Stayed late at work, stopped by two hardware stores on the way home looking for a drawer slide thingy since one of the drawers in the dresser won't slide in all the way. Couldn't find the right size so I'll have to look elsewhere.
Went through some desk stuff. Got my taxes ready to send in with a note to my accountant about taxes while I'm out of the country. Balanced checkbook, which doesn't necessarily have anything to do with the move, but needed to be done since I hadn't done it in 2 months.
Tired and tired and tired and I don't have enough time. My mind is so busy with everything that I'm just exhausted all the time. They are trying to get alot done at work before I go (read, I have to write procedures for tasks I inherited but which never had procedures written out before, plus all the miscellaneous stuff they can think of that they want done before I go), so I'm very busy with a full mind at work as well.
After tomorrow, just two more weeks of work.
Less than three weeks til I'm on a plane headed East.

I thought I was going to work on packing things tonight (figuring out more regarding packing), but my apartment really needed some attention. It has been getting a bit ignored as of late, and I'm also stirring up alot of dust etc., so tonight was spent with some cleaning.
Not *enough* cleaning mind you, but I had to do some.
:D
Insha'Allah tomorrow I will get back to more move things.

I did change the addresses for Jake's magazines today. Did that online. Really the web makes many things so much easier and faster. Though I know easier and faster isn't always good in life.

Three weeks from today I'll be on a plane. I'd be flying over the eastern half of the U.S. about now I suppose.
Just three weeks.
21 days.
I couldn't stand the time apart from my husband, it seemed like it took forever for this day to come, but now that it is approaching, it seems like I don't have enough time to do everything. lol
I need the warp speed to slow down a bit.
:D
I could definitely use a session in a hot tub and a massage!!
I'll "settle" for a hug from my husband in three weeks instead insha'Allah.
*hearts*

Busy busy busy today.
After getting home from work (after a stop at the grocery), I took a short rest to have a snack and browse online a tiny bit, and then I got busy!

I made a blogger page to list the main items that I'm going to be selling. That included making the blog to start with, then uploading pictures, then figuring out how to edit the posts to put writing with the pictures, and editing again to add more writing, and taking more pictures which I didn't get previously (I still have 1 to post).
This all took several hours, though you wouldn't know it by looking at the page.
lol
Anyways, I'll make a post on Craigslist with a link to the blogger post for pictures/pricing.
Comments here on how you think it looks or anything about it are welcome.
The website is here:

http://www.mgsales.blogspot.com/

(I tried to make the link clickable but it wasn't working, so you'll have to copy/paste)

So, that's it for tonight.

I went through the house this evening and took pictures of all the furniture and items that I want to sell which I didn't get pictures of before.
I think I'm done with taking pictures but not positive.
I'll upload them in just a bit and after Heroes finishes in 50 minutes I'll re-size the pics and get them ready to put online.
We'll see what happens from there.

Made a 3rd dr appt today. The last appointment with my allergy doctor. I'll miss her bunches when I go to Egypt. I wish I could somehow take her with me. lol
Maybe I can get her to come visit once a year. :D

Gah. That is my current state.
Too
Much
Stuff.

Went through Jake's room for several hours today. His dad came by this evening and picked up the majority of stuff that is going to be going to his dad's house. There's still clothes and some stuff in his dresser drawer, but for the most part it's gone.

It appears that shipping is just going to cost too much money, and I'm probably going to be selling or giving away even more than I originally thought. I mean, I'm already trying to sell just about everything, but there were some items that I thought I would bring over - nice/expensive pot and pan set, and a few other things, but I think it's just going to be too expensive.

And though I plan to put my furniture up for sale on Craigslist (and I better do that SOON!!!) what about all the odds and ends in the house? It's just so much and I feel really overwhelmed about it.

From this point on I'm really going to have to work every night, pretty much non-stop, until I can get everything done. Maybe I'll finish up early, which would be good, but I only have 3 1/2 weeks til I go.

I don't think I ended up doing much Saturday towards the move? I can't remember.
Oh... I met Jake and his dad and step mom at the post office so that we could apply for Jake to get a passport. I filled out the form before I got there and then we had to sign in front of the guy there and Jake had his picture taken and that was that. It should arrive at his dad's place in 3 or 4 weeks.

