I’ve decided that for however long we’re in New Zealand – whether that is 5 years or 50 years – we are staying put.  No more moving, no more packing, no more unpacking – this is it.

The thing about moving to another country is that you can’t just unpack and throw away the boxes.  You have to request that the boxes be picked up and incinerated.  This is so that any hitchhiking seeds that might have snuck their way into the boxes don’t end up in foreign soil.  I didn’t want to be stuck in a maze of packing material, so I unpacked as quickly as possible while the movers were still bringing things inside.  I got close to half of the unpacking done, then unpacked a little more while they were setting up furniture.  I’d say that right now, we only have about 1/4 of our boxes and packing material still left, which takes up more than enough space as you can see from the photo above!

Most things came through unscathed, but not everything survived the trip…

This is what we refer to as a “compound fracture” in the nursing world!

I’ve never put these figurines on display – they’re a little dated for that – but they have sentimental value.  My mom bought the complete set of “Growing Up Girls” {baby – 16 years old} when I was born and gave me one on each birthday.  Did anyone else’s mom do that?  They’ve moved all over the place, but when I unpacked the box I could hear the clinking and tinkling.  I just knew they were broken, and I was right.  Of the 17 figurines, 9 were damaged, 1 of which is beyond repair.  I was so sad.

This is a wine-stand/glasses rack that we’ve had for years.  I’ve never been crazy about it, so seeing the piece of wood missing wasn’t as big of a deal.  I was more annoyed than anything else.  This part faces the wall, so it’s not too noticeable.  The next one was a bit more painful…

These are photos of Chris’ late grandmother’s cedar chest, and yes, those are chunks of wood that are missing.  I’m trying to tell myself that it adds “character” and is just part of the story of our furniture – something that later on, I can point to and say, “You see that?  That’s from when we moved to New Zealand.”  Sigh.

And last but not least, my antique cake-saver…

The handle on top was broken off, and you can see that some of the enamel paint is flaking.  I was able to re-attach the handle, but it’s definitely worse for the wear.

And you know how they say that when it rains, it pours?  Turns out that right in the midst of all of this, our washing machine went berserk.  You may have seen me post about it on Twitter.  I ran a load of linens {because having them in storage on a ship for 3 months makes them  smell a little funky}, and somehow the drain-pipe came unattached.  I walked out of the study to find water soaking into the carpet and running down into the kitchen, with water literally pouring out of the hose.  Ai yi yi!  I did some reverse engineering that involved me getting sprayed in the face at one point, and finally figured it out.

Then, our new sofa-bed broke.  This actually happened last Saturday, but it took a while to get everything squared away.  After a few phone calls, the furniture store decided that rather than doing a repair they would just replace the sofa.  Yay!  Of course, the removal and delivery day was the morning after all of our goods were moved in, so there I was, surrounded by boxes and laundry, when 2 delivery guys show up.  They were different from the ones who’d first delivered our furniture {the last guys probably quit after they had to deliver our stuff}, so they were in for a shock when they found out that they had to carry the sleeper sofa up 6 flights of stairs… and then carry the damaged one back down.  I kept apologizing, but really, there’s nothing that we could do about it.

Despite the damage, there are many bright sides: (1) our home has that laundry-fresh scent thanks to the overflowing washing machine, (2) the movers were polite and cheerful, (3) they had no trouble finding parking, (4) they did a great job moving things in and getting them set up, (5) I have another new sofa, (6) we have moving insurance which should cover the damaged items, and (7) all of our electronics survived, namely the flat-screen TV.  Our TV has dual voltage or input or whatever you call it, so we’re able to use it in New Zealand.  The Wii, PS3, and DVD players made it through as well.  Chris can breathe a big sigh of relief 🙂

I’m looking forward to getting the rest of the boxes out of the way and doing a bit more cleaning and organizing.  Oh, and there’s something else I’m looking forward to:

I start work on Monday!  I’m going in for 3 {12 hour} days this week, which fits perfectly.  I hate working 5 {8 hour} days a week and would much rather have 3 long days and just get it over with.  I’ll be there Monday – Wednesday, giving me an extra long weekend to recover.  Starting a new job is always mentally and physically draining, don’t you think?

I hope that you all have a wonderful weekend!