Friday, May 05, 2006

Moving rant

I'm having a hard time lately organizing my thoughts. And by lately I mean for the past 6 months. It's progressively getting worse though. When you can't organize things very well in your head, it leads to not being very organized in life. I mean my house is organized, almost to the extreme, but my time and things that need to be taken care of, is a whole other story.

Like this move coming up, it just seems like too much to wrap my head around. I know I will be fine, and it will all work out, but right now, at this exact moment, it's exhausting to even think about. There is just so much that is hanging up in the air, and will remain there until some hand of certainty grabs it down and makes it concrete. When most people move, they have a house lined up at their destination, or know the area, and I wish I could be so lucky. We are the last people that have control over this situation, or at least that's the way it seems.

Today I went to the "Transportation Office" to schedule the movers to come. I had to have a Power Of Attorney and a copy of Andrews orders, and then fill out papers wanting to know information that I truly don't know. They wanted to know the estimated weight of my household goods, in pounds. Ummmmm. Ummmmmm. I mean...who knows that sh*t?? My new couch and loveseat are pretty heavy. But how heavy? So I wrote in 5000 lbs, but honestly, I'm clue-less. Then they wanted to know how much Andrews "professional equipment" weighed, like his books, foot lockers, 15 pairs of combat boots (you wouldn't believe the number of boots this man owns..It's probably more, and not including what he has with him now in Georgia, lol) anyway, it's stuff like that...and he has plenty of it. But again, how much does it weigh?


Blah, well I filled out the form though, and they are coming to pack up our stuff the 1st and 2nd of June. There is a "briefing" to go to as well, on the 25th of this month. Lord knows what you learn there, or why it's necessary.

Plus that's only half of the trouble. I still need to call or go down (not sure if I can just call) the housing office and schedule to clear out of government quarters. It's not like just moving from an average rental, clearing army housing is no fun, they get caught up in the smallest details. Alot of people just hire "cleaning teams" because they sign off on the house, and they are the ones that are responsible for clearing the house for you. They are around $300-$400 though, and I hate to just give that kind of money away when I could potentially be just fine. My house isn't dirty by any means, but we have been there about 5 years now, and I'm just wondering how much consideration they give you for that. I'll probably find out the answer for that when I go to THAT briefing. There are little classes for everything in the army.

So anyway, after they come pack up our stuff, we will have a few days before the inspector comes by to sign off on it..or hand you a hefty bill..whichever. All our cleaning stuff will be packed and gone though. We won't have a vacuum, broom, mop, bucket, the list goes on. And we better make sure we cut the lawn close, so it doesn't need to be mowed again before we clear. I guess we will just buy a broom and a bucket, or use our old ones, and then throw them out. Either way, it's a total waste.

And then there's the dogs. We rent a fence now, but it will have to be gone to clear housing. This wouldn't be a huge deal, and probably isn't, but both my dogs have severe learning disabilities, and it's totally possible they will forever be pulling and yanking their little necks raw, and whining, and getting tangled up every 2 secs.

Oh and did I mention that after we sign out of housing, we will essentially be homeless for WHO KNOWS WHEN? We will probably crash at my mother-in-laws until we drive out for NY (around the 19th of June) but we haven't really asked her about it yet. We would get a hotel room, but the longer we stay away from that, the better. The cost of it is going to eat us alive once we leave KC, because the thing is, is that even once we are there, we will still be on a waiting list for housing, which hopefully isn't that long, but very well might be over a few months. If you do the math for an average of $60 a night for 30 days, it's $1800. And no, I don't have that kind of money.

The other possibility is too find some place to rent, which is a headache all in itself.

Again, the dogs come into play. This whole time we will be trying to work around them, and hotels who accept them, or boarding them once we get there (which will kill me if I have too). Andrew wants to just leave them with family until we get settled. Wish I guess is an option, but I also feel that they are our responsibility, and I hate to pass that on. All in all, it might not be that much trouble, but it has the potential to be...god..everything about this whole trip is like that.

It's this great big adventure where your flying by the seat of your pants hoping to land peacefully, but could totally end up spiraling out of control.


One might ask, "Well Glenda, your husband has been in the army for 10 years now, haven't you been through this before?" and my answer is yes, and no.

Our first duty station was Fort Lewis WA, and it was truly chaotic once we got there. The first day we got there (after driving for 3 days) we got in a wreck and totaled our first car, that we had only owned a little over a month. It was an old crown victoria given to us by Andrews grandfather. Needless to say, we didn't have full coverage insurance, so we were not only in a city we knew nothing about, we didn't have a car anymore. We ended up buying an old 85 Ford Escort for $500, and eventually it all worked out, as far as finding a place to live, but by the time that happened, we were beyond broke. Andrew and I both went to one of those Plasma clinics 2- 3 times a week that year, just to pull in an extra $30 here and there. It was down right pitiful.

Then our next station was Germany, and believe it or not, that trip was pretty easy. Since your going overseas, the army doesn't expect you to find your own lodging until you come up for housing...cause everyone lives in government quarters there, so they place you in guest house, at no charge to you, until you come up on the list. You actually make a little money off of it, which is great.

After Germany we came here, and since Fort Riley is only 2 hours away from family, it wasn't too big of an issue either. We shacked up with family for a few weeks, then found some crap hole that had a month to month lease until we came up on the list for housing.


So yeah, we've semi-done this before, but never to this degree, with trying to leave army housing, and at the same time get into army housing, with 2 dogs, 2 kids, and only so much money.

Not too mention we've never been lucky enough to have to try and explain to a soon 3 year old why all her stuff is getting packed away, and why we will be traveling for over 20 hours, and living every where but our home. Taylor was too young to notice anything when we moved to WA, and still was when we moved to Germany, and by the time we left for Kansas, she was 5, and totally understood things. She was also way more laid back about things. Audrey is sure to get caught up and confused by all of this. But anyway...that is a whole other rant going on inside my head.

No wonder that vodka tasted so good last night.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

im sorry Glenda! it looks like alot of work and i dont envy you one bit. Besides the fact that u get to experience new york from an outsiders perspective...i just wish there was a way i could help you out there.