DC At Last (And A Few Thoughts on Packing, and Oakwood)

We made it! It feels so good to finally be here. When I caught sight of the Capitol dome driving into the city, it brought tears to my eyes. What a journey this has been, from the FSWE to this moment. In just a few short days, I will have the Bid List in my hands!

Before I get busy with other things, a few notes on packing: I have read of people with spreadsheets and lists and evil master plans to take over the universe with their packouts. I was not one of those people. I made the mistake of a) waiting until I got The Call to start cleaning out my house, and b) taking only a week off between my last day of my old job and packout. The latter was a HUGE mistake, and did not leave me enough time to pack properly (I'd lived in my house almost 10 years and have a child.). Consequently, I scurried around and made giant piles for UAB, HHE, and to drive here in the car with us. I have little idea what I have with me, but I know I erred on the side of being in DC for lengthy training, and brought a little of everything. The car was so full that we looked like Ma and Pa Clampett pulling into town. It didn't help that I decided to pack in trash bags to save time and space! With my luck, I will probably get sent abroad as soon as A-100 ends. Anyway, I can now see the benefit of maybe taking a little more time and creating a few more lists of what I am packing, and what went where.

We are pleasantly suprised by our Oakwood accomodations. We are pretty picky about housing, but agreed that with everything else we had going on, there was no way we were going to try to find our own housing, when we could just do Oakwood. From all of the criticism we'd read on the Yahoo group boards, we were expecting dumpy on-campus college apartment living. Our kitchen has junky particle board cabinets and early 80's almond colored appliances (I can barely hear myself think, the dishwasher is so loud right now). The bathrooms are similarly outdated. However, the carpet is new, much (although not all) of the apartment has been freshly repainted, and many of the furnishings appear new, and are relatively stylish. The linens are nice, and there are six place settings of dishes (although, only four chairs for the table!). The layout of the apartment is nice, and it's more spacious than I expected. All in all, we are pleasantly surprised by it. I'm glad we chose it, as it certainly was easy to simply show up and check in like you would at a hotel.

And now, more unpacking! Maybe I'll find something interesting...

Moving Forward

Somehow, it all worked out. For logistical reasons, it made more sense for me to take the baby and go to my in-laws last night. My spouse stayed here with the movers and continued to work on things. The movers showed a little after 4, and were done around 8. I had a nice dinner, the in-laws and the godparents got to see the baby (who is currently teething and screamed the whole time, but that's another story), and there was even strawberry-rhubarb pie. And, I got a good night's sleep to boot.

The house is almost empty. I have to pack the car and clean the dregs out from a few more rooms, clean a bit, and then...dare I say it? Then, we'll be done!

Movewatch 2010: The Update

So. The moving company just called. It turns out that the load on the movers' truck that "had" to be unloaded at 7am today at a location 87 miles from our house is...still at that location, and still loaded. Yes, that's right, they've been sitting there all day, and are...still 87 miles from my house. The company representative called to give me a "helpful" update: they will (allegedly) be at my house at around 4pm. Today, supposedly. He has apparently "ordered" the truck to leave for my place without dropping off the existing load.

Frankly, although it's a bit of a pain that they keep moving the date and time of the move around on me, I really don't care. I mean, I'm here at my house doing all of the last-minute things I would otherwise be doing. I'm beyond sick of cleaning and organizing, and would be going crazy even without playing the movers' version of musical chairs with my move date. I can roll with just about anything.

However.

I did get a little annoyed when the moving company rep apologized to me that they "weren't able to accomocate" me yesterday, as though all of this was occasioned by their attempts to help ME out by moving on a Sunday. I pointed out to him that the move yesterday was for THEIR convenience, not mine. He said something else that made clear that he didn't know how many times they had called and changed my the date/time, so I walked him through the timeline. All he could say was "um, it's not usually like this."

We were supposed to spend tonight with the in-laws, who live 90 minutes from us. We were supposed to be having a turkey dinner. Given the movers' current ETA, that's obviously not going to work, and I feel horribly guilty, even though it's not my fault. I'm sure the in-laws were looking forward to seeing us all one last time, and my spouse's godparents are in from out of town to meet our child for the first (and perhaps only) time.

Where's Waldo?

There used to be a PSA that came on one of the local cables channels. I can't remember what time it used to air. I want to say 10pm, but that seems kind of late for this particular PSA. Anyway, my memory is that it just had a graphic of a clock, and a solemn voice would say, "It's 10pm. Do you know where your children are?"

I am reminded of that PSA today. The voice echoes in my head, albeit slightly modified: "It's noon. Do you know where your movers are?"

Nope, no idea, because I still haven't heard from them today. They had a drop off at 7am 87 miles from here, and were going to call when they were done there.

The Initiation Rite of Packout

I think we are being hazed. Our packout has long been schedule for Monday. On Thursday, they called to see if we could move it to Wednesday. I pushed back on that, because we are leaving on Wednesday. On Friday, they called and said they were coming first thing Sunday. Yesterday, they called and said that the truck broke down, and they would be here between 10 am and noon. This morning, they called and said they could be here by 4:30. I explained that they were welcome to come, but we are having a huge party tonight. They decided to come at 7am tomorrow, instead. Then, they called one more time, to see how tight our timeline is, because they are supposed to be somewhere else at 7am tomorrow. Current ETA: early afternoon tomorrow. Want to take bets on whether they actually show then?

