Captains Log - Car Date 2009139

Yesterday was a good packing day! The cooler temperatures have brought more energy (that and that fact that my mom will be here in 36 hours and I really want to get the majority of the sorting/tossing done before she gets here!

Yesterday we had to go to Carmax with the new "ride" and when we got home I decided to leave it out of the garage so I could work in the garage since it was not 90 degrees out there! My goal is to get everything from the garage that is being moved, packed in storage boxes and into the living room (which is pretty much empty) to await being loaded on the truck. It will be easier to put boxes from all of the rooms there than out in the garage. For one thing, if you know Florida, you know we have some strange bugs, and with all of the rain, the palmetto bugs (aka BIG cockroaches) are in full force in the garage. I've put out lots of traps, but I DO NOT want any of them hitchhiking with us to PA.

This section of the garage is pretty much ready to go. Most of those boxes are either holiday decorations or STUFF animals. In Tara's defense we did consolidate from six boxes to two (we still have Build-A-Bear and Webkinz in the house though!) There is one BIG box of books that I need to separate today. Most of them Tara has outgrown, except that she wants to keep her Dr Seuss books, and another series of animal and sea life books that she has loved since she was younger! I don't have a problem with that.


We have a "ton" of movies, both video and DVD. There was a time that I bought EVERY Disney movie that was released. I stopped that habit about two years ago. I have consolidated out movies down to two storage boxes, with a little spillage over into the Christmas decorations boxes. I'm packing the holiday movies there since there was no room in the other boxes. I have donated the video copy of any movie we have on DVD, and quite a few others that Tara has outgrown. Even there, some things she wasn't ready to part with! I am suprised at her sentimentality on some things. I am the same way, but really trying to leave all the emotion out of my packing. (Been watching Clean House and Clean Sweep too much over the years!)
Here's just a couple more shots of boxes around the house, the bags of "stuff" I took to Goodwill, and a picture to prove that I was there!

Captain's Log - Car Date 2009138 - The Plan

"Pennsylvania: the final frontier. This is the voyage of the Carship Kasper. Its two day mission: to safely drive up the east coast of the US in a mini van with 3 humans, 3 cats and a large freaky dog (and maybe a guinea pig); to seek out rest areas, photo ops and fast food restaurants; to boldly go where no woman has dared to go before!"

So you all can get an idea of what we have ahead of us as far as driving, here it is.
1,011 miles. The majority of the first 800 is on I-95, until we hit DC and Baltimore with all the beltways. I had lived in that area and knew the trip from DC to PA with my eyes closed, but that's been some time! I am hoping when the time comes I can time it so we are missing those areas at rush hour. I would love to start out at night and get a good 6-8 hours in while most people are sleeping!

The crew and passengers:
Mom - my navigator and first officer. She has many years of practice co-piloting for my dad on many many road trips. Handing him drinks, sandwiches, etc. She is there for moral support and my sanity. When you see the rest of the "cargo" you will see why!

Tara - the First Mate. With all the latest and greatest technology, and really comfy reclining back seats, I have she "chill-axs" on our trek. She will be tending to the other "passengers" whilst I am commanding the vehicle.

His Royal Bubbiness Prince Kovu he's only ever been in a car twice. Hopefully we can get him to stay in his carrier and sleep during the driving time!

Her Royal Freakiness Princess. I have NO idea how she will do on this drive. She loves car rides, BUT not too far from home!

Emmie and Cassie, our unexpected passengers. Unexpected in a good way. They will be going to live with a friend of my mom's, so I did not have to give them up to strangers! They made the trip from PA with us six years ago. They were not crazy about it, but they survived. That trip my Blazer was packed to the tippy top as the moving truck had taken my "stuff" earlier in the week and I had way more stuff that still needed to go after they left. This time I hope to only have the bear neccessities of personal things that we will need on the trip, nothing else, so there is room for some roaming if needed in the mini van. This is one of the things that prompted the purchase of the new (to us) vehicle. That and that fact that the Blazer was old.. and needed work done on it to ensure a safe and comfy trip!

Oliver the Guinea Pig, who hopefully will be riding in the truck with our friend Jason who will be driving all my worldly possessions to PA.

Captain's Log - Car Date 2009137 - It's time to get SERIOUS!

I've known for weeks (months) that our move to PA was going to finally happen, but you know how it is when you are anticipating something that is a ways in the future, you think about it every day, but you still have all of the real life things that have to be done until that BIG DAY, whatever it is arrives. I have been anticipating this time since around Thanksgiving when I made the decision to retire,and leave our life in Orlando behind, and move back to our family in Lansdale, PA.

There were some twists and turns on the way to my retirement date of March 27th, but when that day arrived, I could not have been happier. Now I would just have real home life to worry about, along with the anticipation of moving!

I have so enjoyed being a stay at home mom, and teacher to Tara for the past six weeks. I have never been a stay at home mom, although I worked from home, I still had to divide my attentions between home and work!

At first we counted down the days, first to May 20th when my mom arrives to help finish up the packing and to be my co-pilot on the drive back home. Now her arrival is just a little over 48 hours away. She has spent the past weekend getting herself moved into our new home. Did I mention, my mother is 85 years old, and totally amazing! She does not sit back and watch as family members, church friends and professional movers, mover her stuff, she is right there in the midst of it all. Using the fabric grocery bags to carry loads that are manageable for her down 2 flights of steps and out to her car at her current apartment. Our new apartment is looking like a home thanks to all their hard work this weekend.

Now that her arrival in imminent we are counting down the days until we depart. The days that sometimes seems there will not be enough of. My mom has worked so hard moving her "stuff" I don't want her to overdue it here. My goal is to get everything I can possibly have packed done by Wednesday, with the exception of the kitchen, that room we can work on together. I may leave some wrapping of fragile stuff for her, but I will have things together in the appropriate boxes.

The one last big thing to do is to get the last two pets to the vet for their check ups, and get them placed, whether it be in a home or with a shelter/rescue. This is the hard part. Thankfully two of our cats will be going to a home in PA, so they will be making the trip with us! (Thus the new "ride" I purchased last week!)

For now we are using furniture that my mother had in her apartment, and that has been in our family since 1969. It is good Ethan Allen furniture, and has sentimental value. Luckily the sofa has been reupolstered and is not longer 1969 burnt orange (except, it might actually be back in "vogue")

This is the dining room, I love the arch. The kitchen is an eat in kitchen, so hopefully, this table will not collect clutter.


See that lamp in the front view picture? That was my lamp that I bought (a pair) for my town house in VA in 1987, my decor was french country, and they went well... but I am so over them. Those lamps will NOT be in this living room! That piece of furniture being used as an end table is a dough box that has been around as long as I can remember. It actually works pretty well there. The top comes off and you can store stuff in there. While I was growing up my mom kept fabric in there for her sewing projects!

I think I can work with that. I ultimately want something like this, but I need to see the room in person to see if it will work.
For a point of reference, this is the floor plan of our apartment. My mother has the master bedroom, she deserves the extra space. She has her favorite blue recliner, her TV, and computer in her room. As you walk back the hallway my bedroom is first, and Tara is in the middle. I have gotten ride of my big master bedroom furniture and will have a simple minimal relaxing bedroom with little clutter! (That's the plan anyway!)



So, this post has become much longer than I anticipated, so I think I will save the pictures of what I have accomplished around here today for a post for tomorrow. I need to get up from this computer and get some more stuff done!