Ciao Chicago! Viva Napoli!

I figured I better get this all down before I forget - since I haven't been that great at keeping a journal as of late.  and I'm just warning ya...should you choose to read on...it's a long'un.


When we were trying to decide when to physically move out of our house, we weighed pros and cons and decided to stay in Chicago for Christmas.  The main reason being that I was scared we'd end up in some horrific storm and be stuck in Laramie (sorry Jesika) for Miles' first Christmas.  So we stayed in Chicago and pretended like nothing was happening.  On the 26th of December our friends watched Miles all day while Nathan and I tore the house apart.  We were BUSY kids that day: curtain rods & pictures off walls, re-painting the walls we'd painted, sorting storage/Italy stuff, laundry, putting away the Christmas decorations, packing suitcases, and I'm sure a few other things that I can't remember now.  We finished the night at our friends' house (the ones who watched Miles) with our last Giordano's deep dish pizza :( and some much needed time with friends who we will miss dearly.

Tuesday morning the movers showed up and started cramming all our stuff into boxes and then into crates...and they didn't finish until Wednesday evening.

Miles did really well with the hectic packing days...

...Winston did not.

When everything was said and done we had eight crates (each crate is 12 feet deep, 8 feet tall and 4 feet wide...give or take), plus a special made crate for the sofa (it was too big for the crates).

Yes...a large amount of those boxes do say 'HER SHOES'  Don't judge me.

What the crates look like...empty and almost full.

Wanna hear something funny?   Of course you do!  So I was feeling all sentimental and so I told Nathan I wanted to sleep one last time in our house...even though ALL our furniture was gone.  We borrowed some blankets and pillows from a friend and we 'camped'.  In December.  In our empty house.  Let me tell you what...my poor joints are TOO OLD to be sleeping on the floor.  Holy Moses I ached the next day!

Thursday we cleaned, painted some more and hauled our remaining crap out of our almost empty house over to our friend Nate's house (he was letting us stay with him for the next two nights)  Friday morning the storage moving company came and packed up what was not going to Italy: piano, washer & dryer, Christmas & Halloween decorations, BBQ grill, bikes, appliances, etc.  We had our move-out inspection at 2:30.  As an aside...if you ever live in Navy housing it is TOTALLY worth it to pay them to clean your place.  They are PICKY and the fees are crazy if you miss something...so we coughed over the $200 just to be done with it.  Friday afternoon we locked the door and walked away from what had been our home for only 12 months and 14 days.  Yet in such a small timeframe SO MUCH happened in our little lives...what a 12 months and 14 days it was.

goodbye house...we loved you!!

Anywhoo...sorry for the sentimental sidetrack...we spent our last evening in Chicago trying to cram all our suitcases, the baby carseat & stroller, the cat crate, the litterbox, cat food, and lots of other random little things in our Buick.  We ended up having to buy one of those roof-top luggage things just to make everything fit.  And since our car doesn't have the track thingys (technical term) on the roof we had to 'Nathan-rig' it.  Motorcycle tie-downs were millimeters above our heads for the 1400 mile drive.  My hair kept getting caught in the cinching mechanism...I'd get out of the car and have a nifty 'do to show off at the truck stops.
 

sardines

The back seat.  Left to right: cat litterbox bottom, cat crate on top, nestled into cat litterbox top.  My sweatshirt on top of that...my makeup train case behind the seat...as well as a bag of formula, baby food, bottles, bottle brushes, etc.  Miles is in the center.  On the right is his pack n play, a box of food/snacks for the trip, his bumbo chair, his diaper bag, our small suitcase, my camera bag, Nathan's coat, the cat food container and a bag of kitty litter.  

