Here’s my Uhaul plug.  They really know how to boost your moving day confidence with that “U can do it!”  Don’t be fooled by the price tag though.  It cost a heck of a lot more than $19.95.

The All-Star taking off table legs to make room for more crap stuff.

He’s so strong…and smart.  It’s a lot easier to carry tables when you take the legs off.

We finished just as it got dark…pretty good timing since we’re not paying for the electricity yet.

By the end of the day we were so happy with our job well done but totally pooped and very hungry.

This morning I woke up pretty sore but by lunchtime I was ready to head over and figure out the mess we made yesterday.

The All-Star drove up to San Fransisco late last night (he’s insane) to say good-bye to a friend who’s moving back to Poland (we’ll miss you Bogdan!) so I was left to my own devices in the apartment.  I didn’t mind.  Nesting alone further validated my strong woman-ly-ness!

I’m now back at the old place with not much more than an air mattress and a 15 inch TV (blah).  I’m going to attempt baking (which I never do) because I’m bored and all my “stuff” is at the new apartment.  Funny the things we can think of to do when there’s nothing to do and all your stuff is gone.

Wish I had some words of wisdom to share, but I can’t find my glasses and my brain is tired.  Not sure which came first in that senario.  Either way, measuring flour and sugar seems a little more my speed at the moment.  I’ll let you know how it goes and be sure to share the recipe if they are delicious.  Oh yeah, I’m making pumpkin cookies.  Wish me luck!

Item #1 – old cookie tin filled with wine bottle corks.  I’m not sure what to do with the corks, or the tin, but they seem to be happy together.

Item #2 – ribbons. Apparently I think it’s appropriate to save every ribbon attached to every candle, gift bag, and home-made soap I receive.

Item #3 – broken DVD player.  This I want to blame more on The All-Star but I’m just as responsible.  I think we both think he’ll fix it one day.  It’s going in the garbage today – this item definitely makes me a pack rat!

Item #4 – old pots with wood enhandles crafted by my great-grandfather.  I don’t have the heart to throw these away, nor do I think I should.  I never met the man but feel very sentimental over these pieces.  Plus I can use them when I go camping.

Item #5 – Grateful Dead t-shirt (purchased in 1993).  For no reason should I be caught wearing this old rag of a shirt but  it pains me to part with it.  It’s actually very soft and comfy, just a little frayed.

Item #6 – Several empty jars of various sizes.  Am I planning on jamming one day?  Perhaps, but not with old salsa jars.

Item #7 – Paper shopping bags from random stores – also wine bottle paper bags (not sure where those even came from).

The list goes on.  I did just attempt to make it a little shorter.  The paper bags stayed.  The t-shirt went into a bag for Goodwill.  Then I took it back out and put it in again.  It’s now sitting folded on the desk.  The jars are gone but the corks aren’t.  Obviously the tin has also stayed. I threw away the ribbons in a fit of frustration.  I know what you’re thinking, I could use them for crafts.  I’ve tried to so many times to use those darned things and I’m giving up (I miss them already!)

So what is the deal, why do I save so many things?  It’s partly due to my great desire to reuse, rather than throw away and rebuy.  The idea of something I threw away sitting on a dump pile for all of eternity just makes me feel wrong and evil inside.  Some things, like the jars, I almost feel comfortable recycling, but not everything can be recycled, or I don’t know how to go about recycling it.  So I stick them in the closet for a rainy day.  Well folks, it doesn’t rain much in California and these things still don’t see the sun.

Now that my life is in boxes again, I’m faced with the hard truth that either I cart these forgotten items all over the county or I simply GET RID OF THEM.  After all, you can’t save everything.  I really do have a strong desire to minimize.  But I’m also afraid.  I’m hung up on the “oh I might need it one day” feeling.  Or “I spent money on it, what a shame to throw it away.”  The truth is that more stuff will always come and most of the things I throw away will eventually be forgotten.  It’s true.  It happens every time.

What items do you have packed away?

I’d like take this opportunity to examine why it is that we’re moving for the third time in two years.  For myself, I believe I have a strong yearning for constant change.  As a young women approaching thirty, I somehow find stability in instability.  I can always count on the morning and my birthday and the traffic on the I-5.  With all these guarantees, it’s refreshing to experience something new.

Now I realize that our continuous signing of new leases may seem slightly nomadic to some.  Even I sometimes find it a bit unsettling to be so, well, unsettled.  But the truth is that at this time in my life, I’m on a mission.  A mission to grow and learn and experience new people and places and eccentric ideas.  If I stay in one place, life starts to feel a little like another day at Granny’s.  You know what I mean.  If everyday I’m waking up and going to work and coming home and cooking for John…I might as well just throw a rocker on the porch and call it a rap.  Granted I’ll be partaking in these normal daily activities wherever I live, but now in the interim I have a new nest to lay sticks in, new walls to cover, new windows to treat.  Outside my door there will be a new neighborhood to discover and people to meet.  Just thinking about it gets me giddy.

Change means new opportunity and a charge of excitement to get out there and be everything I can be.  Perhaps there’s some dysfunction in my inability to walk out of the same bedroom, into the same apartment, in the same neighborhood for more than 500 days.  (Just writing about it sounds mundane).  Or, perhaps, I just haven’t found the place to really call home yet.  I think it’s more in the latter.

I have always been one who listens to her instincts.  Granted, I may toil over the details, but in the end it’s usually gut – two, mind – zero.  So today my gut is telling me to get the hell out of dodge, again, and see what else is out there.  And as I set forth, other wanderers following the breeze will find themselves waking up in my old bedrooms past, and filling those fridges with their favorite delights, and staring at the wall in the kitchen wondering, “How did that crack get there?” (shhh)  It makes me feel part of the grand continuum of things.

In truth, I’m like a hermit crab. In order to grow, I must leave my shell for a more suitable fit.  I’m not quite sure how I ended up this way.  It’s just in my nature, I guess.

Some people are more like coral.   They have the ability to stay put and thrive, adding to the aesthetic and harmony of a place.  One day, I too may find a spot where I can settle down and still grow.

I believe there is a neighborhood out there somewhere that I will for the rest of my days call home.  I’m not sure what town it’s in, or what county, or even what state, and I certainly don’t know when I will end up there.  But I know it’s a happy place.  For now, I’m content just traveling along, finding new reefs and beaches to explore.

( We’ll see how I feel after we move the couches. )