I wish that the family that lived here before me would have left me a little note giving me some hints about the house. After an eventful day, I couldn't help but think about after one year of living in this house what I've learned.
You obviously live on the corner. This means that you only have noise from one neighbor which is a huge plus. Now you pray that your neighbor cleans the house and doesn't cook weird food that will waft it's way into your home. The downside of living on the corner is that you are the first stop on the centipede, spider, beetle, cockroach and just "bug" train line. They must first make their way into your house, yard, and front area before moving down the line. And your drain pipes are the first coming off of the main line that runs under the manhole covers in the backyard. One of the manholes out on the road is not tightened down and makes a little noise every time someone drives over it...annoying at first but you get over it.
You must put duck tape over the PVC pipe the washing machine hose runs into...otherwise you will have centipedes crawling out of your laundry room daily. You must take your laundry out of your dryer immediately during the months of July and August otherwise they will smell like mold and mildew. You must also keep the dryer door shut during these months otherwise the entire laundry room smells like mold and mildew! They will come and clean out the dryer lint every four months...this is annoying but your dryer will be close to dying at that four month point and will be begging you for this service. You must turn on the fan when using the dryer otherwise the room will turn into a sauna. Some of the air is vented outside so don't plant any flowers near the vent otherwise you will literally suck the water right out of them. Also, don't plant nice flowers that cats wouldn't mind using as a bed...otherwise you will have flat dead flowers!
You must keep the air on and at least a few of the units on the dry function otherwise you will get mold. Well you will get mold...it's unavoidable. You will find it in odd places such as your child's glue stick.
You must not run your dishwasher at night during the months of July and August otherwise you will find mold on your dishes in the morning. You must run the garbage disposal before starting the dishwasher otherwise your sink will fill up with water.
You must keep your sink drains closed, toilet seat lids down, the tub plugged, and the shower door closed otherwise you will have centipedes crawling out of the pipes and possibly a rat or mouse crawling out of your toilet.
The downstairs toilet has taken a diaper and the kids' toilet has taken a diaper and two rubber ducks...just an FYI if the toilet decides to cough up one or more of these items all over the floor. And I'm not quite sure what the kids' sink upstairs took but it's slow. Be sure to watch your kids when they run in there to play in the sink because you really could end up with water everywhere.
You must spread centipede powder and ant/cockroach spray at least once a month around the perimeter of the yard, house, and front steps. Be sure to coat the outside of the manhole covers in the backyard. Every morning there will be one dead cockroach on your back patio. A quick flick of your broom and you can send him into the side yard. Ants:You can't get rid of them but just keep spraying until they set up a trail that both of you can live with. You must spray your kids with Natural/Organic bug spray each morning because the mosquitoes will eat them alive. Your children will get hive spots and this is normal for those with European descent...however a trip the ER is needed if the bite is on the eye. The screen door on the sliding door is wonderful in the fall and spring. However, the mosquitoes can and will just fly right through the mesh. You can and will get bit at 9 in the morning inside your house. Which leads me to the front door. It does not seal...along with all the windows in the house. The bugs can and will just crawl right under the door and into your house especially during the months of July and August. Teach your children to run to you when they see a bug and under no circumstances do they touch...otherwise you will be making an ER visit for antibiotics when one of your children gets bit by centipede.
Oh, and a family of some weird Japanese wasp is trying to set up it's home in the concrete next to the water hose outside. They are quite determined to make that their home. Invest in the very expensive battery operated giant bottle of bug spray at the Autoport...it will be well worth the money.
Spray the concrete around the water hose and gutter drains with half bleach and half water to get rid of that green algae that starts to grow especially during the rainy season. Your faucet outside will leak...it's an American hose on a Japanese faucet.
Earthquakes: The doors and windows will shake first followed by the rest of the house.
Typhoons: Your house is pretty well protected. However, the vents on the roof into your house will shake, rattle, and moan with every wind gust...especially the one above the stove. That one is highly annoying because it will snap open and closed.
The very friendly golden retriever that will come over and pee on your neighbors corner fence post across from the gate belongs to the family in D on the hill. He likes to come down when the kids are playing outside...and apparently pee on that post!
A year later and I've learned quite a few things about living in this house. Now hopefully the next two years will go much smoother!
