Mindy Carlson

It’s been 5 weeks since we left Switzerland for America. First we went to Minnesota for a blissful time with Mark’s parents before Mark had to go back to the reality of DC and work and I drove down to Iowa with the kids to visit my parents and wait for our stuff to arrive from Basel.

I am still visiting.

And poor Mark, meanwhile, is on week 5 of eating off of plastic plates, drinking coffee out of a beer pint glass, having only a wok to cook with, and cutting up his cheese, meat, and veggies with a Swiss army knife.

He at least has a table to put his food on. Thank goodness we didn’t get rid of that glass-top table that I was hellbent on selling before we moved. It goes really well in the kitchen with the canvas picnic chairs we left behind in the storage unit.

Sigh.

On June 22nd our stuff went into this giant metal orange box and was whisked away, leaving nothing behind but tread marks in the freshly pour asphalt. It was loaded on a barge going up the Rhein River to Antwerp.

It made it to Antwerp without a problem, but “due to congestion on the docks” it did not make it onto the big huge boat going to Baltimore on July 9th. The next boat to Baltimore would be departing the next week, July 16th. Hopefully it would make it on that boat.

So, that’s another week I would be in Iowa.

We got confirmation from our moving person that our orange crate made it onto the boat as planned on the 16th. Yay! It was now moving across the Atlantic! We can start making plans for me to drive back with the kids!

Mom offered to drive back with me since Mark couldn’t fly out and make the 2-day drive back. We’ve done this before and it’s worked out great for her to accompany me and then take a one-way flight back. Now that we knew when our stuff would be in Baltimore we figured it was time we went online and bought her return ticket. August 8th is far enough out. Right?

Then we thought to inquire about this whole customs process we’d heard absolutely nothing about.

It turns out that, yes, all our stuff loaded into that big metal orange crate would have to go through customs. All of it. A whole household of stuff would have to be checked and stamped through. It would take 5 to 7 business days to go through customs. And that’s if they decide not to x-ray anything.

Aaaaand tack on another week the kids and I are in Iowa.

The kittens are softening the blow of missing Daddy.

And then, we still need to schedule delivery with the moving company. That could take around 4 days to get it loaded into their truck and scheduled for delivery. Then they need to deliver it.

So that’s a few more days hanging out with the ‘rents in Iowa.

Now we have to call Delta and get Mom’s ticket rescheduled because we aren’t planning on leaving Iowa until August 14th. Maybe.

Supposedly, our stuff is reaching Baltimore today or tomorrow. I wonder if they’ll tell us.

We are currently taking bets on when the kids and I get back to DC. Will it be: August 15th? August 18?  Never?  We have this house rented and I’m thinking that by the time I get there I will only have to live there for 9 months.

In the meantime, we are selling our old house in Silver Spring and I am spending my time yet again house hunting remotely and driving Mark crazy with listings to look at.  Yay!