miracle on 65th street.

Well, okay. 65th Avenue. But that doesn't have the same ring to it.

My energizer bunny daughter, Johnelle, the woman who flew up to Portland and saved the day ... well there's just not enough laudatory words with which to adore her.

The move kicked my ass this week-end. On the other hand, my daughter KICKED ASS this week-end. For the past 3 nights, we have crawled into bed with aching knees and feet we begged to have removed. surgically. or hatchet. too tired to care. all I can say is thank god for leftover toothache drugs. I live to limp another day.

However. And this is a huge however.

ROBOJOJO (as she will now forever be known) fought the Killer Zombie Things (KZTs), felling them with her mighty sword. and muscles.

Reference before picture of the garage from hell. Understand that she lifted furniture, televisions and moving boxes, loading a 14' truck with little assistance from her broken down mom. Know that she sorted and patiently advised on which KZTs might deserve a stay of execution. Observe the 2 day yard sale in 90+ degree heat, overseeing a steady flow of newly unearthed items from the morass of half unpacked boxes. Realize that after reboxing, organizing, labelling and taping, with one last broomsweep of all in sight ... she hopped into said 14' truck with a huge smile (and cute outfit!) and has proceeded to make the 800 mile drive today, delivering furniture to our store in the bay area.

If I die tomorrow (and I BETTER not, after all this freakin' work!) I die knowing I've left a wonderful contribution ... an amazing woman with a kind and giving spirit, who inspires all she encounters.

wherein I take on the killer zombie things. outcome uncertain.

So I wake up one day and I realize I've had enough. Had it up to here with the metro map I've made of my life and realize I'd rather have something simpler. Never mind that I don't have it all figured out. Like an endless stream of income. So I can drink wine the rest of my days and mesmerize you with my blog musings. For free. But that's a future post. Tentatively entitled "How Fear Mongers Stole 15 Years of My Life". *sigh*

So I decide to to simplify. Get off the corporate train and try something different. A complete 180. Being the not-yet-reformed corporate driver and control freak that I am, I create a project plan. With milestones and everything. How comforting, that list with its categories and dependencies, its tasks and subtasks. So familiar.

There's this one category I've been working on. Trouble is, seems like no matter how hard I work, the tasks are never totally complete. Unfortunately, there are a few of those type of categories. But the one that I'm mired in right now is "thing diminishment". I came up with that all by myself. *satisfied smile*.

This category ties in to that whole crap thing I was musing about before. I decided that the title "crap clean-up" had such negative connotations that I'd try something new.

Keeping in mind that I recently completed a major milestone, "Ship to France". One would think that would contribute greatly to the whole concept of "thing diminishment". But honestly. Three whole containers later (because it wouldn't all fit in the originally planned 2 containers) and I swear I still have a house full. Its like one of those crazy horror movies, where the "things" multiply faster than you can kill them. Attack of the killer zombie "things".

Tomorrow my daughter arrives. Her mission (she was gullible enough to accept it ~gasp~) is to assist me in pricing and selling as many of these things as possible for our giant hellatious killer zombie thing sale scheduled to occur in my front yard, side yard, and garage this coming Saturday and Sunday.

There's enough of these things that, in spite of the sale, I've rented a 14' truck which she will use to haul another load down to the bay area for eventual sale in our boutique.

And guess what?! There will still be mooo-oooo-oorrre! Yep, folks that's right. Remainder killer zombie things that will need to be transported under locked guard and imprisoned in a storage unit at an unnamed location. Why? Because I carry the ugly killer zombie thing gene in my DNA. It has me under its control. I'm convinced. I am the secret muse of the Killer Zombie Things. They have me under their spell. I can't stop talking about them. They are seemingly everywhere.

They may have been diminished by me for now. Soon, they will begin their period of waiting. In the storage room. In hibernation. Biding their time. *queue creepy killer zombie thing music*

the shippers are coming, the shippers are coming!

I have a move date ... May 8, 2008. Rhymes auspiciously.

I'd like to thank movingscam.com for helping me avoid what, at least from all outward appearances, could have been a disastrous ripoff. With moving quotes ranging from $12,000US to $3,800US, one can definitely see where mistrust would form. If you are considering a move, international or domestic, do yourself a favor and check out this site. They have organized a ton of information, including customer feedback ... good and bad, on a variety of movers.

After taking time to do more research, and reading countless customer stories of a variety of moving companies ... I have settled upon Rainier Overseas Movers.

What I have learned is there are a number of internet movers looking to make quick bucks by holding your precious belongings hostage until you fork over more moolah. Many of these scammers are based in Florida, where state laws make it very challenging to sue. As an example, you can only sue them IN Florida.

The site movingscam.com was packed with lots of information, including a feedback forum. They had five recommended international movers, of which Rainier was one. Rainier is based in Seattle (being near the company is a plus). In addition, following their online estimate based on the inventory list I submitted they sent an on-site estimator to view my goods. The fact that they are associated with Bekins, who will perform the packing/loading is also a good thing in my opinion.

These are essentials recommended to ensure you have an accurate, honest estimate. Their fee was smack in the middle of the 5 estimates I received and includes packing, loading, shipping and unloading ... door-to-door. Not the lowest charge but also not the highest and includes handling much of the international logistics involved. $13.95 a cubic foot, all inclusive.

So, at this point I am excited and encouraged. Of course, my belongings haven't arrived in Brantôme yet. They are expected mid-July. I am hoping against hope that my next blog post on this topic is celebratory and a full on recommendation of my shipping experience and company.

not very high, in her estimation.

