Cleaning

Things are going well in the moving department. In one week, I leave the country for some research-related travel that was scheduled a long time ago. I've been biting off little moving projects leading up to my departure, and I'm hoping to be almost completely ready to move before I leave the country. And if I'm not? There is still a week after my return before the movers come! Gah!

This is the way the body works when you are facing a major move.

1. Panic. It's 2:30 in the morning, and your mind just sent a news flash that your time is running out. Ah!

2. Get up and wander around the house, opening doors and cupboards and cabinets. Yup. It all needs to be cleaned and sorted.

3. Decide to pull everything out of a drawer and throw stuff away. Find that cute apron that Aunt Betty made for you seven years ago that you've never worn. You've never worn it! It can't go with you. But it's cute! And Aunt Betty! Move the apron into a pile to give to someone special.

4. Realize that someone special doesn't want any of your stuff. Put it into a new pile. 

5. Wander around the house looking at the piles of stuff that no one wants. Including you. Now what?

6. Close the door.

7. Go back to sleep.

8. Repeat.

I'm almost done organizing the kitchen, except for a couple of cupboards. Unfortunately, the cupboards left are the ones that have a secret hidden magnet to attract the things you don't really know what to do with. Old canning jars? Empty lunch boxes? Cloth napkins passed along from Grandma Phillis? You know -- the ones you didn't really want in the first place, but Grandma Phillis thought they were too cute to just dump, so she gave them to you because you were special? What do you do with these things?

You put them in a pile.

Downstairs.

Close the door. 

And pat yourself on the back for your fabulous organizational prowess.

And then leave the country.

Things are actually going pretty well in the moving department.