For the 4th of July, we drove to Houston to see Tori and Jim. Let me tell you, that was a long, boring 6 hour drive. But once we got to The Woodlands (the suburb where Tori and Jim live) all was good. Amaris loved Tinker (their Pomeranian) and Johnalynn (Oh goodness I am sure I'm spelling it wrong... But that's Tori's little sister). We saw fireworks by the lake on the 4th, and then went into Houston on Saturday to have real Chinese food - the selection in San Angelo is extremely depressing and consists solely of filthy buffets - and to visit the Aquarium. It was a good trip. We hadn't seen them in almost two years, so it was really nice to get together with them before we head off to Japan for three years.

I didn't take a ton of pictures because I realized my stupid self forgot the SD card at home. So I had limited space on my camera's internal memory. These pictures are from the aquarium, and are proof enough that we were in Houston at all. :-P






Mark has duty today, so Amaris and I are alone till tomorrow. We talked on the way to and from Houston about our plans - we're probably just going to keep the car and have the military store it for us. After being financially raped (thank you so much, DCH Honda of Oxnard), we owe $12,000 on it and it's currently worth $8,000 at best. So we either keep it and continue to make our monthly payments while we're in Japan, or we take out a loan and sell it and pay monthly for a fat load of nothing the whole time we're in Japan. At least this way we'll come home to a car and will have a trade in when we go to buy new cars. I'm not thrilled with the plan, but like all of our plans regarding this move to Okinawa, most of the options aren't perfect. We're having to do a lot of compromise and taking the lesser evils. This has led to a lot of stress and head-butting between Mark and I but I just keep reminding myself that things are going to get better as soon as we have a better handle on things. Sometime around the middle of the month, we're expecting our orders.

I've started shopping for cars already. I know I'm a little over 3 years away from being able to buy new cars, but I'm excited. What can I say. I've settled on the Mazda5 for myself, and I think Mark is pretty much sold on the Tahoe Hybrid. The Mazda is economical and fits in our budget and has enough space for us without being too big for me to drive comfortably. The Tahoe satisfies Mark's need to have a truck, and by the time we get back to the states, we ought to be able to buy a used Hybrid for less than their current sticker price of upwards of $50k. I hope, at least. Geesh. It also has a crapload of space for us (I'm smelling roadtrips) and a lot of cool features. I'm excited. I've spent a decent amount of time at the Mazda and Chevy websites today, ogling the galleries. Yes, it's 3 years out, but a girl can plan and daydream, right? I'm really just so excited to have my own car again.

Speaking of cars and such, it also came to my attention this weekend that the DMV's notice of renewal never showed up for the Honda. We left California in February and all of our mail has had an easy time forwarding to us, so we thought. But I haven't gotten anything regarding my car's registration, and I think it was up in mid June. Which means my tags are probably expired - I'd know if I had looked at the license plate but I didn't remember to when we got home last night. This does not make me happy. Mark is going to call the DMV and see what's up today or tomorrow, depending on when he has an opportunity.

One other thing we did to consume time during our 6-hour drive was to compile a list of the things we plan to get rid of before leaving the states. We're going to have a really healthy yard sale, let me tell you.

Anyways, I need to buy groceries, but I can't do that when I don't have a car, so Amaris and I are going to scavenge for dinner tonight. A part of me says we should order in pizza, but a bigger part of me says, "Nah, you're crazy. Save your money."

McDonald's chocolate chip cookies rock my world.