On hold ....

I am on hold .... I am calling to set up utilities in our new house - phone, cable, electricity, water, gas, you name. Thank goodness for the speaker phone.

People keep asking me if I'm packing. Don't be silly, I answer - I don't pack. I haven't packed to move since 1990. People who have never done this think that you must pack your most valuable items yourself. Or that the movers might enjoy looking at my unmentionables.

Well, let me tell you: The movers pack everything the same. One time, they were individually wrapping our plastic stadium cups. They can handle packing my china and crystal just fine - nothing has been broken yet. And they have better things to do than look at anything I might consider private - they generally don't unload all the dresser drawers, anyway.

We did have a Christmas item broken last time - it had been packed properly when we shipped it home from Germany, and I always re-packed it that way. For some reason, the packer (not the main guy, who was actually quite good, but his assistant - to be honest, I wouldn't guarantee he could read) took it upon himself to re-pack it. When we opened it the following Christmas, the Weihnachts Pyramide came out in pieces. But we got a check to pay us for damages. And it is made of wood, so we were abe to re-glue it. I'll just have to remember to remind the packers not to re-pack all our holiday items.

The stress level is actually pretty low around here. Why get all worked up now? We have done this nine times (can you believe it?). Survived every time.

And we are still married. I think that says something about us. Either we are very easy-going, very flexible ... or crazy.

You decide.