So much!!

Well so much has happened since I last post! Movers came last Friday and wow what a nightmare...ok it really wasn't that horrible but after they left we realised so much they didn't pack! Absolutely NO liquids whether sealed, new, etc or not. Not even my wet ones! No candles (but I had hid some they didn't notice hehehe) and then they didn't pack some random but necessary things in the kitchen. For instance they packed everything in the drawer under the oven except one- the expensive broiler pan! And then in my bedroom when I went to sweep behind the door I found my graduation presents from Wella and Monica! Grrr! Oh and they also wouldn't pack any food except in cans (said bugs would get in it) and no medicines (they gave no reason for this). Ugh! So we brought all that over to Matt's Aunt's house and we're going to box it up so she can ship it to us once we have an apt. We've been staying at Connie and Jerry's house since Friday and loving it! Saturday Jerry bbq for us then we went to their neighbors and partied. Fun times. Sunday we spent all afternoon cleaning the house and doing yard work so we could clear housing. This week Matt and I have been running around everywhere!



Tuesday we went and got our plane tickets so the biggest news is we fly out on Tuesday- June 2nd!!! But the downer was that United was booked through June 15 and they're the only airline with a/c in the luggage area for pets so we have to fly American and if the temperature at DFW is above 85 degrees then they won't let him fly with us!! =-( So if that happens he'll go home with Mom or Nana and they will have to ship him to us. Ugh! Also on Tuesday the housing people were supposed to come over and clear the house. Our appointment was for 3pm. At 3:15pm I called to verify we were on their appt list and they said yes but the inspector was running behind and there was only one in the field that day. Called at 4pm and asked again "are we on the list" and they said yes the inspector is on her way. I went to the post office then to turn in our keys but after waiting in line behind 22 people they just told me that I didn't need to turn them in I could just throw them away. Ugh! I got back at home at 5pm and Matt was on the phone with the housing office and they were trying to say we didn't have an appointment. Whatever! Eventually the lady showed up (around 5:30!!!) and cleared us after charging us $20 for a vent cover for the fan above the stove that was "missing" (it was never there but I didn't know it was supposed to be on my initial walk through). Whatever. At least it was clean enough for their standards.

***Internet collapsed for a few days and I lost the rest of this post so here it is Sunday, May 31***

Thursday was more running around, cleared housing, and then yummy mexican food courtesy of Mawmaw (Connie's Mom)!!

Friday Matt went and picked up his file and he was officially cleared from Fort Hood (YAY!!) and then we drove to Belton to the courthouse to get his birth certificate. After that long hot drive we were told they don't do out of state birth certificates (Matt was born in Oklahoma). Waste! Then we had to go back to Copperas Cove, stopped at Walgreens and had Matt's passport photo taken, rushed to Connie's and picked up Elvis and took him to the vet. The vet checked him over and wrote out his health certificate and gave him a pill to sedate him for the plane ride. The vet also wrote a waiver that said Elvis could fly up to 90 degrees so hopefully the airport will accept that. Friday evening we hung out at the house and played dominoes and Skipbo til late. Matt and I also learned that we are not having a teenage daughter. If and when we have a girl she will be living with someone else when she turns 15!!! LOL

Saturday we stayed at home all day except for taking the family out to Whataburger for our last time and then Matt and I went to the last Fort Hood BBQ with our usual crew. I'm gonna miss those people!!

Today we've made a Walmart and Mcdonalds run and I'm just doing laundry and packing today. Plus going through stuff I want Connie to ship me once we get our house. We got up early this morning so after dinner we can take a nap until it's time to sign out at midnight and drive to Longview. We'll get to Longview about 4:30am and let ourselves in and try and get some sleep til 9am or so. Matt and the boys are probably going to go fishing and get the truck detailed (since we never got a chance last week) and Mary and I are going out lunch and pedicures and just hang out then doing dinner with Mom and Nana and the family then back to Mary's for the night. Then Tuesday Mom and Nana will come pick us up from there and we're off!!

I don't know if I'll post again but if not I'll post once I'm in Germany with internet! Auf Weidersein!!!

