Packing and packing and packing...

First of all, thank you to everyone who looked at my first post and for all the encouraging comments!  I appreciate your enthusiasm and your time, really!

Secondly, I wanted to warn you that this blog may not be going for much longer because the author may have to leave the earth due to extreme packing exhaustion.  You have never heard of such a cause of expiration you say, well let me confirm that after nearly a year of packing and unpacking suitcases, including moving from Michigan to Florida and back again, this last gathering and stuffing of belongings has nearly done me in.

So I'm being dramatic, but really, it seems the packing will NEVER END!!!

I often get a false sense of happiness and relief and think, "Oh, I'm nearly done, not much left to pack."  This sunny thought has been inevitably followed by the realization that I have forgotten an entire drawer, bag or category (socks, pants, toiletries) of items, after which I wade back into the packing fray.  Ug.  I really do think I'm almost done though, really.  My parents have been amazingly understanding throughout this year of Chris and I being in and out of their house with various amounts of our stuff (sometimes a couple suitcases, sometimes a whole apartments-worth).  Thankfully their patience has remained throughout this last packing process, which is awesome since I've taken over nearly every communal room in the house minus the bathroom and the kitchen.

The Basement

The Living Room

The Den

That just gives you an idea what they are dealing with, but I guess they figure we will be out of here in a couple days, how bad can it get?!

Those of you who know me know that I like to be prepared for any and every situation...at least "prepared" is what I call it, Chris calls it "overpacking".  Me: "But honey, what if we have to ride horses, I'll need these cowboy boots" and so it goes throughout the packing process.  God bless the man, he hardly says anything at all really, after a year of traveling with me he knows it won't make much difference.  Especially when we are leaving the country for 3 1/2 years, there is not much I am willing to leave behind, as well as an infinite amount of scenarios I can make up in my head that require me to pack most everything I own.  Of course my husband is right, my packing tendencies really are atrocious.   I have learned in a year of living with him that his wisdom far surpasses mine in many areas, and I often follow it, just maybe not in the area of packing...

By the way, vacuum space bags are great if you happen to ask yourself when packing, as I often do, "how can I pack all 4 black short sleeve shirts AND 5 pairs of shoes?".  They really are a genius invention, (I just had to look up the word 'genius' in the spell check, both ironic and sadly telling), for those of us "prepared" types.  I will leave you with a picture of me and my new best friend, the size large space bag.  Any packing tips for me?!?  I will take all the help I can get!

The Happy Packer