And Then I Stepped in Gum . . .

Back Among the Living

I sent off the manuscript I'd been working on last night, and I've returned to the land of engaged living (as opposed to the last few weeks where I've been staring at the screen in my office, often procrastinating). I actually missed my kids -- not just felt guilty that Dave was doing all the work, but missed doing things with them. But thankfully, that's all over, and now it's time to be Mommy again . . . and PACK.

Today I took the kids to a farmer's market and to a playground and actually played with them for the all of 20 minutes we could stand in the heat and the humidity. God, it's hot in the South in the summer! Found a cool park, though, so we may try to hit it again if it ever cools off -- or perhaps we'll go at 6 when the kids wake up.

And then this afternoon I attacked the coat closet and Katie's room with boxes. We actually weeded out quite a few coats and clothes for donation. (Woohoo! Every pound donated is another 35 cents saved! [Yes, really.]) And there were a surprising number of pairs of gloves found. Then Katie allowed me to pack up all of her My Little Ponies except four (yes, really). And we filled two book boxes with her books, and there's still about a box and a half more. I remember when I was little knowing kids who didn't have any books at all -- we seem to have gone overboard the other direction.

Anyway, it's progress. We haven't quite reached the panic stage of shoving everything into boxes willy nilly yet, but if we don't make some more progress, I can see it coming. But it's our only job for the next week and a half or so, so I think we can probably do it.

Since my "fans" (hi, Deb) are asking for a moving update, I figured I should blog about it. I think we've finally worked our way through Plans A, B, and C, and arrived at about Plan X, which may be a winner. The problem with not having one house sold is that there are no deadlines for anything -- you don't have to be out by a certain date, so you can put off the unpleasantness of moving for longer. But our house in NY is supposed to close June 16 (in NY, for some reason, no one wants to admit that they're actually closing until about 28 minutes until they actually do -- I think it's because of the Mafia, but I'm not sure), and somebody's got to be there to sign for the darn thing. And there are two cars, two kids, and two cats to be driven 22 hours away.

Anyway, the plan of the day is that on the 13th, I will be driving Dave's car to NY in about 2.5 days, alone. I'm stocking up on CDs and bringing the Sirius radio along. I'll also have my cell, so if anyone wants to be my virtual road trip buddy and chat with me as the miles roll away, just say the word. On the 15th, I'll do a walkthrough, and on the 16th, I'll close. Then on the 17th, I'll leave Dave's car at the house along with whatever belongings we've managed to squeeze into a Saturn SC2 (I'm thinking it will mostly be guitars), and fly back to AL. About a week later, we'll finish up the packing and load everything into the moving van and head out as a family. Two kids and two cats and two of us, driving about 6 hours a day for four days. Thank God we bought the in-car TV/DVD player before Dave got laid off.

It sounds like a plan. And I think it's better than any of the other alternatives, which included things like driving up in two cars with one adult, one kid, and one cat each in them, stopping to switch whatever entity was driving us crazy. Of course, I'm not the one who's staying home alone with the kids for five days. And it could all be thrown off if for some reason the house isn't going to actually close.

Uncertainty. It's becoming a close family friend.

P.S. EVERYONE is at Book Expo America except me. And I'm pouting. Next year, as God is my witness!

posted by Jennifer Morgan, at 8:06 PM