July 28, 2009

• Project Idaho

  Project Idaho started the end of May when I decided to take the leap and move back to Idaho after a 22 year absence.  I realized that with my work, I could live any where in the world and the place I wanted to live (at least for a while anyway) is near my family.  So, I put my home on the market and said I would leave within 30 days of it selling.  It took a couple weeks for the logistics and once it was on the market, it sold in about two days.  Six weeks later, I am on a friends computer spending my last night in Finland.  Wow!  I figure Project Idaho is in three phases.  Phase 1 was packing and moving out, phase 2 was a short holiday and phase 3 is the traveling.

  Phase 1

  Phase 1 got to a slow start for me as it was overwhelming trying to decide what I should keep and what I should get rid of.  Thankfully, my friend 'A' came by and helped me get the first round of stuff sent to the Salvation Army.  I also set up a website with items that I wanted to sell.  Sold some of my stuff that way, but not as much as I was hoping.  Then my friend 'E' came over and helped me call places and that was good.  They also got my friend 'R' to help me put things on huuto.net, which is the Finnish equivalent of e-bay.  Then 'A' helped me sell some stuff and soon it was two weeks and my place was still full...Thankfully, a lady from my church heard about all the things I still had and since her son was just moving to Tampere (and she also has two other adult children), she took practically everything I had left.  I was overwhelmed! 'H' and her fiance came and helped me move everything out, which was a godsend.  Also, during this phase, I went on several coffee, lunch and dinner farewells and topped it off with a farewell get-together at the local rose park.  It was a lot of fun!

  Phase 2

  This was the shortest phase as it was only a couple days.  I have been out at a friend's place in the countryside and the dog and I have just been relaxing--it has been wonderful!  Alpo has been moving his toys and bones all over the place--he might think he is here to stay, but he is in for a surprise I think...

  Phase 3

  Starts in about 5 hours when my friend 'I' comes and picks us up and drives us to the airport.  Then we will travel from Helsinki to Copenhagen and then from Copenhagen to Seattle where my aunt and uncle will pick us up.  Hopefully all goes well and Alpo arrives on the same plane as I do...  On Thursday, my friend 'R' will pick us up and drive us to the Portland area (Newberg) where we will stay at another aunt and uncle's place.  My mom is there for a church conference so she and her new husband will have the privilege of driving us to Idaho.  My neice is driving in from Wyoming and my brother and his wife (whom I haven't yet met 'live'--only virtually) are coming for the weekend so it will be a 'happy, family' get-together.  Then my life in Idaho begins!  Project Idaho comes to an end!  Wonder if all will go as planned?  Stay tuned to find out...

   

  • 5:59 pm
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