Bah! Humbug...

I think my “Christmas spirit” was shipped off with the rest of our stuff, Y’all. I am finding it really hard to get into Christmas this year.  Normally this is my favorite holiday. I love the decorations, the get-togethers, the FOOD, and yeah, the shopping.

But this year, I don’t get to do any of that. (Except the get-togethers.) I can’t decorate because all of our Christmas decorations were shipped two weeks ago. I can’t cook any of my favorite holiday foods because all of my cookware is gone. And I haven’t been able to do much Christmas shopping because we don’t have room for Christmas presents in our suitcases. Anything we buy (or receive) for Christmas we will have to ship to England on our own dime since all of the rest of our stuff has already been sent.

So needless to say, Christmas doesn’t really feel like Christmas this year.

We couldn’t let it slip by without at least having a tree. We decided on one of the “Charlie Brown” variety. It aptly reflects our feelings this Christmas.

Yes, that is a towel being used as the tree skirt.

To add fuel to the fire, our Visas have not come in yet. (YIKES!) The British Consulate e-mailed me earlier this week to let me know they “did not receive” certain documents as part of our applications (although I know beyond a doubt they were in there). So I had to get more and overnight them. Nothing like waiting until the last minute, right?

Fingers crossed that the visas (and my Christmas spirit) come in time!

Not Today

Today I am not as excited about moving to England as other days. Today was a very dreaded, sad step in the moving process. Today I had to say “Good-bye” to one of my babies for possibly the next four years: my sweet Sheltie, Luna.

 

This is not the first animal we have had to give up over this move, either. We had a Boxer, my husband’s baby, which we had to find a new home for as well. And then we had a cat, my first pet cat, that went to another home too. This has been especially hard on the kids. They just did not want to give up their furry friends!

You see, for some incredibly stupid (and assuredly ridiculous) reason, the military will not pay to ship our pet with us overseas. I don’t know what the reason is. I can only assume it is because the military does not see family pets as “essential” to their “mission.” Whatever the reason, it's not good enough. And I say it is stupid and ridiculous because, although they will not pay to ship my sweet dog, they will pay loads to ship our furniture (also, not “essential” to their “mission.”)

If given the choice, I would choose to have them pay to ship my pet over my furniture in a heartbeat. They actually have full sets of furniture (beds, living room furniture, etc.) that we could “rent” for free while we are there.  If they offer such a service, why oh why would they pay to ship our furniture when they could use that money to pay for the shipping of family pets??

She is staying in a good home while we are gone, to be sure, and we have known for some time that we cannot afford the plane ticket+British customs fees to take her with us. It was going to cost roughly $1600 to fly her to England (and almost double that for the Boxer!). Plus we would have had to drive her to another airport because animals have to fly on direct flights. There are no direct flights out of our small Southern state. And she would have had to fly alone because the airline the military is flying us on does not fly animals to the UK. Period.

 But I did not know I would be saying “Good-bye” so soon.

This weekend, we went to visit my grandparents once more before the move. We brought Luna with us and they really wanted to keep her for us while we are gone. Although I know this means she will be in good hands, I was not prepared to give her up this early before the move. I wanted to hang on to her for as long as possible. But as my grandparents live out-of-state and not being able to make another trip before we leave, we had no choice but to leave her with them during this visit.



Last-minute Playtime

After having to sell our house, and giving up three pets, moving to England isn't looking so exciting right now. Today, I am finding it hard to appreciate or see the opportunity in going. Today, I just want my Luna home. 

Moving Day No. 2

We survived another bout of packing and shipping. This time, our shipment consisted of the necessary items we will need to have as soon as we get there: towels, dishes, sheets and blankets, pots and pans, etc. A smaller truck was sent this time, with only one large crate. But we filled it up, nonetheless. This shipment will get flown over on a plane and then all we have left to take over to England is ourselves and our luggage.

 

Since all of my cookware just left, cooking for a family of four will be a challenge over this last month, to say the least. To make do, we kept one small pot, one baking sheet, one baking pan, and purchased a cheap sauté pan. All of these things will either get tossed or have to be shipped over on our dime if we want to keep them. 

