Moving Part 1

So in full disclosure style we are actually already here in Reading, but the last 2 weeks have been CRAZY so I haven't had much time for anything, let alone blog posts. So I figured I'll just go back in time and write each step of the moving process, and at the end Ill do a final moving post about advice and "20 20 hindsight" kinda thing! Who's ready to relive the craziness? Cause you know I am :)

Lets take a look at the real basics of moving - IT SUCKS! Its one of the most stressful things you will ever do in your life. So if you think moving down the road or to the next city is stressful, think about moving to the other side of the country? Ya, you pack up all your stuff, sell the small "extra stuff" and drive across country. Sounds scary huh? Ya that's what I used to think, then I agreed to move to another country. Holy Cow! Hello STRESS!!

We started by deciding that moving overseas was a great idea! Right before thanksgiving we told our folks Steve had taken a job in the UK and we were moving! It all sounded so exciting! Moving to another country, me leaving my job. Let the madness begin!

I worked until April 3, so my health insurance would carry over until we left - that was important for last minute doctors appointments etc. I took the weekend to relax and let it sink in that we were moving to another country later that month. Monday I started to sort through the stuff as we were having a huge 3 day yard sale! I need to interject major props and kudos to our house keeper Amanda who came and helped me sort, label, tag and price (reasonably). She was amazing and I owe her a bottle of wine (I left her a few in the house so I hope that covers that debt ;) ).

Tuesday mom thought it would be fun to go and look at potential wedding venues - The Fox, The Piedmont Room, Ansley Golf Club & Rhodes Hall.

More on the venues later - I will have lots of free time to blog about wedding planning or lack there of while we are here :)

So the yard sale - sounds simple enough right? Put all the stuff you want to sell out in your garage/ yard and wait for people to stop by. Not so much - I posted everywhere, 10+ Facebook groups, craigslist and we put signs up around the neighborhood advertising this huge yard sale, starting at 9am Friday.  We opened the garage door at about 8.30 to start putting things out and low and behold we had customers wheeling and dealing at 8.40. Talk about being unprepared! We had maybe half the things out that we wanted to sell and people were bombarding us with questions.

Its a real eye opening experience - having things you spent years buying, on display in your garage with price tags for maybe 1/3 of what you paid for them - some even brand new. Its a lot harder then you would think, when someone takes a pair of shoes you remember wearing just a few times and tells you your $10 price is too high and offers you $2, when you know you spent $75+ on them. Or when someone offers you $5 on the dress you spent hour finding and picking out and haven't gotten a chance to wear because its too small and the price tag on it shows $45, its hard. It almost feels like a personal assault on you & your things. Thankfully I had my parent there to help as well as Steve & Amanda and Rachel. I know I couldn't have done it without them!

That concludes Part 1 of the Moving saga! Hopefully you enjoyed the read :)

Planning

When you're moving you have to plan a lot. When you're moving 4,000+ miles you have to plan a million times more. From yard sales to seeing family before we leave there is so much to plan. And in my world planning means panic.

Sometimes I walk into a room and the panic just washes over me as I realize 99% of the things I see must be sold, donated or packed into a box in the next 2 months.

There are the things I'm working on right now:

• Finding the time to fly us to Arizona to see Steve's family
• Finding time to fly to Michigan to see my grandmother
• Working on on a date for our yard sale
• Working on a date for our "estate" sale
• Finding time to visit Steve's parents in Florida
• Who's going to take Steve's dog Gwen
• Making time to spend time with local friends before we leave
• Packing for our house hunting trip in a week
• Sorting what we're gonna sell/save/donate

I'm sure there are more things that I have forgotten but these are the things on the top of my head. What makes all of these things harder is I work two jobs. I am full time at Carters Oshkosh & two nights a week I work at World Market. Which means two nights a week I work 8-4.45 and 6-10. On top of that Steve is spending three of four weeks a month in Boston training for his new position - meaning I'm home alone to manage everything. To stay its stressful is an understatement. 

Topping off all of this I am trying to get in better shape, which so far, isn't going very well. I've lost about 5 lbs so I have quite a bit left to go. I want to join a local gym but with the move around the corner it seems like a waste of money and I don't want to get stuck in a contract. Plus I'm severely lacking in motivation so I don't want to waste the money if I won't even go. 

That's my brain spill for today. As we work through all these plans, I'll keep you posted.