One Bite At A Time

Moving is always a hassle, no matter how old you are or how large or small of a home you have. And I can tell you right now that the older you get, the harder it is. Terry and I are amazed at how much we have accumulated in the six years we have been in this house after living a minimalist lifestyle in a 320-square-foot motorhome for 18+ years. We keep reminding ourselves that it’s just like the old thing about how do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time. And that’s what we’re doing, taking it one bite at a time.

We have been sticking to our new schedule of waking up earlier, which has helped us get a lot accomplished, even if our bodies object to it every step of the way.

One of the biggest chores for both of us has been packing up all of our books. Terry and I are both bookaholics, and while we couldn’t carry nearly as many as we wanted to in the motorhome due to weight considerations, that hasn’t been an issue here. Pretty much all I did yesterday was fill more boxes with books. I’ve been asked more than once why I have so many books and if I have read them all. No, I haven’t read them all, but I love having them around me. Someone the other day said that having books you don’t read is like a wine connoisseur having bottles that he is saving for a special occasion. We feel the same way about our books. We moved around a lot when I was a kid, and I recall that once somebody who was helping us complained about how many books I had. I remember my dad telling him that someday books were going to change my life in many ways, and they have, including me becoming a successful author. I think my dad was a lot smarter than I gave him credit for when I was a youngster.

And, of course, if you have books, you have bookcases. We emptied several of them yesterday and brought them out to the garage staging area, ready to be loaded when we make the big move.

While I was dealing with books, Terry was packing lots of other things, from kitchenware and small appliances to pictures, to you name it. The stack of filled boxes is growing bigger in the garage all the time.

Meanwhile, my office is starting to look very bare. But that’s only because you aren’t seeing the other side, where I still have my desk and a lot of other stuff.

Besides filling boxes and carrying them out to the garage yesterday, we did a few other things, too. I spent some time arranging to take over the security system that’s in our new house and signing the contract online, we called our doctor here to get all of our prescriptions renewed so we will be covered for a while until we can find new doctors in Alabama, and the real estate agent who is going to be listing our house here stopped by to get some pictures for upcoming advertising.

I’ve also been researching small tractors. We will definitely be getting a riding lawn mower for our new place, but we also think we want a small tractor for bush-hogging the trails through the trees to keep them open, tilling gardens at our place and our son’s, and chores like that. I know absolutely nothing about tractors, but I’ve been doing some research and I am getting a lot of very good feedback on the Kubota compact tractor models. I’ve got a lot more to learn before I make a decision about that.

And finally, here’s a chuckle to start your day from the collection of funny signs we see in our travels and that our readers share with us.

Thought For The Day – Your mind is where you stay most of the time. Make sure it’s a good place to be.