What's next?

So, at this point in time I have no idea what is going on. We belive we are going to lose the house. We cannot get financing because of Curt's ETS date. They cannot approve it, since he was in the medical board and they look at that like he is getting out. They need solid proof he is staying in. Well...that won't come for another month. We are supposed to close March 15th. Ain't gonna happen. We seriously doubt the builder will extend the contract again. He did it once with a bunch of hee-hawing about it. He will more than likely put it on the market. And since our contract extension was contingent on financing we lose our 2 grand we put up as earnest money. It is the MOST frustrating thing.

At this point we don't even WANT to go back to Georgia anymore. Pretty soon we are supposed to sit down with the COAD branch manager. We will see what is out there for him and if there is nothing else interesting at any place we want to go, well, then we'll just go back to Benning anyway. Probably either get an apartment or live on post while we house hunt again. By then he will have no medical board over us and his ETS date won't be less than a year out, since those are the problems we are having. If we would've known this beforehand we would have NEVER started the process that early.

We are just burnt out. It has been one of the most stressful things ever. I wish I could take it all back! It sucks we are losing soooo much money. Money we could still have!!! Ugh. I guess the only good thing is that it kind of relieves me of the little inklings I had about Phenix City. I have never been 100% comfortable buying a house there. I prefer Columbus. So that makes me feel a tad better. I mean it was a gorgeous house. I love it to death. But a part of me has always wished we would have stayed in Columbus.

So where we are going from here, I don't know. I'm lost right now.........
What will be, will be, and what happens,happens. Maybe one day I can look back and say it was a blessing in disguise. Right now...I'm just really upset we lost that money! haha

Rating is in!

Curt received his rating on Friday. He was given 60% and placed on the PDRL (permanent disability retirement list). He got 30% for his knee, 20% for his anxiety, and 10% for his back. Today he met with his PEBLO to go over the paperwork and then took it in to his AW2 (army wounded warrior program) rep to start the COAD process. COAD takes about a month to complete. So we should be out of here fairly soon. Yay!
Finally! This chapter of our lives is closing after three years and a few days shy of nine months!

Day of insanity for this Mom!

It's offical. We're leaving Sunday to go down to GA! We will be closing on the house next week. So exciting! I'm not gonna want to leave and come back here. hahaha
I hope Brandon does as good in the car as he did when we went down there for Thanksgiving. Keeping my fingers crossed on that one. I hate to drive there for only a few days but flights are too expensive and the train is all sold out, so driving it is. We're only staying to close and then come straight back.
Curt's ratings should be coming back any day. We're just waiting for the phone call. I have a strong feeling it will be next week while were gone. Ha. Of course. That's how it works. I'm still hoping we'll hear this week, but I doubt it. It has to come back from Rhode Island to DC, then back here, so I'm sure we'll be waiting a bit to hear.

Yesterday was Valentine's Day. And it was insane. I had a crazy day. It started in the morning and got worse as the day wore on. Brandon was a terror! He was into everything. I was chasing him around all morning. Then everything seemed to happen at once. The phone rings and its my sister, Brandon is into the garbage, I have to go to the bathroom, so I'm on the toilet. Hear B in the cat dish. I'm yelling at him "NO, BRandon, NO"! I can't jump off the toilet to get him out. I finally come out of the bathroom he's completely covered in cat food and water. Has all the food IN the water part of the bowl. Cat food all over the floor. Water everywhere. It was a mess. I get him undressed and now he's naked. The dryer goes off. I get the clothes out, taking B and the clothes upstairs to fold and get him changed. He beelines into Kaylie's room while I'm getting him new clothes. The doorbell rings. I'm trying to grab Brandon and head downstairs and he's running from me. The doorbell rings again. I run downstairs with a naked baby to finally answer the door and its the flower guy with flowers and a box of chocolates. Finally get B dressed and the mess cleaned up around the cat dish. Open the box of chocolates and they are completely melted! So I call the company and tell them. She apologizes and offers to replace them. (which are supposed to be redelivered today and I'm still waiting.)
It was insane!

