Moving Across the Country: I'm sick of boxes

I love you, Catherine ( http://catherinemarie.wordpress.com/ ). And Florida. I'm serious. (I clearly just love Chicago more? Except for the Keys...that's a toss-up.)

Laurie
LaurieWrites ( http://lauriewrites.typepad.com )

You know I always have your back with the funny. ;)

Now I'm just imagining the t-shirt. "Too badass for Florida"? ;)

about this move. Seriously. I cannot wait to tell the children.

~Denise
BlogHer Community Manager

Flamingo House Happenings ( http://www.flamingohouse.net/ )

Really, that is all.

Besides the fact that I love that you're moving to Chicago...so much more badass than Florida. It suits you. ;)

Laurie

There's that. ;-)

But my rants are much more complex than that. Heh.

~Denise
BlogHer Community Manager

Flamingo House Happenings ( http://www.flamingohouse.net/ )

I will share the advice Chris Jordan likes to give.

Throw it all away.

Seriously. Get rid of as MUCH as you can possibly get rid of. And then, just grit your teeth and do it. It won't be painless but it will get done. Eventually. :-)

In the early stages, I was packing a box a day. Then, when I knew work or kids were going to distract me, I'd pack four boxes to make up for the three that were coming up when I knew I'd never pack anything. That worked pretty well for awhile. Then, we just buckled down and worked non-stop on the packing til we had the bulk of it done. That's pretty much where we've been for a couple of weeks.

Oh, one other tip - do not go out of six out of eight weekends before your move particularly if all of the adults in your household work 18 hour a day jobs (or work eight hour jobs and take college classes, too.)

~Denise
BlogHer Community Manager

Flamingo House Happenings ( http://www.flamingohouse.net/ )

Have you watched the videos I've uploaded of my family? We start out talking about X and all of a sudden we're at A, B, and C then back to X. If you can't follow along, you're in big trouble around here.

Boxes = alcohol = work

All makes sense to me. :-)

~Denise
BlogHer Community Manager

Flamingo House Happenings ( http://www.flamingohouse.net/ )

It's a good thing I like you... just sayin'...

:-)

~Denise
BlogHer Community Manager

Flamingo House Happenings ( http://www.flamingohouse.net/ )

... at least work is calm.  

Alanna Kellogg
Kitchen Parade ( http://kitchenparade.com/ ) &
A Veggie Venture ( http://kitchen-parade-veggieventure.blogspot.com/ )

If you're sensitive to alcohol, then sure, it makes sense to avoid it.

I also agree that drunk people are NOT amusing. They are pitiful and annoying. I've witnessed several cases of people getting drunk at a work function and making complete fools of themselves. It’s sad, really.

But drinking in moderation when your body can tolerate it - I don't see any problem with that and I do it all the time. Except when I think I might need my English vocabulary. :)

Vered DeLeeuw
www.momgrind.com ( http://www.momgrind.com )

Glad you shared it before Denise could stop you.

San Jose is not lovely! San Francisco is. San Jose is just an ugly Silicon Valley city.

I never get drunk. However, even when not drunk, alcohol alters one's brain, and while I mostly enjoy the sensation, my main problem is that my English vocabulary tends to shrink considerably as a result of drinking.

Unless any of you speaks Hebrew, I suppose I'd better avoid alcohol at BlogHer this year.

Vered DeLeeuw
www.momgrind.com ( http://www.momgrind.com )

Funny how a comment about boxes from the liquor store can switch the topic like that, huh? :)

I've used boxes from liquor stores when I've moved, too! Because they always have them and they give them away freely!

But yes, it really sucks to have boxes sitting around all over the place. I hate moving. :(

We're at the beginning of this process .... hoping to move out of a house we've had for a long time.   Any advice?
( http://www.netsquared.org )

That's because drunk people are usually excruciatingly annoying.