We hit the road early Saturday (New Year's Eve) morning (MANY tears were shed...I think I cried almost all the way to the Iowa border) and made it to our favorite pit-stop that evening: The Holiday Inn Express in North Platte...seriously awesome hotel.  They give you FREE chocolate chip cookies at night...FREE hot breakfast...clean rooms...nice pool...and they are CHEAP for military!  We spend New Years Eve hunching over take out boxes from Ruby Tuesday and watching TV.  We were all asleep by 10:30.  Lame.  I didn't even take a picture.  Lamer.  We woke up Sunday and headed West...we pulled into my parent's driveway about 5ish on New Year's Day.

We spent the next week soaking up all the family we could...knowing full well that we will not see most of them for the next 3+ years.  Just even typing that now makes me a little weepy...we didn't see them all that often when we lived in the states...but somehow being 5000 miles away I FEEL the distance more.

Three cousins...all born within 2 months.  Anna (April 6), Asher (March 17) & Miles (May 16)

We even got to a Utah Jazz game...Nathan was a HAPPY boy. 

How cute is this??  I mean seriously...

One of the parts of this whole move I was most nervous about was flying with a baby.  Miles is very good natured but I had no idea what he'd be like on a plane...for 14 hours...and that was just the flight to Italy!  I had someone suggest something to me that one of her friends had done (the link to which I cannot seem to find now...)...so I copied the general idea, wrote a seuss-y poem and came up with this bag of goodies that we handed to the people seated in front and in back of us on each of the flights.

The goodies: earplugs, granola bar, mint, pencil, puzzles (suduku, word find, crossword), wet wipes, M&M's

They were mostly a big hit...the couple seated behind me from Detroit to Norfolk were a little odd about it and wouldn't take them...they were truthfully a little odd looking.  But like I said, most people got a big chuckle and one guy even joked "this is going on Facebook...and Pinterest"  I think this small act of good-will went a long way...although Miles was an angel so we didn't need it.  

Monday morning, January 9th we boarded a plane, had a 3 hour layover in Detroit and then landed in Norfolk at 8pm.

Daddy and Miles hanging out in the Detroit airport.

Miles and mommy on our flight from Detroit to Norfolk.  The plane was too small for his carseat so he had to sit in his own seat during takeoff...not in my lap.  He was pretty excited to be a big boy. 

We were lucky because the ONLY Navy flight to Naples leaves from Norfolk...and Nathan happens to have two brothers stationed there right now...not only did we have a free/safe/clean place to stay for the night...we got to see some family!!

The Virginia component of the family...at a VERY yummy breakfast place. 

Playing drums with Uncle David

Playing piano with Uncle Jeremy

 Tuesday we went to breakfast for Jeremy's birthday (Nathan's brother) and then hung out for a few more hours.  We had them drop us off at the terminal at 3 so we'd have almost three hours until our flight left.  Well...the Navy is always so organized (read: not)... no one told us the flight had been changed to 10:15PM.  So we had seven hours to kill at the tiniest airport I've ever been in.  Seriously...TINY.  The gate...the security checkpoint...the bathrooms...a teensy mini-NEX/galley...and that's it.

Us outside the airport with all the junk we had to bring with us: baby, cat, cat crate, stroller, baby carseat and carseat base, diaper bag, mommy's bag, daddy's bag, pack n play, six suitcases.  And a partridge in a pear tree.

On the plane...ready to go!

The flight was nice...lots better than I expected.  It was a large plane, 250 people, and every seat got a pillow and a blanket.  They gave all the kids this cute little backpack with toys and games...we got one for Miles even though he is too little...he loves to drum on the empty backpack.  They gave you a meal which wasn't the most horrible thing I've ever eaten.  They also did hot towels, a beverage service, a movie (with free earphones) and all the flight attendants were super attentive.  Then we stopped in the Azores Islands to refuel, pick-up/drop off passengers.  The stop was only for 30 minutes...not too bad.  The next leg of the flight was exactly like the first...more drinks, another meal service, a movie and hot towels.  Miles was amazing on all the flights...holy smokes we lucked out.  He slept almost the whole flight to Italy...I didn't because I was so worried he'd wake up and start screaming and wake everyone...but he was a super champion traveler!

