TBMAC - "Home Is...

.... WHERE THE NAVY SENDS YOU."

So way back when we came out to California for house-hunting, we signed a lease on an almost-perfect home in the off-base military housing.  It wasn't quite our 1st choice, but after taking a look at the location and lay-out we were happy with it and signed a lease.  It was where the Navy sent us.  Then, on the night before our packers were to arrive we recieved a phone call from the Housing Office telling us that they were going to break our lease because the home was no longer available (long story short).  After about 24 hours of pitching a bit of a fit/panic attack/freak out, I came to grips with the fact that our 2nd choice for a home was not going to be a choice any longer. On to our 3rd choice, it's where the Navy sent us. 

... WHERE YOUR HEART IS."

So the Navy Housing assigned us to this home, the Personal Property worked to get our household goods delivered (a bit late, but delivered none-the-less), and it is our job to grow our family here.  

Although this home was not our first choice, I am really quite pleased with it.  It is smaller than our previous home in Maryland so we have a bit of a "Lots of Furniture in Every Room" motif going on.  You want a place to sit?!  You can sit here or here or here or here or here or here! Anywhere! However, that will be good for entertaining, right? Hosting spouse club meetings, playgroups, parties, visitors from the East Coast (hint hint, you know who you are) will all be easy in this home.  That is where my heart is. I love having people in my home; I am an extrovert and can't deny it. 

Our home has four bedrooms, and we are blessed to be able to give each of our kiddos their own room.  Grace gets a frilly girl room with a fuzzy pink toile bedspread, Matthew got a new bunk bed and gets to choose if he wants to sleep on top or bottom every single night, and Sam will get to sleep in a big boy twin bed as soon as he's ready (we tried last night... we found him under his crib... he's not ready). I have really enjoyed making each room a special place for each kid, and they loved helping put things in their new places.  That is where my heart is.  I love embracing each child's unique personality and flare.

My husband has been on leave for two weeks and we got to set-up our home TOGETHER.  We have one more month and a few days before he heads out on deployment and I am grateful for the time we get to spend with him.  He is where my heart is. 

...HOME SWEET HOME."

I'm so happy that the Navy has sent us here, that it is an "accompanied" tour and our family gets to be together, and Paul is home for a few more weeks!

The Big Move Across Country (TBMAC): The Load Up

Did you know I lived in a TOWN called California in Maryland?  Weird.  Well, now I live in the STATE of California. Navy life is awesome.

G & M enjoying the excitement.

Where do we begin?  Well, at the very beginning... it's a very good place to start. (Thank you, Maria from Sound of Music.)

Packers arrive on Wednesday. A guy and two ladies. Very nice, hardworking, and quiet.  All is well.  They work for about 5 hours and leave.  Day One - complete! Success.

Packers return on Thursday. Same guy and two ladies. They finish all the packing, but leave a whole bunch of stuff out... like rugs and pillows, etc. Day Two - 1/2 way completed. 1/2 way success.

M supervising the Move...
note: moving truck trying to back down our street.

Truck arrives on Friday. "How do I get my truck down your street?" -Uh, drive it????? Hmmm.... takes a few tries, but he manages to back it down the street to our house.  (In the driver's defense, our street is more of an alley than a street and people park their cars on the two streets that intersect with ours, so it was a bit of a tight fit.)
Loading begins. The workers work hard, but notice there are some miss-tagged boxes. [For any non-frequent movers out there, the packers packed up boxes and then stuck stickers with numbers on them.... then we get a form with corresponding numbers and they write what item/box/furniture goes with that number.  When we unload, we mark off each number when it is brought into our new house... essentially it is our inventory.]  So driver is tagging some stuff, and trying to organize the items already tagged by the packers.  I'm a little worried... I've never experienced confusion at this stage of the moving game before.  Sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach.

Loading continues.  The truck our driver brought was already 2/3 full of other people's stuff when he showed up at our house.  P and I both thought... wow, all of our stuff is going to fit in that little space?!  Hmmmm.  Well at least the truck will be ready to head out to CA right away.  Should have known better...
...around noon, the driver comes over to me, nonchalantly, and mentions "yeah... so... you know, there isn't enough room in this truck... so I'm going to call dispatch.... they'll send another truck." I think my eyes bugged out a little and my eyebrows raised - I'd like to think I raised one eyebrow in a very dramatic way, but I don't think I can even do that - so he quickly added, "I'll stay here the whole time and make sure they show up."  Hmmmmmm..... sinking feeling increasing depth.

 

Hallelujah - My mom shows up from the airport to help occupy the kids while all of their belongings disappear out of the house by a handful of strangers and go onto a big huge truck.

I run errands (returning cable boxes, etc.), come back, and the second truck has arrived... and a whole bunch of our furniture is sitting in our neighbor's driveway. I wonder how we are supposed to know which stuff/furniture/boxes is
on which truck.  Is there any way they are keeping track of this? Nope. Sinking feeling reaches even deeper depths.

Oh, and did I mention the second truck didn't happen to bring those big packing quilts that they wrap your furniture in to make sure it doesn't get dinged and banged up??? Nice. "Well, we don't have time to go get some," they told my husband, "but if you want we can come back on Monday to finish, [mind you it is Friday evening and our furniture is sitting outside at this moment] oh wait, Monday is a holiday... we could come back on Tuesday and finish." Yeah, that won't work.  P is leaving TOMORROW to drive our van across the country and I fly out with the kids on Tuesday.  Go ahead; pack up our stuff uncovered.  Feeling.... SUNK.


The driver of truck #1 assures us that he "thinks" he's heading straight out to California... he should be there in about a week.... but of course, remember, the contract with the Navy says they have until the 24th.  SURELY it won't take 17 days to get there, right? Riiiiiiight.

The driver of truck #2 assures us he will unload all of our stuff as soon as he gets to the wharehouse, cover all the furniture and re-pack it. Hmmmmm. Hope so.

And there goes most of our earthly possessions.... (today is October 19th and we haven't seen them since.)

A List of Lists

We found out last week that we need to be on the other side of the country by November 1.  Not too bad, right?  That's still a good three months away.  Moving is a part of the Navy lifestyle and isn't really unexpected in the least.   But now it means it's time to get organized.  One thing I know how to do is make a list... and here is my list of lists:

LISTS:
1. Grocery List (always ongoing)
2. Local Activities To Do Before We Move
3. Purge and Organize (basically this is just a list of every room and closet in our house)
4. Things To Do for Renting Our House
5. Things To Do for House-Hunting Trip
6. Things To Do for My Sister's Baby Shower
7. Phone Calls to Make Locally (Utility Companies, Dr's offices, etc.)
8. Phone Calls to Make At Our New House (Housing Office, Pre-Schools, Utilities, etc.)
9. Packing List (Items that need to come with us and NOT get packed by movers)
10. Decisions That Need To Be Made

You know you're making lots of lists when your daughter plays pretend and says, "I'm the Momma and I'm making a list!"