Not the Best Day

Hello Everyone!

Well, that truck I heard yesterday was indeed the moving van.  Prior to its arrival, my husband moved our vehicles out of the driveway and parked them on the street in the cul de sac so they would not be in the way.

We went outside to greet the movers, and after the driver said hello, he next asked if we already received part of the shipment.  Uh Oh!  "Why no, we haven't,"  we replied.  So the unloading began.  When it was over, there were at least 40 missing boxes/items.  The driver called the office and was given a message that my husband was to call.  He did and soon discovered that only one of the two crates of our stuff had arrived.  The other was believed to be in California.

Let me back up here and explain that the military has a fairly new system of transportion (moving) which is supposed to save money, but really just removes any gov't employee who used to HELP soldiers and families and act as advocates in case of problems.  The result was that when my husband called back to the office in Kansas to arrange for the delivery of our storage, (Kansas is where our stuff went into storage), he was given a phone number of a moving company.  He called them, but they didn't have the contract and gave him the phone number of another company.  This went on until the fourth company (located in Seattle, Washington) did in fact, have control of our stuff.  So a company in Seattle was arranging the delivery of our storage located in Kansas to our home here in Virginia.  Okay...  So this Seattle company arranged for the shipment of our crates to arrive in Norfolk, VA to a local agent for delivery to our house.

So when Dale called the local agent yesterday morning and was told that they thought our other crate went to California, he wasn't able to confirm this with the Seattle company because of the time change. (It was too early in the morning.)  We noted on the paperwork that it was an incomplete shipment and the movers left.  Frankly, I was glad there was only half the stuff because then we didn't have ALL of it to deal with.

 I mentioned earlier that there was nothing sadder than unpacking UFOs and trying to find a place to stick them.  Well, I was wrong.   Dealing with "stuff" that you have successfully lived without for three years is infinitely worse.  I guess I'm at that point where I want to just chuck most of it.  I'm sick of having all this stuff just because we have it.  Keepsakes are fine,  I have no problem with them, but this other stuff only brings up negative energy.  Grr. (I am more than willing to downsize, but the other person in this house isn't.)

When enough time passed, my husband called Seattle and yes, our other crate indeed went to California.  But we weren't alone, apparently a family in California had a crate go to Virginia.  Futher more, "No, we don't know when your other crate will arrive in Virginia."  Great.  What really ticked us off was that the local agent knew that half our stuff was missing and didn't bother to tell us.  We talked to them just the afternoon before and they knew then.

So after getting all of that straightened out, Dale went to move the cars back to the driveway and found a note on his.  Despite the fact that he was parked on the public street, the homeowner of the house in front of which he had parked informed him that we had perfectly adequate parking at our house and were not to make a habit of parking in front of his.  I guess he missed seeing the moving van at our house?  Good grief!   What a gracious welcome to the neighborhood!

Of course, you must know what is coming next.  All the book boxes (including the quilt books, I hope) are in the lost crate.  I'm fairly certain it will eventually show up.  I'm also determined that today is going to be a great day!  It is Friday after all!  I think I will find something to "play with" in my sewing room.

JoAnne