Our home

We are getting settled in our apartment here in Delaware. Our HHG arrived a few days ago so we have been trying to get unpacked. We were using an air mattress to sleep on that Tubbles keeps popping. Its her bed too and its not her fault her claws are so sharp. I love our new home and very happy to have all our stuff back, especially our big bed. I can't wait to get the car from Germany to go explore the area. We also got our Comcast wireless Internet set up today. The lady had to keep going back to the station because the routers were not working. It was a big mess but she finally got it to work and we now have fast fast internet and love it. We got so sick of the slow German internet and then the Sprint hotspot internet we were using when we first got our Iphones. Finally, good ol' fast American internet.

Here are a few photos of our new home when we first moved in. Now its full of boxes to be unpacked.

Entrance

Where we put our keys

panoramic of the living room

Dining room

Balcony

Kitchen.. so much smaller then our one on Germany

Produce baskets that we installed

More of the kitchen

The bathroom

Bathroom

Love our huge bedroom

Finally get to have my walk in closet

view from our balcony

Tubbles loves her new balcony

One of the playgrounds

The pool.

Its been about a week since I started trying to lose some weight. Trying to make some healthier choices. I never realized how much I hate running. I have chin splints and today is my first day off. I need to let them heal before I can continue. Chin splints is little cracks/splints in my chins from the impact of running. My whole body hurts. I want this weight to come off so bad that I am pushing myself a little too hard, I think. I eat 1200 calories (or less) a day. Sensa (an appetite suppressant) sure makes my appetite non existent so that helps a lot. I have tried stimulants but I had internal bleeding from it so that scared me enough to never want to try those again.
   I have lost six pounds since I started my weight loss journey which was about a week and a half ago. I also lost a full inch off my waist. I keep expecting these instant results and its driving me crazy when I still feel fat on my stomach after a workout. But I do realize this will not happen overnight.
  I use MyFitnessPal to keep track of my calories and exercise. I use it religiously. If you are also on MyFitnessPal, go ahead and add me and we can follow each other in this journey. My username is CrystalCox516.
**MyFitnessPal is a website and also an app on smart phones. I love the depth the website has but having it on my phone is so convenient for quick adding of calories when you are on the go but want to keep track. I recommend it 100%.

Approved

WE GOT THE APARTMENT! Ahh! We are so excited. William Penn Villiage called today and said everything came back exceptional and that our credit scores were so good that we don't even need to pay next months rent ahead of time like a lot of people have to. We move in two weeks from now. I am so glad we got it because that was the only place in our search that had everything we wanted. -balcony, walk in closet, dishwasher, garbage disposal, dog park, all electric, great location, right next to the malls and grocery stores, has a Pool,  yada yada. I could go on but in short, it is perfect for us. Here is the video on their website of a virtual walk through of the apartment. I can not wait to start decorating. 

William Penn Village Apartments

More good news! Steve and I went to Delaware Technical Community College and talked with an enrollment adviser about Steve getting his AS Paramedic degree. He takes his placement test tomorrow morning and gets his class schedule soon after. His first day of school is in May.

Delaware Tech Community College. So proud of my husband.

First week in Delaware

Its been one week since we have moved to Delaware from Germany. One week since we left the Army lifestyle. It has been a roller coaster of emotions. Living in a brand new area with no jobs and no home has been tough. We are living in my cousins basement. Thank goodness for her or else we would be in a motel paying way too much and not being able to have that saved up money to pay for a home.
  Luckily, we do have that money still and have been looking in to a few nice decent priced homes/apartments. There is one we are really interested in that is literally one block away from Nicole's house. That would be great to live so close. We could have dinner parties together or easily go to each others house and go on shopping trips together. The apartments them selves are so nice. We did a walk through and I already know how I would like to decorate it. We filled out all the paperwork and we should find out in a few days if we are approved once the credit and background checks go through. I have paid off two cars and have never been in trouble with the law before so I know I will be fine.
  I'm not sure if I have mentioned it before, but I have wanted an IPhone since I first discovered them. I remember being in Germany and being so anxious to get one when we got back to America. Well, the morning after we got to Delaware, we went to Sprint and got the newest IPhones on the market. I got IPhone 4S and Steve got the regular IPhone 4. We got a family plan and since he is still considered Active Duty on Terminal Leave, he qualified for the Military discount of 25% off. SCORE! That's a pretty big chunk out of our bill. I am IN LOVE with this phone. I even bought the IPhone 4S for Dummies book from Barns and Noble just so I know everything that I can do. I can not put the darn thing down. So friends and family, if you would like my new number, please email me to get it. I don't really feel comfortable just putting it here for everyone to see.

Steve got the black and I got the white.

