Moving to Florida

Recently my daughter, Jessica, moved all  her stuff to Gainesville, FL. (She’s working at the University of Florida doing research and is very happy in her new life there!) We loaded up a moving truck with everything in the August heat of Houston. It was a big job, but I was glad to be home to help her. We shopped for things for the 1950’s bungalow she’s renting and found the perfect curtains at Target (of course!). I sewed a fun trim on them to spruce them up and couldn’t wait for pictures of the newly embellished curtains hanging in her new place. One thing led to another, and last weekend I found myself in a fabric shop looking for material to make curtains for her bedroom. What we moms do!

Tom and Jessica work to tie furniture in place in the van

I sensed a lot of "Spaces & Places" moments while trying to get everything to fit in the van

Jess is standing by the ironing board after trim has been added to Target curtains

New bedroom curtains sewn on Saturday ready to mail to my daughter

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Moving Day – Packing your room in less than one day

Recently, my friend Mary got a job offer to become a Math Recovery teacher. She’d be leaving her 1^st grade classroom at one school and relocating to another campus. It was a bit overwhelming to think of moving all her stuff to a new place.

I asked if she’d like help in packing and moving, since I had actually written a book about this! I told her we could get her room ready in one day. She looked at me like I was a bit crazy, but agreed to let me assist.

Two days before Moving Day, I gave Mary a copy of Spaces & Places and asked her to read the chapter on “Packing and Moving.” I also helped her make a list of what was important for her to pack and take along to use in her new job. She made a 2^nd list of packing supplies needed for the move, so we wouldn’t waste any time on Moving Day. And I took photos of areas around her room to help her remember how we’d set up spaces that worked well for her. On Moving Day, we’d tape those pics to the outside of the boxes we packed her materials in.

Friday was Moving Day. Our friend, Christe (who used to be Mary’s teammate), Sara (Christe’s daughter) and I showed up at 1:30 PM on Mary’s last day at school after the kids had left. Little did we know that the custodians would be locking the building at 4 PM and we’d have to be out by then.

Not to worry—we had a plan! See what we did in just 2 ½ hours. Many hands make light work!

Mary and Christe empty the cabinets to prepare for packing

All of Mary’s stuff sorted into piles. Each has a label: math, language arts, office supplies, Martin Elem., etc.

Sara helps us make labels for boxes to be moved. Each will have a photo of the kind of stuff that’s in the box taped to the outside.

Christe cleans out Mary’s files, and Mary gasps with horror that she has to part with stuff she’ll never use again!

Two and and a half hour later… everything Mary keeps is in a labeled box ready for moving

Look at all those containers Mary had!

We’ll put the containers in an XXL ziplock bag and move them to her new building.

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