Now that we are back...

Now that we are back, I am allowed to tell you that we were away!

My dad has a fear of the internet and people breaking into our garage, so I wasn't allowed to share the fact that we went on vacation!  Yes, yes, we did.  My family spent the past 7 days cruising around the Caribbean and the two days before that celebrating the Garvey Family Christmas, my favorite holiday of the year!

But now, it is back to reality.

We arrived back in Saratoga well after midnight on Sunday (that in itself is a story) and promptly headed to bed.  Now I have spent the last two days frantically packing and not blogging.

After I left Tulsa in 2008 I moved all of my things into my parents' basement.  And yes, I have a lot of things.  I lived in an apartment for two years and ended up with plenty of kitchen utensils and appliances, photos, wall hangings, curtains, etc.  Let's just leave it at: I have a lot of things.

Then, less than a year after coming back from Tulsa I packed my winter clothes away, adding them to my pile in the basement, and moved to Thailand with two suitcases of summer duds.

Now, I am moving again.

Tomorrow I leave for the big, bad city, and I have lots of packing to do.

I spent the majority of Monday going through Tulsa things.  I am proud to say that I threw away 9 Price Chopper bags filled with trash.  Thank you very much.

Tuesday I spent the majority of the day going through clothing.

Clothing to be given away to Salvation Army.

Summer clothing to be put away.

Winter clothing to go to New York City.

Oh, and the pile of dirty cruise laundry.  Please excuse the mess.

Today, well, today I have been productive too.  I spent about 45 minutes on the phone with Koreana, and that was VERY productive.  I haven't spoken to Koreana in longer than I would like to admit, and it was just what I needed.  I also figured out the mystery behind the Christmas itunes gift cards.  Want to know?  It's really very simple...  Any guesses?  Okay, fine.   Ellie never paid for them!  She gave each of the four kids a gift card for Christmas, but managed to walk out of BJs without ever paying for them.  Silly, Ellie.

And now I am back to packing.  Because as much as I hate to admit it, those piles can't just stay in piles, they must fit into suitcases and into the car.

So there it is: my update of the moment.  I am now going to race off, finish packing, and hopefully enjoy my last night in Saratoga.  Tomorrow I will be on the road again.  But tomorrow night, I will be back to blogging!  I have so much to catch you up on: the cruise, the Christmas party, the flat tire and men, oh my!

Time to pack

My family is a bit strange.  We each have our own bizarre habits and such.  We each have weird tendencies.  But, when it comes to packing, we are all pretty similar.  Except for my father.

We are leaving for family vacation soon, and my dad has been packing for a week.  For an entire week he has been hanging things in the mud room, and choosing shoes and laying them on top of Wilbur's kennel.  His suitcase has been in the ready position for days, but has been left untouched.  He has piles at the foot of his bed and a few on the dining room table.  He has switched some shirts for others, put his shoes in individual bags, and rethought his sock choices.  And the rest of my family has spent an entire week making fun of him.

The rest of us, we wait until the last minute, and it is hilarious.

So now, at 9 pm, Garvey, Erin and I are all packing upstairs.  Erin is planning every single outfit, and exactly which night and to which dining room she will wear it.  She is also making sure that I bring exactly the accessories I promised I would.  Garvey, is cleaning out.  He is getting rid of things left and right.  And every five minutes or so, he calls Erin into my bedroom, and asks both of us if we want     blank   .  First it was an ipod dock.  Every time Erin and I would chuckle, call him crazy, and go back to our respective rooms and music choices.  But, most recently, Garvey called a giveaway meeting, and pulled from behind his back two old cups.  Yes, he offered us his old cups.  Weirdo.  But, I had an idea.  Poor Wilbur gets very cold ears in the winter.  I had just finished telling my mom that he needs a pair of earmuffs, and voila!  We had earmuffs.

At one point Garvey let Wilbur borrow his headband so the earmuffs stayed in place on their own, but by the time this photo was taken, Wilbur was all done with the game.

So, now I'll get back to packing.  I did a little dancing, a little slideshow making and now a little blogging, but it's time to get down to business.