Wednesday, July 23, 2014

All Boxed Up & Nowhere to Go

Every 3 to 4 years I'm homeless for a month or two.
For some of you this is a shocking and possibly frightening idea.
For me it's routine.

Let me clarify by first telling you I've never spent the night on the the street. 
Oh wait. I did once in high school. What the heck was the point of that? Who knows, but there must have been one because there was a group of us.

I also have never slept in a cardboard box, but since the movers finished a full day ahead of schedule this time I have now slept on one. I must tell you would could have stayed in a hotel, but I am Scrooge McDuck sometimes.

 Guess it's past time for me to tell you my husband is in the military. That means that every time he's restationed (I might have made that word up) the family goes through a PCS or Permanent Change of Station. For my family that means they come box everything up, and move it to the next place where it waits for us to tell them our new address. This time as we are moving from Japan to the US we'll arrive long before our furniture.
They let us send a little bit ahead so we'll have something other than what's in our suitcases. Plus I still have 1,000s of pounds of stuff I haven't seen since before we left for Japan waiting for me stateside. My family is playing a guessing game as to what we'll find in our LTS, long term storage. All of that is just a distraction right now. What's weighing on my mind is the fact that we fly off this island, possibly forever, in 6 days and we still have to sell both our island cars. Forgive the scattered ramblings of woman driven stir crazy by this tiny hotel room and the weight of all we have to accomplish is a really short amount of time.

Oh did I forget to tell you schools in our new area start in 15 days! Yep, no home, not even in the same country at the moment, and my most heartfelt desire is for my son to start school with everyone else. It's tough being the new kid not that I would know, but it's easier being the new kid on the first day. 

Gotta give a big public THANKS to:
my lil sis who has purchased my son's school supplies and has them waiting for us. 
my wonderful mother who's kept my car ready to go for all the years we've been overseas.
and to which ever one of them is willing to let us stay before we head off to our new area while we have my husband's car inspected (It's been in LTS too.)
Oh and all the wonderful military spouses who've shared so much knowledge with me over the years.
I really don't know how I'd do all this without them.

For now, I'll continue to work hard, do my very best and just keep breathing.
I'd rather be creating though.

Monday, July 14, 2014

To my future daughter-in-Law...

I found this beautiful post today and just wanted to preserve it here for my son's future. He's a decade further into his story than the child this woman write about though.

"I will do my best by you to raise a man among men. A leader among leaders. And to help him be strong, resilient, brave, loving, and humble. A good man in a storm."

Read the entire post here:

 "You are a piece in the puzzle. A very important piece."

"...my dear girl, you hold his future."

Thursday, July 3, 2014

Kraft Band Coming to America!

While I literally race to finish my Okinawa bucket list 
and shed all the excess weight from my household goods shipment 
(so I can make one more run to the 100 yen store)  ;)
I am taking this little breather to show you my latest creations.

Giant Baskets!
 
just kidding...sort of
You can see my first big basket above at my last craft sale.
When I got home from that event I finished this one which is like a Moses basket for a toddler.
They get bigger and bigger.
Here's a look at them all nestled.
and my collection of kraft band (or eco-band) to work with when I get settled in the US.
Can't forget the "tires" (hubby's term) of natural. Oh and the stripes!
Maybe I'll cut some strips and make more coasters on the plane.
Both these sets and 2 others have sold already plus 2 dozen individual coasters.
This one is the only one I have left. Probably because I just finished it.
(UPDATE:  It's now spoken for too.)
It was fun to come up with 2 new weaving patterns.

If you are in Okinawa next (school) year look up the Eco Weavers. 
They were such a great group of women.
Clearly they taught me a lot.
Thanks Ladies.
You are all awesome!