Tag Archives: moving day

Two Weeks Later

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Two weeks ago, we moved out of our Australian townhome and headed to the airport hotel. We stayed there one night, and then spent the next 24 hours flying. Paul was a great sport on the plane, and I’m forever grateful that the company bought us business class seats and Paul got his own.

Two weeks after moving from the other side of the globe, there are still insomnia-filled nights for me, but my internal clock is getting a little better. Paul is on a perfect schedule (8 p.m. to 8 a.m.) and I hope he stays that way! I’m loving the spacious parking lots, low prices at the supermarket, and wonderfully book-filled libraries.

Here are some highlights of what we’ve been doing.

  • We stayed a week with my mom and dad. (But we were very busy getting set up so we didn’t see much of them!)
  • I got a new mobile telephone that has a U.S. number, so people, you can call me again! (Email me at rebecca [at] reid-family [dot] org for the number if you want it.)
  • We got a great deal on my new car. (And I love it!)
  • I only drove on the wrong side of the road twice. (Unfortunately, both times were when I was test driving a car through a dealership, so it was kind of embarrassing.)
  • We signed a six-month lease for an apartment, moved in, and unpacked. (Email me at rebecca [at] reid-family [dot] org for the address if you want it.)
  • We’ve eaten out. A lot.
  • We bought a used seven-piece solid wood bedroom set for the price of a brand new dresser. It includes a headboard and footboard, a long dresser, a mirror, an armoire, and two side tables.
  • We bought Paul a dresser and a crib (still to be delivered).
  • I bought myself a new comfy chair for Paul’s room (still to be delivered). (I sold mine in Australia in June and I was so very sad!)
  • See Paul’s highlights here.

On the schedule for the coming days:

  • Visit with family!
  • Meet our new ward.
  • Cook a real meal.
  • Get my husband a new job.
  • Buy a house (well, we have five months for this one).

About our apartment: It’s small. There are three bedrooms of adequate size, one of which is our study. But the kitchen is very small, the living room doesn’t fit our furniture, and the dining area is now divided into a play area as well. The carpet stinks. The walls are full of marks from previous renters (of course, it was repainted), but all that’s to be expected. It’s an apartment, not a palace.

This apartment won’t work for the long run, but it will work as a temporary spot while we begin serious house hunting. We’re going to be looking in the Crystal Lake area, but that location could change any day, I suppose.

Someday we’ll have a house!

The Not-So-Frumpy Campaign

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In the past six weeks since I stopped breastfeeding, I’ve gained all the weight I was supposed to have gained while pregnant, my complexion is suddenly shot, and I’m realizing that I look like a frumpy woman, in more ways than I can number.

I know, no sympathy, since I didn’t really gain anything while pregnant, etc. But it’s like the post-pregnancy depression didn’t come until I stopped breastfeeding, at a point when everyone expects me to know how to be a mother because, face it, my son is almost a year old.

I’m just realizing, as I said the other day, that I need to do a better job of making myself look like a real human being. I went on a nine-day vacation to New Zealand (which was wonderful), but every time I looked in the mirror, I grimaced. I’m in need of a Not-So-Frumpy Campaign right now.

That said, I keep thinking of things that I could do to feel like a cute newlywed again:

  • Get a manicure or pedicure
  • Get my hair done
  • Buy new pjs that aren’t fraying or stained with maple syrup
  • Buy new clothes (lots of them!)
  • Have a spa treatment (I’ve never done this, but it sure sounds nice, doesn’t it?)
  • Get a massage
  • Buy a new book (because that always helps…)

Except everything costs money. Since I move across the globe this coming Saturday (!!!), I’m not going to have any spending money for a long while yet.

This is where you come in! Please tell me what I can do to feel cute again without spending a penny!

A few clarifications:

  • I cannot for the life of me put nail polish on my own fingers. It doesn’t work. I feel very gross when I have clumpy nail polish.
  • I can only wear earrings for a few hours before my ears ache. I think my ears are allergic. Instead, I have holes in my ears.
  • I dry my hair on mornings that I have time, and that helps me not feel frumpy. But my hair dryer, which is also a straightener, has an Australian plug, so even that will cost money to replace once I get to the USA. (I burned out my USA one the first week down-under.) I know I could use a regular hair dryer, but those make my hair frizzy.
  • I wear basic makeup. I won’t wear more than that.

