Moving on Outta Here!

The lease is signed. The government furniture has been picked up. The movers are scheduled to come Saturday morning. I wish we had more time to get ready for the move. Even though it is only across town, there is a lot of junk that I wish we had time to get rid of before the move, but as it is, we will just do the best we can.

Today, I got rid of Ian's letter mat. It is a foam mat that can be pieced together. The letters are cut out of the mat squares and can be put together like a puzzle. The ends come off as well. It sounded like a good idea, but it was so hard to keep clean. It grossed me out and I wanted to throw it out months ago, but Curt wanted to try to clean it and save it. He did one cleaning and then they sat in one of the bath tubs we never use for months. Finally, today I threw it out. Ian also has a toy that has never worked properly. He got it as a birthday gift last year and we can't get it to stay together so I got rid of it. He has lots of toys so we don't need to keep broken ones.

Here is a list of things I'd list to get done before the movers come:

1. Go through Ian's toys and pull out anything broken or not needed anymore. At the very least, I hope to group the toys together in bins so there are easier to keep put away.

2. Take all the food out of the refrigerator and put it in a friend's fridge until the fridge is moved. We have to do this one. I've been working the contents of the fridge/freezer down all week, but we'll still have a large cooler full at least to transfer the day before the move.

3. File/Shred/Throw out papers. If we could get this done that would be awesome. We need to Fly Lady it. Maybe a little each day before the move.

4. Put electronics and appliances in their original boxes. Things tend to survive the move better and even though it is only across town, we want to save those boxes for the eventual move back to the States. I know that the movers get paid to do these things, but a little prep work before they come can make things go faster and smoother.

5. Take down the satellite. Even though we can't use it in the next apartment, we might be able to use it in the future or sell it.

6. Get all the leftover dog things washed and put together so Katie can take them back to the States after her visit.

7. Get everything out of closets and cabinets so we don't accidentally leave anything.

8. Try to get a few pictures in front of the beautiful view that we are leaving.

9. Ask the real estate agent whether we are moving the water cooler, water jugs, transformers, cable box and anything else provided to us by the landlord (now a bank). I don't think they would take it back. They don't plan to rent to anyone else, only sell so I don't think they'd want the stuff back, but I'm wondering if they need to turn things back into the water and cable companies. Guess we'll find out.

10. Take our Egyptian tables apart to give them the best chance to survive.

11. Take the Bowflex apart because the movers asked us to.

12. Take pictures of the Bowflex so we can try to sell it.

I think that is it. It is more than enough. My sister comes next week so I'm glad we'll be moved in before she comes.