On the bright side, I’m feeling a lot better today.  I’ve had some energy and have been able to get some cleaning done.  Plus, at least one of my sisters is flying out this weekend to help me clean and pack.  I am so grateful to have such supportive siblings!  I’ve talked to two storage places near our new California home and pretty much gotten permission to go ahead with leaving the trailer for a weekend at each of them once I reserve a storage unit.  I’ve chosen a moving company (ABF U-Pack) and priced how much it would cost to pay truck unloaders to help us in case the Elder’s Quorum there isn’t big enough to have people available to help out when we need them. ABF is the moving company we used last time, and although some of our stuff was damaged in-transit, I totally blame our method of packing the truck.  The truck drivers were friendly, helpful, and on-time.  The customer service people on the phone were also very professional and helpful, and answered every question I had before, during, and after the trip.  They knew exactly where our truck was in-transit and since we paid them nothing until the shipment was delivered, I didn’t worry about whether they would show up at the destination or not.  It all went perfectly.

Yesterday Colin Freecycled a ton of our stuff.  We gave away our old brown couch that was falling apart, the baby swing that almost certainly wouldn’t make it through another cross-country summertime move, a broken lamp, our old DVD player that only worked 10% of the time over the last year, a couple of column-esque candle holders that I’ve never figured out how to work into a decorating scheme (especially since we very rarely use candles), our fake Christmas tree, a huge garbage can, and some other odds and ends.  I feel so free!  Colin packed up a bunch of our books, movies, and CDs, and our bookshelves are nearly empty.  I’ve thrown away bags and bags of “stuff” and still have more to go.  I really, really hope we can keep the space we use on the trailer this time down instead of using the whole thing.

I never know exactly what kind of impact ignoring my kids will have until after I'm done with whatever took my attention from them.  After our meeting today I took inventory of the damage.  Crushed goldfish crackers in the freshly-vacuumed carpet (I don't vacuum often, so it's a big deal to have a freshly-vacuumed carpet).  A pen masterpiece on the wall in the hallway (Degen helped me clean that one up).  Mail torn or poked to shreds with Degen's "coloring" technique of stabbing the paper with the writing utensil.  Pen marks on our thank-goodness-it's-washable couch cushion.  And I won't count the half-eaten bowl of cornflakes as damage except to Degen's overall nutrient intake and my grade if this were a home economics class.

Most of this is cleaned up or taken care of by now, but the cleanup along with the bedtime routine which soon followed distracted me so much from my plans that I completely forgot to go to my visiting teaching appointment which I'd been planning for all morning.  My partner is sick today, so I was going to go alone this time.  Obviously, there's a reason we don't go alone…  I just called the gracious lady who I was supposed to visit and she was very nice about it all and was willing to reschedule to next week.  Whew!

On the bright side, we got lots done at our meeting, including some great bonding moments.  The kids were mostly charming and didn't distract us so much that we were unable to get our work done.  The whole experience was uplifting and generally a relief to have two other people help me carry the Primary along. 

About an hour later, Colin got home from a long hard day of teaching and grading and helped me feed and bathe the kids and put them in bed.  Then he ran out the door to the church to input the quarterly home teaching numbers in the church computer.  The poor guy didn't even have dinner!  I married a trooper without a military affiliation.