Friday, January 30, 2009

The temporary house

I just thought I would keep it real here as an encouragement to my friend over at Storing up Treasures in Heaven (HERE). She was feeling discouraged the other day about her own personal move and it got me thinking. Moving really is one of the most difficult things. You take all your things and sort through them (which often stirs the emotions and brings back old memories of days gone by), then you put them all in boxes. And as we all know, searching for boxes is almost half the battle in itself (HERE). Moving also includes the cleaning, the fixing, the house selling, lots of inspections, saying good-bye, loading the truck and driving when you are beyond tired.

Then...when you get to your new locale...the new trials begin. The unpacking (and questioning of why you brought your JUNK with you), putting away, sorting again of your things. Painting new rooms and finding curtains for the new windows (most likely your old ones won't work in the new place) and trying to make it feel homey. Searching out to find a new doctor, hair dresser, church and not to mention getting a new drivers license. This doesn't even touch on breaking into a new group of friends (if there is room for someone new). Not to mention, just missing the feeling of just being "home" (for some reason the new home doesn't feel like home yet).

So we have completed the first part of the move. And we are still in the "can't unpack" stage and as we wait it only prolongs finishing the process. I looked around the other day and realized, we kind of live this pathetic little life right now. And I am not complaining, I am trying to encourage my friend. So for you my friends who are in the midst of moving...a tour of our place.
Everything we own is in the garage. It is packed to the top. I am actually shocked it all fit in there. We have tried to get to a few boxes but it is beyond impossible to find the right box, so it is just better to live without instead.
To show how high it is, here is Tally next to the stack. She is over 5 feet tall and the boxes tower over her.We held out a few school boxes and we are able to do an abbreviated version of school each day. That has helped make it feel more like our normal life. (I do love this beautiful table that Chuck made but finding a house that it fits in is another story).
In order to fit our boxes in the garage, we tried to put as much furniture in the house as we could. My dresser is in the eatery (breakfast nook) and we have been terrible at just dumping our stuff on top of the dresser and little black stand. I am afraid if I put the stuff in a drawer somewhere, I will lose it (note the red arrows).

The girls are camping out in the bonus room. We gave Tristen's dresser away and haven't replaced it so she has no place to put her clothes. The best place (other than the floor) is to stack them on the book shelf (the red wavy marks). The corner of the room is also just stacked with boxes.My clothing storage option is worse than Tissy's. I am still putting my clothes in a suitcase and an open box on the floor. It sure looks like I have given up all hope of trying to keep this place tidy. It is hard to tidy when you don't have the proper place to put your stuff. I also still have 2 little bags (of little gifts) from Christmas that I can't put away because I have no place to put themAnd lastly, I use a box on the floor of the bathroom to keep my "beauty products" in. How's that for trashy???

Like I said...I am not complaining, just keeping it real and poking fun at our mess. On a note of encouragement, reach out to that new family if there is one in your school, church, neighborhood or at work. See if there is a way to be a blessing to them.

Hope you enjoyed our tour...and I hope you feel a little more encouraged. =)

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

HA! Thanks for sharing this Cris. It really makes me feel less alone.

Karen said...

Thanks for sharing.... I remember living in transition(we have had to do it twice) when we were waiting for our house to be finished.... we jammed what we could into a nasty apartment... smokey and stinky. Our life looked a lot like yours and I know it is hard. When its a transition you almost don't want to waste your time trying to "fix" the temporary to feel like home!

I pray it won't be long till you can find your house to make home... you will have so much fun and surely will appreciate every inch of it!!

Thanks for keeping it real~

Salzwedel Family said...

Truly, the times I remember feeling the worst in my life were when we moved. It is HARD! Praying for you guys.

Ginny said...

I hope you find the right house soon! Living out of boxes would drive me crazy!

Cheryl said...

I love "home" so don't get the wrong idea about me here. We've moved 10 times from NC to AK and back, in-between, and even to two other countries in our marriage of 28 1/2 years and 3 children and looking back... yes, it IS hard and I certainly don't relish the idea of moving again if that should happen... BUT it really taught me that I can do without, I can make do and it's still okay, things are only things, and THIS TOO SHALL PASS! And you're right, it also taught "jocularity" and compassion (so know I'm feeling it for you guys!)

Your photos sure do bring back memories! I've certainly used many "trashy" storage fixes. Maybe that's why, to this day, I'm prone to "ignore" conditions my friends may gasp at if they're on my "one day" list and not hurting anything. Since I grew up very particular, that was a learned response or I would have gone completely nuts... wait... maybe I did...

Tim and Susan said...

Thanks for being REAL Cris. Anyone who has moved is right there with ya!! Been there, done that. TOO many times.

Christy said...

When we were in the camper waiting on this house, each boy had all their clothes in a laundry basket. There was no where to put it. Mark and I had a cabinet that was about 2ft by 4 ft. My office stuff and files were in the back of my car, along with the fax machine. The fun of "making do"!

A Girl, her God, and a Gift! said...

Can't say that I have experienced your current situation, but I have a friend who just left for Nebraska yesterday and they will be in the same boat. I know it's frustrating and tough... the upside is that when you find your new home and get settled in it will feel even better b/c of what it took to get there. You are thrifty, creative, and have a beautiful eye for decorating... your new home will be lucky to have you :)) Praying for ya'll and embarassed to say that your transition doesn't look much worse that my reality on a bad day. Love you.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for being so "real". I know you dislike the way things are right now, and I'm sorry that you can't feel settled yet. I believe God has great things in store for you all! I'm proud of you for keeping your positive outlook.