Sunday, August 06, 2017

Helpful Gingerbread Man

I began the day helping the BOYS (though I'm traveling with the GIRLS this year) with the storage unit. 

I turned up everywhere! 


Ah, a moment to relax! 

Hello, ladies, need a hand? 
Yes, two Instant Pots - and she says she'll use them both
Shew! A long, hard day. I'm sure they couldn't have unloaded this unit, or unpacked the boxes without my help. I'm glad to be of assistance. 


Civilian/ Military Moves Compared

Civilian moves ARE much more work than a military move.  ::ducking:: Consider this, on move in day I usually sit on a chair, outside a semi-truck, with a glass of ice water and check off box numbers as they are carried into the house. By the end of the day, every box is in the room it belongs in, all the big pieces of furniture are set in place, beds are put back together, furniture such as tables and lamps are put back together, and we are NOT PHYSICALLY WORN OUT. 

The day after household goods arrive, we all enter a room, unpack boxes, and put things on shelves - which are assembled and ready to load. We have made a lot of military moves and after 20+ years we can get keys, move goods into a home, and be totally set up - to include curtains and decorations on the wall in ONE WEEK. This is our expected norm.

In contrast on the day we "moved in" we had to paint. This took Friday, Saturday and a bit of Sunday morning touch up.

Then we had to unload our household goods into our 5x6x10 trailer and make many loads up the Hwy to the valley.

I began unpacking - the kitchen - as it was the only room with "furniture" to put things in.

Michael and the boys made numerous trips to Chugiak to unload our storage area.

Our things were packed by movers contracted by the military. In our MINDS we knew unloading and setting up would be different, but until we walked in and faced the need to paint, until things began breaking which housing couldn't come fix, until we spent days doing what would have been done in one day - it hadn't really become reality. 😃😅😃 Arielle said she experienced the same thing on this, her first civilian  move. As they spent days packing she thought, "I've sorted and cleaned, the packers should be packing the boxes." LOL

Our goals for the day were:
 1. Move the RV to the house so Michael, I and the three younger Gherkins could sleep at the house tonight, find beds and assemble (in the end we settled for mattresses).

2. Empty the storage unit.

3. Empty the RV and begin unpacking in the house.

I will need to learn the best way to care for hardwood floors. We looked at what we had available and settled on Old English on a rag on a Swifter, then scooting around the floors with sheets on our feet. It worked. It was a bit slick for the first day....but it did make things shiny and covered  a few scratches. 

Arielle has been looking for jobs far from paint fumes and heavy lifting. She's been a trooper. Today she and Stacia emptied the RV, while I unpacked in the house.

Stacia was EXCITED to have her dresser back. 

Maybe this will feel like home - eventually. So many good memories of service and fellowship. 

Well, it probably was the most comfortable place to grab a quick nap. 

View from West Windows - we have a similar bank of windows across the south in the living room and dining room. 

No sooner had I unpacked vases, than Stacia filled them with bounty from our overgrown yard. 

I convinced Stacia to do this once. She insisted it was too frightening of a height to attempt again. 

The guys made trip after trip......We had given Josiah furniture when we downsized a couple of years ago. He is now renting wth JaRissa and asked if we'd like a couch and recliner back. He also gave us the table and chairs - which will be great when we max out the big table in the dining room. 

Storage is EMPTY. Alex and Jamin  also helped all day with the storage unit. They set up a system where we were receiving a van or trailer about every 20 minutes. 

It was after 9 p.m. when the five of our and CoRielle were ready to leave the house. None of us had had dinner. They drove off. We decided to drive into town for something to eat.  They were coming out of the drive through, as we were entering. They came inside and we ate.  On the way home, we stopped for these photos. What a beautiful place to live.


At the end of the day, we had met all of our goals. The five of us slept at the house. The garage is PACKED - amazing revelation: things do NOT magically march to their appointed spot and assemble themselves in a civilian move. 🐽 We have been talking about living here 3 - 5 years while we look for a bigger piece of property.

Michael closed the door on the day, turned to me and said, "I'm not moving again." 🐽 This makes a very nice forever home.

Stacia knows how to recover from long days on one's feet...