Sunday, March 20, 2011

Moving On

We did it.

This was the week we made the big move to the little homestead.

Moving is always such a mixed bag of emotions...the purging of belongings, packing of memories, and finding closure with the old in the midst of excitement for the new.

And in the middle of all that poetry there's boxes, boxes, boxes. Boxes to find, boxes to move, boxes to haul up/down stairs, boxes to stack in tipsy-turvy Dr. Seussical fashion and boxes to (eventually) unpack.

We're dealing with those last two descriptions right now. Oh, how I loathe the house when it's in that "forest of cardboard" phase. It's a disaster zone that gets my special kind of crazy going. We spent 15 minutes this morning searching for clean socks and underwear. Seriously.

I've managed to get a few things unpacked, but there are still plenty of boxes to go through. And some things have made it out of their boxes but haven't yet transition to their permanent homes.

Everything is in transition, really...and that includes this blog.

Over the next few weeks you'll notice some changes to the Rational Living blog. Topics du jour will begin focusing on our efforts to live more sustainably on our small acreage, rather than our rationing experiment. There will still be plenty of history lessons as we learn how to expand our home canning, make cheese, raise chickens, make household goods rather than buy them new and the like.

Over the next few weeks, though, we'll be attempting to conquer the cardboard forest. And I imagine that one of the first "new" posts will review the in's and out's of downsizing from 1620 square feet to 940 square feet.

Possession purge, anyone?

--Rational Mama

7 comments:

  1. We moved recently as well. We wanted a more country property so we could raise chickens but we are stuck in the suburbs again but with a bigger yard for a decent sized veggie garden.

    You are right about moving being a difficult time and you described it perfectly. I under estimated how we as a family would be effected by such a 'minor' move...one side of town to the other. But it did effect us and just now, three months later, are we settling into our new abode. The boxes may have been unpacked for a while but it takes time before it starts to feel like home.

    Enjoy your new adventure!

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  2. Perhaps you should hook up a few speakers and blare some crazy music like In'a'gadda'de'Veeta. You can all dance around in your own life craziness :)

    We will hopefully begin the moving soon. The negotiations culminate on Thursday. We're going from 900 sq ft. to 496 sq. ft. So I hear you about possession purging.

    Good Luck!

    You might want to look into rain barrels for the whole homestead thing. We put ours in before we were ever really homesteading and I had no idea how awesome they would be. We literally use them every day and they have killed our water bill!

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  3. I hate moving! I can so empathize with you right now.

    Congrats on the homestead!!! I look forward to reading about your new life. :)

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  4. Congrats! Can't wait to see all your new digs - inside and out!

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  5. Congratulations Rational Family! I keep looking at my house and struggling with how large it is. And knowing that my kids will be moving away at some point the size is ridiculous. If I thought I could sell it I would get it ready to sell and try to do so. Maybe in a few years but definitely by the time the boys move out.

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  6. Thanks for all the encouragement - and Granola Girl: that's a move I'm not sure I could make with kids in tow. Will be interested to hear how it goes!

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  7. Keep the cardboard...it will come in handy with the gardens if you do raised ones.

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