Adventurous Alabama

Alabama--where a sheen of sweat looks good on everyone. At least, that's what I try to tell myself as my sheen of sweat seems to be my dominant characteristic these days.

Our first week here, humidity was high, but the wind and rain kept the heat at bay. Now the clouds have disappeared, the cool breezes have gone north for the winter, and the sun is burning pools of sweat in our backs and armpits. Today I almost gave up on Mormon underwear. "Wicking" my foot. The church is true, but they still don't know how to make comfortable, wicking underwear. (pardon me while I check outside for lightning)

While we are here in good ole Montgomery, AL (where the Air Force base is an island of niceness in a sea of tumbly, rickety, deserted businesses), I have vowed to live as inconveniently as possible. The military is trying to accomodate my vow in every way. The first week, they took Mike away on a surprise camping trip. "Welcome to Alabama where you know no one and have no idea where anything is. Good luck this first week with your possessed GPS, a useless laptop, no air conditioning, and a car that has no power locks. And by the way, your husband won't be coming back to your one bedroom apartment until Friday. Have a nice day."

Motherhood awesomeness did not abound that first week. One night I was driving home from buying my children a healthy, well-balanced meal at some scary Taco Bell and I couldn't find the way back. The GPS (which speaks German, thanks Mike.) was telling me all sorts of things about 'rechts abeggen' and Kenzie kept yelling at me to "Please talk to me! Where are we? Why can't we have an ice cream cone?"

Eventually I found Maxwell Air Force Base, but then I couldn't figure out how to get to our apartment. It was awful. I have consumed 1.5 gallons of ice cream in the past two weeks. (Sometimes I share, but mostly I pretend I'm eating an orange.) That was the worst situation of the week, so it wasn't really that bad. Eventually Mike returned from his "camping" (air conditioned tents) and life got better even though ice cream consumption was still up.

That weekend we moved to an air conditioned apartment on the fourth floor with a smaller bed (a full!) and no bathtub, and no oven. And this is where I should start counting my blessings. I like this room better because A. I get the vertigo every time I walk into the kitchen. Mike thinks it has something to do with the building moving everytime the elevator moves. I think it has something to do with all the ice cream I am eating. B. It has a sliding partition that blocks off the one bedroom from the kitchen/desk area. I love being able to shut something to seperate myself from my adorable, always obedient children. Because sometimes they are so obedient I just have to close the door and pinch myself. Hard. C. The bathroom has a counter where I can spread all of my stuff around. D. Did I mention that there is a partition? I don't have to lie silently in the dark, breathing quietly and hopefully while my children do not fall asleep and then yell angrily at them to GO TO SLEEP and then when they finally do, tip toe around hoping they don't wake up. E. There is a partition I can shut at night and during nap time.

So we've had some other adventures too, but I forgot to bring the cable to download pictures and my mom is mailing it to me soon, so I'm waiting for that, but stay tuned for drama! action! romance! Ummm, really how much romance can we have here with all of us sleeping in the same room? So stay tuned for Drama! Action! Driving!