I was delighted to check the mail today and find out that my order from Amazon had arrived. Looks like the shipping times here won't be so bad afterall. :) Included in today's order was Joshua Bell's Romance of the Violin, Van Cliburn's Tchaikovsky: Concerto No. 1 & Rachmaninoff: Concerto No. 2, Van Cliburn's Brahm's, and Jordin Sparks. I haven't yet had a chance to listen to the Brahm's CD, but I have enjoyed the rest, especially the Joshua Bell CD. I'm going to have to check into some more of his CD's. :)
Duane took the week off so we could get some errands done, do some re-arranging and try to get some unpacking done. Today was rainy and dreary. While Guam has lots of rainy days, not very often does it have dreary days. I think this is the second maybe in the two weeks we've been here. And even then, it was only the morning and first part of the afternoon. Instead of unpacking, we spent the morning goofing off. We both played our computer games and took care of Arthur and Amethyst. Besides, I needed to listen to those music CD's (gotta make sure they work, right?) and it's hard to do that when one is going back and forth throughout the house. At least for a first listen.
I did finally get to the washer, days ago. For every three boxes I unpack, I end up packing up another box, lol. Mainly because I still can't get to the bookcase or have such reduced storage. I'm going to have to figure out what to do about that. Right now it's that musical chair game, only with boxes. I can finally get into the kitchen somewhat. Enough to make dinner, which is good because I am very sick of eating fast food. I want some veggies! :) I'm hoping one night this week to even make some fried rice, but that might be a bit ambitious as I have to actually find the rest of my dishes.
I'm also getting ready to start up netflix again. We are so far behind in the movies to watch, lol. Although we'll have to watch Netflix for a couple months. So far it looks like the regular postal mail is pretty fast, so it should be worth it. If not, I think we'll have to rely on the local Blockbuster video store and the last time I was in Blockbuster, their prices weren't so great.
The kids are doing well. Arthur keeps asking for a bed, though. He's having to sleep on the floor because of missing bed parts. The kids, as usual, have all sorts of homework that keeps us busy. I don't remember this many family projects when I was in school. They have activities every week. It's a bit exhausting at times having to do the family activities for each kid on top of other things we do. (And in that, read Mom having to do the family activity with said child. Dad likes to act dumb about the activities far too often. :P)
15 September 2008
11 September 2008
Normal?
It's been six and a half weeks since we arrived here and things are starting to get a semblance of normalcy. My w key on my keyboard refuses to work properly, the kids are back to questioning what they're told, their rooms are a mess, Arthur refuses to take a nap, I'm behind on laundry, and the house is a complete and utter disaster. Yep, that about sums up normal for us. :)
Of course it's anything but at the moment. I'm behind on the laundry because the laundry room is crammed full of boxes and I can't get to the washer and dryer. We received our secondary household shipment on Wednesday. Most of the furniture is in pieces or needs to be re-arranged and I can't unpack much until that is done. I got rid of a bunch of things, filled our truck several times with stuff we got rid of. But, this house has almost no room for storage; I love it anyway, though. It's so much better than our old one in many ways... just lacks big time on storage.
The big bunk bed can't be put together because some brackets are missing and we have no idea what happened to them. Not sure what we are going to do. Only one box was kept for that kind of stuff, all the other boxes were packed and sealed the day before they started taking the furniture apart. For now we have all four boys crammed into a twin bunk bed and Arthur is sleeping on the floor.
Everyone keeps asking me what the next day is like, lol, so here's my Friday outlook: Sunny and bright. Overall, a pleasant and laid back day. I finished a book this morning (I'm sure I'll finish a couple more in between unpacking what I can). Joshua Radin released a new CD entitled Simple Times; I really like Joshua Radin. I was able to download the CD from itunes. I'd much rather have the actual CD, but it just takes so darn long to ship things here and Amazon won't have it available until the 30th of September, so I'll just burn a copy for myself from my download and print out the lyrics to put with the CD later. On top of that, I pulled out one of my writing projects that I deliberately haven't touched in a couple months. I realized I'm definitely around a 750,000 word count for the year so far, re-works and all.
