Moving Day 1

Yesterday was day 1 of the movers being here and packing our stuff. Due to the hectic day and running around since 5 am sorting and putting the things aside I wanted to make sure didn't get packed I didn't have the energy to even think about posting pictures from the day, so here are a few from yesterday.

This is the truck the movers came in, they brought tons of boxes and brown paper that they have wrapped all the furniture in.

Here is a sample of the brown paper and the boxes that they are using. I'm just hoping that the paper is recyclable because those crazy Germans are REALLY into recycling and I don't want any trouble.

Here are some of the boxes from the kitchen. This does not include any of my serving dishes, those weren't packed up when I took this picture. It also does not include most of my pans and other cooking items because those were sent in the 1000 lb load. Yes...I admit I do have a lot of kitchen stuff, it's my weakness lol.

These boxes were under the island on next to the ones in the picture above....I know, I have a lot. But I LOVE it all so I don't see it going any where any time soon....except to Germany! lol

So far the week hasn't been very stressful for me at all, mostly because the movers are doing all the work. I will admit that the few days before they got here were super stressful, just getting ready so we didn't forget anything we needed. But of course as usual there were a few things I forgot to set aside the air bed that my husband and I were going to sleep on. I guess we'll be buying a new one, we needed to get one for our daughter to use anyway so I guess we'll just get 2 new air beds lol. A lesson learned the hard way. If that's the only lesson we learn the hard way on our first overseas move then I'll be really happy!

Keep an eye out later tonight for the pictures and an update from today. We have some loading planned for the day!

Top 10 Things I love about Tucson, AZ - #1

It's not hard to find a list of things to not like about Tucson, as a matter of fact I can think of several just off the top of my head; heat, heat, heat and a ton of other things. But, as much as I like to complain about the heat, anyone that lives here loves to complain about the heat on a regular basis yet very few people actually move from here, there are still things about Tucson that I love and I will miss greatly when we move in 6 weeks. Here is the first in the series:

The Heat - Ok, ok, ok I know I was just saying how much I love to complain about the heat but let me elaborate on that. July and August are a total downer in Arizona. It's so hot that you can hardly go out in the middle of the day. The "cold" water comes out of the faucet already warm enough to melt the ice in your cup because the ground is so hot and the water just never gets cold. If you want to do anything outside you have to do it before 8 am or it's just too hot to enjoy it.

Given all that is bad and evil about the scorching heat in Arizona, I have to say that it's also something that can be wonderful. Example: This summer we took the kids to Lake Havasu for a few days. While it was 118 that day when we got in to the lake the water was like a nice warm bath. I couldn't believe how great it felt to be floating in warm water getting a tan!

We have more sunny days in a month than some states have all year, how lucky are we? While there are a few months that it it hard to get out and enjoy the sunny days for the most part its a good thing because the rest of the year it's wonderful to be able to get outside and do something.

1000 lbs and No Carrier

The Travel Management Office (TMO) briefed us on all the things that we needed to do to be ready for the movers next week. Like I said before we have two shipments, one that is 1000 lbs of stuff we need right away and the rest will arrive shortly after we get to Germany. As of today we have only met with the carrier that is taking the larger load. They came out and estimated the weight last week and it looks like we are good to go on that.

Now things get interesting....some time its the same carrier for both loads, and sometime not. I guess we fell into the net category, just my luck! As of today we still have not heard from the carrier that is supposed to be picking up the smaller shipment. Why is this a HUGE deal?! Because if we don't have a smaller shipment we wont have anything we own until at least December 8th! All we will have is the stuff we can take in our luggage, we will not be able to have anything there waiting for us....

I'm hoping that we can get this worked out, if not it's going to be a very stressful day.

Update: We DO have a carrier! We were able to confirm the carrier on Friday afternoon for tomorrow morning. So now I can rest easy that I do not have to pack absolutely everything that I have for the winter and fall into 1 suitcase (which btw is technically IMPOSSIBLE). So now we are working on the gigantic tasking of sorting into 3 piles....pack, 30 day shipment, or regular shipment....oh yeah and a 4th pile DONATE. I'm working on donating a ton of stuff that we no longer use/ want for the 3rd time this year. At the rate I'm going I wont have much to ship when they get here next week.