We landed in Naples at close to 7pm Italy time.  Our friend Joel (who we knew from Chicago) picked us up and took us back to his place.  The transition/temporary hotel was booked when we arrived so we could either stay out in town or stay with friends...Joel and his wife Davina graciously opened their home to us.

We made it to Italy!!

We started area orientation that Friday...and we began house hunting that weekend.  We had every intention of making it to church on Sunday, but we were both EXHAUSTED and we'd stayed up too late the night before watching NFL playoffs.  But the following week we made it...and the branch (super small congregation) is awesome.  Very friendly...mostly Italian.  It will surely help us learn the language.

We bought a car about a week after landing in Italy...it's a cute little French car we lovingly call Gilberto.

Gilberto

 

We found our house after looking at SEVENTEEN (maybe 16, or 18...?? after a while they all started running together) houses...we finished the contract phase in about 2 weeks...which is VERY fast (see Miles comment below), and moved in Friday February 17th. Our stuff was out of customs the next week so we only had to use loaner furniture for a week - thank heavens!  That loaner crib is a death trap!

Everyone is settling in nicely.  They day our stuff got here I think Winston took a big sigh of relief...he was very happy to have 'his couch' back.  The jetlag wasn't too bad.  We got into town in the evening, by the time we had all our stuff, schlepped it back to Joel and Davina's, fed us and Miles it was late so we went to bed and slept in the next morning.  Miles had it the worst...he was just out of sorts for about a week.  Although he didn't sleep through the night again (like he had in the US) until we moved into our house.  My snoring probably kept waking him up (we were all in one room at Joel & Davina's) :(

We still don't have internet at home (Italians are not in a hurry to do much of anything...except leave work).  I'm using the hot spot feature on my phone...I don't even want to know what that costs...I just needed to feel connected to the outside world again (no TV either...and only one car...leads to a little bit of isolation)  No internet at home also means I haven't been reading blogs :( Our cell phone plan doesn't have unlimited data (not even an option...?!? Maybe Italians aren't as addicted to their smart phones as Americans...poor, sad, pathetic American that I am...I am more than addicted).  So sorry for the lack of comments...I have every intention of catching up once we get connected again.  

Observations so far about Italy: 

:The trash problem is real.  Holy smokes, it is EVERYWHERE.  A lot of cities have no trash pick-up so people have to dispose of it on their own.  And they do...all along the roads.   

:There are a TON of stray dogs and cats here...it breaks my heart. 

:The Italians LOVE babies...especially Miles.  And he eats up all the attention...ham.  I think we have had such a smooth transition here because we have taken him EVERYWHERE...he has opened doors that wouldn't have opened otherwise.  Things also moved a lot quicker when brought Miles along.

:It snowed here.  Yep...in Southern Italy.  Locals we've talked to said this is the coldest it's been in like 30 years.  Yay.  

:The Coke here is awesome.  Yay for cane sugar!

:The food is different than I thought...and it's ok.  It's a little blander than I like - I'm all for spicy! - so when I make my own I'll have to Holly-ize it.   The Italians think BBQ sauce is too spicy....and pepperjack cheese?  Forgetaboutit!

:The language is coming...Naples has it's own dialect that makes things tricky...they shorten EVERYTHING.  Which is cute, but frustrating when you're trying to learn.  

Lucky...blessed...whatever you wanna call it...

We had our inspection on Friday, and we passed! The FIRST time!!  This is a super rarity here in Italy.  It's all a big scheme to make lots of money...if the inspector fails your house then he gets to come back for a second (read: get paid for a second) inspection.  I have never heard of anyone passing inspection on their first shot...and I've heard of one or two people whose home failed inspection so many times that they had to find another house! 

