Moving on

A report on how the packing/planning/pre-move mayhem is going. Please note that for those of you who read this blog and don't know me well, this won't mean a lot. However, those of you who DO know me will understand completely.

Tonight I washed kitchen towels, bath towels, rag towels, and socks all in one load.

We have reached the stage where it's general chaos; nothing you need can be found and the house is a labrynth of boxes and furniture with bits of life strewn thoughout. So this is where I find myself at 12:26 am--needing to sleep but knowing it won't come for a while yet, thinking about what this move means to me. I've thought about it a lot and want to talk about it now.

When we first started looking at new houses the idea was but a dream. Truly, we couldn't believe we would ever live in a brand new home. I realized the subltle differences of old versus new as we walked through so many homes. I found myself checking how many plug ins there were in each room. Would we need to use a drop cord to get a lamp by the bed? Where could the TV be so that the cable would reach? What horrors of damp, mildewy, plywood waited under the kitchen sink? Finally it dawned on us that we needn't check those things--new homes have plug ins on every wall-sometimes more than one! There are cable outlets in several locations-in each room! Under the sink is gleaming wood. All the windows work. We would not have to insulate. We were excited at the thought of not having to move in and start fixing things to make the house work for us.

We began to look at the homes in a new light. How would this floorplan work for us? Do we like this size of living room? What about this color of tile? Would we be happy with this lot? What do we actually want? For us, the priorities were having two stories with all the bedrooms near each other; a family friendly kitchen; a great yard with nature nearby; a porch; and some space away from the neighbors. That didn't seem too hard. We knew we'd find a floorplan that worked and stopped worrying about that and started concentrating on the lot and location. When we found this one it was right, and several things indicated that very clearly for us.

During the offer process I began to worry about the financial aspects. We made a budget and it worked. I spent many hours decorating the house and came to believe we needed several pieces of new furniture. How could we live in a brand new house with this couch?? The house itself is so pretty; it wouldn't be right to put all this old stuff into it. All I could think about was what we couldn't do because we didn't have the money to buy all this new stuff I wanted for this new house. I was not getting excited. It was a bit surreal.

Slowly, bit by bit, I began to think differently about what would be our new home. Never before did I think I needed all new drapes, bedding, and furniture; why was this different? Truly, it isn't different. We are blessed to be able to buy a home that will not take all our energy and financial resources in order for it to be comfortable for us. We are blessed to have found a home so close to nature and also so fitting for the way we live. I prayed to be grateful for what we were getting and last week it happened.

On Thursday they were putting up the new fence. The kids and I drove over in the morning to see the progress. I drove over when the babysitter was here in the afternoon. We drove over around five to see the completed fence. We drove over when Matt got home so he could see it. We drove over at 9pm to see it in the dark. Sitting in the driveway in the dark, listening to the crickets chirp and the peepers croak, I was nearly in tears. I had found home again.

Suddenly, we didn't need a new couch, or drapes, or bedding. Sure, it would be fun to have new stuff, and we'll probably get some. The things we need boil down to these few items: more shelves in the pantry, window blinds, grout sealer, and a new vaccum. Those things can be bought easily and will make living there more pleasant.

So tonight I find myself a bit sad about this move and I finally understand why. It isn't because we can't buy all that new stuff and decorate it like a showcase. I feel sad because you all won't be here with us. To drop by on a Saturday afternoon and visit. To come to the ribbon cutting for the kids' new playhouse. To watch as little people get a year older and blow out one more candle on their cake. To see my weedy garden. To gather for Thanksgiving dinner. To help us fill it with memories. That is what will make this house a home for us--filling it up with memories.
Our door will be open--please come and help us.

Today's accomplishments

This morning we were told we could not close on the house until Friday instead of tomorrow. This threw a lot of plans out of whack. So I got busy.

I baked 40 muffins, 2 dozen oatmeal cookies, and made a pan of peanut butter bars. I packed most of the kitchen, had a shortened version of school, did 3 loads of laundry, took a walk, patched and painted nail holes, and spent 2 hours working with Marty's behavior issues.

