I love soup - when it's cold! It's been in the 30's today.
I made a chicken, veggie, noodle soup for lunch.
I made taco soup for dinner.
Then I realized - MISAWA WILL BE SOUP WEATHER much more often than Texas. ::snort::
I also realized that I want to get our favorite recipes on the computer so that I don't have to move all my cookbooks. The boys tell me that giving away my cookbooks would save at least 100 lbs. That's a warning that I'll be posting quite a few recipes in the next months. I've thought about starting a cooking blog but I'm not sure I'm up to that and it is simple to house them here. LOL
The Air Force WILL move all of our things to Japan (or 16K lbs of it). The problem is that what we store here and what we move cannot go over our weight allowance. We always personally take all our books (2 - 3,000 lbs). Right off the top we have to get rid of 3,000 lbs to keep the books we need. Since moving here we've bought a hutch, a freezer, 2 recliners and master bedroom furniture. We need to lose another chunk of weight. We want to be BELOW our weight allowance when we go so we can buy something cool in Japan to bring back....
It looks like the biggest housing we can hope for in Misawa will be 1500 Square Feet....so even though we COULD take 16,000 lbs.....it wouldn't fit in the apartment....AND we've been told that there are not STORAGE units on every corner in Japan. It appears that most cultures GET RID OF STUFF when they over-crowd their home instead of renting a storage unit. ::snort::
Enough thinking for the night. LOL
Choosing Joy!
©2009 D.R.G.
13 comments:
De'Etta, just an encouragement....our house is just about 1500 sqft with very little storage. Of course, we do have a garage, but it mostly is for Brian's tools.
I'm sure the decisions of what to keep, what to get rid of or store are going to be a tough ones.
Yes, countries with little space and small houses (though 1500 square feet sounds HUGE to British me!{g}) do tend to get rid of stuff more often. Yes, I know you have more people to fit in that space. I'm just thinking of our house in Canada and comparing it with with our house in England. It is about 1/3 of the size.
What *I'm* worrying about, on your behalf, is the TRAILER! What will you do with it? I don't suppose the AF will ship it so you can have travel adventures in Japan????
Debbie - no storage but we can buy a shed....no garage, carport etc.
Dorothy - the trailer will be stored at a base on the West coast. At least that is the last plan I heard. The military will ship one car but it costs a LOT of money to get Japanese insurance, convert the car for their roads and you have to register it for $3 - 5,000. Yes - dollars. Our cars won't be going.
As for the space thing - honestly the size of family does play into it...we NEVER could have made this work when all 9 children were at home - NEVER. Dressers, beds and books would have filled our space. It was VERY crowded in 1900 feet. LOL Crowded with just the basics. ::snort::
Ok, this sounds very small to me for 7 people, 6 of whom will be home all day (as opposed to going out to school, work, etc.) Our first house was 700sf which we added on to for 1400sf. This one is 2800sf, 3200 if you add the playroom Greg built over the garage. That's the living area; there's lots more sf under roof with us "Tim the tool man Taylor" garage and big front and back porches. I'm not a pack rat, either, I just love space! :)
De'Etta,
Our AK home has 1100 sf on each floor...add 400 sf and that's the space you would have to fit your belongings into. Will you have space for bookshelves and more than basic books for school, etc.?
What is the sf of your current home? Measure out ~1500 sf and you'll know what fits.
WHAT? You aren't taking any cars? How will you get around? Do you have to buy something there or do you just take the bus everywhere? EGADS that is going to be an exciting change of pace!
THANK YOU for not doing a separate cooking blog. I love having everything all in one place and I can easily find what I want on your blog by searching the category label.
What a shame you won't be able to take the trailer or a car. I guess you'll be getting to know the (apparently excellent) train system for your adventures!
I wonder if people go camping in Japan?
Cindy - no car goes with us. We have been told we can walk and/or buy a used Japanese car on base....I'm assuming there will be some good deals. We cannot bring a car we buy there back with us either - law of the land. Of course it will be set up to drive on the left side of the road so we wouldn't WANT to bring it back here. LOL
Dorothy - all the lit I see from the base says "get out and go camping", so at least the Americans must go camping in Japan. Outdoor rec will have things we can rent. We are planning on selling our cookstoves etc before we leave. For three years we'll tent camp and rent....and we'll have the trailer when we get back stateside.
I didn't realize that Japan drove on the left side of the road. I can certainly see why one wouldn't want to bring an American car. Do you have USAA for insurance now? If not, they are who I would contact first when you get a car. They tend to have the best rates for military families.
We've had USAA for years and years. Love em. The insurance I"m talking about is sold by the Japanese and is reported to be very expensive. We are told when buying a car to make sure there is at least 2 years left on the insurance...it has nothing to do with American insurance.
Drats,,,, never had anything like that in Korea or Germany. Guess Japan is not as US/foreign friendly with their SOFA.
Just another thing to remember (esp with this move) is that ANY books/materials that are Mikes and are spiritual/religious, be certain to have them packed separate as Professional Gear. That way they are not counted against your HHG weight allowance.
Oh yes - we love pro-gear. LOL
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