Then we go to the park since it got to 70 degrees yesterday. Get back from the park and I go to the commissary all by myself which was heaven. Completely dead in there I LOVED it. Maybe because it was Valentine's day it was so empty, but it was great!!! Took my time, no kids to get after, it was fabulous. I love shopping alone!
Get home unload groceries, Kaylie's out front on her bike, I'm trying to finish putting everything away and start dinner. Kaylie comes in crying she can't find her zsu zsu pet at the park. Round two of craziness ensued. Trying to find the stupid hamster, cook dinner, chase Brandon, even us two adults were starting to get snippy with each other. After dinnner was clean up, baths, homework for Kaylie. I have to praise this kid for a moment for being so smart. In spelling she and another kid are the only ones in the Green Group with the "hard words", everyone else is in another group. I love having such a great kid who is extremely smart! Gotta love the kid :)

Good thing today has been less crazy! Besides round and round phone calls with our realtor and the bank getting everything in order today has been a blessing compared to yesterday.

There is in fact a light at the end of the tunnel. Who would've thunk it!

Yes there is a light at the end of the tunnel. So I check the status of Curt's VA rating every day, sometimes more than once. It's not a site that goes into too much detail but it tells you what phase it is in and the date it moves to each phase. Well, its been stuck in phase 2 since 12/29/10. Tonight I get home and check it and it's reached a decision and sent out the notification. His case was closed as of today at the VA!!!

That is so exciting. We have waited four years for this day!!! Four LONG years. We should probably hear his rating next week. I don't know the whole process of how it works. Since his case was in Providence, RI, it'll probably be sent back to Walter Reed and then they send it to his Peblo. It could potentially take another week or so. But its so exciting to know it is on its way!!!!

I couldn't even concentrate on homework tonight I was so excited. Curt is too. It's nice to know we are just waiting for that phone call. :)
What a great piece of news to brighten my day!
Things WILL work out and things WILL go smooth!



Good things are happening and will continue to happen! :)

Weekly ramblings

So, as you know I'm a girl scout leader. I never got my own troop since were leaving soon, so I have been a co-leader for the current troop Kaylie is in. Well, our last leader who we will call "P: has since moved off post and quit our Brownie troop...she was nothing but issues to begin with. She never planned meetings, if I didn't plan anything the girls would just be coloring or running around the whole time. So, we are all glad she quit. It was much needed since she was not a good leader anyway. Now...enter new leader who we will call "J". She was a leader all of two weeks and has since now quit!!! Are you kidding me??? I had given up my spot and said I was done back when our "P" was still around. We are moving in 24 days now so I didn't want anymore work than I needed. So now "J" has quit. And of course I didn't want to leave the girls hanging so I volunteered to run the troop for the next few weeks until we leave. It's just so stressful!! Seriously. These poor girls will be without a troop if no new leader steps up. I feel horrible leaving these girls now. I have grown to really like our Brownies and I see how much they love Girl Scouts. Its just so sad. Cookie season is upon us and we are about to start site sales in two weeks! Ugh...just my little vent for the day.
It also sucks because we have World Thinking Day in three more weeks. That is so fun for the girls, I won't be here to help since we will be down closing on our house, but I really hope the girls get to take part.

World Thinking Day is where the girls choose a different country to learn about (they have chosen India). All the girl scout troops get together in the school cafeteria and we all have booths set up for whatever country we have chosen. It was so fun last year! I hope they get to take part in it. :(

Other than that drama nothing much new. Curt called the VA to see where his packet is, they told him it is just about done so we should be hearing something soon. I really hope we hear something by February 8th. That is the cut-off date we gave ourselves to make a decision of whether or not I stay here or move on ahead of Curt into our house. Here is the latest picture of our house:


It's getting so exciting to know this is OUR house. I hand picked every single color and styles that are going into it. I hope it turns out well!!! hahaha
Our closing date is Feb 22nd. That's 24 days away. I can't wait to get down there and decorate it. It is going to be one of the best projects I have taken on in awhile. This is our house, we don't have to rent anymore, we can do whatever we want to OUR house. It's going to be amazing to be homeowners. A sense of accomplishment comes with owning your own home. We're ready to settle down there and start our careers. Put all these surgeries, hospitalizations, and looonnngggg med board process behind us.

Am I crazy? Or would any sane person react the same way? You tell me!

