Home Sweet Home

Maggie here.

After 11 long weeks of travel, two of which had James sleeping in a suitcase and Lance and I sharing one towel, our belongings finally arrived in New Zealand.  I can't imagine what the month and a half before that was like for Lance.  He was sleeping in a sleeping bag with a sweatshirt for a pillow.  We were quoted 4 weeks, originally, but that kept increasing as week after week saw another delay.  I'm not quite sure what unforeseen events happened at sea that the moving company could be so off in their estimate.  Maybe a whole pod of whales took the ship hostage.  Maybe it took an unexplained detour through the Bermuda Triangle.  Maybe Rumpelstiltskin stole the captain's daughter and they had to sail the ship to her rescue, I don't know.  But 4 weeks to 11 weeks seems to me like you need to get in another line of business.  Maybe managing a vineyard where things get better with age.

Fortunately we met some kind people, like our downstairs neighbors and another couple we'd been emailing with before our move, who lent us the basics to help out in the meantime.  PwC's shipping allowance was $6,000, which doesn't get you very much when you are moving to the other side of the world.  The only furniture we had room for were James's crib and my nursing chair.  Everything else was pretty much clothing or kitchen gear.

We are now settled in and the place is looking classy.  Our living room is comprised of a dining table and chairs, a TV on a stand we got from the side of the road, a Lay-Z-Boy Lance got from the side of the road, a twin bed we use as a couch that we got for free from Lance's co-worker, and a desk.  Lance got the desk off of Trade Me, the Kiwi version of Craigslist.  It wasn't until after Lance paid and brought it home that he realized there was a lovely swastika carved on the top.  Being the creative soul that I am, I busted out a butter knife, added a couple carvings of my own, and now the swastika is a beautiful flower. Tada!

Home Sweet Home.  The place is like a college dorm all over again, but we are happy saving money for our New Zealand adventures!