Taking a Break...

I'm taking a break from unpacking. We received our HHE shipment on Friday. We were ready by 8 AM, thinking that they would surely arrive sometime between 8-10 AM. Well, 10:30 AM arrived, and James got on the phone to find out what was going on, they then told him it would be about noon. So we were a little irritated about wasting the whole morning (and wishing that James could have gone into work for at least half a day since they only give him 16 hours off to take care of unpacking) but we waited, until 3 PM! Now, as I mentioned last week, our shipment is HUGE. We knew we were in for a long night. It took four guys 6 1/2 hours to unload our shipment and assemble the furniture. Technically, they were supposed to stay and unpack the boxes but there was no way that was happening.

After the moving crew left, we discovered that they hooked our bed frame onto Thomas' headboard and footboard. However, that couldn't be remedied easily because we couldn't find our tool box! We slept on mattresses that night, which was much better than the hardwood floors that we slept on the night before (and I could devote quite a few postings to the fact that I ABSOLUTELY HATE the hardwood floors and tile in my house--more than I EVER imagined--but I won't). We already knew our bed couldn't be put together because we were missing parts. The crew back in MD kindly put all the "parts" in one box so it would be easy to assemble our furniture again but, you guessed it--that box is missing. We have looked and looked and it is nowhere! I have a strong suspicion that it's with our long-term storage now in Virginia. So, we have gone on a couple of shopping trips to find new parts, and luckily everything is together now.

Now we have boxes and boxes to go through. I know people who say they actually like moving. I do not belong to this club! Unpacking our things is a nightmare to me! It's going to take a long while before we can go through everything. German homes do not have closets. We are glad to have a fairly large basement and will probably be buying lots of storage shelving to go down there.

And, my natural instinct to just start throwing away things doesn't work either! Recycle! Recycle! Recycle! I often wonder if we will recycle when we return to the states--after living here, we will certainly be proficient! And for any of you that might be wondering what we're going to do with the 200 boxes in our house--the moving company will come out ONE TIME and get them so for now, our back yard is filled with broken down boxes and many others that are filled with packing paper. I hope my neighbors remain patient.

Until later,

Emily