It started out bad...the weather has been super gross (I thought we'd left all the snowy crap behind in Chicago...it doesn't SNOW in Southern Italy...well, at least is doesn't very often...Mother Nature loves us) and it was cold and rainy on Friday.  Nathan got a call from the inspector asking if he could postpone the inspection...Nathan totally played the 'baby card' and laid out his best guilt trip and it worked!  The inspector met us at the house an hour later; he walked through and checked each room...and there were two things that should have caused the inspection to fail but he didn't fail us.  I honestly believe it's because we were present WITH Miles, the Italians love babies...and Miles is a ham and eats up all the attention...which the Italians also love. 

So our contract appointment will be the 13th and with any luck we'll get to move in the end of next week (!!!!)...the Navy usually sets the move-in date a week out, we're hoping we don't ahve to wait that long.  

Oh, and after our inspection we drove to the base to submit some housing paperwork...and we thought we'd just check and see if our Household Goods shipment was on track to arrive the 17th.  And we got a wonderful surprise: it's already here!!!  Can you believe it?!?  It only took SIX WEEKS to get to Italy!!!  Again, this is totally unheard of - we are blessed.  Or lucky.  Or both.  Whatever you call it, I'm so grateful!  Our move getting here was filled with rough patches and bumps in the road...but since we set foot in Italy it's been MUCH better...here's to hoping our luck continues!!

Lucky #17

We are homeless no more!!  Yesterday (two weeks to the day that we arrived in Italy) we went out house hunting for the fifth? sixth? seventh? time...I didn't have high hopes but the first place we saw just felt right.  (It was the seventeenth house we looked at) It isn't in the town we had hoped to live in, but it is a beautiful home in a safe area with a wonderful landlord.  We have started the move-in process...it takes anywhere from 30-45 days (good ol' military runs at the speed of light!) until we get the keys and are able to move in BUT just knowing that we found it takes a huge weight off my shoulders.  

It is 4 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms (which means we'll have a guest room and I'll get a scrapbook room!!) with AWESOME views of the Mediterranean, the hillsides, the islands (Capri, Procida, Iscia) and the mountains on the way up towards Rome.  We have lots of windows and natural light...and a great sea breeze.

Pretty sweet view, eh?  And this pic doesn't do it justice...wanna see it in person?  COME VISIT!!!  We have a guest room!!!

See Miles' head in the bottom left of the pic??  He loves the view already. 

The house.  We'll live on the top floor. 

Fifth time's the charm... ?

So life hasn't been super exciting lately...except for the fact that we're now living in another country.  I have lots to share...food, church, flights, jetlag, etc. but it will have to wait.  

We're going house hunting tomorrow...again.  We've seen 13 so far...we're scheduled to see 5 more tomorrow.  I'm sending up all kinds of good vibes because I REALLY want to get this housing ball rolling.  Italy isn't known for it's swiftness...and when you add military into the mix it really gobs things up.  After we find our house there is a lengthy and infuriating process before we can move in...and it takes anywhere from 30-45 days.  Yep...that's AFTER we find the house.  Sheesh.  And since we're currently stashed into the spare bedroom of some (wonderful) friend's house...I'd like to get the process going.  

So here's to hoping house hunting day #5 is successful!! 

On the move...again

One thing I've come to know pretty well in our almost ten years of marriage...is moving. We are currently in the middle of our sixth move. We've had a few bumps in the road already...I'm hoping the remainder goes well. I haven't handled the stress so well...neither has Winston. But Miles and Nathan keep us held together.

Miles and Winston checking out our mountains of boxes.

Poor Winnie knows EXACTLY what's going on (this is his fourth move)

So here's to a smooth move! Two weeks from today we'll be in Italy, hopefully enjoying some gelato!!

Bye bye stuff - see you in six months!

All systems go

Well, we have a passport for Miles.  His passport picture is seriously hilarious...I had forgotten how funny it was until we went to go sign his passport for him.  It looks like a baby mug shot.  I will post a pic of it when I think of it.  We mailed off our Visa applications (turns out mine was never mailed...the Navy travel office kept mine so mine and Miles' could be mailed together) and those should hopefully be back the 30th.  Which would be nice since we're leaving town the 30th to spend some time with family.  We also have our plane tickets to Naples...we leave on the 10th of January. 

