The Trade: Puppies & Artwork

As you all know, we have a new puppy! Also, if you've read the blog 2 posts down, you know about the art programs that I am currently involved in. So, where does the trade come in?. . .I am no longer working at Starbucks. Gasp!

It truly was fun to work there, and I enjoyed everyone I worked with, but it was getting difficult to juggle 3-4 different schedules at one time. I had to weed something out, and since Starbucks was the thing I was least passionate about among all of the things I was involved in, it was the one to go. Not only that, but the development, recruiting, and planning of the art events allow me to utilize my college degree more, providing valuable experience if needed for the future.

I am able to watch the puppy while emailing and planning at home, then leave the little guy in his crate whenever I need to go meet with an artist or another person involved in the project planning. Also, I am now guaranteed to be home whenever Sean is off, which also means he can give me a break from the puppy.

It's been an adjustment, always having a puppy to consider before just going off to do whatever, but it's been good in helping us to better utilize our time. I'd say it was a good trade!

Update

Hey folks,

I just thought I would take a brief moment to update you all on what has been going on in with me. I have not posted anything on the blog in quite some time. Man have I ever been busy. This Air Force thing is like two jobs in one. Nursing plus Air Force duties. Pretty stressful...well that is all I can say for now....I have to go to sleep and then go to work.

Buh bye

Starbucks Update

I am officially a Starbucks employee. I've met with my manager twice, once for an orientation-type discussion and then to set up my training schedule. My training starts next Monday and although I know there will be some things that are new, hopefully everything else will come back to me quickly.

When the La Cantera Starbucks (my store) opens on April 21, I will work mostly mornings, with 1-2 evening shifts and about 20-25 hours per week, depending on Sean's schedule. This should work perfectly for both of us I think! I am also excited about working in a brand new store because we get to have a role in helping the manager set everything up. I love to organize and arrange, plus I just love that everything will start off so clean and shiny new! I'm really excited to get to work!!

Promising Prospect

I had an interview with Starbucks last week for a store that will soon be opening very near to where we live. I just got a call today that they want me to work for them!! There are a few things that need to be approved from Starbucks Corporate since I have worked for Starbucks in the recent past, but the manager that wants to hire me said there should be no problems. The store is in the La Cantera shopping center, about 10 minutes drive east of us off Hwy 1604. La Cantera is a georgeous new outdoor mall with lots of "high end" stores and nice restaurants, located next to Fiesta Texas 6 Flags.

I loved working for Starbucks last Summer, and am looking forward to going back! They have a very enjoyable, friendly working atmosphere. Plus, they will be able to work with me on matching my schedule up with Sean's so we can have days off together. Something we have discovered with the Air Force, is that Sean does not get to make his own schedule like he did at Penrose Hospital. He can request "Leave" for vacation, visitors coming etc, but other than that, he works whenever they schedule him. This means my schedule being flexible is a really good thing!!

The La Cantera Starbucks opens on April 21, but I will begin training at other stores in the area before then. The store hours will be 8am-9pm, so my hours won't be extremely early or late. I don't know yet when I will start or how many hours they'll want me to work per week, but have let them know I can work 20-30hrs if they need me to. I have a meeting with the manager on Friday that will allow me to give you all more details!

The Riverwalk

Sean and I had all day Saturday just to relax and do some sightseeing. So, after eatting at our weekend bagel place, we took off for the Riverwalk in downtown San Antonio.

Starting Over

I had my first substitute teaching job on Friday, and to be honest, it was horrible. I hated it!! The kids all liked me, but it was almost impossible to get them to do what they were supposed to. I was yelling all day just to be heard over their noise. They behaved very badly and did very little of their work. By the end of the day I had decided that subbing was just not for me. I would have rather just spent time with them doing fun stuff all day instead of trying to make them to do their work, which was something they obviously did not want to be doing. I had to send 4-6 of them to the office and even had a fight almost break out between 2 boys. I never saw this sort of behavior in the Christian school at the church I worked at in Colorado, that's for sure! So, now I'm going to start looking for different jobs. Fortunately we can make it financially until I find something else. I have already applied at several places, sticking with more office-type work.

Sean and I visited a church last night that we had been excited to attend. We had read about them on an online magazine we subscribe to. They meet Saturday nights at 6pm for singing and teaching, then go out to eat as a group. They seem to be a small, close-knit, yet diverse group of people. We did not go out to eat with them because I didin't feel well, but plan to go back next Saturday. Their web address is www.commongroundsa.com if anyone wants to know more about them.

We have also found our weekend bagel place!! For those of you who don't know, Sean and I have always had a tradition of going out for bagels on Saturday mornings. In Colorado, we went to Panera, but when we found out there were no Paneras in SA, we were dismayed. Sean searched the web for bagels and found a few places in town, but some were just too far away. The one we agreed on is Eipstein Bagels, which is a local, family-owned business about 15 minutes east of us on Hwy 1604. The family all work there together. They have pictures on the wall of when the father was a bullfighter. They are very nice people and have some wonderful bagel creations! I'm looking forward to getting to know them better as we become some of their regular customers!!

