We are.....

accomplished a ton but it at the same time it feels like we haven't been able to accomplish anything.

• We're living in our new house, we have water, gas, phone, electricity, cable and Internet
• We have no furniture to speak off--mattresses on the floor, high chairs and toys for the kids, a single lawn chair, a step stool, and 2 TV trays
• We went grocery shopping at Sams and stocked up on all kinds of unimportant stuff but have failed to remember to buy paper towels and trash bags
  
• I've learned my commute to work takes about 12 minutes, 17 if there's a lot of traffic
• Olivia starts school Monday
• We're still figuring out when and where Peter will start school
• Mike starts work in about a week and a half
• We hope our furniture (and all our other household goods) will be delivered Monday
• We're wanting to catch up with friends but just can't seem to find the time with all the stuff there is to do around the house
• I am loving my new job, and I've been too busy to even think about missing the kids (of course it helps that I know they're enjoying the extra time with Mike)

Cozy

Is a nice way of saying small. We started moving into our new house this weekend. It is in a great neighborhood. We have a nice backyard. It's in a great location and we like the neighbors. It is small, tiny, cozy, quaint. Olivia and I lived in a 15 x 20 hospital room for months, we can do this. We lived in a small apartment for months in Durham after Olivia was discharged from Duke, we can do this. We are going to live below our means. We are repurposing money that we might have spent on housing to pay for private schools. We don't need a gourmet kitchen because we want to be able to enjoy the fabulous restaurants in New Orleans. Bedrooms are really just for sleeping. Who needs a home office when you have an office at work. We are a family of four, we don't need a dinning room that seats 6, we can make do with an eat-in kitchen. The house is cozy but it's also kinda cute. It feels happy, it's got a good vibe. Does it sound like I'm talking myself into liking it? I absolutely am and I think a new iPhone might help continue to convince myself. Not sure yet, just something we're considering since we're living so far below our means and all. :)

Is this really happening?

Now that the physical labor--packing, loading, cleaning is over the emotional side is sinking in. I am very much looking forward to moving but I'm really going to miss our neighborhood and the friends we've made here! We hope to start our drive today so say a prayer for safe travels, good weather, and a car-sick free journey!

Packing Day

I hate packing day! It's such a strange experience to have other people pack up everything you own. Mike loves packing day so he's bummed that he is still having to do stuff at work this week. Mike hates the unloading and unpacking process, which of course happens to be my favorite part. I'll be at work though so he'll be there for the unpacking as I've been here for the packing up. Figures.

This is our 6th military move. In a military move you have a variety of options to chose from---you can let the contracted company pack and move everything, you can pack and move everything yourself and be reimbursed, you can pack and move some of your posessions and let the packers move everything else. Your weight limit depends on your rank and as a Captain with dependants we're authorized 14,500 lbss. We've done every combination of military move--when we didn't have any kids and didn't have much stuff we happily took the money and moved ourselves. When we moved from Oklahoma to Washington state Mike and a friend rented a Uhaul and moved our stuff into storage so that we could take our time driving cross country and sight seeing along the way. Our move from Washington state was a complete blur. I was completely consumed with getting ready to move into the hospital with Olivia and having to say goodbye to Peter. The contracted moving company arrived early one morning with 6 packers and our entire house was packed and loaded within 5 hours! Everything went into storage for 6 months while I lived at the hospital with Olivia and Mike moved in with a friend. Each move has it's own challenges. I think the challenge with this move is that it seems to be happening so quickly and the logistics of it are a little complicated. I start work on Monday. Mike still hasn't finished "clearing" Ft. Bragg yet (the "clearing" process involves Mike turning in equipment and getting signatures from all over the base, i.e. the library stating that we didn't have any overdue books). It has been so helpful to keep Olivia in school during the packing process so that I can clean while Peter is content watching Toy Story and Thomas DVD's. We pick up a U-Haul Wednesday to load with a few of our possessions and the beds. The packers will haul all our other household goods on Tuesday and Wedesday half of which are going into storage and half of which will be delivered next week to our house in New Orleans.

We have had a great moving crew though and that has made all of this so much easier! A husband and his wife from Boone, North Carolina arrived bright and early Monday morning to start packing up. They have grandkids of their own and enjoyed having Peter around.

Boxes, boxes everywhere!


Peter is perfectly content as long as he has Buzz Lightyear around!
Olivia has been able to stay at school during most of the day so she's not as affected.