January

We got our household goods yesterday morning & spent all day yesterday unpacking & washing everything! Still have so much more to go

First, some moments from our everyday lives..

(omelette) hub LOVES making breakfast...

we love to cuddle

this floor never stays clean! always footprints!

Other random daily things:

We have been going to the gym on base a lot. Trying to be fit & healthy.. its been going good.

The truckers took a 3 day break from the strike (thats why we were able to have our stuff delivered) & road blocks are gone right now but word is that they are going back on strike today. It has been a little bit of an inconvenience.. having to drive through a road block every time we leave home for the base (which is every day..) & having no gas. Things also weren't being delivered to the stores... I learned to appreciate milk! I LOVE milk. we bought 4 cartons the day that the commissary got it back in. The strikes are no fun for anyone but I understand why they are doing it. Gas prices are so high (we use gas coupons..but the italians are paying $7 or $8/gal) that they aren't making any money from deliveries etc. & even though its pretty weird to drive through the road blocks REALLY close to lots of parked trucks/tractors/people/signs/barriers.. they have been very nice to us so far. Enough about the strike..

Here are a bunch of pics from the unpacking process:

loaner furniture 

these guys were awesome! fast & so nice!

in charge of checking off each item on the inventory

in a sea of packing paper

we have so much stuff! we are so blessed to have so much.
this house is big but very different from our last one..so here we have all kinds of things
in the kitchen that dont seem to match at all! we will get it looking right eventually:)

living room for now. we decided on getting a new couch..

having it delivered on saturday (hopefully)

LOVE having our comfy bed again. new duvet cover from urbanoutfitters.com

front door makes me happy

this is the car we are borrowing from a friend until

robs truck arrives. might consider buying. everyone

needs an island beater!

In the last few weeks we did some other fun things...
So happy to have finished indoc! I learned a lot. But I'm glad its over.
During indoc we spent a day in Catania at the market/lunch/walking around (you probably already saw these pics on facebook but I just cant leave them out!)

Elephant Square in Catania "Piazza Duormo"

breakfast

john & his macchiato

my FAVORITE

squid ink pasta

Recently we also drove up Etna with our friends Shannon & John (thanks guys for the pics!)

We ended up riding the cable car things up the mountain for an awesome view. & they let us take our hot chocolate

thats all for now. must go unpack clothes! its weird that we haven't seen this stuff in 2 months. taught me to be a little more simple. i like it.

love & miss my sweet friends & family so much!

Starting off 2012..

not really lists this time. just blurbs of thoughts from different days & a few pictures :)

For New Years, Rob & I spent the night with our friends Wes & Arlene & their 2 little girls. It was awesome to get out of the house & enjoy a few hours just eating & sitting around the fire visiting with them. They have a 3 story home & we watched at least 15 or so firework shows from across the towns down the mountain from them & even on the mainland. It was beautiful! & the daytime view from their 3-level back yard is gorgeous too. You can see the towns below, the med, & mainland Italy. (sorry I was too lazy to go up to the 3rd floor to get my camera for a shot from the back yard! next time)

The same weekend we met their family again & followed them to a market in Catania near Elephant Square. The buildings, statues, streets are so rich in history (didn't take my camera this time either). There were fishmongers set up all over with tons of raw fish & other animals of the sea..& water splashing everywhere. Rob bought a big hunk of raw tuna & ate it with soy sauce when we got home. There were also vendors with all kinds of fresh produce & cheeses. We got fresh oranges finally!-delish! I have been dying to try them (we drive past orange orchards daily). We also got tomatoes, olives, bananas, etc. After the market we went to Porto de Catania which is a huge mall. We spent most of our time at Auchan (huge grocery/walmart-ish store). We got some Sicilian eggs, milk, soap, wine, cheese, a pot & pan (still waiting on our household goods) & a few other things..But by far the very best purchase of the day was a long fresh loaf of bread & a dark olive oil that Wes recommended..together the 2 are fantastic!!

Pinterest! I love it. It has allowed me to spent countless hours that some would think were wasted..doing very important brain storming, good-idea finding, & thought organizing. It has also allowed me to get a nesty feel & think about fixing up the house when I can’t do much yet & really need to wait on our stuff to arrive before buying or changing things.

I love the thrift store on base! I was looking online for a sewing machine & saved one on amazon that was about $80. I got an older version of the same one for $3! YES!

Friday we started our indoc class. Very informative. Lots of good stuff. but soo long.. & several more days ahead.

We have seen 3 rainbows in the past few days! Apparently there are rainbows near Etna pretty often when it rains..awesome reminder of God's faithfulness

(already posted this one on facebook) Mt. Etna erupted a few days ago. We missed the lava but when we woke up the smoke cloud was still pretty awesome

The video of Etna erupting on this site is awesome!

This pic is from that site:

The eruption was Thursday. Clouds were covering Etna all day Friday. Today snow was covering the mountain again. We decided to drive up a little ways again just for fun.

nice hot chili for dinner to warm us up:)

If it seems like I'm a little obsessed with Mt. Etna..I am. I've never lived right next to a huge volcano before! & most of you know I'm pretty easily amazed with the beauty of the sky/nature/mountains/etc

More random things...

Being resourceful:

This is our state of the art cutting board- its plastic plate with the edges cut off

Rob is currently obsessed with banana pudding

I think that's all my thoughts for now. Missing my sweet family & friends..thinking of you & praying for you often!

ciao :)