Mommy To Bees

Mom's visit

In November my mom came to visit us for a few days.

It was great seeing her and we had a blast playing games,

crafting, chatting, and we went to Magnolia Plantation.

Calvin playing with Ginny's rope.

Mom poking the kitten near her feet.

Did she learn her lesson?

NO!

 

Growing Puppy!

Yesterday I mentioned that Ginny has grown....

a lot!!

Take a look:

 Sept 2011

When we first brought Ginny home she loved

to sleep UNDER things.

The microwave cart (above) and the table (below).

Sept 2011

She tried to get the cat from under the microwave cart a few days ago...

Nov 2011

Nov 2011

She was so very confused that she spent

about 20 minutes trying to climb under the cart AFTER the cat fled.

Long time, no blog

Can you believe it is December 1st?

I can't.

So much has changed.

We made it to the Charleston area this summer.

After spending several weeks in a hotel,

something I am NOT repeating again,

we purchased our first house.

It is a cute little ranch style with a large FROG upstairs.

No picture, though, sorry.

I'll take one this month and post it.

Shortly thereafter we got a puppy and two kittens.

Sept 18, 2011

Meet Ginny.

Short for Ginevra.  As in Ginny Weasley....

She is now about 20 weeks old and is as smart as a whip.

We are activly working on training and socializing.

Sept 18, 2011

She was soooo very small!!  About 10 lbs above.

Here she is now:

Nov 2011
 much much bigger.

About 19 lbs now.

Nov 2011

She'll get to be about 40 lbs full-grown.

The boys arrived about a week after we got Ginny!

Sept 2011

Meet Calvin & Hobbes!!

Cavin is about 5 weeks younger than Hobbes.

Hobbes was born ON A's birthday in May.

Sept 2011

The boys love Pepsi...

Sept 2011

...and fighting...

Sept 2011

...and combining the two.

Sept 2011

They, too, are much bigger.

Nov 2011

Calvin (left) & Hobbes (right)

Nov 2011

Calvin

The kids are doing well.

We've been doing school,

working on the house and yard, and generally trying to catch up with life.

Oct 2011

Oct 2011

My goal this month is to blog daily.

Maybe I can catch up with what I've missed, 

but I mostly want to get back into the habit of blogging again.

I'm also doing Journal Your Christmas this year,

so that will help and I'll try to post some of that here too.

 

 

 

P.S.  I miss Japan.

Update: April 13

It has been 3 weeks since we finally left Japan.

I've been homesick and so have the kids to a degree.

We miss Japan.  We miss the life we had there.

****

Things here are interesting.

Shortly after we arrived I developed a rash.

Initially I thought it was an allergic reaction to my mom's laundry soap.

But, as I watched it progress I realized the rash had started prior to our leaving Japan.

I was able to talk myself into my mom's dermatology clinic.

The doctor I saw was great.  

She took "samples" from the rash on both of my legs (OUCH)

and

she found a "funny" mole on my shoulder, so she took it off too.

The rash on my legs are getting better, 

but we still don't know just what it is yet.

I should find out next week.

*****

We've started doing some homeschooling.

Just a bit of reading, art projects, and math-critical thinking games.

****

We're watching Japan closely.

At this point I have no intention to return.

The nuclear power plants at Fukashima are NOT stable.

My in-laws keep telling me they don't see how the Dept. of State

could recall the Vol. Departure anytime soon.

We're also hoping A can get orders soon.

Kris

 

Made it to Phoenix....

We made it to Phoenix.

Jet lagged, bad!!!!

Will update soon.

The why.

"The crisis has still not been resolved,

and the situation at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant remains very serious,"

Yukiya Amano, the director-general of the U.N. nuclear watchdog agency,

told its board of governors Monday after a visit to the site.

 

I've been asked why I am departing when "everyone" is saying there is no current danger.

There are several reasons, but it comes down to this:

If we were in the states with all of this going on,

I would pack up my car and take my kids somewhere safe.

I don't have the option to drive further away to safety.

So, we are flying back.

The earthquake didn't do more than give us a brief fright.

The tsunami only made us sad and prompted the desire to help.

The worsening situation at the power plant and the lack of upfront and honest information

has made staying unsafe.

Evac' scheduled

It took 4 days, but we finally received our evacuation TDY orders

and flight information.

We leave on Wednesday morning at 11:35am.

Arrive in Chicago around 9am Wednesday morning.

Arrive in Phoenix Wednesday evening.

We're tired.

We're stressed.

I've packed 4 times for 4 different sets of packing instructions.

Thank heavens we aren't flying out of Atsugi.

The base passed out KI, potassium iodine pills today.

The doctor on site informed me that the pills would NOT help me,

since I have limited-zero thyroid function, but they wouldn't hurt me either.

 

Rude. Rude. Rude.

Dear Earth,

I went to bed last night at 9:30pm and had a hard enough time falling asleep.

I finally fell asleep at 10:30.

I find it very very very RUDE that you decided to hold two parties,

one right after the other near enough

my home that it woke me up.

Two 6.0JMA earthquakes only 1 hour

after I fell sleep is RUDE.

Stop it.

 

Kris, who is very tired and very very very cranky

Tired and cranky.

Check this news site out to see what is happening here:

http://www.ustream.tv/channel/nhk-world-tv

 

We are staying inside.

I'm tired.

This last earthquake

(they are NOT calling it an aftershock)

got me out of bed.

I'm going back to bed now.

I'm *tired* and *cranky*.

 Oh... also....

watch this lady's Twitter site:

http://twitter.com/#!/makiwi

She is a Japanese woman living in the US.

She's been translating a lot of information for non-Japanese speaking/reading

people for the past several days.

JMA is where we get our earthquake info:

http://www.jma.go.jp/en/quake/00000000091.html

I think I....

....live at the orthodontist's office.  Specifically the dental waiting area.