Preparing the House

Sorry for a short and uneventful blog, but packing a house really leaves little to the imagination. We are taking our time with the packing, but have actually put clothes and other personal items into the big red duffles. Joe informed me that he will have the two duffles and I will take the third duffle with the large suitcase. I think this will work well if he chooses to overlook all the stuff that ends up in one of his duffles. The luggage scale from our Cromer colleagues is about to get a workout. I have cleaned out the guest room closet and half of my dresser, so I think the clothing matters are going well, and the three piles (taking to China, leaving in storage and taking to Goodwill) seem to be in proper balance. Today I gave away a dress that has been in my closet for 20 years which I have never worn!

I've had a lovely time discussing prescriptional matters with the geniuses at the Walgreens Mail Service. I knew my order for a full year of pills would give someone pause, so I called Blue Cross to see how they would handle it, then I sent a very detailed letter along with my very clear prescription off to Walgreens. Naturally, I received an email saying that my prescription would not be shipped because it was not covered under my insurance. (My next thought is not appropriate for all audiences, so you can use your imaginations.) I talked to a very nice woman named Jennifer, who probably never understood my requirement, but at least said she could get it put through, so my pills should be on their way this week. I have a second prescription to fill in another week or two and I think I might just walk it over to my local CVS where they all know my situation. Sometimes the personal touch is simply more efficient.

We did receive excellent personal attention from Travel Document Systems, our visa processing service recommended by our friend Nate. We mailed everything (passports, extra pictures, visa application, letters of introduction, travel itinerary) to TDS early last week and received a phone call asking for information on our employer. This is a tricky question, as we really don't have an employer at the moment, but our TDS contact (who never gave his name, just his email) assured me that a former employer would do, so good old FUSD gets to provide us one last bit of service (thanks, Barbara!). I will probably be holding my breath until those passports come back.