Moving Brain Dump

We are in the process of a boomerang move. We moved to Washington State 2 and a half years ago from Virginia and now we are reversing the process. Only with the real estate market in more questionable shape, but moving into an area that we are familiar with. D has accepted a wonderful position with a new company and that part is exciting. And it is closer to my parents and both of our families which is comforting (though when people suggest that this is the main reason for the move it irks me to no end).
Leaving Washington will be difficult since we came in and made ourselves at home and got involved in the neighborhood, school, church and at the YMCA; so there are lots of friends to say goodbye to. The kids have gotten very close with their gang of friends on our street. And I forgot to mention that it is so beautiful here that I can't even describe it.
But for now we are faced with the fact that D begins work on the other side of the continent on August 15 and the rational answer for the kids (with school starting) and home sale is for me and the boys to stay here while D goes east. Rational but still hard to swallow sometimes. Hoping the home sale happens fast.
I love that my realtor is getting feedback from other agents that show the house. Though the feedback in 2 cases is not helpful: one wanted a different style house (so why did you look at mine in the first place) and the other said too close to the street (shall I pick up the house or the street to move it?). Nothing we can do about those comments so we move to the next task at hand.
Estimates from moving companies. Yesterday I got the most wonderful call: would you like 3 free estimates from 3 different van lines and we will schedule them for you? Absolutely!!! Sounds terrific. Be here Tuesday at 9. I drop off M early to Moms Morning Out and head back home knowing I have 2 hours to do the appointment before the next drop off at 11. At this point I think the only complicated thing I have to do is explain once our possibly strange move since we don't know if we will go into a home on the other side or into storage for a time before getting into a house. Mover man 1 shows up. Sits and gives me his talk about his company and why they are the best. And at 10am as we begin the survey of the house contents the doorbell rings. It is mover lady 2 who wants to come in and do her own talk about why her company is the best and do the survey of contents. That's when it clicks--this is 3 one hour appointments back-to-back and I realize my morning is a disaster in the making. She waits for man 1 to finish and then quickly goes through her talk and begins the survey. I don't think I even explained the whole could be a direct to home move or could be into storage for a time. All the while I am looking at my watch and knowing there is no way that I can stay past 10:55 and blow the money I already paid for E's tutoring session. Luckily mover lady 2 lives nearby and at 10:52 she offers to come back later in the day to talk further and complete the survey. Luckily again, mover man 3 (scheduled for 11) calls to say he will be late. I explain the miscommunication that this would be a 3 hour process for 3 bids and not a one hour process and he kindly allows me to reschedule for Thursday. Rush to tutoring, grocery, pick up M from MMO, and then pick up E from tutoring. Lunch and trying to calm myself down and get out of frantic rush mode. Why can't all 3 movers show up at once, skip the talk about how the are the best quality with fewest items damaged, everybody surveys together (that way I remember which items I said would stay and which go) and they all send in their estimates. I hate this part. What I hate more is the thought of storage. What goes in an apartment and what goes in storage and what sits in storage 5 miles down the road (think seasonal clothing/holiday items) that I simply can't unpile boxes to get to it. Getting rid of food alone looks like a huge task. I hope this is a house to house move. I hope it all goes by quickly so I don't just sit and fret it to death. And this is all perfectly do-able, but right now it is hurry up and wait for somebody to fall in love with my house. And that could be a while. Or it could be tomorrow and then I would be complaining about hurrying up my hurry up.
I didn't think I would write much during the move process, but I think this actually helps me. One of my blog friends (Hi RDM!) says she began her blog as cheap therapy, oddly enough after a move. I think I am going to need this therapy. This silly blog has helped me keep my thoughts straight. So if you see another post titled Moving Brain Dump #2, you may want to avoid it.
love and hugs and thanks for letting me dump all this, B