Showing posts with label moving. Show all posts
Showing posts with label moving. Show all posts
Do you love where you live? We have moved 9 times since being married and the “we’re new here” feelings are still so vivid:
* Walking into the grocery store and not knowing where your favorite items are
* Arriving at an event and not knowing a soul or not even having a chance of bumping into someone you know.
* Sitting at the first soccer game and hearing the conversations around you and wanting to chime in but you don’t know them!
* Not feeling comfortable enough calling someone for a ride for your preschooler when your baby is still sleeping or you don’t know people well enough to be in a carpool yet.
picking leftover cotton in Texas
* Finding new doctors and dentists
* Not knowing the best routes or shortcuts and getting LOST!
* School pickup and drop-off routines
* Sending snacks for the class or birthday treats. What do they like around here? Homemade or store bought? Is sugar ok? Organic only, allergies??
* The FORMS. The dreaded filling out every.single.one That right there is a reason to never move again. And then not having anyone to put for emergency contact.
When we are moving and looking seriously at a buying a house, we have a little trick: walk down the street after school and work. Are there kids out playing, bikes or snowmen in the front yard? People taking trash out, walking dogs, or working in the yards? Talk to anyone who is outside. They will tell you what no realtor can and you can really get a feel for a neighborhood. “Oh that house has had the worst problems with drainage, I hope they got it fixed!” “We’re so sad to see the Jones’ move, he got a job transfer” “ But that dog next door barks ALL night” “This is such a great neighborhood, we love it” “It’s all right, people pretty much keep to themselves” We have actually changed our minds about a house after a walk through the neighborhood!
But do you know what? I have loved every place we have lived and miss things about each place. Some, more than others – but I am convinced that there is beauty and good people to be found everywhere. My friend Melody just wrote a book called This Is Where You Belong and she combines research, her personal experiences, and experiments of her own to help you feel at home wherever you are.
I know Melody from when we lived in Blacksburg and I adore her – she was my daughter’s youth leader and one of the most intelligent people I have met, and yet is a fantastic listener and knows all of the best books. She is warm and engaging and I just love all of the personal anecdotes she included in This Is Where You Belong, it’s such a delightful read that really makes you think about the happiness involved with where you live.
You can get to know her better on her podcast with Modern Mrs. Darcy or her website here. You know I only recommend things that I love, please enjoy getting to know Melody and her book!
I would love to know – do you love where you live? Do you think that you can learn to love living anywhere?
* Walking into the grocery store and not knowing where your favorite items are
* Arriving at an event and not knowing a soul or not even having a chance of bumping into someone you know.
* Sitting at the first soccer game and hearing the conversations around you and wanting to chime in but you don’t know them!
* Not feeling comfortable enough calling someone for a ride for your preschooler when your baby is still sleeping or you don’t know people well enough to be in a carpool yet.
picking leftover cotton in Texas
* Finding new doctors and dentists
* Not knowing the best routes or shortcuts and getting LOST!
* School pickup and drop-off routines
* Sending snacks for the class or birthday treats. What do they like around here? Homemade or store bought? Is sugar ok? Organic only, allergies??
* The FORMS. The dreaded filling out every.single.one That right there is a reason to never move again. And then not having anyone to put for emergency contact.
When we are moving and looking seriously at a buying a house, we have a little trick: walk down the street after school and work. Are there kids out playing, bikes or snowmen in the front yard? People taking trash out, walking dogs, or working in the yards? Talk to anyone who is outside. They will tell you what no realtor can and you can really get a feel for a neighborhood. “Oh that house has had the worst problems with drainage, I hope they got it fixed!” “We’re so sad to see the Jones’ move, he got a job transfer” “ But that dog next door barks ALL night” “This is such a great neighborhood, we love it” “It’s all right, people pretty much keep to themselves” We have actually changed our minds about a house after a walk through the neighborhood!
But do you know what? I have loved every place we have lived and miss things about each place. Some, more than others – but I am convinced that there is beauty and good people to be found everywhere. My friend Melody just wrote a book called This Is Where You Belong and she combines research, her personal experiences, and experiments of her own to help you feel at home wherever you are.
I know Melody from when we lived in Blacksburg and I adore her – she was my daughter’s youth leader and one of the most intelligent people I have met, and yet is a fantastic listener and knows all of the best books. She is warm and engaging and I just love all of the personal anecdotes she included in This Is Where You Belong, it’s such a delightful read that really makes you think about the happiness involved with where you live.
