Debris

Our house is a mess. Literally. We have plastic bins and laundry baskets filled with clothes from dressers that have found new homes.  Our sunroom, guestroom, dining room and kitchen have all been stripped of their furnishings, and our laundry room will lose its remaining appliance today.  Last night and this morning, totes were turned into makeshift tables for meals and I went grocery shopping for the last time for this residence - buying only the things we need to make it through this week.  Our garage/barn is holding the remnants of our yard sale.

Today, I return to school and am wondering how we will accomplish all we need to each evening...sandwiched between doctor & dentist appointments, softball, and swim lessons.  Did I mention I also have lunch duty this week and the NH Scholastic Writing Awards and Middle/High School Voices Conference & Publication Launch?

I'm going to take a deep breath and begin. 

It's all fun and games until...

On Friday, I took one of my two remaining personal days because we had to prepare for the yard sale. I rented our first PO Box, and while I was there, was alerted about an available rental.  One of the mom friends I've made alerted us to an apartment that will be referred to as our "summer home" because our house has been sold and the closing is this month.  So, after a week of freaking out about where we will be residing, we found a home that will allow Belle to finish the school year at her school, and we'll stay in town for my summer writing camps. Thank heavens for small towns.

The first day of our massive possession purge has been completed, and the Tylers are universally exhausted. We are prepping the remaining pieces of furniture and looking forward to some much deserved sleep before doing it all over again tomorrow. We couldn't have done it without the help of so many of our friends who came early bearing coffee and cheerfully lugged boxes, books, and furniture out; brought us lunch when we started to droop from hunger; or stuck around in the afternoon to keep us company and help secure items (and even help with the sales).

We even had a visit from our local law enforcement because they had received complaints from the amount of traffic, so he was required to pay us a visit to alert us to the popularity of our sale. Yes, we were visited by a friendly police officer because of our perfectly legal and legit yard sale.

The highlight of the afternoon was a "lost" Good Humor truck coming down our street - so Belle and her friends (and her parents) could all experience the novelty of buying ice cream from a truck.

Fridges, fondue pots & freak outs

I've come to the conclusion that my husband and I own way too much stuff. Ten years ago, we bought our house, and wondered how we would fill it... Now as we prepare for the big sale, we wonder how we acquired so much stuff. Case in point, in our basement refrigerator (that seemed a good idea at the time when we had regular gatherings and needed that extra fridge space), I discovered ketchup and mustard bottles from last summer.  Then there are the sippy cups. Why did I save sippy cups? No one reuses sippy cups once their child has aged out of it.  Belle is going to be 8 in just about a month, and I still had her sippy cups. Wow.

Right now, our barn is full of appliances for the big sale - because when we bought the house we had a washer & dryer and guess what appliances came with the house - a washer & dryer.  Rob & I moved the fridge from the basement to the barn with the help of the tractor.  I've started to empty the cupboards and discovered unopened containers to make your own popsicles, ceramic soup bowls for french onion soup (or other oven occasions), a coffee bean grinder, hot pot, three (yes, THREE) crockpots - one is still in the box, wooden chopsticks from Thailand (that I have never learned to use), and a fondue pot set still in the box.  First, where did we fit all this stuff? And two, why did I think I was domestic enough to need it? So because we are running out of space in the barn for all the yard sale stuff, I am starting to put things into the sunroom, which was emptied of one of our living room sets last weekend, so blessedly, has some space.

Obviously, Rob & I are freaking a little because our leisurely preparation for our move has gone into hyper-speed with the contract on our house and approaching closing date. Suddenly we are looking for a short term rental and preparing for not one, but two moves....  I guess it will ready us for the flexibility we will need in Abu Dhabi.  I feel bad for Belle because we were so stressed, that I accidentally sent her to bed almost a half hour early and she came down to tell me it wasn't even her bed time yet. Oops.

Softball and Pink Slips...

