*breathing deeply* OhMmmmmm....
OK so this is how I am feeling about the PCS...
Ideal situation.......
Total Optimism……
I am BANKING on us getting a housing assignment right away b/c all the guys in the 160th are getting priority housing.
Here is my plan (as I see it right now)
· I stop packing myself (except for my pagan stuff) and let the Army movers finish it at the scheduled appt.
· I continue to speak with realtors and see if we can find a house in our current financial state without me having a job right away. Down the line when I get a job and the money gets rolling in, then we can just make upgrades to what we have... build decks, replace appliances, paint, etc...
· We pay out of pocket for the extra insurance (It is btwn $150 - 300 and you bypass claims with the gov’t and deal directly with your moving company) and when they arrive at Ft. Lewis they put our crap into storage there and when we arrive we schedule it to be delivered. *note to self* Request CRATE packing here at FTCKY so everything is put into a crate, and the crate is put onto a truck here, taken off the truck at Lewis and put into storage, and then put back on a truck and delivered to our home at Lewis. (Less packing and unpacking; less likely for things being lost or broken.)
· DJ finishes school on May 25th and becomes a video game junkie.
· I finish up school on June 12th.
· We start clearing June 19th
· Army movers do the whole move at their scheduled appt. We stay in the house until the last minute sleeping on air mattresses and using sleeping bags, eating off “fine china”, living off protein shakes (I own a mini blender) and take out food (or borrow my neighbor’s kitchen, she would not mind the break from cooking, that is for sure! Or maybe we REALLY start bumming with friends… eating up all their food for a change… BAH… just kidding ya’ll! I am in a weird mood today!)
· KiKi comes down (with or without dad) June 23 - 27th.
· KiKi helps us clean the house for inspection, do the yard, etc… (just kidding babe-we might just pay housing to do this for us.)
· KiKi leaves (with dad if he came) and takes DJ back to MI for the summer.
· Jim & finished clearing housing and post staying at a friends house (*batting eyes with a pouting lip*) or tent camp on post. We can use the air mattress and sleeping bags in the truck or in a small tent.
· Jim, myself, Daisy, Missie, Rosie, and the other puppy (for Mark & Sandy) all pile into the van and drive to Lewis from here somewhere around the 28th - 30th of June.
· It will take us 6-8 days of driving, switching off driving as we need to, camping at parks along the way (to bank the hotel money the Army pays us), eating protein shakes and “cooler food” all the way there.
· Show up on Mark & Sandy’s doorstep and beg for a hot shower and a tour of post.
· Take whatever leave we MUST take (hopefully with the delay and orders from the 160th we will get housing in the meantime)--- Jim has 17 1/2 use/lose but we'd rather use that after we sign in so that we can get moved intot he house and unpacked--- regardless, sign into post, take housing and move in.
· Make all of our moving claims and wait to be reimbursed.
· From this point I have to job hunt my ass off and not worry about “moving in” like a mad woman, I need a job and the computer set up ASAP since I start my next semester at APSU (online) right away… registration week is July 10-14! Although if things are too crazy at first I might take one term off, it depends on how I feel when I get there.
· Get moved in and have my folks stick DJ on a plane to Lewis by August 10th for him to start school!
Now here is the thing…. Shit can go wrong, shit can be delayed… I am tired of stressing about it. After a decade of doing this, you’d think I would have learned that lesson by now. Anyways… two additional contingency plans can also happen.
We could decide to Partial-DITY and that means we’d have to pay for a u-haul trailer OUT-OF-POCKET and use it to tow behind the van to “hand carry” all of the items that we are concerned with being stolen or broken. Our art work, statues, my pagan stuff, DVDs, and electronics. The Army will still pay us for the weight we move, our gas, etc… but will not pay for the trailer itself (at least that is what we are told form others who have done partial DITYs before.) When we arrive at Lewis we either put this stuff into a small storage unit (or a garage of a friend’s house at Lewis) until we have housing. (We have to turn in the trailer in 9 days door-to-door or pay HUGE late fees.)
We could find the house of our dreams and then bypass Army housing completely and just move into our new home. Which of course means we are displaced longer waiting for closing and shit, we will have the dogs, but at least DJ will be in MI! But hopefully we either camp it out or stay with friends on that end… Goddess knows we can’t afford the hotel fees… thankfully there is lots of camping available there! LOL!
My New Positive Affirmations
Our move is going smoothly and with good intentions!
All of our posessions arrive safely to Ft. Lewis and in the same condition it left FTCKY in!
We have the housing we are meant to have!
I have the job that makes me happy and provides for my family's needs and desires!
We are financially secure with money to save!
We are happy and enjoying living in Washington state!