It’s crazy how life works sometimes. So much has happened since my last post. I know it’s been a while since my last post. I took a break for a couple of reasons that I had mentioned in that post. The initial reason was so I could heal from my surgery. After that, I needed to focus on our move to San Diego.
My weight loss surgery went well. I am doing well with it. I’m really happy because I met my first goal two weeks ago which was being under 300 pounds. I am smaller today than I was on my wedding day by about 20 pounds. My next goal is only 16 pounds away and that is to be the weight I was when I met Jeremy. I still have a couple of more weeks until I am 100% back to normal but I am happy with my results so far.
A few weeks after the surgery, Jeremy, John Paul, and I headed down to North Carolina to see my family one last time before the move. Heading down to there was a crazy adventure. Before we could get on the road, John Paul had to be groomed. While heading to the groomers, we got a flat tire. After we dropped off John Paul, we dropped the car off to have the tire replaced. Once both were ready, we got on the road to North Carolina. About three hours later, we were stopped in traffic on the interstate. After seeing people get out of their trucks behind us and walk past us, we figured out that something was going on. Turns out the two trucks in front of the semi in front of us had wrecked and one of them caught on fire. Thankfully, no one was injured and the trucker, his wife, and their dog were able to get out safely before the fire happened. Unfortunately because of construction going on where we were at, we couldn’t drive around them and were stuck behind the accident for over six hours. By the time we were cleared to continue on the road, it was almost 11pm. Since we still had at 10 hours on the road, we decided to stop for the night after we crossed over into Ohio.
The next morning I introduced Jeremy to Point Pleasant, WV and the Mothman. We had so much fun exploring the museum and local shops. We appreciated the fact that everyone allowed us to bring John Paul in with us. One of the local cafes let us sit outside with John Paul while we ate lunch. They brought John Paul out a bowl of water and a dish of whipped cream. John Paul loved it. After lunch, we got back on the road and arrived in North Carolina that evening. We had a great time seeing family and the week went way too quickly.
When we headed back to Illinois, we stopped halfway outside Nashville to see our friends, Matt, Sarah, and their three kids (they are also known as Papa Squirrel, Mama Squirrel, and the Baby Squirrels). Matt had to go to work shortly after we got there, but we got to go out to dinner with Sarah and the kids. It was great seeing them again after not seeing them for over seven years. On our drive back to Illinois, we stopped off in Metropolis, IL to see the giant Superman statue. I regret not getting John Paul the Superman cape he tried on in one of the stores. He looked so cute in it.
Shortly after we got back to our house, we discovered something scary. We came home one afternoon after running errands to discover a bullet hole in the siding under the dining room window. That just motivated us to really focus on the move.
Up until about a week ago, everything went smoothly. Jeremy and I were able to finally go through all the stuff in the basement that we have been meaning to go through for the past three years. We also packed a lot of our stuff before the movers came. Our movers were great, and everything went a lot smoother than I was expecting. With all of the horror stories I have been hearing from other MilSOs, I was concerned that our movers wouldn’t show up and we would have to do the move ourselves. Thankfully, that wasn’t the case. The movers showed up, packed everything well, and was able to move everything out without any problems. The workers were really sweet and funny. We really enjoyed having their help with this move.
We ended up moving out of the hotel a week before Jeremy was scheduled to check out of his command. Our landlord had set up new tenants but the tenants needed to be in the house July 16th due to their lease at their previous residence was up then. We were able to be out of the house on the 15th which allowed them to move in in time. We planned to stay in a hotel in Urbana for our final week in Illinois. Our pets adapted easily to hotel life. The cats were use to hotel life from our move to Illinois. John Paul was use to hotels thanks to all of over travels to North Carolina in the past two years.
That weekend, with the stress of the move off our shoulders, we hung out with our friends one last time. Mike was able to come down from Indiana for the weekend. Min and Whitney were able to come out to dinner with all of us. We went out to a local Korean BBQ place that we love and followed it up with putt putt in Savoy. The next day Jeremy, John Paul and I went over to Mathew and Kelsey’s new house to play games with them and Mike. It was great hanging out with them and emotional when it was time us to leave. We will definitely miss them.
Then last Monday, July 19th, everything went sideways. Jeremy and I were out doing a Shipt run when he got a call from his boss. Gunny told him that he had to report back to the office to continue recruiting duty because of an issue with his extension. In order to have orders for San Diego, Jeremy had to get an extension for his military contract. We didn’t know until that phone call that the paperwork for the extension had been held up and would take another 2-4 WEEKS to be approved. Que a major freakout. We had only budgeted one week in a hotel and were expecting the military to cover the following week of traveling for the most part. While I finished the Shipt order, Jeremy started calling the command in St. Louis to figure out what was going on. Between those phone calls and a few to my mom, we were able to work that Jeremy would be able to take leave until the extension is approved and we would be staying with my mom in North Carolina. That night we went out to dinner with Kelsey and Mathew one last time before going back to the hotel to pack up. We headed to North Carolina the next morning.
I am so grateful that we are able to stay with my mom during this waiting period. It’s been great spending time with her and seeing family again. John Paul loves being here. Our cats, who have never been on a roadtrip before, aren’t so happy. Bagheera was so stressed from the movers and the drive down to North Carolina that he gave himself a UTI and spent the first day here at a vet’s office. Katniss is terrified of my mom’s dog, Cujo. He is a German Shephard/ Wolf mix and completely massive. He is also 14 years old as of September and has one eye. It’s taken a week but now both cats walk through the house fairly often. Bagheera isn’t getting along with my mom’s cat, Bubby. Both of our cats don’t mind her tiny dog, Kismet, because she is smaller than both cats.
While we’ve been here, we’ve been on a few adventures and have a few more planned. Mom and Jeremy did a zip lining and obstacle course. I wasn’t brave enough to get up there in a harness but I did get to play around with my camera, which I haven’t really done since we lived in Japan. I haven’t felt inspired to really focus on photography while we were in Illinois. I’m hoping to get back into while we are San Diego since we will be going on more adventures. We also checked out a sushi conveyor belt place that reminded us of ones we use to go to in Japan.
We’ve also celebrated John Paul’s birthday. Our little puppy is two years old! John Paul picked out a chew stick for his birthday present and some peanut butter puppy cups. We got a cake from a local bakery. My little sister, Magan, and her new puppy, Lenore, came over for the party. Next week is Katniss’ birthday. We are doing our traditional celebration with her by taking her to a jewelry store to pick out a bracelet to wear as a collar.
I don’t know how long we will be here in North Carolina. Hopefully, we will be on the road to our new home in the next week or two. According to my tarot cards, it’s looking like mid-August before we get on the road. We’ll see what happens. In the meantime we are enjoying extra time with my family.
While we are out here in North Carolina and while we are driving to California, what places should we check out? We have our ghost hunting equipment with us in case we have the opportunity to investigate while traveling. We also need recommendations for cool places to check out and restaurants to eat at (preferably dog friendly if possible). I will be updating the blog as much as possible. I’m not doing any vlogging right now while we are spending time with family but once we get on the road, I will be recording again. I can’t to share our adventures with y’all. I’m excited to be able to have time to blog again. Even though we are spending time with family, I am researching topics for new posts. If there is a topic you want to see on the blog, let me know!
Paranormal Housewife 