Box 'em Up!

We are approaching having a closing date on the house! There is one more hoop to jump through, a visit from the bank's appraiser, and that is happening even as I type. It would have happened sooner except that a communication got messed up somewhere -- the appraiser kept trying to get the key from the law firm which is the "seller of record" when in fact our agent has the keys, and so do we. But now that that is straightened out we are hoping for a closing date this week.

Once we close we will shift into overdrive; cleaning, painting, doing various repairs, and installing carpet and hardwood. Meanwhile, I am packing a few boxes every day or so. Today it was four more boxes of books. This means that three of our eight bookcases are empty. Of course they're the smallest three...

I also acquired some more packing boxes today. We were walking the dog through our emptying neighborhood discussing which houses we know to be empty and which ones were going next, when we saw a big pile of junk -- it's trash day today -- in front of one. Now we have had big piles of trash in front of our house twice already, so this could have meant just cleaning out, but when we go to the pile we saw that it contained 20 or so boxes in good condition. They must have moved already, or they wouldn't be throwing their boxes away. So when I got home I hopped in the van and drove back, and collected about half of the boxes. (The rest were very large boxes, of which we already have more than enough.)

My goal is to have all our boxes packed before moving day, so that I can spend my energy unpacking necessary things. I get a pass on the heavy lifting -- that's what sons and sons-in-law are for! And a bunch of Kelson's friends have been promised copious quantities of pizza and pop to assist. Right now my most-likely bet for moving day is December 12th, but we shall see.