Blog Design

I'm in the process of trying to redesign my blog, so it's possible it will go through several changes over the next week or so. It may look different everyday. I get bored easily with the backgrounds. I am hoping to figure something out so I can make a nice design and then just leave it alone.

Organized Packing and Moving

I have moved several times in my life, and each time, I adopt new practices to make the move easier and more organized. Recently we had to move our 7 member family. We actually are moving twice within a short period of time.

This system has proven to be very useful but, especially since we are not unpacking all of our stuff while we're in the interim house. I tried a very different approach to moving this time. Usually I'm pretty organized as far as packing all of my boxes and writing which room they belong to on the outside. But, I still always face the problem of "which box did I put the ________ in?" and thus begins opening every single box marked KITCHEN until it's found. This.....is......a.....big......fat......pain!

Supplies you will need:

Moving Boxes all different sizes (way more than you think)

Packing Tape (more than you think)

Scissors

Pencils and pens

Colored markers

Address labels

Lined index cards

Recipe box

Colored paper like construction paper

Tissue paper/News paper (unprinted is better)

TIP- It's best to have a special box or basket for these items. Your moving box will help keep your supplies organized, especially if your husband thinks your new cool pack of colored Sharpies all belong to him.

If you know ahead of time that you are moving it's will be a little easier to pack and move this way. It's a little bit of extra work but it will save you A LOT of time on the other end. Actually it can even save you a lot of time before you actually put the boxes on the truck. Even packing with a tight time frame you can still do this. I packed about 65% of our boxes using this system the day before we moved.

Using the colors of construction paper assign each room or area  a different color. Here was our list.

Living Room including Coat & Hall/Linen Closets - ORANGE

Kitchen - YELLOW

Bathroom(s) - PURPLE

Little Girls Room - BLUE

Big Girls Room - RED

Our Room - GREEN

School Room - LIGHT BLUE

Garage/Shed Storage - BLACK (this is the only color I didn't attach to the box)

Each box you pack will need a color and a number. The first box you pack will be #1. Cut the colored paper into 4ths or 8ths. 4ths work well for larger boxes but 8ths will save more paper. Write the box # on each colored paper and tape it to each side of the box.

 Next, Labels. Lots and Lots and Lots of labels. Like with boxes and tape you need more labels than you think. I ended up with about 110 or 112 numbered boxes. I didn't number the boxes that we already had in our attic before the move. I only numbered the ones I packed. Print several sheets of labels for each room. The larger rooms will need more. I had to go back and reprint more because I under-estimated. Each box will require 4 labels. Put one label on each side of the box in the upper right corner. You will find the colors will be easier for you to identify the the boxes, but if you have helpers moving you the labels will be easier for them. Be sure not to forget to print FRAGILE labels,  and put on on each side of the box with the fragile items. TIP - if two people share a room, print both names on the labels, this will save on labels. For the boxes that belong to only one of those people, underline that persons name on the label. 

 Most of my colored papers are not cut evenly or straight. It would take way too much time for this. If you have a child old enough to cut this is a great job for them. Most if it can be done ahead of time. My 4 year olds were able to help put the labels on.

Boxes. The rule for boxes is, "You will need more boxes than you think, it's better to have too many than not enough. I figured I would need about 60 boxes and I ended up with over 110 numbered boxes, plus the extra empty ones for moving day. Before you go and buy boxes you should try and get them for free. I didn't buy any boxes. In our town the businesses have large dumpsters behind the building for cardboard only. I was able to find most of my boxes this way. I also put a wanted post on Freecycle.org for moving boxes. I did get some this way too. TIP- if you have a BevMo or liquor store near you, the liquor boxes are excellent for packing fragile items such as glasses and vases. They have dividers in them and it saves a lot of time not having to wrap these items in paper.

You will need a package or two of index cards and a small container to keep them in. I found my index card box at Wal Mart for $1.00 in the office section and the index cards were about $0.75 cents. 



Each box will have it's own card. At the top left corner of each card draw a colored square. The color should be for the room that the box belongs to. The top right of the card will have the number of the box. As you pack the box, write down everything you put into it. Now, for certain areas I didn't write down each item. For my nightstand stuff, I only wrote "Kimmie's nightstand stuff" I know what is in my nightstand. But for the kids school boxes, I was very detailed because I had 6 identical sized boxes.

 It's okay if you end up with the colors all mixed in. I didn't pack each room one at a time. I would have 3 blue cards 2 yellow cards then 3 oranges etc. As long as they are all numbered in order and the contents are recorded they can go in any color order. 