Read more »

Frustrated

Today we started organizing the house/cleaning things out to make it easier on the movers and so things get boxed together/more systematically. After working on that for a while we put together Elvis's new kennel approved for airplanes and while Matt finished it I started looking for the Europe health certificate to print off to have my vet sign to only come across several sites that basically told me:

1. Elvis has the wrong microchip for Europe. This means he needs a new chip or I have to buy a scanner to take over there for customs to use. A new chip is by far the cheaper option but some sites said the chip had to be in longer than 30 days and others didn't mention it. Ugh! I'll call the vet Monday to see what they say and if they have the right type of chip. If not then I'll price scanners. I also need to call Family Travel and give them a piece of my mind for not telling me any sort of pet policies (even after I said I am taking my dog).
2. Some sites said the health certificate needed to be signed by the USDA office in Austin and others (and the certificate) say that a vet can sign it. Another question for the vet.
3. Other sites mentioned a pet passport on top of a health certificate. I will ask the vet (who seemed knowledgeable about travel last time I was there) AND Family Travel.
4. Some airlines have certain pet carrier specifications (like metal latches on the side of the kennel not plastic). I don't know which airline I will be on. Another question for Family Travel.
5. Airlines supposedly need to be able to feed and water the animal without opening the cage- and the cages need to have attached food/water containers. I have yet to see a kennel that has a slot to open to feed the dog (water I get) so how do they get the food through the holes?? I bought the wrong kind of attachable bowls anyways so gotta go return those to Walmart and try Petco now.

Overall a very frustrating evening. Oh and I also sliced open my pinkie while cutting sweet potatoes (sweet potato fries- yum!). Ouchie.

Read more »

Things are startin to roll

So today the man from the moving company came and checked out all of our stuff to guess how many boxes they would need to bring. It took a whole of ten minutes but he was over an hour late so Matt missed all that work for nothing (not that he was complaining). The movers come on Wednesday to pick up our unaccompanied baggage (the stuff we will want immediately in Germany such as a tv, bed stuff, clothes, set of dishes, etc). Then on Friday the movers come and take EVERYTHING. So where will we live until we leave? Well that weekend (Memorial Day weekend) is a three day weekend so after the movers leave Friday we will head to Houston to spend one last visit with Matt's family through Wednesday. Then we have to sweet talk Aunt Connie and Uncle Jerry to let us stay with them in Copperas Cove (20 mins from Fort Hood) otherwise we're stuck at the crappy hotel on post and Im not even sure if the army will reimburse us for it!

Yesterday was just one big headache. First off we were supposed to go to a finance briefing (which Matt had already attended but didn't understand so we needed to go again). The finance briefing explains the Travel Living Allowance (TLA) which covers our hotel, travel, and food expenses while we are waiting for on post housing. However I don't know what is covered, how much, and how to be reimbursed- kind of important!! Well we didn't get to go to that because the stupid Army wouldn't let Matt off work. This is getting so frustrating because we are moving so soon but they won't let him get anything done to prepare for it!! So no finance briefing. Then we needed to get paperwork ready to ship my car this Tuesday and so I called the insurance company and sat on hold forever but got the letter emailed to me that I needed for the lender. The lender on the other hand had 8 different things they needed before they would give us permission to ship the car and then told me after they receive the documentation they needed it would take them 24-48hrs to process it. Then they would fax us a letter to sign and have notarized then we had to fax it back to them and THEN they would fax us a final letter. Now we don't have a fax machine so I had to take it all to Office Depot and fax it from there and when they call asking what my fax number is I'm going to have to figure out what to do! I need to see if UPS has a fax/notary service....

Anyways on the way to Office Depot I had to call ATT and make a warranty claim on my Palm Centro (Dont buy one!!) because Tuesday it quit recognizing my sim card. The ATT store in Longview tried several sim cards and verified that the phone was messed up and it had no damage so I could do a warranty claim. Well I got the two stupidest women in the world...lets just make a long story short and say pray you never have to make a warranty claim through ATT!! My new phone should be in on Monday...thank goodness because right now I am using the cheapest Nokia GO Phone and it's HORRIBLE!

Well the plan for the rest of the day I am praying Matt gets his leave packet signed by his commander so he can start clearing post on Monday. He is supposed to have an awards ceremony for PCSing that I may go to if they allow family to and we are hoping he gets done early enough we can go to Finance and figure out everything. Then its a fun trip to Wally World for some traveling things and then I get to begin organizing the house for the moving crew!

For those of you wondering when we're leaving- as soon as Matt clears Fort Hood (turns in all his stuff, paperwork, briefs, etc) we get to request a travel day. We are going to shoot for June 1 so we can get to Germany and spend time with Adri before she comes home. Matt said if he starts clearing on Monday he should (fingers crossed) be done by Thursday. Please pray so!!

