wining

And whining. Because both apply. 

Yesterday, we unpacked the wine.... finally. It's been sitting in the kitchen in boxes making it hard to do, well, anything in the kitchen.. at all. A was home from work because let's be honest, he has no job... but officially, because our last move was coming... and DirecTV. 

Well, the move came and that took about 5 minutes. Then DirecTV came with horrible news, more on that later. For the rest of the day, and that is how long it took, seriously, an entire day, we unpacked all our wine and beer and olive oil. Wow. We have a lot. And for the most part, zee Germans did a pretty good job wrapping it up. We lost 6 bottles of beer. Out of 400ish bottles total (wine and beer). Those guys knew what they were doing. 

We had quite a system going. I'd unwrap. A would organize or put into proper wine boxes. At times, the counter looked like this...

Because our one lonely (ugly) wine rack was already full :(

And our dining room table looked and still looks like this. Maybe we'll get to these today?

And our stovetop looked like this. Notice the huge jug of olive oil from Tuscany. I could put a straw in that thing and drink. Seriously.

A's beer was also all over the place. Some of it still is...

And some of it is in racks... some in our bellies.

This is currently a side table in our office. Cute huh?! Wooden wine boxes.. filled of course.

And, this is our awesomely trashy wine closet. We got the idea from Kathryn and Ethan :) Of course, the movers had to break the wine boxes down when they packed them, so A retaped them. And he only uses duct tape.. for everything.. including wrapping presents. So the boxes look terrible, but they are properly labeled and stored perfectly. 

Now, one day later, we have 71 bottles without a home. BUT we also have a wine rack or two that we haven't unpacked (it's slow going in Ohio. We have nothing else to do, so we're drawing it out). 

And since I'm already on the topic of whining, here are my two main problems with Ohio. 1 - It is too hot and buggy to go outside. You walk outside, you are instantly drenched. You walk outside, you are instantly covered in what look like chicken pox, but are really mosquito bites that are going to stay with you for the next 5 - 7 days. So, to avoid the heat and avoid the bugs, you stay inside. This is NOT a good solution. I want to be outside. In Germany, we were outside 24/7. I was constantly walking the dogs and while doing so, talking to the Kaselites (being outside and social - two important things in life). We were both constantly sitting on our very awesome front porch, which was recently covered, so sitting and reading was a rain or shine activity. And our awesome front porch had a patio heater. So even in the cold we were out there. Until dark. Which in the summer was 11:30pm... and even then, we stayed outside. 24/7. Seriously. And even though the sun shines here way more than Germany (too much in my opinion), we were actually tanner while living in Germany. It may be rainy there and you may not have as much sun there as Ohio, but I saw the sun much, much more than I see it here. So now we live in Ohio, and we don't go outside, and for fun after work, we watch make dinner and watch TV... well... shows online because we can't get TV.  Some life, right? What do people do here for fun? Go to Target? Shoot me. Go to Wal-Mart? I'd rather shoot myself. I feel a rut coming on. Something is going to have to change.... and fast. And here is my number 2 - Chain stores. For America, and Americans, this place probably really isn't that bad. It's clean. And it's safe (so we're told). But my God, there is no character. At all. You walk around and think, hm, where am I? Not sure the city, not sure the state, but definitely America. Why? Because there are only chain stores here. Only chain restaurants here. Only shopping, and chain shopping at that. Target? Check. Wal-Mart? Check. Chillis? Check. Outback? Check. You can't buy anything without going to a chain. And people are ok with this. Not only ok, they do this for fun. I swear, people go to Bed Bath and Beyond for FUN (in part because there is nothing else to do). Shopping for scheisse you don't need is not fun. It's wasteful. Get a life. Get a hobby. Get a job (well, there's another issue entirely). I digress. There are no locally owned restaurants here, no locally owned shops, no locally owned coffee shops (sad face), and it's sad. 

To end my rant, here's my last and final problem (that I'll share with you, not in life!). In our relationship, if one of is being a Debby Downer, the other one cheers the DD up! The DD does NOT bring the other one down. It's a great thing we have. But here, we are BOTH Debby Downers. Both of us. And all the time. So neither one of us can snap out of it and cheer the other one up. It is going to be a long 10 months and 11 days (countdown to leave Dayton, Ohio). Hell, at this rate, it's going to be a long 4 years (countdown to leave America). How's that for Debby Downer.