Welcome home, Sam!

Sam is back from Korea! He arrived at Fort Hood, Texas, last week, and on Thursday I got a phone call saying, "Hey, Mom, tell Dad to pick me up at the airport tomorrow at 3:40. Oh wow! I know Sam grew up here and doesn't expect anything fancy, but after being gone for 1-1/2 years, how could he pick this weekend out of all the weekends?...

We are in the middle of a bathroom remodel, which has turned into the nightmare from the bad place, and the entire upstairs is a mess. This bathroom had 3 (yes, 3!!) doors, and I wanted two of them gone. This affected the adjoining wall in the girls' room, so that caused furniture and toys - not to mention their chair-rail with hooks for pj's and backpacks to have to come down. So... we moved their stuff into Nathan's room and the stuff under the bathroom cabinet into the kitchen. Are you beginning to get the picture? If my house is out of order, I feel scrambled in my thoughts, my transcription, my ability to cook, just everything! This is the mess that Sam walked into, and it made six of us have to share one bathroom. Don't I sound like a spoiled brat?! It wasn't that long ago when more families than naught had only one bathroom for the entire family.

Anyway, Sam tends to be a little unorganized himself (understatement!), so it didn't seem to bother him, and we had a really nice, albeit very short, visit. He picked up his car and headed to the Texas panhandle where he picked up Kenzie (wife), and together they headed for Fort Hood, which is located near Austin. We are hearing rumers - actually more than rumers - that he will deploy for Iraq in December, so this might be the only time I see him before he deploys for 12 months.

As for the bathroom, I'll keep you posted. A two week job is now into the third week, and I'm beginning to feel that it will never be back to normal around here!