Now, if I could only figure out what I'm supposed to do for dinner with a kitchen crammed full of boxes. Literally. We have access to the fridge. If I really stretch, we can get water from the sink and to the microwave. But no dishes hardly, no food cabinets accessible, lol. At one time I used to be able to live with this adventurous chaos, but not so well anymore. :)
I'm off to get a few more boxes emptied. Hopefully Duane will be in the mood to build some furniture tonight or else it'll all end up on the floor. :)
Weekend plans: Build furniture, unpack, and do some shopping for a few needed things, like a rug for the living room floor. Oh, and unbury the kitchen... hopefully. I'm tired of fast food.
Of course it's anything but at the moment. I'm behind on the laundry because the laundry room is crammed full of boxes and I can't get to the washer and dryer. We received our secondary household shipment on Wednesday. Most of the furniture is in pieces or needs to be re-arranged and I can't unpack much until that is done. I got rid of a bunch of things, filled our truck several times with stuff we got rid of. But, this house has almost no room for storage; I love it anyway, though. It's so much better than our old one in many ways... just lacks big time on storage.
The big bunk bed can't be put together because some brackets are missing and we have no idea what happened to them. Not sure what we are going to do. Only one box was kept for that kind of stuff, all the other boxes were packed and sealed the day before they started taking the furniture apart. For now we have all four boys crammed into a twin bunk bed and Arthur is sleeping on the floor.
Everyone keeps asking me what the next day is like, lol, so here's my Friday outlook: Sunny and bright. Overall, a pleasant and laid back day. I finished a book this morning (I'm sure I'll finish a couple more in between unpacking what I can). Joshua Radin released a new CD entitled Simple Times; I really like Joshua Radin. I was able to download the CD from itunes. I'd much rather have the actual CD, but it just takes so darn long to ship things here and Amazon won't have it available until the 30th of September, so I'll just burn a copy for myself from my download and print out the lyrics to put with the CD later. On top of that, I pulled out one of my writing projects that I deliberately haven't touched in a couple months. I realized I'm definitely around a 750,000 word count for the year so far, re-works and all.
Now, if I could only figure out what I'm supposed to do for dinner with a kitchen crammed full of boxes. Literally. We have access to the fridge. If I really stretch, we can get water from the sink and to the microwave. But no dishes hardly, no food cabinets accessible, lol. At one time I used to be able to live with this adventurous chaos, but not so well anymore. :)
I'm off to get a few more boxes emptied. Hopefully Duane will be in the mood to build some furniture tonight or else it'll all end up on the floor. :)
Weekend plans: Build furniture, unpack, and do some shopping for a few needed things, like a rug for the living room floor. Oh, and unbury the kitchen... hopefully. I'm tired of fast food.
09 September 2008
A brief look
From the moment we stepped off the plane here, I have been accumulating things I've wanted to say about this place. The trip here as an experience in itself, one I hope I will remember to tell. Many things here are just the same as at home with a slightly different look and feel. Others are very different and some things, I find myself doing a double-take and scratching my head at the oddity of it.
The first time I saw a carabao, I did that. And the second time, lol. One of these days I'll get a picture of one. The best description I can give right now is to picture a donkey crossed with a cow. The bodies are big and bulky, but they have large flappy ears that put me in mind of a donkey. Their tail is similar to that of a donkey's, too. I'm not sure if they moo or bray or what kind of noise they make yet, though, as I havne't heard one.
Guam is a Micronesian island located in the south of a chain of islands called the Mariana Islands. It is approximately thirty miles long and between four and nine miles wide. Wikipedia has a decent article and a few pictures of the islands.
One of the first things we noticed here (besides the beautiful sky, the views, and the palm trees) are the utility poles. Utility poles here are huge pillars of concrete. Once in awhile we ill see one of those pencil-thin wooden utility poles, often lashed to the heavier concrete ones, but the heavy-duty conrete ones are standard here. One of my fist thoughts upon seeing them was that Oklahoma needs to take a page out of Guam's book and invest in these. It would take one hell of a tornado or ice storm to take these things out. They are, of course, built to withstand the typhoons.
