Halloween is my favorite holiday. I always look forward to dressing up. I love decorating for Halloween almost as much as I love decorating for Christmas. I am a little sad about the fact that I will not be able to put my decorations up on the 1st of October as usual. However important I have deemed them in the past, decorations are very low on my to-do list in the coming weeks. This is going to be a very busy, not to mention expensive, October for Team Hayes!
Here is the plan so far:
October 1 - Housing pre-inspection. This is when the housing guys come and inspect our house to tell us what we need to return to 'move-in' condition before we vacate. Then we have to fix all of it before turning in the keys, or we get charged who knows how much. Also, we are going to a laser light show/family festival type thing that night to celebrate the new fiscal year, and more importantly Pearl Harbor and Hickam officially becoming a joint base. Free food and bouncy housing? Yes please.
October 2 - We will be headed up north for TSGT Zach Weaver's promotion party. Woo hoo! But, before and after the fun, we will start working on getting the household non-essentials boxed up, and attack some of the things that we will have to improve before our final inspection (taking down curtain rods, replacing the bathroom towel rods that I removed, etc). Did I mention that we have to grow grass in our backyard before we move out?
October 3 - Pack for California! This particular Sunday is going to be a busy one. We will have to empty, clean and deflate the pool in the backyard, roll up and clean the tarp, and then plant grass seed. I will also have to catch up on laundry, and get myself packed and ready to mobilize to California the next day.
October 4 - I will begin the hunt for a space available AMC flight on this Monday. Amanda Foxworthy is getting married on Sunday the 10th, so I should be able to get on a flight with plenty of time. This is going to be a brand new travel experience for me because I have never before traveled with two full size car seats! So, my travel system will need a little bit of buffering and fine tuning.
October 5-8 - These are ambiguous days for us because we will either be playing the standing-by-to-fly game, or arriving in California, procuring a rental car, and heading to Salinas/Sacramento. Who knows!? It's always a little bit of an adventure for us. I would love to go for a walk with Cori and Kate on the morning of Thursday the 7th. I really hope I make it to Travis AFB at least by Friday afternoon so that I can join Jodi's bridal bowling excursion that evening (that will be bridal bowling experience number two for me, in as many weeks). Ideally, I'd get on a Tuesday late night flight, land at Travis around 8 am on Wednesday, get a rental car around 10 am, pick up a platter of Chick-fil-A nuggets, and head for Nine Months and Beyond, to meet Stacey and Ginger for an impromptu celebration of their impending non-pregnant-ness (aka baby celebration). Also, I need to see Glen McDowell to check out our family photos, and settle the bill with him so we can finally change the picture at the top of this blog! Yay!
October 9 - If I haven't made it to Salinas by this point, then I am likely in Hawaii, pouting about missing Amanda's wedding and kicking myself for being too cheap to buy a plane ticket. Hopefully, though, I will be shacked up at Kylie's...maybe even enlisting a babysitter so she and I can go out to enjoy a bit of our favorite pastime (karaoke!).
October 10 - Amanda get's married! Yay! I'll be leaving the kids with Aunt Kylie, and heading to Carmel, dateless, to witness the vows of one of my favorite people to one of her favorite people. Aw, I'm tearing up. I love love!
October 11 - The fight for a return flight begins! I love that I have family close by to deal with me and my kids when we get jerked around by the AMC system. I need to make it clear that I hold no ill will for the AMC system because of how it "jerks me around". I am actually SUPER grateful to have access to the opportunities that are provided to me and my family by the AMC. I guess I am just spoiled from all angles!
October 12-15 - Hopefully arriving back in Honolulu by Friday the 15th. If we get stuck in Farifield for a day or two, maybe another free tour of the Jelly Belly factory will be in order....or maybe this time I can catch the newly engaged Kaysie Herrera (soon to be Pino) for dinner in Concord.
October 16 - Navy Ball! Yay, dress whites for Brad and another reason for me to get prettied up!. I really hope that I make it back from California in time because the tickets are $60 a piece this year, it might be the last Navy Ball I get to go to with the Paines, AND the Weavers are coming! Also, Melynda just might wear my bridesmaid dress from Stacey's wedding! I was really skinny then, but not THAT skinny...and I am taller than her, so I need to take it in, put a new zipper on, and hem it between now and then. But, I can squeeze that in somewhere, right? Nothing makes me happier than spending time with friends, except for saving my friends money!!! Ha ha. If only I could wear this dress to the Navy Ball this year!
