Just for GeeGee and Why Do I Procrastinate

GeeGee wanted pics of Mr. A, so here they are. Pics of Mr. A, who still won't smile quite right yet (we're getting closer!). It's such a shame, because his real smile is beautiful. These are from the other day as I followed him around the yard while he watered everything that typically doesn't need watering.

Onto the second part. Why do I procrastinate? I'm pretty much so hating myself for not really starting on the garage earlier. I don't know when exactly I would have done it, but boy oh, boy, do I wish I had started earlier. :( I got rid of 75% of the toys today, and it still looks like a mess. Part of it is M's fault, because he likes to stack up empty boxes in there, and so a good 30-40% of what I'm looking at are probably just empty boxes. I can't wait to be rid of all of this. It's just so hot in there, too. I started working about 8:30am, and I was dripping with sweat within 10-15 minutes. It's not even noon, and it's 90 degrees. The high is 102 today. Yuck!


Mini Minon hung out with me while I cleaned out part of the garage today, although she really wasn't much help. An old Christmas tree topper broke, and she "helped" me by sweeping it out of the pile I had it in and all over the garage instead. That was sweet. She looks quite funny today, because she has on a pair of angel wings that M got me about 10 years ago.

In good news, the master bedroom and both bathrooms are completely packed up and ready to go. Anything left goes to Goodwill when we leave or is being sold in the garage sale. The linen closet is also done, so all I have left are Mr. A's room, the playroom, the kitchen (hardly anything will go), and the living room.


In exactly one week is August, and things will start happening really fast then. It's kind of exciting.

No news is good news

That's the way I'm looking at it. I haven't gotten a phone call yet from the German Consulate, but that's a good thing! If they're not calling yet, that means they're not calling me to tell me there's a problem. It means my passport is likely on its way to Germany for processing. And that's fun.

In a few weeks, though, the tables will be turned, and I'll be waiting for a phone call saying that it's waiting at the Consulate. And at that point, no news won't be good news. Funny how that works.

We're packing up, which is not really fun work. It's kind of nice to get rid of so much stuff, though. I dread going through the garage. It's about 75% organized in the way that things are piled up on different sides of it, but it's not ready to be tackled yet. I'd love to just get in there and do it in two or three days, but it was 103 here yesterday. That doesn't really make me want to go outside at all.



Here's what's left on the list:

- Finish packing (I'm up to 7 boxes fully packed and another 3 almost done. That's almost half!)
- Fill out EEU Family Permit applications for M and the kids (17 pages each. That's fun.)
- Sign my loan docs, which I'm still taking out just in case. Better to be safe than sorry, even though we don't need to show the money anymore.
- Buy tickets (as soon as I get the phone call from the Consulate)
- Load the boxes up and take them to LA for shipping (haven't totally figured the logistics of this yet, but I have an idea).
- Sell everything in our house, drop off the leftovers at Goodwill, and somehow manage to sell our car before we leave, but not so far in advance that we don't have a car to get around until we leave.



Maybe tomorrow I'll post what we have to do once we get there. Because getting out the door is the easy part. M is training at his new job right now (he's double-dipping, poor guy, working essentially from 6 am to 6 pm every day), which means I've got more free time on my hands since I've got to keep the kids quiet and away from him while he does it. (I wish someone would do that for me while I'm working!) But all that means I have more time for picture-taking. And I've been trying really hard to learn how to use this camera on manual. It's slow, but I'm learning.

As a side note, my grandma wants to know why I don't have more pics of Mr. A. Simple. He never wants to pose, and he's always out playing with his friends.

Two Steps Forward, No Steps Back

Finally! I like it when things go without a hitch.

Both times we've moved out of the country (although I can't really say we've moved yet), one of the biggest concerns has been, "What will you do for work?!" This really isn't so much a concern as you would think. Mostly because it's pretty easy to survive. Trust me on this.

I have a job. It pays me fairly well. It doesn't pay me so well when the exchange rate is so high and we have to have $2600 for one-way tickets, $1000 for temp accommodation, $3,000 for our apartment deposit, $750 for shipping, potentially $1,200 for visas (we'll see). . .well, all those things add up fast, don't they? And that's not even considering food and all that great stuff. So my job has been a saving grace, but moving is expensive. Moving out of the country is REALLY expensive. Is it worth it? Yep. It is to me. It really doesn't matter WHY, either. Just like staying in this city is worth it to other people.