Please note: I’m not asking for you to buy me things. I don’t want anyone else to buy me anything; I know what I like, etc. I just want your ideas for free cute-inspiring things.

Is everything that helps women feel cute costly?

Random Thoughts

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Departure Pending

My husband’s boss has agreed to let him finish the project this month, as well as take two weeks’ vacation. We’re going to New Zealand in two weeks and returning to the USA at the end of the month. Hallelujah! It’s not that we don’t like it here; we’re just ready for the next stage. We’ve kind of been pulled back and forth since May. (I never thought I’d miss all of summer! We’re going from winter back in to autumn.)

Old Stuff

My husband has a shirt with a rip by the wrist. He wears it almost every week. I told him he needs to throw it out. Really, what will people think about me as his wife?! That I can’t keep my husband from being shabby? Then he pointed out that I keep my brown shoes.

My brown shoes were bought before my mission (in 2003). They were very nice for a few years, and I took pains to polish them regularly. However, polishing the shoes no longer does any good, as the leather has worn through. The company no longer makes that style, so I can’t replace them. They are very comfortable, so I still wear them nearly every day. I guess I never wondered what people think. They are just comfortable shoes to me.

Hmmm. Now I have a dilemma: My shoes or no more old shirt?

Medicinal Matters

My husband got ill for the third time in the 13 months we’ve been here. Of course, then both Paul and I got sick as well. My husband rarely gets ill in the USA. Why are there so many bugs here?

I’ve determined why: they don’t have proper medicine easily accessible. If you go to the supermarket, they have three small shelves. One the first row, every bottle says “All Natural Ingredients.” On the second and third rows, there is no such notice on the bottles. No matter, as soon as turn it over to look at the ingredients, you realize all three have Echinacea, Zinc, and Vitamin C. Nice things to take if you’re sick, but hardly a Cold and Flu remedy as the bottle proclaims. You’re still going to be coughing on your co-worker all week.

To get real medicine (the kind that actually suppresses your coughs, stops your nose from running, or makes your coughs productive; the kind with lots of chemicals in it), you have to go to the chemist (pharmacist), which might have them behind a special counter. You have to ask for them. And then it’s a very small bottle. If you want to have more, you must visit the doctor and get a prescription.

As for the doctors, General Practitioners are pretty useless. They should be call LPs, Limited Practitioners. Among other things, I was told I just had muscle cramps and it turned out to be gall stones. Yeah. GPs are worthless. (They are essentially free for Australian citizens under Medicare, so maybe socialized medicine is not such a good thing, huh?)

So why are there so many bugs in Australia, and why do we keep getting sick? When people get sick, they take natural ingredients, which do nothing to stop the sneezing and coughing. Bugs are spread, and more people get sick. That’s my philosophy.

If you like the natural route for medicine, you’d love Australia! That’s what it is. Personally, I like medicines that work when I’m ill.

Sniff.

What I’m Looking Forward To

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I wrote the other week about a few things I’ll miss about living in Australia. Now that we are here longer than we thought we’d be, I’m starting to look forward to the conveniences of the USA. Just like I didn’t intend my “things I’ll miss” posts to sound like complaining, I certainly don’t mean this to either. I love my home here, and I know I’ll love my home there, where ever “there” is.

Parking Spaces: I think there must be a different law in the USA about how many available parking spaces there are for supermarkets and malls. I am always searching for parking, even at 10 a.m., even at 4:30 p.m., even at 7:30 p.m. Monday-Saturday, I’m searching. It was so bad at Christmas that we left the mall without ever finding anything after driving for 30 minutes, giving up our schedule family portrait time. It’s bad every day.

Drive Thru: I’d love to be able to stop at an ATM without getting out of my car. I’d love to be able to pay for gas at the pump without going in to the station. I’d love to give my car a carwash without having to go into the station to pay for it. There are so many conveniences that just aren’t in Australia. Is it wrong for me to not want the grocery store checker to check my card signature? It’s much faster if I don’t have to keep my wallet out. …

Consumer Goods: I needed some more make-up ( foundation): $18 for a small tub. Is it that much in the USA? I stopped to browse at the bookstore: $26.99 for Margaret Atwood’s The Blind Assassin. A few weeks ago, I bought jars of baby food: $1.99 for 170 grams (about 5½ oz). Because everything is expensive, there aren’t as many options for consumer goods. I’m looking forward to affordable prices again.

