Top Ten Reasons Why My Life Is Still In Boxes
On The One Month Anniversary Of Our Move-In DateWhen one moves into a house half the size of one’s previous home, it becomes necessary to do some massive purging in order to, well, fit. And thankfully, the old adage, “out of sight, out of mind” is true. Aside from 2 car loads of clothing we brought to New Orleans, we haven’t seen, or really thought much about our earthly possessions for 7 months. The bottom line is: we just don’t NEED so much stuff. Furthermore, over my dead body are we going to PAY to store said stuff “off location.” Which leads to my executive decision: Most Must Go. I keep repeating this to myself as scissors slice through the packing tape.
However, when one is a bit of a pack-rat herself, and when one lives with 3 additional pack-rats, it becomes essential to sort and dispose/donate/organize alone. Otherwise, hearts are broken.
“MOM! I can’t believe you threw away the Easter basket made out of a plastic milk jug that I created when I was a Green Frog in Pre-School! I know it was torn up, and most of the plastic Easter grass was gone and a juice box leaked in it and a piece of chewing gum was stuck to the bottom, but I was looking through the trash and I FOUND it! I am going to put this on my dresser and never speak to you again!”
So, forging ahead, my plan has been to find three containers and place them in front of me as I sort. KEEP, TRASH, and DONATE. For example, framed college diploma – KEEP. Torn magazine from 2008 – TRASH. Two Piece Swimsuit circa college years – DONATE.
Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to accomplish nearly as much as I had hoped to accomplish by this point. In fact, today is the one month anniversary of our Move-In-Date, and the house looks even more cluttered than when we arrived. (A fact that overwhelms my OCD brain and threatens to throw me into shut-down mode.)
Anyhooooooo, I am full of excuses. But here are the Top Ten Reasons My Life Is Still In Boxes:
10. When flushing the potty in the master bathroom, water seeped out from the bottom of the toilet flooding the tiles while gross gunk simultaneously shot up from the drain in the kids’ bath tub. Apparently, sewer lines “busting” under the cement slab is not uncommon in the area.
9. It’s particularly challenging to pack up bits of what you’ve recently unpacked to stay at a hotel in order to have access to a working shower and toilet. (And hard to unpack boxes when you are not actually in your home at the time.)
8. Even more difficult to find an unbooked hotel room at the last minute the Friday evening before a holiday weekend when said sewer line busted. Upon which it becomes necessary to switch places a time or two and become familiar with pull-out cots throughout our “Fourth of July Stay-cation”.
7. Challenging to watch the diggers place a pile of dirt as tall as the single-car garage entrance in front of said garage entrance (and thereby kissing goodbye any hope of opening the garage in the near future) where I had been sorting through ceiling high stacks of boxes and “hiding” a large Good Will stash from the kiddos.
6. It’s difficult to balance fun activities (hitting the zoo, aquarium, insectariums, park, movies) with the time needed to organize at home and still maintain semi-sane children (and Mom) during Summer Break.
5. It’s also difficult to unpack when children are on said Summer Break and decide to reside underfoot and make commentary while I attempt to sort (and subsequently trip over them).
4. It’s a challenge to leave the house and drive to Mickey D’s every time one of us needs a Potty Break.
3. While attempting to save some money after a lot of “eating out” during our hotel “stay-cation,” I decide to pop a frozen pizza in the oven at the house. Turns out the oven is broken. It’s difficult to phone your new landlady and make her aware of this most recent situation. Especially when said oven is a special size circa 1950 that will need to be special ordered.
2. It’s a challenge to unpack when I must prevent two little girls from clawing each other’s eyes out while in a confined space. Especially when one introverted child prefers reading alone while one extraverted child wants to play together at all times.
And the number one reason why my life is still in boxes on this one month anniversary of our move-in date is:
1. The Bug and The Pea don’t believe me when I say “unpacking” is our great Summer Adventure of 2011, especially when 2010’s adventure included traveling to Europe.
Anyhoooooo, for the moment the children are playing peacefully together. On our patio, a large box undergoes a metamorphosis in which it becomes a fleur-de-lis/striped rocket ship. And while the Bug and the Pea use their imagination to journey on a great Summer Adventure of 2011 in outer space, I shall head back to work. Unpacking, sorting, piling up donations so that we will once again have some space in which to live.
