The latest on the move

Since Orren is napping, I guess I ought to give the latest on the move. Thak's official orders came in yesterday, and he went to Transportation to set up our move. The movers are coming to pack up our stuff on March 12th, and taking it away on the 13th.

We plan to stay in the area until after St. Patrick's Day since it will be our last in Savannah (and Savannah has basically the best St. Paddy's Day EVER) and leave for El Paso on the morning of the 18th. This, of course, is subject to change, but right now, this is our plan.

Moving is a daunting task, especially considering that neither Thak nor I have ever done it this way before. Hard to believe considering he's been in 16 years, I know, but when you think about it, both of us spent basically our entire time in the military (until the past 4.5 years) single, and moving as a single soldier is easy. You pack everything into duffel bags, and go to the next post. Moving with a family is hard. Thak remembers some of this from when his dad was in the Air Force, but being along for the ride as a kid not the same as having to be in charge of it yourself.

We are doing what's called a "partial DITY" (DITY = Do IT Yourself), which means that we're being paid for moving some of our stuff ourselves, but the majority of our stuff will be moved by the Army. We're going to move all the kitchen stuff ourselves, as well as my sewing machine and all my fabric, at least one of the computers, plus most of our clothes, Orren's stuff, and some of Erin's toys. We'll be packing as much stuff into the truck and the car as we can. Considering that we're going to be without the bulk of our stuff for several weeks, we'll want to take as much with us as we can so that it won't be pure hell to be without the rest for that long.

The real issue is going to be separating this stuff from the stuff we want the movers to take. Army movers are notorious for just throwing everything in sight into boxes, and taking it away. If that happens, it's not the end of the world, because we will get it all back in just a few weeks, but we'd rather things went more according to plan, so we've got to figure out how to differentiate this stuff.

Also, considering that Thak will probably be at work while our stuff is being packed and taken away (Thak? At work? Huge surprise there!! Haha) I'm going to have to supervise this. I'm not looking forward to that at all.

We'll be really glad when this thing is over, and we've settled into our new home in El Paso. Thak is going to call the Ft. Bliss housing office today, and see what we can do about getting onto the list. We're open to the possibilities of both on and off post housing out there. The issue is that for senior NCO housing (designated for ranks E6-E9), the wait list is long because the post is so SNCO heavy. We may not get a house, but we don't know if we don't ask, so we're going to ask. Plus, they do off post referral, and can point us toward some reputable landlords. That will be a big help, too.

OK, now off to start boxing up some of my fabric that I'm not going to need these next few weeks. Maybe we'll throw everything that doesn't need to be taken by the movers into my fabric closet, and lock the door!! Haha!! That's a plan!!