Monday, August 08, 2011

And This Is How It Went...

June 21, 2011

Phone Message from J:  Hi Hon.  Just called to chat.  Call me back.  Nothing wrong, just wanted to chat.

Jason never calls from work and never calls "just to chat." 

Me:  Hi, what's up?

Jason:  What do you have planned for this afternoon?

Me:  Oh, probably the library and then the pool.

Jason:  Want to go condo-shopping instead?

Me:  You're frickin' kiddin' me.

Jason:  No, the extension went through.  We're staying in Tampa.

Me:  You're frickin' kiddin' me.

(I repeated that phrase about eight times.)

And thus began our move to Tampa.  We found out three weeks before his (first) deployment ended that the extension went through and we were staying till January.

So what did we do? 

WE WENT TO DISNEY WORLD!


We did move into our condo before the trip, but Disney is how we spent 4th of July weekend.  We debated going back to Biloxi to pack and try to move stuff, but decided our time with the boys is so short, we wanted to just be with them.  This was Jason's only vacation time while we had the boys, so it was important to spend time with them.

Two weeks later we came back to Mississippi and packed.  Jason had some guys from work come over and help move the big stuff.  That was nothing, if not crazy.  Then I headed to SA for a youth gathering meeting--tons of fun and much better than packing.  Then back to Biloxi, where more of Jason's friends came and helped put almost the rest of our stuff in storage.  Insane!  I can't even show you the storage pictures because at the time, things were a little precarious.  Jason fixed it a bit and now nothing will topple over.

Jason came back, loaded the truck and the boat and headed back to Tampa.  I stayed and cleaned, loaded up and drove to Tampa a day later. 

Fasted move ever!  I took about three loads of "treasures" to the thrift store.  Trashed a few things and now I'm washing every bit of clothing we own to get the stale, smoke smell from our old place out of them.  We had done a pretty good job getting the smell out, but once we were in a fresh place, we could still smell it.  As things get washed, I am beginning another "purge" pile.  And yet I still have a full closet and dresser!

4 comments:

PeregrineAce said...

So the moral of the story: When the AF gives you lemons, go to Disney! ;-)

And I seriously think we should start an online household-purging log for encouragement. We put together baby furniture this weekend and I realized how much junk was in the spare room that I had forgotten existed!

We miss you up here!

Kari said...

It just blows my mind because I gave away 2 1/2 truckloads of stuff BEFORE we even left Biloxi...at least three bags were full of clothes.

Miss all of you too!

Sara said...

Kari, glad they kept you in the same relative part of the country, I've grown to like Florida.

As for the closet--yep, me too--Took 3 jeep loads to Goodwill, have for 10 months been living on what would fit in a Uhaul and I still have a huge Goodwill pile. And the scary thoughts of what "Junk" awaits me next month when we get household goods back. I am going to look at household goods junk and think "why? why did we keep you?" I am seriously going to start "Goodwill by X date" bins that will get Goodwilled if I haven't opened them in 6 months...

Kari said...

Sara, Goodwill by X bins are a fantastic idea. I have a fallish bin of that nature going already.

I still need to wash my winter clothes, but knowing we won't really need them here has me procrastinating...but I'm sure some more will be added to the growing pile.