Just About Settled In Here…

31. August 2008 · 2 comments · Categories: Uncategorized · Tags: , , ,

Hi!

We are well here – Dave is MUCH improved from his surgery, although yesterday morning we paid a visit to the ER once again for a migrane that crept up on him. We wanted to rule out that it wasn’t related to anything from the surgery. Now he seems much better. He’s definitely ready to return to work on Tuesday.

Tomorrow we’re planning a trip to the Nebraska State Fair! I’m excited, and the boys are getting excited, too.

For those readers along the Gulf Coast and on the FL Peninsula, please take care of yourselves, your families and your homes in preparation of Hurricane Gustav and Tropical Storm Hanna. Good luck!

In other news, yesterday I received an e-mail from the same soccer club that called and said Jacob was able to get onto a team. It said that Jake now is NOT on a team due to a lack of coaches and they’re in desperate need of coaches.

So, GULP, I wrote back and said that I have a minimal amount of soccer experience (I played for a season in high school in 10th grade) but I think I can convey enough soccer skills to a group of 5-6 year olds. It’s two hours per week for only 7 weeks…my biggest challenge will be making sure I can get to the practices while we still have just the one car. Practices are twice weekly at 6pm, so far, Dave has not come home later than 5:15pm…I think we’ll be fine.

Happy Labor Day, friends! Don’t forget to change your shoes and purses from your summer to winter collections (heck, I’m the LAST person to abide by that rule!).

Nebraska Discoveries 3: The Pros and Cons

28. August 2008 · Comments Off on Nebraska Discoveries 3: The Pros and Cons · Categories: Uncategorized · Tags: , , ,

“So, Major Mom, how would you sum up Nebraska so far?”

I’ve gotten that question a lot this week. From neighbors and friends who have been calling to check up Dave’s surgery recovery.

So here are the pros and cons of Nebraska, and our new lives near an Air Force base.

Pros:

1.) Nice People. The people are SO NICE! Our neighbors wasted no time bringing us cookies and greeting cards, and offers to watch the boys when the movers were here delivering our stuff. In fact, today Dave received a card from his nurses at the post-surgery recovery ward at the hospital. Awwww…
2.) Cheap! The cost of living is much lower than what we were experiencing in the Raleigh/Durham area.
3.) Not as many SuperMoms here. There aren’t waiting lists for every activity/preschool/sports club that I’m interested in for my kids (yes, there was one for Jake’s soccer, but he still made it into the program and he was LAST on the waiting list!)
4.) No traffic to speak of. I don’t count the gate lines to get onto Offutt AFB in the mornings. And they aren’t that bad…not at all like Patrick AFB in 2002.
5.) Folks here drive the speed limit. I’m not sure if this is a pro or a con, since I tend to be an aggressive driver, this area has calmed me down quite a bit.
6.) Cheap gas. About $0.35 cents less per gallon than in NC (see CON re: gas below)
7.) We’re Near Our Local AF Base! The base gas station, commissary, exchange, post office and fitness center are all 10 minutes away. We’re renting a camper in mid-September from the AF base Outdoor Recreation center for cheap.

Cons:

1.) The endless corn and soy fields. While you might think, “Isn’t agriculture a good thing?”, I envision many of these fields are being grown for biodiesel and corn-ethanol. While I support our getting off of foreign oil reliance, I think other agricultural priorities (i.e., feeding people) are now taking a back-seat to it. That discussion is for another blog posting. You can read this for now.
2.) The cheapest gas here is the ethanol blend. This is why gas is so cheap here. The ethanol blend is a higher octane, so it sells as “Plus Unleaded”, but it’s $0.10 less than regular unleaded. A mindset shift.
3.) Odors. The STENCH in our neighborhood when the winds are coming in from certain directions. If the winds are from the south but light, we get the stench of the pig farm just south of here. If the winds are from the ENE and coming in at a good clip — 10 knots or more, we get the smell of some sort of rendering plant. I was checking my trash can on Monday when I was smelling what seemed like garbage — but really it was throughout the neighborhood (trust me, I walked around the corner and still smelled it).