The reality of all this hit me yesterday and I had a bit of a meltdown.  Ok...more than a bit.  But things are a little better today. I just got overwhelmed with everything that has to happen before we get on the Italy bound plane...sorting, packing, painting, cleaning, Christmas, my birthday and a 1500 mile drive on I-80 in the winter...I get heartburn just thinking about it.

I'm nervous but excited for the adventure that lies ahead of us.  I am heartbroken to leave our home here...I really do love it; which is so funny considering I didn't want to move here.  I am just hoping I'll fall in love with Italy just like I fell in love with Chicago. 

Moving along

Preparations for the move are coming along...we are still waiting for a passport & visa for Miles.  This was causing me terrible amounts of stress.  You see, to move to Italy we have to have a Visa...in order to get a Visa you have to send in your passport with the Visa application.  The Italian consulate here in Chicago takes 20 days to return a Visa (um...yeah "20 days" it's been almost 25 and we're still waiting for mine...) I was worried that the packout days & the travel day would come and go and we'd have no documentation for Miles so Nathan would have to go ahead to Italy by himself and then I'd follow once we got the paperwork.  Yeah, uh huh...I'd have to do a trans-Atlantic flight...with a 7.5 month old...and a cat...and a litterbox...and a stroller & carseat...and 2 carryons & 4 checked bags...BY MYSELF.  Yep....now you are understanding my stress.  So to help we set a deadline: if his passport isn't back by this Friday we're pushing the move back.  We talked to Nathan's bosses and explained the situation and they were totally awesome (whoah...80's flashbacks) about the whole thing.  They said they'd just modify his orders and send us a couple/few weeks later.  (insert HUGE sigh of relief on my part)

Part of me hopes it comes in time...and another part doesn't.  I {really} love it here and I would not cry at all if we had to stay another couple weeks.  The other part of me just wants to get it done and over with.  Get packed, moved and settled in our new home.  So I guess we'll just make the best of whatever happens. 

You wanna see something funny?  I was curious how many miles it was from Chicago to Naples so I typed it into MapQuest...this is what I got: (click on it to make it bigger)

Here is the funny part...a wee bit bigger:

HA HA!  Should I tell the Navy this?  And on another note...that is super far away (4,943 miles to be exact...5.884 miles from Salt Lake) 

Viva chicago! (part 3) a.k.a. The Long of it

We got back on the road Saturday am and made pretty good time through the remainder of Iowa and Illinois. We stopped for lunch and heard some people talking behind us about the storm blowing in. After all we had been through we HAD to make it to the hotel before it got there...I could take another setback. So we get in the car and are a couple hours away from the base, I call to make the reservation at the Navy Lodge (I hadn't made it before because I wanted to make sure we were actually going to make it...I didn't want to pay for night that we didn't use...turns out that was a good idea cause we were pulling into town two days later than I had anticipated.) I had called to check with this particular Navy Lodge on their pet policy about a month before we left. I told them about our traveling circus and they said it would not be a problem. Well...it turned out to be a problem. They said they would allow only two pets per room. The 'helpful' customer service lady said we were more than welcome to book two rooms. Ya, that would just be GREAT. We were running SUPER low on funds already, lets just book a SECOND room for the dog. grrr. I start bawling in the truck. I have been glued to that seat for four days. Eating too much fast food, with a side of too much stress. I broke. Luckily Nathan was there and he called his sponsor John and had him find another pet friendly place for us to stay. (We stayed at La Quinta...and if any of you are ever traveling with pets I HIGHLY reccomend them. No extra fees...clean rooms...free breakfast...free wifi) We get checked in and unload our circus, then unhook the car off the dolly and return it. As we finish doing that, it starts snowing. We grab a quick bite at Chili's and head back to the room.

