We're Here!

That's right. We made it and are officially moved in.

There were only a few mishaps along the way. Well, really just one. Our stuff didn’t arrive when originally promised. We called the carrier, the military, the dispatcher. No one knew where our stuff was. Our hands were tied, so what did we do…we sat in an empty house and waited, guessing where our stuff might be…on its way to California, strewn about the highway, burnt to a crisp…let your imagination run wild. Luckily, our stuff arrived the next morning, with little to no damage that we have found thus far. Our only total loss was a small pressboard bookshelf that a neighbor had given us.

We have nearly unpacked all of our boxes. The master is the only room left that really has boxes. We unboxed the kids’ rooms first so that they would have something to do while we worked on the rest of the house.

Justin and I have different unboxing methods. He is more of a “get-everything-out-of-the-box-first-so-I-can-get-the-box-out-of-the-room” kind of guy, where as I’m more of a “let-it-sit-in-the-box-till-I-know-where-I-want-to-put-it” kind of gal. During our last move, Justin unboxed everything by himself while I was in another state waiting to give birth, and the move before that was fairly simple, and we hadn’t yet established our unboxing styles. We are a bit more set in our unboxing ways now that we are “old” (in the military, we are nearly over the hill), so we are doing a bit of compromising and it is all coming together nicely. I bet everything will be in its place before he reports to work on Monday.

This being our fifth move in ten years, we have learned several lessons about moving.

1. Do not, for any reason, leave your valuables assessable to the packers, no matter how nice they are. They might just steal from you.

2. Be sure to pack truly sentimental items with you. No one will ever be able to replace those baby books or expensive instruments should they be lost or broken, so take them with you.

3. Be kind to the movers. Don’t forget, they are the ones who will be transporting all of your worldly possessions to your next destination. Upsetting them might not be good for your belongings.

4. Although not technically required, feed your movers. They tend to move a bit more quickly when their tanks are full.

5. Do not plan to do anything else on moving day(s). Packing, loading and unloading take time, and no matter what time they guesstimate they will be done, add several hours to it.

6. Be flexible. Each move is different (different locations, different numbers of family members, different amounts of belongings). Be as organized as possible, know who to call if there is a problem, and relax. As I have learned, getting uptight doesn’t do anything for anyone.