nothing says i love you like deodorant!

Last week, we received a care package in the mail from my parents! I'm pretty sure it was put together by Ma though. A good and thoughtful mother-in-law, she sent two pounds of whole bean Dunkin Donuts coffee for Jerry. As for me, she hooked me up with four bottles of my favorite deodorant (which I've sadly been without for months now) and a slew of Lancome face products! Clearly, I have the best Ma on the planet!! They also sent us two anniversary cards: one funny and one sweet/sappy. And the apple doesn't fall far from the tree - I gave Jerry two anniversary cards too: one funny and one sappy!



I'm having one of those weeks. Where I have things that I want to say/write about, but at the same time feel like I have nothing to say. So I figured I'd sit down and just start typing and we'll see what comes out :-)



Last weekend, we had friends from our old post visit us at the new house. The had been here before when it was empty, so it was nice to have them stay here with proper furniture. As you can see, Scooter helped us with the last of the unpacking in preparation for the arrival of our guests:

We had a really fun time with Tracy and Matt. They got here Friday night and I made chili and great (if I do say so myself!) cornbread and then we spent the evening at home playing games and enjoying grown up beverages. I kicked some Yahtzee ass!! On Saturday, the four of us went to Nurnberg, a city that none of us had ever been to. It was very cool! Being late sleepers, we didn't have all that much time to spend there, but we were able to check out the shopping district inside the walls of the old city. I must admit that it was a little strange to walk down an old, old streets and to find it lined with strip clubs and sex stores! This is a picture of one of the streets (I believe that the end of this street is the strip club section) and you can see Tracy and Matt (holding hands) and Jerry Giant.

This is one of the spectacular churches in the center of the old city:

And here's a very bizarre fountain:

There seemed to be a lot of naked boobies and boy parts, even on the skeletons!

Apart from the weird fountain, there were lots of other interesting sights and shops. With so much to see, we're certain to go back to Nurnberg. With so many places to shop, Tracy and I may make a trip there without the husbands :-) There is going to be a special chocolate and gingerbread market there this weekend. Since Nurnberg is only an hour away, Jerry and I might return to check out. Following our trip to the old city, we made our way to a suburb of Nurnberg in order to go to IKEA. From there, Tracy and Matt drove back to Schweinfurt and Jerry and I drove our very full car back home. At IKEA, we purchased five sets of shelves for our DVDs and a living room chair! It's a miracle that it all fit in the car!

So now I'm happy to be living in a house where the DVDs are off of the floor and on shelves. While we had intended to have black and red shelves, we discovered that we had purchased grey shelves instead of red! Stupid GiantPantz didn't double-check the color before leaving the store! Fortunately, the grey looks very good and we're going to be needing a few more sets of shelves. When we go back, we'll be sure to get the red ones! I still need to make an appointment to have the thing hung on the walls, but then our house will be in great shape....yay!

Finally, the thing that is weighing the most heavily on my mind and the thing that has most likely been preventing me from writing lately: Jerry's deployment. For many months, we've been told that Jerry will most likely be leaving in November. When we first heard this, many soldiers balked and confidently said that if they're saying November, it probably will be in January or February. It seems that those soldiers were wrong and that November is accurate. Right now, it seems likely that Jerry will be leaving before Thanksgiving. Jerry and I haven't had the best luck with Thanksgivings. Since we've been together, we've only spent one actual Thanksgiving day together. But we do always make up for it and have our own 'Thanksgiving.' But that's where my thoughts have been...trying to prepare myself for something that is going to be challenging for me, to say the very least.

As I prepare for Jerry's departure, I'm looking to kickstart my own life here. I'm starting to actively look for a job and am trying to get involved in my community. I need to start getting back into shape. I know that when I'm eating right and exercising, I'm in a much better place and much more emotionally able to deal with the tough stuff. I'm also looking into what I need to do to get back on a path to teaching. I'm not getting any younger and it is becoming clear to me that teaching is what I should be doing. While we're stationed here, I may look for less formal teaching opportunities, but will work on getting certified in order to teach high school English when I return to the States. A girl's gotta have goals, right?

A girl's also got to get some sleep and it's getting late! Night!