Too Much Stuff!

We worked through a very hot, oppressive 4th of July and were thankful for our air conditioning. In fact, while running errands on July 5, I was stopped at a traffic light in Jackson and noticed the car thermometer registered 99 degrees. That is scary hot for this northern girl!
Finally that evening, the weather broke and a cool wind blew. Heaven!

OK, here's the deal. I purged every corner of this house during the last few months. We had a more than successful garage sale and donated two truck loads to charity. I started packing our organized remaining belongings carefully sticking to categories and labeling each box. I have to admit I was feeling a little smug that I had this whole moving thing under control. And then as the box mountains grew and I still had "to do" lists of what needed packing for each room, burn out set in with a vengeance. I didn't seem to be able to finish any room. I stopped caring what went with what. If there was a space and it fit, it was good enough for me. I packed, sealed and labeled without care. I packed a rusty nut cracker. I will deal with it in the spring. For now, if it's loose, I'm jamming it in a box and it's moving with us!

Friday morning Lindsey called and offered to come over and lend a hand as we thought it might be a good time to begin moving some of the smaller items and boxes over to the garage. Brian also said he could help for a while. We decided we might as well start and then we could begin to organize the garage for storage. The garage is not insulated and after this very hot weather, we're thinking we might have to at least insulate the east wall as Bob said he could have fried an egg on the wall during the 90 degree weather. We're missing our trees and grass.

We accomplished a lot more than I could imagine in a short amount of time. I had to quit for a hair appointment (a necessity) and had to fight staying awake in the chair. When I got home, we had just enough time to assess what else could be done, make a list and start again with a new crew of volunteers. Kathy and the boys showed up with piles of energy and surprising strength. Jack, Luke and Logan are truly teenagers now.

 

Mike gave Bob pallets to use which he put along the far garage wall. He then put sheets of plywood on top of that so we could set boxes up off the cement floor. With all of the help, organizing went pretty quickly. Again, I had no idea we would accomplish so much in one day. Everything we get done is less we have to pay to have the moving company do.

Barney wore out before the rest of us, but by the end (we had been at it since before 7:00 AM) I think our age may have started to catch up with us as putting words together was becoming hard. Our crew left and we went home and crashed, mouths open, snoring! But, after a solid nap and some dinner, we actually went room to room, assessed what still needed to be done and made one more trip to the garage with a small load.

Today we get our travel trailer to clean and set up. Anything left in the house will be packed. Large items will be moved Tuesday by Two Men and a Truck. Meanwhile, I know this has been said before, but, we have too much stuff!

 We are most thankful for this lovely weather and good work crews.