Tid bit of advice

If you are pcsing over seas and plan on selling your second car... DO NOT ship the title in the safe with your household goods.

And if you are shipping your other car, do not leave the title to that in your safe either.
Cost to replace title x2= $40

I am going to be RICH!

So I was informed by my bestest Casey that there is no walmart in Italy. Silly! I already knew that. However I do not have any idea what is going to replace my walmart addiction. I have a bad addiction, seriously. I go to walmart 2 times a day... I remember a day when I went 5 times. It doesn't help that we live in BFE and walmart is all we have. Oh, and the fact that walmart is so close I can spit in the parking lot from my house. I go to supply us with what we need and with being a family of 6 we run out of something every 15 minutes. Milk, bread, cheese, eggs, cereal, toilet paper, laundry soap, etc. Yes, I do buy things we don't need but walmart just sucks me right in.

I have to go buy ANOTHER suitcase for our travels because I have accumulated too much stuff since the movers were here. Guess where I have go to buy that suitcase? Walmart.

Now today, Case tells me there is no walmart in Italy. That solves it! I am going to be RICH by the time we get back to the states.

There has got to be a walmart equivalent over there. Something that'll tigger me to shop. LOL. All the markets! Something will be sure to please me!

The last minute stuff

I thought the last minute stuff to take care of around here was going to be easy.

Right now we have 4 boxes around 50lbs each to mail off to Italy.
Three trips to waste management ahead of us
At least 2 trips to storage
A washer, dryer and deep freezer to haul over to my favoritest neighbor

loads of wash to wash, dry, and roll.. yes roll... rolled clothes fit so much better into suitcases then folded clothes.

With 3 days left and the kids on mid-winter recess how on earth am i going to do this?

Where we are heading

This is a map of the base that I found, small doesn't even say it!

3-5 minutes to WALK across it!

Location of Vicenza

Picture of the gate to Caserma Ederle, Vicenza Italy.

Atleast this is what I am guessing is the gate, courtesy of google images.

Clearing our house.. You have no idea!

If you've never lived the military life, this is probably going to sound ridiculous to you. Scratch that, it's ridiculous to me!

We've cleared 6 houses in our military life.

House #1- We cleaned ourself.. FAIL. Tried again... FAIL.. hired cleaner cost us $200.. Passed
House #2- We cleaned ourself.. Passed
House #3- We cleaned with the help of my mom... Passed
House #4- We cleaned ourselves.. Passed
House #5- Hired a cleaning crew because hubby was deployed. Cost us $300 dollars... we walked away free and clear and the passing was on them

Now house #6 is the house we live in. This used to be military housing. The army turned it over to private back last october. We stayed here because we were getting a good deal. No security deposit. They wrote off any and all damages at that time. We also paid a $450 non-refundable bond to walk out of here free and clear at then end.

Well, "The End" is now here. And I walk into give them my notice of vacating. And they recommend getting a cleaner. Fine, no problem! I would have hired a cleaner anyway because I don't have the time. However, the cleaner... Serve Pro, charges for cleaning & carpet shampooing. So to clear house #6... is $600 dollars! You are have got to be out of your rabbit ass mind! I am paying it though. Not that I want to, trust me on that. I had to find a way to justify the cost. Between the bond and cleaning, it still doesn't equal what a deposit would have been. I don't have to worry about it. And you don't pay until they pass you. So I know I am passing my clearing on the 28th.

Living in military housing is the BEST! and the WORST! You don't have to pay any utilities, you meet some wonderful people, you meet some horrible people, you know your stuff is going to be fixed (even if it is with duct tape), but the rules, regulations and cleaning is a real pain. We have a roof over our heads and that is what matters. Because at this time in my husbands career we cant buy a house because we have at least 2 more moves before we are ready to settle down. And renting a house that is ours out, is just not for us.

17 days out

Well here we are. 4 days before we leave our house for the hotel. 17 days before our feet hit the grounds of Vicenza.

I am NOT excited to be living in a hotel for 2 weeks with 4 kids. We have lucked out with finding a studio apt. type hotel here in NY and in NJ.

We are supposed to head to NJ next friday the 4th. We are planning on taking the kids through NYC before we head out. We have plans to see Thomas and Friends at madison square garden and head to the Statue of Liberty. We'd be crazy to be a half hour away and not take advantage of it.

Now.. WHERE ARE OUR VISA's??? If we dont get our visa's by next wens, we are going no where. LOL. It's been 2 1/2 weeks since they sent the visa's out. I know its out of our control but come on now. I am impatient!

I am getting so excited! I cannot wait to start this new journey. After all I've had to personally do to get this all situated and ready go, I just want to be there already.

There is so much 'last minute' stuff to do around our house before we hit the road... I have faith that we CAN do it, we don't have much choice now do we???

Housing

I've been looking on AHRN for houses for when we arrive to Vicenza. The ones i've been finding are so beautiful. They are all larger then what we currently have and the prices seem decent in comparison with OHA.

Our first shipment of goods has been waiting for us in Italy for a bit now. If we only had a house to put it in when we got there :)