Everything Happens at Once

     Internet installed ... check.  Household goods delivered ... check (I guess).  What is left of our household goods were delivered.  To be fair, most of our items survived the journey to Kansas.  Not the same can be said of my middle child's belongings.  I'm beginning to think the movers didn't like her very much.  See for yourself.

Her Desk

Her Bookcase

Typical of her boxes nothing wrapped or protected

     Seeing my mild-mannered, go with the flow child, irate was an interesting experience.  One that is RARELY seen as well as one I don't care to see repeated anytime soon.  Unfortunately, this is just life.  As I type this every box has been opened and the initial sort has been done but I still don't ask her about her stuff.  Bad mojo!
     Raise you hand if you are amazed that the initial sort has been completed.  My hand is in the air as well.  When unpacking a house there are two main approaches.  First, you have what the majority of us do in the military.  We place furniture, unpack the clothes, the kitchen and all essential stuff and leave the rest in a garage, closet, storage unit, etc. until the next move.  We do honestly believe that we will eventually go through it and take care of it but life intervenes (or we decide we are SICK of unpacking boxes) and it never happens.  This is normally my approach.  I am supported by friends and family who have taken decades to get through all of their boxes.  Besides, I can justify the fact that my move is more complicated because so much of our stuff was in storage this last time.  Normally, the essentials are unpacked over about two weeks and whatever isn't done in those two weeks, well, just doesn't get done.
     Then there are the overachievers.  These are the people we claim are INSANE but we are all secretly jealous of at each move.  They have a time limit.  Most of them are 36-48 hours after receiving their 10,000 pounds of household good plus professional equipment, they are done.  No, I mean EVERYTHING is unpacked, put away and the garage is empty.  Secretly I wonder if they even have any personal items as I do not understand how they can finish so quickly.  The toddler in me screams IT'S NOT FAIR! but I know it is just a difference in approach.  They tear the bandaid off quickly whereas I prefer something less painless.  Someday, I hope to be like these people.
     Kansas brought a change though.  As I said earlier, we are have unpacked everything and done an initial sort of the items that would typically never be opened until the next move (if then).  Why did we even open all the boxes?  It is tied up in our journey for a simpler life.  We don't want to haul around and store all the useless, broken, or forgotten items that we no longer want or need.  Besides, what good do they do us packed up in a garage?  So, we determined that we would go through EVERYTHING and get rid of everything we had been carrying around needlessly.  I'm also pleased to say that we did this all in one week.  That is a record!  Especially for me.
     Wondering what has been in those boxes?  I know I was before we opened them.  Old pictures of the children and us (note to those under the age of 25 digital pictures have only been around for about 15-20 years, before that we used film which we brought to a camera/film shop and paid to have developed into pictures), craft stuff that I haven't been able to do for a while, our vhs tapes of the kids, camping gear, old school, Army crap stuff equipment and junk.  The junk is already gone and most of the other stuff we soon be gone too as we put everything onto DVDs.  What once filled the equivalent of a one car garage packed from top to bottom now takes up about 1/5 the amount of space. 
     Amazing what you can accomplish when you decide to get rid of the unnecessary.  When the movers arrive, it is almost as if you have everything happening all at once.  There is no gradual sorting and arranging it is a full frontal assault!

The kitchen before they packed it full
so that you couldn't even step into it

My youngest and his new buddy

The boys

 

So we are deciding to advance instead of retreat.  When everything starts to happen at once we are getting rid of the junk and unnecessary.  Instead, we will advance with just the essential and important stuff.  That way we can take time to smell the roses (or in our case the baked goods) with our family.  Or at least enjoy the craziness that we call our boys.