Goodbye, stuff!

Packout is over. Can I get a hallelujah!? I almost didn't make it. There is practically nothing more miserable than the night before a move or packout, when there is stuff all over the house and you are so tired you can barely keep going. I just wanted to cry about all the mess and all the stuff that still needed sorting. If it wasn't that important, ok, I could let it go. But our desk full of important papers and other stuff? I couldn't really let the movers just throw it in a box. My husband has been scanning like crazy and soon we won't have this problem (though there is always paper...). Honestly, I have given so many things to my housekeeper and driver over the last two years that I can't believe we still have so much stuff.

So, our strategy:

• We packed our suitcases, for the most part, and moved them and the carry-ons into our bedroom, which we kept locked at all times. The suggestion to put these items in a closet, bathroom or car is comical to me! We needed the whole room! What a mess. We are taking more carry-ons than we vowed we would this time around, but we have some new bags and D just wanted to be sure we'd have enough room for all the last minute stuff. 
• In the living room, we designated an area for UAB, or Unaccompanied Air Baggage, the only stuff we'll have with us in Virginia. It's also the stuff we'll send to China first, so we needed to add things like linens, which we won't actually need in VA. The UAB became a huge mess, as I threw stuff into the pile. I did try to keep the most important items in the front and know what they were, since it was soon obvious that we had more than the 700 lbs allotted to us. The movers let us tell them what should go into UAB, so that worked fine (they weighed the boxes right in our house), but we are sad about some peripheral stuff that we just couldn't fit. Luckily, the boy-sized stuffed shark will be with us in VA. 
• Here's about half of our UAB pile. See the shark in the upper right hand corner (upside down)? The other half of UAB was large plastic containers in which I like to pack our clothes and linens. I feel more safe that way, but the containers themselves add some weight. 

Here are our 8 UAB boxes, ready to go. I liked how they wrapped them with plastic AND metal belts.

• Our HHE (Household Effects, which will travel to Belgium, I think, and wait for us until we arrive in China) was in another part of the living room. We also had some HHE items in the other rooms. The kitchen was confusing, because we had welcome kit stuff there, in addition to HHE, and I was worried they would pack everything. (The Embassy gives us a welcome kit containing basic linens and kitchen items, and it's used before our shipments arrive and after they leave. We will donate it when we fly out). So I pulled out the HHE kitchen items and put them on the dining room table for them to pack. It's hard to think we won't see this stuff for possibly 18 mos. It's just stuff, and I can live without it, but I'm slightly bummed about not having my serving dishes and other items I use for entertaining at Oakwood. I guess it's just as well since I won't have much room- entertaining will be casual. I'm planning to buy a new set of light-weight melamine dishes, including serving dishes! That will be super fun. Going forward, I won't stress about the nicer stuff, I'll just know that the melamine stuff goes in UAB and that's that.

The movers were really quick and complimented us on not having so much stuff. Hah! I feel like I have WAY TOO MUCH.

So, it's off! Goodbye, stuff! Please make it safely to your destinations!

Almost there

We have 3 days until packout.
12 days until we leave.

I don't feel too stressed or crazy, but sleep is starting to elude me....I'm waking up earlier and earlier. And sometimes, if I wake at 3am, I can't fall back to sleep. That is just not ok.

It's definitely easier that we're going back home, to the land of plenty, to a home the kids remember, to my family just 20 minutes away. So you know, I don't need to remember to buy everything in sight. I'm glad about that.

Work has been super relaxing. If you work in a visa mill, you'll find that statement pretty funny. But really, I'm no longer Deputy ACS Chief, I've had a whole month to clean out my rack of cases, my email, and my desk drawers. I interview most days, but ACS interviewing is done by 12/1pm, so that's manageable. I've been lucky.

I took today off to get ready for packout. If I do say so myself, scheduling packout on Monday and Tuesday was pretty clever. I'll have the whole weekend to prepare. Because when I come home at the end of a weekday, I can never get anything done.

Today we're going to practice packing our suitcases. We didn't really do this last time, and we ended up with a ton of stuff crammed into the bags that we didn't really want to hand carry. Plus, I tried to organize the bags so that we didn't have to touch some of them while in Puerto Rico, but it didn't work. This time, we're heading to Oregon two days after we land in DC, so I want to have Oregon bags and stay in MD bags packed in advance.

Anyway, should be fun. What I hate about moving is ALL THE RANDOM STUFF. Clothes, toys, pots and pans: easy. It's the little things that live all over the house that threaten to do me in.

It's definitely possible to start on the departure checklist in advance. I have at least 2/3 of the signatures already, which eases my mind a bit. Things feel under control. Uh-oh. Hope that's not a bad sign.

So, I'll be back during/after packout. Stay tuned to see if the B family learned anything from their previous packouts. The idea is that you're supposed to get good at this moving thing. I don't think I'm there yet.