On August 14 we moved into what is temporarily our new home...and a month and a half later I am back to the blog. The bottom line is moving is the pits, and we have entered into a lifestyle that is all about moving! I cannot even think about doing it again, but that is the reality. On the bright side, I LOVE our townhouse and the town we have settled in. It is a very well planned community and it feels "homey" which is a nice change from the hustle and bustle of the DC metro area. We just made our first trip back home for a visit. It was wonderful! The girls got to see friends, we had some great visits with family and got some much needed rest time. Had Erik been there, we would have not wanted to come home! But for this mama "home is where your husband is" and so... here we are - happily! It also helped that my mom is coming for a visit the end of October and we will be headed back around Thanksgiving. It also double helps that it's FALL! My favorite time of year and living in Virginia - we will get to experience the wonderful fall color.
Enough rambling, back to the reason for this blog - the move (cue scary movie music). This, by far was the hardest leg of this transition. Some issues that we encountered were no garage...hence tons of riding toys just hanging out on the patio off of the basement. (still gotta figure out that one). Also, we have more space in this home than what we moved from, however fewer flat spaces - we had shelving in nearly every room in our other home. This created a problem in that we aren't displaying any pictures, awards, trophies, knick knacks, etc. This also alleviated a problem in that we aren't displaying any pictures, awards, trophies, knick knacks, etc...see what I did there? :) It's kind of refreshing not feeling overcome by "stuff" however, new town, new faces, new job, new life makes you want your "stuff" all around. It's an adjustment, that's all.
About a week into the move I started scanning some blogs to see how to more efficiently settle in, and what I found is that I was too late - I should have scanned those when I was packing - HA! But some helpful tips I came across that I will definitely do next time are:
1. Pack a bedroom box and label it - UNPACK FIRST - this allows me to find the sheets and get the bed made. We had movers pack and move us, however, next time I will pack this box myself. We literally slept on blankets for two days because I couldn't find any sheets for any of our beds -yikes.
3. This tip came from my Mother-in-Law - put all your art, photos, mirrors in one place. That way you can see everything you have at once, and decide what to display where. One blog I read said she unpacked in 32 hours. WHAT? I don't know about you, but moving into our new home meant a fresh start, and while some of our art went into the same room, some didn't and for some it was an opportunity to swap out pieces for ones we didn't use in the last house.
4. Finally - I will relinquish ALL EXPECTATIONS! We have been here a month and a half and there are still boxes packed and some will stay that way. I will be ok with that. While I like to think that I do not have excess and I don't save unnecessary things. The fact of the matter is there are just some things that I am not willing to part with yet, and they will have to just stay in a box until I am ready or...forever ;)
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| I like to call these my "keeping it real" pictures. |
The one thing I did right...in my opinion...is take the time to enjoy the little things. It would have been and still is really easy to look around and get completely overwhelmed by the amount of stuff still to do, but when you take the time to enjoy the sweet moments that happen, the "stuff" doesn't matter as much.
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