We also kept three coffee mugs, two for my husband and me to have our morning coffee, and one for our daughter who loves to drink hot tea. For dinnerware, we decided to purchase 4 cheap plastic plates, cups, and bowls; one for each of us. This way we eliminate the waste there would be if we used paper dinnerware. We will just have to wash them a few times a day.

 

Some small appliances we got to keep, sort of by default: toaster, blender, and our precious Keurig coffeemaker. First let me point out that, for those of you that may not know outlets are quite different in Europe than they are here in the states. Not only are they shaped differently, but they use different watts. In order to take and use any electronic devices from the US overseas, you need adapter plugs. These can be very pricey, especially if you need several for different items. For that reason, we chose not to take the toaster and the blender. They are cheap appliances and it would cost about the same to replace them over there as it would to purchase adapters to plug them in and use.

The Keurig is a different story.  We loved our Keurig. It is an amazing (and rather expensive) convenience. And makes a very acceptable cup of coffee. We had every intention of taking it over with us and purchasing an adapter for it. So the night before the movers came for this shipment, we unplugged it and started to clean it when we noticed a problem: there was water sloshing around inside of it. We tried everything to get it out, even unscrewing the bottom to try to drain it. After several attempts with no success, we went to Google and learned, to our utter disappointment, that the internal water reservoir cannot be emptied.

When we told the movers about our dilemma, they informed us that the Keurig could not be shipped if it could not be emptied. (Thanks for the fantastic design, Keurig!) I can’t tell you how heartbroken my hubbie is to leave it behind. Needless to say, we will not be purchasing one of these when we get to England. It’ll be a regular ol’ coffee maker for us.

 

Moving Day No. 1

I really did not think this day would ever come. I saw this day from far off in the distance months ago when we got our orders. But I didn’t really think we would ever get to it. So as I stood in my living room while the movers were bustling all about me, wrapping my stuff, packing it into boxes, carrying it out of my life for the foreseeable future, it felt very surreal.

Now here I am in an unbearably empty and cold townhouse, with the sound of my fingers hitting these keys echoing off the walls and the very intrusive blaze of the overhead light interrupting what would be a normal, warm, relaxing night on my comfy couch under the soft glow of a table lamp.

But this is all just part of a process, right? A journey, or as I prefer to call it, an adventure! The step before this was filling out and sending in our visa applications. That was quite a nightmare. I had no experience with that kind of paperwork and (not surprising) no one at the base here could help me, not even the person who accepts the applications. Go figure.

So I did the best I could and turned them in. That was almost three weeks ago. (We were told the we would get the visas in three weeks.) Haven’t heard a word since. The man in the applications office informed us, as we handed in our paperwork, that me and the kids cannot enter the UK without the visas (yet he wouldn’t let us turn the apps in until we were less than two months from leaving …)Thanks for that, Mister.

Now, we are at one of the last steps in the moving process: shipping our stuff. The first shipment was yesterday and that was shipping all of our big stuff and non-necessities: all furniture, knick knacks, some clothes, some kitchen stuff. This, the biggest shipment, will take 2-3 months to arrive in the UK. It was packed away into plywood crates and is being carried off to the ship that will convey it to England (assuming there are no hurricanes, typhoons, or other crazy mishaps. Cross your fingers!)

We were “authorized” to ship 9000lbs at the military’s expense. So, for that reason, a full-size freight truck showed up at our tiny townhouse complex Friday morning at 9:00 sharp. I did not think we had enough stuff to fill up all of the crates it brought. I was wrong. I think our total came to around 5700lbs for this shipment and it took them all day…

They packed everything in sight. Even my dog’s bowl that I accidentally left on the dining room floor. Poor Luna has to eat out of Tupperware containers for now.

Even though that shipment is going out now, one month before we leave, we will have already been in England 1+ months before it arrives. The next shipment, which will be picked up on Monday, is our “unaccompanied baggage.” This includes all of our necessities that we will need as soon as we get there, such as pots and pans, towels, sheets, etc. We are “authorized” 1000lbs for this shipment and it will actually fly over on a plane.

Once it goes, we will be absolutely living out of our suitcases (all 12 of them) and eating sandwiches off paper plates for the next month. It’s going to be rough.