For those of you who are not quite sure what the IPhone 4S is.. check this out ..  Click here

  We are slowly getting used to the area. Its pretty nice where Nicole lives although the "ghetto" is about 15 minutes away. New jersey is minutes away as well, I am wanting to go see the "Jersey Shore" and maybe get a glimpse of the cast of the show... maybe see some "Guidos". We still haven't made it over there yet and I am super excited. I have only seen the Ocean once and that was when my Mom and I went to the Oregon Coast to spread my Dads ashes.
  We are getting the public transportation down as well. It was a little confusing at first. The first time we tried to use it, we got on the wrong bus and went right down in to down town Wilmington which is THEE Ghetto. I didn't know any better so I was wearing a cute little outfit ready to hit the town and explore a new place with my expensive Coach purse and brand new IPhone in my hand. Then I noticed all these crazy scary people started to get on the bus as we got closer and closer to down town that kept eying us up.  Needless to say, I did not feel safe. Now when we use the bus, I just have Steve hold on to my ID and I just put my phone in a pocket. Our Honda should be in America in about three weeks so until then, we will have to rely on the public buses.
  The Christiana Mall here is really nice. I think its safe to say its the biggest one I have been to yet. Nicole says that the King of Prussia in Pennsylvania (about 40 minutes) away is even bigger. We are planning on going there sometime soon.  Oh, and I have discovered Gelatos and Water Ice!! I have been missing out on so much good food. I am beginning to love the East Coast.

Walking through Walmart was so crazy! I sure have missed this place. Everything you need in one spot and for cheap. I could get used to America, again.

IPhone 4S for Dummies. I had to buy it.

The Christiana Mall. Its pretty big.

One half of the Mall. Couldn't get it all in one photo.

A glimpse of the Food court. HUGE!

Nicole giving Steve a very painful head massage.

Swedish Fish Gelato!

Dinner at JB Dawsons at the Mall. SO GOOD!

Old New Castle. Delaware is the first state in the United States.

Some of the buildings are even the same from when it was first founded.

The graveyard.

My cousin Nicole with her two fur babies.

Moving Day!

It was about 4:30am when we left Schweinfurt Army Garrison for the last time. The sun wasn't even thinking about coming up yet. We walked our luggage off post to the taxi pick up area. They took us to the bus station where we left for Wurzberg and then switched trains to the Frankfurt Airport. We let Tubbles roam a bit once we got to the Airport so she could stretch her legs before the flight. It was a nine hour flight from Frankfurt to Chicago. Had a layover, then three hour flight to Philadelphia. The total trip was 23 hours. I slept for one hour during the whole trip. Steve slept for pretty much the whole flight on each flight and on the trains. We got to Philly at about 9pm Eastern time.
 

At the Schweinfurt train station

Our train to Wurzburg

Then we took the ICE train to Frankfurt Airport.. they are the really fast trains.

Just off the train. Frankfurt Airport.

Inside the Frankfurt Airport. How pretty.. and HUGE!

Tubbles after a two hour train ride and facing a nine hour flight. Poor girl.

Letting her roam a bit

Daddy comforting baby

Holding Tubbles, about to go through customs.

Flights and times

A plane leaving

views from the plane

A cool statue in the Chicago Airport.

 When my cousin Nicole picked us up and drove us to her house in Delaware, Steve and I were having such a culture shock. The high way signs were green instead of blue and actually had English on them. Even at the airport in Chicago, we were trying to find a restroom and we just stopped and said to each other, "what does a bathroom sign look like".. then we started laughing. How crazy! We couldn't remember.
  We have never been to the East Coast before, being back in America and on the other side of the United States from where we grew up at.. well, its just a whole new world. So many new experiences to be made. We are so excited. We are currently looking for an apartment. which is insane since we are not sure what is normal pricing when it comes to apartments and we have no idea where anything is. We are still getting used to the area.
  Well I guess that's it for now. We made it safe and Tubbles is adjusting fine. Thanks to everyone that was checking up on us and Tubbles safety during our move.

Army lodging

Our last night in Army housing was a little sad and crazy hectic. We were so far behind on getting everything done that Steve stayed up all night to get done what he could. Then I took over at 6 in the morning and got everything done just in time for the inspector to come at 10am. When it was all finally done, we called a cab and they took us to the Bradley Inn (hotel on post) which is also temporary Army lodging for incoming and outgoing families.   We didn't even get to say goodbye to our first home together because as soon as the inspector was done, we had to sign the papers, give him the keys and he pretty much shooed us and our luggage out. Its was pretty much all quick fast and in a hurry. We really didn't realize that we were officially out of the Army until we moved in to the Army lodging. We are just sitting here waiting to leave. 
  But, we are here now and it actually is a lot nicer then what I thought it was. It has a nice breakfast in the mornings with a really yummy cappuccino/Espresso/Mocha machine. We leave Germany on Sunday! Ahh! We are so excited. Everything is starting to hit us now and become real. We leave Germany in three days.

The last few moments in our first home together as a married couple.

Daddy comforting his baby in a stressful time

Goodbye Oak street

luggage and my husband in front of the Bradley Inn after the cab driver dropped us off

Outside the Bradley Inn

more of the outside

welcome mat

Throwing away all his combat uniforms.. He was pretty happy to do this.. FINALLY!

our room.

Breakfast room

Got to love free stuff

Soldiers doing PT outside the Hotel. Steve was pretty happy that he no longer has to get up before the Sun to work out and can do what he wants on his time.

Tubbles enjoying the view

showing me how to work a feature on my camera

LTC Runey and CSM Gordon are pretty much the celebrities on post but so are all post commanders on all Military installations.

Yep, they are everywhere. Going to be weird not seeing them anymore.

During that weekend, we also did a few social get together with Steve's good friends, SSGT Moore and Klender. Going to be weird to have to make new friends. Here is a photo of the boys. I know he will really miss them.