Tangent: I remember living in Deridder, Louisiana in 1995-1996, I had a 20 mile drive northward to work every morning. I could forecast whether there would be fog at the Fort Polk base weather station when I arrived at work in the morning based on the smell I experienced when I walked out of my apartment. There was a paper mill to the west of where I lived — the stronger the stench when I walked out of my apartment, the worse the fog would be as I drove north in the morning.

I wonder if I will be able to predict the weather based on the smells here. Fun.
4.) Lines on the Road. The large intersections here don’t have lines painted on the road to tell you where to stop…and NO, this isn’t why I got into a traffic accident earlier this month! But no, no lines painted. I guess we’re on our honor to stop such that we don’t get hit by the cross traffic.
5.) The “N” is for “kNowledge”. There are NO major-league sports teams in a 3 hour radius of this area. So people have no choice but to root for University of Nebraska sports…sigh…and it’s fanatical here — almost as fanatical as Penn Staters!!! Many of the houses have block “N”s somewhere on it — sometimes it’s subtle, like a small block N on the front door. Sometimes it’s gaudy as hell, with a giant red-track-light-outlined “N” emblazoned on the fence.

This week is the Nebraska State Fair. While North Carolina’s is TOTALLY AWESOME, I’m sure Nebraska’s will be fun, too. Hopefully Dave is feeling well enough that we can go this weekend. Maybe we can see Styx in concert on Monday?

Some Good Nebraska News…

27. August 2008 · 4 comments · Categories: Uncategorized · Tags: ,


I got some good news today.

“FINALLY! You’re going to tell us something good that happened to the Vollmer Family in Nebraska?”

Now wait a second — I posted this a couple weekends ago.

“Yeah, but then you were hit with that flat tire on the bike ride over to watch the airshow itself.”

I know…I know…the move itself was better than the move from Florida to North Carolina, but some of the circumstances that have occurred just after the move seem pretty bad, huh?

Okay, okay…back to the point. I received some good news today. Jake is registered for soccer and he starts on September 8th.

When we first arrived here, I immediately started networking with other Moms in the neighborhood about two things: piano lessons and soccer leagues. Jake’s school and Timmy’s preschool is already squared away.

The piano lessons part was easy, there’s a piano teacher who lives right behind me! (Hi Alissa, if you’re reading this!) I hope to start Jake soon, but I’m not in an incredible hurry.

The soccer was a bit more difficult. Two parents told me that we were just a TAD late for Bellevue Soccer Club and Little Rascals Soccer open registration, but I could inquire about indoor leagues starting after outdoor soccer ends in November. I made a few phone calls…talked to a few other parents…and Jake’s future in soccer fell into two categories.

1.) He needs to be 9 years old for most indoor soccer leagues.
2.) He can go onto a waiting list for the local leagues that have already ended open registration.

Discouraged, I placed a phone call to the Bellevue Soccer Club representative to ask about how long the waiting list is. The gentleman was very nice and told me that if I acted fast…as in, within the hour, I could still get Jacob on the waiting list. He told me where to download the registration form on the web, and said to fill out the form and drop it at the Bellevue Soccer Club fields mailbox by 5pm (we were talking at about 3:50pm). At 5pm the coaches were going to assemble the lists and if there were still openings Jake might just make it.

So I acted fast. I had to pick up Howie from a grooming appointment anyway, and the BSC fields were on the way.

Today at about noon someone called to say that Jake made it onto a U6 team, please send the check to a particular address. Yay!

Jake is definitely nervous about starting in a new league, and an outdoor league, at that! He’s been playing indoor soccer since his 4th birthday. He’s really good when he isn’t under pressure, and is just starting to develop quicker decisionmaking. Unlike Dreamsports in North Carolina, this group will practice and play twice per week.

As for Timmy, aside from his preschool on Tuesdays and Thursdays, I’ll probably get involved in a MOPS group in Papillion (the next town over to the west). They start up in September and meet on Wednesday mornings.

