Life Is About To Get Very Intersting

That's my new motto...and yes, it really is about to get MUCH more interesting! As though suddenly being the grandmother of twins, making it 3 grandchildren, weren't enough, I'm now counting down the days before I leave for Washington DC. I will begin a whole new chapter of my life with a new job, new friends, new challenges and very new home addresses! I only have 3 more days here on Kauai with family and friends and then I head home to Fort Worth. Nine days later, I'm on a plane to DC. It's an odd feeling...I'm living out of 2 suitcases, I no longer have a keychain (think about that one!), no longer own a car and my home of 15 years is up for sale! I feel like I've entered a gypsy phase of my life! But it is sure to be short lived once I get to Washington. I have my apartment arranged and within a couple of weeks of the start of training, I should know where I will be headed for the next 2 years. My biggest hope is that there are no foot long flying bugs!!!

Spending the time with my son, his wife and my 3 grandchildren is just the 'send off' I needed. I will have a home leave every year and plan on coming here, as well as Fort Worth. I have taken hundreds of pictures of the grandkids, knowing that in about a month, they will be obsolete! My son is very good about sending current pictures as well as an occasional DVD with movies. I'll continue to send pictures of me so that the kids will recognize me when I see them again in a year. Time flies so fast and in no time, I'll be making my flight arrangements to return to Kauai!

When I get to Washington, my daughter will be there to greet me. She lives in Maryland and is also in the Foreign Service. How great is it to see both your kids and grandchildren in the same month when they live so far from you. It's wonderful! My daughter was my driving force to apply for the position in the Foreign Service and I will forever be grateful for her input. It was the best advice I've ever gotten!

Both of my kids are my inspiration...I couldn't ask for better kids. Well, maybe my daughter could email me more often but hey...I know she loves me!! My son calls me often and my daughter-in-law has even called me just so I could hear my grandson babble in the back seat of the car as she drove. It doesn't take much to make a grandma happy!

So, as I prepare to leave Kauai in 3 days, I count my blessings...my children, my grandchildren, my new career, my health, my extended family here on Kauai and the new adventure awaiting me in DC. I'm someone who is never bored and I'm sure that whatever is in store for me in the next 6 years will allow me to be able to continue say the same.

Welcome to the World Micah and Makana!

March 5, 2008 9:58 am and 9:59 am

Micah and Makana entered their new world in Kauai, Hawaii! One was quiet and sedate, the other one very vocal! For twins, they are big...7 lb 3 oz and 7 lb 4 oz.

OK, there are the stats...now, can you see the huge smile on my face??? What beautiful little boys I now call my 2nd and 3rd Grandsons. I will be leaving Texas on 3/10/08 to go to Hawaii and spend 10 days with my son and his beautiful wife Nicole, Grandson #1 Gavin and The Boys. I'm still trying to adjust to having twins in the family since there is no record of twins in either family. My son has begun a dynasty!! However, we are assured that the family has grown all it will so the hard part for Nicole is over. Hmmm...or is it? My son has his golf foresome so I see golf clubs and surfboards in these boy's future!!

Strange Feelings

I'm preparing to begin a new chapter in my life. Movers arrived last week to take away all the possessions I wanted to keep. The rest were dusted off, priced and readied for my very own Estate Sale. Or, as I referred to it, my Leaving The Country Sale. I had some very difficult decisions to make when deciding what to keep and what I could part with. Some of my mother's things, some of my grandmother's things...some things that I've saved since my adult children were babies. But, since I'll be traveling all over the world, I just couldn't allow my possessions to possess me. And honestly, that's what happens to some of us. We just can't bear to part with something because we feel some kind of responsibility to keep it in our lives. I retained so many things that belonged to my mom and grandmother but I just couldn't keep them all. At my sale yesterday, someone set my daughter's stuffed Eyore and Thumper from approximately 1975on the table to pay for them. I looked at them, picked them up and planted a big kiss on each one. I had to look at the person who was buying them and explain that I wasn't a professional estate sale person, but rather the owner of the house and just what Eyore and Thumper meant to me. They totally understood and promised that they were going to a good home.

I also will deliver my wonderful car, a 2002 Toyota Camry, to the new owner this Saturday. And today I signed all the papers the realtor shoved at me to list my house. It was a strange feeling...no more excess belongings, soon no more car or house. I'll be a vagabond!! I guess it's all part of working overseas for the government. Most living accomodations are totally furnished and for the next 6 years I won't have to worry about such things. But it's still a strange feeling to know that soon, I'll be without most of the things I've always had. I'm sure I'll make the transistion just fine...especially if my first assignment is someplace really cool!!

