We made it!
Two weeks.
Three thousand miles.
Six states.
Five gracious hosts/hostesses.
One hotel room.
Ten hot showers.
Eight cold camping nights.
One remarkable traveling toddler.
Countless peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.
One orgasmic coffee.
Unfathomable natural beauty.
And the happiest of endings.
Home!
With any luck, by the time you read this we’ll have a presentable, empty condo; and will be packing up our 2-door Celica (affectionately named Zephyr) for the beginning of our big adventure.
Either from the road, or soon after we get settled in Washington, I hope to share more about traveling and camping with kids, as well as fun shots from special spots along the way.
Until then, please forgive my absence at your place. And…
Enjoy the silence here
Packing: Day 14
So sorry to have let you all down. We’re on Day 14 and still frantically packing. With any luck we’ll wrap up the bulk of it this morning and begin the ugly clean up jobs this afternoon.
Where once there was a gnome village...
Since no one guessed (and how could you??) that it would take us nearly 2 full weeks to pack up our small condo, I decided to do a drawing among all those who submitted a guess two weeks ago.
Congratulations to Krys at 2Vegan Boys!!! Please email me your snail mail address and I’ll pop a treat into the mail to you in the coming weeks!
Terrified.
Trying -
Unconvincingly -
To write my academic bio.
[everything sounds ridiculously fabricated in light of my Mama identity]
Assigned -
Reading, writing, presenting -
Weekly.
[more work than I've ever seen in academics before]
And that’s just one course.
History of Geographic Thought
For me.
McGlobalization
Grad student.
With Teaching Assistant responsibilities.
Introduction to Globalization.
For them.
Freshmen.
Awesome topic.
Positively shocking work load.
For Freshmen!
For me!
I have the summer.
Three months to prepare.
I am thankful anyway.
Visit Mon at Holistic Mama to see what others are thankful for this Thursday.
I think I’ve found my craft of choice…
Inspired by HPP’s love of Super Mario Bros. Mega Mushrooms 
. I left the eyes off because I was a coward and feared I’d ruin it entirely.
Heart-mushroom brooch shamelessly copied from Lisa’s wonderful tutorial at 5 Orange Potatoes.
Storyboard (with my view of the local mountains) inspired by an early summer tale in this edition of Living Crafts magazine.
Check out what others are working on over at Wipster Central.
We’re planning to be on the road for about 2 weeks between here and our semi-final destination. JumbleSon’s favorite tunes are packed, but now it’s time for the grownups (’cause there’s only so much Raffi even the most dedicated listeners can take).
Our CD collection is quite large as we haven’t made the leap to MP3 (did I mention I live in a bubble? ). So, we’ll be schlepping an old school CD carrying case with us (If we had the nerve, we’d take cassettes too ’cause our car stereo is as ancient as we are. But we won’t go there).
There are exactly 24 open spots. 12 discs for me and 12 for JumbleSpouse.
But what to take? {tapping foot as I peruse our stash} I don’t have to worry about Bjork, PJ Harvey, Nick Cave or RadioHead as Mr. Jumble has them covered. But for me…
The Smiths. tick
Indigo Girls. always
The Cure. oh, yeah
Annie Lennox. check
Psychedelic Furs. can’t leave home without ‘em
They Might Be Giants. of course
… query… query… query…
What would you take? Please share your favorite road trip music. I’ve got space 
Yep. Day 7 and we’re still at it. Sorry to all those who thought we’d be done by now! Which reminds me, don’t forget to enter the Great Moving Giveaway over here. Feel free to put in a revised guess based on today’s info .
There’s been a fair bit more sleeping, spending quality time with our friends & neighbors and playing than I had anticipated. We are having such a high time getting re-acquainted as a family after all these months of separation (thanks to JumbleSpouse’s intense school schedule). I just don’t have the heart to interrupt. So, we’ll really have to kick it this week to make our departure deadline of next Monday.
Here are a few random thoughts I’ve had about making moving less painful this week…
Get the Buy-In
Paper Chain Making
Our greatest challenge now is coping with his enthusiasm and incessant requests to “go to Seattle right NOW!” At last, a definitive clue that he really is our child! Travel is in his blood!
A paper chain, counting down the number of sleeps until we leave has really helped.
First Thought, Best Thought
Our packing system is sooooo tedious. It’s making what should have been a 5 day move into a ## day move. I’m pretty frustrated with our slow process, although I know I’ll be glad for it if we have to go to Oz at the end of the year. JumbleSpouse has come up with a new idea for helping work through some of the puzzle. He’ll just pop up with an item and say, “First thought, best thought. What category?” I think this is key – not just for our move, but for the future as we think about how to manage clutter.
Speaking of clutter…remember the Dread Closet of Doom?
Coping with the Chaos
Dismantling the Dread Closet of Doom
Mr. Jumble has the courage and the patience to deal with it. And he’s doing a fine job. In fact, it’s nearly empty now. And, most of the contents are sorted, categorized and boxed up. I do believe that his progress was aided by the number of beers we’ve opened since starting . I just can’t cope with living in a home in the throws of moving. Happily, JumbleSon doesn’t seem to mind at all (even without the help of alcohol).
Seriously, though. I’d love to hear how others cope with the chaos of moving. Please talk amongst yourselves (I promise that I’m listening even if a bit silent)…
We have stuff.
Some easy to let go of.
Some difficult.
We hold tightly
Fearing what might happen if…
We let go.
Sometimes we are surprised.
Happily.
Other times…
We hold tighter.
Disappointment sets in.
But look again.
Magic unfolds!
A Flower Fairy Visits
I am thankful anyway.
Thanks to Mon at Holistic Mama for hosting!
I forgot to post this graduation gift for our neighbor. She’ll be attending a university whose mascot is the buffalo. It looks something like this:
I’m also going to use the mighty powers of WordPress to pre-post pictures of the crafty bits from last week’s packages later this month when I’m on the road…
Craft on in my absence, WIPsters!
I’ve mentioned before that I live in a bubble. Witness…
I was packing clothes and asked for JumbleSpouse’s advice on what to plan to wear when teaching.
“Is it better to wear casual clothes so students think I’m ‘one of them’? Or should I just wear what I’d wear to work (cross between Talbots School Marm and Fashion-Challenged Bohemian)?”
Mr. Jumble, who’s just been through this, said in all seriousness, “Oh, there’s no worry about blending in. They’re young. They’ll let you know right away that you’re not one of them.”
Together we laughed and said, “So, there’s no point in even trying to blend in.”
Not that I would have any real clue how to do that anyway. I wasn’t good at it at 19, so there’s zero chance of it happening at 39.
And I’m OK with that.
But I’m still wearin’ me tights!