We'll continue to keep you all posted as we start over in San Antonio!

Decor-ama

Well, our stuff showed up on Friday and after an intense weekend of unpacking and breaking down boxes, it is done. The apartment now looks like a home. Thanks of course to the decorating dynamo (and my wife) Danielle. Anyway here are some pics of the newly decorated apartment.

Houston, we have furniture...

Job Updates

We have both been moving along sucessfully with our job stuff. . .

My interview with the San Antonio Independent School District (SAISD) went well. I go to orientation next Tuesday morning. I will be a substitute teacher for elementary through high school in SAISD's Area I, which is the closest of their districts to where we live. I will be listed as a fill-in for teacher's assistants as well, to increase my chances of getting called in to work. I was also able to specify which secondary subjects I would be willing to teach, so made sure I didn't put myself down for any math classes since that is my worst subject.

Sean is doing well with his In-Processing at Lackland. He has taken care of setting up all of our financial and medical stuff and is now doing some orientation tutorials and tests. On Friday, our household items will be delivered to our apartment and Sean will be given 8 more days off to deal with the details involved in unpacking and setting up at home. After this 8 day period, Sean will begin work in the Wilford Hall Medical Intensive Care Unit under the supervision of his sponsor, James.

We have both really appreciated the time-off that the Air Force has given Sean to deal with all aspects of the moving process.

Apartment Pics

Hey yall (That's Texas speak for "you all"),

Here are a few pics of our new apartment. Not much to see yet, since it is essentially empty at this point. Anyway, I know some of you must be curious to see what our new digs look like. So here you go.

New Apartment Pics!!!

Lots to Do!

For the last 1-2 days, Sean has been working on "In Processing" at Lackland AFB which will probably take the rest of this week. Because this is Sean's first assignment, he has a sponsor who shows him what to do - reporting for duty, vehicle registration, pay/bonus paperwork, military ID & insurance registration for spouse etc. Sean doesn't know where the appropriate offices for these things are let alone what all needs to be done, so his sponsor, James, helps him. There has been a lot to do, and James has been so helpful inspite of having a full work schedule in the ICU to focus on as well.

We have also had a lot of stuff to do at our apartment. We had to get food and a whole bunch of other basic items that either we needed (like shower curtains), or I forgot to pack with the stuff to get us through the 2 weeks of waiting for the moving company to arrive. It's funny how unimportant a can opener seems until you have cans of food, but nothing to open them with! I also forgot a knife, so have been cutting tomatoes with a Swiss Army knife because I refuse to go back to the store for one more thing!! We also had to go through the check-in process for our new apartment community and have already managed to lock ourselves out of our apartment.

The weather was beautiful today! I don't know what the temp was, but I got too hot in jeans. I think the weather is supposed to get cold later this week though. We are looking forward to hopefully visiting some family over the weekend, as well as going out to eat at The Melting Pot with a gift certificate from my former co-workers as a sort-of late Valentine's Day celebration.

We will continue to keep you all up-to-date!

We're Here!

We finally made it to San Antonio! It was a 2 day trip, 6+ hours 1 day and 8 hours the next. Sean will be reporting for duty tomorrow morning, so he will go to the Air Force Base while I start taking care of apartment stuff. After reporting, Sean will have 8 days to get personal affairs in order before starting work. It will be nice to be in our own place again, although we will have to wait almost 2 weeks for our stuff to arrive. Once our stuff arrives, Sean will have another 8 days off to get things taken care of. It will be wonderful to finally get settled!! Our cat, who is closed in yet another hotel bathroom right now, agrees!

We are excited about all the new things we have coming up. . .Dani has a job interview to be a substitute teacher next Monday. We have a few promising churches we want to visit. We love that we are in warmer weather (70's today) and look forward to just a 2 hour drive to the ocean. Sean is pleased to be working as a critical care nurse in a place that truly values his skills. We have many family members living nearby who we want to get to know better.

Of course, all of these new things mean a somewhat lengthy adjustment period as well, and we realize it won't all be roses. Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers. We'll keep you posted!

Starbucks Continued

Here I am at Starbucks again, reconnecting with my friends/family courtesy of T-Mobile. See previous post...Infinitely more interesting than this one.

As a matter of update, this next week will be my last week of COT. On Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday we will do our AEF (Air Expiditionary Force) exercise. "What does this mean," you ask. Well, it means we go and set up a tent hospital in a field on base and do mass casualty drills, a confidence course, rappelling tower, eat MRE's, sleep in stinky sleeping bags, go for days without showering, and other fun stuff. I am actually looking forward to this.

