Still no passport

So our countdown is really on now. Five days before the movers show up, 10 days until we sign closing papers on our house, six weeks before we actually cross the pond...maybe. To use a phrase I'm growing to hate: there's a small catch. My government passport has not arrived. You may recall, my regular passport had to be sent in with the government passport application, thus, I have no passport. No red one, no blue one. Which means I also do not have my permit/visa/whatever from the Italian consulate allowing me to move to their country (that the internet says takes up to three months to get). The lady handling my passport application has not returned Nathan's phone calls or emails in the last week, which frankly, is quite worrisome to me. In addition, the lady (perhaps a different lady? I really don't know) who is supposed to be scheduling our flight to Italy has not done so, nor is she returning Nathan's phone calls / emails. If it's not the same lady, then I'm sensing a real trend here. Nathan's response to my daily inquiries is that it's the summer season when everyone is moving overseas, so our "handlers" (my phrase, not his) have us on the backburner. But I'm a firm believer in the whole squeaky wheel cliche - be polite, but very, very squeaky.

At this point, we still have no clue whether we'll fly commercially (yuck - can you imagine the search we're going to have to go through with TSA on one way tix to Italy; we'll have to wear the good underwear that day) or on military transport. And if it's military transport, will it be the rotator flight out of VA Beach? In which case, we're going to be fighting for a hotel reservation with holiday vacationers having a last summer hurrah for Labor Day weekend at the beach (can't stay on base b/c of the whole dog issue...again; if that dog weren't so darn cute...).

Logistically speaking, I'm already exhausted with six more weeks to go. We have managed to avoid homelessness thanks to the kindness of relatives (and relatives of relatives). We sign closing papers next week and go to the condo of my sister's in-laws for the weekend. Nathan will return to DC and stay with my cousin and his family for five nights while I remain at the beach with my sister and her kids. It will be very 1950s with the women and children out at the beach colony for the week while the men are slaving away in the hot city and driving out on the weekends (as a note, my sister and I will be caring for a very active three year old and twin 17 month olds, so while we will be having picnics at the beach literally, figuratively, it won't be any picnic at the beach). The following week, Nathan & I (and Scully) will stay at my cousin's house. Then off we go to visit dear friends in Roanoke for a weekend before returning to take up occupancy in an adorable rental here in Old Town for the month of August. But for now, off to sleep, where I can dream about logistics, sleep fitfully, and then wake up at ODark:thirty, resulting in a complete crash on the sofa about 3pm until the dog shoves his nose into my face and whimpers b/c he has to go outside.