But people are obsessed with the job issue. It's a big one. At least, it must be, because SO MANY people are asking about it. "Can you work in London?" "What is M going to do?" "Has he applied for any jobs over there?" "Can he transfer with the company?" It goes on and on and on. So, I can now say that M (imagine with a sweeping arm gesture) officially has a job he can do in London. He's working for my company in a completely different department. I'm really interested to see how he's able to make positive changes there. I think he's got some great ideas and is exactly what a company like this needs. It should be fun.



Now he gets to work from home. He'll see what fun it is. And really, it's no fun at all. Why do it, then? Because at least I get to stay home with the kids IF they need me for something, and we save on childcare. But it's exhausting and much more difficult than most people think. In some ways, I kind of feel bad for him.

Groundhog Day

Obviously it's not really Groundhog Day (or else my calendar is REALLY messed up). But it sure feels like the movie. Today has been a waste. A complete waste. Why? Because I have had to redo so many things today that I JUST did less than a month ago.

The biggest one is the student loans. Will I need them? I dunno. But I'd rather apply and get them, and then not use them if it comes down to it. I guess the ultimate peace of mind is worth the temporary annoyance. Anyway, UCL requires all applicants to submit this entire student loan package with your SAR, MPNs, cover letters, counseling clearance, blah, blah, blah. I did this last month, before the requirements had been set for loans this year.

Yeah, I'm sure you're thinking that wasn't a wise decision. But it's not my fault. THEY (meaning UCL) made US applicants do it this way. They said, "Please submit your application and SAR so that it can be ready to go when congress finalizes the requirements." Except, of course, they put "finalise" instead of "finalize." So off my paper application went.



Today, I got an email saying I needed to re-apply for MPNs, redo the counseling, re-submit the credit check. D'oh! Fortunately, everything is electronic this time around, except the cover letter, which I was able to email. So it's done.

Life will be in and out of limbo for the next two weeks until most everything will be pretty close to being finalised (haha--did you like that?). Then we'll just start sifting through everything in full force and start packing like mad. It should be fun.


On a side note, one of my favorite people randomly called me up to go to San Jose/Santa Clara/Palo Alto on Monday. I couldn't go, but I told her early yesterday that we could do it. So we loaded up all the kids (she brought one of her girls and her 2-month-old baby) and went to the big mall and to IKEA. We drove all the way to Santa Clara so she could buy a painting at IKEA and an outfit at Janie and Jack. I love that crazy woman. :)

I Am Different Than You Are

This is so very, very true. And believe it or not, I am really very comfortable with who I am. I recognize both my strengths and weaknesses. Yes, I'm sometimes rash, I'm strong-willed and very sharp tongued. I can be brutally honest, and I do have a temper. If I don't like people, I will tell them. I dislike weakness, and the biggest weakness to me is stupidity. I will exploit that. But on the other side of that coin, if you earn it, I am intensely loyal. I will bend over backward to accommodate the people I care about. If I don't like you, you will know. And I'm probably a helluva lot smarter than you think I am.

I've wrestled with the tone of this blog and the tone of my everyday conversations. I'm fluent in sarcasm. I'm a storyteller, so sometimes details are amplified. When I say something is "the worst" or "the most amazing thing ever," I naturally assume people will pick up on the hyperbole. The older I get, the more I realize this isn't the case. That sucks.

Who wants to feel like they're constantly explaining aspects of their personalities? Not me. So I thought maybe I shouldn't be so. . .me. . .when dealing with 99% of the population.

But where's the fun in that?

So no, I won't be changing the way I come across. If it bothers people, oh well. Because it's impossible to like everyone. There is no law that says we must have a relationship with any given person. And I'm not one for forcing relationships. It's not my style. :)

Sometimes Everything Just Has to Stop

International moves, especially those done without the backing of a company, are stressful. Surprise, surprise. It always seems like I'm taking two steps forward and one step back. It's still progress, but sometimes it's frustrating and disheartening. Does that mean this isn't the way things should be? No. Because things are the way they are, and they couldn't be any other way.

We've had to change our plans completely. We won't be going to Southern California at all before we leave (at least not for more than a night), and after looking at airfare, we might just fly out of San Francisco. I'm very ok with this for a number of reasons. Sure, it'll make certain things more of a hassle, and it will involve lots of driving back and forth, but everything will work out in the end.


But enough about moving right now. Because there will be post after post about it. We needed a break from it, so we took it. One of M's coworkers offered us her seasonal pass to Yosemite. It's only $20 to get in, but it was still a very sweet gesture. We've been wanting to take the kids during the high waterfall season, and I'm so glad we did. They were NOT disappointed.


We didn't end up driving up to Mariposa Grove, but we can always go back in a few weeks. The important thing was to make sure the kids saw the falls before they dried up. It was a really nice day weather-wise, and I'm glad we went.