One doctor appointment this week. On Thursday. One the week after. And one I still have to make.
Oh, picked up a change of address form at the post office while I was there on Saturday. I should have picked up two, but wasn't thinking about it. I filled out the one I got for myself and I will get another and fill it out for Jake.
I changed the delivery address for a magazine that I get, so it should be going to the folks now, and I need to change the address on Jake's magazines to his dad's house.
The one I did for myself I did online, but I'm not sure I can do Jake's online. I'll check it out.

*sigh*

Friday part 1

Yesterday I went through and typed up all the measurements for my furniture that I hope to sell, and also listed prices for everything. Not sure if the prices are what things will actually sell at, but I did my best.
There are quite a few items that I think I would have better luck selling at a specialty store perhaps. But... that requires time and travel on my part and I don't know if I'll get to it.

Little stressed about not having any idea yet about a shipping company and what I need to do to get my stuff ready to ship. Just have to wait to hear.

Have two more doctor appointments made. One for the 26th and one for the 5th.

Last day of work is the 13th. Can't remember if I mentioned that before or not.

Lots to do.
Stress.
Stress.
Stress.

Today... lets see....

Trying to figure out some things about my flight. It's Air France but the flight is being operated by Delta. So do I check in at the Delta Gate or with Air France? lol
I figured out the type of plane, and yay, there are monitors on the back of every seat, so that should at least help make the first 11 hour leg a little more bearable. I'm actually hoping to be sleeping for a good portion of the flight insha'Allah.

I measured my furniture tonight so that when I list it to sell I can say dimensions. I don't know why I didn't think to do it before. So that's done. Now I just have to figure out pricing for everything, which is more difficult than I would like. I can't remember what I paid for some things, and though I know they lose value the minute you purchase most items, they're still worth something, even though people want to pay as little as possible if they are buying it from you.

And I need to post on Craigslist to have a sale for everything, but I don't want to have people coming over when it's raining because that's a little messy. And it's supposed to be raining this weekend. And I only have so many weekends left before I go. Is it rude to ask total strangers to take their shoes off when they come in your house? I don't want people's dirty shoes tracking all over the place, especially if it's been raining.

I'm thinking I'll put up a poster or something at work and see if anyone at work is interested in anything. That would be nicer than dealing with strangers. We have just under 50 people at work, so you never know, maybe I can sell a thing or two.

Actually, someone I know who is moving put up a blog with pictures/pricing for everything she is selling. I thought it was a neat idea to have everything on one page that way. I'm considering it, but.... would I just link to it in a Craigslist post?

I have a feeling that I will be donating at least a few items to a local mosque that could use items to give to people who are in need. As positive as I would like to be that I will sell everything, I know there will be odds and ends that just might not sell. Which is fine.

You know in the movie The Fifth Element where they are going to fly and they get into these little sleep cube thingies and then the flight attendant comes around and presses some button and puts everyone to sleep? I wish they could do that for flights now. lol
That would make flying on long flights much easier.

Okay, enough rambling for today. Not sure what I'll get to for tomorrow. I'll think about it tomorrow.

Finally!

Well, the date is confirmed and the tickets have been purchased, alhamdulillah! :D

I want to take a second to thank mom and dad who have helped alot so far. I'm on the phone with them sometimes more than once a day with questions and thoughts and worries, and they have really just helped so much. :D

Also, not to butt religion in, but I have to thank God as well. This took a long time to happen and I knew it wasn't going to happen until the time was right, even though I wanted it long ago. So, I guess God decided now was the right time. Yay!!!

So... today:
We got the tickets. Flying out mid March.
Mailed off the 30 day notice to my landlord.
Got my new passport in the mail. It was actually kind of amusing. I received two envelopes in the mail today. I thought one of them contained some thread I had ordered through the mail, and didn't look at who it was from before I opened it. After opening the envelope I saw that it had my passport, but there were two holes punched through it and all they had done was stapled the second photo I had enclosed with the passport application to the second page of my old passport. Man oh man I was upset and thinking that I was going to call someone up and give them an earful, especially since I knew they had cashed my check and everything.
I decide to open the second envelope and it was the new passport. lol
I guess they mail you the old one back as well as sending you the new one. I don't know why they didn't just mail them in the same envelope. And I thought they kept the old one but I guess maybe they only keep it if you are turning it in because it expired.
Anyways, yay for new passports. And the picture is okay too. Phew!

