Social Media only lets you post so much, right? There are word limits, content guidelines, etc. Because of this, I decided to start posting more detailed updates here on my website instead. I know I tried this before, I just don’t know why I decided to give up on it… thanks, brain… So, here we go again!
We have been extremely busy since our return to the States. (My husband had orders to Japan, so we’ve been living in Okinawa for the last year. Talk about an experience!) Anyway, a family member very near and dear to me was/is dealing with some major, life-altering health issues, and it got so bad that he was admitted to the hospital for a week not long after our return.
Naturally, my husband and I immediately jumped in to help him and his wife with whatever they needed, it’s why we came back to the States after all. We were there nearly every day; running errands for them and deep cleaning their house to prepare for his return. They live about an hour away, so this took up the majority of our days, and we were hardly ever home. But we were happy to do it!
During this time, while he was in the hospital, our household goods shipment also decided to arrive. For those that don’t know, when your household goods shipment shows up, your entire day is tanked because you have to make sure everything arrived, make a list of everything that’s broken (so we can get reimbursed for it), and basically manage the crew; telling them what room things go in, where you want certain things, etc.
Because my husband is better equipped to deal with that kind of thing, he stayed home while I spent the day at the hospital, and apparently, it did not go well. According to my husband, the crew they brought was minimal at best. Two guys and one of the guys’ wives (who spent the majority of the time on her phone.) Now, usually, they unpack everything, leaving it in the middle of the floor, and take the boxes and packing paper with them. (We live in base housing, so our trash capacity is limited). This is normal when you contract with the Military. And they also put together the furniture that was disassembled for transport.
First off, the ‘crew’ showed up nearly 3 hours late, which is a pain in itself, but then they basically rushed to get everything off of the truck and proceeded to complain and huff and puff when my husband requested that they do the unpacking and furniture assembly. (VERY unprofessional if you ask me). They ended up NOT unpacking everything and they gave up trying to put our furniture together (AFTER DRILLING HOLES THROUGH THE TOPS OF 2 OF OUR DESKS). They claimed they had another delivery to make and just left.
All in all, it was BY FAR the worst experience we had with a moving company. They left the house in shambles, and it took me a week to put everything together and in the correct places/rooms. But I did it! It just took up the few hours a day I had free!
Thankfully, I am happy to announce that, not only is my house all set up now, my family member has since been released from the hospital and is doing much better! Now though, he has near-daily doctor’s appointments and the like to further address the underlying issue. (I am purposely being vague because it’s not my business to tell.) And because my husband used up all of his leave days, he had to go back to work last week, which means I will be picking up the slack. (Again, not complaining. I’m happy that I can do this. I’m just explaining things.)
We set up a shared calendar so that I know when they need my help, and that has actually helped my time management TREMENDOUSLY. Because I can see future appointments and when they need rides, I can better plan out my days and actually carve out time to write. It’s been two weeks since I’ve even been able to LOOK at my current work in progress, and I’m excited to be able to work on it again.
Much to my dismay though, after going over what I had plotted/planned out for this story, I realized that I was stuck. I was adding a lot of filler/unnecessary chapters and not actually getting to the story itself. Because of this, I decided that a full plot overhaul was needed for me to be able to tell the story I wanted to tell. Thankfully, the new plot came to me while I was in the shower (funny how that works, right? How some of the best ideas come to us while we are in the shower?). So, I will be re-plotting the book this week. Thankfully, I don’t think it will postpone the release too much because I actually know where I want the story to go now. At least I have that going for me!
Alright, well, I know a lot of this was venting and just explaining things, so if you made it this far, thank you! I promise future posts/updates won’t be this long!
Until next time, happy reading! – Amanda
Amanda K. Mann 