packing update

[supercheesegirl]

Last night I finished with the Stuff Under The Bed. That was good. I found a box or two of complete knicknacky bullshit, most of which I am happy to get rid of. So I now have about an eighth of a box of knicknacky bullshit to keep, and another entire box of knicknacky bullshit to dump. That's an accomplishment, there. And the stuff I'm keeping includes my Worf and Raphael and Samurai Jack action figures. Yah.

Jorn has taken two trash bags full of stuffed animals over to the new place. There's at least one more trash bag full of them, and maybe two baskets of small ones as well (I need at least one more basket--when I put the little ones in baskets, they're containable and much more displayable). These are the ones we need to keep. I have a crate and a box full of ones it's breaking my little heart to get rid of. Does anyone have small children in their lives who might want these guys? I've got beanies, fluffy bears, happy bunnies, the works.

Last night I also went through a box of random papers. A lot of it--a LOT of it--I was able to get rid of. I honestly don't need five rough drafts of my full masters thesis, so I just kept the one Fred wrote comments on and one clean one, and was able to dump the rest of that paper. Got rid of a lot of cards people sent me three years ago, stuff like that. I also kept a lot of cards, and decided it was okay for me to keep postcards. This is a good thing. I have a thing about postcards, you know. I designated an envelope the Postcard Envelope and just kept putting them in there. I have quite a collection. It would be nice to get a book with clear pages to insert the postcards into, so that I can see both fronts and backs of them. Perhaps organize them by datestamp, or by geographical location. Hmm. Anyway, I put all the correspondence and other papers I wanted/needed to keep into an organizer that Elan gave me that was practically empty. I can't throw away letters that Walt sent me, after all, or stuff from Rhett, or nice comments people gave me about my thesis reading.

The last big thing I did last night was organize photos. I honestly had not put any pictures in my photo album since Rhett's wedding in June 2004. Pictures from last August's birthday party, Bob Brown's wedding, Portsmouth last Novermber, tons of stuff. And because I always save programs and maps and ticket stubs to put with the pictures in the album, I had huge piles of stuff sitting around. I went through almost all of it, put it in order, put it in the album. Found some things I'd removed from the album or found later that needed to go back in earlier sections, and put that away. Now the album is actually caught up through my latest roll of film. Holepunched stuff that's more recent than that so it wouldn't get lost. Put a huge envelope of double prints in the kitchen so people can take them if they want (huge, like going back to before we moved to Boston). This all really had to get done--I didn't want to move the mess, I wanted to have it organized and put away before I moved it. I need to do something with all my negatives that are sitting around--I hate to trash them, but honestly I can scan any picture I have, right? And if I keep the negatives with the pictures that doesn't do any good as a backup if the house catches fire. So I should just trash them. Next I need to clean up all my movie ticket stubs (I'm a packrat, shut UP) and put them in the movie ticket box. My room is now looking not just messy but like someone is moving, which is a major improvement.

I have the longest list of stuff to get at Target this weekend. To my credit, I have clipped a notepad into my day planner and I'm keeping track of all the stuff we need, because there's just so much. Trying to be careful with spending so I won't have to put it on my mastercard, but I think that'll be okay. It's seriously that much stuff.

Jorn's almost done packing his cds, which when you've got 2500 cds is a monumental task. I'm really proud of him. He's been working so hard, and so not living down to my expectations of him. Seems like he really understands what this means to me, and he's really trying. I could not be luckier.

Comments

[bulleteyes.livejournal.com]

You and I are going through the same thing! I've got to pack a huge house I've lived in for over 20 years and fit it into a nifty but much smaller three bedroom apartment. I'm going a little nutty. Okay, nuttier . . .

Eep.

[supercheesegirl.livejournal.com]

But I've only been in my place for two years, so where does all this stuff come from?? :)

[bulleteyes.livejournal.com]

Maybe you are too young to have used wire hangers for your clothes but if you are not, remember how you can put 5 in your closet and two weeks later you have 17 or 18 of them? Things breed. I'm convinced of it.

[supercheesegirl.livejournal.com]

Nope, I still have wire hangers. Not only do they breed, I think they feed on the plastic hangers.

[woodwardiocom.livejournal.com]

Next I need to clean up all my movie ticket stubs and put them in the movie ticket box.

-You might find my brother's Movie Diary interesting . . .

[supercheesegirl.livejournal.com]

Neat! A woman in my book art class last semester took all her old ticket stubs from movies she'd seen with her husband (it was how they met and something they did regularly) and scanned them, blew them up, cropped them to be the same size, and printed them into a book. It was a really cool project. I just keep mine--I always plan on making a ticket collage or something, since I just have tons, and not only from movies, but I never do. When I see a movie and then buy the soundtrack, though, I put the ticket in the cd case.

[lizabethanqueen]

I've only been here a year and I have no idea where all this crap came from. At least you have some help with it all. I have to get it all done on my own by Saturday...

[supercheesegirl.livejournal.com]

Ugh, I'm sorry. I know my situation could be a whole lot worse--I've got a month to do it, I'm only going two miles away, anything I forget I can pick up from Dann later, I have Jorn to help me and lots of people coming over at various times to carry stuff. But I'm not taking off any time to get this done, which in some ways is good and in some ways isn't. I sort of wish I had a few just full days to work on packing, rather than all my nights and weekends for the entire month.

Good luck with your move!

[lizabethanqueen]

Yeah I think doing it all at once is best. I'm devoting all of tomorrow to getting everything I don't need packed up. I've only got a few days but I'm only going across the parkign lot.

[birdmaddgirl.livejournal.com]

i keep all my movie stubs too!! i thought i was the only pack-rat-freak who did this, so i'm glad to have company. (i keep mine pasted into a very small notebook).

i know you are trying to get rid of stuff, not add more, but i thought you'd like to know, just in case, that the new england comics in harvard square has small howl's moving castle posters available for free. there are tons of them sitting in boxes right by the door. i know you really liked the movie; so if you wanted a poster, you should go there. = )

[supercheesegirl.livejournal.com]

New England comics, not Newbury comics? Is it the one that's in the basement on the same street as the Tower Records?

[birdmaddgirl.livejournal.com]

new england comics is on eliot street, sort of just around the corner from charlie's kitchen and next to twisted village (it is on the ground level). does that make sense? giving directions in harvard sq. is such a pain!

for reference, the one next to tower records, in the basement level shop, is million year picnic.

[supercheesegirl.livejournal.com]

ok, then i have no idea where new england comics is. what else is on eliot street?

[sleepyworm.livejournal.com]

I know the comic shop you're talking about; I'll try to stop in there and grab a poster maybe tomorrow. Funny Ha-Ha is playing at the brattle, so I'll be nearby.

[supercheesegirl.livejournal.com]

You're the best! Thanks, sweetzor!