Alaska sure knows how to do it. Our venture to the DMV to get our title and registration only took 20 minutes, the lady was friendly, and the whole thing only cost $30! The exact opposite of every other trip I've had to the BMV in Indiana. So now our Toyota is legal, and surprisingly, our Cavalier showed up at the beginning of the week too. So much for the month long wait. Now we have two cars, which makes life a lot easier. The boys and I were able to make a trip to the Commissary during the day instead of waiting for Anthony to get home, but I may not try that again. They are trying to discourage people from bringing carts outside, so there is no cart corral except at the front of the store. And since I'm not a very good parker anyway, I had to park the humongous Landcruiser half a mile away to avoid parking by--and likely hitting--another vehicle. Ethan went in the baby sling, but Will refuses to hold my hand, so I had to walk at his pace while holding the hood of his jacket. Once we made it to the carts, I had to lift him up into the seat and try to not knock Ethan in the face. After I managed that, I realized the belt was broken on the seat I picked. I told Will he better sit still, which he amazingly did through the whole store. Before the trip was done, I managed to drop about 20 coupons all over the floor and cart, and I lost my shopping list, so I had to go by memory. Exhausting.
Today we got to visit the Airman's Attic, a wonderful place where people donate their items like Goodwill, but you can shop for FREE! We got some clothes, and Anthony found a great stroller for Ethan. That will make going out a lot easier, since we still don't know when our things will be arriving. It's only open 3 days a week, and Mondays the day to go, since people who are moving drop off their things on the weekend, so I'm looking forward to trying again next week. Sometimes people decide it's too much hassle to move things, or they have too much weight, so they drop off everything. They get nice tv's all the time, but that's what women fight over. And I mean fight literally. So watch for me on the news next week. I do pretty well on Black Thursday. I'm sure I can handle a few Army Wives.
One more week in Temporary Housing, and Base Housing can't come soon enough. Anthony found out we're a lot luckier with our housing than we even thought. He went to turn in our receipts for our reimbursement for the hotel, and the lady asked where we were going to be living. He said we'd gotten a place in the Cherry Hill housing, and she gave him a look, looked at his uniform with only one stripe, and said, "How did YOU get into Cherry Hill?" All we did was show up at housing and say we needed a place. Who knew that Cherry Hill was actually the cherry of base housing? Once again, this is something that has caused fighting. What's with the knock-down-drag-out mentality here? Even officers, who I would think would be more civilized, get crazy over getting into Cherry Hill. So without knowing it, we've gotten in the best place in an amazingly short time. The lady warned Anthony not to brag about it since a lot of people wait a very long time to get in there, and also to watch his back. What does that mean? Are we going to have a mob on moving day? Will we be shunned by our neighbors since Anthony's a lower rank? I guess we'll see.
After the last post, I realized I didn't say a whole lot about what it's like here. So far, we've had to get used to the sun going down a little after 10 p.m. (although it's still kind of light at 11) and coming up at 5 a.m. And this is only the beginning of May. We have two sets of very heavy curtains, but the light comes in the bottom, so we'll have to do something. I also woke up to an earthquake last Sunday, but I was so tired, I forgot about it until a few days later. I believe they said it was a 3.7. Not crazy, but enough to be a little alarming for a few seconds, until I fell back asleep. The weather has been wonderful, especially this week. Even if it's only in the 50's, it feels warmer. Maybe we'll need shorts after all. But not for a little while. The closest Wal-Mart is not open 24 hours, nor is it a Super Wal-Mart. Some foods are more expensive, even at the Commissary (milk is $3.56 and Kraft macaroni is $1.05), but a lot of things are the same price or cheaper (Breyer's ice cream is $2.48). Plus it's nice that most of what the Commissary carries is brand names, so I can use coupons and get great deals. But if you want to have them bag your food, you have to tip the baggers, and if you say you want to bag it yourself, the cashier usually gives the bagger a look, even though it's supposed to be your choice. Most people have been very friendly, but Anchorage seems very small and it's a little dirty right now. I'm sure things will look better as the weather warms up.
I made an odd discovery today when checking lds.org. I wanted to see if our records had been transferred already, which they were, and I happened to notice that there is another Laura Michelle here! Her last name even starts with a B, and she lives on base! How weird! I'm starting to see why people choose outlandish names now for their kids.
I'm sorry that once again there are no pictures, but if anyone has a problem, talk to Ethan. He's still making life rough, so I'm lucky to even get to write while holding him. Why is it always the second child that's the difficult one? He's adjusting a bit though, so hopefully life will be easier soon. If not, maybe a grandmother can come up so I can at least get a nap? Please?
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