A Full Day

I was so very productive today - which makes me very happy, and helps the time pass. This morning, Vince and I took a shower, got ready for the day, then went up to the Army Community Services office to take a look at the "Lending Closet." It's this big room with shelves full of household good stuff you can "check out" while you're waiting for your own HHGs to arrive. Kind of like the central office at Heritage Halls at BYU - you can check out tables and pots and pans and stuff. So anyway, we got some cooking things, a pitcher, a table and some chairs, and a few futons for under our air mattresses (both mattresses are now leaky... so we end up sleeping closer and closer to the floor throughout the night... hopefully the futons will offset the leaky mattress-ness).

Then I went to the police department to figure out all the stuff I need to get Russ a vehicle pass for on the post. Turns out it will be easiest to get things done if Russ goes to the JAG office on the post and gets me power of attorney for him to "conduct his affairs" while he's in class (since his classes/study hall/PT time extend through business hours). Hopefully he'll be able to do that during his lunch break tomorrow, and then I'll be able to have ultimate power over his affairs!! Mua ha ha ha! Okay... yeah... so... Ha, on a more amusing note, since I bought our Highlander while he was at Basic, it is only registered in my name, which means in order for him to drive it (according to the military) I have to write a notarized letter that says I gave him permission to drive it. Cool, huh. Women have never been so liberated! ;)

After running a million errands around the old military post, I headed to our friends' house (the Saavedra's - fellow ARNG family) to use them for their washing machine and dryer. We were just about out of clean clothes (thanks to the fact that our HHGs are still making their way across the Western United States). Michelle was awesome to let me use her washer and dryer, and I was able to get most of my laundry done. Then she and I took Vincente up to the Old Monterey Farmers' Market. It happens every Tuesday from 4-8. We thought it started at 3, so we got there a little early and decided to walk around for a while. We stopped by the Monterey Maritime Museum and Visitor's Center and checked out what Monterey has to offer. Vince loved looking at all the boats. (I wish I had taken my camera with me on this trip! But I'm sure there will be many more like it!)

The Farmers' Market was GREAT! The best one I've EVER seen. So much fresh produce... and in JANUARY! Ha! Take that, snowbound Utahns!! I love the sun. By the time we got to the Farmer's Market, it was getting a little cold, and we didn't have sweaters or jackets (we hadn't needed them all day) but Vince was a trooper and stuck it out. In the end, he got a blue balloon bear. I ended up with fresh strawberries (delicious!!) and kiwis, and a few bell peppers, along with some homemade pitas and hummus. I was very pleased with my spoils.

The day doesn't even end there! After the Farmers' Market, we hit up the local Save Mart for more food. Since I got some pots and pans, I decided we would have spaghetti for dinner, and I planned out a nice menu for the rest of the pay period!

After grocery shopping, we came home to Russ, and OUR CHRISTMAS PACKAGES! The ones we sent from Arkansas - which included our Wii, Rockband, my Kitchenaid mixer, my scanner, and a bunch of toys Vincente got. After dinner we hooked up Rockband and rocked it out with our new band, the "Rowley Stones" - ha ha. Anyway, Vince enjoyed singing (for a while) and would give us all high-fives after each song. Then he decided he wanted to play the guitar, but that was about when bedtime rolled around.

Wow, just looking back on all this makes me exhausted! Tomorrow will be a mostly relaxing day. We're going to walk over to the next neighborhood (probably a 15-20 minute walk) and hang out with some sisters from the ward and their kids (playgroup at the park!). That's mostly all we have planned for tomorrow. On Friday, if it doesn't conflict with the pending delivery of our HHGs, Vince and I are going to go to a kids and parents playgroup at the Army Community Center - music games and singing and fun. Vincente loves that kind of stuff, so I hope he'll enjoy it. I haven't decided what I'll do on Thursday, but it will probably include a few more errands (like getting the parking registration for the car, etc). Tomorrow though, I have vowed to do NO errands and just enjoy hanging out with Vince. In the evening, Russ will probably go to a "conversation" study thing, and so will Michelle's husband (he's also studying Chinese), so we'll hang out with Michelle again.

At least I have a plan of how to get through the rest of this week.

I just hope I can make it through tonight on the air mattresses.... arg... last night was horrible. I felt like I was drowning in them, since they kept deflating... stupid air mattresses...

The only thing worse than sleeping on an air mattress is sleeping on an air mattress with a slow leak...