aaand time gets shorter..

Our time to prepare is getting reeeally short. As for information.. we now know we can no longer keep Athena. Because she is half Rottie and part Pit, which just looking at her you can tell and i know in my heart that even if i were to spend the money on a DNA test to find out what all breeds she is exactly it won't make a difference. So Jason and I have been just cleaning and packing to go home with a dog and all her possessions in tow. There are multiple people back home who want to meet her to decide if they want to take her. So we've got options now, and I know God will allow her to live with the right kind of people.
We went through some of our cupboards last night and he informed me that I have to toss all my spices because TMO (the moving company) won't move any open containers.. of anything. I also have to get rid of my paints, which I am bringing to PA to give to family. I was planning on buying all new un opened stuff and having my mom send it to me once we got our address, but we will see.
I was so stressed out yesterday that when Jason asked me what I wanted for dinner I cried cause I didn't know. We ended up ordering stuff from Pizza hut, which was good so we couldn't complane. We did manage to have fun the past couple days. Tuesday we took the guy who helped me with the Camero last week and his family out to dinner. And we gave their 1 year old baby her birthday present that I got her at the San Diego zoo. It was fun watching the baby pick up the bag her stuffed hippo was in and carry it over to her mother, then when she got the hippo hold it close and "run" away with it as fast as she could. And yesterday Jason taught me how to change the oil in the Camero too.. which he did have to help cause the plug (bolt) and the oil filter were screwed in so tight I couldn't get it undone.. and he had to tighten it up for me too. He put me in a pair of his coveralls from work.. (theres a hole in one of the pockets and a hole down by what would be his ankles and is my feet) and lets just say the crotch goes all the way to two inches above my knees. I looked rather akward to be honest, but at least i had something to wipe my hands on. haha..
Today Jason has already taken Athena to Pet Smart to have a what we call "Puppy Spa day". She gets a special bath and gets her nails trimmed. She loves it, so whoever gets her will have fun taking care of her because Athena just LOVES the attention. Deffinately is a pampered pooch. I have to do the dishes, pick up my last paycheck and deposit it, get a box of heart worm medicine for Athena from the vet, pay the cable bill and set up a day for them to come turn it off, AAANND get my last Japanese Flu shot!! Then about 11 or so we decided that we would start heading out to go to PA/NY, because I have difficulty seeing at night (or in the dark for that matter) we decided we would stop in either Fredricksburg or Breezwood at a animal friendly hotel and stay there the night. So yea I gotta get off the computer and start getting stuff done.

We have dates.... and some really bad news

Right now I'm in California. Jason and I went to the San Diego Zoo, as well as the Museum of Natural History and two art museums and a photography museum. We both had a lot of fun and enjoyed ourselves.. Jason did give me the update on what he's learned. And soo far we will be stateside for my birthday!! In fact we will be working on moving out of our house on my birthday...
The bad news however... my neighbor sent me a message letting me know that some guy was going around to each house posting fliers about a breed ban that the USMC has started a couple months ago and is beginning to reinforce.. and wouldn't ya know that Pit Bulls, Rots and their mixes are on it. If you don't know Athena is a Half Rot, boxer, pit mix..Another friend of mine confirmed that the MC started this a couple months ago and suggested to just and in order for us to be able to keep her because this breed ban is world wide, she has to undergo a Canine Good Citizen test. ( http://www.akc.org/events/cgc/training_testing.cfm ) After reading everything that is listed on the AKC sight for the good citizen testing... Jason and I are both seriously worried and heart broken that we will more than likely not be able to take Athena with us to Japan... My mother called a church friend of ours who has fostered dogs and apparently done the CGC before and she's said she'll help.. I'm just still really worried... Prayers are very much needed on this situation.

And the craziness begins..

Friday is my last day working at Walmart. (happy dance) My neighbor is watching Athena.. although we have still to go over some ground rules.. such as don't leave her playing with her rope for more than 5 minutes and if you let her play with it play with her, otherwise she'll have the little strings that make up the rope all over your living room because she's a wiz at knots.. Fun stuff like that. I'm spending the night at a friends house in New Bern friday night and Saturday we have to get up at 4 in the morning and get me to the airport in order to catch a 5:30 am flight to California!!!
Jason is graduating from MOS school next wednesday and thursday we learn the dates of when we are supposed to catch a plane to start the final trip to Japan. We are hoping to be able to go back to PA-NY either Halloween weekend or the weekend after, to take the cars up and to say good bye to family.
Yesterday I experienced my potential first good bye. My best friend Maggie came to spend a day with me, partly cause I was having a going away party for myself to hang out with my friends down here for probably the last time. There are a few girls I'm gonna have to work something out and go see them before i leave but we all still had fun. Anyways, Maggie and I just hung out and enjoyed ourselves then before she left she promised to do everything she could to come and see us (mainly me) on a weekend before we leave. Even though we still might see eachother one more time I still cried after she left.
I'm not looking forward to all the good byes that are going to be happening in the near future. I'll be semi relieved when all this is over.
I have a few things packed.. but the rest of it I figured I aught to just leave for the moving company because they have to inventory everything otherwise it can't be insured. Annd we want thing to be insured!! I guess this is all I've got for an update for now. Hopefully I'll be able to post more updates in the near future.

Pain in the rear..

