Thursday, August 20, 2009

You Get What You Pay For or Why Moving Is Super Fun

This past week has been a time of nearly constant motion. We paced ourselves so that the work didn't become overwhelming, but it did seem, at times, that it would never be done (at least to me. Greg has been incredibly confidant and relaxed for the most part. I just like to tweak out sometimes for the sheer joy of it).

When the Army moves an individual or a family, they pay movers to do all of the work. You don't actually have to do anything besides packing your suitcase for the flight (which they also pay for), and cleaning up the empty house afterwords. However, personally, I'm not a fan of opening a box at The New House, and discovering that it really should have been labeled Desk Clutter Pile... and another named Nightstand Junk Yard... etc. Also, within the rooms themselves, there were certain areas that needed to be organized. This pretty much meant that I had to weed through and re-organize ALL of my things, since I don't live a terribly ordered existence. You could say that the places I live in have a tendency to look...er...lived in rather quickly. There are even some people who say that perhaps I have a bit of a Saving Stuff problem that kind of looks like I'm decorating with piles of junk. Kind of. But that's just some people's opinion.

Moving right along.

The moving company overseer (chief?) came by a few days ago to see how many boxes and time they might need for our household. We were scheduled for a pack-up today, and a pack-out tomorrow. This morning, Greg and I woke up at 6:30am to do the finishing touches on the house; the movers were supposed to be here sometime after 8:00am. Several hours later, the transportation lady (who coordinates the move) arrived, and was surprised to find no workers packing our house. A few phone calls and about 2 hours later, we got a return call from the moving company overseer, matter-of-factly stating that "Of course, we're coming tomorrow, and it will be no problem to pack you up and out on the same day. Of course." Of course.

Seeing as it's quite fun to be functioning in a holding pattern of manic cleanliness and organization with 4 small children, we see no problem with this, and we look forward to future moves. Heck, let's do a move every weekend! YAY!! International moves are so inspiring. The way people work together, communicate, and function as a unit. It's really quite beautiful.

I'm going to go cry into a giant mug of mocha. If you need me, I'll be rocking, arms over my head, in a corner somewhere in the attic. God help us all.



7 comments:

Sarcy said...

Not an international move, and only fur-children were involved, but in a similar spirit: the week before we got married, Dave and I planned to move our respective households into our new house. We rented a moving truck and picked up my furniture and boxes, then drove it up to his apartment, where I was stunned to see that NOT A SINGLE THING WAS PACKED. You would never guess that someone was supposed to be completely vacating that apartment that day.

We got it done, but it was painful, and I had no lovely mocha to cry into.

Sympathy and blessings, my dear.

Christian said...

I HATE moving and feel your pain with our whole moving fiasco last year - it was a nightmare. I still shutter to think about it...

Praying for your sanity!
-Christian

Anonymous said...

Army Brat MIL here: try doing that 19 times in your life (with four of us kids) and a hyper-explosive father overseeing the operation.

Jill

Anonymous said...

We're praying for you!

:-)

Jill

Anonymous said...

i don't envy you at ALL! Ugh... in only 3 months, i'll be in your shoes. yuck. praying for you. God Speed (back to normalcy)!!
xoxo
ma

a.susie said...

WwwooooowwW!!! I would have been depressed if I had read this the day it was posted! Yiiiikkes! Glad it's finally done. I hate moving and have sworn never to do it again......until next time....

Sarcy said...

Not an international move, and only fur-children were involved, but in a similar spirit: the week before we got married, Dave and I planned to move our respective households into our new house. We rented a moving truck and picked up my furniture and boxes, then drove it up to his apartment, where I was stunned to see that NOT A SINGLE THING WAS PACKED. You would never guess that someone was supposed to be completely vacating that apartment that day.

We got it done, but it was painful, and I had no lovely mocha to cry into.

Sympathy and blessings, my dear.