starting to wookiee...

The Pagella household has two annual events in June. The first is Ma's dance concert, which is followed by the second: ma turns into a wookiee. Following the intensity of the dance concert and the months of classes that preceeded it, it is somewhat of a letdown for Ma in the days and weeks following the concert. During this period, she flounders about, not really knowing what to do with herself and makes sounds reminiscent of Chewbacca. I haven't been around for the wooky period in years and I suspect that it has lessened as the family has filled their summers with vacations and visiting.

I'm finding myself nearing a wookiee period. Since I quickly unpacked and set up the house, there's very little that I have to do during the day. I've been finding myself lying around more than usual and yearning for projects or a job! Though I check the weekly listings for job openings, I continue to find myself overqualified or completely unqualified to fill the vacancies. So I decided to apply for part time work at the PX while I continue to look for something more permanent and fulfilling.

I haven't sunk completely into a state of wookiee, but I feel it coming on! I'm the kind of person who has difficulty sitting down to watch a television show without feeling guilty because I could be doing something more productive. So wookiee and Hev are not a good match! I am optimistic that I will be able to avert the complete wookiee transformation with a few trips to the gym and possibly a part-time job. Yesterday I took the bus to the post to get the car from Jerry. On the bus ride, I met a wife who is new to the post (only one week) and is looking for a gym buddy. She seems very nice and having someone to go with and be accountable to always helps me with my commitment to the gym.

It seems weird to me that we have been in Graf for less than three weeks. I feel so at home here that it seems like we've been here longer, despite the still-empty walls (counting the days until our hanging appointment on the 29th). I feel more at home here in these short weeks than I ever felt in the months at Schweinfurt. I guess that's a good sign, since this will be my home while Jerry's away. Today, I was talking to my mom on the phone (like I do every day) and she said that people often ask her if I'll be staying here in Germany while Jerry is deployed. She has her doubts, but my plan is to stay here. Part of military life is the absence of the soldier and I feel like I need to build up relationships in my community to help with these absences. Otherwise, I'll be running home all the time. Of course, I plan to visit family and friends while Jerry's away. But my home will be here in Germany.

This has been one of those all over the place entries and I'll end it with pictures of my latest project. My family has oftened mocked my obsession with home improvement shows, but today I did the designers on Trading Spaces proud! I have two framed pieces of art. Unfortunately, the white frames just blend into the white walls and don't really compliment the artwork. Because of the way the art had been framed, replacing the frames seemed overly difficult and would be pretty expensive. So, I invested $3 in a can of spray paint and picked up some masking supplies at my favorite self-help store. And I'm very please with my results!

Here are the two pieces, hanging on the wall (left) in our old dining room:

And here they are now, ready to be hung in our living room:

It's amazing how such a small change can make such a big impact!