I took this one step further and created an Excel spread sheet and put the Box #'s and contents in the spread sheet. It's alot easier to click find and type in the item and have the program jump right to the box number than it is to flip through 100 cards. I did keep the box of cards. What if my computer crashes?

When I couldn't remember which box I packed my 3 hole punch in, it was awesome that I could hit find in excel and type 3 hole punch and it told me that it was in box #37. This was before we moved and it would have not been fun to open all the packed orange boxes to find the hole punch. 

After your box is packed be sure to tape it closed. Taping it will make it stronger and better able to sustain boxes stacked on top of it. 

I'm jumping out of order here but I'm sure you can keep up. The next picture is of an index card for a box that was only partially unpacked. The unpacked items were crossed off and at the top the location of that box was written. We are not fully unpacking and this box had games and toys for the little girls. I don't want these all out. The box is being stored until we move again.

 
Pack a suitcase or a small box for each family member with stuff you will need right away, tooth and hair brushes, a change of clothes for a couple days etc. You will be very glad you did this. You think you will get that stuff unpacked right away and most likely it's not going to happen. You will be exhausted. It's very easy also to put all the bedding for each bed in a large garbage bag and keep that with you too. When the bed is set up it's easy to remake it. Or you can use sleeping bags for your first night.


It's also very helpful to have a few "we need it now boxes". You can give these boxes a special color or use a laundry basket and keep these boxes with you or have them be last on the truck. If you need your shower items and kitchen frying pan first thing the next morning, you will be glad you did this. Oh and keep your cleaning supplies handy, you will need them at both places.


Be sure sure to keep a few empty boxes around, there will always be extra items that weren't packed and you will need these.

At the new house, decide whether nor not you are going to place boxes in each room or in one designated place. If you want them taken to each room hang the paper for the color of that room in a place that's easy to see, so those carrying boxes can just find the color. You can also put the label for that room on the colored paper. You should designate a spot in each room for boxes pick a wall or something. Hang another colored paper there and write BOXES HERE on it.


BIG TIP - If you choose to have one designated room for boxes tape up the colored papers so that each color box can be stacked under the coordinating color. Write on the yellow paper YELLOW BOXES HERE, and on the orange paper ORANGE BOXES HERE etc. Now, I didn't do this. I had a room for boxes, but not specific spots for each color. As I was digging through looking for GREEN box #65 that was behind a stack of 80 other boxes, I realized that having them stacked by color would have been a whole lot easier. I will be doing this on our second move for sure.



I must say that we were glad over and over again that we had numbered boxes with lists of the contents. We used it several times. It also helped to decide which boxes needed to be unpacked right away and which ones could wait a few days, or go to be stored. As I unpacked boxes completely I took the numbered card out of the card box. I was going to throw them away but decided to put them in a ziploc bag and hold onto them. I may end up repacking the boxes with the same items when we move again.

TIP - I put labels on the dressers and such so the helpers would know which rooms to take them. They were very hard to get off, so I don't think I'll do that again.

This move was very organized and easy. It's never a good idea to be packing the day you are moving. This aggravates the nice men who come to help out of the goodness of their hearts. Lets face it, no one really likes helping you move, they just want to get it over with and go home.

TIP: Make sure you feed the very generous people who are helping you move. Buy pizzas or something quick and easy. Pizza is very easy and doesn't require dishes or a lot of garbage. Have plenty of water bottles on hand too. Full bellies will keep your helpers happy and working. My husband once helped someone move and he didn't get fed. He came home feeling unappreciated, starving and grumpy. I doubt he will help that person move ever again. Men like food. Feed the men who are moving  you.

I promise this makes you life easier. I have been so happy I took a little extra time and made this move organized. 

Last TIP: DON'T LOSE YOUR CARD BOX! 

If you have questions I'd love to hear them.  

October Updates

We have had a lot going on and I have been away from blogging. I'm always coming up with blogs to write in my head but when I get ready to write them down I forget what it was I wanted to say. Here are some quick updates about what we have been and are doing. Now that I am not on Facebook, I'm hoping my family will find it easy enough to pop on over here to see what's going on.

House/Moving: We have moved into our temporary home. We had to move out of our other house because it sold. Everyone had a really hard time saying goodbye. We spent the last 6 1/2 years of our lives calling that little place home. For the little girls, that has been there only home. They took moving the hardest. It was unreal the day we moved all of our stuff out. It didn't seem like it was really happening. I know God has another plan for us, but saying goodbye to the home that held so many memories was difficult. It was a nice place to live, the neighbors were all wonderful. The kids were able to play outside with a bunch of other kids anytime without worry. Still, we really had a hard time living in such cramped quarters.

