It helps to break the packing and moving ordeal into stages that can be got through with less fuss than a 24-hour grind. You’ll be less stressed, things will be more organized and moving day will go a lot smoother. Week 4: •    Get packing materials together – boxes, tape, labels, etc •    Get rid of all clutter that you don’t want. Sell it at a garage sale, give it away to friends, drop it off at the local thrift store or take it to the local recycling center. Be ruthless! •    Label every box as it is filled and sealed, so if you need something or want to make sure the box goes to a particular area of the new home, identification is made easy. Consider taping a list to boxes filled with small-but-important items. •    If you have firearms, make sure that you have all permits to transport them legally. Also familiarize yourself with any transport and declaration rules. Week 3: •    Pack the stuff you don’t need right now. Examples include: seasonal items, items that you don’t need around right now, memorabilia and guest room furniture Week 2: •    Confirm the moving time and date with your movers, whether they are professionals or friends. Don’t leave anything to chance or a general email asking for help. It is often the case that people who send out mass emails asking for help with their move have people who figure that “everyone else is going to be there so I don’t have to”. It’s much better to ask your friends individually. •    Make sure that you have the transportation for your pets and family arranged.

Week 1: •    Pack everything else that is going with you. Pretend you’re on a demented camping trip with your family and have decided to “rough it” with one set of utensils for each person and a minimum of cooking equipment. •    Make sure firearms are unloaded and properly stored for transport. Keep the registration and other paperwork in the vehicle carrying the weapon(s), so you don’t have to scrabble around looking for it if you need to present documentation in a hurry. •    Ensure that your cleaning supplies and other equipment are not packed up, as you will need them for cleaning your former residence later (unless you have engaged a cleaning service). •    Start clearing out your food from the pantry/cupboards/refrigerator/freezer. Throw out anything that is past its due date and try to use up the food you have on hand. •    Make sure most of your packing is DONE by the end of the week before you move. Day before moving day: •    Pack clothing for a couple of days, toiletries, games, toys for the trip to your new home. •    Make sure as much food as possible is cleared out of the pantry/cupboards/refrigerator/freezer. •    Break down as much furniture as possible. •    See that all of your packed/disassembled property is arranged so movers/helpers have clear access to what needs to be packed into the moving van first, second, third… etc. Moving Day! •    Send your pets and very young children to a sitter or friend for the packing time. They will only be underfoot and possibly distressed about the changes to their environment. •    Make sure all your things are clearly labeled as to where they go and what they are. •    It’s helpful if there is a party at the other end of your journey to make sure the home is open. •    Make sure you pack the things you will need for the first day/night in your new home last, so they will be the first things out of the truck. •    Try not to get too stressed out. Moving is stressful and it helps if you expect some delays and things not going quite as planned.

So, it’s been a while. Since I couldn’t share my progress on the projects I was working on and was thus devoid of interesting/pretty pictures to post, I couldn’t find a compelling enough reason to post in the past six days. Well, the projects are finished and were given to their recipients yesterday (birthday pressies!), so I can now share them with the world (or, the six people that read this).  Both projects were tote bags, plain white, that I bought from Michael’s. For the first, I chose to use the same birds & heart pattern that I am stitching on to a pink tee-shirt (that is a few stitches from being finished as well).

This picture turned out crappy, boo Here’s a better picture of the stitching but without the french knots:

I really had fun choosing the colors for this pattern because I got to choose from all the new floss I bought last week, so I definitely have some new favorites.  I messed up with the bird on the right though. I thought that I was using a dark purple floss, but really it was brown…I think I was working in dim lighting or something, but by the time I realized it, it was too late and I wasn’t going to pull out all the stitches. This was my first time doing the stem stitch, and I have to say, it is not that easy. I like how it looks though, but I still have a lot of practice before I get it looking perfect. The other tote I am calling the “fairy tale” tote because of the fairy tale like patterns I used: gnomes and Pegasuses…the patterns don’t really have anything to do with each other, I just thought they were cute and that my friend would like both so I just used both and tried to tie them together:

The gnome with mushrooms and the Pegasus patterns are free from Badbirds, and the rest I just drew on to the bag with a pencil and stitched. I know the phrase is “April showers bring May flowers,” but I thought why does April have to forever be associated with dreariness? Flowers bloom in April, too. So there! Here’s a close-up of the gnome and mushrooms:

And a close-up of the Pegasuses in the clouds:

I should have my finished pink tee shirt to share with you all tonight as well as the plan for my next project. Yesterday I got super awesome Christmas present from one of my besties:

She made one for each of us pictured on the cover, each slightly different…isn’t that a great idea? I was totally blown away. We were out in Sonoma yesterday, in the RAIN. I tried a new winery which was super yummy:

Eric got his bound dissertations back yesterday.

Now, doesn’t that look smart? We are both on the lookout for jobs all over the country/world/universe. It is a weird place in our lives, we feel we’re just sort of “hanging around,” waiting for the next stage of our lives. We’ve been in Davis for much longer than we’d ever planned on (since 2000 and 2001), and we feel like it would be a welcome change to move on from this place, BUT we  would miss our friends terribly. So, it would be a bittersweet thing to pack up and move on. Eric found a great sounding job in Bethezda (don’t know if spelling’s correct), Maryland…which to me sounds like a place God would send someone to punish them. Like, “get thee to Bethezda, it’s right there, next to Ninevah….” We are totally spoiled having lived our entire lives in California; we are going to whine about weather no matter where we end up, unless we end up back in Southern California. I am blogging from my bed (because, why the hell not?) where it is warm and comfy. It is quite relaxing, I am listening to the POURING rain all around me. I have an errand I should go out and run, but there is no way in H-E-L-L- double hockey sticks that I am going out in that. I am going to be cooking something for dinner tonight, so I will be sure to take pictures. Look for another post this evening…I will do the stats thing then, I promise

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