By the way, I'm flying Air France. If anyone has any experience with them, let me know. I've heard both good and bad.
The first leg of the flight, 11 hours worth, will go straight from SFO (San Francisco), leaving around 4:30 p.m., to CDG (Paris) and then have a 2 hour layover and change of planes, then a four and a half hour flight into Cairo. It should be landing around 7:30 p.m. insha'Allah.
I had a chance to fly Lufthansa, which I really really really really wanted to do, but if I did that, there would have been a 12 hour layover in Frankfurt, and it would have put me into Cairo at 3:30 a.m. Neither one of those things sounded great, so Air France it is.

Thanks everyone for reading.
=)
I hope you're as excited for me as I am.

Um... busy day and I'm tired and my brain is done for. lol

Gave 30 days notice to my landlord.
Will let work know tomorrow that my last day should be March 13th insha'Allah.

Started a little bit in Jake's room, but just a bit. We really need to get moving now!

Will try to find out about my car tomorrow.
Will try to find out about flight plans tomorrow.

omg I'm moving!
lol

Sunday part 3?

I can't remember if I made a part 2 or not. lol

Well, the exciting news for the day is that I believe we have a date set for the move! Hurrah!
This is just dependent on what is the best date for the ticket price, but it should be sometime around March 17th insha'Allah.
I am so happy and so excited and so scared. :D
Tomorrow I will write the letter for my landlord giving my 30 days notice and then on Tuesday I will let my boss know that March 13th will be my last day at work. Yippeeeeee!!!!!

In other news today, I showed my car to someone. They seem interested but want to have a friend look at it. I'm willing to sell them the car at a little bit lower price than I wanted for it, because I know them.
But, the car does need something fixed. I hope it's just spark plugs or something like that, nothing major. But I have to find someplace to take it to and that is always a pain. They want to charge you to look at your car, and then want to charge you to do all kinds of things to it.
And how do you know who to trust?
I am going to see if Jake's dad knows someone that he trusts. I'll try to figure that tomorrow.
Anyways, I loved the car and it's run really well since I bought it in 2001. And I would recommend a Hyundai to anyone. They are inexpensive and run wonderfully. I've had a few things I had to replace/fix, but it's at 105k miles now, and still running fine. Except for that thing that needs fixing. Which I don't know what it is. lol
I hope its next owner will like it as much as I did.

Oh, mom, I keep forgetting to ask, can you guys mail me my umbrella back? lol
I left it in your trunk when we came to visit in December and forgot to take it with me when we were at the airport on the way home. I wouldn't ask since I'm moving, but it's been raining alot and though I don't use it often, it would have come in handy a couple of times recently.
It's black with mickey mouse figures on it. :D

Sunday part 1

Well... lets see....

Friday night I came home and my shoes finally came that I ordered from Clark's on superbowl Sunday. They fit well and it's like walking in the most comfy slippers, so I'm happy about that. Other than that, just did housework, nothing towards moving.

Saturday I managed to get the car in for an oil change. I have a couple of people interested in buying it and it needed (possibly still needs) a little bit of work.
They replaced both the air and oil filter I believe, and also the windshield wiper blades.
It's possible my spark plugs are needing replacement, but we shall see.
The plan today is to get it washed (even though it will rain) and vacuum out the inside.

Jake and I are both off tomorrow for the holiday and I think that will be a good day to start making decisions in his room.

I was thinking yesterday about the fact that when I leave here and get on the plane for Egypt insha'Allah, I will not have any keys on me. No house key, no car key, no desk keys, no keys at all. And it made me feel a bit.... strange. Like I would have no home. Which is probably silly but if you think about it, when was the last time you could say you didn't have any keys? They are a symbol I suppose, and one I guess we don't think much about. But what do they represent? Ownership? Belonging? Hmmm....