The Gogel Family
The Family
Thursday, July 19, 2012
Family Update
I haven't updated in a while since we've been super busy. My Dad left us about a month or so ago and my mom around two weeks ago. It was nice...well amazing to spend some time with them. Zack was upset that he missed them and wants to hopefully be able to catch them the next time. The kids especially enjoyed the extra attention and getting to know their Papaw and Grandma. I enjoyed spending my birthday with them and getting some help with the kids. It feels nice to show them where we live, how we live, and Japan...to show them how much we've all changed in the past year. Zack complains that I married him to be my mule...to carry the backpack when we're out in town and wrangle a kid when necessary...well he complains to complain...it's a Gogel man thing! So I was able to take my parents places that were on my list that would be super difficult to nearly impossible to do by myself. It's my job when Zack's home to plan our weekend trips and he just goes along for the ride. My mom had mentioned a few places that she wanted to go and we checked those off of her list. Dad was up for anything and so he was along for the ride this time. I am sure that they were able to see why we enjoy it here so much. And their top comment was about how nice the Japanese were and how they love the American children.
Noah:
Noah is missing his daddy very much. He doesn't understand everything as to why Zack isn't here. He knows and says quite often that Daddy loves us and so he's making us "monies". I've bought three kids for Noah in the past almost two months for those Daddy moments he has. I can tell he's having a rough day and I can pull out a gift telling him that Daddy sent him a present in the mail. In his sweet little voice he says, Oh Mommy, I love Daddy and miss him. Then he throws his arms around my neck and tells me thank you for Daddy making us "monies". We used to take Zack to work occasionally so Noah calls that route from our house, Daddy's way. Just about every time we drive past the pier Noah tells me about Daddy's boat and how it's out in the water. And I tell him every time that Daddy is at work on the boat. He tells me about Zack making us "monies". And I in return am sure to tell him that Daddy is working to make us "monies" so that mommy can stay at home and play with him...that Daddy loves us very much. I am sure next go around with this he'll understand more and I won't be able to just pull a present out of thin air and tell him it's from Daddy. We're going to have to be a little bit more prepared and have Zack prebuy the gifts and wrap them for him. But for now it works! His favorite times of the day are during quiet time and bedtime where he can crawl into his bed and play. He has about six regular sized pillows and about 5 kid sized blankets in his bed. There are also many new stuffed animals and toys in his bed as well. He just likes to cuddle up in all the pillows and blankets...and play.
Caraline:
She is growing like crazy! She is crawling now...well it's a mixture of half crawling and half bear crawling. She really doesn't like to crawl on the hard floor but she gets around pretty quickly. She can pull up onto her knees but not to her feet yet. I think she could physically do it but she's too timid. She will stand along the couch if I help her to her feet and play with toys on the couch. But she gets scared and starts to cry. She knows if she lets go she will fall and gets upset when she wants to sit. Noah crawled and pulled up at 7.5mths and he just took off after that. Caraline is more reserved and just likes to watch Noah. She studies him and isn't it much of a hurry to join him in his craziness. She enjoys it when he comes over and sits next to her. He acts goofy and makes her laugh...and then they both laugh!
Me:
I like to think about sea duty as a banking account. The time together puts deposits into the account and the time apart are withdrawals. We squeezed in every ounce of family time when he's home to fill that account with deposits. Then when he's away every day there are withdrawals taken out...and some days there is more withdrawals than others! If you don't make enough deposits then your balance starts to go negative and the family unit starts to erode. I've mentioned it before that Zack has had a crazy work schedule since January. The Navy(Really the G.W.) made it very difficult to add those deposits to our account...we worked hard for each of those deposits(as did most of the families). And now each day each one of us makes a withdrawal from that account. Zack will be home soon(for a bit). The ship will be going through an inspection from Big Navy and so therefore he will once again be working extended hours with more duty days than the usual in port norm. We will once again have to fight for each of the deposits. But it's the name of the game. We've worked hard over the winter and spring to fill our account and we'll make it to the end with plenty still left in our account. Deployments strengthen our relationship. And after the crazy schedules and working nights we honestly needed a deployment. I know that many of you will think I'm crazy but it's the truth. We needed the deployment to draw us close again. It's ironic that while in port the ship here will do almost everything in its power to pull you away from your family...but for us a deployment pulls us together again. The expectations are much much higher when they are in port and the higher the expectations the greater the chance of them being dashed. It was very normal for the ship to call Zack and tell him he on what was supposed to be a full day off that he was suddenly working nights that very same day. Expect the unexpected. While he's away the expectations are less. We each handle our every day stresses alone and rely on the other for strength, support, understanding, and just love. We don't argue, fight, nag, annoy each other, or play games. Well okay I admit to sending one very annoyed email to Zack...to which he explained, apologized, and promised to do better. Then we forgive and move on. When he needs support or is down then he tells me and I respond. When I'm having a hard time with something I tell him and he sends me an email with the exact words I needed from him. And so it's possible for us to make deposits while he's away too. I don't get love notes or love letters...I get love emails! We've seen too many relationships end in a burn and crash to let ourselves get anywhere close to falling into a negative balance. The ship will be going through a COC(Change of Command) and so I do have expectations that just maybe this CO(Commanding Officer) will make some changes. Just maybe next winter and spring we won't have to work so hard to make those deposits....just maybe! But I have to expect the unexpected!
