We Interrupt This Cold.....

(Disclaimer-I wrote this two weeks ago on Columbus Day weekend and forgot to publish it until tonight, haha! So, just imagine yourself at the start of October. Not much has changed, I still am fighting the cold mentioned, but on the mend. :) And packing, yes packing is the main focus of our lives this week!)
Hi again friends! Can you believe it, this must be a record....2 posts in less than 2 weeks. Well, I blame it on the above. There isn't much you can accomplish when you're sick, but it takes little effort to sit at the computer and type. I caught the same dreadful cold/flu Lou struggled with last week and its been a roller coaster of symptoms: sore throat, severe headache, sinus drainage, congestion, fever and chills. But, the good news is that I've locked myself into my little house and spent the time trying to prepare for moving...by organizing and labeling shelves while drinking hot tea...and trying not to complain aloud, at least for the most part. Today I worked on the fridge/freezer, trying to determine meals for the next 2 weeks until moving time. I think we may only need to go shopping for milk, eggs and butter, at this point.

Still not sure if I'm taking my love of organization to an unhealthy level, but its enjoyable nonetheless!
While I worked on the kitchen and pantry this morning and afternoon, Lou was busy with his own woodworking project in the garage. (One of the blessings of Army life in garrison- 3 day weekends become 4 day weekends! Drawback? No holidays recognized during deployment.) He has started making the baby's furniture, beginning with this chest of drawers that I envisioned and described to him in minute detail, lol. Its going to be simple but beautiful, and he is a careful craftsman so all the drawers will work correctly and the construction will be solid. Lowes, once again is the place where we spend most of our extra money. :) Wood, drawer slides, extra router bits....it all comes together.

I'm planning on (Lou) painting it a soft gray, at this point. I like the neutrality of gray in a baby's room, but there's always time for me to fall in love with a different color and change my mind! Thinking knobs from Hobby Lobby are a must, maybe something along these lines? Or how about this? Noticing a trend? Definitely not these! Wow, there are some dreadful choices out there. :)
What else...well, I mentioned the jackhammer activity last post. Now we have a new walkway with stepping stones where the crooked chipped concrete used to reside! Its simple but effective. The gravel matches the gravel in the driveway-all 17 tons of it!

I pruned my rose bushes willy nilly several weeks ago, then had remorse as I thought I should have researched a little before doing it. But, as it turns out they took to it very well and bloomed like crazy! In fact, all the flowers are doing well EXCEPT the plant I place strategically in front of that dreadful "green pipe with a white top" on the right side of the flower beds, in an attempt to hide it. It died....how funny is that? :) I like to think that green pipe was placed there to keep me humble!
Speaking of lawns, we had new neighbors move in several months ago. The first several weeks they kept us guessing by keeping MOST of their belongings on the front driveway and back yard, spread out like a professional yardsale. Yardwork and mowing appear to be at the bottom of the priority list, so I was thrilled last week to see them out cutting the grass, pruning the trees in the front yard and tidying up! The next morning I awoke to this:

Even the prunings were used in the "yard art"! Ha! The witches and ghosts hanging from the porch I did not manage to capture in this photo have their own constant sound effects, but nothing equals the man in the top hat at the organ. This organ PLAYS! Yep, no matter what time you open the front door...the sounds of haunted organ music pipe across the lawn....repeating every 20-30 seconds. Now I'm a little disappointed we're going to miss seeing Thanksgiving and Christmas decor this year!
Speaking of which, we're moving! Officially! On Tuesday I was driving to Clarity and got a call from Lou. He had just gotten word that they re-instated him in the Nov 15th course and we were to report to Arizona by the 5th of November! Can you believe how quickly things change around here? Its normal, too, that's what makes it even stranger. Lou's (pomp and ceremony) promotion ceremony has been rescheduled twice due to Army personnel conflicts but we still received orders for AZ yesterday and I immediately relayed all the necessary paperwork via email to the housing office at Fort Huachuca. Now to wait and hurry! We have to coordinate housing, moving of our goods, and travel from here to there- all to occur around October 25th, give or take a few days. I'm really excited to begin this phase of our journey! Although, it does mean a lot of goodbyes to people I love here in Kentucky and we will be 38 hours from Mom and Dad Crist in New Jersey, and a "mere" 31 hours from friends and family in Virginia! I'm sure we will be doing more flying! :)
I was 14 weeks pregnant on Wednesday! I finally managed to get a "pregnancy" photo taken for the memento book, but I have not been taking "weekly" belly photos. It just doesn't happen! :)

(And now my friends, soon to follow is the post with all the details about promotion ceremony, moving, and wrapping up our time in Kentucky!)