New stuff!

Check out my new melamine dishes - I am very excited about them! They are part of my plan to buy and travel with the right stuff. When I left the DR, I found myself spending too long trying to decide which serving dishes and other kitchen stuff should come with us to VA and then to post. Weight was a big issue, but I also wanted my own things. I really find that having my own, brightly colored dishes makes a new place feel like home more quickly, so from now on, I'll send these items in my UAB (unaccompanied air baggage- the shipment that gets to post first) without having to worry about the weight and without having to think about it. Fun and easy!

 

Whew, that was close!

Yesterday, I was cleaning out my files at work, and for some unknown reason, I opened the form I sent to GSO (the office managing my move) with information about where our shipments should go.

I filled out this form myself about 3 months ago.

It had two China addresses- one for our Household Effects (HHE), which is most of our stuff. And one for our Unaccompanied Air Baggage (UAB), the 700 pounds that's supposed to accompany us to Virginia.

Yes, a China address for the UAB. The UAB that I've been painstakingly organizing for months, so that the kids have their favorite toys and the rest of us have the items we need to live in Virginia for almost a whole year.

I was like, "HOLY XXXX!"

I called GSO right away and of course, the shipments guy has seen it all. It appears I was lucky because the shipment hasn't left the country yet and was only picked up a few days ago. So that crisis was averted and hopefully our stuff will make it to VA.

Everyone tells you to check your orders carefully. And I did. It had all the right things going to the right places. I made this mistake myself. And it makes me worry and wonder about what else is messed up.

We're here!

Well, we made it. We shlepped our UAB down here all by ourselves and moved into Oakwood Falls Church on Saturday pm. I had promised my pop THIS time he wouldn't have to move me- the State Department would- so I was a little embarrassed to be eating my words. My mom, pop, and brother helped us move our 1 minivan, 1 truck, 2 SUVs, and 1 sedan worth of stuff into the apartment. It felt a lot like moving into a college dorm, though the digs are much nicer and I have two small appendages now. Thank you, thank you, family!!! You are the best!

I'm bummed I don't have photos of the process or of our apartment before it got hit by a tornado of stuff, but there was just too much going on.

I'm impressed and pleased with Oakwood. I really like the way the apartment is set up and furnished. Once we get our stuff put away, I'll post photos.

The kids are doing extraordinarily well. They were a little hyper yesterday after all the excitement, but that was it. Tomorrow Daddy will take them to FSI daycare for a few hours, to let them get used to it. They will have their first full day on Wednesday.

The 156th class threw a great welcome reception for us tonight and I enjoyed meeting my classmates, their spouses, and members of the 156th. I can't believe tomorrow is our first day. I can't wait to get started.

Making piles

We took the house off the market this week and thus I finally got to start making piles. My wonderful aunts came over to play with the kids so that D and I could focus. The kids were in seventh heaven! Two people playing with them for 4 straight hours? Poor kids- we've been a bit busy lately and have not sat down to really play with them. We are very grateful to the Aunties A!

It really felt good to finally start organizing our stuff. I've been thinking about this for so long. We realized a few things: 1) we have a lot of stuff and especially a lot of toys, and 2) it probably won't fit into 3 cars and UAB (unaccompanied air baggage- State gives us 700lbs of stuff that will be delivered to our VA apartment), since we are taking the crib and the toddler bed too (plus our desk files that we did not get a chance to purge). So it looks like my husband will make a trip down to DC to store some stuff in my parents' home for a week. Thank goodness for them. But part of me is bothered- why do we have so much? I suppose other families coming from far away have to make the decision either to send the extra toys/books that won't fit into UAB to storage or get rid of them. I've given away so many toys and books. I've decided to keep the stuff that is age appropriate, even if they don't play with it much, but I'm starting to rethink that policy. And I will certainly do a major purge before we leave for post.

Anyway, here's a pic of L playing in the UAB pile. Here's an example of stuff: I've let go of dozens of stuffed animals they don't play with. L has a series of about 10 that she adores, and then there are some others they love, but don't play with daily. I put a hamper full of those in the UAB pile, and of course she found it. I'm not taking hundreds of stuffed animals to Mumbai or Pretoria. But for now, I'm going to let them have their stuff, I guess.

(a note about the pumpkin for our non-FS family/friends: we don't know how long we'll be in DC. We could be there up to a year without access to our storage stuff, so we have to bring everything we'll need. I'm bringing the Hanukkah box, too...even though we just celebrated it. We'll hopefully need our beach/pool toys, beach umbrella, and summer clothes- we hope to stay in DC long enough to enjoy the pool at Oakwood!- but we decided to leave those here in NY for a few more months. We'll come up and get them when needed.)