Our new temporary place is  a small place that belongs to a family at our church.  They were gracious enough to allow us to move in and "house sit" for a very little monthly.  They are planning on selling it right away, but offered it to us for as long as it takes us to find and buy a new home. It is SUCH a blessing. We are still able to save money while we are staying here. If we were renting a house we wouldn't be able to save. Renting here right now is more expensive than the mortgage payment on home.  We did lose a bedroom, but gained a bathroom. We only had 1 bathroom before and now there are two. This has been like a dream. It's funny though the kids still line up outside the bathroom door and wait. They have to be reminded there is another bathroom, they're not used to it yet. We have managed to make it very cozy, and comfy. We continue to go out every week and search for a home to buy. We did put an offer in on one house, but it was not accepted. That was a bummer for sure. Last night we saw a couple we liked, and hopefully will get a chance to see some more this week.

I am working on a Moving blog post, about my new moving system. It proved to be such a help and made it a lot easier. I'm so excited to share. I'm hoping to have that up later this week.

 Julia and Emily: Julia was the most excited to move at first so I was surprised when she had the hardest time. On the Monday after we moved, she was very upset and had a breakdown when Adam tried to leave for work that morning. He made arrangements to take the day off and he stayed home with her. I had a lot of running around to do with the older girls that day, so he was able to spend a lot of alone time with her. It was exactly what she needed. The next day she was back to her normal self and was okay when Adam left for work. The sweet little baby girl needed her Daddy. Whoever says kids don't need full time dads are doing serious injustice to their children. Everyday I see my children needing their daddy. Each day when he gets home he has a bunch of happy jumping screaming little girls to greet him at the door. Julia is very sensitive to attention from her dad. She wants  it and she needs it. He is so amazing with them, he loves giving his girls attention. He always tells them that he's going to love them so much that they wont need to run out looking for some stupid boy to love them. They will be protected and loved and able to wait for the man God has for them. It makes my heart melt to see him love them so much.

Emily has surprised us a lot with how well she is recognizing words and facts. I have not yet taught them to read. Most of it is intimidation on my part. They are very sharp little girls and I'm sure can pick it up quickly. So far I have an Abeka phonics book that I picked up at a rummage sale and we are working on short vowels. We are also doing sight words. Emily is a firecracker. She is a riot. She thinks she knows so much and likes to try to argue with me about things which she doesn't know. She LOVES learning and is very good at memorizing. When she needs to be taught about something she did wrong, I show her in the Bible what she did and what it says about it. She can retain the scriptures amazingly well. She also enjoys helping me cook and sew. I am embroidering some flour sack kitchen towels and she is right there next to me pulling the needle up and learning how to do stitches. She's very patient and eager to learn.

August and Kiley: They will be turning 12 next month, where does the time go? They are such wonderful young ladies. So sweet and loving. They have big hearts for God and are such a blessing to Adam and me. They are now in the 3rd month of 7th grade and doing very well. We are settling into homeschooling and loving every minute of it. We pulled out of public school last year to homeschool and haven't looked back since. For two weeks following my surgery and the moving, we didn't get much school work done. I was pretty stressed about it. We meet with an Education Specialist at our Charter School ever 20 days. They check the work, and ask if we need anything. They purchase supplies and text books if we need it. During our meeting with her last week I was worried she thought we did too little. The opposite was true actually. She was impressed with the quality of their work and how thorough they were. She said that she was surprised they do so much. I was so relieved. They do take a lot of different classes. In the 4H alone they are taking 11 different projects, along with the normal school subjects, and music lessons.

They are both in their 5th year of playing soccer. I was a soccer player as a kid and so I just automatically signed them up. They enjoy playing the sport. This year Kiley has been the goalie, while this is heart wrenching for me to watch those girls kick balls hard and fast at my child, she is really good at it. She is a phenomenal goalie. August has been the teams center halfback. This is a tiring position, but since she is very skilled and VERY fast she does well at this position. I don't know if I've seen too many children run as fast as she can, she almost like a bolt of lightning. When she was in public school she was the 2nd fastest in the whole school. Only 1 boy was faster than her. The soccer keeps them busier. It is only for a few months a year and then we don't play any more sports.

