Well, I was busy yesterday after work with stuff for the move, but I didn't get a chance to write.
Last night I went through all of my clothes, folded them, stacked them on the bed and then tried to fit them all in 3 pieces of luggage.
For the most part, they fit, though it's a tight fit. Weight anywhere between 25 and 30 pounds per bag.
The only problem with that, is that with everything I packed, that didn't include toiletries or shoes or anything else you might pack in some luggage.
Sooo....even though I have gone through my clothes recently and weeded out about 3 paper shopping bags worth to donate/give away, it looks like I might go through again and pare down a bit more.
It took so long to do the clothes last night but it was really necessary.

Tonight, I put the books that I want to ship over in a box and weighed them. It's somewhere between 50 and 55 pounds.
I weighed the pots and pans I want to take (expensive and good quality - might be cheaper to ship than buy new in Egypt) and they weigh about 15 to 20 pounds.
I will need to figure out what else I will ship, because there will be some miscellaneous items from throughout the house. A few kitchen items, some paper effects, etc.
I will get that figured through the next week insha'Allah (God willing).

It's really amazing how much stuff you collect over a period of time. I have a whole apartment worth of stuff, but most of it isn't really useful, or even used. So much stuff is kept for "later on" or "just in case". It's a little silly I guess. I know not everyone keeps things that way, but I guess many of us do. I wonder where this tendency comes from!

I will be going in to get my passport changed - the picture I have in it is from before I started wearing hijab (head scarf) so I'd like to redo that.
There should be enough time to get it processed provided I get in this weekend to fill out the application and turn in the pictures. I'll head down to the post office Saturday morning insha'Allah and take care of that. I believe the processing time right now is running about 4 weeks so I really can't afford to delay doing that.

I was also thinking about redoing my drivers license for the picture, but I'm not sure if I will or not. The passport, if I have to pay the regular fee, is 100 bucks. The drivers license would be around 25 or so. And since I have my international drivers permit, I'm not sure how pertinent it is to have my regular license.
Well, after just checking the international permit, I see that my regular drivers license has to accompany the permit at all times, so I suppose I will get that done.
Unfortunately, the DMV is not open on Saturdays anymore, and their office hours are something like Monday thru Friday, 8 - 5. My work hours are 8 til 4:30, and I work about 35 minutes away. lol
So, I will have to go in to work late or leave early one day to get that done.

I also checked a couple of airlines tonight online to see what their baggage limitations were and what the overage fees are. Delta does not let you check any luggage for free now. They charge 15 bucks for the 1st pc of luggage, 25 bucks for the 2nd pc of luggage, and the 3rd pc is 125 bucks.
I also checked Egypt Air, since it's very likely I'll be flying them, and they are similarly priced for the 3rd pc, though the first two pcs are free.
I'm figuring that the overage is probably fairly standard and so I'll save any further checking until I get ready to book the flight.
Except... ugh. Does that mean I pay the overage fee for each leg of the trip, since I'll be changing airlines? That would be 250 bucks! Ouch. I could buy new clothes for that much money.
*sigh*

Ok, that's it for the night!

Alright, I got it! Yay!
I went after work and got my international driver permit.
I got a little lost trying to find the AAA office, but once I found it, it was no problem.
I had the form filled out before I went, and made sure that I had two passport sized photos with me.
The guy took my paperwork and payment and AAA member info and did some blah blah with it and then put one of the pictures in the permit (which is like a little booklet) and then I was on my way.
So, another thing off of my list of things to do.

I also went through some more cookbooks tonight. I am taking some of my cookbooks with me, but not all of them. For the ones I'm not taking (because I only like a few items in them), I'm copying down the recipes that I like and then I will get rid of (in some way) the books with the rest of the books I'm not taking with me.

I do need to finish up a couple of quilts, one a lap and the other a bed sized. And I really want to finish them before I go, because I don't think I'm taking my sewing machine with me and I don't know how long it will be before I get a machine there. I do hope to get one at some point, it just will probably be a while.
Not that there's alot of use for quilts in Egypt. Though it does get quite cold during the 2 months of winter.
For some reason, the inside of buildings there stays very cold, colder than the outside. At least from what I've read and heard. I think it's because of what the buildings are built with. And no insulation.
I know that hot water bottles will be needed, but I can buy one there. :D

So, tomorrow night could be quilt time. Or, it could be packing clothes in luggage to check available space time. I think the clothes is priority over quilts, but we'll see what happens.

Well, I brought home a couple of boxes from work today to pack some stuff up that I won't use before I leave. I mean, it's not a final packing, but it allows me to get the things out of sight so I don't need to see them and think about what I'm going to do with them. It should be some books and I'm not sure what else.
I need to go through a trial run and pack all the clothes I'm bringing, to see if they'll all fit in the 3 pieces of luggage that I plan on bringing on the plane with me. Because if they don't all fit in the luggage, I'll have to ship some of it. I really think they'll all fit, but we'll see. Sweaters/heavier items take up too much space.
It's really a bit of a pain to do, but Ahmed is telling me I need to have some idea about how much I will ship (that won't fit in the luggage) and so I need to know what won't fit.
I had already planned to ship over my nice pots/pans, since they'll be expensive to buy there in Egypt, and we're hoping fairly cheap to ship. We'll see. I really wanted to bring over my sewing machine, but I just dread bringing over anything that requires electricity. Not only is the wattage different, but the plug prongs are different as well. Pain in the patootie.
So, the pots/pans, my stair stepper (small and not too heavy), my books, and I'm not sure what else to ship. Not alot to be honest. I'll be selling almost everything, and storing a few things at my mom and dad's. A few boxes worth at most. They don't have room to be storing all of my stuff.

So, I have alot of work cut out for me.
I'm thinking to advertise on Craigs List to have a moving sale over one weekend, and people can call for the address and come see things. But it makes me a little nervous. What if there's people who just want to see what I have so they can come back and steal it? I'm sure it doesn't happen that often, I'm sure I'm just being paranoid, but it's possible I guess.
But, I really need to start selling stuff soon. I'm hoping to move at the beginning of March, and that really isn't that long away, for wanting to sell just about everything I own.

I think that's it for posting today.
Tomorrow I'm hoping to go by the AAA office and apply for an international drivers license. They are good for a year and during that time I'll hopefully be getting an Egyptian drivers license. :D

I'm back!

Well, as it seems I'm about to start up some more adventures, I guess I will bring this back up from the depths.

I should be moving to Cairo sometime in the month of March insha'Allah, and so for the time being, I'm hoping if I write about what I'm doing to get ready, it will help move me along. It's a little overwhelming to try to sell off almost everything you own. Not because of having a hard time parting with things, but just the selling part. It's amazing how much junk we accumulate over a lifetime that is not particularly useful or needed. lol

So, I'm back, and hoping to post every day about what I'm doing to get ready.