More Chaos!

The movers called yesterday to say they are coming a day early. As in TOMORROW!!! I am never going to finish…

Chaos

Our packout was scheduled for Monday, but the mover just called, and they are coming TOMORROW for our UAB. There are two different comapnies moving us-one for our UAB and one for our HHE. It's not a huge deal the UAB is being packed early, because I have (mostly) sorted out the UAB already, but still...yikes! They called and wanted to reschedule the HHE packout by a few days, too, but that we just couldn't do. They were nice, and gave us a choice, though.

We were planning on renting our house to a particular tenant, but that arrangement appears to be falling through, and I'm not fond of our backup choices. We may have to hire a property management company, but I'm not fond of any of those around here, either.

I still have boxes in the basement and a few closets to sort out. We're having a new stove delivered tomorrow, as the one we have now needed replacement before we have tenants. We're having a giant yard sale all weekend.

I still have insurance issues to deal with...new tires need to go on my car before we head to DC...the windshield just got a crack in it, and the oil needs changing...there is a graduation party we must attend this weekend (briefly), and we are having a going away party, too. We are clearly going to run out of time before things to do! One thing is sure--I can't wait to be in the car driving to DC.

Progress?!

I'm sure that we ARE making progress...but it sure doesn't feel like it. Simply put, we have too much stuff. Waaaaay too much stuff! I've pretty much emptied the basement, save a few last boxes. The house is mostly done, but for one cupboard and one closet. Oh, but the garage! We've barely begun to scratch the surface out there! It's a bit scary, really.

We've gone back and forth about what to bring with us. Some pieces of furniture are no-brainers, like our bed. Some pieces, though, are fragile or have sentimental value, and we are reluctantly leaving those behind. I hate the idea of living without our things, but I don't want the headaches or heartache of moving/losing certain pieces. I think we've struck a good balance, though, of taking enough so it will feel like home, but keeping enough safe so that we can deal with any damage/loss.

We're leaving all of our books (except the unread ones, of which there are many). The decorative stuff-the art and odd doo-dads we have collected throughout our life together, we are also inclined to leave behind, if for no other reason than we are kind of sick of them. There are a few items I want to take, but mostly we are ready to reinvent our decorative style, and here is the perfect opportunity. Plus, it will give my significant other something to do when we finally do get to post, and when we someday return, we will have boxes filled with history to unpack and our old things to fall back in love with. Hopefully, we will be posted somewhere with interesting odds and ends, because otherwise, our house may be a bit bland!

We did pick up a new set of dishes. Ours were looking a bit ragged. We have a wonderful collection of funky wine glasses, but we've agreed that they won't be making the trip. (I might rethink that, as they can be repurposed as water goblets, and they do have a certain amount of style-I'm not so attached to them that I'd be sad if they were broken.). We still need a new set of decent wine glasses, but we're going to wait and pick some up in DC. We're taking a variety of linens, and a wide array of clothing; our camping gear; and loads of Christmas decorations and wrapping paper.

It's so hard to figure out what 600 pounds looks like. We're driving to DC, so we'll be taking some stuff in the car (mostly, clothes, toiletries, and certain kitchen items). Our UAB (air shipment) to DC will contain more clothes for all of us, and possibly the Christmas decorations, if we can fit them. It's hard to know how long we'll be in DC, so it's hard to figure out what to take, and then because of the weight limits, we'll have to prioritize. So, clothes obviously have a priority, but I'd like to make sure we have a proper Christmas, too, if we are in DC.

It was starting to get hard to keep saying goodbye, but all of this packing-sorting-purging has made me wish this next week would hurry up and go by. I can't wait to be done with this part, and it's making it a lot easier to be ready to be out of here, if that makes any sense!

Gah

If you are on the Register, but have not yet received The Call, or even if you are still awaiting your clearances, stop what you are doing IMMEDIATELY. There is something important you must do right now: start cleaning out your basement...your garage...your closets. No really, START RIGHT NOW!

The last few weeks have been a crazy mix of family things and sorting out and finishing work amd trying to sort out onsurance issues and trying to find good tenants and trying to say goodbye to people, and, and, and...it's been CRAZY. I really wish I hadn't procrastinated and waited to start doing all of this until after I got The Call. I had the best of intentions, and planned to startpacking/sorting/weeding out months ago, but didn't. We've lived in our house for almost a decade, and let's just say we have acquired a few things "just in case"...I am a "saver" by nature, and now I'm really regretting it! I'm not sure I am going to get everything done. The movers come in about a week. Time is MELTING!

It's hard to believe that I start A-100 in a few short weeks. This has been a highly theoretical endeavor for so long, it is almost surreal that we are about to leave for DC. I cannot wait to pull out of the driveway. That will mean everything is done, and that will be a HUGE relief!