leave the tops open for light. If not, put the rods to the top of the window. If you want light but don't like the lack of privacy, you can use a window adhesive to cover the window which will let in light but keep you private.

DeEtta @ Courageous Joy said...

Yep - we have to register if we want to go through the gate without "dinging and chirping." I don't know if you have to at all bases....I've been at intel bases the past 14 years and I know we have had to at those bases. LOL

Linda said...

The last 3 posts we have been at, we have not had to do so...the only time we registered our ID cards was in Germany. The Army posts are all pretty "open"...they let civilians on with just an ID and insurance!