So while its getting closer to graduation, the guys who are being sent to Japan are all trying to find out what all they need to do. Which unfortunatly by going to people who they think should know this stuff who in all actuality don't know, they are getting the run around. However because one guy figured out how to find the information out that is needed he has passed along the much needed informaiton as to what and how things should be done. Needless to say Monday I have to go to the Naval Hospital and go see the Deployment Coordinator about my DOD clearences, as well as any and all paperwork that is needed.... THEN we do not find out the exact date for when we leave until THE DAY AFTER he graduates!! Which is when we also have to set up times for the moving companies to come pick up our stuff.
We now know that because of this twisted and messed up system, we will be arriving in Japan before our belongings.. so we need to bring all our clothing, Athena's dog food, our bathroom stuff and his laptop with us when we go. Then everything else will follow..... Talk about frustrating, now we have like no clue when to tell family that we will be home.. Have I meantioned that I hate doing things by the "seat of my pants" and that I like to have somewhat of a plan for how I'm going to do things... GGGGGRRRRRRRRRRRRRR

more waiting...

I look at the calander and I'm amazed we have less than 18 weeks to go before we are "supposed" to be in Japan. (happy dance) Jason has been doing a really good job with his classes. He is currently second in his "class". And he complains that he has studied more now than he ever has in his entire life. My response.. "poor baby, finally is challenged to use that powerful brain of his." ;-p I usually get some smart comment back after I say that to him.
Also my time at Wal-mart is coming to a end. 7 weeks and counting. Now that I know some dates of when Jason wants me flying to California I figured that I aught to give them a extremely advanced notice, this way it may encourage them into hiring someone for me to train to take over my job.
Athena just had her one year booster. And she weighs 67.4 pounds. (another happy dance) As long as she doesn't gain 12 pounds over the next three months we won't have to pay an excessively large amount of money to get her to Japan. She has recenly discovered how to ask me to go for walks.. she goes over to where I have her harness and leash that we use on walks and bangs it against the wall, then whines. Then when I do take her out she calms down the minute we reach the end of the driveway and she walks perfectly!! The only problem is the silly dog can't seem to walk in a straight line...
My parents should be coming to visit within the next couple weeks. Hopefully I'll have the house looking a bit better than like a tornado went through here.. which is exactly how its looked for about a month and a half now. More news coming soon!!!

A few more changes

Things are still going as planned. Jason is #2 in his class, and working really hard to stay there and pass all his classes. He's told me that the guys who are married think he never talks to me because they are on the phone hours with their wives where as Jason and I are on the phone for 5 to 20 minutes. His only response to them so far has been "she understands".. I just told them to tell them about me finishing college during our first year of marriage.
We do have some news on the Japan thing.. Jason is being attached to a unit at Camp Hansen. And with the new policy of all military needing to be on a base, we are more than likely going to be living at Camp Courtney, because Hansen doesn't have base housing.
I got my passport and passport card, now I'm waiting to hear from Jason about my DOD clearance and what I need to go about vaccines and what not.
Athena is doing ok. I've been filling up the little kiddy pool with water and taking her outside during the day and letting her play in it. We've kept in the back yard mostly cause my neighbor accross the street can't seem to keep an eye on her dog. I say that because the first time I tried taking Athena outside to play while I washed the car, her dog got out and came accross the street. Then after her son came over and got the dog he just let her loose in their yard. Frustrating to say the least, but my neighbor who lives right next to me got after her for me.
Which speaking of my next door neighbor we are going to have a "moving/yard sale" next saturday. I've managed to go through enough stuff that I have a rather decent pile of stuff that we could stand to get rid of. So far its mainly two bags of clothes, shoes, books and VHS movies. I had to make a list of the movies though so we can hopefully replace them with DVD's.. at least the ones that I really like and I have seen in DVD form. Weelp thats all for now! Hopefully I'll have more to update soon.

The Countdown to the rush to Japan begins!!!!

Jason left for school a couple of weeks ago, and he met his coordinator person who is supposed to help set up the flights and what not. One of the first things he told her was "I have a dog, and she's coming with us." haha. Sooo now that we have started out from the get go letting people know that the fur ball is coming I am hoping that everything goes fairly smoothly. Athena is getting reeeally bored. Soo hopefully tomorrow I'll be able to play with her some and give her some extra attention that will help her deal with being cooped up better.
I've started packing up stuff, mainly just winter clothes, and a few little things like all my sewing stuff and my yarns. I've even started to sort through drawers!!! Shocking what you find in those things!! Annd thanks to the wonderful ladies on my Marine Wife support group I've been finding out what I can bring, and how things with the mlitary movers is going to be like. Which I will honestly say that knowing some of this information this far in advance is setting us faar ahead of other people. For example Jason told me tonight that his roommate at school is also being sent to Japan, and he's two months into the classes already so he's half way to the ending point and he still didn't know about what all needed to be done with their Shitzu that they want to bring with them! Thankfully for him Jason let him know that the dog has to go through the quaranteen thing and that he needed to go have a talk with their coordinator.
I did recently purchase a copy of Japanese for dummies.. sooo hopefully I will be making head way with learning how to speak Japanese very soon! give me a couple months and maybe I will be able to speak a whole sentence besides "good morning" , "good afternoon", and "good evening". Welp thats all I have for now, will post with more updates as soon as they happen and I get a chance!