Lotsa little changes ...

... add up to big changes when you are moving. There are so many things to relearn and unlearn and try out and do and undo.

What has been nice is that all the boxes we mailed and our UB has allowed us to have a lot of stuff already here and to start figuring out where things should go. JB bought me a label maker (which Wendi-the-organizer loves!) We've been using the label maker to go around and label the abundance of switches to help us figure out and remember what turns on what.

This house has a ton of light fixtures ... and when your furniture is sorta scattered and you are six foot three, you accidentally hit your head on those more than you care to acknowledge. There's so many step ups and step downs to remember so you don't trip.

The entire house is 220 volts. Everything we own is 110 volts since Base housing in Turkey had 110. Before we left Turkey, we had a bunch of people leaving the overseas life give us their transformers. These are big electrical boxes that allow you to plug a 110 into a 220 without blowing it out. But those transformers didn't show up. Seems our movers decided to put them in HHG instead. Some stuff can handle being plugged into a 220 with a simple converter. But other things (like our vacuum cleaner for example) cannot. So we can't use that until a transformer finds its way to our house.

Some other learning experiences include:

Our refrigerator, for example. By far the smallest one we have ever had. The good news is that we have a huge freezer in the laundry room so we are trying to think about items we can freeze instead of refrigerate. You really have to think about it while you are shopping.

A picture of our little European fridge (and its itty bitty freezer.) The one thing I've realized is, that while it is tremendously smaller, space is maximized with extra little shelves (look at the ketchup on the very top shelf laying flat.)

We did purchase another small refrigerator for the guest suite on third floor. We can use that if we get in a jam now. Not that our kitchen is lacking. It's quite a spread:

I am also getting used to my washer and dryer. The Base has made the decision that they will not provide us with any appliances. This means, we have to make due with what we have. Small refrigerator, small/crazy washer, and strange dryer. My washer and dryer features a video showing off these appliances. My housekeeper, who is Portuguese, has told me she refuses to try to work my washer. She is way too intimidated by it!

We are really trying to live greener and greener (and hopefully cheaper and cheaper) so we are trying to avoid using the dryer and opt. for the clothesline whenever we can.

But it rains a lot here. And apparently, the current season -- summer -- is nothing compared to the winter and the rain that will come. So I've decided to do like the locals and leave my clothes drying until they are dry. Sometimes it takes three days (and multiple rain showers) before I can get them down before the rain comes on again. But I'm learning. It's my first time hang-drying my clothes. And while it takes much longer, there is something empowering and invigorating about successfully drying a load.

More adjustments though. Many more.

Our garage? Craziness! Check out this video of it sliding into the hallway of our home. This is only the second time in our married life that we have had a garage. Our first two homes in Kentucky did not have one. Our first homein Minnesota had a detatched garage, and our second home in Minnesota had underground parking. Florida -- no garage. This is new to us and quite strange as well!

Bummed that we don't get Pandora here on our computer. Apparently you can't listen to Pandora overseas and off-Base. (We got it on Base in Turkey but not off Base in Turkey.)

We are also still waiting on both our vehicle and our HHG. I'm starting to get a little frustrated by not having my things and really just want them back! Little things are so much harder. Like, we don't have any big garbage cans. Just the little ones that came with the house. So we have to use grocery bags for trash and then throw those in a box outside of the house until we can walk it to the trash. Or Abigail's clothes. She has totally left behind 12 month clothes, but I had sent all her 18 month clothes with the movers. We need the next size!

And the thing I miss the most? RUGS! Man, not only for the softness but to cut down on the noise and echoing! C'mon stuff. Get here!

Oh and check this video out.  It's one of my favorite videos ever of Abigail showing off her ability to "change." Actually, it is her trying to put clothes on. Just in this last week, she has started changing like crazy. She is signing please now. She is putting things around her neck and on her head. She took three steps today. She's following directions and handing us things when asked. So fun to watch the changes in her.