Well, I’m back...didn't take me as long as I thought it would. I'm at least somewhat organized now. Not as much as I’d like to be, but I am NEVER as organized as I want to be – I need to learn to deal with it :)
Anyway, I did get much accomplished BUT my To Do list is never ending and it just got longer because….drum roll please....we bought a house! Not just
a house -- we bought our very first house, all our own!
Yup. I’m so excited! I really am. But reality has set in and just thinking about the amount of work we have to do between now and the time we move has me in a state of sheer exhaustion.
I am determined to make this move as orderly as possible…but I have said that every time we moved and it has always seemed to end up being an experience just slightly under the level of utter chaos. Every. Single. Time.
We always start with “The Plan”. It usually goes something like this: I tell my husband that I plan on packing up as much as I possibly can ahead of time, and we can move those “non-essentials” first, and unpack them into the new place at a leisurely pace. Then on The Big Moving Day, we pack up the rest of the bare necessities, get together some strong guys and a few trucks for the big stuff, they take care of moving while the ladies stay at the new place and unpack.
My inner
Perfectionist LOVES this plan. It is designed to minimize clutter, which drives me CRAZY and maximize the use of our time. Unfortunately, my inner
Procrastinator, well, she’s got ideas of her own. And thanks to her, every move we’ve ever made (all have just been across town) has gone something like this:
I start packing our “non-essentials”. The problem is, this usually includes things like our office supplies, magazines, and books. The books prove to be too great a distraction. As I’m pulling them off the shelves I’m thinking, “I forgot we had this book. I need to read that sometime.” I do this with a couple of books until one REALLY catches my attention and I start flipping through the pages. Dave usually comes home to find me on the floor surrounded by partially filled boxes, thoroughly engrossed in whatever it was that distracted me.
Day Two: I start once again with good intentions, but this time it’s the magazines that catch my eye. I end up making a list of new recipes I’d like to try and tagging a few pages with hairstyles I love, and, if I’m lucky, packing another box or two.
By moving day, I’ve usually only got about half of what I had hoped to packed, which means instead of being at the new place to unpack and help direct the guys as to where I’d like the furniture placed, I end up frantically shoving things in boxes so they can be ready to go by the time they get back for the next load.
The Perfectionist is screaming, “You just packed a box full of glass vases and put them in a box without taping the bottom,” and the Procrastinator is screaming back, “There’s no TIME, shove a towel in there and mark it Fragile!”
When I finally get to the new place, the bedroom furniture is in the living room, all the boxes marked Kitchen wound up in the basement, and there is enough clutter to drive a pack rat up a wall. At this point the Perfectionist in me has retreated to some far corner of my mind in defeat and the Procrastinator throws herself down on the bed in exhaustion and says, “Let’s take care of this tomorrow."
As I said, utter chaos.
Well, not this time!! I have 2 weeks until we close and 3 weeks until Big Moving Day. It’s time for my Perfectionist to flex her muscles and show the Procrastinator who’s boss for once. (
Right after I finish this cup of hot cocoa….;)
