Water Everywhere!!!

As I listen to the hum of a wet vac in the house adjacent to ours, I write this post...yes, it is 2:30 in the morning and I should be sleeping. I tried to about 2.5 hours ago, and my mission failed! Earlier this evening, I was in our bedroom and I smelled something. I saw Todd's boots laying there so I assumed it was them and put them in the closet! (Sorry hun!) I did not think anything of it...waited for Todd to come home and went to bed around 12:00. He came to bed a few minutes later. I was in bed, all snuggled in, and as he started to change his cloths he asked me if I smelled something. I proceeded to tell him that I thought his boots were stinking up the room and I put them in the closet. He opened the closet and did his own investigation...when he opened the door I could smell that gross smell again! However it wasn't the shoes...he looked down and saw water glistening on the bottom of his closet on the opposite side of where the shoes were. (I never even saw it because it was only on the right side.) I am surprised he saw it because it is really hard to see water on these floors because of their shiny coat. Anyway, he took the flashlight and headed outside...water was running down the neighbors driveway, down the road and across the entrance to our driveway. Not good!!

Well, after taking everything out of our closet (just what was on the floor) we checked the spare bedroom...everything on the bottom of the closets was soaked!! We emptied those closets out and moved the furniture because it started to creep under the bed! (I lucked out because my side of the closet in our bedroom was fine-thanks to gravity, or I would have had a lot of ruined shoes!) Anyway, we called maintenance and after mopping out two huge buckets of water (just from the spare bedroom) the gentleman arrived and we met him next door. No one lives next door to us (if they did this would not have happened, it would have been caught sooner!) Anyway, the pipe on the back of their toilet burst and it was gushing water! Not a pretty site...The floors were covered with water. I tried to get a few pictures to capture it, but it is kind of hard to see. Here they are...

This is not what you want to be doing in the wee hours of the morning! (This was in our spare bedroom)

This was only from one of the closets!

Outside of the neighbors house...it doesn't look good!

Todd walking back their hallway...you can kind of see the water

Here is their kitchen (I kicked the water so you could see it ripple! It was at least one or two inches!)

So, as of right now I do not hear the hum of the wet vac anymore...as soon as the maintenance guy saw how much water was there, he said a wet vac will take forever...and had to call for reinforcements! I think they are here now, I saw another van pull in. I am going to try to get to sleep fast before they start making any more racket!! Good night...I will let you know how everything turns out in the morning!

Never mind...they just started the heavy duty sucking machine because it now sounds like a chain saw is running right outside the window. Great...and I thought the humming of the shop vac was bad! It's going to be a long night!!

It's soon time to move!

Well, it is official...we are moving! We are not sure on the date yet, it depends when Todd is done flying, but it will be soon. (He is soon done with the T-6...YEAH!!!!) I know it is a cool plane, Todd tells me that all of the time but he even said it will be nice to get to the T-1. That means he will be a little closer to getting out of this stressful environment for good! (but then it also means that there will be a lot of people we will have to say goodbye to :( ... but we won't think about that right now!)

Anyway, we are moving over to Magnolia in the next couple of weeks (a different housing area on base). We wish we could just stay where we are because we both hate moving!!! Looking on the bright side, the house we are going to is definitely an upgrade from where we are at now. It will be 4 bedrooms (instead of 3), 2 full baths (instead of 1.5) and a garage (instead of a carport). All in all it will be fine once it is all done. (Another big bonus is that the house is carpeted!) I will post before and after pics like I did the last time. Talk to you soon!

The Campbell's Visit

This past weekend Todd's parents came down to visit. I picked them up at GTR on Thursday at around 11:45 and we were off to CAFB. The rest of the day consisted of a tour of the base, a tour of our house and Todd coming home.

On Friday, Todd had to get up early to go into work, his parents and I went out near the runway to try to catch a glimpse of him taking off. He was scheduled to fly his formation solo. (If you are not sure what a formation solo is, there is two planes flying about 10ft from each other and Todd was in one of the planes by himself...the other one has an instructor pilot (IP) and a student in it.) If you read my last posting than you already know we got lots of pictures of what we thought was Todd! We went back to the house and waited a little, then went back over to see him land. They normally fly somewhere between an hour and 15 minutes, to and hour and a half. (We were not sure if we saw him land or not...but when we compared what time we were standing there to what time he said he landed, we are pretty sure it was him!) I had made a cake in between all of those events and we took it into the flight room...while we were in there I pointed out all of the different areas to his parents. (That is when David told us it was him that we saw earlier taxiing out. Too funny!) We then hung out at home until Todd got off work and later that evening played some cards.