Nebraska Discoveries 2: Greetings from Cornhusker Country!

24. August 2008 · Comments Off on Nebraska Discoveries 2: Greetings from Cornhusker Country! · Categories: Uncategorized · Tags: , , ,
Okay, I had been waiting to do this picture for some time — I wanted some nice pics of the boys in front of corn to welcome our fans to our new world. My car accident and Dave’s appendix, plus Jake starting school, kept putting this little mission in the back of my head.
Today I decided I could get the boys to a nearby cornfield this afternoon and try to get the sunlight correct for a nice photo to include in some of the “We’ve Moved” cards for those who don’t have computer access, such as my 95-year-old grandmother in FL.
Unfortunately, Jake was in a pretty bad mood, from lack of sleep last night, and it was tough to get him in the right mood to do this at first. The first photo was from about 11am, the one above was from about 1pm, on the way to the movies to see “The Clone Wars”. The movie was all right, from my perspective, but the boys LOVED it…full of action.

So What Else Could POSSIBLY Happen to Us Here in NE?

22. August 2008 · 8 comments · Categories: Uncategorized · Tags: , , , ,

Dave went to the emergency room at about 4pm Wednesday with pains near his appendix. After a CT scan at 7pm, it was inconclusive whether it was really appendicitis, but Dave and the doctor made the decision at about 8:30pm to perform a “laproscopic appendectomy” Wednesday night. The surgeon (an Air Force doctor, actually, with privledges at the hospital) was able to look around quite a bit with the camera and couldn’t see any other problems, it’s most likely that Dave was responding to the earliest stages of appendicitis. They removed the appendix. At least that won’t bug him in the future!

Dave’s been in recovery since midnight Wednesday night/Thursday morning. He spent all of Thursday at the hospital with hopes of coming home Thursday afternoon. I spent several hours at the hospital Thursday over 3 visits (Timmy and Jake can only tolerate but so much time in a hospital room).

Unfortunately, he’s still at the hospital. The original pain that brought him to the emergency room in the first place is still present even after the surgery. He’s currently on Vicadin and that’s keeping the pain at bay (and his brain at bay, too!) His surgeon has elevated his case to the next level and on Thursday night a GI specialist is supposed to come in and do a consult.

The response from the families in Dave’s office has been astounding! It’s a little awkward since we just moved here, so in many ways I’m receiving all these offers to watch the boys and cook meals from complete strangers, but they won’t be strangers for long, and of course we’re all family: they’re all part of our Air Force Family!

Tonight Dave’s group commander (a Colonel, it’s his boss’s boss) and his wife brought over spaghetti with (bison) meat sauce that was TO DIE FOR! Too bad the boys took exception to the spaghetti and sauce already being mixed together, and also too bad Dave couldn’t taste it when it was fresh out of the pot. I’ve heard from several other wives asking how they can help out…the meals are great because I’m using the time I would spend preparing meals visiting with Dave.

So that’s where we stand: Dave’s appendix is out, but he’s still in a lot of pain in his lower abdomen. I’m trying to keep busy with the kids and the house — last night in the emergency room, and today while Timmy was napping and Jake was at school, I worked on stamping “We’ve Moved” cards. Cranked out about 50 of them!

Memories II

18. August 2008 · 2 comments · Categories: Uncategorized · Tags: ,

Memories

18. August 2008 · Comments Off on Memories · Categories: Uncategorized · Tags: ,
I’m so happy about this! The past couple houses we’ve had, we’ve hung up a few pictures of the family, but nothing at all like what I’d like. I had many…many….many pictures in frames that you’d prop up on a table, but those had to come down once the curious kids came along. They’d been put away for some 5 years now.
But then I discovered 3M Command Adhesive Picture Hanging Strips! They’re basically Velcro strips that you attach to the picture frame and the wall. Now I could hang non-hooked frames up on the wall!
I asked Dave if we could do a mosaic-style stairwell, and I was thrilled when he offered to put up all the pictures himself! I didn’t know how I’d arrange them, but I just told Dave, “Doesn’t matter the order, so long as they’re all up!”. I think he did a wonderful job.
It looks eccentric, I know, but I love seeing all of our friends and family there.
The next blog post is the wall on the other side of the staircase, which has plenty of space for more pictures. I have several from NC that still need frames.

