Unaccompanied Move is done!

July 5, the movers came to pack our UG.  You know, the shippment that goes on a cargo flight.  I was so excited.  It was our first shipment to Germany.  It made it all seem real, that we will be living in another county for awhile.  The movers were very nice and polite but a word of caution: it is true that you must keep your eye on everything they pack and write on your paperwork.  DON’T SIGN UNTIL YOU ARE SURE.  They will try hard to get you to sign at the end without reading or really looking at what they have written.  Make sure your “high-value list is complete.  Be sure each box is clearly marked with what was packed.  Don’t let the packers tell you how they will pack your stuff, it is yours and at the end you will have to live with your lack of care.  I made a time speed-up of the move.  

Unaccompanied goods PCS’ing to Germany

Cloths enough for 2 weeks (pack for the season of travel)
Coats, jackets, hat and gloves

Bring boots

Extra shoes

Books

DVDs

Blanket

Comforter

Favorite Books

Favorite CDs

Military Gear

Uniforms

Boots

PTs

Running shoes

Dress uniform

Dress shoes

Ruck/duffel

Specialized gear/field gear

 Household Items

Laundry basket

Hangers

Ironing board

Mop/bucket

Broom/dust pan

Steam mop

Vacuum

Folding camp chairs

Bath rugs

Small area rug (foldable)

Linens

Pillows

Mattress cover

Queen sheet set

Towel set for each person

Shower curtain, curtain rings

Dish towels, sponge

Kitchen Items

Plates, bowls, cups, coffee mugs, silverware for each person

Chef’s knife, paring knife, spatula, serving spoon

Can opener, wine/bottle opener

Mixing bowl, colander

Skillet, sauce pan

Casserole dish, cookie sheet

Kitchen spices

Toolkit

Hammer

Tape Measure

Pliers

Utility knife

Markers

Poster with color code for each room

I’ve been told that many electronics can be found in the thrift store in Germany so there may be no need to take a lot unless you are like me and want your stuff. Haha.

Also, you will be in. Hotel for a few weeks so if you are like me you will want to pack bedsheets in your suitcase. Once you get in your new home you will want something like a tv so I suggest you you take your DVD player and buy a small tv if you don’t have one to send with your UCG.

We are PCS’ing

So we found out back in October that we would be moving in a year.  Well, time has past and the time has come for us to start preparing for that move.  It has been hard waiting but it is all coming down to the point when we get on our way.  I’ve been doing a little bit but now things are picking up and I have to get moving with the move.  PCS’ing is a way of life for an Army family, in fact, any Military family in the US.  You come to understand one very important thing, Home is where the Army sends you!

WOW, Its been a long time sense I last posted.  Lots of things have happened in our lives.  I’ll will try to give a summary of some of it.

We are near the end of our conversion process, YAY  What a year 🙂  We’ve learned a lot and understand so much more.  We’ve also been learning Hebrew this year and are much better at speaking to one another in Hebrew.  I did a post about the cost of converting and although it was high it was more about buying the things that a person born would have due to family.  Things like books, tallit, tefillen, scrolls, etc.  It was all worth it and we are so happy that we are soon going to be Jews.

I have lost some weight. I also had breast reduction and tummy tuck surgery.  More on those in another post.

I completed school.  I did not take the Board.  I don’t really fell I want to be a nurse.  I’m not sure I want to do.  I have a loving husband who is allowing me to explore and figure it all out.

So we are now 4 years in to our Army life and loving it!  It has its ups and downs but I would not trade it.  I get to spend the best years (so far) of my life with the love of my life, how cool is that?  It has been fun.  We are living on Post and I know I talked about Post life a little so let me open up to more of what it is like to live on Post, from my point of view.

Making friends is easier for some.  I’ve had a really hard time with it.  I don’t share in a lot of what goes on so I’m often left out.  My husband works in the OR and has really crazy hours.  I spend a lot of time on my own.  I’ve learned the joy of Glide.  It is awesome!  I get to talk to my friends from all over the world through video chat.  I like it better than skype.  Although there is nothing wrong with skype.

I’ve closed my FB account.  Way to much drama going on.  hahaha Now I just use my Instagram and Glide to share.  Look me up Chanaruth

Now that we are getting ready for our first PCS, I’ve learned a lot about housing.  When we moved in, I was so excited about getting a place on arrival that I did not inspect the house like I should have.  Now that we are getting ready to move out, in a few months, I learned that it is important to check everything and fill out the paper work showing any issues.  For example; on move out there is an inspection that the rental office staff conducts.  It is very detailed.  You would not think of most of the things they check but they don’t tell you to do this at move in.  Things like removing cobwebs.  When we moved in this house there were many cobwebs in the corners but move-out inspection wants it gone if not, they will change you.  You must clean the interior surfaces of the windows and exterior but this was not checked by my husband or I to see if it was done before we moved in.  I think a lot of what they require is wrong.  But, my house will be cleaned and ready.  Also, and this is a big one, they will charge you for damage to the house.  So you are living and the shower rod falls off the wall, you call for repair, what they don’t tell you is upon move out some of those repair cost are charged to you.  You would think that maintenance calls a free but not all of them.  If they feel it is residence fault, they charge you and you don’t find out about this until move out when they hit you with the bill.  Below are some pictures of things that can cost you.  In the first one, I dropped a pot on the floor and it dented the floor.  Normally this would be a charge to replace the whole kitchen floor, but the office told me that it was small enough and I’ve been so good at keeping the house clean over the years, that I would not be charged.  In cases like this you want to make sure that it is noted in your file because it can come back and bit you in the pocket.  Now, the second one is in the living-room floor.  I don’t know how this dent got there but they are going to charge us for it.  I think it is like $25.00 for each one they find.  I’ve heard from other spouses that they don’t replace the things they charge you for as they claim.  I don’t know if that is true but the carpet cleaner told me he has seen it happen.  He said they charge people for stains in the carpet and say it has to be replaced but don’t.  That is so wrong.

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So Now that I’ve caught you up on some of what’s been going on you are probably wondering where we are PCS’ing.  Well, I’d like to hold off on that info for a bit longer 🙂 One, it will give me more to talk about and keep me faithful this time to posting and two, I think it will be fun watching it all unfold.