Non-Stop Action

A few weeks ago, I spoke with an current expat in Aberdeen. She advised me to spend time with my family before I leave because it will be harder on them than it will be on me. Well I am definitely doing just that.

We moved out of our house on July 3rd, but our flight to Aberdeen is not until July 25th. Luke went offshore for his last two week hitch on July 5th (his 30th birthday). So, I would go no where else to live for three weeks but Houston. Whether Becca and Eric liked it, I planned to live in their spare bedroom until I left the country. Hopefully they don't mind.

Since leaving Covington, Luke and I spent July 4th in Jennings with his family. While there, we got to see some cousins that were visiting from out of town. It's been over a year since we saw them last. We also received a 30th birthday/going away gift... A super nice camera that we have been wanting to get for our future travels. We are thrilled to have it; I just hope we use it correctly and all of its capabilities! Oh and I hope we don't lose it or damage it!

On Luke's 30th birthday, we had the pleasure of waking up at 4am to head to the shore base. (If I haven't mentioned this in a previous post, Luke sold his 2002 Ford 150 so we are down to one vehicle) I have never been to the shore base before so I was not sure what to expect. Let's see... It took about 45min from Lafayette to get there. It was dark and foggy and the only cars on the road were heading in the same direction as us. We stopped at a gas station to get a bite for breakfast and a few other offshore workers were doing the same... all in the same attire. When we arrived, there were a few buildings for meetings, and there was the boat that transports Luke to his platform. It was exciting... NOT. But I did get to experience a small part of what Luke has been doing for the past year, so I look at it as a learning experience. From there, I drove toward Texas going through Kaplan and entering the interstate out of Crowley. Again, no one was on the road because it was 5:30am.

I drove to my folk's lake house in Coldspring, Texas while struggling to stay awake and arrived at 9:30am. I had already been up for about 6hrs at this point. Becca, Cooper and Zoey came a few hours later and the nonstop action began. Swimming, boating, playing, eating, drinking, drinking, drinking. Kids are exhausting, but I don't get enough of them and won't get enough of them for the next few years, so I play and play. Friday evening, Becca left and Eric arrived. Saturday night we watched a great fireworks show on the cove with prime seats on our upper deck. On Sunday, we packed up and went back to Houston.

Cooper and Zoey are waiting for the crew to get  ready/

We are ready!

Captain Cooper and the Co-Captain

It has been raining for the past few days and I have just been enjoying my niece and nephew and family. Luckily, I have been able to get up early enough to jog before it gets too hot. Let's hope that continues!

-Debbie-

Goodbye Albasha

On Friday, the movers showed up to pack the house. We were told they would show up between 8 and 10. Given that I have not been sleeping very well, I was very unpleasant on Friday morning... Wondering at 7:59am, while waiting for them to show up, if they were going to arrive in one minute or 2hr and 1min. I am usually a cheerful morning person, but I was not happy when the three guys showed up at 9am. I guess it could have been worse.

Since Luke and I tried to do some preorganizing, it did not take long for them get started. By noon, they were about 75% done with the inside. Since, I ate breakfast at 7am, I kept waiting and waiting for them to stop for lunch. I was wrong about that and my stomach could not take it any longer. We had very few things to eat from our refrigerator, and the best choice was handfuls of shredded mozzarella cheese. Or a beer. I chose cheese because it would be wrong to sit and drink beer while other people did my dirty work. Good thing I ate something because they never stopped for a lunch break!

We also had two more guys show up to crate our pictures and TV. ONE guy handled our TV and I don't think I took a breath during that 20sec of him moving it from one area of the room to another. After noticing I wasn't breathing, I felt it would be best if I left the room.

Both teams of movers finished for the day around 4pm. Even though I did not pack a single box, it really was an exhausting day. I had to be on the constant look out to make sure things were getting boxed and labeled correctly. Obviously, I didn't do the best job because a few things got packed wrong. Pray everything goes to the right location!

We could not take candles with us. We didnt realize how many candles we owned until they were all in one area.

For third time, made a donation pile. One of the movers took everything from the pile, but these guys.

Over the weekend, Becca and Eric came to NOLA to hang out with us one last time in The Big Easy. Let's give a shout out to Priceline for giving us two rooms at the JW Marriott for $80 each. Holla! The four of us plus other friends (Reed, Stephanie, Mark, Chris, Jay, Beth, Paul, Dave and Jen) hung out in our usual New Orleans hang outs for two nights. Still getting very little sleep, but at least I got to jog both Saturday and Sunday.

