Worldly Goods

Due to a lot of unforeseen circumstances, this has been the longest move ever.  And certainly the most challenging.  Let me explain.

Back in October, the girls and I packed up all of their clothing, a few pieces of mine and some random toys/games/craft items that we thought they would like to have for the next few months.  I threw in 6 plates, mugs and sets of utensils to use at the new house and off we headed to our new home in the U.S. while B stayed with the majority (all?) of our things back in Munich.  The idea was simple.  We needed to buy a lot of things anyway - new bedroom furniture for the girls and ourselves (ours was going in the guest room), new living room furniture as the stuff we had would be going in the loft, kitchen table because we didn't own one...you get the picture.  It would allow us to live in two houses until B joined us in Florida a few months later.

We set up home here and learned to live without a lot of things.  But it was getting old not having enough dishes to make it through more than two meals each day.  And the girls were really missing their things.  And I was hating having to rebuy things we already owned just because they were 5,000 miles away.  And the big kicker, B still didn't have a move date!  This was not the way it was supposed to work out.

Finally, we made the decision to send our things home and for B to move into a furnished apartment in Munich until his job was finished there and he could ultimately move home.  So, 7 months after we left everything behind, it was packed up, put in our container and shipped home.  Ironically, it was the fasted shipment we had ever received (a month from door to door).

Leaving Munich!

It's here!  They did have to remove it from the container because it was too big for our streets.

My helpers for the day.

We can't forget this one.  She was a trooper at getting things checked off an in the right spot inside.  I did have to take the job from her when we realized that the packers in Munich might have been the worst we have ever encountered.  From putting the box number on the tape (where is wore off) to not using any paper to pack anything, to having boxes have empty and crushed, it was almost like they let 3 year olds pack us up.  We have a HUGE list of broken and damaged items but at least our things are home.

Now if I could just get out from underneath these boxes (and keep the cats out of them).  Moving with a half-full house presents a whole new set of challenges but I wouldn't trade it!

A Blast from the Past

    Just short of 8 years ago, we signed the form you see in the photo to the left.  It is a listing of all of the boxes and items that we were putting into storage as we were leaving for our new home in Chile.  Yesterday, I signed it again and took possession of, well, our possessions.  Of course, when we first signed it, we thought we were only going to be gone a couple of years, 3 at most, and all of these priceless possessions would be very useful to us when we returned.  Had we known that we would be leaving the country for so long, I think we would have rethought the keeping of many of the things almost all of what we packed.  At the time most of the items we put in storage were only a few years old.  It just seemed much more cost effective to keep it all and not replace it all upon repatriation.  But 8 years is a long time in terms of technological advances and also in terms of your taste in furniture/decorating/clothing styles.  My advice if you are ever in the same situation:  Sell it all. Even if you think you could never part with it and you will always have a need for that 300 disc changer, sell it.  Because you can't even donate it 8 years later; no one wants it.  Lesson Learned!  Though it was a fun trip down memory lane.

Why did I think I would want the two wooden Target stools?

No one will take the tv.  Except for the dump.

I did keep the Dyson.  But didn't exactly appreciate the fact that it got packed FULL of cat hair.  The cat passed many years ago but we still had almost all of her fur it seemed.

Look what music is in the boom box.  Yes, I said boom box.

I even kept clothing.  What clothing did I still think I would need even 3 years later?  And the double-breasted corduroy jacket is what I came up with???

1st day of school - again

Finally, the girls are in school.  You would have thought it would be an easy process since it's public and the neighborhood school.  But nothing is ever that easy, is it?

We moved into our house on the 12th, which was a Friday.  First thing Monday morning, Nana, the girls and I were in the office of their new school.  I had all of the forms and documentation needed to enroll them in my hands.  Not so fast!  First, we have something called School Choice here in Broward County.  This means that even though you have a school assigned to you if you would prefer to have your children attend a different school you can apply, and if they have space at your preferred school, you are enrolled there.  It did not matter that we wanted the girls to go to their assigned elementary school, we still had to fill out the forms stating this.  But first, they needed ID #s.  Request forms turned in while standing at the front desk we had nothing left to do except wait for the email that would give us their numbers so we could fill out School Choice paperwork.

Late in the afternoon on Wednesday, we got the email with their ID #s.  Paperwork was filled out immediately but there was another snag - we had to mail them in!  Snail mail - no emailing the forms, no faxing, not even able to take them to the office - they had to arrive by USPS.  So first thing Thursday morning the paperwork went out.  And then we waited.  Again.

I finally got an email from the school district on Tuesday with the confirmation that Stinkerbell would be assigned to our neighborhood school.  But somehow MadHatters was missing.  Seems that they forgot to tell me that you had to put both kids on the paperwork, but each child still needed to send in a copy.  It is now Wednesday, and by some miracle, MadHatters paperwork came through late in the afternoon.  The girls were finally enrolled in school.  And it only took us 10 days!

No matter that it was Thursday already - they had a school - they had teachers - they were going.  I dropped them off, looking none too thrilled to be doing this again...  

I don't blame them, this is MadHatter's 4th and Stinkerbell's 3rd new school in 6 years. That's a lot of upheavals and making new friends, and they aren't even out of elementary yet.  They are just hoping we can stay awhile this time.  So am I girls, so am I.

The first 2 weeks

We have been back in the US for about a week now.  It has been a whirlwind of activity and not much downtime but I have managed to snap a few quick pictures to show that we are all still alive (though not in school yet - don't get me started).

New car and official drivers license in hand on day 1!

Dad's getting blurrier as he gets older!  So glad we were there to celebrate his 70th!

B came in for a whirlwind trip over the long weekend.

She got her first Dr.'s visit within a week of moving (and her second a week later).  The stitches weren't ready quite yet which meant no pool time for another 5 days :(

{I'll post the story of how she got the stitches next}

I think we will keep the view!

I have been introducing the girls to all of my favorite board games - LIFE always made my top 5.

We finally got a place to sit.  This is the outdoor furniture and rug but it will work until we get the sofas and chairs we ordered.

Downtime on the flamingo.

And some downtime at the local theatre.  It has been so great to catch movies when they come out and in English!

The dentist!

The dog, on vacation, in Estonia.  Our pet sitter rocks!

MadHatter picked a few shades of blue to test out on her walls.  I'll keep you posted on how the rooms turn out and what color she picked.

Stinkerbell on the other hand only needed to see the one color in the store before she knew it was the one.  And she was right!

Quite a week, right?