Christmas in August

We have finally moved in to our new house on base here in Hawaii, and by "we" I mean Gunnar and me, because Jordan is currently gone for training in Japan. Yesterday was the long-awaited day where I finally picked up our keys, unlocked the door, and stepped foot in to our first "permanent" home in 3.5 years. The best part is that it will be officially ours for the next 3-4 years (yay for painting walls, hanging pictures and not having to patch, clean and paint in 6 months time). And oh what a joyous moment that was! I have been counting down the days since we first got "the call" for our house on base, and have been so anxious for this moment to finally arrive. 

We were originally feeling so happy and grateful for our month-to-month, furnished Ohana apartment, where we have been living for the last 3 months, if you remember from the previous post, "Our New Reality" found here: http://www.meg-lifeofamarinewife.blogspot.com/2014/06/our-new-reality.html?m=1; however we underestimated what the lack of a/c would be like. Our ohana apartment quickly became known as "hell" because of the unbearable heat and humidity we endured constantly. We only had windows on one side of the apartment, which just happened to be the opposite side from which the wind blew so we were unable to capture any sort of cross ventilation breeze. The windows did nothing but magnify the beating sun in the afternoon, creating a hot box of misery! Furthermore, despite the 5 ceiling fans in this tiny apartment, we were still unable to cool down, as they served no purpose except to circulate the hot air already in the apartment. Sleeping was beyond miserable as the bedroom was located on the side of the apartment without the windows, and in Hawaii the temperature hardly, if at all, drops with the setting sun and impending darkness. We eventually succumbed to sleeping on the sectional every night, so we could at least be by the open windows. And yes, our backs have hated us for the last 3 months! Gunnar was beyond restless during our time there, as he would be up at all hours of the night moving from spot to spot trying unsuccessfully time and time again to find a cool spot to lay down. During the day he was the opposite, completely lethargic from the heat and also a possible lack of sleep from his never-ending, forever-unsuccessful quest the night before and proceeded to sleep for the majority of the day. We tried to invest in a portable a/c unit; however, after only one month our landlord informed us his electric bill went up $250. Although I still find that completely impossible to believe as we only ran it a few hours a day before we went to bed at night. Additionally, even when we had a 2,000 sq ft home in Florida, with central a/c running 24/7 and a pool, the most our electric bill ever was was $160. Our small little portable unit, with less voltage than the convection oven in our apartment, run a few hours a day, in our 600 sq ft apartment was $250?!?!? Oh ya, did I mention the house has solar panels?!?!?!? A few weeks later our power kept going out intermittently; come to find out a circuit had melted in their fuse box, so fingers crossed they reimburse us for that crazy electric bill they charged us for previously!

Anyway, POINT BEING, we have become increasingly anxious and excited for this day to finally arrive. Each day of the week leading up to the move-in date I had a to-do list I made for myself, which included cleaning and packing tasks so once the day finally arrived, I would be able to say sayonara to our living hell as soon as possible and hello to heaven on earth! I mean if this view isn't heaven on earth, I don't know what is: 

View from the top of our street

You would not believe the amount of junk you can accumulate in only a few months time. Luckily, because of all my prep work and consolidated packing, I was able to transport all of our stuff to our new home in only two trips. When I left bright and early on the first trip yesterday morning (keys were available to be picked up at 7:30am, so you better believe I was there right at 7:30am lol), it started down pouring as soon as I got in the car to start driving over. I wondered to myself whether this was a bad sign or omen? This was supposed to be the best day ever and it was torrentially raining! However, I then realized that the rain had held off just long enough until I was finished loading the car. Wow, was I grateful for that. My attitude quickly shifted to the opposite end of the pendulum: this was an AMAZING sign and omen! As I began to drive down the hill from our apartment towards our new house for the very first time, I was greeted by a giant, full rainbow. I mean, come on, how cool is that?

And that's only the first load! Good thing our new car has a back-up camera, because I had no visibility whatsoever!