Sunday night, we had a quadruple date with the Rossignols, Carroll's and Venezia's at The Chimes for dinner. They gave me a gift that 'I would never buy myself', some Ugg gloves. I love them and plan to wear them on the plane!

Kelly, me, Jessica, Donna at The Chimes in Covington

My new Ugg Gloves!

Monday, the movers gave us a better idea of their arrival time so we got to sleep in a few more minutes. I think the movers were hurting more than we were because they kept saying, "I think I partied a little too hard this weekend." I kept my eye on one guy because he kept moving things to weird places in the house that later was going to get packed wrong. Let's just say that on Friday there was method to the madness. Monday, there was very little method.

Luke and I had nothing to do last night, so we got in a good jog before we crashed for the night. This morning, the movers beat us to our house. I guess they were feeling much better today than yesterday morning. They quickly moved things out of the bedrooms so I could vacuum the carpet. I would be surprised if the new homeowners kept that carpet - its just not nice looking anymore. A large silver crate showed up for our sea shipment. Those three men that packed up our house put our boxes and furniture into that crate like a 3D tetris puzzle. I mean there was no empty space for even a pencil... I was very impressed. Speaking of impressed, those men had some great manners and they worked nonstop on their feet for six hours straight. My back would not be able to handle that kind of work.

Boxes for Sea Shipment

Boxes for Storage

Empty Kitchen

Empty Living Room

Our first home together

See ya in Aberdeen Sea Shipment!

See ya in a couple year Storage stuff!

By 1pm today, both the storage shipment and sea shipment trucks were on their way. We watched the sea crate get sealed so we will know if someone has tampered with it along its journey. We have not yet said goodbye to our home since we will go back tomorrow to pick up two suitcases and a few things to take to our family. It is our last night in Covington, so of course our last meal was our favorite while living here: Albasha. We will miss you Albasha... You have kept us happy!

-Debbie-

A Working Orientation

Our last two weeks in Covington have been fairly hectic! We have taken on more than what I think most people can handle. With Luke working and me not, we figured we would follow Nike's motto of Just Do It!

Last week, we went to our Aberdeen Cultural Orientation in Houston. This was something we should have attended over a month ago, but it fell through the cracks due to Luke working offshore and me having to close out my school year. We flew to Houston on Tuesday night and luckily got to eat at Pappasitos before it closed for the night. Those of you who have never experienced Pappasitos mexican food should go to the nearest one to eat. I mean it... drive 5 hours and it will be worth it! On Wednesday morning, we went to our orientation not expecting to learn much. We figured that since we had already done so much research ourselves, we would be bored out of our minds listening to someone tell us what to expect. We were definitely wrong in the end. We got to hear from a former expat of Aberdeen, and also an Aberdeen native. It was great to hear both view points and ask questions that the internet just doesn't have answers to. We met one other couple that will be arriving in Aberdeen a few months after us. That Wednesday was our anniversary, so for dinner we went to The Melting Pot which I have been wanting to try for years. We ate way too much food! It was a fun experience but not something I would do often... especially since our pot of oil was way too hot and was popping on our arms. Oops! On the second day of our orientation, we started off with a tax orientation to learn how our taxes will be done while out of the country. Let me just say - those poor people who have to do our taxes deserve A LOT of respect. I understood it all, but I will take teaching rowdy kids any day over doing these kinds of taxes. After two days of useful information, we were exhausted, but we werent stopping there.

Our rental during our Cultural Orientation

Friday morning, Luke's family came to Covington to take any items they wanted from our home... within reason. We packed up a u-haul to go to a storage unit in Jennings. Luckily, there were quite a few of us doing this task so it went pretty quickly. And we got to spend time with the family which is a bonus. That night we went to The Chimes for dinner... ate oysters, had some drinks, watched a building fire down the road... and of course on the way home we went to Menchie's to eat some delicious self-serve frozen yogurt (I will miss Menchie's very much).