Friday part 1

Well, I didn't write yesterday, and someone was nice enough to point that out to me (love you sweety), so I am writing a short update this morning and then insha'Allah I'll post later tonight about today.

Well... last night I went through some things from a drawer in my upstairs desk. Mostly old calendars and address books to see if I needed any information from them, which of course I didn't. It was interesting to see the things I wrote down from day to day though, perhaps thinking at some point that they might be of interest? Anyways, those will get tossed.

I'm still amazed at all the things I have kept over the years.

This weekend I'll go through the old cards/letters that I have kept through the years. I don't think I'll toss any of those though. There's not a lot else in that desk. Some odds and ends. Actually there's a bunch of old school work and other assorted items but I went through them a couple of weeks ago. That's the stuff that I suppose will be stored at mom and dads.

And I really need to get to work on finishing the quilts!!!

Got my new drivers license in the mail today. Doesn't look too bad. Though I somehow look like a um... what position is it in football that has the wide shoulders? Or is it all of them? lol
It's just the way my scarf is draped I guess.
But, glad to have that done.

Went though old bank statements and tax returns tonight and will shred the stuff I don't need when I'm on break at work tomorrow.

Might have a buyer for my car. We will see insha'Allah.

Also found a home for the last couple of years of National Geographic that I've had sitting around. I won't be getting the subscription in Egypt, but I will have to try to remember to look at the issues online. Not quite the same as looking at them in print, but at least I can still access them. I love the pictures and I really do learn a lot.
=)

Supposed to have a dr appt in the morning (another in the list of getting all my dr appts out of the way before I move) but I'm going to have to reschedule. I'll be going in on Friday to get some medical tests done. Normal stuff but it just needs testing before I go. Not sure when I will reschedule the appointment for but I hope they can get me in before I leave. I guess there should be enough time yet.

Well, today was interesting.

I received a message on my cell phone while I was at work. When I checked the message, it was a lady from the passport office asking me to call. I had a feeling I knew what it was about.
So, I gave her a call and she asked if the head covering I wore was for religious purposes and I said yes, and then proceeded to explain that even though I had asked the lady in the post office if I had to sign a paper stating so and send it with the application, the postal worker said she had never heard of it and I didn't need to. Whoops!
So, I told the lady on the phone that I could write one up real quick and fax it over so that's what I did.
She had quite a thick accent. Sounded all kind of... Boston or something. Was amusing. :D
Anyways, she was nice and I'm glad that they ask for your phone number. Who knows how long stuff could be delayed if they couldn't call your or email you.

I stopped by my medical place after work to pick up my contacts which came in last week. I'm now stocked for a good 6 months or so. Yay. I wonder if they're cheaper or more expensive in Cairo. Maybe I should have waited to buy them. lol

Also went by Kohl's to check prices on a few things. I wanted to stock up on some underclothes before I go and I am not in the habit of shopping at Kohl's so I didn't know what kind of pricing they had.
They were supposedly having a sale on bras, however buying one at full price and the second at half price doesn't seem like much of a sale when the cheapest bra you can find is 30 bucks. Why do they have to be so expensive? Geesh!
I did find some cute shoes. Most of them were too expensive for me to want to buy, but they had a couple of cute cheaper pairs that I will think about and most likely not buy. lol
We shall see. I'm very short on money at the moment.

Going to go through my small collection of jewelry, which is mostly some earrings and watches. Nothing worth of any value, but I don't know if I want to cart it all to Egypt or find good homes for it. I went through a couple of years ago and got rid of a bunch of things so there's not too much left. And I don't particularly wear anything except my watch and a ring. Not alot of point in wearing earrings if you have to keep them covered under a scarf all day.

Found a few good websites tonight regarding travel and packing lists and fare finders, etc etc.
Read and bookmarked for later.

Cleaned out yet more drawers. I'm going to bring some things in to work. Basically some art/craft stuff that Jake doesn't want. There's someone at work with young kids, and if they don't want it I know they can donate it to their school for use.

Even though I don't always write alot in here, there's alot of planning that goes on in my head and trying to figure out schedules for things. It's just not always stuff to write about.