But before I embark on that adventure, I have to fly to Kauai on March 10th to see my newly arrived grandsons #2 and #3...twins!! The Boys will be born Wednesday, March 5th...day after tomorrow!! I can't wait to hold them both in my arms! Leaving them 10 days later will be hard but as long as I keep my eyes to the future, I'll be fine. Six years from now I will retire to Kauai and live near them so they will know who I am for the rest of their lives. I just can't wait!!

Washington DC and Beyond...Here I Come!

FINALLY!! My new career with the US Department of State begins with the first day of training on March 31, 2008. Where I go from there is still unknown but I'm so up for the excitement of the unknown. Right now I'm up to my eyeballs with trying to organize my belongings for an estate sale, while I decide what to throw away and what to keep and take with me and what to sell. Lots of hard decisions to make. But every day brings me closer to the last day of March, which is good. I leave March 10th for 10 days in Hawaii to spend time with my new twin grandsons (to be born any day now!). Movers will be at my house on the morning of February 27th so I won't have to worry about that while I'm in Hawaii. Hopefully, when I return on the 20th, all I will have to do is tie up loose ends. Oh...and I'm trying to sell my house and my 2002 Camry too!!

Do you think I have enough going on right now???? I do have moments of great stress...like yesterday when my 8 month old Toshiba laptop crashed. It's at the Laptop Hospital now and hopefully, it will be a hardware problem, which is covered under warranty. If it's a software issue, does anyone out there want to float me a loan?????

Goodbye, My Friend

I said Goodbye to a wonderful furry friend today. Brandy, who is about 16 years old, had health problems (chronic pancreatitis and thyroid disease) and was recently found to have a malignant tumor in her mouth. Even with pain medication every 12 hours, I could tell she was in pain at about the 9th hour. I wasn't going to let her suffer. So I did what has to be one of the most difficult things I've ever had to do. We made the final trip to the vet's office and I said goodbye to my sweet Brandy. I can only hope that she's in a better place, free from pain and me sticking gooey medicine in her ear twice a day. I will miss her waking me up in the morning by head-butting me. I'll miss her little routine of sitting in front of her food, staring at it and then turning her back on it, only to return in about 3 minutes and eating it. I'll miss seeing her sitting in the front window when I return from work and then running to be at the door as I open it, meowing her greeting. I'll miss her curling up in my bathroom sink watching me get ready for work, making it impossible to use the water! I'll miss her presense, her sounds and the look of love in her eyes. Having to say goodbye to such a wonderful pet that you absolutely adore makes one think they never want another pet...

I miss her so much....

Merry Christmas

The following link is a short ditty about all the merchant catalogs with covers that scream Holiday Decorations, Holiday Gifts, Holiday Clothing, etc. It says it all for me.

http://www.citizenlink.org/content/A000005834.cfm

Merry Christmas!

Winding Down 2007 & Still In Limbo

It's the end of November and so much is still up in the air. I'm still waiting on that offer from the State Department. After a slight glitch, which caused the State Dept. to withdraw their offer, I have been reinstated as a potential candidate. Amazing how previous employers can screw up your future long after you no longer answer to them. Accusations are difficult to defend, especially when it's your word against theirs. Apparently, my heartfelt letter along with letters of recommendations from another previous employer convinced them that my version was closer to what happened than that of my previous employer. The bums!

I'm making plans to be with my son and his wife when their twin boys are born in early March, 2008. Seems like just yesterday that I got the news that just blew me away...Mom, do twins run in our family?? They don't, but they do now!! It's 2 more boys for my son and his wife and my son now has his golf foursome! Gavin, their first child and my first grandson, will be about 21 months when The Boys are born. I am now faced with the old Birth Date Roulette...how do I manage to be there when they are born? With my first grandson, I got there a couple of days after he was born. However, this time, the twins will be scheduled sometime in early March and they do elective C-sections on Wednesdays and Thursdays. Wish me luck with American Airlines!

My daughter is settled in Washington DC with her job with the Foreign Service. She's thrilled to be back in the states and doing what she's doing. It's so nice to see your grown kids so happy! I love it...

Well, back to listing things on Ebay (one of the fun things I do). Life is good, even though it seems to be on hold right now. I'm convinced that the best thing for me will occur. If it doesn't include joining the Foreign Service, it will mean other better things are ahead for me...