The next day we get up to over a foot of snow. grrr. I try and contact realtors (because you find apartments through realtors out here...for real) but it is Sunday and none are around. We drive around and look at a few places from the outside, just to get a feel for the area. The next morning we try the realtors again....and we get a list of referal housing from the base housing office. We call a bunch, see a lot and decide that some people's definition of LIVABLE is definitely not the same as mine. There was one house where the bedrooms were about 7x7...and there were only two of them. Keep in mind we are moving from a five bedroom house...two 7x7 bedrooms just isn't going to cut it! Oh, and to add to it the landlord of this house wanted to be able to use the spare room in the basement as an office. It had no outdoor entrance, nothing separating it from the rest of the house. He just wanted to be able to come and go as he wanted. No bueno.

By Tuesday night I was getting frustrated. I had long since run out of clean clothes...I was tired of eating out and I thought we might never find a place to live. That's when John (Nathan's sponsor) called us to tell us about a condo open in their building. We drove right down to look at it. It was great. Cherry hardwood floors, 42" cabinets in the kitchen, jetted bathtub, fireplace, private rooftop deck. We told them we would think about it and call them in the a.m. We talked the whole way back to the hotel about the pros and cons of living so far from the base. We decided it was worth it. We called the next morning, said we'd be down to sign the lease in a few hours. The next 6 or so hours were HORRIBLE...they involved LOTS of tears, much anxiety, unhelpful Navy Relief, a very generous mother and grandmother and one understanding landlord.

We finally got everything signed (that night...see picture...what a pretty city!) , and the next morning met with the property management people at the condo to get the keys. John and his wife Sara lent us an air mattress and some pillows so we wouldn't have to sleep on the floor.

On Tuesday all our stuff was delivered. Man, we have a LOT of stuff. It is a bit tricky...because we moved from such a big house with so much room into a small-ish condo with two bedrooms. But it is good. We're going through and keeping what we really need and the rest will be given to Good Will or put in storage. These pics are taken from our little balcony, looking down into the alley behind the building. The two white moving trucks were both FILLED. Yep, we're officially hoarders.




I refuse to post pictures until it is decent, and it is slowly coming. To help calm your thirst for pictures here is a teaser: (this was obviously taken before our massive amount of boxes arrived)

This is the living room. That is a fireplace in the corner (sadly, we have already used it..isn't it APRIL??!?). I know the pic sucks, but it will have to do for now. Be patient with me, I have 296 boxes to unpack. (That was our actual count...I told you...hoarders...)

Oh ok, stop whining, here's this one too. This is the back of our building. (beggers can't be choosers). That's the garage where each condo has one spot (thank heavens...I HATE shoveling snow off cars!...sorry Nathan the truck is too big and has to be outside) The third floor up is our place. You can see the dog house on the balcony. The two windows are our bedroom, as is the first one on the left side. The second little window is the master bath.

More to come...I promise!

The Long and Short of it...

The Short

• We are alive...and well (after a short bout with a sinus bug)
  
• We found a pad (thanks for the thoughts and prayers)
• It is AWESOME
• The cats and dog love it...the humans do too
• Already went downtown to see Buckingham Fountain, the Bean, Mag Mile
  
• Our stuff came yesterday (how in the world did we ever accumulate all that??!?)
  
• LOTS of boxes
• Internet gets hooked up on Friday (I am going through serious withdrawls, thank heavens for free WIFI at Panera Bread)
  
• Pics to follow

The Long

• Well...that'll be the story for another day
  

Help Wanted

Ok, I know I haven't been very 'church-y' as of late, but I still have faith in higher powers and now I am asking any who are willing to call upon those higher powers.

We are here...but are having trouble finding a place to live. There are an abundance of places available, but they are either in the wrong neighborhood, way out of out price range or not somewhere I would feel comfortable living...for fear of the bugs growing in the carpet. Seriously. We have contacted a couple realtors and are going to see more properties tomorrow. One of them NEEDS to work. Living in a hotel is not cheap and we are running out of fundage.

So if any of you out there would be willing to call upon any higher power that we will find suitable housing tomorrow and that money will work out, I would be truly grateful.