On Saturday we went to Tupelo to see where Elvis was born and drove around up there a little bit. Later that evening we went to Harvey's for a nice dinner. On the way home we went for a drive around the perimeter of the base, to show his parents how large the base is and we saw this armadillo in the process...he was a brave little guy, he got pretty close to the car!

Sunday we took them to our church down here...and it was a special Sunday because our friend Elizabeth was baptised and we got to see that! (Good Job Elizabeth!) We ate at a place called Proffit's Porch and went back and hung out at home. On Monday, Todd headed to Rico's to study a little (he had a test that day) and then went to work. His mom offered to take his place for the day, but for some reason he didn't take her up on that...

We really lucked out because Todd was able to come home early and have a nice evening with us. We went out to dinner, played another game of cards, and then we called it a night! At around 4:30 the next morning I took them to GTR so they could head back to PA...we all couldn't believe that the weekend went so fast!

Here are a few random pictures we took during their trip...

He looks like he is up to something!

What is the saying?..."Act your age, not your shoe size"

(He doesn't quite get it yet!)

Just hangin' out at the homestead!

Tom and Dee it was nice that you could come down and visit...now you can visualize a lot of the places and people that we tell you guys about on the phone! We hope you had a great time and we will see you guys soon! Thanks again!!

Love ya,

Tara and Todd

Formation Solo

Well, Todd had his formation solo yesterday and we were ready and waiting! He said he would be the first set of T-6's in formation to take off...it was kind of hazy and we sat there waiting patiently. Finally we saw them parading down the runway (taxiing out)...we could see into the cockpit, he was all by himself!! I saw him waving, so we all waived back...it had to be him!!

Well, it wasn't him! We found out a few hours later that it was David Akins (a good friend of ours)...he let the cat out of the bag when he saw us in the flight room! Todd was actually the second formation to take off. Anyway...I got some footage of what we thought was Todd...good form David! Here it is...(they fly pretty close together!!)

He was not sure how Akins saw us (Todd knew where to look because he knew we would be sitting there watching) but he recognized my car and he knew Todd's parent were coming in this weekend, so he waived to us! Too funny! Todd was the second formation to go...we saw him taxiing out but we did not wave to him. :( We thought we already did!!

So, Todd didn't know we were in on this little secret...when he came home we were like..."Wow, you did awesome!" "We saw you wave...blah, blah, blah"... and then came the good part. I said "You did a great job, but who ever was in the second formation, was really wobbly...who in the heck was that?" Ha, ha...he then revealed to us that he was not the first go, he was the second. And we told him we knew that and we were just messing with him!! Too cute...thanks David for telling us (that was kind of fun!).

Elizabeth, I will get those pictures to you! For a brief second David had his own little fan club!! :)

Our 3 year anniversary!

Wow, I can't believe three years ago we had our "big day"...it was such a wonderful day! It went by so fast, but was worth all of the planning! They always say, time flies when you are having fun! Here is to many more years of fun!!

So, today my hubby and I will hopefully have enough time to slow down and enjoy dinner together. (Then he will resume his studying and I will still be prepping for our weekend visitors). Having our anniversary fall on a weekday is not an ideal situation considering our schedules (however the odds are pretty high!!)...and this weekend Todd's parents are coming in...but next weekend it will be just us!! I am not sure what we will do or where we will go, but it will be a much needed weekend away to relax and recuperate!

Happy anniversary babe! I love you lots!

Oops!

If you have not talked to me today, I will sum it up in a few words for you...it sucked! Actually, just the first part of the day. So...for the CPA exam you have to buy what is called a NTS (notice to schedule) in order to sit for one of the sections . I had a NTS that was going to run out tomorrow, so I scheduled to take the exam today.

I got up this morning, got ready (I had everything together the night before in a pile on the kitchen counter...my NTS, my purse, a calculator, study materials, etc.) So everything was ready, I was on-time...I left at 7 a.m. so I would have plenty of time to make it to Tupelo by 9 a.m. (it's a little over an hour away). I was good to go! I grabbed my books and put them in the car, went back in the house- made sure I had 2 forms of ID in my purse, grabbed a soda and away I went! It was not until a little before 8 that I went to reach for my purse and it was not there...my heart sank! I was hoping that it was on the back seat, so I pulled over - no purse! (I made sure I had 2 forms of ID in it but I never picked it up off of the counter...stupid soda distracted me!) I have never felt so hopeless. My brain just went into overdrive trying to figure out a way to fix the situation...I called Todd but he was in the air flying - no response and even if I got him he can't just drop everything and run my purse to me. I was going to try to have someone get our house key but by the time they did and met me, it would have been too late! I turned around and just started calling the test center to try to figure out my options. I knew they would not let me in without my ID...its like Fort Knox there!! So, that was that...no test! There goes some more money right out the window!

Hopefully I will have better luck next time...so until then, back to the books!

