What a difference two months make
I wanted to document our move abroad, because I looked for blogs like this when we started talking about moving, blogs about families and their adventures, but I couldn’t find quite what I was looking for. Now I know why. Because it’s absolute chaos! It’s so stressful and there are a thousand things happening and everything feels important and crucial to do and get done right. The last thing on my very long to-do list is write in my digital diary.
But here we are! Getting shit done and even getting a moment to reflect on it all.
First, I gave notice at my job.
I was hoping I could bring my job with me to England (I’m a full-time remote writer for a tech company), but they said no. They aren’t set up in the UK and aren’t about to make any exceptions. Which is understandable, I guess. I was sad for a day and then I was excited to quit. It pays well, but it’s boring. And sometimes you need to shake things up, life is short. Plus, there’s so much we need to do right now, someone has to take care of the kids, and my husband’s marketing company always needs writing help too.
Second, we sold our house.
We just signed the paperwork and I’m really happy? sad? relieved? I don’t know, it’s emotional to sell your house. But it’s a good deal - we close the day before we leave and then the buyers are letting us stay in the house for that last day, no problem. (Plus they might take our piano, that would be great!) I will say, if I ever sell a house again, I will move out first. It is soooo stressful to get a house ready for sale when all your shit is still in it. The number of times I was running around here like a frantic, sweaty lunatic trying to put stuff in boxes and stow things away. We went to my parents’ house for the weekend with the open houses, but then we came back on Monday and people booked more viewings, so we had to clean the house again (because the kids mess it up in about five minutes) and go hide at the library.
Third, we had a garage sale.
And we’re about to have another one. I had been planning for an estate sale company to sell everything for us after we moved, but she decided to retire instead. What’s that quote about making plans? Anyways, it’s fine, we’ll figure it out. There was a big neighborhood garage sale and we sold a bunch of stuff then. Now a couple of neighbors and I are doing a sale again this weekend. I sold some stuff on Marketplace too, and I’ll post some more. Marketplace is such a drag (why are people so weird on the internet?), but it works for the most part. So we’re getting rid of stuff bit by bit.
Fourth, we bought some beds.
My brother-in-law lives pretty close to our new rental house in England, and he’s been super helpful. We ordered a couple of beds-in-a-box and a crib and shipped them to him, and he brought them to our new house. He and my nephew even assembled the crib, what a couple of cuties. So we have a place to sleep when we get there, hurray!
There’s more, but those are the highlights. Right now I’m in mild panic mode. I feel like time is slipping away so fast and there’s so much to do. AHHHHHH! But it’s exciting too. My husband was adorable last night looking at Google Street View of our new neighborhood and getting excited. I think it’ll be so good for him to be back in his culture. It’s been a long time.
