Midlife Army Wife

We’ve spent the last week hanging out with friends and family, saying our goodbyes.  Thankfully we’ve been able to spend a lot of time with my parents, Hubby’s mom, his grandmother, and great friends before we go.  We also ventured a tiny but out of town for a couple days to spend the night with some of our dearest friends before the packing/loading/moving starts.  It’s been nice to have the time to just talk, laugh and play with everyone one last time.  Of course, we’ll be able to keep in touch, so it’s not like we won’t see them again.  We’ll get Skype once we settle in our new place and we’ll be able to video chat with friends and family.  The wonders of the internet will help keep us all close. 

Lovebug has been saying her own goodbyes.  Last week we had a playdate with one of her very best friends.  They are going to become pen pals to help ease the transition, sending pictures and letters to each other.  She’s also been saying goodbye to her play structures in the yard, and our giant oak tree, and other favorites.  We’ve decided not to take the play structures because we are going to rent an apartment for 6 months or so until we can get a house on post.  We don’t want to pay to store them, so we are passing them on to others to enjoy.  It’s sweet – one of the play houses was given to us a few years ago when Lovebug’s best friend moved away.  Now, we are able to give it to one of her friends when we move.  Circle of life and all.

We’ve made sure to take lots of pictures of her with friends and any toys that aren’t going so that she can look at them anytime she wants.  Over the last couple months, we’ve also made a point of visiting her favorite places around town like the museum, the carousel at the mall, and the bookstore.  We’ve also talked to her a lot about how exciting it will be to go on adventures to find the fun places in our new city.

Saying goodbye can be hard, but we are also looking forward to seeing what’s ahead.  We know that God has a church home for us, friends for all of us, and a place to live all just waiting for us to arrive and find them.  We’ll find new parks, playgrounds, stores, and things we can’t even imagine yet.  I’m looking forward to getting involved in the community and in Army life.  Hubby has been in the Army these past 5 months, but it’s not as real for me yet since I’ve been in our same house, going to our same church, with my friends and family, all while living far away from a military community.  It will be nice to be able to really embrace it and become a part of it.

I’ll post as soon as I can with pictures and updates from the road!

Today the packers come to pack up each and every item in our house.  Friday, they will load the truck with all of our household goods and take them away.  Friday night, we will have one last camping adventure in the living room complete with our tent, air mattresses, snacks & games.  Saturday morning, we will hand over the keys to our landlord and hit the road, Jack!

I want to find some time to sit down and write a post about how our daughter has handled all this change, and how we’ve been able to help her through this transition. That’s been a lesson in itself, and we’ve been very proud of her!

We’ve already taken all the pictures off the walls, taken apart bookshelves, and sorted most things.  Last night we took apart Lovebug’s loft bed.  I wasn’t sure if she would be upset at the change in her room, but she actually embraced it! She was thrilled that her mattress was on the floor because it meant she was allowed to jump on it!  Silver lining, indeed!

Today we took apart our bed, and are starting to pack up the minivan with all the stuff that’s coming with us so that the movers don’t accidently pack it.  We are taking enough of our things to live for up to a month just in case there is a delay getting our household goods delivered. 

We’ll be spending 3 days/2 nights on the road, stopping to have lunch with a couple of my good friends along the way! Then, once we arrive in our new town we will spend 10 days in a pet-friendly extended stay hotel.  10 days because that’s how long the Army gives Hubby to find a place to live.  It’s like paid time off that doesn’t count against his regular leave – very cool!

We chose this particular hotel because it actually has a full kitchen, rather than just a mini-fridge and microwave.  This will allow us to save money on food by not eating out for 10 days.  It also has a door to the bedroom, so we can put Lovebug to bed on the sofabed and we don’t have to go to sleep at the same time she does – either we go to bed early, or she goes to bed late.  That will keep us all rested, well-fed and happy!  The Army is awesome and gives us money toward lodging for those 10 days that we are looking for a place to live.  This hotel will cost us a bit more than the Army is paying, but we decided it was worth a little out of pocket for the benefits it will provide.  It’s easy to suck it up for a day or two at a Super 8 (which we will use on the way there, I’m sure), but for 10 whole days we want a little more comfort.  Since we have a cat, that also limited our choices because we needed a place that would allow us to bring her.

After that, we’ll move into our new apartment but it’s possible that our household goods won’t get delivered right away, so we want to have the basics to live on there too.

We’re taking changes of clothes for several days, snack foods, some food from the pantry, a pot & pan for cooking, our Vitamix because we are smoothie addicts, our coffee pot, toaster oven, and some cooking utensils.  That should allow us to cook most things.  We’re also taking Lovebug’s most favorite toys, homeschooling supplies for a couple weeks, some towels, sheets, and our air mattresses for sleeping on.  We’ll just use paper plates and napkins and kill a few trees to make it easier than packing easily breakable dishes.