Hopefully next time I'm checking in I have good news and a place to live.

Viva Chicago! (part 2)

We started out this morning in our super loud truck and it started ok. It quickly deteriorated. Winston was freaking out at the loud sound and was crying nonstop.


The truck was losing power quickly so we pulled off the freeway into the Walmart parking lot and Nathan got under to see what was up. We learned that we would need to replace the catalytic converter before going any further. We were really lucky to find a muffler shop close by. We went in and they were GREAT. They were super friendly and they just loved Besta. I tell you, Nebraska has some of the nicest people I have ever met. They got us right in and got it fixed and it only cost us $286. The people at that shop were awesome and if any of you ever find yourselves stuck in Grand Island, Nebraska and need a muffler fix go to Green Bear Safety Service. (Yes, that is seriously their name)


We saw a TON of these windmills across Iowa. At one point there was a field of over 100 of them. You gotta hand it to the state of Iowa to harness the energy from their abundant wind.


We made pretty good time after that and we are hunkered down for the night in Iowa City. Our hotel is a castle themed hotel. Our room is awesome...and the restaurant in the hotel was like an old tavern. The bathrooms in the restaurant were labeled "Damsels in Distress""Knights in Need" and . Here are some pics of our castle room. This is the bed...it is up a few stairs from the rest of the room. There is a chandelier overhead and mirrors on the ceiling (bow-chica-wow-wow).


Here is the bathroom...nothing fancy here but I just had to show you the phone by the toilet. Don't think we'll be using that one...


Here is the gilded mirror over the sink.


Here is the painting in the room. Cute kitty, huh? (It is big...like 4'x4')


Here is a view of the lower half of the room from up where the bed is...notice the other chandelier. As I type this Besta is lounged out on the couch.


I can't wait to get to Chicago tomorrow...hopefully we'll get there, checked in to the hotel and get a chance to go out and look at some places in town...cause we need to find a place to live and QUICK.

Viva Chicago!

We are half way through our insane (I'll clue you in on that later) trip to Chi Town...this may be long...but it WILL be good for at least a few giggles.

The moving company came and packed us up on Monday and then loaded the truck on Tuesday. More than once we heard them say something to the effect of 'You have a lot of stuff'. Don't we know it. After the truck was loaded on Tuesday my mom came up and helped us clean the house, then we went to a farewell dinner at a great Thai place. (Thanks mom, I really appreciate your help and you not crying...because if you would have, I would have totally lost it instead of just partially losing it)

Winston was really freaked out by the whole thing. He has been through a move before and wasn't sure he liked what was going on. This is where he 'hid' after all the boxes were gone.

We woke up Wednesday morning to snow. Utah wanted to send us off in style!


I was fine until I knew I was walking out of our house for the last time. I had so many hopes for that house. I had planned on bringing a baby home from the hospital to that house, raising children in that house, having many Christmas mornings in that house. To leave without fulfilling those wishes was hard. I love that house. I love my scrapbook room. I love the plaster paint job in the Master Bedroom, I love my flower beds. I am sad that I won't be able to see my Daffodils and Irises come up this year. Nathan was great and allowed me a bit to cry, then gently pulled me out the door.

Unfortunately the storm Utah decided to send us away with caused quite a few problems. We already had the car packed to the gills, on a dolly, hooked to the truck (which was also packed to the gills)...we didn't need to add snow to the equation. We didn't make too bad of time until we hit Rawlins, then it got ugly. We got back on I-80 and shortly after we did, they closed the road because of the weather. We had to SLOWLY (read: So slow sometimes I forgot we were moving) make our way through the ice and snow and wind. They had closed the freeway going West so there was a while where we didn't see another car for almost an hour. It was kinda freaky. We got to Laramie and wanted to push on to Cheyenne for the night, but fate had other ideas. I-80 between Laramie and Cheyenne was closed...which was probably good because the roads were getting slicker and we fishtailed more than once as we got close to Laramie. We got my mom to work for us and found us a hotel that had rooms open and would also allow us to bring our entourage (Besta, Winston and Frank). We got the circus unloaded and went to bed. (This hotel would be the source of much laughing today...the bathroom light didn't work...the shower was VERY testy and wouldn't hold a steady temperature...the front desk person didn't know how to let me connect my Mac to the wifi and I'm sure the floor hadn't been vacuumed in weeks. By the time we got there we were so tired we didn't want to go find food so we ate two left over tacos from lunch...cold tacos. yummy.).

