The Packing Has Begun

 Packing is officially under way. I will tell you about it over this morning's coffee: Chocolate Raspberry Truffle. It's instant, but perfect for morning. 

Mr. A and I started packing on the weekend while the kids were out. We started with my library of books. Reading Cristina's comment the other day, I like to think she shares my concern about packing up the books so soon. But I think it will be ok. I just recently did a cull of the library 'shelf' and I know the books I've kept are important...and clean! I dusted them. So it was easy packing. No need to consider whether I should donate or get rid of anything. Just books into the box, tape, label, stack. Done. I also have a supportive book club who is distracting me with an interesting two months of reading. Between book club selections (this month is Calculating God, a sci-fi selection) and packing, I'm sure I won't miss having my books out. In fact, maybe I should pack up the bulk of my knitting...

The school shelf will stay put for now. This week we won't be getting to much on the shelf, but there are three more weeks before we move and I'm sure that I'll have to get the kids out from underfoot at some point so they might as well do some bookwork. 

Yesterday I packed up the serving dishes, trays, extra cups and mugs, the special Christmas China (I didn't go the wedding china route) and the rest of the breakable china cabinet residents. 

The pictures from my gallery wall have been packed. It was the last thing I did to this house, create a gallery wall of family photos. 

Then I went around collecting the long, odd shaped, hang-on-the-wall type things. They're all in one box packed up with some linen shelf things for padding. 

Today will be the wine glasses and the rest of the china cabinet things. Also, The Boy Child will be doing some supervised packing of his things. He's a bit anxious so there's been some talking about the process. Today we bite the bullet and get it done. 

I've noticed that there are 'left-behinds'. As I pack an area, there's a thing here and there that doesn't quite fit in the box. Or a thing that doesn't quite match the category; I'm trying to pack like with like. So I need to solve this today because I definitely don't want small stacks of leftovers hanging around just waiting for the packing fairy...who has yet to make an appearance. For entertainment's sake, currently waiting for a boxy home are my leather bound wedding album, my pizza stone, an oversized serving tray and a salad bowl that is so deep it's practically square. 

Packing goes along just like any other activity around here. Few common areas mean much shared and multi-purposed space. You can only take out what can be put away a short time later.

 

So I expect this will be a familiar scene for the next little while. We've been lucky to have boxes dropped off for us by family members. The tape gun has been borrowed from a girlfriend who has recently moved. It came with tape! Strange, the gifts and favours I find my grown-up self appreciating. Another friend has loaned us her industrial sized roll of uncut swiffer cloth. It's great for padding breakable things. My packing paper is a newsprint doodle pad. I could buy 'proper' packing paper from a moving supply company....or I could pay much less for the same thing with a different label on it. Doodle pad it is!

So the morning waits for me. I've built my second coffee. The Girl is at her class, The Boy is 'doing March Break' (aka gaming in his pjs before anything else). I am going to do this: 

I am going to pack the knitting stash in that box. Somehow. 

♥Mrs. A.

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March Break

It's officially March Break in our area. 

Ironically, as other homeschoolers will understand, this week we are doing the morning grind: up and ready, packed lunch, out the door at an early hour. 

The Girl has her driver's education course this week. 

Also in the docket today: haircut, SHOVEL THE NEW 4 INCHES OF SNOW, pack some more boxes, get rid of some more stuff. 

Hoping to get back to the blog if I get to sit down with a coffee later on...

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More of a 'To Do' List, Really

This morning's coffee time is more like a starting line. There's no cream, just milk, so I feel in a rush to get to the store.

School work lately is very self-directed. Many real life things are included like resume building and driver's education and keep your room clean and your laundry caught up and PLEASE get rid of the clutter. A provincial credit course - hopefully our last - in in progress. This unit is Biology and we're having fun supplementing with the Crash Course Biology videos. The kids are keeping up with their peer run book club. We're looking at Romeo and Juliet this month. I really need to share a blog about our Shakespeare experience. I very well may have got this one thing right. Recently we switched from Saxon math to Teaching Textbooks. The Boy is working his way through Algebra 1; The Girl has recently finished it and is waiting for her neglectful parents to obtain Algebra 2. She's very patient. Both kids, having put on the writing brakes, have been cajoled onto working through an upper elementary/early high school writing program. It's bare bones, but introduces the important writing styles, gives examples and sets out a choice of assignments. And, of course, the calibre of writing emerging from their heads is super.

Today's school work is called Home Ec. Cleaning up and being on stand-by for the new fridge to be delivered. Hopefully. The cooler and bins are waiting to be loaded and set outside, but that won't be happening until there's an actual new fridge in my house. A grocery trip this morning is so overdue that The Boy has volunteered to come along and help. Poor hungry teenager. After lunch, I have a meeting and The Boy will come along as he has a volunteering gig on Friday afternoons. The Girl has a social engagement, which is not surprising.

Today is the day that packing up our house will officially commence. In 4 short weeks we will have a new house. The books are the first to be packed. I can do without them for 28 days....right??

♥Mrs. A.

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