Wednesday evening we will have our Dining Out at the Officer's Club. Friends and family will be coming for this formal event where everyone wears their AF Mess Dress (Tuxedo). Much tradition, pomp and circumstance takes place here. Lots of neat/fun AF tradition.

Friday AM is the graduation parade and graduation ceremony. We march around parade style in our service dress with white gloves and such for the generals and our families. Then I get to fly home to my beautiful wife who has been faithfully administrating the details of the move to San Antonio (I love you, Sweety).

Thanks for reading, Y'all.

Sean

Countdown to THE BIG MOVE

We are both doing well and are just 7 days away from Sean's return home and our big move to Texas.

Sean has taken and passed his final test to graduate officer school. Today, they gave briefings/presentations in class and tomorrow they will have their physical tests (timed running, sits-up, push-ups etc). Monday and Tuesday is their 2-day/night mission, Wednesday is their nice graduation dinner, Friday is their parade march and graduation ceremony. Friday evening Sean comes home. It will be wonderful to have him back!!

My last day at work was Tuesday. Since then I have been very busy with errands, organizing/prep for the movers and having lunch and coffee with various friends to say goodbye. This weekend we will celebrate my mom's birthday in addition to mom and I going to lunch on Monday. Wednesday will be a big, final organization day, then Thursday the movers come to pack our stuff and Friday they load it all in the truck and take it away.

We are both really excited for our big move! Thank you all for keeping us in your thoughts and prayers through this transition in our lives.

I Love Starbucks

Hey all,

One of my fellow flight members dropped me and my roomate at a Starbucks for a few hours. It feels great to spend some time connecting with the rest of the world. Being trapped on base feels like you're trapped on a deserted island. No TV, no news. It's amazing how much you miss those little things. Although being without them has really enabled my flight to bond and establish a real sense of family.

So, this week started a little slow but it picked up at the end with the LRC (see previous post). LRC was essentially a bunch of puzzles that required physical solutions. Problem solving is fun...more fun when you bring in the physical element. It is always fun to show off your agility...did I mention I'm agile...not to be conceited, but I am. LRC was a blast.

Let me just say thanks to everyone who has emailed me or posted a comment on the blog. It feels really good to hear from you.

Here are a couple of quick pics.

This is my Flight. Echo Flight is our name.
We are one of two flights that make up the
Guardian squadron.


This is me and a couple of my fellow flight
members in one of the dorm rooms


Sean

A Change of Pace

Sean has had a change of pace for the end of this week. Thursday they attended a lecture given by the Air Force Surgeon General, then Thursday and Friday afternoon the officers have Leadership Reaction Courses. These are a series of obstacle courses where each flight (team) has to accomplish a mission. On each mission, flight members are assigned different responsibilities like flight safety or communications. The difficulty of the missions is so great that most flights only complete one out of six missions successfully. There are a total of 12-14 obstacles in all. Sean says it is extremely challenging, but fun!

Almost Half-Way There!

Sean is doing very well at COT now. He just took the first of two tests they have to take and pass to graduate. He only missed 2 questions, so passed with flying colors! He has also been able to get himself and his Flight (team) set up with network and email accounts.

This past weekend, Sean's Flight got to go to Outback Steakhouse and enjoy an evening of good old fun. Sean said he got to pull out his sense of humor and everyone just got to be themselves, which was wonderful. A break from the serious routine is always welcome!

The two major events coming up for Sean are his second test that he has to pass to graduate and his Flight's 2-Day mission starting February 6. Their graduation ceremony is the morning of February 10. I will not be able to go, but that is what we decided would be best since the movers will be packing our stuff, so it's OK. We're both just looking forward to getting on with our move and new life.

Sean will be flying home on the evening of February 10. We're almost half-way through the time until he comes home! When Sean arrives, the movers will have already come and gone, so there won't be a whole lot to do to wrap up. Then it's on to Texas!

Sean's First Week at COT

Sean's first week at COT started out sort of stressful - everything was a new experience and a learning process. Wednesday was the first full day and started off with 1 hour of physical training in the rain, then classes all day and meetings in the evening, followed by homework and uniform ironing until around midnight. After that first day, Sean figured it couldn't get too much worse, so started feeling more positive about things on Thursday.

Later in the week, everyone was assigned to "Flights" (teams of 15) which will work together to prepare for their 2-day/2 night mission that starts February 6. Sean's Flight is called the Guardians and Sean has been assigned the Computer Officer of his Flight. This means he is responsible for setting up all of his flightmates on the computer network, assigning them passwords, email accounts etc. Although working with computers is something Sean is very good at, this task has been frustrating because the base is currently having computer problems which are preventing people from getting online.

