I Miss WalMart

I need a Walmart!!!! I need it! Not just a want, it is a NEED!!! It gets a little frustraiting to run out of something that I brought with me from the states only to find I can not get it here and can't buy it anywhere online!!!! It's just not fair. What am I crying over now? Cardstock. Yes, cardstock. I got spoiled back in the states with Walmart selling Georgia Pacific 110lb White Cardstock for only about $5 or $6 for a pack of 150 sheets. It was nice and thick paper and when I used it for all my crafts and school projects it didn't bleed with the markers and such. Now I am out and ready to have a pitty party. The only white cardstock sold here is some military exchange brand and its $4.00 for a whole 15 sheets and the quality just stinks. Its not heavy at all and when I tried to let Joey paint it just made a big mess. I have looked all over the internet trying to find someone that is selling it. I actually found something not available on Ebay!!! My list of things we are unable to find here is growing every day...compact head toothbrushes, ticky-tack, glide dental floss, Simple Green cleaner, Aveno lavender lotion, crunch candy bar, thumb tacks, sudafed (the kind you get behind the counter), HP printer ink, Cardstock, American style ice cube trays....and the list goes on and on.

Okay, my pitty party is over. Things are going okay here in Japan. Still cold but doing okay. Joey is spending a lot of time playing with friends and driving us crazy. Joey likes to play hide and seek but it just doesn't work inside our apartment and sometimes its just too cold to go outside. I have learned that I just need to stay away from winter sports. On Satuday our church was having an activity up on the ski hill here on base. We were actually not planning on going at all. They were also showing the last showing of National Treasure around the same time and we wanted to go on a date (with movies here, they show them about 3 times and then they are GONE!). One of our friends from church that has a little girl the same age as Joey offered to watch him at the activity and then take him home for dinner while we had a kid free date. GREAT!!!! When we got to the hill, Joey talked Brandon into taking him down the hill twice and then asked if I could take him down too. No problem, right? Wrong. I hit a patch of dirt, went flying in the air...then landed on my side, dislocating my shoulder and Joey scraped up his little chin good too. We missed our movie while they took x-rays, put my arm back in place and then took more x-rays. We were able to make it to the 6pm moive, P.S. I Love You, but it just stinks I missed National Treasure. I didn't know putting my arm back in place would hurt so very much!!! I don't think I will be sledding again any time soon!
Brandon is still working hard with his college stuff. Its funny hearing him go on and on about the view points some of the "smart" people have concerning current events. I think he is enjoying the challenge but the schedule sure stinks. Today he is on "Duty" with the Navy. Here, Duty is not like back on the Ike. He has to get into work early (to supervise snow removal) and comes home late (sometimes no lunch). Back on the Ike it was an overnight stay on the ship. He just has to be able to be reached by phone and able to be back at work within a half hour here. We have no cell phone so we can't leave base really. When he has duty on school days, I don't see much of him. He leaves around 5:30 in the morning, usualy does not come home for lunch and as soon as he gets done at work his class starts. He should be home around 10:30 tonight so Joey doesn't get to see daddy before bed time. We have a friend from church who's husband is deployed as a Doctor in Iraq right now and she likes having people over all the time to keep her busy so we are joining her Tuesday night "Heroes" group. I think 2 other ladies (each with one child) come over to her house and take turn cooking dinner. We all eat together and while our kids play, we will watch last seasons Heroes and scrapbook. I don't understand the show at all but it is fun to be lost sometimes. I think the next season will start to air in the summer here so maybe I will catch up by then.

One last note...to anyone that mails something here to us in Japan.....The postal service is introducing a new flat rate box twice the size of the largest one they have now and offering a discount if you mail it to an APO or FPO address. The neat thing with these boxes is you can stuff it as full as you want and as long as you can tape the box closed, no matter how heavy it is, it cost the same flat rate to mail. The bigger box will be cheaper when mailed to APO/FPO addresses. I think they said it was about $10.85 or so (which is $2.00 less than mailing it to any other address). I think the new box and new rate starts March 1st. Just wanted to pass the info on.

I hope you are all doing well back in the states. We sure miss you all and wish we could see you all soon. This is going to be a long few years. October 2011 I think is our move month. Its crazy that when we left, Joey was 4 and by the time some of you see him again he will be 8!!!