Update

This is a picture of the bear behind our house. Yes, that's right. This big black bear was about 50 feet from our back fence. Here's a closer view.

Here she is lounging under a tree, waiting until the opportune moment to grab the trash out of someone's can in the very populated neighbohood 50 feet away. Whoa. And I say "she" because there are cubs! We haven't seen them yet, but our friends almost hit them when they ran across the road in front of their car! The military is giving us all "bear cans" with latches that you need thumbs to open.

We are home. I'm learning how relative "home" really is. We are living in base housing (the new ones now!) Our old house is fenced off and should be getting knocked down any day now. This is the second house I've lived in to be demolished after I've lived in it. Weird.

We've been surprisingly busy these past few weeks yet doing nothing in particular. I went to a weekend yoga workshop with Baxter Bell here in Panama City and it was great! I loved learning more about the yoga that I enjoy so much! And a whole weekend of yoga was awesome!

In earthier news, I got this produce box from Off the Vine Produce, like a CSA, that gathers food from nearby farms and sells it to subscribers. It's neat because it gives me things that aren't necessarily available in my farmers' market (it's closed for the season so I have to search for roadside stands now) and things that I wouldn't necessarily buy - like rainbow chard, broccoli, and potatoes. This is a picture of what was in my box: spinach, cherry tomatoes, carrots, yellow tomatoes, rainbow chard, zucchini, grapefruit, corn, grapes, potatoes, onions, and plums... oh my!

We've also been sailing at least twice a week now with the boat beached at a friend's house. Today, we went test driving cars. I drove a used Mini Cooper, used Subaru Outback, new Outback, Impreza, STI, Pontiac Vibe, new Mitsubishi Lancer, and Rob drove the new Hyundai Genesis Coupe (speedy). We haven't made any decisions yet.

I'm itching to "settle" after almost 5 months of temporary living. We were in temporary housing for a month, house-sitting for 2-ish months, backpacking Europe for 1-ish months, and now in base housing with our stuff boxed in the garage for almost a month. We're keeping most of it boxed to make it easier to do a DITY move to Abilene when the time comes. But, I'm getting really tired of not seeing my own stuff on the walls and living like it's "mine."

Awesome things:

Sleeping in our own bed!!!! Ahhhh. SOOO wonderful!! We have been sleeping SO well!

Having my favorite kitchen appliances! I can't live without my kitchen aid mixer, a coffee-making apparatus (french press or grind and brew), and my blender/food processor... oh and good knives!

The counter space in the new base housing. It's a lot! A lot.

Sailboat on the beach! We have it all set up and ready anytime we want to go sailing! Rob gets home from work and we go sailing! It's so fun! And the discord that inevitably resulted from raising and lowering the mast is no more!

Not-so-awesome-things

Looking for a new car for me when all I really want is my old Miata back. Poo. It makes finding a new car so bittersweet.

Having one car. You don't realize how much freedom two cars gives you until it's gone.

Our stuff in boxes. It's no fun when you realize you need something that's in a box, you don't know which one, and you don't want to look for it, so you go along with your course slightly more frustrated than if you had the thing you needed.

The Florida heat. I still MUCH prefer it to cold, but like a long winter in a northern climate, Florida's long summer has me asking "when is the weather going to change?"

People asking us what our next plans are. We don't know. We never will "know." Why do people ask us what we're doing next ALL THE TIME?

The most awesome-est thing:

Spending every day with my amazing and wonderful husband!! When I'm near him, I feel happy, content, loved, and at "home." Ahhhh.