I am nearly 4 weeks (tomorrow) post surgery. At first the recovery seemed horrible but it has gotten a lot better. I still am not feeling 100% but each day it gets better. They give 4-6 weeks for recovery  so I'm still within that time frame. We did our move during the 2nd week of recovery. This was good and bad. The good was that I didn't have to lift any boxes or move one thing. I was able to sit on my little bar stool and direct traffic. The bad was I wasn't able to lift any boxes or move anything. This sort of made it difficult to unpack. The older girls were a big help though and we are pretty much all unpacked. We are not unpacking everything since we will be moving again in the next few months.

I have discovered a love for embroidery. I have been doing 30's style bonnet girls (like the one in the link) on the edge of flour sack cloths to use for dishtowels. Each of the girls picked out a girl for me to embroider so I also embroiders that girls name onto the towel. I'm trying to find a website who has a good bulk deal. I originally got them for the airplane to Tennessee and am really enjoying them. I'll take some pictures soon.

Me: My most recent change has been deactivating my Facebook account. I really have in the past enjoyed Facebook. I like being able to see photos and updates about loved ones who live far away, as well as old friends from school. I'm taking an indefinite break. I found myself constantly checking it from my phone and sitting down on the computer during the day. I would sit down to do something else on the computer and end  up on Facebook for an  hour. It has gotten out of hand. Sometimes it's best not to know as much about your family members. Facebook can get very personal. This was my only connection to some people and I hope they aren't offended by my hasty deletion of my account. Hopefully they will remember my blog and come here. This morning when I woke up I reached for my phone to check my FB, and I realized I had a problem. It's not okay when it's the first thing on your mind in the morning. So for now, I'm giving it up. I am not setting a time frame but as time passes I'm sure I will no longer have a desire to go on there. It has been such a time waster lately.

I'm getting ready to start gathering all of my handmade projects for Christmas. We are on a very tight budget this year, since we are buying a house so I am going to make a lot of the gifts for others. I wanted to make the book slings in the Family Fun magazine. I have also been wanting to make the little girls duvet covers out of vintage sheets or fabric, but I'm having such a hard time finding something I like. This will most likely wait until their 5th birthday. I was thinking of making all of the girls pillowcases with embroidery. So much to do so little time. I absolutely love vintage or Victorian style fabrics and linens. I wish I could decorate my whole house in a vintage style, but that would get pretty expensive.

I also just joined Swagbucks.com, and I'm still trying to figure it out. If anyone has any tips, I would love some help.

Adam: We finally have him back in the evenings now. For a couple of months he was building 2 bathrooms at our Pators house and he would be there all night after he finished at his regular job. It was hard not having him around most nights for dinner and the like. He was really missing the time with the family. A lot of the time he has side jobs after work and I know he is exhausted. He works so hard to take care of us. His birthday is this month and I'm still not sure what I'm supposed to get him. I'm going to bake his favorite dessert and cook a yummy dinner for him. He doesn't really care too much about gifts so I think just the family being around will be nice. We celebrated with his family over the weekend, and that was nice.

His mom is from Germany and I have been meaning to ask her about German type traditions. I would like to incorporate that into the kids lives. I should try out some German dishes maybe? She had a very nice family gathering for Adam and his brothers birthdays. The dates are close together so we did them at once. His parents are such wonderful people. I lucked out in the in-law department. They were there all day the day we moved helping and moving and working. They come out every weekend to watch the kids sports. I love having family all around. I feel sad for those who don't have that.
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I'm hoping to be able to blog more now that I am not spending so much time doing time wasting things online. I'm hoping to be able to spend my morning alone time to blog a couple of days a week.

Facebook

Wow, two posts in one day.

I have deleted my Facebook account. It was actually very difficult for me. As of right now I've reserved to only temporarily deactivate it. I had a very close friend tell me to get off of there. She's right. It seems like a lot of conflict comes up. I know I spend way too much time there.

If you're coming here to find out why I'm not on FB anymore, I have several reasons. For now, I'm taking a break. You are welcome to come here to see updates about our family.

Comments

I am wondering if other bloggers turn off the Anonymous comment feature? Some people are extremely cowardly and post some really awful stuff under Anonymous. Really, are you that awful of a human being?

It amazes me how nasty some people can be. It must be terrible living each day knowing that you are a disgusting individual. The same people are probably those who are accepting of the murdering of babies, the "marriage" of  homosexuals, etc. But very unaccepting of pepole who are Christians. Get a life. Evil is as evil does.

Romans 1:21-22 Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools,


THIS WORLD IS NOT MY HOME!

My internet is back up now after moving. I"m working on an update post, and an organized moving post since my new moving system proved to be so easy and a lifesaver.