Making a Low-Stress Move: 2 or 3 Weeks Out

by Melissa // February 23, 2012 // No Comments

Here we go. We made our “days until we pack the truck” chain today (I’ve been promising the boys we would for a week now) and I am aghast at how short it is. Clearly it is time to kick it into gear! Here’s what you can do at this point:

BEGIN ACTIVELY USING UP FRIDGE AND FREEZER FOODS

We had breakfast for dinner the other night. Pancakes with blueberry syrup. (Blueberries were in the freezer.) Bacon. (It was in the freezer.) Eggs. (We have too many in the fridge right now.) The last thing you want is to have to find a home for a hundred dollars’ worth of frozen meat and produce on the day you move because you just didn’t eat it in time. Get creative! Plus, it’ll save you some money on your grocery bill, which can only be a good thing. Have you seen gas prices this week?!

PACK. SORT OF.

Today we pulled out suitcases and packed up the clothes that the boys will get to keep out for the move. We probably have about a month before we get there, get into our house, and get anything unpacked, so we kept out a solid weeks’ worth of outfits, socks, and underwear for each boy along with clothes for sleeping, church, and the (comparatively) cold weather we anticipate in Missouri. Having fewer outfits to choose from won’t kill them, it’ll limit the laundry I have to do in the next few weeks (GREAT!), and that allows us to pack up the rest of the clothes.

We’re doing something similar for toys. We’ve been packing lesser-used ones for weeks now, a few at a time, but pretty soon we’ll have the boys pack the ones that are just for the trip and box everything else up.

Tommy found this hat while we were emptying Charlie’s dresser. It seems like such a long time ago that I made it for Max, to keep him warm when we moved from hot Texas to cool Japan. It’s a bit of strange dÃ©jÃ vu to see it on another little head as we prepare for another move from a hot place to a cool one. (He’s adorable, by the way. Just adorable.)

LOOK UP INFORMATION FOR DISCONNECTING UTILITIES AND SERVICES

Hoo boy. This is one we need to do this week. Fortunately all we have to cancel is water, power, and internet service. All of our other services are either portable or internet-based, so they’ll travel with us. This is definitely on the “list,” though.

PREPARE TO CHANGE YOUR ADDRESS

In the past this would have been a time to go pick up the forms, but you can now change your address online, so you don’t need to actually do it until closer to your moving date.

BEGIN WASHING THE HOUSE

I’m sure there are some people to whom this does not apply, but we’re in a rental and we’d like to get our deposit back, thank-you-very-much. I have crayon marks on the walls and some raisins smashed into the carpet, and my fridge needs cleaning and there’s something burned onto the bottom of the oven. Don’t try and do all of that the last day. I’ve done that before. It’s hard and it’s stressful. Space out some of the harder tasks (like deep cleaning kitchen appliances) so that there’s less to worry about on moving day.

That reminds me.

GO BUY DISPOSABLES

Anything you can. Buy disposable dishes, paper towels, sponges, food storage containers, whatever you can manage! That way you can both free up things to be packed AND cut down on the amount of cleanup work you have to do. This is priceless, and disposables are cheap. Go for it.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to go clean up, because our house is being shown today, two and a half weeks before we move out. I am so ready to be done renting.

Serenity Now

by Melissa // February 22, 2012 // 2 Comments

I feel like the blog has been rather dull lately. Or maybe it’s just that I’ve been feeling dull. And tired. And consumed with practical matters like, “How many boxes do you need to pack up a closet full of board games?” or “How far ahead of time can we pack the kids’ games and toys without leaving us all to go insane?” or even, “HOW long is the drive, again?” In this mood some things take a back seat.

Last week, though, my fingers started twitching for something to do. Nervous energy has that effect, sometimes. Something easy, but pretty. Something comforting. I had a bag of Caron Dazzleaire (bulky and fuzzy, if you’re not familiar) that I bought at the Dollar Tree just before Christmas, so I pulled out a few colors and started poking it with a hook until something emerged.

I used spike stitch. I’ve never used spike stitch before: turns out, it’s not very difficult. I really like the effect it gives to boring-old-regular stripes. Although, looking at it now, it almost looks jittery. Does it look jittery to you, or am I just projecting?

The part I LOVE the most is that little faux ‘collar.’ Turns out if you make a semicircular wrap, you can just flip the neck back and create a shawl collar. Which now that I mention it, is probably where the term ‘shawl collar’ came from, don’t you think?

I only used one ball of each color, and at $1 apiece that makes this a $4 shawl. Worth it! I have good news for you, too: if you are as enraptured with this design as I am, you can go right now and get the free pattern over at Inner Child Crochet. (I know. I’m shocked, as well.)

I hope you like it. I do.

No-Sew Quiet Book (In Progress)

by Melissa // February 14, 2012 // 4 Comments

There are times – though they fall few and far between – when I hit on an idea so amazing that I think I might be a genius.

This is one of those times.

I am making a mini-quiet book for our trip, and I am making it without any sewing. How am I doing this, you may ask? I am using foam sheets from the Dollar Tree and a glue gun.

It’s going really well, too. I made five pages today.

First, Elmo. I was going to make Elmo removable, but I had a feeling he was just going to get ripped to shreds, and that would make me sad (I’m so proud of how he turned out!) so I glued him down. That turned his page into something really boring, though, so I added some velcro and made another page to hold a couple of shirts. The Jack-o-Lantern shirt is modeled on one of Tommy and Teddy’s favorites, and the balloon shirt was made by gluing down dots I made with a hole puncher and adding some details with a fine Sharpie pen. (The black detailing on Elmo is also Sharpie. It stays really well as long as you let it dry before you touch it.)

This immediately turned Elmo into the twins’ favorite page. Much like in real life, they want to sit and change Elmo’s shirt over and over again. I might make a third one and keep it on Elmo, so they can rotate shirts instead of constantly switching back and forth.

Next up we have a duck in a pond – there’s velcro on the back of the duck as well – and a clock. Foam sheets are kind of like a cross between paper and felt, so it was easy to poke a brad (brass paper fastener? Does anyone else call them brads?) through to make a clock that goes around.

Finally, there’s one single page.

Cookie monster!!! With cookies, of course. Cookie has velcro in his mouth and by his hand so you can feed him or give him one of the cookies floating above his head. This page is also extremely popular with the twins.

Some things to think about:

1. I’m planning on binding them by punching three holes in one side and tying yarn through. Be sure to leave at least half an inch on the side you’re going to punch holes in to leave room.

2. Be sure to make the same number of right pages and left pages.

3. Even though you could glue things to both the front and back of the sheet, I recommend using only one side and gluing the back to the back of another sheet for added stability.

4. A word about velcro: be sure you glue your velcro down ALL the way to the edges, or it will peel off with use. Also, only use small pieces of velcro, the quiet book pieces are light. You don’t want enough grip to pull the glue right off! One more thing: when adding velcro that won’t be holding its match at all times…make sure you use the right side. You’d hate to finish a page and find out that, say, Cookie Monster can’t eat his cookies because the velcro in his mouth is the same kind as the velcro on the cookies. Not that that happened to me.

It’s so fun! I can’t wait to make some more pages!

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