I received good news and bad news this morning. The moving and shipping estimator arrived early for her appointment. Flawlessly groomed from head to toe and very gracious to boot. She entered my own little corner of hell with a permanently applied smile that she obviously had trained herself to maintain, no matter what the horrors encountered.

I accompanied her from room to room, apologizing every third step for the chaos. The detritus. The current doggieness of my abode. My home is littered with half filled boxes, piles of wrapping tucked into corners, stacks of half-sorted items. Because of the clutter, I haven't washed the floors or carpets in weeks. Only sweeping and vacuuming have occurred, and the floors are less than appetizing. Two dogs worth of unappetizing. sigh.

To top it off, we ascended the stairs and discovered a little poochy-present that awaited in the upstairs bedroom. You puppy owners know what I mean. Mortification personified.

The good news is that my original inventory list came in spot-on to the visual review. The move will not be very high, in her estimation.

The bad news is my housekeeping skills and resulting opinion of me, are also ... not very high in her estimation.

weighed down by stuff.

Let me tell you one thing this packing phase has shown me. I am one person. One little person. Okay, one little person with two little dogs. But still.

I am surrounded by stuff. A lot of it isn't even stuff. It is crap. I have too much crap. I will be selling a LOT of this crap. I will be giving away a LOT of this crap. I will be throwing out even more of this CRAP.

I feel pinned down by all this crap. I feel small and yet HEAVY. I look at all of it and think ... I have spent hours, days, weeks, months, YEARS working to buy a good deal of this shit. God Bless America. I've had it up to here with this crap.

I'm going to rid myself of as much as I can muster. I don't want to have to support any more of this stuff than I have to. It is an enormous, overwhelming task.

But I imagine I will feel as light as a feather when it is over.

the saga of shipping.

One aspect of moving abroad is how to get your belongings where you are going. Now, I'm not talking about those who are packing a suitcase and hopping a plane to a furnished pad. This is for those who have a place to hang their hat and need something to hang it on.

To go fancy free and start from scratch there? Or to bring along familiar furnishings and cherished treasures to ease the transition? Considering the miserable state of the U.S. dollar, I've determined the cost of shipping is the better option when compared to what a similar amount of money could actually purchase in euros.

So, I've been on a quest for a shipper. Now let me tell you, it has been a daunting journey. There are a number of pitfalls I didn't anticipate and so ... I'm still looking, and getting more nervous with each turn in the road.

I started with a referral. Being in the wholesale trade, I met a fellow retailer who ships regularly from Europe AND who has owned a home in France. Brilliant, I thought. Here's an experienced person who will help me avoid problems. Not quite. He gave me a very good referral to a friendly shipper. First exchange goes like this: Dear Samson (creative fake name), I'm moving to France and so and so referred me to you as an excellent shipper. His response ... oh dear lady, yes I DO ship, but I only ship TO America from Italy. I'm so sorry. But, please ... send me your details and I will see if I have a colleague who might ship the other way!

I'm looking for door-to-door service, maybe even with a bit of fragile packing thrown in.

Thinking I better have a back-up plan, I decide to take advantage of the wonderful expanse of the internet! I mean, what can't you find on Google, right? I immediately locate a site that boasts it makes quotations a piece of cake. Just input your basics and presto! bango! five quotes back to you in the blink of an eye.

First one out was Schumacher Cargo out of NY. A gem of a man, Martyn, calls me straight away and walks me through all the details. Patiently answers all of my many questions. Asks me the size of container I need, 20bx or 40bx. Wha'a? Hunh? (That little bit was for Marcus!). I say 20 after confirming that is a 20'. Off he goes to confer with his estimators.

Meanwhile, Samson and I have been furiously exchanging emails. Samson likes to ask one question per email, see. I ask him the dimensions of a 20bx (figured I'd doublecheck). His reply is returned, in millimetres.

Martyn calls back in a day (yes very prompt. very diligent). His quote is over $11,000 USD. Shock and awe, shock and awe. See, in my initial research with other ex-pats who have done similar moves, I had been expecting in the range of $3,000-$4,000. I'm doing a very basic move, not a full household. Just enough to get started. After I pick myself up off the floor and read the fine print, I discover that Martyn's quote is for 1,000 square feet in volume. That is one hell of a lot of stuff.

I ask Martyn to redo the estimate. He decides I should fill out an inventory checklist (I'm wondering why we didn't begin there?) Martyn reviews it with me, estimating I have at least 600 square feet in volume. If I do less than a container, their fee is $16 a square foot. So the estimate is basically the same.

A third provider jumps in the mix. Global Ocean Freight, located in Florida. This firm starts with the shipping inventory. I email it and we review over the phone. Noam calculates my goods at 380 square feet in volume. His initial estimate is less than $4000 and if I want to stretch it an additional 200 square feet, it will come in at $5400. Wow.

Feeling smug, I ask him to send me the details and I hope we can work together. Not being a total guppy, I also decide to see if I can research this company ... find any complaints. This is where the fun begins.

I locate a site entitled movingscam.com. Horror story after horror story unfolds. They have a blacklist as long as both of my arms. Apparently, many of these non-local movers like to get their hands on your stuff. And hold it hostage till you fork over more money. Hmmmm. And yes. There were a couple of complaints about Global Ocean Services. Thankfully, they were not on the blacklist. This site also has a list of recommended international movers. A list of five.

So now I've contacted all five of them in order to see where their prices land up. I haven't tossed Global completely out of the running. I mean, any service company can achieve complaints over a period of time. You can't please ALL the people. But apparently this is a particularly fertile pasture for scams in internetland.

Oh, and Samson? He came back with an $8,000 estimate. No loading or unloading included, let alone packing! So, he's probably out of the running altogether.

It will be interesting to see how this one ends. Stay tuned.