the news is good

This isn't my photo. I borrowed it from the internet, from a page which incidentally has a pretty great article about packing for a move - all of which I followed on my own. Except #4. I did generally try to pack most of a room at a time, but my house is an open floorplan and some of the rooms run together, and mostly what I did was just pack the things we didn't use so much first, then packed what I use all the time last. Like now, almost everything in my house is packed, except in the office I've still got my PC and printer here on my desk.

And with #5, we're doing an inventory with approximate (or when we know them, exact) values of the items as well. We needed this for when we moved to Canada, so we are also doing it for the US. At the border if you come prepared with a list of everything you've got, I've found it's much less likely that they will need to take the time to verify said list - although they certainly have the right to should they choose it. Plus when we unpack,. I know where EVERYTHING is - and because I've got it on a sheet, I don;t even have to search around on all of the boxes - I can just find what I want on the sheet and then find that particular box. Even better, it's in Googledocs, so I can do a word search and find it even quicker on my laptop. Best of all worlds.

Also, we didn't purchase any boxes. We went around to dumpsters behind restaurants and department stores and got all of our boxes that way. As I mentioned before, asking at grocery stores and copying shops is a good idea, as well.

Our plans are ever-changing and solidifying at the same time. It turns out that we're going to house-sit for some new friends in Vancouver, WA - just north of Portland, about 40 minutes away. These same friends are going to go ahead and take Frenzie for us for the month of September, since we'll be there in October. That way she can get used to her cats, they can get used to her, and she won't be moving around so darn much like we will.

Since they won't be leaving until October 3rd for Europe, we went ahead and extended our visit to St. Louis to see our families by a week - we'll be flying back to Portland on the 1st now. So we'll have an entire month in St. Louis with our families - whee! That also gives us an entire month to find a place in Portland, if we need it - I'm all for getting in somewhere sooner rather than later, but the good thing is we will have time.

Because of us essentially being "homeless" for a month - as in, not our own beds/our own home, I've been thinking of ways to make the transition time easier for Kiernen. After all he is 6, and has lived in the same house since he was 18 months old. This is really pretty hard on him, because he doesn't want to leave - he and his father are both more like rocks that just want to be where they are, and I am more like a bird who wants to fly here and there and see what new adventures we can find. Only this bird does want to nest and roost once she finds just the right place in which to settle. I am so hoping that this is what Portland will be for us.

And beauty - Hubby's job has offered for him (as per his suggestion) to continue working for them for a month as a contractor - this means he will be paid hourly to continue working on the project they're working to finish, while they are also training his replacement who will eventually take over for him. Good for us, because it means at least some income while we're in transition and looking for other options.

Also good for us: we signed the papers for the sale of our house, and we got a good chunk more money than even my Hubby anticipated. He'd done some quick math about it, and I wanted to err on the side of caution, so I put the number at significantly less than he'd calculated. Then in the end, it was more than even his calculations. Awesome. This means that when we are ready to buy again, we'll have a decent down payment and lower mortgage payments.

The congestion I had is totally gone and my cough is finally seeming to dissipate - good thing, too, because I am so ready for a full night's sleep uninterrupted by coughing fits and trips to the restroom because I'm about to pee on myself. The good news about this cough is that it has convinced me to just leave the cleaning to the cleaning lady rather than doing any of it myself - I need to be able to heal, and kicking up even more dust and inhaling whatever else is just more than my body can handle right now. I'm pretty amazed at my ability to continue functioning and packing through this thick congestion and relentless cough. But I have - I'm feeling pretty tough about that, in fact. Superwoman!

The next few days for us are full of the rest of our packing (almost finished!), saying our last goodbyes, and last minute errands - and the bank! We load up the truck Tuesday and we're off on Wednesday. Wow. Only four more sleeps until we leave!