On the Road again (whee!)

[catlinyemaker]

We’re back out in our fiver, settled into a pleasant wooded campground right next to the highway in Harrisburg, PA.  I was a little nervous setting out and setting up (what if we forget something!)  The smooth routines of the spring and summer were noticeably rusty, but eventually we got all settled in a site that is unlevel enough front to back that the trailer is so low on the front legs it looks like it’s kneeling.  We’re using all the chocks, that’s for sure.  We’ve come out early for the Hershey RV Show, America’s Largest, say the promoters (there are three shows that claim the title, but who’s counting.) This week J will have to go back to near-Philly for a day or two to finish up with a customer.  I’ll spend that time putting stuff away in the trailer; when we ‘packed’, we just stacked boxes and bags on every available surface.  It’s surprising how much stuff moves in and out of the camper as we do.  One of the things that I want to look at is stemming that tide, reducing the ebb and flow of things that see more use in the fifthwheel than in the house.

With the current mandate to clean and clear the house, I haven’t been quilting at all.  I haven’t really wanted to; the thought of getting out fabric and tools and stuff during this period of putting things away, packing things up and shipping things out does not appeal.  During the day, the focus is on decluttering and maintenance.  By evening, I want to spend time relaxing; maybe play some Champions Online, maybe watch some TV, read, hang out, or just be a cat rest.  I’m really looking forward to doing some sewing now that we’re on the road again, and if there’s no quilting going on at the house, the stash and tools could move into the camper full time.  Then, instead of packing projects to go on the road, if there’s something I really want to work on at the house I could just move that back from the camper.  The plastic storage boxes that used to hold books in a hall closet have all been emptied; they’ll work great for fabric, and I think they’ll go nicely into the front closet.  If I am lucky, most if not all of the stash ought to fit in the available space (it’s a small stash.)  Two boxes came with us this trip, hastily packed at the last minute after J asked why I didn’t take more fabric along when I was complaining to him that I wasn’t sure I would have everything I wanted to work on.  (That’s another work in progress, just getting stuff done rather than hand-wringing because it can’t be done perfectly.  I was planning to wait to move the fabric until I could get it all into the bins neatly sorted by color and/or style.  I can do that once it’s moved; better some of it should move now and be useful than that it should all wait until it can move perfectly.  Which if I wait for that maybe it never happens.)

I’ve got a little shelf to assemble that should fit in the clothes side of the closet and hold our shoes in better order than the current heap-on-closet-floor system.  In the spirit of organization that is governing my days this fall, I hope to go through the fiver and clear out some never-used stuff.  That seems to be something that full-timers should do regularly, and Lord knows the basement could use a clear-out.
The past month has been great for getting rid of stuff.  92 boxes and/or bags of stuff have either left the house or been packed up to take to auction in October.  We’ve donated quite a bit of stuff to the Salvation Army, sent a ton to the trash pile, sold some.  The goal is a bag or box per day, and the average has been about two per day.  The ticker is currently on sabbatical.  I thought about putting it on hiatus but for some reason that has negative connotations for me.  Sabbatical is the right term.  This is a pause in the work, to revisit my purpose and return refreshed.  This trip is a tangible reminder of why I am doing all this work, not just to have a clean house, but to be able to take more trips, spend more time in the fiver.

We’ll be out for three weeks this time: this first week will be in Harrisburg/Hershey, going to the RV show and relaxing.  My MIL will join us this coming weekend, we’ll all go see the show with some of J’s coworkers who are interested in RVing, and then on Sunday we’ll head to upstate New York near Cooperstown for a week.  MIL’s really gung-ho to see the Baseball Hall of Fame, so we’ll do that and other museums in the area, then head over to the Hudson Valley to tour Hyde Park and its environs.  If all goes to plan we’ll be back in PA at the beginning of October.

 

Comments

Check out that ticker!

[jeansophie.livejournal.com]

It seems to me that you really deserve a little break from the clearing and decluttering--I mean, just look at your progress on that ticker. Woo hoo, you're on fire!!

Re: Check out that ticker!

[catlinye-maker.livejournal.com]

Thanks!!

My problem is my eyes reset too fast, so even though all that stuff is gone it doesn't look like there's been a big impact (wasn't the foyer always this way?) I'm hoping for sort of suddenly waking up one day and everything is put away and we don't have anything we don't love and/or use.

Re: Check out that ticker!

[mallo-forscher.livejournal.com]

Pfft Cat believes that the space fairies come and clean things up and clear out the clutter with their glitter encrusted hammers.

And that ticker doesn't even count the two or three things I've moved out. Course she claims that all the jars I've brought in for making pickled stuff and kraut stuff puts me net even.

Mallo