Today Tony touched base with the home inspector we chose. He said we'll plan for next Thursday for an inspection and that he would do a little research on the property and get back to Tony tomorrow morning. The loan guy called Tony today too and asked for a call back, but Tony worked close, so didn't get to call him. Phone calls will be made tomorrow morning to get things figured out. So many things to do. Tony has this weekend off, the girls have a 4-day weekend, so it seems a good time to start formally packing up. This is such a foreign concept to me, I'm still trying to wrap my brain around putting all of our belongings into boxes, sorted by room, stacking them all into a UHaul, and driving them to the new house to be unpacked.
Tony seems to want to do it all in one run, but I don't think that's going to happen. Especially considering we have a playset and the rabbit barn and all of the rabbits and their cages... That's at least one full load to haul right there. I keep thinking about the logistics of it all. The bigger stuff - book shelves and beds, dressers and chairs, the kitchen table and L-shaped bench seat, the turtle tank (a 55-gallon aquarium with aquaponics set up on top), the 29-gallon fish aquarium, and the stands for both, the computer desks, the shelving units, the vanity (which has no place in the new house, but I don't want to get rid of it either). It seems from the perspective of packing, it would be easier to pack up all the small stuff first and then load up the furniture and big stuff last. But from the perspective of unpacking, it would seem that the big stuff should really be moved in and set up first. This would work if it was all in one load because the last things in would be the first things out of the moving truck... but if it doesn't all fit you end up with a truckload of boxes of stuff that you have to unload to go back to get the big stuff. And this is when my Asperger's really kicks in and I start doing "the hamster wheel" where my mind is going and I don't get anywhere. I really need a written itinerary of everything that needs to be done. We need to pack up the books in order to ready the shelves for moving. We need to lower the water level in the fish and turtle tanks. We need to start packing up the clothes we won't need right away. At what point do I take my framed art off the wall? I mean I don't want to feel like I'm living out of boxes, tripping over them throughout the house as they stack up, but I don't want to put things off too long and be scrambling (though I suspect that's what will happen).
On the plus side, I do intend to use the moving boxes as the base for my Back To Eden garden plans. Enough boxes to move an entire household should be plenty to start a garden I should think. The problem will be having enough compost and manure to fill it all. The rabbits only produce so much, and I doubt Tony will want to spend the time to bag it all up and move it with us... That seems a little silly (from his perspective) though I think it's perfectly reasonable.
Today the property officially got changed from "for sale" to "active contingent." I keep looking at the listing photos. This place just feels like "home" to me and I'm beyond excited to move in and start the next chapter of our lives. I have so many ideas that my head is spinning. But more than anything, I'm just thrilled to find such a beautiful place. I love the little farm house. I realize it's fairly small for our large family right now, but on a realistic note, #1 is 15, and #2 is 13 - it won't be long until they're both graduating high school and wanting to move out. As quickly as we filled our nest, it will eventually empty too. And once several of the kids have moved on and started their adult lives, the house will remain a manageable size for us over the years. I can't help but feel like this home is where I want to grow old.