PS Most of you have already been doing so but please continue to pray for Amanda Williams' Twins! They are growing better now so keep the positive thoughts going her way!

Read more »

Fears are kicking in

So not much new news on the Germany front. Matt went to the finance briefing to learn about the travel allowances and what not. He also went to the travel briefing which bombarded him with too much information that I now have to go through when I get to Killeen Wednesday night. He did find out we have to inventory all of our stuff and guesstimate the weight of stuff for each room! Yikes!

We spent the weekend down in Houston visiting family. I stayed at Mom's Wed-Fri then Friday night I met Matt at his Aunt Belinda's house and the next day his mom and sister came as well! It was a really good visit and we had so much fun. His aunt even loaded us down with some new pampered chef goodies! Thanks Aunt B!

I just finished writing my last college paper and I am still in shock. Tomorrow I have the first of my last finals!! Its so crazy... my life is definitely not where I thought I would be at graduation but its better! I am happily married, my family is slowly mending, we are all healthy and taken care of, and I am about to actually move to Europe! I never ever thought I would be doing that. Adri was always the big dreamer and traveler but me, I just wanted to graduate college, get married, buy a house, have two kids, be a teacher, and live in one town the rest of my life (although I have never been able to make up my mind on which town!!) Well I did somethings out of order and others are on the back burner until after Germany but that's ok! Obviously I was meant to do other things at this point in my life and I know I am just along for the ride on God's Tour Bus.

Everyone keeps asking if I am excited about Germany and I go back and forth. Yes I am excited about the new things I will get to see and experience but at the same time I am scared silly of going somewhere completely foreign!! I am also sad to be missing such a huge chunk of time with my family and friends. My brothers and sisters and godbrothers and cousins will be so big when I get back!!

Alissa- 19
Cody- 18
Kirsten- 16
Colton- 16
Jacob- 14
Jonathan- 11
Carmen- 10
Cooper- 9
Maxx- 9
Jeralyn- 8
Braden- 7
Jessah-5
Ayanna- 5

That is so depressing and hard to swallow!!! I will miss Cody and Alissa's high school graduations, Kirsten, Colton and Jacob will be in high school and Kirsten and Colton will be driving (now THAT'S scary!!) Jonathan will be in middle school! The twins will be in kindergarten! Bah I don't know how I will handle the home sickness.

For starters I have a webcam and an account on Skype. For those of you who haven't already done so you need to download Skype (its free!) and get set up. You don't have to have a webcam but if you do you can do video calls. All you need is speakers and microphone to make regular voice calls! My name on Skype is keeley.barr and Matt's is mathew.barr so add us if you are our family or friend!!

Well I will update this weekend about more Army stuff. I'm off to bed- last regular two Tuesday classes and first final tomorrow!!!

PS: If you haven't gotten a graduation announcement from me yet then I don't have your address so email it to me! krmcleroy@gmail.com

Read more »

Mannheim Here We Come!

Well we finally found out where we're being stationed at Mannheim!

Some interesting facts:
The largest castle in Germany is in Mannheim
They have satellite campuses of Univ. of Oklahoma, Phoenix, and Maryland as well as Central Texas College
It is located 60 miles from Frankfurt and 15 miles from Heidleburg in Southwestern Germany
The weather is comparable to that of Ohio, Indiana, and/or Kentucky but not humid
Average high in July (hottest month) is 77 and the average low in January (coldest month) 29

Matt went to the travel briefing today and from what he says it sounds like that'll be a LOT of fun. Completing an inventory of everything, guessing max. weights for every room, etc. They will do a preinspection the day before they come to pack and they will come twice- once around 2nd week of May and then again right before we leave.

So whats left? Sending our POV (personally owned vehicle aka my car) over from Dallas (week after graduation), finance briefing (next week), shipping things, getting our last minute things like a cage for elvis for the plane, finding a nice camera (I want a fancy one like Adri's for all our tourist photos haha with the cool lense you can focus yourself!!!), downloading more music for Matt on his zune and books for my kindle, etc. Oh yeah- and finishing these last two weeks of classes and then finals week!! WHOOOOO HOOOOOOOO!!!

