And I'm back.

Wow. I have had a few people ask me if I have posted on this blog lately. Clearly, I have not posted since I went back to work in April. Not because of my work, but because of everything outside of work.

As you may or may not know, Rick and I are moving to Boston. Well, he is actually there already. I'm waiting it out (or is it working it out?) at Boeing to receive a sweet little bundle of vested stocks on July 1st.

Anyway, it's been a whirlwind of more-than-usual craziness in my life. I spent 3 weeks packing up our house, preparing our dishes and kitchen appliances for the ride across the country in a ramshackle flatbed trailer. Packing and cleaning was my sole purpose outside of work. That got old...pretty quickly. It makes me want to just get rid of everything. Alas, I love my stuff too much. I mean, I get a rush off of stocking up on dog-toothbrushes!

Knowing that about me, you can probably guess that my hubs and I have way more stuff than will fit in a small trailer. That is why Rick and I sold almost all of our furniture and stored the rest at our friend's house (THANK YOU Tom and Lindsay!).

I was really sad to see our bed go - I'll see you in a few years, pillowtop king size Sealy mattress! You were good to me. I'll think of you every time I wake up with a sore hip from my too-firm mattress that I am bound to get in Boston.

With the exception of the bed, it was actually really refreshing to get rid of a lot of clutter. I didn't realize how many things I had kept around that I didn't really love or use! I was actually happy to see a lot of our things go (for profit, no less). I guess I didn't really need to take 3 dog kennels across the country....*I am not a dog-kennel hoarder - I had one for my house, one for Rick's house, and one for foster dogs.

After those three weeks of packing and selling, Rick and my dad loaded up the truck and trailer. These are a few packing pictures:

This is how they stacked stuff in the trailer so high - Saran-Wrap for Moving.

The magical roll. I think it was my dad who noted that this color is reminiscent of a 737 before it is painted.

As you can see from this picture, I was (not) a huge help.

But I like to think that I brought up morale a bit.

Oh, and that positioning of the saran wrap stick was accidental.

And then....this was the end product. Just before the guys climbed into the truck and drove across the country.

I was a little worried for their safety, but they made it to Boston and so did all of our stuff. Hooray!

That is just one of the activities that has kept me so busy lately. There are more stories that involve five dogs in one house, and Vegas, and a small secondary move, but I'll tell them later.

I guess it's good that I have been busy - Rick is busy with his school program and having stuff to do distract me from counting down the days until I get to see him again! In the meantime I am wallowing here in yucky Seattle, getting rained on and trying not to drink too much wine.

Clearly, this is a tough "season" of life for me, with the stress of big changes, job changes, and not having my best friend next to me to give me a hug.

I guess there are a lot of different seasons in life. Seattle should get a clue and have more seasons than "cloudy" and "rainy."

I'm just saying.