Medical Records and "Plans"

These are Michael's medical records - mostly double-sided. There are still a few things missing. This is keeping Michael busy.  He highlights conditions the VA has listed as qualifying for a disability claim, tabs the records, and lists the condition and page number on a front page.  Blog readers know Michael has outstanding referrals.  Our hope is to be able to submit the records to the VA on 1 Nov - his first official day as a retiree. His VA claim will not be fast tracked because we couldn't get the claim turned in while he is active duty. We are looking at anywhere from 1 -2 years of a wait for a determination.

What this means is we will be living in an RV longer than the 3 months we've been thinking. It will also impact our plans to find a way back to Japan - though we aren't sure at this point how. We'll have to determine what "stay close" means....does it mean "be back in two weeks for a meeting," or "be here in 24 hours."  Still searching for answers.

Our plan is what it's been for months, "Move into the trailer until we can work out details to get back to Japan."  It looks like it will take a bit longer than we expected. Michael and I plan to begin Japanese lessons from Arielle and Nolan's senseis (Hey Ryu and Kim).

Five Wins and a Fail

Our science fail from last week needed to be redeemed. We used corn starch today and it worked perfectly to illustrate a non-Newtonian liquid. Win.

Next we explored the freezing point of juice....and made sorbet! We were supposed to shake the bags for 15 minutes, but we decided it was fine to eat at 5 min. I will do this in the future in the ice-cream maker and make sorbet. Win.

A lot of shaking....



We were happy to share with Arielle &
Arielle was happy to have yummy soft food

 Next we talked about gas and how we can't see it, but it fills the space around us. We put a paper in a cup, turned it upside down...

 

  Submerged the cup in water and the paper stayed in place - and dry.  Win.

This was supposed to be simple - blow a bubble  - watch it expand....but the kids can't blow bubbles. Fail. 

 

Checking out gas - which turned to liquid when it hit the cold mirror. Win.

Our last experiment took some work! I had checked 3 grocery stores last week and no one had pop rocks. I was going to order them online, but I didn't want a huge box of pop rocks. I asked on Facebook and gas stations were suggested. I check 3 without finding pop rocks. I was even told that  they "weren't allowed in CA." I came home to order them, and several suggested a dollar store. We ran up to Dollar General. The saleswoman told me they didn't carry them, but as I picked up some supplies for another experiment, I spotted them. After dinner, we were finally able to use the pop rocks.  The gas expanded and filled the ballots.

Five wins and one fail....It will be fun to have Michael around for these - I suspect we'll have much fewer fails. ::grin::

Cookie Dough Butter (Vegan)

Who doesn't love cookie dough? I had never heard of Trader Joe's Cookie Butter and now that I have - I don't think this is the same thing. This is not made with broken up cookies - but it's good.  After seeing a post for Cookie Dough Butter - it dawned on me - if I put the yumminess of dough in a jar - leaving out the egg - it would be a great snack. Here's the original recipe - which is gluten free, low carb (?) and primal. 

It was simple to make it vegan - though it is certainly not "sugar free" with honey, agave nectar or Rapadura added in.

I just throw it in a bowl until it tastes good - but here's the general idea:

Ingredients:
1 C nut butter (I use almond but cashew, peanut butter etc)
1/2 C Earth Balance (butter if you aren't worried about being vegan/cholesterol - TASTES better)
3 T whole wheat flour (or coconut for gluten free)
3 T Agave Nectar (honey or Rapadura)A dash of nutmeg (optional)
1/4 tsp sea salt
1/4 tsp vanilla (I used more)
3 T mini chips (chocolate chunks, vanilla chips, peanut butter chips etc)

Directions:

I simply mixed mine all together and stored it in a jar.  For finer directions check the link above.

How have we used it? Dip animal crackers in it, frost graham crackers, on pancakes, dip apples in it, on top of rice cakes (don't judge), frost breakfast oatmeal muffins,  and BY THE SPOONFUL.

I don't mind if the kid snack on this.

Nolan's New Look

We have no clue what motivated the change...but this afternoon Nolan shaved his beard off. If you've not seen a recent photo check the last photo of yesterday's blog post.

 

Just like that he looks 16 again. 

 

He's still helpful way beyond his years!