On Saturday, Sean and his roomate Nelson went to the base store to buy a few items, including detergent so they could do their laundry. Saturday night, Sean and a whole bunch of others went to the Officers Club to eat and watch the Broncos game. Sean and I talked at least 3 times that day, mostly during the game because he was so excited. Sunday was a big study day because, although they are off on MLK Day, they still have to go in for a test.

Although the schedule continues to be grueling, with very little free-time, Sean has been able to establish a routine and has started to adjust. I am so proud of Sean and how well he has been able to adapt to his new situation! I have enjoyed talking to him every day to hear what is new.

If any of you would like to send him a card or something, his address at COT is:

2LT Nicholas Bancroft (06-02)
550 E. Maxwell Blvd. #9000
Maxwell AFB, AL 36112-5000

How We are All Doing

Sean is feeling very tired and overwhelmed after yesterday. He could probably use some prayer. There are so many new things for him right now - new info & culture, getting up very early, lots of physical activity. Our recruiter told him he would feel this way though and that it would get better after a week or 2.

I am doing well and making a lot of progress with organizing our stuff for the big move. I keep over-doing though with moving heavy items and my lower back keeps going out. I've got a chiropractor appointment for Fri so should be better after that and then I'll just have to be more careful.

Mom and dad are keeping busy. They just got new garage doors and mom is making a list of what to do with the new space they'll have once we move. I officially gave them Buddy the dog on Monday. We can't take him because he just wouldn't do well in an apartment. He now lives, sleeps and eats with them, which is a relief to me because I find him sort of irritating sometimes.

Air Force Update

Well, we now know some dates regarding Sean's Commissioned Officer Training (COT) and our move to San Antonio. . .

Sean will leave for COT, which is being held in Montgomery, Alabama the morning of January 9. He will have 5 very full weeks of intense learning, ending in a 2-day mission with his team.

The movers are coming to pack and load our stuff on February 9 & 10. Sean will fly back to Colorado Springs on February 11 (hopefully) and we will leave, driving both of our vehicles, shortly after Sean returns.

On February 13, we will be able to check in to our apartment and the moving company will arrive with our stuff sometime between February 13 and February 24.

This move will be a big process, but we are looking forward to getting settled in to our new home and surroundings!

San Antonio Trip

We had a very successful and very busy trip to San Antonio, December 10-13. Patti & Joe (my cousin & husband) met us at the air port and then took us to supper on the River Walk where they introduced us to Joe's sister, Suzanne, and her husband, Bob, who is retired Air Force. Bob and Suzanne were able to give us lots of helpful advice and were so kind to let us stay in Bob's mother's house while we were in San Antonio. We went to Patti & Joe's in Austin for our first night so we could see some more of my relatives who live in the area. It was nice to catch up with everyone!

On Sunday, we returned to San Antonio where we spent the whole day driving around looking at apartments. We resumed our apartment search the next morning and then met James & Alisha for lunch and an extensive tour of Lackland Air Force Base. James was a co-worker of Sean's here in the Springs, then joined the Air Force Nurses Corp about 2 years ago. He and Alisha have been living in San Antonio since James joined and it was great to talk to them since they have already experienced so much of what we have ahead of us.

Tuesday morning, we looked at more apartments, then flew back to Colorado in the afternoon. Thanks for dropping us off and picking us up at the airport, mom and dad!

It was a whirlwind trip, but we did find an apartment that we are very excited about - 2 BR, 2 Bath with garage. It is located in Northwest San Antonio, about 25 minutes from Lackland AFB and has a lot of our favorite stores nearby (Starbucks, Super Target, Pier 1, Barnes & Noble). It is also near a newly built mall and 6 Flags and has some nice, new parks in the area. We have placed a deposit and are in the application process right now!

We will continue to post news about our transition on our blog and hope to have some of you visit once we get situated!!

It's Official!!!

Below is a link to pictures from my Air Force commissioning ceremony. I was commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant in the United State Air Force on Saturday, November 19. Yes that's right, I am now a commissioned Air Force officer.

I was very honored to have my Grandma B there, as well as several other family members and some of my good friends and co-workers. So what's next? I'll be off to Montgomery Alabama in January for Commissioned Officer Training (COT). After 4-5 weeks of COT we'll make the move to San Antonio.

Click here to see the PICS

Air Force News

Incase there are those who don't know: For the last 3 months, Sean has been going through the steps for joining the Air Force. We received the news this week that he has been accepted and we will be moving to San Antonio, TX in February!

Sean will serve as an Officer in the field in which he has his college degree: Critical Care Registered Nursing. He will leave on January 9 for four weeks of Commissioned Officer Training in Montgomery, Alabama, and will be working out of Wilford Hall Medical Center at Lackland Air Force Base once we move to San Antonio.

A few years down the road, he hopes to continue his education through the Air Force within the medical field. We are excited about these life-changing opportunities and look forward to traveling to new places as Sean receives different assignments throughout the years!