Our moving truck arrived. All 212 boxes were stacked in our living/dining room. The furniture is huddled together, with just enough space for us to wiggle over to it. It’s nice to sit on upholstered chairs, after more than a week of lawn chairs indoors. We started unpacking the boxes right away. The first night we did about a dozen. It felt like an insurmountable task to do 200 within the next couple weeks.

BUT THEN, the next day (yesterday) WE DID 100! Now it looks like home a bit more. The furniture is still huddled together, but there is space around it to walk. We left a big aisle to haul large boxes through. And we learned again a universal truth. Taking small bites of a huge task makes it easier to face the work. We got speedier because we put the studio boxes in the studio, and plowed through them. About half the boxed stuff is now on my shelves. The rest of the studio boxes are stacked in the closet.

We put 3 huge wardrobe boxes and 4 boxes of clothes for the dressers, in the bedroom. Getting the big, easy to put away stuff out of the way gave us a boost of cheer. You know which drawers you keep your drawers in, dont’cha? That’s a fast task, like putting away the laundry. We grabbed all the kitchen boxes, and loaded dishes right into the dishwasher. Six loads of plates, glasses, silverware later, I now have to decide where to put the random pieces. Of course the biggest cupboards got dinnerware. But glass bowls we use once a month are still on the counter. I hate to use easy to access shelves for them. But the cupboards are a bit higher than the last house, and I can barely reach the top shelves. A decision must be made. So, I’ll go do an easy thing until I can decide. Brains take longer to use than muscles.

All the muscle intensive work is first on the agenda today again. I hope to do another 50 boxes. Near the end we will be faced with more decisions, so we’ll get slower. For now, our backs are strong, our feet are in drive,  and boxes don’t know the end is near.