Well, the visit with the in-laws went well. There were a few snags, especially since there were four adults in a tiny one-bedroom apartment, but since I'm not supposed to get along with my in-laws as well as I do, I'm not complaining. :o) I just hope they still love me when I go to visit them in another two weeks.
Two weeks?! Good lord, I've got so much to do before now and then. And then, in January, when we're home for the duration and everything's all settled out, I'll be wondering what it is I'm supposed to be doing or worrying about. It took about a month after Kurt and I got married for him to realize that he had nothing more to do for the wedding since he did 90% of the planning on our end for it. He kept asking me, "What am I supposed to be doing?? I know I have to do SOMETHING."
The next big thing for us is getting him off to Pensacola. His next duty station will be flying the LCACs (the hovercraft for the Navy -- if you've seen Die Another Day, you've seen smaller versions of the hovercrafts I'm talking about), and yes, you FLY them, they're not driven. They're technically aircraft. To that end, he has to go down to Pensacola for aviation pre-screening. We were told a while ago that he'd be going the week of 9-13 December. He called his detailer a while back, and apparently the system was down (a very frequent occurrence when dealing with the Navy), so all trips for pre-screening were on hold. He just happened to call today, and the trip is back on. This means we've got three, MAYBE four days, including today, to get all his paperwork in order. Friday's a bad day for him because (a) he's got his last test in calculus that morning that he has to do well on so he can be exempt for the final which is to be taken on one of the days he's in Pensacola, and (b) the Navy shuts down on Fridays anyhow. So I guess we've got three days.
Not only that, but he's to take the Chief Petty Officer's exam in January to help him out when he goes up for being commissioned as an officer (through LDO, for those of us who know Navy acronyms. Sometimes I'm glad my dad and stepmother talked in acronyms at the dinner table because now I know what the hell my husband's talking about!!!). I just remembered it's about that time to take the exam, so he called in and sure enough, it's early January. Which means he's got to sign up for it by December 18th. AND he needs a chit because he's not technically eligible to take the test; there's no way he'd get promoted to chief, but he's got to take it anyhow. This means we have to speed a chit through his chain of command like NOW because again, the Navy shuts down on Fridays and he's going to Pensacola next Monday. Plus as soon as he gets back from Pensacola, we're off to Arizona for two weeks. He could have had it signed today, but his chief isn't in today, and the other chief is brand-new and doesn't want to sign off for a guy he doesn't know. Grrr.
So needless to say, we've been running around like headless chickens to get everything signed. And it doesn't help that we live on the wrong side of the water, and he's always having to go over to NOB to get everything signed. PLUS we always end up going midday, which is, of course, lunch time for the Navy and everyone's out of the office. It was hard enough getting his service record today because we went in at 1500 and apparently they close at 1400. What kind of customer service department closes at TWO O'CLOCK anyhow?! The lady in there was in a great mood and looked everything up for us, luckily. But I'm telling you, it's not easy getting everything done in time.
All this means I do get to go up to northern Virginia to see my dad. I'm not really looking forward to it because Dad can't take any time off from work since they're going to Florida as soon as Mark gets off for the semester, and the last time I was there, even though I was with my in-laws, Marty COMPLETELY ignored me. Some days I want to smack her to wake her up, and ask her what the hell I ever did to make her treat me the way she has.
But the good part about all that is hopefully I'll get to see some of my friends so I can stay out of Marty's hair. Also, the old Monkey Ward's in the mall up there is now a Target, which means I'll get to go into my very first two-story Target. That in itself is enough reason to make the three-hour drive. :o)