Checkin' Out

You know you really are moving when all the pictures come off the walls.

Until then, just packing up the china and such, it seems much more far off and abstract, to think about actually leaving a house.

We've lived here 3.5 years, which is likely to be longer than we will live any place else for the duration of Don's CG career.

When we moved here I didn't think it would be that long; we were actually expecting that Don's advancement would have us moving after a year or two... so I don't think I ever really let myself feel totally settled here.

And yet my daughter has grown from a 5-month-old to a 4-year-old in this house. My son was born here and is now a toddler. We've collected two more cats. There's been a lot of living in this skinny little house here in Nowheresville, Maryland.

I find some of the most peculiar feelings of "loss" surrounding a move come not from the house itself, but from the town and community. I have pictures and memories of this house enough to keep it fresh in my mind for a long time. We take our treasures with us, of course, and we keep our friends near to our hearts. But what about the nice mailman? Or the familiar faces at the commissary? Favorite hairdresser? Or just the routine of knowing what lane to be in to most easily make the turn into Target?

These are all the comforts of knowing a place that take time, and are the things that you really can't take with you.

BUT the fun of it all is getting to know all those things in some new place, and that IS the adventure we signed up for.

So, now that packing boxes has shifted from my part-time hobby to my full-time, frantic business for the next few days, I am going to declare radio silence here, lest I fool myself into thinking that I have any free time. My parents will be arriving this weekend to help us with the final load-up, then the kids and I will be shipping out for a lovely period of limbo with family until Don graduates and we are ready to move all together to our new house.

Oh, and we will find out where that will be in approximately 72 hours. Not that I'm counting or anything.

I'll be back in a week or so, after we get ourselves organized. Have a lovely October!!

Checkin' In

This is William's latest trick. He can climb up on the top of the table faster than you can imagine. Amy studiously colors a Hello Kitty picture and ignores the Willy Goat.

I am entering full packing mode around here. Boxes. Bags. Lots of them. Sooo satisfying. Am I the only freak out there who likes packing?

Seems like there is something to do every day, whether it is a shopping trip or a doctor's appointment or haircuts (today, see above). We are also working through a list of "fun" places that we want to get to at least one last time before we move from the area.

I washed almost all of my fabric because it smelled vaguely like scented cat litter, from the few weeks that the kittens spent in my sewing room. Not a bad smell to the untrained nose, but since I knew the source I just couldn't take it. So now I have a huge basket of really wrinkled fabric that I am folding when I have a spare minute... gets me thinking about all sorts of lovely projects...

Made a cool $80 from a garage sale this past weekend. Couldn't have done it without my friend Tara who drove up just for the occasion. Best part, besides have company for the weekend?: The weight bench is out of the garage.

I am this close to buying this laptop. I don't think that $80 will cover it...

Anything else? Probably, but I've got some bills to pay, boxes to pack, and Netflix to watch. Catch you later!

A Quick Recap

Five lovely days in our favorite southern home-away-from-home is really... too short. Beach, pool, family... it was great, and went by way too fast.

Returned home to find flags installed on each and every unit in our neighborhood - it is about time! Did not realize ours was a bit fouled when I took this picture... still, they are gorgeous.

And, wait, who is this man holding my daughter?!

Yes, we got to see Don this weekend! His two-week training cruise aboard the Coast Guard Barque Eagle landed him in Baltimore for a weekend of liberty. The kids and I drove up on Saturday to tour the ship, eat lunch, and walk around the Inner Harbor a bit, exactly where we were exactly two months ago. Wonderful.

So, in summary, busy week of travel, awesome time to reconnect and catch up with D, psyched that we have a mere four weeks until we will be all packed up and moved out and returning to CT for a short bit. Oh, and we now have some ideas about what that next thing could be after Don's graduation, but I'll save that news for when it is more official. I'll try to come up with something interesting to write here in the meantime; I sure have plenty on my mind (and on my to-do list) these days.