Still need to go through Jake's stuff with him. Still haven't figured out the luggage exactly. I know I'm only taking two bags and the rest of everything will be shipped. I just need to figure out how much I will put in my bags (by weight and volume) and try to get as much as I can in the bags by weight limit, since we'll be paying for the extra that gets shipped. Did that makes sense? lol

I'm not sure about the rest of the week but I have some items to put on ebay or craigslist. Some collectible stuff. I'm not looking forward to figuring out the pricing and dealing with selling the items, but it has to be done sooner or later.

We shall see what the week brings!

Went through some more drawers.

Tried to fix a couple of problems with my dresser drawers. Fixed one and didn't fix the other. I think I need a new piece of plastic to go on the end of the rail thingy.
I just think I might get more money for it when I sell it if it isn't broken eh?

Won't be getting a travel date for a couple more weeks yet. At that point we decide when I give my 30 days. So at least 6 or more weeks til the move. Which means I don't need to hustle quite as much as I thought I did.

Found out that I won't need to pay a fee to cancel my cell contract with Verizon since I'm moving out of their service area. When I was talking to the lady she asked where I was moving to and when I told her Egypt, she said that was definitely out of their coverage area and therefore I wasn't required to pay the cancellation fee. So, yippee for that.

I need to clean my car up a bit before selling it. And I keep forgetting to get new windshield wiper blades for it. Which would come in really handy when it's raining. Like now.

Well, the outing we were going to go on today (to the tech museum) was postponed, so I was able to get some things done today at home.

I went through some drawers and organized things and found things to give away or toss. I found magazines that I had put markers in to copy recipes or websites from and so I copied or typed up all that stuff.

I also finished, finally, typing up all the recipes that I had copied out of cookbooks I borrowed from the library. There were alot today. But I like typing and I guess it's good practice anyways.

I think Jake and I are going to have to try to start going through his stuff this weekend, but he didn't get here til late today and he is going with his father for a while tomorrow, so I guess it won't get done til later in the day tomorrow. I'm not sure how much room he has at his dad's stuff for things, or what he wants to take. I guess we'll see.

Well, Thursday I got my passport application mailed off. I ended up paying for the expedited processing just to be safe. Hopefully that will come back in a couple of weeks.
I also got some more recipes typed up from the cookbooks that I'm not taking with me. I'm actually done with the books, but have a few copied pages out of books from the library. I might scan them in instead of typing them up but I'm not sure.

Yesterday.... really didn't do anything at all towards the move. Well, I got a few boxes. That took all of a minute. lol

Today... not sure. Going out for the day in a couple hours, so if anything it will be tonight. I'll post later tonight insha'Allah if I get anything done.

Went to the eye doctor this morning to make sure the eyes were okay before leaving for Egypt.
My prescription has worsened just a tiny bit, but otherwise everything was okay. I ordered some contacts while I was there. I'm not sure where I will order them in Egypt and I figured I might as well get some to last at least a few months.

Went after work to Walmart and had my passport picture taken again. The other one was just too horrible looking. This one looks better, though it does make me look like a thug. lol

Not much at home tonight trip wise. Cleaned out a few drawers. Found a mix tape full of good 80's stuff. Ah, the memories!

I would have done more, but I've been neglecting the dishes so that took some time, as well as some laundry. And a tiny bit of vacuuming.

Tomorrow I hope to go down to the post office on my morning break and mail off the passport application. I'm considering paying for the expedite but I just don't want to pay 60 more dollars on top of the passport app fee. Hmmm.... we'll see what happens tomorrow.

Well, Monday turned out to be a day of rest of sorts, since I didn't really get much accomplished towards the move. Only a few unproductive phone calls regarding passports and drivers licenses.

