This weekend flew by. I don’t know WHY, because it wasn’t fun. My husband was on call and spent the weekend at the hospital. I spent the weekend a) cleaning and b) packing and c) cajoling my daughter into helping. I feel like I am making… progress. I was going to write “good progress” but then I look around a lot of things look worse than they did before I started and a lot more things have not yet begun and there is so much I still haven’t even CONSIDERED. I have taken five giant bags of stuff to the donation center and filled our outdoor trash can with trash though, so that’s something.
This week we meet with our realtor about selling our house and I’m a ball of nerves fretting about what she’s going to suggest we do. Her motto seems to be “whatever’s best for your family,” but also I really want to SELL OUR HOUSE, preferably for more than we bought it, and even more preferably SOON. But not too soon, because we can’t move into the new house until late August at the earliest.
I know that everyone who moves has to deal with the impossible logistics of the thing, but THE LOGISTICS ARE IMPOSSIBLE. How does anyone do this?! I don’t even have a full-time out-of-the home job, and yet I feel so overwhelmed! The work I do is cyclical, and we are in the middle of a high-need cycle right now so that’s fun. Although it nice to have a reason to wrench my brain away from moving mayhem for a circumscribed time every day. Also my daughter’s birthday party is coming up (we just ordered the succulent party favors this weekend) (the favors are succulents, as in the little plants, to match the theme), so I will at some point need to make cupcakes and order balloons. Thank you forever to Past Me, who ordered cupcake toppers and succulent-themed decor many weeks ago. Also my daughter and I are going on a vacation, which will be a lot of consecutive days of NOT PACKING yikes, except of course for the time spent packing for the vacation. There’s too much to do and not enough time and I keep waking up every morning at 3:00 am and angsting about things I cannot do at 3:00 in the morning, like call around and see if any movers are available during the general-but-not-specific time we may or may not be moving or go pick up some playground mulch for the playground area or water my ailing outdoor petunias.
OKAY I AM FORCIBLY STOPPING DISCUSSING THE MOVE. This is all positive, happy stuff to worry about! I realize that! I am very fortunate that these are the types of problems keeping me up at night!
Food. Let’s talk about food.
While I would really rather Not Think about food at all right now, a) we do have to eat and b) it is somewhat of a relief to have to turn my mind and then my actions toward something that doesn’t involve cardboard boxes or sorting teeny tiny toys/craft supplies/LEGO into separate piles.
Dinners for the Week of July 17-23
- Cold Noodle Salad with Spicy Peanut Sauce: I saw this recipe and on a whim decided to try it. It’s very outside my norm – we don’t eat a ton of pasta, and I don’t particularly like peanut-related things. But this sounds different and yummy and COLD.
- Slow Cooker Chipotle Chicken Tortilla Soup: It is really, really not soup weather, but this sounds good and I am in a mode of trying to use up things in my freezer, and I currently have the chopped veggies needed to make this soup and half a bag of frozen corn to use up. Plus, I will have cilantro from the cold noodle salad and I so rarely find ways to use all the cilantro.
- Southwest Salad: AHA, here is another way to use up the cilantro! Plus, I have frozen salmon so I can USE IT.
- Szechuan Stir Fry: Peppers are abundant right now, as is zucchini, and my favorite way to combine those veggies (plus onions, plus broccoli) is in this stir fry.
That’s all I can come up with, but I think that’s plenty. Hopefully we’ll have some leftovers to get us through the remaining days.
What are you eating this week?
We do slow cooker soups and meals year-round (no matter their seasonality) because they don’t heat up the house and I don’t have to think too much about them, haha! We are having Greek chicken bowls this week with roasted veggies and faro and some sort of fried rice that I can already see overwhelming me later this week. All the good thoughts for your timing and packing (and especially your vacation with your girl)!
That’s a good way to look at crockpot meals, Lindsay! I will make my soup without another thought to being unseasonal!
Well… I know. Moving is so stressful, last time we did it I vowed I would never move again (so far so good- we’ve been in this house over 20 years.) It always seems like there’s no way to work out the logistics, AND YET everyone manages- so just tell yourself that. Even though you can’t see how this is all going to work out, somehow or other it WILL.
I think i’m going to make that Szechuan stir fry this week, with tofu, although I’ll have to switch out the veggies because my family would kill me if I tried to serve them peppers and onions. But it sounds good!
Thanks for the encouragement, Jenny!
The best part about that stir fry is that it goes with ANY vegetable. Cauliflower would be so yummy in it, chickpeas (which is not a vegetable, but still would be good), green beans, snap peas. Maybe even asparagus??? The sauce is just so spicy and flavorful. YUM.