Books: See note above about Consumer Goods.

A New Car: I get to buy myself a car, my car, to last for 5+ years. I’m very excited to go for test drives! (My husband probably won’t get a car until he gets a new job, which we hope is soon, but might not be for a few months yet; we’ve been a one car family for more than a year now and I never thought we could do it.)

Service: Tips are not expected at restaurants. It was nice at first, but I’m really looking forward to some actual service from waitresses or waiters: it’s like they make an effort to ignore us and only come if we look annoyed. It would also be nice to be able to order pizza and have it delivered. I haven’t actually ordered pizza since college, but it’s the fact that I can’t that bothers me!

There are a number of other reasons I’m eager to move back to the USA (namely, family!) but this’ll be all for now.

We may get a departure date soon!

Why I’m Still Here

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I’m still in Australia.

Why, you may ask? Good question. Here’s a rambling answer:

USA Client wanted Husband to do Said Project. Australia Client said if USA Client asked politely for Roll-Off (i.e., finding another person to do Husband’s job and sending Husband and family home), then Roll-Off would be in three weeks. Husband agreed to perform Long-Distance Telephone Consulting for Said Project during Roll-Off period. USA Client promptly neglected to ask Australia Client for Roll-Off. After one month of Husband performing Long-Distance Telephone Consulting for Said Project in early Australian hours of morning, Australia Client said to Husband, “No Roll-Off until USA Client asks for you,” and USA Client still didn’t ask Australia Client for stated Roll-Off. Why? Because Long-Distance Telephone Consulting is cheaper than Flying Husband to Virginia each week. So, Husband stopped awaking for 4 a.m. Long-Distance Telephone Consulting for Said Project. Now USA Client for Said Project says “Help, or we’ll find someone else,” Husband says, “Arrange Roll-Off from Australia Client or find someone else,” and Australia Client says “I won’t allow Roll-Off if USA Client doesn’t need you.” So Husband and family are waiting for someone’s mind to be made up. As soon as Said Mind is made up, Roll-Off will happen in about three weeks. Husband and family will then return to USA.

Clear as mud, huh?

What I Will Miss

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One sunny 50-degree winter day last July, I walked to the supermarket. I was 7 months pregnant and brand-new to the country. Outside of the supermarket fly six Australian flags. As I walked by the first of the flags, the flags flapped in a light breeze. I looked up to see a beautiful, blue-sky backdrop for the Australian flag. I decided then that I was home, and I loved it.

Today I walked up to the supermarket again, as I have many times in the past months. It is now fall, and I crunched leaves as I walked down the street, pushing my almost eight-month-old in the stroller. As I walked under the flags, I felt a sense of sadness: I’m leaving.

What I will miss: Being 10 minutes from the temple.

The temple is open for about four sessions a day Wednesday through Saturday, and it is such a lovely, friendly temple. Saturday morning at 9:25, I decided to go to a session. I made the 10 a.m. session (I don’t like to rush to get ready; it just worked out well this week). I will miss being so close.

What I will miss: Being a short drive from mountains and empty fields and little traffic.

Sunday afternoon we went for a drive. We didn’t go anywhere in particular: we just drove. Because we live where we do, we could drive for 10 minutes and be away from traffic, among fields with cattle grazing. It is so lovely here. I will miss the scenery of Australia.

What I will miss: My husband walking to and from the train station every day.

My husband comes home every night. When we return to the USA, he’ll go back to flying to his work Monday and returning home Thursday. We’re obviously looking at other options; I’ve been spoiled by his presence this year. I will really miss being so close to a train line, with his job on the end of it.

Sigh. Still no departure date, but it is certainly going to happen.

Home

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We are in our new home.

It’s a three bedroom, 2.5 bath town home, plus a loft, double garage, and yard. And it feels quite spacious, if not a little empty. It’s a lot of space for just us. But, in a few months it will feel a bit more crowded with one more to join us. (Interestingly, so much space costs about as much to rent per month as our 1 bedroom plus study apartment in Chicagoland.)