Clean Up, Clean Up, Everybody Clean Up!

13. August 2008 · Comments Off on Clean Up, Clean Up, Everybody Clean Up! · Categories: Uncategorized · Tags: , ,

Today, after a VERY long bike ride during which I got extremely lost in an effort to help find Dave a safe bike route to work (by the way, it can’t be done without riding all over highway interchanges), I continued the finer points of unpacking our house.

First off, the moving company made it over this morning to pick up all of our packing material which had been filling our garage. We now have a garage ready for our vehicles!

Yesterday I received a request from Jake’s Kindergarten teacher for “spare” art supplies, plus scraps of ribbon, yarn, sponges, wrapping paper and CDs. Well, Jake’s class will hit the jackpot from us! I found a wad of craft ribbon, tons of yarn leftover from my scarf and blanket projects and several duplicate bottles of paint.

I had been planning to consolidate two plastic drawer bins of art supplies into just one, so I’ve been gathering the pencils, markers, crayons, paints, crayons, paper, crayons, glue sticks, crayons and glitter.

Did I mention crayons?

The original Crayola crayon boxes don’t last in our house. One of the boys will open the box with too much gusto and “poof!”, the top rips right off. Of one of them will empty all the crayons onto the table, and the box falls to the floor. Then I walk past the table and step on the box on the floor. So early on I decided that when the kids got crayons, they’d go into one of those plastic Ziploc containers.

But I now have 4 of those containers, filled to the brim with crayons, plus a good-sized wooden cigar box.

Timmy was on a “must break all crayons” phase this past spring and today I was picking out the pieces of crayons. Timmy is currently on a “must peel all crayons” phase. I was about to throw out all those pieces of crayon and it hit me that I could recycle them into “chunky crayons”.

All you have to do is peel crayon scraps, pop like colors into Dixie cups in a muffin tin and then warm them gently until the scraps melt together.

Chunky crayons will be good for doing rubbings, so says one mother on the link I offered above. Good idea!

Timmy will be tasked with peeling several dozen crayon scraps. He’ll be thrilled! Hopefully he’ll never want to peel a crayon again!

Criminy Pete, Woman, Where’ve You Been?

12. August 2008 · 2 comments · Categories: Uncategorized · Tags: , , ,

“So, besides the photo of a fire and an announcement about your weather station being back, you’ve been pretty incognito!”

Yeah, I suppose I have.

“Are you okay?”

Yes, I’m finally coming down from the incredible stress of this move. The car accident on August 2nd didn’t help, either. One might argue that one contributed to the other, but I won’t lay blame one way or the other. I’m very glad that the woman I hit was okay, and I’m pretty well recovered, too. I’m still a little sore in the shoulder if I try to scratch my back with my left hand, that’s all.

Dave and I have been crazily unpacking at a feverish pace. If we don’t put in the effort now, we tend to slowball things and we end up like in North Carolina: presenting our packers in July 2008 with boxes that weren’t even opened from when they were delivered to NC in August 2005!

Very little TV, very little Internet, very little interaction outside of the house. I’m catching the Olympics when I can (how about that Men’s Swimming Freestyle Relay Sunday night????)

I’m pleased to say that we’ve unpacked all but about 5 boxes…we have most of the rooms well-organized, and it’s mainly books and wall hangings that are still pending. We have bookcases scattered throughout the house, and I’m still deciding on which bookcases will hold which books.

Having a basement is quite wonderful, Jake’s layout and many of the boys’ toys are fitting in the basement very nicely. We also have ample storage for our camping gear, my craft supplies, and winter stuff.

We can finally free up our garage for its intended use: storing our vehicles!

Dave started at his new job on July 31st and is really enjoying things so far. The programs he got to work with for his PhD are relevant in this job and he likes getting to translate the research work to the warfighters.