Things are moving forward. Thursday night, Rob & I stayed up late pricing things for the big sale starting this coming Saturday. On Friday, our house was thoroughly inspected. Then we got up early to get ready for the opening day of AVS Softball. This is Belle's fourth year playing and first year on the 8U league. When we return from our overseas adventure in two years, she will be in 10U for one season.  At 9:00 I ran out to get her the maroon socks for her uniform and then we headed for the field for the opening day celebrations. Rob received his first official assistant coach t-shirt, although he's been filling that role for several years.

After freezing through the ceremonies - it was not the 60 degree weather promised by the weather man! (and as I write this, the Abu Dhabi widget informs me that it is 97 degrees there) - we went home to find warmer clothes for the game. Thank goodness we did because we spent over three hours at the field (the game lasted for two hours & despite the cold, the sun did come out so I have rosy red cheeks. :) It was so amazing to see the girls apply the skills/knowledge and teamwork they have developed over the years, handle getting outs (this is the first year) with grace, work together to make plays, cheer on their teammates and be good sports towards their competing teams (especially because they are filled with their friends & classmates!).

Obviously softball was exhausting for this bleacher mom, so I came home & took a nap - making me late for what I thought was going to be a simple girl's night out at my friend Kim's - you know, hanging out, eating pizza, etc.  Luckily, my friend Erica sent me a sneaky text asking me what I was up to & telling me how she was out-of-town. I promptly invited her over if she was coming back (yeah, I'm that kind of person) to hang out with Kim & I.  The text woke me up, which caused me to be only 20 minutes late for what turned out be an amazing pink slip party. Yes, my friends & I celebrated my layoff (and my new adventure) with a party, because we are that kind of people (it's called fabulous if you are looking for the word.). ;)  The food was incredible - deviled eggs, seafood & regular lasagna, strawberry cupcakes with almond buttercream, chocolate dipped strawberries, toffee squares, shrimp, a vegetable & fruit salad (mixed together - amazing!).  And there were presents!

Which if you consider how I am purging everything in my possession, you would think would be odd (which I so gracefully reminded my patient friends as I opened the humungous box - seriously, I wonder how they put up with me), but the gifts were oh so perfect for me & for fitting in my 2 suitcases & 1 carry-on (yes, I'm obsessing about how little that means I will be taking). I received a book filled with personal messages from all my soon to be former co-workers, a musical cd recording the soundtrack of my WHS days, and the Kindle ereader I've been patiently saving for! Yes, this post deserves every single one of the exclamation marks I caution my students against using because I am that excited and enjoyed myself that much. The best part is I have more memories to take with me of these wonderful ladies.

Keeping fingers crossed & announcing the FIRST TYLERS ARE MOVING SALE!

Today started with two allergy shots, and then I made two trips to the dentist (once for records, the second one for a filling).  I also stopped into Belle's school since I had a few minutes between the appointments and met about getting her school records. They were confused about what I wanted, so I gave them a list and asked for it all by Friday (mind you, I had notified them a week ago that this request was coming). They wanted to know why her records were needed now and I explained that the private schools in the UAE are taking applications now for next year and some schools already have wait lists.  The appointment for the fillings ran late - apparently lots of dental emergencies today - so I was only able to get one of the two fillings done & have another appointment for the last one in two weeks because going to the dentist is everyone's favorite way to spend a day.

I came home to a call from our realtor, the fabulous Joy Moore at Peabody & Smith, that our house inspection will be on Friday and if all goes well, we'll need to find a new place to call home until the BIG move. My fingers, toes, legs, arms, etc. are all crossed that it goes well.  With all this planning and running around, we've decided to hold a TYLERS ARE MOVING SALE!!! on May 7 & 8.  We'll be selling furniture, books, china, toys, tools, picture frames, electronics, dishes, cookware, candlesticks, clocks, bedding, clothes, ice skates, and an electric piano! There will be something for everyone & you do not want to miss the sale. RAIN OR SHINE.  Let me know if you need directions.