Marching On

Happy March!  Yesterday marked the beginning of a new phase in the Bama family - pre -moving mayhem intermixed with Mardi Gras insanity.  My keep-my-brain-from-overloading-and-exploding check list for the next few weeks:

- Have my passport name changed from maiden name to married name.  Kinda forgot to take care of that already - whoops.  So this overly tedious process has begun.
- Get Bear Euro chipped.  The thought of him sitting in quarantine breaks my heart.  I'm also trying to find an animal transport company -- him sitting in cargo in a trans-Atlantic flight scares the bejesus out of me.
- Obtain a copy of my medical records.  I thought I'd have this taken care of yesterday when i went to the Dr to have my follow-up visit on my back (yay, clear bill of health!). However... I found out that they cannot find my records. Yeah.  After all of the terrible experiences I've had with this clinic, I think this immediately filed into my mind as "it figures."  I didn't even get mad when they told me they couldn't find them.  Just a laugh (le sigh)
- Take photos and make an inventory of all of our home goods.  Apparently those overseas moves have a bad habit of going terribly at times.  I'm covering my bases.  You loose my T-D dresses (esp those with prints that are old) and you will pay.
- Figure out what is staying and what is going.  Bye bye American 110v appliances - Where we're going you don't work.  So I must leave my amazing Kitchen Aid Mixer, my Kuerig Coffee Maker, etc.  Still don't know how the computer/printer are going to manage over there.  Also staying -- the vehicles.  If gas is $3.20 here, I can only imagine how expensive it's going to be over there.  Me thinks we will find a cheap 1990s Beamer to used as a daily driver.
- Find someone to take our bottles of liquor and our perishables.  Can't be shipped, but i dont think this will be tough.  Maybe as a Mardi Gras Parade gift.  However, I'ts going to be hard to find someone who is interested in such organic items as "whole wheat soy cheese ravioli" and "blueberry juice concentrate."  Any takers?
- Learn my new language.  I suck at languages.  Really.  I took Spanish and French before I gave up and decided to take Latin in HS & college because it's not spoken.  Even then i couldn't manage to grasp a dead language.  However, I'm set up w/ Rosetta Stone and I'll be attempting to be at least not a complete tourist in my new home.

I'm sure theres more, but above is actually an insanely overwhelming list within itself.  Exciting and tedious all at once.

Oh and about where we're moving, here are some fun facts:

1. English is not the primary language (see last point listed above)
2. it was the world's number 1 exporter of goods until 2008 when that title was taken by China
3. it has a bad habit of trying to take over the world twice during the early 20th century.  Not the case anymore, (it has a much more warm and fuzzy reputation) but still, tsk tsk. 

any guesses?

On another note, yours truly is featured on the Trashy Diva Blog - one of my faves, Misa from Park & Belmont, as well as my little sis makes an appearance.  While I officially had my last day Monday (sadness....) I'll still be working in conjunction w/ them remotely - so yay for that!