Moving

Coming up on "HOME" number 30! At this point I'm not even sure why we deal with packers! They could just drop off the appropriate materials and I would have everything well packed and inventoried in one weekend. Everything on this end is going along smoothly as it is on the other end. We have the Apartment just waiting on our arrival, utilities in our name, cable and furniture delivery appointments all set up. Travel to our destination "confirmed".
Now all we have to do is focus on the up-coming weeks; Rich and I are both getting "STA" {short timers attitude} so our excitement level for leaving Switzerland has us both wishing it was tomorrow! Just standing around in the starting gate when your all set to run is annoying and frustrating..so much to do- yet so little time before the "UN-Accompanied" Tour to Afghanistan begins.

May-Day

I remember when I was a little girl, May-Day was a big event. The week before my friends and I would keep busy decorating "strawberry baskets, cut down milk cartons, even using tubes from the toilet paper-cut in half", anything that we could decorate using crate paper, pipe cleaners, flowers etc... We used our imagination to create the most "Beautiful Basket" without spending any money; things were always on hand at the house,,even buttons! Anyway, when our baskets were complete we would fill it up with Penny Candy..."yes, I could buy a whole little bag of candy for 5 cents" Then my brother and I would run around town hanging "May Baskets". The way it worked: you would run up to a friends door..yell MAY BASKET and run. Your friend would have to chase you until you were caught- then you would walk back and share a piece of candy. In a way it was like Halloween in May. But it used to be so exciting and fun.
SO HAPPY MAY-DAY EVERYONE! Today I challenge you to get creative and make a Beautiful May-basket with your children or grandchildren, tell them the story's of what you used to do and I'll bet you'll be surprised what the kids come up with!!
As for moving..thing's are going well. Chris and Linda came up last weekend "for the last time" and they took a few thing's home with them....."I tried to get her to take Rich...but she refused"!! Anyway we are short a living room, Television,Lamps and a bookcase. We still have a few items to get rid of but the house is already beginning to sound empty. Our car was shipped out yesterday and all seems to be moving along smoothly at this point. Two weeks until pack-out!

Preparation

Today was very productive, we have arranged for check-in of our apartment, our internet/cable to be connected and have picked out furniture that will be delivered all within the first three days of our arrival in NH! I find myself still going over our inventory for various shipments but hopefully by Thursday I'll have firm knowledge on what will go where. NH will be the most difficult with only 450 lbs "airfreight". Just a few of our things to make the apartment feel like home...then [of course] I'll have to do some shopping for a few things but hopefully I'll be able to take my kitchen essentials. All of our electrical appliances are 220 so they will go straight into NZ.  I know my big cookbooks are out because of the weight but I'll be able to put a few small ones in my suitcase. Now I haven't been in the States for a couple of years however I've been looking at the Jenny Craig web site. I'm thinking of ordering their three meals a day plus desserts. I mean I'll still cook some things, however with just being me it makes sense to eat healthy and loose some weight in the process. between that and using the gym everyday I should be down to 124 before October! To be honest, I'm really looking forward to making a difficult time productive- in good ways. This is me keeping my chin up!!!

Goodness

Very busy week ahead!! Catching up on the housework tomorrow 'after taking the weekend off ' to begin some arranging for our move. We had to decide what will go into storage, what goes to New Zealand and what will go to NH.."only allowed 425lbs to go there". Mikey goes to the Dr on Tuesday to prepare for travel back to the US and someone is coming to look at the house in the afternoon. The car gets serviced Wednesday morning and a new windshield in the afternoon... We took a rock hit taking Betti to the airport- We haven't had very good luck with our car windows over here! It's also Rich's Birthday. Thursday is our Pre-move inspection, Friday is a Hail and Farewell at the Marine House and Linda and Chris are coming for the weekend both to visit and to take some thing's that we aren't going to ship.... 30 Day's until pack-out!!!

Time And Change

Alright then everyone, a couple of our moving date's have been changed. We will be State-Side bound in just 43 Day's!!!! We fly on 1 June; we're very excited to get to Manchester and see our new Apartment. Our car will be shipped straight there so we'll only have to rent a car for a couple of days perhaps...unless they loose ours again! Rich and I are more relaxed about having the extra time to get acclimated and learn where everything is located. We will still be going to Maine except we will now drive instead of fly. Our "Pre-Inspection" is up next so we must go through the rooms and decide what items will be sent to New Zealand, the rest will either be sold or go into storage. Guess I know what we'll be doing this weekend!!! Anyone interested in helping?

April 1st!

Wow, cannot believe how the time has gotten away from me! It seems as though our Friend's Gary and Song had the shortest vacation ever. I don't even think they had time to UN-pack before leaving. My Friend Betti leaves Maine tomorrow and will arrive in Zurich Tuesday morning; I'm so excited about her visit and I'm hoping that she has a wonderful time. Rich and I will be taking her to Nuremberg Germany to attend the Famous Easter Market and of course Spring just wouldn't be complete without attending the Spring Fest at the Dutzendteich! I'm already missing the idea of attending the Fall Fest but will focus on Spring for now. My cousin Linda and her husband Chris will be joining us for the four-day weekend, which is a very good thing because our opportunities to get together when-ever we can is quickly coming to a close. While I'll be moving back to the State's for a year- they will be staying on in Stuttgart.
Speaking of moving...here's the latest update: Rich and I have rented a 2bedroom 2bath Deluxe Apartment in Manchester NH. WHY?? Well, a few reason's really; One, is that we have been talking about buying a four season lake house in NH for years and it would be a great opportunity to begin our search and at the same time take us out of the "State Tax" in Va. since we have no intentions on living there. The rentals in Va. and Ca. "where our children are" were so expensive, everything in a "Secured" great part of town was over 3-4,000 a month and let me tell you....when your looking at a year alone, Security becomes a top priority. While we know that our children and their families would do anything and everything for us, I just choose to "NOT" to be a "take care of me kind of Mother"
We have a very busy two months ahead with sorting, packing and shipping. We actually move out of our current home in May...hum-mm perhaps I should book a two week cooking class in Italy during that time,,, Aw- couldn't do that to Rich and Mikey. Well, I promise to do a better job with my Blog- keeping you better "in the loop" of what's going on... notice that I've changed the title to Switzerland and Beyond since it fit's our lifestyle perfectly.

March 1st

March has arrived in Switzerland at a cool 36 * Very sunny, with afternoon temps expected to reach 66*. Yes March has come in like a lamb- we all know what that means...it will go out like a loin! 
Our wonderful friends Gary and Song Chicko will be arriving on the 13th, we're so excited about their upcoming visit! They have never been to Europe so we will be taking them for one weekend to Germany...there just isn't going to be enough time to show them everything that makes us love that country. 
Just eleven days after Song and Gary leave- my friend Betti will be here; now she's coming over at a great time of Spring...I'll tell you more about her visit later.
All has been pretty quiet here "almost to a point of being a bit boring" however I suppose I should welcome the quiet before the storm of moving. Things are falling into place nicely- we have our pack-out dates and our plane reservations. We still need to find a "house" to rent for a year but all in good time.
I've been getting thing's ready for our move {from here} and yesterday i looked through old pictures and papers that I've saved through the years. I of course thought all important things were in storage, however I ran across a couple Report Cards belonging to Craig "9th grade" and Chris "7th grade" an Award for Corey which he wrote a Garfield comic all over the back of it [5th Grade] and it made me excited to go though the rest of our things from the storage. Thirty two years of memories await!!