In the past I have felt a bit resentful when people would say I have nervous energy.
I guess I need to take a look at that.

Found the pictures!

Marty with his stitches in


new fence at the house


new grig at the house--Sarah and the realtor's little girl

It was almost a totally wasted sewing day

I felt like sewing today. (Yes, I know we are moving in exactly one week) As I recall, I was sewing the last week at the farm, too, because sewing is therapeutic for me. It is calming for me. (Le-Le, take a deep breath and step away from the scissors.) Onward. I decided to remake a pattern I had used before and love the blouse from it. The one I made last year was a pink seersucker, sleeveless blouse. I love it, and wear it a lot. I have had a lavendar dress hanging in my closet for a year that I made last spring and really didn't like. Hmmm.....

OK, chop up the dress, make a new blouse. Easy. Except that I am always on a mission to fine tune the fit. Easy. Move the dart down, sew the blouse. Dart was too low after the whole thing was done. Drat.

Tear open side seams, move the dart up 1". Still too low; now I'm getting irritated. Move dart up 1/2", re-sew side seams. Dart is in perfect position. Blouse is too tight. Huh????? What was that all about? All I can figure is that the fabric I used today (rememeber, the bad dress?) didn't have as much "give" as the searsucker did. Now I am really irritated. Perhaps Le-Le would like a lavendar sleeveless blouse.

Oh well, I can re-draft the pattern with the new dart (the perfectly positioned one) and cut another blouse out. As I am tracing the pattern, I discover that the size medium dart would have been perfect and I could have saved that time drawing and measuring. This blouse is making me cranky.

Hey! I'll re-use that other blouse I already cut out and decided against because that pattern didn't fit, either! Easy. Cut out blouse with new dart. Sew, only to the side seams. Forget the collar work until I know if this is going to work out. Too tight still. I'm positivley miffed now.

Fold up all pattens, blouse attempts and put them away until another day. Several sewing hours wasted-- this is a crime! I must sew...need therapy...I must sew...I must sew...need therapy.....I must sew...need therapy.....Hmmmm......I could finish that jacket for Master Wyatt at Tae Kwon Do.

Let it be said that I've been working on that jacket on and off for 2 months. It was an alteration issue, and it wasn't going well. So much so, that I took it to town and got help at the fabric store a while back. Now I've let it hang so long, I can't remember the sequence. After a few near curse words and a fervent prayer, the jacket is done. I will repeat that: The jacket is done.

Now, let's see if you got all of that. I sewed for 5 hours, used exactly $0.00 on fabric, ended up with exaclty 0 wearable blouses, and finished 1 difficult alteration.
Ahhhhhh........I feel so calm now.

Arrrrggghhh

Let it be known that I dislike change. Change causes difficulties and chaos and stress and just plain is a pain in the rear end. Case in point:
I came here to post picutres of the new fence at the new house. They uploaded easily from Matt's work camera, but I cannot find them anywhere so that I can post them. I'm trying to get him to buy an exact replica of the old camera--I knew how it worked, and it worked well.
Oh, and I had photos of Marty's stitches, and the new frig in place at the new house.

By the way, we are now at about 45 boxes packed, but have run out of empties, So we will have our last pizza and movie night here, then find more boxes tomorrow and continue. 12 boxes were just books; a good start, and I hope next time we move that number is much higher.

The brave one

This is a bit late, but here's Marty after surgery. He is feeling great now, with only 2 dyas until the stitches are removed. The packing inside his ear will stay for 2 more weeks, and after that he should be able to hear with that ear. He's been a trooper.

This was a new experience for us

This is one of those things that the kids talk and laugh about when they are 30 years old, sitting around the Thanksgiving table. The parents were never quite sure what exactly happened, but always wondered......




If you click on the picture, you can see that is was taken from inside the van. We haven't found the golf ball yet.

packing report

boxes:
19 down
147 left to go