Box count : 10. 
Sometimes I feel as though I am enacting a scene from Funny Farm, but as I make yet more lists, and think of more jobs to be done before moving day, I try to push any sneaking anxieties out of my mind. Got to get the doubting voices under control!
Resting on my laurels again tonight as I reached the magical target of 10 boxes packed. It has all been fragile glass items, and I have been using tea towels, hand towels, and bubble wrap. The bubble wrap ran out on box number 9, so it was finished off with items from the kitchen drawers, and box number 10 was filled with the slow cooker and other small kitchen appliances. Is this all thrilling you?
There is some challenge in working out what will fit with what in a box, a little like a puzzle, to make the best use of space – and my effort. As soon as I start to not care, I stop and have a cup of tea and a sit to ponder whether I am enacting Funny Farm (there is more than a little personality similarity between Andy Farmer and Mr FD, which is a worry). Then the back ache subsides and the catholic guilt crowds in and so I go back to packing. Once the 10th box is in sight I go the extra mile to finish (well, I have only accomplished 10 in any one day, twice, so I have gone the extra mile, twice).
The extra mile did mean sending out for pizza tonight, which led to a discussion between Son and I as to the possibility of pizza delivery in The Village. I think not. Pizza maybe, delivery no. We shall see the sacrifices we are forced to make…
Speaking of Mr FD,(I did somewhere), today I threatened to have the movers lift him in what seems to be his permanent position, sitting on his recliner watching television, out of the house and into the back of the moving van, if he doesn’t stir soon. The fragile items are now packed he has no excuse. Move it, or I may not leave a forwarding address.
That packing, and then the unpacking, process is one I absolutely hate. I have always been amazed at how much “stuff” has been collected when I pack, and then when I unpack I wonder why, in the sorting out process, more stuff wasn’t “out”. You have my sympathies!
Memories of moving! Usually bad ones when cheap removalists were engaged and I spent most of the day working as unpaid navvy just to get them off the property. Now as a grey Rat, I won’t be able to do this anymore, so the next move will have to be minimalist. I know the Mole is eyeing things that won’t be going with us like my book collection and sundry other things that the Rat might be mildly attached to. Dreading the day. Ratty.
My book collection has to go down to two bookcases. I will donate some to my school library, and the rest to lifeline. It is a little like when a child leaves home, at first you mourn their going and the space that is now empty in your home, but after a while the freedom is so great that you wish it had happened years ago! (Don’t tell my children!)
When we were moving out of our first little home, I complained to my husband that I was doing all of the work of packing, while he just sat around drinking beer and watching bad movies all weekend. He grumbled that as far as he could see, I was almost done, and they wouldn’t be lifting all of the heavy items until moving day, so what was the point? I threatened to wrap him up in tape and have the movers take him in the back of the van with the furniture. Not that it helped. He complained the whole time about being hot and ow, his aching back.
Hope Mr. FD takes your threats seriously.
They are all the same aren’t they! Mr FD has the procrastination cycle down perfectly. We do somehow get it all done, but there is often a lot of grief in between. My German genes come to the fore and everything must be perfect and on time, and Mr FD’s Irish genes come to the fore and he wants a sit, a cup of tea and a chat before starting as I am finishing.
Somethings I quickly learned moving from a suburban area to a rural area: 1) always plan your shopping trips very well so that you do not get home and realize you forgot something, 2) always keep track of your supplies in your cupboard, such that you are never opening ‘the last’ of something so that you do not run out before your next trip to ‘town’ for shopping, 3) in the height of summer keep a cooler in the car with you so that if you make a stop at the grocery store on the way home your cold stuff will survive the drive home better, 4)[last but not least] if you have a desire for some carry out get it on the days your are shopping ‘in town’ or find good quality freezer versions that you can make at home when the desire hits.
I am thinking of buying a freezer to take advantage of bulk meat sales, but they our family is not the size it used to be. I have to pass though The Village to and fro from work so I can get milk when needed.
Just before I made my last move, I scored 21 large heavy black “mismarked” plastic totes. Of course I bought the whole shelf before they figured out the price was wrong……
Wise man. We bought a number of plastic crates with lids (and wheels) but they were sadly correctly priced. I have bought recycled cardboard boxes which we will gift to SIL as she intends moving soon.
I always found tons of “moving” boxes from the local liquor stores. People give you funny looks when you load what looks like 20 boxes of booze into the truck, but hey, they were free. hahaha
That is what I was told by a chairty pickup service today – ask the liquor stores (we call them bottle shops, I know original).
Mr FD needs his recliner for inspiration…..he was hard at work in the INSIDE.
Ruminating and digesting…