We got up this morning fully aware that we were HUNDREDS of miles behind schedule. Speaking of waking up...this is what we woke up to:
We had wanted to make it to Grand Island, NE the first night...we were 412 miles off. So we took off. What should creep up on us? More weather:


The truck seemed to get slower and slower. It wasn't pulling the load as fast as we'd like. (We were lucky to get to 40mph). I called my dad (who has owned more than his fair share of trucks over the years and so has extensive truck-fixing knowledge) and he thought it was our Catalytic Converter. All we needed to do was punch a hole in the pipe that leads into it. Sound simple? Now factor in that we are in sub-freezing temps, in the snow, in the middle of nowhere Nebraska. We pull off the side of the road, under an overpass (seriously...) and Nathan climbs under the truck with a screwdriver and a rock and works for 30 minutes before he gets one hole. (Turns out there were TWO pipes leading into it...so we had to punch two holes).


He can't get the other one so he climbs back in and we keep moving. It helps a little, so we stop at the next truck stop, Nathan goes in and asks for a hammer and gets back under the truck. He worked for almost 40 minutes, then some random kind stranger asks if we need help. He is a mechanic or something, offers a HUGE hammer and a tool that will punch the hole better. Four swings with the hammer and there is a grand canyon size hole in the pipe and we can now go 65mph. I can't believe how nice that guy was! (Oh, did I mention the side-effect of punching the hole in the pipe? The truck is now LOUD. I mean LOUD, like a truck with no muffler...so conversations in the truck are now not held unless necessary because we don't want to yell)

So we are now in a hotel in Kearney, Nebraska. (I know, where??!?) It is clean, the bathroom light works, it has internet, and a working heater. The dog loves being inside, Frank loves having a new room to discover every night and Winston is doing better tonight than last night. (See Winston under the blanket on top of the pillow? He wormed his way up through the blankets to get himself there...we woke up to find a very interesting lump on the pillow...and that lump turned out to be him)


I am trying not to be frustrated. We are still not where we hoped we would be on the first night...we had actually hoped to be in Chicago tonight...but storms and truck trouble have held us back. I'm not sure when I'll be able to update again. If you're on Facebook, you can keep tabs on us there. I can get on Facebook on my phone. I haven't had time to read any blogs, but I promse to get caught up once I get settled in Chi Town.

Coming down the home stretch

Ok, so I know I have been absent, but you really wouldn't have needed an update because this is how my days have gone the last week:

Up at 6am to feed the kittens
Back to sleep until 12
Get up, eat. Maybe shower. (TMI, I know)
Watch Lost
Feed dog
Eat dinner
Watch Lost
Go to sleep about 4am

Exciting huh? Once Nathan got home we have had a more 'normal' schedule. Up at 7 for him, 10 for me (don't judge...I am N.O.T. a morning person).

Our pack-out dates are set. Monday we will get all packed up and Tuesday they'll load the truck. We leave Wednesday. Hopefully we can make it out there in two days so we can have a few days to look for somewhere to live before Nathan has to sign into the band on the 31st. It is kinda scary to be moving 1500 miles away and not have any idea where we're going to be living. I am amazed that I am so calm about the whole thing. When we moved out here I was wound up so tight, and we knew where we were going to be living, and what we were going to be doing (school) and we knew the area because we had lived here before. I feel like we are supposed to be in Chicago, so things will work out, and that must be what is keeping me calm. Hope it stays calm for the next 10 days. :)

Home

Home again...well, at least for a week.