Settling in

Well, we're here. It feels SO good to have everything unpacked and *pretty much* in place. You have to realize, with every move comes an adjustment...different number of bathrooms, different layout, different square footage. Did you know that, on a military move, the packers are not allowed to pack things like plungers? I get it, sanitary issues, blah blah blah...but when you're moving somewhere that the closest Wal-Mart is 30 minutes away and it's a GHETTO WM...well, it's something you notice.

Maybe we're picky. We don't like our plungers naked, out there for the world to see. We like them to come in a little house that is all their own, coming out only when they have a purpose. Somehow the thought of toilet water pooling onto the floor just isn't all that appealing to us...go figure.

Then there's the issue of dealing with other people packing our stuff...it seems that these people lack any sort of common sense. Otherwise the kitchen stuff would not be in the same box as oh, say, stuff that was in the garage or the baby's room...or all three rooms in one box. Yeah, 'cause that's so much fun to unpack. You know what else? You can totally tell when the packing crew (who is different from the moving crew) was starting to get tired. Barely anything is wrapped carefully near the end. It's all just a jumble. Which accounts for my missing snow globe that I LOVED that was a gift from my mother in law our first Christmas.

Wait, let me clarify...the entire snow globe was not missing. Just the globe part. The mechanical bottom? That's still there. As in, the very bottom plate with a few gears attached. I can't replace it, it's just gone. They tell you to file a claim for things that went missing and/or are damaged. How do you file a claim for PART of a $20 snow globe that had immense sentimental value? The answer is you don't. Now, the $100 shelving that the movers lost the bolts to? I'm still working on Ben to claim that. I want my garage in organized chaos, thank you.

And now we're 30 miles from the middle of nowhere. Our goal is to go to the middle of nowhere at least once every 2 weeks or so. Since we have Monkey, going the fun "overnight" places nearby (read, ADULTS ONLY nearby places) is kind of out of the question unless family offers to fly here and babysit. That's OK. As long as we're not stranded on our military island for too long without contact from the outside world. Plus, there are some "family friendly" things to do in the area for a long weekend...we'll focus on those for the time being

And getting new plungers...because who really wants to have that kind of emergency and not have a plunger on hand. Even worse...who wants to have that emergency and have a plunger, but not have a house to put it in when the situation is taken care of? Not us.