Well, it looks like things are finalizing so I can spill the beans!

We are going to be moving from Arizona to Idaho this summer. My husband has found a new job that sounds like it will be good for his career and we have been wanting to escape from the hot Arizona summers. This is why I have not been around as much lately and I haven't updated the site in a few weeks. I hope to rectify that this week and put up some new flowers and calendar blocks for May and June.

If anyone has moving tips, I would love to hear them...I am absolutely overwhelmed at the thought of moving the contents of a four bedroom house...yikes!

Tammy

Hey Tamara,
I can't believe I've been here 6 months and haven't met you. I live off Ina and Shannon probably on the other side of the mountain from you. When are you moving? I have one tip. Have a garage sale. We moved out of a 4 bedroom 2 story house into an apt. about half that size and even though we gave tons of stuff to goodwill I wish that we had a big sale before we left. It would have saved us a lot of room in the truck and we wouldn't be paying so much for storage right now. Even if you are moving into another house it's good to get rid of everything you don't want or need anymore. Hey one thing I love about Tucson is resale shops. I've sold practically all of my sons used clothing, baby toys, furniture, my maternity clothes, my old skinny clothes (finally came to terms that I'll never be a size 2 again),etc. I traded in some expensive tennis racquets for golf clubs and my next project is selling some furniture, music, and books. What's your favorite place to grab a quick bite? I love Einstein Brothers. Are you going to miss Tucson? I still can't get used to it. I miss TX like crazy but it's nice to finally be around family. <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

Congratulations! What a fantastic adventure you'll be on for the next few months. I think that garage sale idea is a good one if you can arrange it and have the time. Be cutthroat with what you get rid of. In the past six months the only thing in storage that I have pined for has been my fabric stash, and I went and got it. Other than that I could leave the rest of it and never miss it. I thought that after all of this time I would have grown to appreciate it more, but I don't even want it any more. And that is after a massive garage sale last fall that we got rid of a whole ton of stuff.

My best advice right now would be that if you can lay in a supply get as many boxes all the same size as you can. We got all of our boxes from Sears, and it's so much easier to load the moving truck if all of the boxes are the same size.

There is so much great information on there it's a two-day read! I wish I had seen that before our big move. :rolleyes:

Thanks for all the tips everyone! <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

Tammy

Tammy, I can't believe you want to leave the sun. Take a lot of picture of it so you can remember what it looks like. <img src="/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" /> But, with you a lot closer, we are sure to get together one of these days and finally meet. I don't envy you with the move. Will they pay to have someone come in a move you by any chance? I don't think we will ever move again after the Air Force stops moving us. I can imagine having to pack up this house by myself. But, my neighbor, with five daughters, did her move herself from here to Florida. She is married, but you know how helpful husbands are. She started planning ahead of time and did a little bit everyday. By the time moving day was here, she was all set. I was impressed, but would never do it myself. I guess the one good thing is that it forces you to downsize your house. I bet Kathy and your family are thrilled.

Michelle

Okay..so I read the FlyLady page and there is good information on there. We packed four boxes last night - not quite as many as we are supposed to, but progress is being made.

I am going to be in Seattle May 25 - June 4th so we will definitely have to set something up this time with all three of us.

My family up in the Northwest is happy (I think <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" /> ) it is still a ways away, but within driving distance.

Tammy

Of course we are happy that Tammy and her family are moving to the Northwest. <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" /> It's only about 10 hours from our home, so we'll definately be able to see them more often and since I don't work and Becca and Greg are homeschooled I'm sure the kids and I will be making some trips (if the hubby lets me go).

We bought a tv for the car (9 inch) and took it on our Oregon trip and it was great!!! So...Idaho is definatly more doable than Arizona! Now I need to start looking at airfares, I usually see some good deals from Seattle to Boise...Tammy, how far is Boise from Idaho Falls?

I didn't know you homeschool! How long have you been doing that? We have been having a great time with unschooling ever since we've been in the new house just by exploring outside. Last week it was mushrooms (found some morells), Monday it was wolf spiders, and tonight it was bats. We'll do more bat stuff tomorrow. Sydney and I were walking the new puppy (we got a puppy!) and the neighbor came running out. She found a little bat in her shed and was so excited to show us. It was neat! I think we'll keep this up as long as it is still spring/summer/fall and catch up on "bookwork" like math in the fall/winter. Maybe. We keep changing it day by day-one of the great things about homeschooling!

My neighbor, Roberta, has been teaching Becca math and english/reading for the past three years. When Becca turned 5 last July, I enrolled her in the Home Link program through the School District. They supplement your homeschool efforts. Its pretty neat. Roberta still teaches math and english. This next year (starting July) I'll be teaching Becca the Social Studies and Science courses, along with Health, etc.

So, this is the first year that I will actually be taking on part of the teaching role. I'm terrible at Math and English, so I will leave that to Roberta. My forte is Social Studies/History and I will be able to handle Science, probably up to around Biology. After that...someone else will have to take over.

It's been alot fun having Becca home all the time and knowing what she's being taught. I've finished setting up the curriculum for SS and Science (2002-03) and have written up the lesson plan for all of the subjects (Homelinke requires that part). Luckily my education degree has come in handy to writing up a lesson plan was not too difficult...in fact, kind of fun.

Anyway...glad you're having fun with your kids. This Summer we are working on Occupations and taking field trips every Friday corresponding to the occupations. In September, I'll start with basic U.S History and the Science courses. This will definately be interesting to see how Becca responds to mom, the teacher.