I have no dinners planned, and I’m not moving. I hope that makes you feel a little better. 🤣😘
It does — and I will be temporarily relocating to your house. 😉
Any time! ❤️😘
For me the thing about moving logistics was that I kept thinking I’d find a perfect way to handle it all, but the reality was that there was no one perfect way forward. Instead it was a “git r done” thing that galled me with its messiness, but ultimately worked once I adopted that attitude. You’re going to do fine. Also, copied that Noodle Salad recipe. Sounds yum.
GIT R DONE. Yes, thank you Ally. This is a good mantra for the next few weeks.
There’s a reason moving is like one of the top three stressful things that happens in a lifetime! You’re totally right to feel overwhelmed, and maybe knowing that will make you able to move forward better? I think I’d be using the packing excuse to order lots of takeout, so you’re doing better than I would 🙂
Oh, there WILL be takeout, LOL! But you’re right, it’s a stressful thing so I can take comfort that it’s not just me.
Hi Suzanne, this move is probably both exciting and exhilarating, I imagine 🙂 I made a gorgeous smoothie today, with bananas, peaches in syrup, coconut milk, strawberries, and a tablespoon of honey 🙂 It’s hard to cook serious meals in this heat, but your chipotle chicken tortilla soup looks mouthwatering (thank you for the great link)!
Yum! That smoothie sounds so summery and light! I hope you try the soup — it’s one of my all-time favorites.
*Both “stressful” and exhilarating, I meant 🙂 You can tell the focus in my head is on “exhilarating” 😀
That’s a jolt of positivity I need, Mira. Thank you. 🙂
When we bought our house, I wrote a series about the process of buying it and I must have written “I don’t know how a person with a 9 to 5 job could do” half a dozen times. The house is only available for viewings in the afternoons! Get to the bank to send a wire! Be there for the home inspection! The closing will be at 2 on a Tuesday! Like? For real? I don’t know how people do it!
IT IS IMPOSSIBLE.
Soooooooo hard to moooooooove. It really is terrible– just a series of overwhelming, stressful, and physically difficult tasks for MONTHS. How fun to take a mother-daughter vacay– hope it does not add MORE stress. It’s especially hard without an exact moving date!! We did not sell our first house when we built our second one (we rented it out instead), so we didn’t have new folks moving in right away, but we did have an uncertain closing/moving date because of construction (which always takes longer than you think), and the UNCERTAINTY! It made things so much worse. I wanted someone to just tell me YOU NEED TO BE OUT BY X DAY so I could make a darn PLAN.
Yes, the lack of a deadline definitely has advantages but also some disadvantages!!! I hope that I am able to relax for the vacation… and also that my husband, who will be home and working, doesn’t have to do too much stuff by himself.
Ugh, I can so relate to the 3 AM task list (none of which can actually be accomplished in the middle of the night!). I sometimes have had luck turning off that incessant voice in my brain by jotting down the list of “must do’s” on a post it or the notes app of my phone.
I think easy, no-brainer meals are the way to go during this season when you are making so many other decisions throughout the day. In previous moves I definitely got to the point of just throwing things in boxes by the end (which made it somewhat exciting to unpack those boxes on the other end!). I hope you and Carla can truly relax and enjoy your vacation together — a mother/daughter vacay sounds amazing!
Speaking of no-brainer meals, that’s what’s on the menu this week (at 2 weeks postpartum): green salad topped with rotisserie chicken and frozen garlic breadsticks, crockpot white chicken chili, frozen lasagna, Costco’s prepared stuffed peppers, and frozen General Tso’s chicken with brown rice and steamfresh vegetables. Easy & delicious!
Your no brainer meals sound amazing! Especially the white chicken chili. I guess I am craving comforting soups!
Ugh. Moving. We bought before selling but since our purchase process took years, we had a punch list of items from our realtor that we started to work on a year out although most were done once we found a house to buy as that lit a fire under us. We put an offer in on like Sept 23, closed at the end of October and listed our house the 2nd weekend of nov. We decluttered and moved a bunch of stuff over to the new place and our realtor did some staging. Then we went to my parents for a long weekend and prayed the house would sell that weekend as we had a not quite 2yo and keeping your house in showing condition with a toddler is basically impossible. The stars aligned and we accepted an offer on the drive back. We did a lot of cosmetic stuff before selling and the staging def helped. But there was low inventory then and there is low inventory now. The only houses that take awhile to sell around us are those in the $800k-1mm range. All this to say I hope the selling process isn’t awful! If you can swing carrying 2 mortgages for awhile, I would try to list after you have taken possession of the new house so you can move some things over. If not, you will make it work!
