As a matter of taste to be exact, He's my ideal as a matter of fact

This is an older picture of Scott, but I couldn't find a newer one with him in his blues.

After 4 months of waiting, the promotion list was finally posted today and Scott has made Technical Sergeant. Considering the fact that he was studying for the exam during the last full month of my pregnancy and went to take said exam about 3 days before my projected due date, the fact that he scored high enough to pass is a immense relief to me (and I'm sure for him, too, but I haven't spoken to him yet =) .)

What does this promotion mean? Well, for the immediate future, it means he can go to tomorrow night's Pass-over Party (a party to celebrate/commiserate with those who have/have not been promoted) and celebrate with the other guys who have also been promoted.

Beyond the immediate plans, this promotion also means that things can get a little interesting for our little household. Because there are not enough people of Scott's rank of TSgt (I've got to get used to the abbreviations and acronyms) with his skill sets, there is a high need for him at other bases. Other overseas bases. Bases that will have us separated for about a year, with only a few visitations sprinkled through his stay.

We've already had several discussions about this and I'm fully aware of the sacrifices as well as the benefits of Scott's strong possibility of being stationed far from Violet and me. I am actually encouraged by the thought that this can happen within a year because this would make things easier on Violet. Rather than her being older and can understand that her Daddy is far, far away, she can remain blissfully unaware of his absence.

Another result of this promotion has a good news/bad news twist to things. When Scott and I got married last July, we had only immediate family and a few close friends (most of whom were already in the Denver area) join us for the ceremony my father and brother-in-law conducted. We've always wanted to have a bigger celebration with more of our friends and extended family. It was tentatively planned for spring of 2012 and we've even gone as far as to looking at a handful of venues around the Denver area when we went to visit my family a couple weeks ago. We already had it in mind that if Scott did make TSgt, these plans will have to be deferred until... I'm not sure when. That's the bad news. The good news is purely based on my vanity. Because of all of the weight I gained while pregnant, I've been self conscience about my (larger) appearance and would rather not be this big for my 'wedding' day. Delaying the celebration gives me more time to lose the weight.

I'm sure there are other implications of his recent title change and more will be discussed when he comes home from work tonight. As of right now, I'm filled with joy and pride for him and for our family. Any other detail will fall into place, as it always does.

I've breathed the mountain air, man, Of travel I've had my share, man, I've been everywhere

I move around. A lot. Some moves were by choice, some moves were decisions that were forced upon me. Since graduating college I've lived in 7 different locations, and the last 18 months accounts for 3 of those locations. I've already been preparing myself for a possible move next year, but I wasn't expecting anything this year. Until I got a phone call on June 7 from the property manager at Century 21.

She started the conversation with reminding me that our 12 month lease is up at the end of the month. I agreed and I thought it was just a courtesy call to ask us in to sign for another 12 months. Instead, she informs me that the owners of the house is going to put the house on the market, and would I be interested in purchasing the house? Now, there are those who are active duty in the Air Force who do purchase houses, but for me and Scott, it just doesn't make sense. So, I decline the offer saying that for us, it would not be a wise decision.

The lady on the other end of the phone starts talking very quickly and tells me that we have a month before the house goes on the market and we need to move out as soon as we can. Because I do not like to conduct business over the phone where there is no record of what is being said, I asked her to send me an email or letter.

Since then, Scott and I have been determined to be out of this house before we have to worry about strangers looking around our things. I've gone through this process before when my landlord in the last place I lived in Elmwood Park put the house on the market and it's very different when it's not really YOUR house people are coming to look at, and yet you still have to take responsibility for the living space.

We would prefer not to use Century 21 again. Even though we have only been renting through them for a year, I've had my fill with how they run their business. When I first went through the inspection of this house before we moved in, there was a mouse trap in one of the cupboards and they told me that 'there was no mouse problem on record.' Within two weeks, that trap had caught a little mouse and I called them again to tell them that there seemed to be a mouse issue. They gave me a spiel about how the nearest exterminator was in Boise and they wouldn't pay for it. I explained to them that my husband and I were going to start a family (I didn't tell them I was already pregnant, because no one outside of family and a few friends knew) and I did not want to worry about diseases carried in the mouse poop. It took them another month, a failed attempt by the handyman they hire to come to the house on the day he asked for and didn't show up (without calling me to let me know), and 7 more mice later for them to finally send someone out to come up with the highly technical solution to the problem: find the hole in the side of the house where the mice were coming in through the crawl space and plug up the hole. It was barely a $10 solution they could have done the day after my first phone call.

I've had other problems with them, like that same handyman showing up at my house without any heads up and when he finally does call me gets annoyed that I had the gall to be on vacation while Scott was training at a different base.

And yet...

We were scrambling to find another place to rent, so I made arrangements to see 4 other locations through them. A realtor, we'll call her Stephanie, told me of a 5th listing that she was going to see about talking down the price. This past Saturday morning, a different lady, we'll call her Deb, showed us around to some ok places and one that would have been better if they had bothered to clean the carpet of the pet waste stains and the broken hot tub that they didn't make use of the cover to hide the disgusting leftover water and odds and ends inside. After the 4th place, I had mentioned about the 5th location that the Steph spoke of, but Deb wasn't made aware and had already taken a phone call part way through walking us through the locations  and was rushing us so that she could meet her next appointment. She took my phone number and promised to call me before 4 to take us to the very last place. I have yet to hear from here and it's already Tuesday.

Knowing that I really wanted to part ways with Century 21, I had made an appointment with a different company for late Saturday afternoon to look at the one location he had left for rentals. It turns out that he is highly recommended by people Scott works with and we were assured that he is a stand-up guy worth checking out. We met up with him and we saw a perfectly adequate house for a good price. And he was prepared and brought a list of other houses that were just a little over the price range we had discussed, but Scott and I wanted to check out just one last listing.

And this last house is the one we really want. The realtor is working on negotiating a lower price for rent and we will hopefully know by the end of the week if we are going to move into this house. It's bigger than our current place and has 2 floors, a beautiful open kitchen and a nice-sized baby room for Violet. I don't want to get too excited, but both Scott and I really want this place for however much longer we live here in Mountain Home.