Wanted: 1 house..3-4 bedrooms..1 1/2 - 2 bathrooms..spacious backyard

So.


Yesterday, the kids and I walked across the street to the Kolekole (Ko-lay Ko-lay) for some..meeting thing or something for all of the new guys here on post. Sitting there for a while and a new speaker comes in and well, it just so happens to be his birthday. Everyone's barely singing. No heart at all. It's his BIRTHDAY, ya'll..come on. So in true VanSciver form on the last line of the song..I belted it out "HAPPY BIRRTHHDDAAAYYYY TOOOOOOOOO YOOOUUUU!!!!!" I kid you not (and you can ask Orion or anyone else that was there) when I tell you the entire room got quiet and ALL eyes darted in my direction. I finished..and then with the reddest face you could imagine said "..well, I guess I was alone on that one. Thanks, guys.". Totally embarrassing..but in my experience, anytime I start singing the birthday song..others join in. Not so much turns out.


When the kids and I got back to the hotel room..housekeeping had already been there. Cool cool. I went to go gather up the whites to go wash and just as I feared..the maid stole my towels. We brought a bunch from "home" so we wouldn't have to bring their towels with us to the beach and also so that when we get our house..we'll have towels there with us. Always thinking. Anyway..our towels? Look just about exactly like the hotel towels. I knew it was only a matter of time before they confused them. But I'd had them in my dirty laundry pile on top of (and inside of) a suitcase. I didn't think I really had to worry. Well. So I opened our door and housekeeping was only 2 doors down by this point. "Hey..do you know who cleaned this room?" she looked nervous and pointed to a woman inside the other room who then came out to see what was going on. "Yeah..hi..you took a couple of my personal towels." "no.." "yes. They were in my dirty laundry pile because I needed to wash them." "there were 2 missing from your room" "well, I assure you I did not take them. We brought a bunch from home..brown and white..so we wouldn't have to use yours for the beach and also so that we'd have some when we got our house" "I'm not accusing you of taking the towels" "good, because I didn't. They're mine and I'd like them back." I was disgusted and felt invaded. They DUG through my dirty laundry because someone miscounted. Even if I DID take their towels (which, please, I didn't)..is it their right to go through MY things in order to find them? Anyway. They went through their laundry room and found my exact towels (ah, so they don't match perfectly afterall, do they?) and returned them.


Orion found out this morning that he'll be working at Fort Shafter. It's like a 20-25 minute drive from here. Great. Now we're trying to decide whether we should just stay here and wait to see if they give us decent housing or if we should look for a rental in the Pearl Harbor area because apparently, Shafter's housing is pretty nasty. I'm not into that. So I think what we're going to end up doing is look around at houses anyway and if we find one..great. We're still waiting though to see what Schofield is going to offer us..and if their choices aren't so great..we'll go for the rental. I'd prefer to stay here because

1. it's in the middle of *everything*.

2. I already know a lot about this post and I *LIKE* it.

3. I'd just prefer to stay on post just in case he deploys while we're here so I have that added little bit of safety.

We've already been told he still has 9 months left of dwell time so he can't go anywhere from now till then. Then, hopefully, Obama will be rockin the White House and he won't have to go anywhere for a bit longer.

I like that the hotel we're staying at is right across the street from the library (where we are right now) and that the bowling alley is right next door to the library ($2.50 bowling!)..the Kolekole Bar and Grill in across another street from the hotel..and the commissary and PX are right around the block. I like that you can use your room key to do laundry with (because a lady never jingles) and that you can also use it at the little convenience store in the main lobby and also at the cafe/deli (which has a mighty menu for breakfast and lunch). Just leave the room with your room key and you're set. Smart thinking.


I don't do much driving here..because I don't need to. I pack the kids up in the stroller multiple times a day and we head out. Even when it rains, it's never for long and it's only a drizzle anyway. It's perfect weather all the time.


I've noticed that I'm happier than I've been in a while. O and I laugh all the time and we're always joking around with one another. It's nice to not feel SO stressed out all the time anymore.

Ah, the good life.