 

The other happenings of the day include chapel. We were so happy to see Angel and Jeremy. Angel was at our very first assignment, Malmstrom AFB,  as a 5 - 7 year old girl. She is now here with her husband and baby. Full circle. 

 

We grabbed lunch at Panda Express.

 

We have a HUGE box of water bottles we wanted to recycle. They would only let us turn 50 in at a time. We'll just be taking 50 at a time over - it's mad money for our trailer repairs.

 

Arielle seems to be feeling a bit better this afternoon. She can still barely open her mouth.

 

We took some measurements on the trailer (Caboose) and took it back to the storage lot.

 

That's about it.....the highlight of the day is certainly Nolan's new look - and the Gin Rummy the others are playing. 

Minimalizing (Yes, it's a word - I checked.)

Fridge on the market

While we readily admit there are many details up in the air at this point in our saga, one thing is sure, we will be moving out of our home in 5 - 6 weeks.

We are going through our house with an eye to 1. donate or give to the kids, 2. store or 3. take into
the trailer.  The Store/Give decisions are a bit tricky. We want some basics when/if  we decide to settle down somewhere in America. That could be in a  year or two or 10 - 15 years down the road. It will depend on if we end up being able to go to Japan. Obviously - storing a couch for 15 years is hardly worth it. Storing sentimental things for 15 years is necessary.  If we are not allowed to go overseas and need to set up a home in a year or so - we'll want to have basic furniture. We are keeping more than we originally thought to keep. Our goal is  "basic furniture to outfit a home." In order to be good stewards, we'll also keep "expensive tools" of housekeeping. I think Michael will be keeping way more "expensive tools" than I am, but I have the same option.   It sort of looks like this - we'll keep one couch and get rid of the other couch, the futon and the two recliners.  We won't keep major appliances. We'll get rid of plates, mixing bowls and baking sheets (taking our favorite essentials to the trailer), but we'll keep the Bosch mixer and the grain grinder.

We aren't going to have a garage sale. We love to bless people as we move and God has always taken care of us in a new location. I've created a  photo album of things for elder Gherkins to decide if they want. I may open it up in a bit to anyone local who wants to come get things. What friends don't take - we'll donate. We'll probably figure out how to post a few big items if no one wants them.

 

We spent the day continuing on in the process  the kids and I had started earlier.  Do games MULITIPLY in anyone else's home? We got rid of a LOT of games when we left TX for Japan. We did the same when we left Japan.  The huge box above (the perspective is off) are games the kids decided we could donate.  Below are two more boxes of "educational games" looking for new homes.

You would be wrong to assume these actions make our children game deprived.  Oh.so.wrong.


Games the kids would like in the trailer

Games Arielle is taking to college

 WHAT? Another stash of games. Nolan's games - um not sure what the plan is with these. I've heard  some will be stored with Arielle with the understanding he gets them back when he leaves home/trailer.  He may line his bed with games and put a mattress on top. ::snort::

We all went through our closets. Our first goal was to remove things which don't fit, are stained or not worn. We will have to do another pass through to decide which 7 - 10 outfits make it into the trailer and I would guess 98% of the rest will be donated.

At some point in the day I got a bit miffed at a popular Christian author who teaches about getting rid of excess and minimalizing - while living in a big house. This minimalizing is HARD if you take it seriously. LOL  I have no clue how I'll decide which pair or two will go into the trailer.

 

I nearly cried when I opened a closet and found this....the old SLR....and rolls of undeveloped film. Which reminded me I have tubs and tubs of photos to scrapbook.....ACK I also found four camera bags and a Nikon D70....decisions ahead.

 

I found THESE  - which reminded me I've not made up monthly staff baskets for a year. ::blush:: I've decided they'll make great retirement ceremony decorations.

It would appear "spouse B" purchased this while "spouse A" was in Afghanistan. It WAS the highlight of my day when sand from Momoishi beach fell on my toes.  Once Michael realized it's UV shade for the beach and we loved it and bought it in Japan - he decided it needed to go into the trailer and could be useful at the beach here.

 

We put this up to make sure all the pieces are there - two room tent.....It will find a new home with one of the Gherkins - or maybe someone local would like it. We have another 3 room tent which folds into a smaller package for the trailer.