Speaking of typhoons, while we knew the island as hit form time to time with typhoons, we didn't realize that Guam sits in what is known as typhoon alley. So now we have moved from tornado alley to typhoon alley. And speaking of tornadoes, I do get a fair amount of questions about the cyclones in tornado alley. :)
Driving in Guam is interesting to say the least. I believe the highest posted speed limit is 45, but I know we get up to 65 at times just keeping with the flow of traffic. It does take awhile to get to places, though, on this small island. There are lots of lights and at times one can sail through them all, but most often, one has to stop for each one. Or not. Just because it's red doesn't mean everyone will stop. At times it seems stop signs are only cautions and stoplights are just mere suggestions. A friend told me that used to be, up to ten cars would run the red light. Nowadays that number seems to be down to three or four.
Often traffic here has two paces, fast and slow.... at the same time. The faster cars just weave in and out of the slower ones on the main roads. Of course, it doesn't seem to matter if one does this or not, as one has to stop at the next stoplight usually anyway, lol.
Pick-ups are a great transportation tool, here, just like back in Oklahoma. Only, here it's small Nissans and Toyotas filled with equipment, belongings, produce, appliances or people. Most often a combination of all those with people being the most popular cargo for transportation. :)
There is so much more, but I'll have to come back to this later. Right now, I've got to go get things ready for the moving truck tomorrow.
The first time I saw a carabao, I did that. And the second time, lol. One of these days I'll get a picture of one. The best description I can give right now is to picture a donkey crossed with a cow. The bodies are big and bulky, but they have large flappy ears that put me in mind of a donkey. Their tail is similar to that of a donkey's, too. I'm not sure if they moo or bray or what kind of noise they make yet, though, as I havne't heard one.
Guam is a Micronesian island located in the south of a chain of islands called the Mariana Islands. It is approximately thirty miles long and between four and nine miles wide. Wikipedia has a decent article and a few pictures of the islands.
One of the first things we noticed here (besides the beautiful sky, the views, and the palm trees) are the utility poles. Utility poles here are huge pillars of concrete. Once in awhile we ill see one of those pencil-thin wooden utility poles, often lashed to the heavier concrete ones, but the heavy-duty conrete ones are standard here. One of my fist thoughts upon seeing them was that Oklahoma needs to take a page out of Guam's book and invest in these. It would take one hell of a tornado or ice storm to take these things out. They are, of course, built to withstand the typhoons.
Speaking of typhoons, while we knew the island as hit form time to time with typhoons, we didn't realize that Guam sits in what is known as typhoon alley. So now we have moved from tornado alley to typhoon alley. And speaking of tornadoes, I do get a fair amount of questions about the cyclones in tornado alley. :)
Driving in Guam is interesting to say the least. I believe the highest posted speed limit is 45, but I know we get up to 65 at times just keeping with the flow of traffic. It does take awhile to get to places, though, on this small island. There are lots of lights and at times one can sail through them all, but most often, one has to stop for each one. Or not. Just because it's red doesn't mean everyone will stop. At times it seems stop signs are only cautions and stoplights are just mere suggestions. A friend told me that used to be, up to ten cars would run the red light. Nowadays that number seems to be down to three or four.
Often traffic here has two paces, fast and slow.... at the same time. The faster cars just weave in and out of the slower ones on the main roads. Of course, it doesn't seem to matter if one does this or not, as one has to stop at the next stoplight usually anyway, lol.
Pick-ups are a great transportation tool, here, just like back in Oklahoma. Only, here it's small Nissans and Toyotas filled with equipment, belongings, produce, appliances or people. Most often a combination of all those with people being the most popular cargo for transportation. :)
There is so much more, but I'll have to come back to this later. Right now, I've got to go get things ready for the moving truck tomorrow.
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