Back Home

This is the first time that I've ever moved BACK to a place I lived before.  There is a certain amount of relief in knowing things about a location.  We remember the roads, the directions.  Not every trip requires a map and a prayer.

Another bonus?  We already know some of the best places to eat.

On Sunday, we went out to breakfast at the Humble City Cafe.  An old favorite of ours.

This hometown cafe is one of the hidden treasures of Humble, Texas.  The homemade waffles, omelets and the skillet cornbread with cinnamon butter are just as good as we remembered.

It's nice to have some old haunts to return to, some memories to relive.  We moved away in 2000, so the town has changed quite a bit.  It still retains a lot of its small town charm, though.

I'm pretty sure I'm going to like living in Humble again.

--Sandee Wagner

Packaged for Delivery

The Santa Fe Relocation company is now my favorite moving team ever.  And those of you who know me, know I've moved a lot.  I have opinions about movers.  But they made the move easy.  It said so right on all their boxes.

They did a pre move survey and determined that we would fit into a 40 ft container.  When the packers showed up on Sunday morning, they looked around and said, "It's going to be tight."  The team leader had a very intense discussion with the guys in a language that I could only guess at, and they started packing.

During a container move, all the furniture is padded and wrapped up.  In essence, they custom make a box for every piece of furniture.  During this process, we realized what this team of packers was doing... they were utilizing every single square inch of interior space to transport 'soft' objects.  The shelves of each bookcase were stuffed with stacks of towels, blankets and pillows.  All negative space was filled with soft, fluffy things.

And it's a good thing we didn't have boxes and boxes filled with towels, blankets or pillows.  There would not have been room.

We FILLED the 40 ft container.  I don't know if you can tell in this photo but those two guys hardly have room for their feet to fit on the small edge left.  They crammed all our household goods into it, saving our king sized mattress for the end.  Then they powered that last box in.

During the last hour and a half they packed the truck, they tore one box apart and repackaged the contents into three smaller boxes.  One oddly shaped box had a corner purposefully crushed so it could be pushed up into the top of the shipment.  And two boxes were repackaged into a single one.  All out on the curb.  In an attempt to get it all to fit.

When they finally got the door to close and lock, they laughed, high fived and then opened the door to show how stuffed the container was and all stood around taking pictures with their cell phones.

They were a really good natured lot.

I am so thankful that they took the time to make it all fit.  In the overall scheme of things, crammed in equals safer and less damage due to shifting around.  So, I'll take a tightly packed container.

Now, the countdown to arrival in the US begins.  Thank you, Santa Fe Relocation!

--  Sandee Wagner

Packers Scheduled

I did a pre-move donation.  Looked around the house and identified the pieces of furniture that I could do without.  Then I found a nice charity.  A local church ministry that expects two new couples to arrive empty handed.  They were interested in ANY household items that might be useful to a young college couple starting out fresh.

So, I sorted out the appliances with funky plugs, the IKEA furniture that was temporary when bought, and the kitchen items that have served their usefulness.  Packed it all up and made the call.

The folks arrived with six strong men and a truck.  They loaded up the excess and thanked us profusely.  We made their day.

When the moving company's estimator arrived yesterday, she surveyed our belongings and said we'd fit into a 40' container with no issues.  Problem solved.

We are scheduled to begin the pack out in two weeks.  Two days of packing and one day of loading, and then we will be on our way back to the USA.  I'm excited.  But I'm also sad.  I've liked living here.  I could have spent another couple of years here.  I've made some good friends.  Some I hope will visit me and keep in touch.

It's another ending, and a new beginning all rolled up into one.

--  Sandee Wagner

Online House Hunting

There is a certain comfort in moving BACK to an area you lived in previously.  You already have the lay of the land, as it were.

This time, we are empty nesters.  No worries about school systems.  This opens up a wider variety of neighborhoods than the last time we lived in the area.  Then we were limiting our search to a couple of areas with the best public schools.

So, I'm looking online for houses.  There are two benefits to this.  First, you get an idea of what's available in your price range; and second, you can 'map' any address right back to work and see how far the commute would be.

I know that most of these houses won't be available when I finally get to town and check in with a realtor, but it does allow me to make a few decisions about which areas to househunt.

It's fun.  Most of the listings online have a big array of pictures.  You can refine your search and see lots of cool things.  There are some mansions that look like something out of Architectural Digest!  Fun to see those listings.  I know I'd never get to walk through them.  Visually exploring them is a side benefit of my early search errors.

Now that I know what my delimiters are, it's easier to see only those houses that are 'possibles'.  I will continue to run my searches, and watch what bubbles up to the surface each day.  Until the day I hit town, I will have to do all my shopping online.  But watch out, Houston, we're on our way!

--  Sandee Wagner