Feeling Boxed In

The lease to my apartment is up next weekend, so you know what that means: packing & moving. A while back I mentioned that we were looking around and I listed some of our "must haves" and "wants" for a new place (you can find that here). And now the day is practically here!

Packing has been a two-weekend adventure. My mom came down to help pack a couple weekends ago. And the fiance & I finished packing up the rest of the place this weekend. The only things left are what I'll need to get by for the rest of the week.

I thought I would share some pictures of the mess what the place currently looks like. Plus, I don't think my mom would believe that we finished the packing if there weren't pictures to document it. :)

The first thing the fiance got busy doing was replacing all of the light bulbs around the place. When I first moved in, we had upgraded to energy efficient bulbs. We didn't want to have to spend the money to buy all new ones for the new place, so we figured we'd swap out the energy efficient ones for standard bulbs. In the process, the fiance did this:

Yep, he broke it. It's all his fault! So, we drove around town trying to find a globe that matched the right size & shape. Our first stop was Lowe's since (1) we figured they would sell open stock replacement globes and (2) they were going to close soon and we thought it best to get there before the doors closed. And Lowe's was a bust. They did have open stock replacement globes, but in sizes too big and too small, nothing just right. We debated buying a whole light kit and just using the globe from it & selling the rest of it on craigslist or something, but we thought it best to shop around first. Next stop was Wal-Mart, who didn't have any open stock globes, but their light kits were cheaper than Lowe's. But we decided we were going to wait until the next day to try one more store: Home Depot. And what do you know? They had the perfect size! So here is the new globe installed in the master closet.

Originally we were storing all of the boxes in the office. But, we decided to move everything into the living room to make it easier on moving day.

We pushed the couch forward and stuffed everything behind it. And we moved all of the office furniture into the dining room.

We even stuffed boxes into the spare closet between the master bedroom & kitchen (these got done the weekend my mom was in town). By the way, the cooler is currently empty. The plan is to take it down & fill it with ice the morning of the move to transport what food is left in the fridge.

We still have some things left to pack, but we weren't sure what we would need. I left the linen closet alone because we weren't sure who was staying with us the night before the move.

And we can't pack up the rest of the laundry room until the very end when we've finished cleaning everything up.

The bookshelf houses my school bag & purse. (And of course Cruz had to get in on the photo action.) The oil lamp is sitting up there because it can't really go in a box. It'll need to be transported in the carefully in a car to make sure the oil doesn't leak everywhere.

We packed up all of the dishes in the kitchen and most of the pantry. There is only 1 cabinet left that hasn't been emptied, and it houses all the plastic ware that I'm using this week as well as the one pot, pan, & cookie sheet I left to use. The boxes on the counter are for random stuff & the under-the-sink cleaning products. Also, the boxes underneath the bar are our leftovers. We'll probably use them up on moving day.

Oh, and a tip: did you notice those little white things on the cabinets? No, they weren't cabinet pulls. Actually, none of the cabinets have pulls. Its actually little strips of masking tape. After I cleaned out a cabinet or a drawers, I placed a little strip of masking tape on the front to remind me and anyone else that they are empty. I find this much simpler than opening up everything over and over again to double check that it's all clear.

And my closet is completely empty. Well, except for the wedding dress (and no, the fiance can't see the dress through the bag, nor does he want to). I laid out all of my clothes for the next week, and packed everything else in boxes, suitcases, duffel bags, and trash bags. I seriously have way too many clothes. And the fiance likes to remind me that I won't have a closet all to myself anymore. So, the plan is to go through everything and pull out things I don't wear anymore and place them into a yard sale pile. We're planning on having one after the wedding.

So that's our progress thus far. The rest will have to wait until next weekend. As for how the cats are adjusting, they definitely know something is up. Periwinkle has been through this once before. She's becoming a lot more lovey-dovey. Cruz - I don't think he knows what's up. He seems to be whining a lot more than usual (which let me tell you is a lot!) and he has been following me from room to room. I think they'll be okay once we get to the new place, but it's the whole process up until we get into the new place that I'm worried about - especially the car ride... Cruz tends to get car sick...

But for now, Cruz is investigating every little nook and cranny & Periwinkle is soaking up some love (even if she is a little camera shy).

So, that's what we've been up to lately. Exciting, right? I hope to have some pictures posted of the new place soon and I'll compare our "must have" and "want" lists to what we actually ended up with. Anyone out there with tips on how to make the transition easier on pets? Or even the transition easier on humans?? I for one will be glad when all of this is over!