The things you find

In going through boxes and trying to put things away (no easy task given how different the houses are), I have found some very interesting stuff.

We still have paper napkins from our wedding. That's more than 13 years ago for anyone counting. We also have a shameful amount of fast food napkins despite having cut fast food almost completely out of the diet over the past two years.

I have enough moisturizer/lotions to baby the skin of the entire metro Charlotte area. I even have one that is clearly from my childhood. This should tell you how frequently I use it. Ergo, no more for gifts, please!

If I love something, I am a stockpiler. The sheer amount of stationary, purses, and books I own is staggering. Don't be surprised to get a letter from me soon so I can use up some of the stationary. ::grin::

Movers pack anything, just in case. I've unpacked candy wrappers and empty soda cans (because those were clearly necessary to our health and well-being down here).

The contents of a junk drawer look even worse and more useless when seen out of their drawer. But it's a good bet that you'll find something fascinating in there if you take the time to rifle through the mess (so that's where those keys went!!!). Hey look! I can actually touch-up paint all the nicks and dings in the car's finish--not from me, of course. ::wink::

The things you don't find are a little more disturbing. I've unpacked all the bathroom boxes and still haven't found the plunger. That means it is packed somewhere with something that should never be in close contact with a plunger. Come to think of it, nothing should be in close contact with the plunger except the toilet. And we try to minimize even that contact. Makes me cringe to think it could quite possible be with the missing pantry box (and if I have to replace all my spices because they were snugged up to the plunger I will be ticked indeed). It could also be with W.'s sheets and bedding, which is not in his room, nor in his sister's, brother's, or ours. At least the bedding is washable but the idea of it with the plunger still gives me the heebie jeebies.

More on moving

Questions inspired by moving:

1. Why is it that you will need a doctor or a dentist or an ER the first week or two after you move? (We've needed a doctor for a booster shot required by school--urgent care had to handle that one--and a dentist for tooth reconstruction since R. chipped her tooth today when she came up from under water at the pool--did the good Lord not grant this child eyes with which to see the large, immovable, concrete barrier right in front of her face? On second thought, maybe we need an opthamologist too.)

2. Why can't cardboard boxes be a decorating statement? And no, I don't mean on the walls like in that old episode of Trading Spaces!

3. Why don't you appreciate the grocery store you know and love until you are wandering around lost in the aisles of a foreign store, looking at brands with which you are completely unfamiliar? I didn't really expect them to carry either Graeter's (the stores in Detroit didn't either) or frozen Skyline (one store in Detroit did) but I was hoping. And not having the good yogurt flavors is just unpardonable since that's my chosen breakfast these days.

4. Why is it that the things you need most desperately are apparently deep in the depths of some box you might never uncover? We've been here three days now and we still haven't located the box with W.'s sheets. He's sleeping in the doggy smelling papasan chair in his room instead of in his bed. Oh, and we actually had to go and buy T. some new shin guards despite owning enough of those to outfit an entire team because they were not in his dresser any longer but he needed them for practice today.

5. How can a house be bigger than your previous house and yet you still have a garage full of furniture you need to haul to Goodwill because it simply doesn't fit in the bigger house? Most of the stuff I'm okay with getting rid of but there are a few things I am determined to save, even if my house starts to look like a furniture showroom floor.

6. And finally, why do we do this every couple of years? I mean, I morph into a complete b%tch and yet somehow we still think this is a good plan. Not moving must induce amnesia in us.