It's The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year...

And I'm not talking about Christmas, although I love that, too. It's the last day of November and therefore, the last day of NaBloPoMo. I shouldn't have undertaken the challenge this year. Between blogging every day for work, moving, Thanksgiving, and everything else that was going on, I just didn't have time to do it properly. But I hope you liked a few of the pictures along the way at least, and it's always good to get back in the habit.

Here's one last picture of Darcy for the month. It represents what she missed so much when we were in Pennsylvania:

And The Move Is Almost Over...

Hurray, hurrah! The movers came today just after ten, and four and a half hours later, they drove away, leaving behind all our stuff. If there were enough moving trucks and people for everyone to have all their belongings delivered the day after Thanksgiving, we could cure the unrepentant consumerism that is Black Friday. Even though we always try to cull before a move, I am still overwhelmed (and not in a good way) by how much stuff we own. And while I am glad to have it all in the house we will now call our home, I wish there was a lot less of it.

So there it all is, in the place we will be calling home. For having a place to call home, I am truly grateful. 

But how do I cull so there is truly less stuff, permanently? I feel like we have gotten rid of all the easy stuff and even some small pieces of the hard stuff. I have dreams of scanning some of the grad school paperwork I feel I shouldn't/can't get rid of, although I have gotten rid of a LOT of grad school stuff already. I have streamlined my book collection -- even my cookbook collection has been weeded through twice! I got rid of a few kitchen things I was hanging onto more for sentiment than for the actual use I get out of them, and there might be a few more things I could give away or sell from kitchen cabinets (well, boxes, at this point).

I've pared down my closet, gotten rid of all my high-heeled shoes, and we aren't knick-knack people, so there aren't many dust-catchers that are being hauled from place to place.

We held a garage sale in PA, Michael sold stuff on Craig's List and gave stuff away via FreeCycle, and we have a few pieces of furniture at an auction house in Delaware Water Gap, waiting to be sold on our behalf.

SO HOW DO WE STILL HAVE THIS MUCH STUFF??

I Am Full

That's the overwhelming feeling for now. I am thankful for being with family today, and for having a bounty of delicious food to cook and share, and for a gloriously sunny day.

But now I am tired and full and too sleepy to write about all the wonderful things in my life. But they are legion.

So TIred...

Woke up at four this morning. I didn't mean to, but I did. By five, it was clear there would be no more sleep for me. I got up, drove to the back house and did the last bits of cleaning there. Then I went to spend time with my cat, who was needy and still anxious about being in a strange, empty house.

I'm now close to comatose and so this is the post you get today.

I hope you all have delicious menus planned for tomorrow.

Out Of One House And Into Another

We now have stuff in three different houses at the 
same time. What is wrong with this picture?

We are comfortably housed in a vacation rental for the next several days, anticipating the arrival of some family for Thanksgiving tomorrow. The dishes I hauled in my car from Pennsylvania are still at the house we've been living in for the past two months. So is a little bit of food. Our clothes and Darcy's books and animals and a LOT of food are in the vacation rental with us. 

But our sweet cat is in our new house, which we sort of, almost took possession of today. She's got her food and water bowls, her bed, the shirt off my back (literally), a scratching post, and a bunch of the stuff that we hauled from Pennsylvania in our cars. I worry that she's lonely, but Michael says she's a cat and she'll be fine. I hope he's right.

On Friday, all the rest of our stuff from PA will be delivered. We tried to pare down our stuff before this move (again) and I hope I will be less stunned by how much stuff comes off the truck. 

But mostly I hope that by the time we leave the vacation rental on Sunday, we can crawl into our very own beds for the first time in three months (for Darcy and me, anyway)!! I'm ready.

Hmmmm...

It's late and I'm tired. The day has been full of packing, moving, cleaning, more cleaning, and tomorrow will be more of the same.

But we all seem to be mostly healthy, we have somewhere(s) to move TO, and we got the news today that our stuff will be delivered on Friday. As in the day after Thanksgiving. As in a day that we have family guests. As in three days earlier than we had requested.

But it doesn't matter! Because what matters is that we should be able to have the carpets cleaned before the stuff arrives and then we will have somewhere to go when the vacation rental runs out on Sunday.

I delivered wine to our wonderful host/neighbors this evening. They have been unbelievably generous with their "back house". Darcy and I have been here almost two months and the only rent I've been allowed to pay is in wine. They live across from one of the most spectacular stretches of coast anywhere, and we've gotten to be one house away from that all this time. We have wonderful friends.

By the end of the day tomorrow, we will probably have belongings in three different houses. But by Sunday or Monday, everything will have gathered together into one house and we can start the process of settling in, putting up art, and deciding where everything goes.

And now I'm going to go blog at Growing Tables and go to bed.

One Up, One Down

So just in time for us to move to a different temporary place of residence (before moving to our permanent place of residence in a week and a half), Michael has come down with what Darcy had. So they're both in bed, she because a fun, active day after being sick wears a girl out, and he because being sick wears a man out.

And I'm here blogging about it, hoping that Michael recovers as quickly as Darcy did and that I don't get it.

Darcy and I drove up the coast today, to one of her favorite places: Bandon, OR. We had a good time, as the sun was shining, we didn't need coats, and we hit all the hot-spots, which now include a new cheese maker. I got a significant amount of Christmas shopping done at non-chain stores, which feels good despite the need to move the gifts a couple times. In speaking to a merchant, I actually built a great work connection and got a lead on a regional funder I didn't know about -- so yay for networking. 

The one downside was that we learned that our favorite beach-trash art group (and yes, we have one!) has opened a new and beautiful venue in downtown Bandon, but they are closed on Sundays! We could only peek in the window and dream of our next visit. The Washed Ashore Project is amazing and you should all check out their website to look at pictures. They collect trash from beaches (and accept donations, so I need to figure out a storage system so I can keep the stuff we pick up to take to them) and then sort it by color and material before making amazing sculptures out of them. The photos online do not do these things justice, but they're still worth checking out.

I'm hoping tomorrow brings us three healthy people, continued sunshine, and speedy packing.