After saying good-bye to the family on Saturday, Luke and I geared ourselves up for a day of organizing. We have some guys coming to pack our house for us, but we wanted to make it easier for them (and probably us too) to know where our stuff was going. We have piles and piles and piles of things that have a certain destination. Domestic Long-Term Storage, Sea Shipment, Air Shipment, Luggage, and Donations. Our house went from being neat and tidy to insanely unorganized. I'll say this, our buyer's Realtor came by today for the termite inspection and was shocked when I opened the door. Embarrassing! I don't understand how people can live like that on a daily basis. Anyway, Luke and I continued our sorting through Sunday night. We packed up the TV, so I am stuck with a messy house, no TV, and a half-the-time-working internet connection. Luckily, any booze left in our house cannot go with us, so I am taking care of that situation :-)

Monday comes and Luke leaves for Houston to go to a conference with his future boss. Not the greatest timing for Luke to leave, but he will be learning more about his next assignment, so I guess its okay :-) Since he has left, I have been doing more sorting, tossing, organizing and the big task of packing our luggage. We are allowed to bring 6 checked bags total and then we get the normal amount of carry-ons. It is weird to pack when we really aren't leaving for a month. It is very confusing, and it has gotten to the point where I am just throwing things into space bags and sucking out the air. I figure, it is in the suitcase, we will need it eventually, its in there, so its all good! Ask me later how I feel about that method when I have to iron everything - grrrrr.

Luke comes back from Houston tomorrow (Thursday) and we will begin staying in a hotel until we leave Covington some time next week while our house gets packed up. Poor Luke has his 30th birthday next Thursday during this whole craziness. We will celebrate in Scotland soon at the Glenfiddich Distillery!

-Debbie-

"See You Later"

It's always difficult to say goodbye to those who have helped you through a stage in your life. When I moved to Covington four years ago, I was leaving behind some terrific friends that I couldn't live without. I moved at the beginning of July to allow myself time to settle in to a new home before starting a new job with complete strangers. I was going from a low income school with somewhat poor performing students to a high income school with high performing students. It was opposite ends of the spectrum. I was nervous from day one.

On my first day arriving to the school to see my classroom and start setting up, I was greeted by none other than my very own "sister." Pam Georges (we have random connections throughout our lives... Im just ten years behind) was the first to welcome me to what was soon to be some of my most wonderful years.

Today, I had one last lunch in Louisiana with my former co-workers who prove that it is difficult to even call co-workers. These women have given me strength and support in some tough times in the past four years and not once have I felt judged. It's tough to find that in a women-filled environment. They have helped me through psycho emails, wedding planning, stolen vehicles, weight loss, "ping-ponging", a half-of-the-time-gone-husband, keeping out the coons while camping, wobbling the berney, and most importantly shared the difficulty of having large calves.

Me and Paulette at Disney World with our 7th graders in April 2011

Christmas Party 2010

Beach Trip 2010

Christmas Party 2010

THE Best Middle School Team EVER

Last Day of School Trash Splash 2012

It was emotional closing the school year... especially since there was two weeks of preparation, but it was best for the students. I was saying bye to a group of kids that I had known all four years. It was a good feeling to hear how much of an impact I had on them, but so hard to leave them after so long. You don't realize how much you mean to someone until you part ways. I have such positive memories with these students, and I wish them the world when they grow up.

A picture drawn by one of my students

Gift from my Cedarwood Family - It is called Tiger Lily

Here is my classroom throughout the years.

Here is my classroom all packed up and empty.

My life in Louisiana has been an adventure that I will never forget. I knew that some day I would be leaving, but I never imagined that it would be so difficult to leave. For all of those people who made negative comments about Louisiana four years ago when I was about to make the journey, you have no idea what you are missing out on!


"It is not 'good-bye', it is a 'see you later'." -Jessica Williams

-Debbie-

To Buy!

Since we know that it is not cheap living in the UK, we decided to stock up or purchase some random things to hopefully save us a few pennies or pence for the next year. Such as:

-jogging clothes
-running shoes
-rain jackets
-paper towels
-toilet paper
-make-up
-Tony's
-Taco seasoning
-Mexican/Southwest seasoning
-laundry detergent
-deodorant
-hairspray
-toothpaste
-body wash
-face wash
-shampoo & condition
-other hair products & supplies
-shaving cream
-razor blades
-Brita Filters
-ink cartridges
-Frommer's Europse
-Scotland Culture Shock books
-trash bags
-headphones
-ziploc bags
-listerine
-vitamins
-We attempted to purchase some winter type clothes, but it is so difficult to do when cute summer clothes are in season. We did the best we could, but we still need shoes!


Luke about had a heart attack after each purchase. I just had to keep reminding him that it will be worth it in the long run. Let's hope we have no problems going through customs with our any large quantities items.


-Debbie-