Moving Toward Bliss

This was the rental house we leased for 6 months

while we did our house hunting.

We moved up to North Carolina in December,

relocating from Central Florida.

We moved into our house last week

and bid adieu to this 100-year old home.

I can't say we'll miss it.

There were a number of issues in renting a place that old,

but we made the best of it and muddled through.

The bad thing about leaving,

is that my tomatoes were coming along quite nicely.

 The Romas were growing well and will probably be ready

for picking in a couple of weeks.

I may just sneak by there and pilfer a few in the dark of night

and hope the new renters don't call authorities should I get caught.

 One thing that I've learned is that if you move to get away from something,

you'll never be content in your new surroundings.

It's more advantageous to move toward something,

something that will grow your spirit

and help you appreciate every single day here on this earth.

So,when the first movers never showed on moving day,

we went to plan B and found The Bellhops.

They did a smashing job, working over 6 hours to get our household relocated,

despite the fact that the lift gate on their truck was not working.

This meant that they had to lift lots of heavy stuff up and over the truck threshold.

A second truck with a working lift gate was called into action,

so that we could move our refrigerator, tool box, and lawn mower. 

 This is what we woke up to on Friday morning.

Even though we had purged many items

and sold off or gave away some of our furniture in Winter Haven,

we still had all this stuff with which to contend.

Our new home, at 1400 square feet,

has about four hundred less square footage.

More paring down will be necessary.

We are embracing simplicity and minimalism.

Truth be told, I am welcoming it,

the boys are still wrestling with the idea of parting with some things.

With cool mornings still lingering,

I decided to tackle as much of the chaos as I could get done before lunch.

I set up my tent as a staging area,

so that I could easily define where items would go.

This is a great way to go through items when organizing spaces.

It gives you a boundary, so that you can visualize the amount of room you will have.

 Always focused on recycling and reusing,

I set up empty boxes to house packing paper, foam and bubble wrap.

These can easily be sorted.

 Some boxes were broken down and folded flat.

Larger boxes, like the wardrobe size, are left intact.

All the boxes and materials were offered on Craig's List for free

so that others can reuse them and then pass them on. 

After all, there is always someone moving.

 We'll have a lot of materials to give away,

and the boxes are not yet all unpacked.

This process will be repeated until everything is where it should be.

I'm pleased with this morning's work.

We can now get to the mower

and the stash of items we took down from the walls

to sell on Craig's List.

Let the posting begin.

Slowly but surely, it's coming together

and I am really enjoying the process of simplifying our homestead.

More organizing posts will be coming in the next few weeks

as we refashion this home to be our very own.

It's a humbling and appealing procedure.

This neighborhood is quiet and secluded.

This is what greeted me yesterday morning.

She found the apple tree.

Yes, we are moving toward bliss with every step.

Hope you are feeling your blessings today.

New House series:
The New Homestead
Organized Downsizing
Fan-TASTIC
A Fresh Look
Under the Spell of IKEA
Closet Project