Getting Closer!

* This week I really GOT that I'm moving.  Not so much where, but the actual work of getting practically everything in the house into boxes, and then boxes into crates for shipping them 2,667 nautical miles from Virginia to the Azores.  
* But back to the stuff...  I've thought myself ever so clever, consolidating and packing stuff into plastic bins.  But Friday, a Major I work with, who's been through this routine more recently than I have, told me I might as well stop with the bins.  Apparently, the movers will transfer everything into their boxes.  Rats!  I'm going to leave books in the boxes I packed yesterday, but I'm going to plan B with loose things, such as office supplies, and put them into gallon zip lock bags. 
* But back to the stuff...it has already begun multiplying before my eyes!  Every surface is covered with things: frames photos, ceramic jars with pens and pencils, baskets, and enough tchotchkes (things considered to be worth collecting (not necessarily valuable or antique) to establish my own thrift store.  Overwhelming!!!  
* But back to the stuff...I'll keep plugging away with the purging of extraneous, unnecessary baggage.  Today it'll be CDs and DVDs.  I found software on line that will convert VHSs to DVDs, so I can take the former to Treasure Trove - the charity of my choice.  All the proceeds go to Inova Children's Hospital, and in return, I have acquired a wardrobe that has expanded since my weight shrank.  I'll cull through the clothes, too, and give them back to TT to sell again.  
* I'm only one form away from "getting orders," the documents that will allow me to schedule the movers, buy my airplane ticket, and ship my car.  At this writing, I'm thinking I'll fly out on 16 April since flights to Lajes are only on Saturdays.  Best case scenario: I find a place to rent that week and have Emma sent on the 23rd.
* Last week I had dinner with Trish Walton, whose name will figure significantly in my blog since she'll be my sponsor at Lajes.  She's worked there three times before, and loves it.  We had dinner last week, and she filled me in on details about island life, housing, great restaurants, and the family atmosphere on the base.  Trish will be the Resources Flight Chief, which is the position she held at Bolling AFB for the past year. She flew out yesterday, so she was generous in giving me three hours of her time in her last hectic week.
* Catherine arrives Wednesday afternoon, and we'll combine organizing aforementioned stuff and having fun.  We also have to put her electric piano on Craigslist, since I refuse to cart it across the Atlantic Ocean again just to use the top to display assorted aforementioned tchotchkes.
* Friends in the office are already planning my "leaving do," as they say in England, and it makes me wonder whether they want to have plenty of time to make it special or are eager to see me go.  (Not really. I know they'll miss me.)
* That's as much as there is to update in this post.  Watch this space!