October 17 - Count down to move...4 days! Eek. I need to look for a drop in day care to hang onto the kids for the 18th, 19th, and 20th, so we will be able to pack up and be ready to move on the 21st. Yikes, I'm getting excited and anxious, but I'm sure four days is plenty of time to pack for a move.
October 21-24 - MOVE. Rent a truck, fill it up, drive it around the corner, unload, repeat. That sounds relatively easy and stress free! We plan to just load up one room at a time, then set up the room as it should look as we unload. It should go as smoothly as I am planning, right?
October 25 - Inspection on old house and turn in the keys. Good bye 1944 Nye Place!
Hello, 2725 Gordon Street!
October 26 - relax
October 27-30 - Organize, finish moving in, clean, DECORATE (normal house stuff and Halloween decorations), do some major grocery shopping, prepare the house and make a cake for Sam's Halloween Birthday Party...not to mention celebrating Sam's actual birthday which will be on the 28th. I can't believe he is almost one already!
October 31 - Sam's Halloween Birthday party! Costumes, candy, food, friends, and fun! Plus a little set up and clean up. Trick or Treating is going to be a fun way to end this month! :)
So, that will be our crazy October!
Now, I can't get carried away with thinking that far into the future. Here are somethings I get to do BEFORE October even arrives:
-Clean and organize for housing pre-inspection
-Do about 14 loads of laundry
-buy new furniture
-sew my lion costume and Jocelyn's Dorothy costume
-alter dress for Melynda
-get new brake pads for the van installed, and brake fluid leak fixed
-go see Beauty and the Beast at the Blaisdell Center
-get dressed up for 'formal bowling', followed by karaoke and half price Sansei sushi! <-- I'm really looking forward to that this weekend :)
You know, I was sitting around doing nothing today, and still felt overwhelmed with what the next 5 1/2 weeks has in store for me. I thought that if I wrote it all down, that it wouldn't look like quite so much, and maybe it would relieve a little bit of stress. Oops. Now all I can think about is how much all of this is going to cost...
* Honolulu ladies formal bowling, including bowling, sushi, drinks,etc = $60
* Beauty and the Beast ticket = $40
* fix the van = $100 deductible w/warranty (not too shabby, especially after the free oil change I got today!)
* new couch/love seat/end table/coffee table/tv table/tv and surround sound/computer desk/pillows/throw blankets/wall hangings/lamps/etc = $4000-$5000
* three round trip plane tickets from Honolulu to San Fransisco = $0 :)
* rental car for approximately one week in California = $200 + $500 credit card hold
* Sacramento bridal bowling = $40
* Chik-fil-A nugget tray = $50
* Glen McDowell's tab = I think it will be close to $500
* new hair straightener from Sally's = $100
* Amanda's wedding, including gift, drinks, baby sitting etc =$200
* Jelly Belly factory tour = $0 (yeah right, you know I'm going to spend $20 on fudge!)
* Navy ball tickets = $120
* child care for Navy Ball = $0 :)
* Uhaul rental = who knows, I've never rented a Uhaul before...$50, $100???
* babysitting during move = probably close to $300
* Oh, and the insurance on the van is due by Oct 22 = $318.10
I am afraid to add up the numbers I have listed above. Haha. I think we are nearing $7000 for the month and that doesn't even include groceries, gas, our bills (water delivery/netflix/cell phones/internet), or spending cash. Hey, but guess how much I'm going to be spending on diapers? Yeah, major savings!
I am looking forward to November. Though I will be hosting a ladies luncheon on November 14th, and then Thanksgiving dinner a few short days after that, I do not plan on doing anything else in November. I'm going to be a hermit. Oh wait...I have Christmas shopping to do! :)
Poor Brad. At least he will have some quality time with his birthday present while the kids and I are in California!
3 comments:
Busy MONTH for sure =D
Well if I can help in anyway let me know.. =D
Stephanie
Busy busy busy!
September, November, December, and February are *always* our most expensive months. Especially November what with mine and Orion's birthdays falling within a week and a half of one another.
I totally would have offered up his services to help you guys move, but he's still going to be on the big island on the 21st. Sorry bout that.
We're going to that laser light show thing, too..maybe we'll see you there?
Let me know if you need my help for anything..even if it's just for cleaning for the final inspection (I'm pretty awesome at that sort of thing..we've never had to pay a penny for damages or anything). :)
Sigh, if only I had a private jet so I could A, bring you to California just when you need and B, fly you back and come help you with the move or what the kids for you and then help decorate because I too have a deep passion for fall decor! I will settle for going on a long walk whenever we can fit it in and hopefully a movies night as well!
Post a Comment