I'm on-line again!  No internet for nearly a week has surprisingly made me bonkers!  I had no way of mapquesting or googling to figure out how to get around in my new area.  Saturday my daughter got in the car with me to do our grocery shopping at one of the bases.  She asked if I knew how to get from our house to there.  Um, no.  I had to run back inside to get directions from my husband.   

    Today the cable guy never showed up.   I was devasted.  Where is the library?  Where is a bridal shop so I can get some hoop skirts for our next unit celebration?  Where is...I decided to call a friend who lives  nearby.  (By the way, the cable guy showed up after I got off the phone with her.) She drove over and we finally officially met!  She was teasing me about how she and her daughters knew me by my screen name.  We met through our history curriculum.  In fact, most of my friends up here I've met through my history curriculum!  Additionally, it was written just an hour north of me!  Anyway, she drove me around to help me get my bearings, I got to meet her daughters, she got to meet my kids who had to show them all their costumes and props from our unit celebrations. 

     Most of the boxes are unpacked.  I managed to sprain my ankle.  Thankfully it is okay as long as I am careful with how I move it.  I started painting the basement today.  Too tired to upload pictures.  But I am painting over the salmon taupe and covering it with a sunny yellow called Belgian Waffle.  Tomorrow I'll try to add pictures to this entry.  I know some of you want to see! ;)  I've never lived in a house with a basement.  After looking at tons of homes in Virginia, all of which had basements, I found  one I can actually live with.  Large picture windows and a walk out.  But I was still depressed.  The yellow helps!  However I don't think I'll spend a ton of time down there. 

     When the movers were here, my son told them he wanted his room painted. They asked what color it was.  He said pink salmon.  They laughed and agreed it had to be repainted!

     Actually I am now sitting in a swirly purple bedroom in the basement so I can use the computer.  This will be my husband's office and for some reason he does not want to keep the purple.  =) He has decided he has to have a desk.  I have decided  that I prefer to move around with the laptop.  Right now I am getting a neck ache from sitting at the desktop. So I think we are switching computers and reconfiguring the physical features of the "schoolroom".  We left our brand new wall unit/file cabinet/desk behind, which my husband had just built.  After all, what were the odds that it would fit in another house?  Also, it did help to sell our house quickly.  Turns out that it would have fit in the basement here.  I've tried not to think about that.  We left behind our tv unit that my husband built since that was permament and also helped to sell the house.  So we have boxes of books, files, dvds, cds, vhs, that need homes.  I purged a lot when we left the last house.  Two months on the road has helped me to think outside the box some more.  I might be able to let go of a few more things.  We only have five years left of homeschooling and I still dream of moving to Williamsburg.  If we ever get to move there, I'd like it to be a lighter move.

     Already we are making piles of things we don't need.  I was just telling my husband the other day that I knew there was a basket in one of the garage boxes that used to be next to the fireplace to hold the firewood.  Then the light bulb clicked in my head.  We have a gas fireplace!  I don't need a container for wood.  Then I said something about the fireplace tools and my husband said we didn't need those anymore either.  I thought a minute and the light bulb turned up another notch!  We are continually getting used to a whole new way of doing things.

     In the meantime, I've been horribly homesick.  Despite growing up in the USAF and marrying an USAF guy, my roots were deep in the heart of Texas.  Transplanting has not been easy.  I unpacked the scales the other day and saw I have lost 20 pounds!  Part of that is nerves, part is lack of Mexican food!  There is Mexican food here, but it's not the same as back home.  The best Mexican food is in San Antonio!

     One thing I am enjoying is the view from the windows.  When I sit at the dining room window, I look out onto lots of tall trees.  I watch the squirrels bound through the trees from branch to branch, landing with a bountiful sway each time.  It causes me to lose my breath because they are in the tops of the tallest tree....50 feet high I would guess!  Our squirrels in Texas would be shaking in their cowboy boots if they saw that!  My Texas calls the trees in Texas shrubs.  They are not as tall as the trees here.  I also enjoy the colorful array of birds:  robins, cardinals, bluejays...  In San Antonio a rare cardinal or finch may be seen, perhaps a robin, but rarely anything else that is colorful.

     My friend looked at the plants in my garden by the front door and identified my plants for me.  I have a peony!  I love those!  I have only ever seen them in upstate New York one June and fell in love with them.  They don't grow in Texas.  I also have a hydrangea!!!!!   I planted 3 of them last year and they did fine until we went on vacation.  They shriveled up in the heat and drought while we were gone.  

     Bit by bit the pieces are coming together.