So around 2 weeks from today, we should be in our new apartment waiting on our household goods delivery.  Then the unpacking will begin!

I wanted to update you all on how the move is going so far.  Thursday, Hubby got his official orders, so Friday we started the process of scheduling movers.  It took up my time most of the day on Friday.  I started by tracking down the phone number to the transportation office at the nearest military installation.  There is not an Army post anywhere near us, so I had to work with a Navy base a couple hours away. 

I couldn’t find the phone number for the office I needed, so I ended up just calling another office and asking if they could transfer me or give me the number I needed.  The nice gentleman on the phone gave me several numbers that were possibilities, and I called through each of them until I found the right one.  Right office, but no human answering the phone.  I tried each extension and then finally just left a message.

Hubby had been told that we could not schedule the movers until we attended a briefing on post/base.  So, I was calling to find out when the next briefing was, and if I could attend.  A nice lady called me back shortly and told me that they don’t do briefings anymore and instead it is all done online. She told me the website to go to and said I should just watch the video online and follow the instructions.

Easy as pie.  Or not.

I found the website, watched the oh-so-helpful video, and attempted to start the application.  It doesn’t work. Finally I find something that says it isn’t compatible with my browser (Firefox).  It is compatible with IE, but I have to turn off my pop-up blocker.  Ok fine, I did that.

Still doesn’t work.

I call tech support and find out that I need to download a fix, install it, and try again.

Now, it works.  So I begin filling out the long form with lots and lots of pages.  I have to stop and call Hubby (who is on the road driving home) every so often to find out what answer to put on the form.

FINALLY, around 3:00, after going through page after page of this online form, I finish and get the application submitted.  But then it says I need to give the office all supporting documents (his orders, and a couple other forms).  HOW am I supposed to do that if I’m not actually attending a briefing?

Oh, and by the way, after I finish the whole thing, as I was reading other information online it said that if this was our first time to move our personal property, that I could NOT do the process online, but only in person.  Are you kidding me?

I called the nice lady from before to ask her.  She says that I AM allowed to use the online version, and they need to update their instructions.  WHEW! She also says I can email her the forms she needs.

Ok.  So I need to print out the forms, sign them, scan them in and email them back to her.  It’s just after 3:00, and I assume they are going to close at 5:00.  Better hurry!

I walk into our room to print them, and I remember that our printer is low on ink.  I say a quick prayer that the printer has enough ink to finish this job, but God has a sense of humor, so it ran out in the middle of my job.  I got Lovebug up from her quiet rest time and drag her to the store to get some ink.  Just as I’m getting back home, the nice lady calls me again and leaves me a message (I didn’t answer the phone because I was trying to get the ink installed) to tell me the office is closing (at 3:30?) but to go ahead and send the email and she’ll get it. 

Of course that means I couldn’t hear anything back till Monday…but at least we DID hear back from them on Monday!  And she called us before 7:00 AM – no wonder they close at 3:30 if they are busy working so early in the morning!

On Monday, the moving company called to say that someone would be coming on Tuesday to look around our house at all of our stuff so that they would know how many packers to send and how long it would take.

Yesterday (Tuesday) a man came out to do just that.  20 minutes or so later and he was done.  We got a call later that day telling us the packers will be here Thursday, & they will come on Friday to load the truck.  They originally estimated they would need 2 days for packing, but once they saw our house that changed to one day.  We only have a 1500 square foot house, and the 3rd bedroom is only being used to store some of the books, furniture, and toys I’ve taken from other rooms, so I had a feeling they could do it in a day.

It’s because my Hubby is coming home!!! We finally got our official orders TODAY, just one day before he graduates and gets to come home.  I was so worried he was going to have to stay there for another week or so till they worked out his orders.

We are not going to Tennessee after all.  We are going to North Carolina!! Beautiful!! Hiking and the beach – I’m so excited!  It also means that Hubby is back on Airborne status which makes him giddy. Really, he used that word – he’s giddy…and it’s cute.

So, now I am in the middle of Go-Go-Go time. I have to go into the post office to put a hold on our mail.  Evidently there is a special form when you don’t know what address it’s going to go to once the hold is over, so I have to go IN to the post office instead of just doing it online.

I also need to schedule the movers.  I’ve been trying to do this through the military’s “high-tech” website, but it doesn’t like my browser for some reason, so I’m going to have to call tomorrow, and possibly make a trip 1.5 hours away to the nearest military base.

If we can get the movers scheduled, we should be heading to our new home this time next week or so.

Here we gooooooo!