Shared Living Quarters

I am so thankful for a nice roof the military provides for over my head. But... sometimes the frustrations of shared living areas are so annoying.

Right now I am doing laundry. Someone decided to start some system where you mark your washers so people know who is using them and if you leave your clothes down there to long, they will come knock on your door. Which has been helpful because usually when I do my laundry I end up finishing someone else's because they don't come and put there clothes in the dryers. But it was also created because the nasty people that live around us like to leave dog/cat feces in the washers. Isn't that what we all want to wash our clothes with? Tonight when I was doing laundry I opened a washer to find the lovely gift of vomit. And guess what? They didn't put their sticker on it to let us know who it was. I am not exactly sure why we aren't able to clean up after ourselves. But more than that, I am not exactly sure why we are vomiting or putting cat/dog feces in the washers in the first place. Nasty people.

My dishwasher is also being complicated. Luckily I have my own and don't have to share that...haha. It isn't getting the dishes clean anymore. It is very sad, I have really enjoyed having a dishwasher, and that word not meaning "Beth." Today I washed the dishes by hand while Kyle "fixed" the dishwasher, washing by hand reminded me how thankful I am for that appliance in my home. I am know attempting to wash the same dishes for the third time I am keeping my fingers crossed that it will work.

I can't just complain about military housing or shared living, because we really are fortunate to have all be do, and I must say they have given us nicer housing than I expected, plus we get the following:

1. No electricity bills (however, that means that the military turns off the heat when they feel like it and turn it back on when they feel it is cold enough.)

2. No water bills

3. No garbage pick-up bills

4. No rent

5. Free maintenance and up-keep. That means if something breaks, we call and they come and fix it. Also we have this cool thing called "self-help," it is a free store. You can get light bulbs, paint, nuts/bolts, basically anything you could need to help take care of the home.

6. When it comes time to move (which is all to often) they pack all your things and move them for you at no cost. Plus they unpack them too!

Alright, well I guess it is back to the laundry. I really let it pile up and think I will be staying up later than usual to finish/fold it. Luckily I got about a 3 hour nap today.

Back to the Grind

Well, playtime is over and it has been back to work for Kyle and Beth for about two weeks now. This means the alarm is back to going off at 5:30 in the morning...yuck! Luckily we both are really close to work, so we don't have to get up any earlier. I (Beth) am back in Kindergarten at Schweinfurt Elementary School. It has been a crazy start to the year. I have one student who is pretty wild. Any day I am not physically assaulted by him we consider it a good day...in two weeks this has only happened once (a half day). I have a class of 14 boys and 6 girls, by the end of this week I should be up to 8 girls. So many boys makes for a crazy time. But I really do love them all and hope that this year I can make our classroom a safe and stable place for them as their dads get ready to deploy. All but two of my kids have dads getting ready to leave for another year long deployment. Oh yes, I have already gotten a nasty virus and am currently fending off a sore throat, I have to get back into the habit of washing my hand constantly with those little germ carriers. Kyle is back doing whatever it is he does. I am not really sure what they do all day, I know they have PT in the morning and I think the rest of the time he just sits around. He did take a driving class last week, which he wasn't to thrilled about. He is busy studying for the promotion board and just found out he has a slot in pathfinder school so now will be studying for that too. Just in case you didn't know (like me) Pathfinders are paratroops who are dropped into place before a major operation in order to place and operate navigational devices to assist the primary drop of paratroops. It is suppose to be a very difficult school...they have a test every day. He is also working out extra hard hoping to go to Special Forces selection or Ranger school. To sum it up...he is crazy.