As I continued to drive and got closer and closer to base, the rain began to stop. By the time I made it to our new neighborhood, it was blue skies and crashing waves as far as the eye could see!

This was my view backing in to my driveway for the first time. You can see the whitecaps of the waves breaking at one of the two beaches we have access to (within walking distance) on base!

As I walked the house for the first time I began to freak out about doing this move on my own! Yes, we have movers that will unload the truck for us, but the majority of our furniture is incredibly heavy ( when we were first married and buying our furniture, Jordan would test the weight of an item before giving his stamp of approval; he wanted to make sure an item was heavy enough to make it's money back when we would do DIY military moves, where the military reimburses you by weight). Anyway, I was stressing over having a game plan before the movers came, because once our heavy furniture is put down in place, that is where it is going to be staying! Even once "muscles" comes home from Japan, we have no chance of moving items. Certain pieces, like our dining room table take 3-4 grown men to carry! After sending videos to my mom and bouncing ideas off of her, as well as dragging my blow up mattress through every room of the house to judge size and space planning, I now feel comfortable with my game plan. Although I did drag my girlfriend Ashley over today to run it by her as well. I also wanted a second opinion on what felt right as far as placement of utensils, dishes, glasses etc in the kitchen cabinets and drawers. I know, I'm crazy right? There is so much self-inflicted pressure to have everything perfect since we will be here for so long (that's relative of course haha). I literally nearly had a panic attack when I discovered our kitchen had two pantries. I mean, what's a girl to put where?!?!? So yes, I'm (somewhat) exaggerating... But not totally. I love that I have given so many others my (confident and self-assured) advice on their own homes, space planning recommendations, as well as complete installations from start-to-finish, top-to-bottom, but when it comes to my own space, I'm a complete insecure, anxiety-ridden mess over it!

Before pics of our kitchen and living room

Last night, I slept in our new house for the first time. Just an air mattress and my pup. Despite his initial anxiety (the poor guy always gets so nervous when we move every time) of trying to jump back in the car every time I went out to unload a suitcase, Gunns has finally warmed up to the place. He is back to his happy, energetic and cuddly self. I think he even caught a little chill from the a/c as I caught him snoozing outside, sunning himself earlier today. We both also got our first good night's sleep in over 3 months (even on slowly-deflating air mattress-I think I drug it and crammed it through too many doorways and hallways during my deranged space planning frenzy). 

Sneaking back in the car every time I went out to unload

Someone thought the 76 degree a/c setting was too chilly. I found him napping out in the hot sun!

No longer restless at night trying to find a place to get cool, I finally have my little snuggle-bug back. And yes, those are Jordan's twin size, "born to dream," princess sheets from the boat. They have come in handy! 

Anyway, the movers arrive tomorrow (Wednesday) morning, bright and early, and Jordan arrives back on Friday. So I have two days to get this house unpacked and live-in ready! I'm nervous to do this first unpack/move-in completely on my own, but also feeling completely excited and empowered to be a self-sufficient/holding-down-the-fort woman for my husband while he is gone! I'm sure it will be the first of many moments doing this kind of stuff on my own (although when it comes to any of our 6 moves thus far, the majority of the packing/unpacking and cleaning is done primarily by myself anyway since Jordan is usually so busy with work up until the minute we leave and/or the minute after we arrive at our new duty station).  I am ready to tackle this move head-on and actually more excited than ever about the idea if moving and unpacking (our 3 months in "hell" was an attitude adjuster, perspective-giving, gratitude-inducing experience that gave us a renewed appreciation for this moving process and all the little things one takes for granted in a full house). So, I've got blueberry muffins, bananas, orange juice, Gatorade and water to greet the moving crew with and a giant sugar-free red bull for myself! Let's do this thing!!!!!!! 

I'm going to hit the sack now on my "born to dream" princess sheets, and dream happy thoughts of all the exciting goodies I get to open tomorrow morning, box after box of our household goods! Is it Christmas morning yet?!?!?

"Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good-night!"