My Parent's Visit

This past Wednesday my parents touched down in Birmingham AL at around 8:15 PM. After getting their luggage and me driving around in a circle for about a half an hour (because you can't stop your car anywhere, without having to go into the parking garage. Grrrr!) we were on our way to Columbus Air Force Base!

We had a great visit...it was so nice to see them and introduce them to all of our friends and co-workers! We arrived at CAFB late Wednesday night and stayed up to see Todd when he came home. On Thursday we went out for breakfast and I took them for a tour of the base and part of Columbus. We ate at the Grill and then just hung out outside on our back patio, catching up! On Friday I showed them where I volunteer at the Lowndes County Humane Society, we took some of the dogs for a walk and then headed back to clean up. Unfortunately Todd had to go on his cross country this past weekend so he was gone from Friday to Sunday evening. So, my parents did not get to see him very much and he missed my birthday!! It did not really bother me that he was not there for my birthday (I understand life in the military by now...always changing! I am used to it!). The part that bummed me out was the fact that my parents missed out on seeing him! I know how hard it is for them to get off work and the sacrifices and money it takes for them to come down to visit! I was very happy though that they were here for my birthday, it made it a lot better!

Since they were not going to see Todd very much I tried to think of something that would be special for them that they wouldn't normally get to do...so I thought it would be neat for them to see the plane that Todd is training on now (the T-6) up close! So after a few phone calls, we met Todd at work and got to see one!

We found out around what time he was leaving and we went to see him take off. We couldn't tell which one was him (but he said he saw our car and waved to us!). So that means that one of the 20 planes that we saw take off was him! I took a picture of him taking off (I think...we will just say it was him!)

After we saw him leave on Friday, we decided to come back and color my hair. For those of you who don't know, my mom is a beautician and has her own salon back in PA. Well, she is the only person who has ever professionally done my hair and it was a little overdo for color. (Before I left to come down here, she hooked me up with all of the "stuff" to do it and Todd was going to step in and give it a shot! He hasn't tried it yet...but he might have to because I will not be able to wait until Christmas.) Anyway, its kind of funny because I guess you can say we did it "Mississippi Style"...we colored it and cut it (I had her cut about 3.5 inches off!) out on our back porch. The hardest part was rinsing out the color...I never really appreciated the whole beauty salon set up until my mom had to rinse it out in our bath tub (while not getting it in my eyes). I was laughing so hard I could hardly hold my head up and my neck hurt so badly the next day! It was worth it though...thanks mom!

Then on Saturday, my mom and I got up early and went to the Farmer's Market and looked for this guy that sets up a fruit stand on Main Street. My goal at the farmer's market was to get fresh corn and we were able to get 2 dozen!! (We also got some blueberries.) We gave up looking for the fruit stand and went into a grocery store for watermelon...on our way back we saw him and bought another watermelon (so we could compare!) and cantaloupe. All of it was good! A little later in the day we stopped by the grocery store again to pick up food so we could grill out on Sunday!

On Saturday night, a group of 14 of us went to Harvey's, one of our favorite restaurants down here. I had to stop by Rory and Michelle's house before we left because they all had presents for me to open! (The kids were so excited...it was cute!) Here is a picture we took after dinner...we came back to our house for some birthday cake. My husband forgot to order one (it's ok babe, I know you were busy!), so my mom made me a homemade cake...thanks mom! (Sorry you had to "work" on your vacation!)

(Me, Anna, Stephanie, and Michelle)

Sunday was another nice day, I took my parents to the church that Todd and I have been going to down here. We knew that some of guys that went on their cross country trip were scheduled to land around 2:30ish, so we went to catch a glimpse of them landing and then we kind of hung out outside until Todd got home. We had a nice dinner and played some cards! Monday I took them into my work to show them around and also Todd's work too. We also stopped by Belk (a department store), again! (We went there 2 days in a row!) If you guys know my mom, she does not really like shopping but Belk was a different story! We both got some good deals! My mom and dad found these chairs there (they are called anti-gravity chairs)...and they are sooo comfortable! My parents said that they would buy them for Todd and I for our birthdays. We all tested them out on Monday...



We played one more game of cards on Monday night, when Todd got home, and then had to go to bed. The next morning we had to leave at 3:30 A.M. to head out to the Birmingham International Airport for their flight home. :(

I must say, the weather and the company was awesome! (Other than about 3 minutes of rain that we got stuck outside in...but that was it!) It was so nice to see them and we miss them already! Now when we tell them stories, they can put names with faces! Here are two random pictures of my parents and I (I was usually the photographer but we made it a point to get these shots in)...

Mom and Dad...thanks again for coming to visit! I am truly blessed to have you two as parents! We love you lots and hope you guys had as much fun as we did...come back soon!

Love,

Tara and Todd