If I don't, someone is going to be in trouble. :-)

And as TW has so happily shared - alcohol and I do not get along and I can do some serious alcohol rants, much worse than the patriarchy, marriage rants you've seen. I can be a rabid anti-alcohol person - obviously, since the children were appalled that I allowed empty alcohol boxes into the house. :-)

~Denise
BlogHer Community Manager

Flamingo House Happenings ( http://www.flamingohouse.net/ )

 Not this past year...but the year before at Blogher (in lovely San Jose) Denise had 1.5 tiny glasses of wine at the second night cocktail party. The results were horrid. She was deathly ill. I spent the last day in San Jose rather hungry since nothing in walking distance was open and I didn't feel up to venturing aimlessly by myself just to get something to eat. 

She was rather anti alcohol before that...mostly in that she isn't amused by drunk people. at all.  

~TW ( http://ramblewoman.blogspot.com )
Retro-Food ( http://retro-food.com/ )

( http://ramblewoman.blogspot.com )

Moving is always unsettling. I can completely relate to living in your house, which doesn't feel like your house anymore. Then living in the new house, which doesn't feel like your house YET.

You'll feel better a couple of months from now.

:)

Anti-alcohol? Seriously? Even a small glass of red wine with dinner? Or a cold beer after a long day of packing? Just anti, regardless of quantities or type of consumption?

Vered DeLeeuw
www.momgrind.com ( http://www.momgrind.com )

If I was living with all of those boxes, about to move half way across the country, I'd need a few cocktails.

When my husband and I got hitched four years ago and bought a house, we had to move two households.  I don't even remember how we did it, but somehow it got done.  We enlisted the aid of friends especially one friend who is good a spatial relationships and has a big ego.  She knows she can do a better job at organizing cabinets, etc., so I invite her over, act pitiful and she ends up doing most everything.

I grew up in a church where drinking was forbidden.  For a while I thought that everybody who drank was an alcholic who was going to hell.  I've gotten over that but, having tasted various wines and drinks, I just didn't like the taste.  The one time I got drunk on banana daiquiris years ago, I felt so bad and so out of control, I just don't do it.  So - other folks can drink all they want to it's just not for me.

I have seen a lot of people make serious misjudgments while drinking.  However, I did do an entry on my blog called "The Downside of Not Drinking."

Now, I would pack everything up again in a minute if I could live in Chicago.  It's a wonderful town. Ahh, Chi-town.

This transition will be over and behind you before you know it!

Good and plenty!

well, it can't be any worse than all the painting, repairs, and etc you have to do before the house can be sold ...

I'm enjoying giving stuff away ... or free cycle ..

I have a box of home school stuff to freecycle - thanks for reminding me that I should post it this week.

~Denise
BlogHer Community Manager

Flamingo House Happenings ( http://www.flamingohouse.net/ )

Surely you are planning to swap with me? I move north, you move south - keep the lesbian population steady in both regions? :-)

~Denise
BlogHer Community Manager

Flamingo House Happenings ( http://www.flamingohouse.net/ )

We are in that situation but with a little extra...

When we moved in together in 2002, we brought two separate households together. Then, a year later, TW's mom moved out of her family home and we inherited all of the stuff - most of which we still have.

So, we're moving "my stuff", "her stuff" and "her mother's stuff" - and of course moving Michelle (the 18 year old) into her own place... it's a lot of stuff.

:-)

~Denise
BlogHer Community Manager

Flamingo House Happenings ( http://www.flamingohouse.net/ )

Indiana is about as far south as I ever want to live.  And let me limit that to, Indianapolis is as far south in Indiana as I would want to live.  The lesbian population is going to have to be out of balance.

Moving and boxes go hand and hand. Unless you hire a full service moving company and pay them to pack and unpack, I don't see any way around the boxes. Well, I guess you could just sell/leave everything.

I have moved 27 times and am in the process of move 28, which has been going on for almost 2 years now. My stuff is still in storage in Chicago. Hopefully by year's end I will be reunited with my bed. In the meantime I camp out in my (not quite) in-laws second home in LA, when not on the road. It's complicated and hard to explain. The only thing I have to show for my journey is a platnium Starwood membership.

Best of luck with your move. Chicago in the summer is amazing. There is so much to do and see. Just remember that the 4th of July fireworks are on July 3rd.

--chris