One thing is for sure: the quickest way to lose sleep, your marbles, and fifty percent of your possessions is to move. Moving is as much fun as an abcessed tooth or a tax audit. There is one advantage though. It turned me, a former pack rat, into a trash junkie. "When in doubt, throw it out" is now my motto. Unfortunately, "Do not throw, you never know," is my husband's.
Moving is terribly unsettling. For the past couple of weeks our domicile has been occupied by stacks of half-filled cartons, and two half-dead adults. The menu is the same every day...frozen dinners. As soon as they are gone from the freezer, we have to defrost the refrigerator. Then, with all the puddles on the floor, washing the floor should be a snap.
Two lists adorn our refrigerator: one, things to do; the other,things to pack. As soon as I cross one item off a list I remember something to add to the other...if and when I can ever find the pen! When I am not making lists I am writing change-of-address cards so the mail at our new address will arrive on time. One can only hope.
Newspapers are not read (no time), but hoarded to use when packing glassware. Anything resembling a box or bag is a treasure, carefully set aside for future use.
Carrying boxes of books is the easiest way to get a rupture, a hernia, or both. Paperbacks can be moved or tossed out easily. Why is it that our favorite books always weigh in excess of three pounds each?
Of course some of the things we have to move have to be fixed before they go into our new house. I am actually very mechanical and can fix anything. I am not claiming I use correct procedures, but at least I get the job done. For instance, last summer when we were leaving for vacation, the strut holding our trailer awning kept slipping, but I came up with the perfect solution---a paper clip! I just stuck it in, and the awning has been level ever since.
I have a box full of odds and ends in my fix-it kit with nary a nail or a screw in sight. It consists of tape, nail polish, chewing gum, safety pins, string, wire, bobby pins...a practical assortment of things which do the job to my satisfaction. I can take care of any minor annoyance. After all, it is the little things which get to you.
Once my daughter went into a hardware store to buy a car upholstery cleaner, and a wrench her husband asked her to get. When he handed her the wrench, the clerk said, "You can't clean the upholstery with that!"
I am sure he was kidding, at least I hope so. I trust he wasn't one of those males who believe women can't do anything but domestic chores. I feel so strongly about my abilities that if that hardware clerk had said that to me I would have bopped him with the wrench.(I also carry band-aids).
See that stove over there? There was a time its drawer handle fell off, leaving two gaping holes. I solved that in two minutes by covering the holes with matching refrigertaor magnets in the shape of ducks. It worked just ducky!
Who needs a carpenter to fix a collapsed bed when a few books will do? With my system, not only can the height be regulated by adding or subtracting a book, but the reading material is right there in case I want to read a book. For a really bad collapse, I use War and Peace.
Well, enough about my creativity. Back to the task at hand.I need another trash bag.I think a special award should go to the inventor of trash bags. I am not one of those mark-every-carton-with-what's-in-it movers. I am proud to say I am a trash bag stuffer. I do have to remember though to separate my treasures from the trash though.In the past I have lost half of my wardrobe due to my carelessness. The wife of the trash collector was the best dressed babe in town!
And then there are things I know I have packed, and other things I can't seem to locate anywhere. As a matter of fact, the shape of that trash bag in the corner strongly resembles our dog...it couldn't be, could it? HELP!