Meals. Ha. I’ve got nothing since I’m on a flight to SFO now. I get back late thur and then we go to my parents on Monday for a 6 day vacation. So we will scrounge for meals and the boys will likely get pizza while I am gone which I of course 100% support.
The decluttering is going to be the hardest part, I think. We have a lot of stuff, as a family accumulates over a decade plus in a house. And while it works for us, I’m afraid it will look super cluttered and unappealing to potential buyers. But I do NOT want to store things in a storage unit while we sell, so… we’ll see.
Everything looking worse MEANS good progress! If things still looked good, it would not be a good sign for progress.
Is Carla’s birthday party at this house or the new house? Either way, eek, but remember the kids don’t care about what your house looks like, they care about cake and being with their friends and succulents apparently (god, I love your little weirdo who reminds me so much of my previously-little weirdo).
You’re good. It’s all good. And there will be a time after this.
Hahahaha – this made me smile. THANK YOU. Very encouraging!!!
Party is at a place that hosts parties, which is my preferred party location LOL. She is SUCH a little weirdo, and I think she and yours would get along famously.
Our meal plan this week is counting down the days until our big family vacation! And yes we’re planning family meals for that but it’s all fun stuff like tacos and burgers.
Moving is horrendous no matter what, so you’re in good shape. It will happen! Enjoy Carla’s party and mom and daughter vacay!
Here’s how we dealt with the stress of buying a new home and selling the old one – we sold the old house and moved to a rental before buying a new one. On paper that seems ideal. In actuality, it’s trading one nightmare for another AND you get to move TWICE; I do not recommend.
No idea what is on the menu for this week (The Husband does not meal plan…at all) but I know we are having pulled pork (yum!) for lunch tomorrow as he just finished it tonight.
DEEP BREATH. It’s all going to work out… but yeah, I can imagine that you’re up at night thinking about ALL THE THINGS. It’s “happy” stress, but not necessarily fun…
You have a full plate – with work ramping up, eek. I do not envy you. Moving is mind-numbingly icky. It has been 15 years since we moved, but I do remember there just always seemed to be MORE. It will get done. I hope it ends up being easier than you initially thought.
It is a tad cool here for July. I’m thinking about making meatloaf again tonight, because I have half of what I mix in it (sausage and bacon) and I don’t want to see those ingredients go bad. Meatloaf is very popular here and not all that difficult. I made my fav Cuban Sheet Pan Chicken and Rice Bowls last week in excess, so we still have lots of leftovers. Hooray for leftovers.
Hope the birthday party is wonderful. Plus a vacation? Well, I hope you manage to relax.
I’m slightly happy to know that I’m not the only one up at 3am fretting about things that can not be taken care of at 3am. There are a lot of balls in the air, but you can only handle one or two at at time. Right?
We’ve looked at some homes for us to possibly move, and after 26 years in this house, there is much to consider and I would/will be a ball of nerves. Maybe just a match and some gasoline?
We bought our place in 1998, and it was our first place. Before that, we always rented, which is SO MUCH EASIER. I mean, renting has a LOT of downsides, but not having to sell your old place and buy a new one at the same time is a big plus to renting. Sigh. So, I’ve never sold a house that I lived in. A couple of years ago we had to sell my Grandma’s house after she passed away, and that was interesting in a lot of ways because we don’t live in that town. So we had to depend on our realtor to do everything. I mean, we went and we dug through things as best we could, had cousins come get what they wanted, took things, made piles to donate and trash and so on, but the realtor (BLESS HER) took care of ALL of that for us. It was stressful, but as there was no move on the other side of it for us, not nearly as stressful as what you are going through.
I like Ally’s observation that you FEEL like there is a right way to do it, but there probably isn’t. Hang in there. The only way is through it.
I think it’s probably super helpful to use your blog to vent and panic about the move – there is a lot going on! And you are getting through it! You WILL continue to get through it! I have total faith in you. <3 I wish I could come over and help you pack because I love the packing/decluttering part of moving because I AM A WEIRDO.
You are a gift and a treasure, Stephany! That is an excellent personality trait to have! I wish you lived closer too 🙂
So late to the party here, Suzanne, but oh, I feel you. The chaos of moving. Ergh, to say the least. My last move – longer ago than I can believe! – was a move from one place to two different places (long story) and involved coordinating a van to go to destination 1, drop off certain items, then go to destination 2 and drop off the rest. It…actually worked out. Shocking, I know. This will all work out in the end, it just depends on whether you have a relatively boring (hey, it was all okay in the end) or dramatic (you’ll never believe!) story to tell. 🙂 Also, I still think Carla is the coolest kid.