rivka | (no subject)

Ugh. I have the worst cold of all time.[1] Low-grade fever, sinus pressure, ear pain, congestion, scratchy sore throat, postnasal-drip-related heartburn and nausea, exhaustion, headache.

Let's look at the calendar, shall we? The movers will be here in LESS THAN FOUR DAYS.

I hesitate to say that we're "in good shape" with packing, because although on the one hand we seem to be making progress, I think the stuff must be multiplying when our backs are turned. We've done all the obvious packing - the books on the shelves, the contents of the china cabinet, puzzles and games, CDs and DVDs, linens, archived papers, the contents of our desks, small kitchen appliances, and, most magnificently, the full contents of the basement. I've even packed most of the food in the pantry and most of the utensils, pots, and pans. But there isn't a single room in the house, no matter how much packing we've done, that doesn't still have "extra" stuff that needs to be packed: current magazines, flyers for programs we're interested in, odd books that got overlooked in the packing, weird utensils, mail, nail clippers, flashlights, battery chargers, random extra game pieces or Cuisenaire rods that slipped behind the furniture... no matter how many boxes of that stuff get packed, there are still more to go. Endlessly.

We still have to pack most of the kids' toys and books, of course. You can't really pack those up while they're home and playing. Sneaking around after bedtime, I've packed up two big boxes of toys and one box of picture books, plus most of Alex's chapter books. (Although those, too, are turning up all over the house, in ones and twos.) I haven't been able to do more than that yet. So there are still plenty of kids' things, and the everyday dishes and glasses, and all the shoes, and some of our clothes, and... at some point, I guess, even the dirty laundry needs to be packed, and the half-full bag of frozen peas.

I remember that when we moved out of our old house (next door to this one) we just didn't worry about getting all of the small stuff packed up before the movers arrived. It didn't seem significant. We'd say "oh yeah, this is basically all packed, there are just a couple of things." Sorting through and moving the "couple of things" per room took forever afterward. So this time I want to get it all, all into boxes. Now.

So, exhausted and with a head full of cotton candy and ground glass, I just. have. to. keep. going.

The movers will be here in less than four days.

[1] Possibly an exaggeration, I admit. But only a slight one.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

The last 10% of the packing takes an INSANELY long time.

I once helped someone move who had packed every last thing, properly, in boxes, down to pens and the bedding they'd slept on the night before. It made it so much easier to move her than all my friends who had the packing 90% done on the day of the move and were running around frantically on the day of shoving things into bags.

Much like the prospect of a hanging concentrating the mind, the prospect of a cross-country move changes the whole process. I shipped my kids to my parents for two weeks (a luxury you don't have, I know), and as I emptied and cleaned each room, I TAPED ACROSS THE DOOR. Like a crime scene, only blue.

It was bizarrely satisfying.

I'm sorry you have to do all this during a cold.

I love that idea. That is the best idea I've heard for months.

I used to pack a bag of things I was allowed to use, then put everything else away and live out of the bag until after I'd moved into the new place. I have no idea how that would work with kids, particularly not with kids who are not mine.

Pack the dirty laundry into bags to take to a launderette for a service wash (or get a collection service to do it)? that way you can store it there overnight, then unpack clean clothes in the new house. I've never done that, either, but it might work.

Good luck, anyways.

I was just at a friend's house yesterday, my kid playing with her kid while she packed..... she's having much the same trouble - though she has 10 more days and no cold. Good luck!

Ugh. I don't know what I loathe more, the prospect of moving or of doing major construction on the house. Sympathies and best wishes.

I hope you get to feeling better soon.

Ugh. Been there, done that. Moved three weeks after a c-section.

I completely understand the desire to get it all packed and packed right instead of thrown into boxes. But you're sick *now*, and likely (hopefully!) won't be sick during that long unpacking time.

Take care of yourself!

Thinking of you, and hoping packing is going ok...

Remarkably, we seem to be just about done. We just have to throw our overnight things in a suitcase and strip the beds in the morning. And put a few things we want to hand-carry in the car.

So exciting!!

Woo! What an adventure!