Rollin, rollin, rollin.....

Today is the first day of the madness. Just five weeks from this Friday, the last of our stuff will be picked up and shipped, and we will move our elated little (or not so little, as the case may be) hineys into the Patriot Inn so we can ready our house for the housing inspection! In SIX weeks, Pete's unit will deactivate. He's stressed, trying to get things in order for that and to ensure that everyone's paperwork is moving along in short order, but things here at home are pretty nuts too! My to-do list includes (among just the normal day-to-day stuff) a WIC appointment to get transfer paperwork, making lists, and cleaning out closets to make room for the stuff we're going to duct tape IN them next Monday when the packers arrive so they don't get packed. Then I've got to make sure all of the excess "stuff" is out of corners, pulled out from behind bookshelves and dressers and from under beds, so we don't have a box of homeless junk for each room that I will have to weed through on the other end of the Atlantic in July. All of the curtains have to come down, all the linens we're shipping have to be cleaned and stored and I've got to separate out all of the kitchen items, toys, and other sundry items that we're not shipping so they don't inadvertedly get packed! Oh, and of course, the recruiter called to tell us that he can't pick Jon up from the train station tomorrow for his pre-enlistment physical, so he picked him up TODAY and is getting Jon a room at the American hotel in Wiesbaden so he'll be right there to pick up for the physical tomorrow. So...one of my hard laborers is away for two days of the heavy work, but that's life, right?

Wednesday, we have a customs agent coming to look over the things we'll ship back to the States to be sure there is nothing harboring the gypsy moth or any other harmful critters. So far, I think we're good. We shook the spiders out of the strollers and bikes a couple of weeks ago, so the worst we'll have to do as far as critters go is to brush off anything new. The big work is going to be cleaning the outside toys of any dirt. US Customs really doesn't like imported dirt!

Thankfully, I've already done a lot. I knew what needed to be done this time around, so I knew to start WAY early. It doesn't eliminate the last-minute (or, rather, last-week) stuff, but that's unavoidable. As far as our big stuff goes, we have PLANE RESERVATIONS!!!!! Pete has to get just one stamp from the Trasnportation office and he'll be able to pick up the tickets as early as this afternoon!!!! Hey, Jill and Chuck, we're landing in Atlanta!!!! Our van arrives for pickup in Atlanta the day before we fly, and thankfully we had an understanding travel agent who booked us a flight TO Atlanta instead of the other option, which was through our least favorite airport in the whole world--Dulles in D.C.--and we'll pick up our van the day we arrive!!! We'll get to hang out in Atlanta for a day or two before heading to Huntsville! Just one wonderful little perk in all of this has all of us on cloud 9!

Now I've got to find some time in the next day and a half to sit down and make up some sort of meal plan that I can live with for the next week that won't require too much of me, because Lord knows I need all the simplicity I can get! Eek!!! One more thing to add to the list--clean the fridge out and make sure all my Tupperware is stored for shipping by Sunday! Ack! Thank goodness for those semi-disposable Ziplock storage containers!