Shipment

Our shipment of things from Utah arrived on Monday. We had expected it to come (Ben is in Poland all week -- terrible timing) and all morning I would hear the rumble of a truck and look out the windows to see if it was stopping in front of our home.

At 1:30 pm, a truck finally stopped. The first thing I did was snatch up Otto and run down the stairs excitedly telling him the truck from Utah was here. He was equally excited. He knew what it meant.

Luckily, one of the men spoke broken English, and I began directing the unloading of boxes and furniture. I texted Lori White and she came over to help.

The men unloaded our queen bed and tried unsuccessfully to take it up the stairs. Then they argued with each other for a few minutes about whether to lift it up and into the window in the front of the house or the back.

Somehow, they agreed the back window was bigger and one man went upstairs to open the window.

The second man stood on his tip toes and lifted the box spring up until it rested on the window sill and the first man could hold on to it. The second man then disappeared and returned with a small ladder and long board.

He set up the ladder, climbed a few steps and then pushed the wood against the bottom of the box spring to fit it diagonally through the window. When it got stuck, no one but me was stressed. The first man just started pounding the crap out of the box spring with the board until it popped through. Really classy.

Lori arrived and set me straight. She kept Otto company while she sent me to find 20 euros to tip the men and an itemized checklist so I could ensure all of our things had arrived.

I was able to find 20 pieces in euros and the checklist after a skeptical look from one man and an annoyed look from the other. I discovered a shelf on the list was not in my house. After searching the truck, they were able to find it and eat some crow.

When all the boxes were in the house and garage, I presented my smoky saviors with the coins. They laughed out loud. I did too -- with embarrassment that was soon forgotten and replaced by my glee.

I located Otto's Little People Airplane that he had been asking for since our arrival and then Lori and I unpacked and set up the kitchen. Aksel and Ingrid soon woke up, so I saved the rest of the unpacking for later.

The kids and I celebrated by not leaving the house for two days and playing with every toy and reading every book we had missed (or forgotten about). It's amazing what we can do without and it's amazing what a difference stuff makes. And my own bed. And a can opener.

I would make a terrible pioneer.