This past Saturday, on Dave’s birthday, we had our first real day out, enjoying some of Nebraska/Iowa’s offerings. The IMAX theater at the Omaha Zoo was showing the film Fighter Pilot free for military families and it was very good. Timmy only got a little worked up at the very end at some air-to-ground training explosions.

Then we went to Quaker Steak and Lube in Council Bluffs, IA for dinner — where I experienced some of the best wings I’ve had in YEARS, followed by a trip to the Bass Pro Shops Outdoor World next door. Outdoor World was incredible, with a shooting arcade on the 2nd floor! While I’m not condoning 5-year-olds wielding rifles, I have to admit Jake had a really good time attempting this. It has a really nice camping section, and I can see the family doing a LOT of camping while we’re here.

From 2008 08 09 Ou…

The boys are definitely emotional about what they’ve left behind in N.C. Timmy still asks for his friends Daniel and Johnny, and Jacob has complained a lot about there not being much to do in Nebraska. It’s just that we’ve been so busy unpacking, we haven’t been out much except to go shopping for furniture, home improvement stuff and school clothes.

Which brings me to my next point: my baby (Jacob, my oldest) starts KINDERGARTEN tomorrow! This afternoon we attended a “Meet the Teacher” event and Jake teacher, Ms. Brockhaus, seems very nice and down-to-earth. Jake was told he could explore the classroom (it’s enormous, compared to his Penguin classroom at Resurrection Preschool) and we went on a scavenger hunt for his name. Items throughout the classroom were already labeled. Here’s Jake at his table:

From 2008 08 11 Ba…

His name was already marked for his art cubby, his coat hook, his “circle time” spot, and his lunch marker, where he’ll put his name magnet on a poster depending on whether he’s buying lunch or bringing lunch.

I was sent home with a stack of forms to fill out (homework for Mom?), including PTA registration, publicity consent forms and Room Mom/party helper solicitations. Since I’m taking a trip to the Middle East in early 2009 (oops, I guess I haven’t blogged about that news, huh?), I’ll have to shy away from being a Room Mom, but I will volunteer to help with the Halloween events and Field Day at the end of the school year.

“Thanks for the update, Patricia…I’m glad things are looking up for you guys.”

If you’ve noticed, I’m not jumping up and down celebrating Nebraska. It’s a nice state, I’m always game for a new place, new adventure, a new part of our great country to experience. But celebrating Nebaska…not quite yet.

For those who aren’t familiar with my passion for all things Penn State, my senior year at Penn State was that of the 1994 NCAA Football National Championship that should have been Penn State’s, and not Nebraska’s. And we’re in serious Cornhusker country here!

But I’ll give them credit, Nebraskans are the friendliest people! We’ve been presented with babysitting offers, plates of cookies and several “If there’s anything you need….” offers from our neighbors. Most of our neighbors are military, and there are a billion kids on our street. There’s a new family right behind us, and the Mom there is a piano teacher — whoo hoo! I was planning to start Jake on piano lessons around his 6th birthday. He can just hop our fence…

So with this extremely long post, I’ll close here. Stay tuned for photos of Jake’s first day of school. I hope I don’t cry.

“You’d better give the skinny on the Middle East, woman!”

Okay, okay…soon!

It’s Pac Man!!!

06. August 2008 · 4 comments · Categories: Uncategorized · Tags: ,

Thankfully I saw replacements for this at Kohl’s this past weekend!
(Yes, I have yellow plates. This is Fiestaware, and I have place settings in green, purple, yellow and burgundy.)
This is a by-product of the frequent moves. Things can break…and they do. Several of my kitchen tools have broken, and our scanner has a huge crack on the glass now. We’re probably about halfway unpacked at this point. The government has a process of letting us file a claim, and but it’s a lot of work. You have to go out and get replacement costs estimates, or repair costs if it’s an expensive item that has broken (such as an antique piece of furniture). We’ll see how much damage we end up with and decide which items are worth fightning for. The flatbed scanner, yes. A pizza dough roller, probably not.

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