Noah:
Noah is missing his daddy very much. He doesn't understand everything as to why Zack isn't here. He knows and says quite often that Daddy loves us and so he's making us "monies". I've bought three kids for Noah in the past almost two months for those Daddy moments he has. I can tell he's having a rough day and I can pull out a gift telling him that Daddy sent him a present in the mail. In his sweet little voice he says, Oh Mommy, I love Daddy and miss him. Then he throws his arms around my neck and tells me thank you for Daddy making us "monies". We used to take Zack to work occasionally so Noah calls that route from our house, Daddy's way. Just about every time we drive past the pier Noah tells me about Daddy's boat and how it's out in the water. And I tell him every time that Daddy is at work on the boat. He tells me about Zack making us "monies". And I in return am sure to tell him that Daddy is working to make us "monies" so that mommy can stay at home and play with him...that Daddy loves us very much. I am sure next go around with this he'll understand more and I won't be able to just pull a present out of thin air and tell him it's from Daddy. We're going to have to be a little bit more prepared and have Zack prebuy the gifts and wrap them for him. But for now it works! His favorite times of the day are during quiet time and bedtime where he can crawl into his bed and play. He has about six regular sized pillows and about 5 kid sized blankets in his bed. There are also many new stuffed animals and toys in his bed as well. He just likes to cuddle up in all the pillows and blankets...and play.
Caraline:
She is growing like crazy! She is crawling now...well it's a mixture of half crawling and half bear crawling. She really doesn't like to crawl on the hard floor but she gets around pretty quickly. She can pull up onto her knees but not to her feet yet. I think she could physically do it but she's too timid. She will stand along the couch if I help her to her feet and play with toys on the couch. But she gets scared and starts to cry. She knows if she lets go she will fall and gets upset when she wants to sit. Noah crawled and pulled up at 7.5mths and he just took off after that. Caraline is more reserved and just likes to watch Noah. She studies him and isn't it much of a hurry to join him in his craziness. She enjoys it when he comes over and sits next to her. He acts goofy and makes her laugh...and then they both laugh!
Me:
I like to think about sea duty as a banking account. The time together puts deposits into the account and the time apart are withdrawals. We squeezed in every ounce of family time when he's home to fill that account with deposits. Then when he's away every day there are withdrawals taken out...and some days there is more withdrawals than others! If you don't make enough deposits then your balance starts to go negative and the family unit starts to erode. I've mentioned it before that Zack has had a crazy work schedule since January. The Navy(Really the G.W.) made it very difficult to add those deposits to our account...we worked hard for each of those deposits(as did most of the families). And now each day each one of us makes a withdrawal from that account. Zack will be home soon(for a bit). The ship will be going through an inspection from Big Navy and so therefore he will once again be working extended hours with more duty days than the usual in port norm. We will once again have to fight for each of the deposits. But it's the name of the game. We've worked hard over the winter and spring to fill our account and we'll make it to the end with plenty still left in our account. Deployments strengthen our relationship. And after the crazy schedules and working nights we honestly needed a deployment. I know that many of you will think I'm crazy but it's the truth. We needed the deployment to draw us close again. It's ironic that while in port the ship here will do almost everything in its power to pull you away from your family...but for us a deployment pulls us together again. The expectations are much much higher when they are in port and the higher the expectations the greater the chance of them being dashed. It was very normal for the ship to call Zack and tell him he on what was supposed to be a full day off that he was suddenly working nights that very same day. Expect the unexpected. While he's away the expectations are less. We each handle our every day stresses alone and rely on the other for strength, support, understanding, and just love. We don't argue, fight, nag, annoy each other, or play games. Well okay I admit to sending one very annoyed email to Zack...to which he explained, apologized, and promised to do better. Then we forgive and move on. When he needs support or is down then he tells me and I respond. When I'm having a hard time with something I tell him and he sends me an email with the exact words I needed from him. And so it's possible for us to make deposits while he's away too. I don't get love notes or love letters...I get love emails! We've seen too many relationships end in a burn and crash to let ourselves get anywhere close to falling into a negative balance. The ship will be going through a COC(Change of Command) and so I do have expectations that just maybe this CO(Commanding Officer) will make some changes. Just maybe next winter and spring we won't have to work so hard to make those deposits....just maybe! But I have to expect the unexpected!
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