I’m not very popular at the “home office” right now. I told all the kids and Richard that, when we move to Florida, we are NOT moving all that food from the pantry. We are eating it before we leave. That also means no pizza delivery. Each night since then has been “fend for yourself night” at dinnertime and the pantry has gotten so depleted that we actually needed to go to the store yesterday for a few things. So, my idea definitely worked!

We are almost finished packing and only the big stuff remains out, along with our clothes and toiletries. The shipping company is dropping off the first “pods” this afternoon and the boys will be busy moving boxes into those tonight. When Zach (age 24) asked me when the movers were arriving, I laughed out loud. I explained the last time we moved, they were little children. Now they are big, strong men and very capable of lifting dozens and dozens of boxes along with heavy furniture (snicker). I added, “You shouldn’t be complaining. It’s only in the 70s here. When we get to Florida, you’ll be moving boxes and furniture in 90+ degree weather.”

He groaned and his eyes rolled so far back in his head I thought he was going to fall over. Heh…

We’re also gearing up for our huge moving sale and Ali is home from Bar Harbor, helping me put price tags on things.

I think I’m at that point in my life when I want to downsize and simplify. Getting rid of so many material things that have accumulated over the past 11 years in this house has been incredibly therapeutic. I told the kids from now on to only buy me gifts that are either homemade or something that will create a memory (like a gift certificate to dinner, or a water park, or deep sea fishing, or some other fun thing we can all do together).

Being authors and avid readers, we have collected more than 1,000 books over the years and we are selling most of those. Rather than selling them one-at-a-time, I categorized them and we’re selling “books by the box” at the moving sale. We have entire boxes of books on subjects like homeschooling, wilderness guides and survival, living-off-the-grid, gardening, healthy living/eating, baby board books, children’s chapter books, children’s picture books, romance novels, action and adventure, business, marketing, and much more. Not sure how my “books by the box” idea will work out but I’ll be sure to let you know. I imagine most of you (writers) have huge book collections as well.

This Week’s Masonism:

Mason was eating a Popsicle the other day and I happened to notice it was no longer in his hands. Thinking it might be on the carpet or, Heaven forbid, lying on the sofa, I asked, “Where did you put your Popsicle?”

Our little sweetie replied, “I put it in my tummy and I put my stick in the garbage.”

Hugs to all!

Angela

ADVERTISEMENT

HOW TO REMEMBER, WRITE AND PUBLISH YOUR LIFE STORY! by Angela Hoy
Using Angela’s MEMORY TRIGGERS, recall memories that have been dormant for years, and record those memories in chronological order in your memory notebook. Using the memory notebook as your outline, write your autobiography! **Also works for biographies and memoirs.**