Now it is just a matter of making it home.

Our new home is mostly furnished with the classy furniture chosen for us by the rental studio. They say we can come back and exchange things in a month or so if we decide we don’t like something. But at this point, it’s nice to have a place to sit.

My favorite part of our new home is the front entryway. It has such a lovely, grand staircase. It makes me feel like I’m walking into a mansion!

The downstairs floors are all the most delicious red wood. But I’ve already discovered the downside of having lots of hardwood floors: dust. I can tell I must mop every other day to keep it looking nice. Once baby comes to keep it messy, I’ll be moping all that floor space twice a day. Also, my husband pointed out that it is just too hard to walk around or stand in the kitchen cooking without shoes on. But it sure looks nice.

They sent a console table and an interesting centerpiece. I wasn’t sure what to do with the table, so I put it in the front hallway. What should I hide in that drawer?

The kitchen is very modern and full of quality appliances. My husband likes the five-burner stove. We’re renting dishes and other kitchen stuff until ours arrives in a few weeks.

The orange, reddish, and yellow chairs that go with our dining set are starting to grow on me. The colors all coordinate okay into the red wood floor, so it really doesn’t seem all that strange. I really like the bay window for the dining area.

You can see how much empty space we have between the kitchen/dining area and the couches. Just the right size for a….playpen?

Our living room area looks a bit sparse: there is so much space and two couches just don’t fill it up well. Our piano is coming for the other bay window. We have such a lovely view of the Dandenongs (“mountains”; for those of you in Utah, consider them “big hills”).

We have a backyard! It is quite large. There’s supposedly been a drought (I’ve only seen rain every other day), so the grass is a bit muddied. We’re in charge of maintaining the yard, so it’s time I studied local plants!

Our master bedroom is on the ground floor, just by the front door. Upstairs is a large loft with more hard wood–not sure what we’ll put in that space. One of the bedrooms upstairs is a study with two desks, a small “sweet” one for me (aka, old and lopsided) and a regular office desk for my husband. The other upstairs bedroom will be a nursery! We didn’t get any furniture for that yet. We’ll choose it next month when we go back.

So that’s our house. I like it. I can’t wait until we get our box of stuff so we’ll have our towels and linens and dishes and pictures for the walls. Then it might feel a little more like home.

But so far so good.


Moving

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We are well in the middle of packing. The apartment is littered with boxes, and random things are on the floor. Last night, we mourned the fact that we won’t have a clean home again for a long time. Now we must be in a state of chaos for a while. First, we’ll be living somewhat temporarily in my parent’s house. Then we’ll finally get Visas and head to Australia. We’ll living in temporary corporate housing for a few weeks. Then finally we’ll move to a more permanent home. Hopefully, we’ll then get all the goods that we’ll ship over there.

In the mean time, I’m packing up things we won’t be using for two years. It didn’t take long to pack up our books. They fit in about eight small U-Haul boxes. I’ll miss them, but most of them can be gotten from the library. And some are on the Web. But I cried as I put my crystal glasses in a box (with lots of cushioning). I didn’t feel like doing all the china last night, too. It’s so hard to say “good-bye,” even though I know we’ll see this stuff again.

I do not have much experience with packing. When I went to college, I took my suitcase out in a two-door Nissan. Then I supplemented what I forgot with my frequent trips home, every six months. I had to move my apartment a few times. When I needed too, I just waited until moving day and took frequent trips in the car I was borrowing. I don’t think I ever got boxes to move things.

When it was time to return home from college, I waited until the day after graduation when my parents showed up with the huge conversion van. It took a while to fill it up with my stuff. It was packed to the gills. But again, I don’t think I did fill boxes. Most things were loose in plastic bags. I was more concerned with finishing cleaning the apartment to pass my cleaning check.

When I got married, I again did multiple trips by small car to move my things in to my husband-to-be’s apartment over the course of a few weeks. It took a while. But it got moved in.

This time, it’s different. We’ve already taken down one four-door car full of stuff. It’s amazing at how little fit in the car. Then yesterday we took down a van load. Maybe another car or van on Friday, and then next Saturday, we’ll take 17 foot moving van. Most things will go in to storage. But, as my husband points out, maybe it will be very nice to not be tied down to material goods.

I guess we’ll see.