Packing up

We are deep in the throes of transition.....Decisions, decisions, decisions....minutia up the wazoo. Painful is one word to define the moment.  We put our head down and plow through never looking left or right, but fix our minds on straight ahead, phew, this is rough.  After 25 years of moving, you would think I would be a pro at this, and, I am pretty darn good at it, but....still the process of boxing up, sorting through, giving away, always is a challenge.  I make piles, keep, take, store, give away, throw away.  We are running out of boxes.  Hope to rent the house before the first of May.  What if we don't, plan B???? We also have plan C and D!  That Little Casita is looking better and better! We have filled the Pathfinder aka Willie Nelson, to the brim with bags for Goodwill and will drop them off this morning while someone looks at our house....which is very chaotic right now and I hope they can visualize the place cuz it is pretty scary right now....Worked all weekend on the yard which looks, in my humble opinion, fabulous!  Pine pollen is an inch thick on the back porch and has changed the color of everything to a dirty yellow, yuck.  I am sure my lungs are the same shade....

We have made a punch list of small handyman jobs that need to be done and the fellow is coming this afternoon to give us an estimate on the cost, the movers come NEXT WEEK!!!  Amy, Sarah and kids were over Sunday to look thru some of my "give away" piles and to help clean out our freezer.  So much on my mind that I cannot sleep very well. Dr. appointments, Vet, hair, eyes and car.  We go over our plans, re-check our budget, re arrange our schedules, mark our calenders....make lists, then more lists!  I remind myself that this is an adventure and will be worth the efforts we are making.

Paul and I spend several hours in our closets and wind up with 4 huge bags of clothing for goodwill and four plastic tubs to take on the trip...this will not work and we have major reevaluations ahead

 ;-) 

  This photo is taken in our MiniPearl.  We took out two captains chairs and a small table and built in this wonderful "galley".  Lots of storage and counter top.  On the far right is part of our ice machine.  Under that is the microwave, the green cube is our Cabelas camp kitchen we have fashioned into counter top and storage, there are two shelves behind the green enclosure!  To the left of that is built in tiered shelving and on the bottom are Fiona's food and water dishes.  We are thrilled at how well this "mod" turned out since we are not woodworkers in any way.  I knew, if I was going to be living full-time in any sort of home on wheels, I would have to have storage and counter top and those are two hard to come by commodities in the world of recreational vehicles at least in our price range!  So, we thought outside the box once again and are pretty pleased with the outcome.  I have already made some very tasty meals and am enjoying my gas stove top!  The refrigerator is small, but I am hoping to change my grocery shopping paradigm.  I will keep you posted on how that turns out.  The beauty of a small space is that it forces you to adhere to a simpler range of choices.  You must eat what you buy, you must use what you have and if you don't, then get rid of it.  You must keep only what you will use and hope that whatever you keep can be used for more than one purpose!

We have "camped" in Pearl several times now, but camping and living are two different animals...I am glad we will be staying around for a while before heading out on the big adventure so that we can refine our choices and repack.  I have a feeling there is more "pain" ahead!

TallyHo,

Cathy