It fits!

Ok, so maybe there are 3 cubic inches of free space in Frank's truck bed, and yes, that is a vacuum in my passenger seat, and yes, that is also a stroller in my passenger seat, but we are PACKED! Now, to survive a week in the Best Western while we wrap up work here...

Confessions

I confess--we have too much stuff. As we pack everything up and begin lining up the boxes, I am less and less certain that it will fit in our truck and car. Can the kids share a car seat? As tough as thinning and parsing our possessions between storage, cabin, and boat piles has been, I love it. I love really thinking about the value of "stuff." I definitely need to figure out what size of clothes I want to keep. Will it be the "skinny" clothes, the "average" clothes, or the "post-baby and bad day" clothes??? Given the fact that I'm still recovering from surgery, I'm leaning towards the fatter end today...

The purge continues...

Jody and I don't have a lot of stuff, especially compared to the average family. This may have to do with the Navy moving us every 2 years! :) But wow, there's more and more stuff that we need to get rid of, and Jody is donating, craigslisting, recycling, trashing, and putting to the curb everthing and more. That's great, and she's taken to heart my advice to get rid of everything, and then get rid of half of what's left. We're getting close to the move date, and we're both excited to get to Washington.

Oh yes, and thanks to the IRS repaying on their very hefty interest-free loan (a.k.a. our tax return), we should be all set now in spite of tenants leaving. I still find it interesting how our parish thinks our property value in Slidell increased by 225% (yes, 225%!) given the current economy. And unlike most rational local governments, they put no cap on the subsequent tax increase. Thanks to St. Tammany Parish for the hook-up- assholes!

The hits just keep on comin'!

As if being on travel and having technical issues trying to set up our household goods shipment and having a wicked sinus infection weren't enough, the financial stress is peaking! There were a lot of "ifs" around this boat purchase, like we could do it if we got a renter in our LA house, if we kept a renter in our NC house, if we stay employed, if we can live in tight quarters without killing each other...you get the picture. Well, the news of the week is that the new tax assessment on one of our rentals has its taxes increasing some hundreds percent and the other one's tenant is moving out at the end of the month. [Sigh] Not critical yet, but I could certainly do without all of this at once! Now where did I put those Ramen noodles???