Curt left for Fort Bliss on Tuesday for TDY, which was awful traveling for him since planes were delayed due to the ice storm we had the night prior. He called me when he finally got there and said his luggage had been lost but they found it on another flight, so he can come pick it up when the plane lands. Okay. No biggie. At least it had been found right? So I tell him I hope he hadn't put the car keys in that bag! He said no...um...I think I left them on the bathroom floor at Reagan when I was changing. What?!?! You left them where??? First of all WHY would you put the keys on the nasty ass bathroom floor, and second of all..again! He lost our other car key at Six Flags this summer. So now this is the second key he has lost.
He can't call lost and found because they are closed so we have to hope somebody turns them in. Well, I lose it on him. I am yelling at how he is the most irresponsible person I know. Blah, blah blah. Just making him feel like the loser he was at the moment. Then I'm rattling off how we'll have to pay to get the car towed to the dealership to get two new keys made (we have still never replaced the key he lost this summer), pay for two new keys, pay to get the house key replaced, locks changed, etc.

Well then I start freaking out. Oh my God! Someone could have access to our house! They steal our car, find our address on the car registration then come here, thinking we are out of town. My mind went to the dark places thats for sure! So I call Curt back yelling at him how he has now put his family in danger. I'm home alone with two kids and no means to protect ourselves. I mean our doors don't even have deadbolts. Or even a chain! So I call my sister after I finished yelling at my dear husband. I freak out to her for a good half hour. Well, great, now I'm terrified to go to sleep. I have to come up with a plan.

So what do I do? Yes, me the crazy person. I barricade the doors. I push the high chair and dining room table in front of the back door. Yes, I know that won't do anything, but at least I'll hear it making noises if being pushed! I put the coffee table in between the front door and the stairs so the front door won't even open. And head up to bed. I'm not one to usually sleep with lights on and the TV on. But boy was I sure happy to have the TV in our room that nigh. I "slept" with the TV on and the bathroom light and it took me a very long time to fall asleep. Every little noise made me jump. That went on all night!

Well, THANKFULLY, lost and found had our keys! Yay, I can relax now. :) No more barricading the doors. I know..I'm a nut job.
Just the thought that someone had access to our house was scarey. Another reason I am very glad we are getting a house alarm system in our new house in Alabama. I can sleep peacefully then. I loved our alarm system in our apartment. Any time I was alone I sure as hell had it on at night! It's just a sense of security I guess.

So crazy? Or would you have done the same? haha

Moodiness is my middle name.

Stress is definitely getting to me. This weekend especially yesterday was just God awful. I was so crabby yesterday and on top of that so were the kids. Brandon was whiney and just into everything. We had decided to go to the mall to get the kids new shoes since they both need them. Kaylie really wanted the Skecher Twinkle Toes and not a single shoe store in the mall carried them in her size. Every time we went to a new store she would start to cry as soon as they said they didn't have them. It was so annoying. Finally found them at Kohl's just to get them home and see that the tongue on one of the shoes was falling out unattached. So I had to go exchange them this morning.

Anyway, after we left Kohl's last night we decided to stop and eat dinner. I didn't really want to, since Brandon was crabby already, I knew it was going to be torture. Sure enough he was sooooo whiney and crabby it was getting to the point of being embarrassing. Curt ended up taking him to the car while Kaylie finished eating. I barely touched my dinner at all. It was just a mess. Get home and put B straight to bed before it was even 7. Ugh. Yesterday was just awful all around.

I know I'm getting stressed because we haven't heard a peep from the VA on Curt's rating. Our closing date on the house is going to have to be pushed to the first few weeks of March on both our ends. Us, because USAA does things stupid and we won't have the appraisal back in time to close, and the builders haven't been able to work the past two weeks because of the weather down there. So its no big deal to move the date and I'm actually happy about it because it gives us more time to hear from Curt's board hopefully.
One of my good friends down there did a drive by for me last week and took pictures of our lot, so I want to thank her for doing that. I appreciated it so much! I just can't wait to get down there!!! I am so ready. I hope everything works out for us and we can go down at the same time. We shall see. I'm keeping a glimmer of hope alive for that.

I hope I can keep my cool this week, Curt will be gone most of the week at Fort Bliss, so my hands are going to be full with both kids all week while he's gone, plus Girl Scouts on Thursday. Should be interesting. We got a new leader finally and she is soo much better than our old one. She actually plans meetings for the girls!

Well, that's my update for now.