You can get to know her better on her podcast with Modern Mrs. Darcy or her website here. You know I only recommend things that I love, please enjoy getting to know Melody and her book!
I would love to know – do you love where you live? Do you think that you can learn to love living anywhere?
Moving is expensive. Let’s just get that out front. It’s not just the obvious things like the truck, gas, boxes, tape, bubble wrap, but the hotels, eating out, eating off paper plates, getting rid of everything in your fridge and freezer and then that killer first grocery trip when you have NOTHING to eat and have to buy everything like ketchup and creamer and dish soap and toilet paper. And then you gain 20 pounds from all of the eating out and moving stress eating and have to pay money to join a gym! :)
chairs at the yard sale: I so hated to see them go!
the kids couldn’t stand it anymore: the toys were all packed up, and they busted out the legos one afternoon after church.
We are in Utah. Trying to get settled, moved in, back into somewhat of a normal life. For any of you that have had a big move, you know how physically and emotionally draining and exhausting it is. To leave everything that is familiar and comfortable and recognizable and to come to everything new. Brand new.
Even little things like getting used to like where things are in the grocery store or how the new schools handle snacks and pick up lines, and changing the addresses to your favorite magazines. Walking into a large room of people where everyone seems to know each other and suddenly feeling very alone. And the big things like finding a new family doctor , my husband adjusting to a new position, and praying that your kids will be able to make new friends and feel comfortable. Filling out all of the FORMS. The forms! Probably the worst part, wouldn’t you say?
It’s coming though, and I just have to remind myself that it takes TIME. Time to get to know people, to develop routines, to organize the house so it’s comfortable and things can be found and it can be a lovely place to come home to instead of cardboard boxes and chaos. And trying to determine the bare minimum to unpack because we’ll have to do it all again in less than a year: we are renting right now and have decided to build, and that adds a whole other dimension of stress.
1. The gorgeous seasons, especially the fall and spring. Unbeatable.
2. Rolling green hills: everywhere else seems rather brown after living here.
Hello.
We are still here. Packing up, up to our necks in moving stuff: packing, taping, throwing out, selling stuff, wanting to take a torch to all of it and just start new at our new home. Moving brings out the best in you, doesn’t it? It truly makes me never want to buy anything again. For now.
I’ve been uncovering L’s everywhere. Landon was so proud that he could write the first letter of his name and he went to town all over the house. Part of me wants to make him scrub them all off so he knows we don’t do that, and part of me wants to cut the drywall out and take it with me and treasure those sweet L’s forever. Emotions are all over the map here.
First of all, I need to announce the winner of the Lowe’s/P&G Summer Done Bright prize box! In my 5 1/2 years of blogging, I have never had #1 win, but LOOK:
The first commenter won! Congratulations, Kathleen! I’ll mail out your prize box as soon as I get your info.
Second of all, we have BIG news around here.
We are moving our family of 7.
Across the country.
To Utah.
At the end of this month.
I put all of your wonderful moving tips into one place to create the ultimate moving guide. If they want to publish us, we’ll split the royalty 27 ways :) Mine are here and without further ado, here are yours:
First Things First
Start packing as soon as possible! ~Amanda
~if you know you'll be moving soon, start decluttering now. It will make things much easier in the long run. ~linda
As you are packing get rid of things you don't need, never use or are broken. Don't hold on to anything that you wouldn't love to see in your next house. And when you unpack get rid of a few more things. Less to pack and less to put away. ~SewsCute
My best advice would be to make it a point to clean everything out before you pack. If you find stuff and just stuff in into a box, knowing full well that you haven't used it in years then you are just taking up useful space!!!! Pack with a trash bag and a donation bag next to your packing boxes. Then at the end of the day, you'll have the satisfaction of knowing you are actually ONLY packing things that you and your family need and USE. If you've got to pack up anyhow, why not use it as a chance to spring clean? ~Becky
I thought I would share a moving plan that is kind of spiffy. Instead of writing what is inside the box all over the outside of the box, get yourself a notebook and designate it your moving notebook. Guard it with your life! This will be the place you put all of your moving info~receipts, phone numbers, house hunting info, to-do lists, etc. When you get in the car, you ask (in this order): where is the moving notebook?? Dramamine? dvd remote? camera? baby bottle? oh yeah, and my purse?”On the outside of the boxes, get these cool stickers that have the rooms on them or write LR (Living Room) and then number them.
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