Reporting Live From Norfolk VA

Us during our drive
(We're the green dot)

After three days of driving in torrential downpours, we've arrived safe and sound. The day that we left Mansfield, LA, it started to rain and it didn't stop until we got to Virginia. We even had to pack the car in the rain which left us gross for the rest of the drive. But...what's important is that we made it with minimal problems.

The movers were supposed to bring our household goods yesterday, but alas, they won't be here until Monday. Why they have you put a "delivery date" if they don't intend to deliver it on that day, I have no idea. The only furniture that we have in the house is the new bedroom set that we bought over the 4th of July weekend. It's beautiful, handmade, Amish furniture. What we don't have though is a mattress. Aside from the Amish furniture, the nicest furniture in the house is the yoga mat that I'm currently laying on while I type this. Everything is echoey in here. This house is much bigger than our last house, so I'm looking forward to having more space to move around our furniture once it gets here. There is more storage and closet space here too.

Whatever you do in bed,
Sealy supports it

We were able to order a mattress from the exchange on Wednesday though. We asked about the delivery options because a queen mattress is too big for either of our cars. The conversation went something like this:

Christy: So...what are the delivery options if we get a mattress from here?

Sales Guy: Well...if you order it by 3pm, we'll be able to have Sears deliver it the next business day.

Me: **looks at my watch to see that it's 3:10pm** **thinks: dammit**

Christy: There's no way you can deliver it tomorrow?

Sales Guy: Well...we can't deliver it tomorrow, but how about Friday?

Me: **thinks: well, at least Sales Guy is funny**

So...one more night of hardwood floors and yoga mats for the LeDuffs. I've even thought about sleeping in the car because it's probably much more comfortable. However, the hardwood floors are stunning.

The most comfortable one in the house is Tricksy. She now has two plush pillows - one in her cage and a new one we bought today for the upstairs bedroom. She is currently snoozing on the bathroom rugs we bought today. I think she's waiting for us to get back in the car to head back to Nacogdoches. She hasn't accepted the fact that it's not going to happen. I think she likes the big backyard though and the tall grass. The grass is extremely overgrown right now, and the absolute earliest I'll be able to cut it is Tuesday. One of our neighbors was kind enough to cut the front for us while we were gone, but the gate to the backyard was locked for the past two months. It's rough back there.

I got my orders stamped at the hospital today. It was nice to get back into being busy, but re-checking in was a pain. Not that I truly expected it to be anything other than that. But when I left, every department that I checked out of made it seem like they were going to leave me in whatever system or computer I was in since I'd be back in a month. Wrong. Every single piece of paper that I filled out when I left in July was waiting for me to fill out again today. In addition to those, there were new ones to fill out like the Responsible Sailor Act. Apparently, some of our officers think drinking and driving is a smart idea. Unfortunately for them, they are no longer employed by Uncle Sam.

McDonalds needs
Tofu McNuggets

The vegetarian options here are much more plentiful than in Nacogdoches. We ate a neat little place called The Path in Norfolk. All their food is vegan and local. They're trying to get an e-mail list going to bring more awareness to the vegetarian/vegan community to find out exactly what it is people are looking for. A couple things that were mentioned were vegan inks at tattoo studios and bringing awareness to restaurants that cooking a vegan meal on the same greasy stovetop as a a slab of meat makes the vegan meal a lot less vegan. I'm not at a point yet where something like that bothers me. I'm just happy to have more food choices here that are vegetarian rather than just salad.

Tomorrow will be more checking in at the hospital. Maybe I will have much more to write about on Saturday after a good night's sleep on the new mattress tomorrow night.