Read more »

One Step Closer

Well this last week was busy. Besides the mountain of homework that was due there was also our army stuff. My mom scanned and emailed me my shot records she picked up at CLHS and then I had to go to my dr. in Tyler and get a letter saying I had a physical in Dec. Then Thursday I took Elvis to the vet and he got all of his shots- fun fun- and thank god for the vet! He told me I will need a health certificate for Elvis to get into Germany. Stupid Army just said I'd need his shot records! So I get the health certificate from Germany and have my vet sign it a few days before we leave. After Elvis' appointment I ran around like crazy getting our tax stuff together to get that done and I realised that I didn't have my W2 and I didnt ever remember getting one...so I called my old job and they confirmed that since I stupidly didn't inform them that I had moved, my W2 was returned to them. So I filed for my extension and will get the taxes done eventually in the next month. Then it was my turn for an appointment. The EFMP (Exceptional Family Member Program) is required to screen you if you're going overseas. So I took my paperwork up to the office only to find out they wouldn't except the letter- they wanted my actual records from the physical. Soo I had to call the Dr.s office and have them fax them over while I waited. Well they took 2 1/2 hours to freaking fax them! The whole time I'm sitting in the world's tiniest office with kids in and out and spongebob playing on the tv. Joy. The receptionist took pity on me and she kept calling my dr.s office every 20 minutes. So they finally faxed in my records and the lady just read over them, signed something, and faxed them on to Family Travel office. It took 10 minutes. Why I had to wait around for that I have no freaking clue. That's the Army for you. The rest of the day was boring. When I got home Matt was asleep on the couch and he stayed asleep the rest of the night except for two 20 minute stints where he was awake. And he slept until 11am Friday!! Sheesh. Friday night we just hung out at the wonderful Barr sr. household with the fam.

So besides the mountain of homework that is still due over the next three weeks we just need to send Elvis' records to Family Travel, I need to take an online anti-terrorism class, Matt has to go to the Travel briefing and schedule our household good shipping dates, finish the paperwork on the car, and get Matt's passport! Sounds like alot but not really. This next week I'll do the class and Matt will do the briefing and get his birth certificate/passport.

Matt has a four day weekend at the end of this month and we'll probably head to Houston just to let you know! Next week we're going to the lake and fishing- joy. Well need to finish my hw for the week. I keep getting distracted because we're watching Teen Cribs on MTV and its making me sick!! But anywho until next week- tschüs!

Read more »

Getting Prepared for Deutschland!

So things are FINALLY getting rollin on the preparations to move to Germany. We will leave sometime between June 1-10 (we'll get exact date and location of where we'll be stationed closer to that time. For now we are going to Hanau to inprocess. You'll know when I know!) I got the idea to start this blog when my aunt's husband was stationed in Hawaii and she started one- though she's only done one post (tsk tsk Aunt Stacy!). Then my bffe (yes- I did just say that) has been keeping a blog while she's studying abroad in Spain and traveling Europe this summer. I've LOVED reading her blogs and find them so darn fascinating that I thought this might be an easier and cheaper way to keep die familia and friends in on whats happening!

So as for the preparations, last week I got my picture for my passport taken (didn't like it but I was too embarrassed to ask for her to retake it. Oh twell). I also was able to read through the pile of papers Matt got (his orders, checklists, etc) and that helped me figure out what all needed to be done. I also called my car loan lender and insurance company to get the paperwork started on that end with shipping the car and our household goods. This week I have to take Elvis to the dr. for his shots and I have to see a dr. to be cleared as well. Thanks to my mom and nana who are getting my shot records for me!! That saved me one less dr.'s visit for a physical (shudder). We were supposed to go to a travel briefing on Friday but we forgot it was Good Friday so that is pushed back to next week (grr). That will get us all the info on ticketing and shipping our household goods and our POV (personally owned vehicle). Adri you would be so proud of how far in advance I'm trying to get things done! Too bad the Army is making that difficult.

I have also been practicing my German on those long drives from Killeen to Longview to Tyler to Longview to Tyler to Longview to Tyler to Killen. Yes I drive alot- about 700 miles a week to be exact. Whoo. Well at least it gives me no excuse not to use those German cd's I got for Christmas (Danke Vater!)

Well that's whats going on right now. I'll keep you posted when I find things out and to let you know what I get accomplished. Oh and by the way-- FIVE WEEKS UNTIL GRADUATION!! Hallelujah! Well I won't be graduating if I don't finish my 20 page paper that's due tomorrow (Im only on page 8!!) So Gute Nacht everyone!

Read more »