Exhausted

So far, unemployment has been one of the hardest and most stressful jobs I've had so far. This week has been exhausting. Monday started with the household goods packers. Three ladies came and got down to business and packed all our stuff all day long. At the same time, I was running around like a mad person still trying to organize, put things together, throw things away, unpack early Christmas and late birthday presents for the kids that had been given to them during family gatherings over Thanksgiving. The packing ladies commented that I looked as busy as they were and I believe they were right.

Tuesday, we were up bright and early again. Kids got off to their last day at Ms. Megan's (daycare) and I got back to the house where the day was for packing anything that wasn't packed the day before and load it all into a truck. This time there were about 5 men who took all our furniture apart and wrapped everything in paper. Every room was filled with the screech of packing tape unrolling. Of course, the weather was not cooperative and the downpour of rain forecasted for that day commenced just as the movers were ready to start bringing everything to the trucks. I couldn't watch. I was in the way anyway. I left to do some needed errands.

By about 5pm, it looked like they might actually finish, and about a half an hour later they carried out the last box. Whew! Everything is packed and off to some port. We just got the official weight and it was 8135 pounds of stuff. I wonder how many pounds of stuff the average American owns? An average person from France? Mexico? An average person from China? Hmmmm.

Wednesday arrived and it was another early morning to get started on the cleaning. We cleaned and cleaned for about 8 hours straight. Why in the heck did we not do this for ourselves sometime over the last few years? Our house looked great when we were done. It wasn't this clean when we moved into it 7 years ago. We topped it off with some great, professional carpet cleaning Wednesday afternoon. When we arrived Thursday morning, it looked fantastic.

We made a successful hand-off to our new tenants and they looked down-right giddy about moving into our house. That made us happy because we want people to enjoy it and really appreciate all it has to offer. We filled their brains with more information than they will ever remember about the house and they we said "Ciao!". We also said some emotional good-byes to our neighbors and finally to Orchard Beach.

Today, with two days left in the country, our goal was to take our car to the port for shipping. Unfortunately, this process took much longer than we thought since we realized the night before that the full tank of gas left in the car would need to be burned down to 1/4 tank, as mandated by the vehicle processing center at the port. Ugh......driving, driving, driving.....burning fuel....driving, driving, driving.....finally down to almost a 1/4 tank. We took a nice tour of the Eastern Shore. Good thing it's not a hybrid. There were a few more glitches at the port, but in the end, it got processed and we should see it again sometime at the end of January.

Now we are back home and the time has come to say goodbye to Mom and Dad. They are good sports about it, or at least they are putting up a good front. I know they are going to miss us and the kids a lot (mostly the grandkids). I'm glad both of them have an adventurous spirit. I believe it allows them to appreciate what we are doing and have a better acceptance for the temporary loss.

What a week, and it's only the beginning. We are going to be met with more crazy weeks of getting settled on the other end. I don't think we have even hit the half-way point. This is an adventure already. We are definitely on the roller coaster. I must say, though, I like the roller coaster. You get more out of it. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w1h_hmdVJAc&feature=related