The movers WERE here! part 2.

Thoughts:

-If you didn't pack your stuff when you moved, but you put it a generalized area...  you can probably bet it will be packed with stuffs that were in that generalized area.  Meaning.. my toolkit wasn't that hard to find, because I knew it was with the printer, games, picture frames, and some candles.  Only had to open 3/4 boxes labeled picture frames to get the right box.

-You might have been in GTMO if you have a mostly full box of just shells.

-You might have been in GTMO if you have a full box of dive gear that hasn't been used in over a year.  Anyone interested in purchasing some dive gear?

-Books take up space.  Books are heavy.  WHEN DID I GET SO MANY BOOKS?!?!?!  3-4 boxes of books later, my bookshelf is stuffed full, there are still books in a box, and one two of the shelves is are double stacked.  Oh my.  Pretty sure those books were makin' like rabbits during their transit back to America (reproducing)...  (you know its not really a good joke if you have to explain it immediately after saying it.)

-It's probably not good to lift a lamp by its power cord, but the packers gave me no option.

-Y U neglect me Teh Megan? -Game Cube

-Man, I am definitely going to have to sell some stuff.  Maybe recoup some moving funds?

-While I was surviving without all this stuff, life is so much nicer with this stuff!

-Each time I go to the silverware drawer and actually get to pick up my silverware instead of plastic spoons/forks, the 4th grader that finished the 100 multiplication question test first comes out, "Yeeeeesssssssssssssssssss!"  PS, that was an actual test that was actually a race, by the way.  If you could complete 100 multiplication questions in under a minute you qualified for the math club.  The boy that sat beside me (who was a teacher's son and also left handed) and I would race.  The first person to hiss out "YESSSSSSSSSSSS!" first was the winner.  Pretty sure our classmates found us distracting and annoying...  Totally worth it.
YESSSSSSSSSSSS!

-I bought a plastic kitchen spoon the other day because I was pretty sure I didn't have any serving spoons with holes in them (not sure what the technical term for these spoons are)...  Found out a few days later..  I now have 4 of those type of "holy" serving spoons but no solid serving spoons.  I love PCSing (sarcasm font).

-America living is definitely not as lavish as American in Bahrain living.  While my rent was ridiculously overpriced, I had sooooo much room (the Bahrain kitchen was definitely the size of the MD master bedroom)!  Now I have sufficient room, but no where to put stuff.  Gosh, I'm such a spoiled American in Bahrain-er.

-I have no where to put all the photos that I had displayed in Bahrain, which makes me pretty sad.  Luckily, the Arab packer-outters did a super good job packing those suckers, which means I don't have to unpack them, unless I decide to hang them!  :)

-Why am I so attached to having uniforms?  6 sets of DCUs, 4 sets of utilities, then the uniforms that the Navy still actually uses/I actually wear.  I don't have the space for all those suckers anymore!

-I packed enough clothes in my suitcases when I flew out of Bahrain that I'd be ok for American winter.  Then I went serious clothes shopping (to make up for the lack of new clothes in the prior 2 years).  Then I unpacked 3-4 boxes of "clothes"...  Sooooo much clothes!  I hope the closet bar has enough support for all those shirts!

-Worst part(s) about having movers help you unpack:
they sift through all your stuff just like the packers did
nothing gets put in a place
one large stack of stuff in the end
having to carry your own large, heavy, empty boxes to the dumpster alone

-Best part(s) about NOT having movers help you unpack:
you get to have Christmas all over again (and each box is filled with wrapped presents, so its soooo many presents!)
no one peering at your stuff with their judging eyes
no large, single pile of stuff
you get to go at your own pace (depending on your motivation levels)
delivery guys are in and out of your place in minimal time
no one is "stealing" all your future packing boxes/packing paper

-Scary: not finding the most important thing in your packout till the last few boxes, so you get to fret over if it got damaged or not during shipment.  Most important thing in my packout?  My diploma frame.  (Side story:
Why?  I worked my ass off for my NCSU diploma.  3.5 years of ass workin' offin'.  The one thing I wanted when I graduated was a particular diploma frame to put my diploma and tassle in.  I asked for money towards the fund, but never got enough.  Because I was still a poor-just-out-of-college-but-no-longer-a-student girl then, the money ended up going towards bills out of necessity.  Still, the desire/hope/dream of having a very expensive frame ($250) to put my diploma in never went away.  A year after graduating, I went to Navy bootcamp.  A year after that I arrived in GTMO.  I received my bonus soon after.  I bought 2 things.  A Nikon D5000 (my fancy-smancy camera) and my diploma frame.  My diploma frame (and of course my diploma) is probably the thing I'm most proud of that I own.)

-To the people that lived in 604C before me,
  You had a cat.  It probably lived in the room where all my stuff is currently being unpacked.  I hate your cat.  It obviously hates me back from the amount of sneezing I've been doing.  I knew you had a cat before the sneezing happened though.  I could smell it.  Cats have a particular stench (nothing personal cat owners).  The entire room and closet smell like kitty litter, not appealing.  I'd rather you have smoked then I could have made the smell go away.  Cat smell = defeating me.  But once everything is unpacked, I'm back at trying to get rid of the odor, because holy cat crap, I'm so tired of sneezing.