 

 

People kept finding Applebee cards. ::snort:: That and about 50 Starbuck cards.  Arielle wasn't feeling well and stayed home. The rest of us went out for dinner.  $4  dinner. SCORE!

 

Michael will start leave on Wed. We were scheduled to fly to Japan. Instead, we'll work heartily.  The kids and I need to tackle the homeschool room - I'm at a loss!!!!!

 

I also have a couple of projects that will make storage easier. 1. I want to make a t-shirt quilt with favorites t-shirts, and  2. Get all those photos into an album somehow. I'm fully digital now but don't want to lose these....or I may just put the boxes in storage and work on it when I'm 70 or 80 and life has maybe slowed down.

 

As so many of you commented (on FB) how you appreciated specific prayer requests - here are a few more.

 

Praise:

• Michael was able to talk with Mr. Sacramento on base. Turns out he isn't a VSO, but was a wealth of info.
• Michael also talked to the VSO at Travis AFB. Both recommend he wait and submit his claim on the day after his retirement is official (you usually do this 4 - 6 months early) so that any late breaking diagnosis can be entered in the original claim.
• Michael was given a referral to a Movement Disorder Specialist
• We're getting things done

Prayer Requests:

• Continuing search for answers for Michael's health issues
• Michael as he works through his records preparing to submit a VA claim
• Details for the retirement ceremony
• DECISIONS - basically we've discovered our trailer needs a lot of repair and we think it may be beyond us - but maybe not. 
• Best use of the upcoming two weeks of leave time for Michael
• Josiah is moving to WA Sunday/tomorrow
• Arielle will be moving to OR "soon"  - continued healing of her jaw from this week's wisdom teeth removal

Chocolate Crazy Cake

(No Eggs, Milk, Butter, Mixers or Bowls)

Notes: Grams used to call this Depression cake as she made it often during the depression. I thought of this recipe when thinking of easy things for RV cooking. Stacia made three of these to give away with dinners tomorrow. I found this version at Sweet Little Bluebird. She has various flavors and mug versions listed as well. Some versions call for a Tablespoon rather than a teaspoon of vinegar but the tsp worked just fine.

I was preoccupied and this is the only photo I took. LOL

Ingredients
1 1/2 Cups flour (can use GF)

3 Tbsp. cocoa (unsweetened)
1 Cup sugar (I use Rapadura)
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp.  salt

1 tsp. white vinegar
1 tsp.  pure vanilla extract
5 Tbsp. vegetable oil 
1 Cup water 

Directions 
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Mix first 5 dry ingredients in a greased 8" square baking pan. (Double for 9x13)

Make 3 depressions in dry ingredients - two small, one larger Pour vinegar in one depression, vanilla in the other and the vegetable oil in third larger depression.

Pour water over all. 

Mix well until smooth.

Bake on middle rack of oven for 30 minutes.  Check with toothpick to make sure it comes out clean.

Cool.  Top with your favorite frosting or sprinkle with Powdered Sugar.

 

Referrals and Marathons

We got a referral in the system today for Michael to see a Neurologist who specializes in "movement disorders."  We do NOT want him diagnosed with Parkinson's Disorder, but given a few oddities with our current neurologist, we've lost confidence in him. We would like ideas on what IS going on.  They are looking for one at UC Davis or Sacramento....so we shall see. It will be a while.

Michael had an appointment with a man who works in the VA. This is going to take a long time. Everyone has told us to rush on the claim, but the man today said NOT to turn it in until 1 Nov (day after Michael's official retirement date) so that EVERYTHING from active duty is in the claim.  This makes sense - just means we'll be in the area longer than we wanted to be. I wanted to be in Vermont in the fall. We will touch base with a VSO at Travis to be sure we've covered our bases.

I walked by the Japanese food in the commissary and teared  up. It's apparent  I'm sad about not being in Japan in July or in the near future.

In other news  Arielle and Yuuki slept. The girls and I watched a "Princess Diaries" marathon.

Stacia made three Crazy Cakes (Depression Cakes)....one for us and two for meals we're delivering tomorrow.

I helped by dumping flour all over the flour - I have the touch these days.

I continue to research states to decide which one we want to establish as our legal domicile. We think we've narrowed it to three - possibly two. LOL