GETTING THINGS IN LINE

Chip keeps saying, "Shouldn't we rent a store room?"

I keep saying, "What would we put in it?"

With 13 days until we move, we still don't know where we'll be living. As strange as it may seem, things could change in the next two weeks that will affect our decision. If we have a contract on the business (a strong possibility), our ultimate timeline for leaving the beach would have a date at the end and give us a timeline for housing. A four-week crash pad has different requirements than a four-month crash pad.

But now that we have an actual moving date and no longer have to show the house, we're in full jettison mode (not to be confused with full Jetson mode). Every time we leave the house, we take something to give away, to throw away or to recycle. Some days I feel about as organized as the lines in that photo. Other moments, opening an empty cabinet, I feel like an efficiency expert. I do amusing things to clear out the clutter: make peach Jell-o and drink green tea to clear the pantry; clean the downstairs shower to use up the last of the Clorox spray; take vitamins so I don't have to throw them out; eat dried apricots with the last of the Shredded Wheat so I don't have to pack them. Soon our meals will consist of peach Jell-o and dried apricots washed down with a green tea and Clorox elixir.

We have two staging areas: the keeper room that holds only what will go onto the boat and the channeling room where things wait to be shipped out elsewhere, to Chip's mom, to my sister, some clothing to be distributed to anyone who wants them.

If it's not going on the boat, it's going out the permanent door. Every day we lighten our load, and the light at the end of this tunnel gets brighter.

UPDATE:
--Two new people have expressed interest in Isabella, one coming from Maine the week we're moving.
--We hope to get the last soft spot filled tonight so we can paint her decks this weekend.
--Four business prospects are now in the last stages of arranging financing prior to making offers.
--I emailed a magazine editor to confirm she had received an article I submitted in May. She said, "Oh, it's in the July issue." LOL