However, Tuesday (today) turned out to be an excellent day for getting things done, though not quite as productive for putting in hours at work. lol

I was supposed to have a dentist appointment this morning, but decided to cancel and try to go to the dmv instead to get a new license. Well, actually, I went online to the dmv site and was trying to make an appointment, since it's alot easier that way, no waiting when you get to the dmv. I checked the first appointment available, and saw the date as the 3rd (todays date) at 8:50 am. I thought, wow, perfect!!! So after I dropped Jake at school, I went to the dmv. I was there about 20 minutes early but figured I'd go in and just fill out the form and wait a bit. When I got to the counter, the lady asked how she could help me and I told her I had an appointment. She didn't see my name on the list and I gave her my confirmation number. She said it was for MARCH 3rd, not February 3rd. Oops. lol
I was doing the online appointment thing after having been awake 15 minutes and I guess I missed the month on the page.
She said I could go ahead anyways and fill out the form and just wait, so that's what I did.
Filled out the form. And waaaaaaaaited. Not as bad as some post offices I suppose, but 40 minutes was more than enough for having to wait there. However, I do have to say, it's a nice place to really get a feel for how extremely varied people are in just about every way possible. I try not to stare outright, but I really love people watching and that's just a great place to do it. :D
Anyways, they finally called my number and I went and handed in the paperwork, 22 dollars and they took my picture. New license should come in 3 to 4 weeks.

I decided that I really needed to get down to the post office and get my passport redone, because time is running short in terms of waiting weeks for things, however the local passport office didn't open til 10 am and they close at 3:30.
I told my boss this afternoon that I really needed to go get it done because of the time thing, so she said it was fine and I left work early to do that.
I had already filled in the form online and printed it out, so I didn't necessarily have to turn it in there, but I had some questions and I needed the picture taken anyways.
The lady in the passport office was totally great and answered all my questions. I'm going to mail it overnight and pay for overnight return delivery. The actual processing is running 3 to 4 weeks right now, so it should work out just fine.
We went into a back room to do the picture. After taking the first one, she asked me to look at the camera and see if I liked it and it was awful so she took it again. The second picture, from what I saw at first, seemed fine. Light smile and all that. The only problem is that my scarf was white and the background was white, so that looked a bit silly, but I said it was fine so she printed them out. When I actually saw them printed, I was like... ack! lol I guess the flash decided to bounce of what little of my forehead was visible below the line of my scarf, so it made it bright white there. The whole picture is a bit strange, but... I guess it will have to do. Or maybe I will go down to Walmart and get it redone. I haven't decided yet. Anyways, that is mostly taken care of, and the application should be mailed off within a day or so insha'Allah.

I've been trying to organize things a bit on the bookshelves since I got rid of most of my dvd's and vhs tapes. And wow I need to dust those spaces. lol

Tomorrow morning I have an eye doctor appointment to get my eyes checked before I move.
I'll need to order new contacts as well.
We'll see what I manage after I'm home from work. Maybe some luggage stuff but I'm not sure yet.

Sunday part 2

Well, productive day. Managed to get done what I had intended, so that's very nice. :D

Before Jake and I left the house, we packed up all my old vinyl albums (oh, the memories!!!), the dvd's I didn't want to take with me to Egypt (which was most of them), my old cassette tapes and the VHS tapes as well.
We headed to the shoe store first since they closed earlier than the record store, and I knew it would take some time at the record store.
After we got to Walnut Creek and found the right street, we parked in a parking garage. Free, yay! And then when we went to find the shoe store, it wasn't where it was supposed to be. At least by the address number. So I went into a store and asked one of the workers and she said it was around the corner, which made no sense at all. lol
So we walked over to it and I was really really happy. A whole store full of clarks shoes! Hurrah!
I found two pairs that I liked. When you buy two pairs, they give you 25% off the cheaper pair, so that was nice. The cheaper pair was on sale as well. The second pair, however, was not on sale, and they were quite expensive, at least in terms of my normal budget, however they are without a doubt the most comfortable pair of shoes I've ever worn. Unfortunately, I need the next half size up from what they had, so they are going to ship the shoes to me from another store, so alas I have to wait to wear the most comfortable shoes ever!
But, though much money was spent, it was well worth it to have some good shoes to take with me.
After leaving there, we drove up to Concord to Rasputin records where Jake and I hauled in all of my media that I wanted to sell. I knew it would take a long time for them to go through everything. They have to take each album out of its cover to make sure it's not all scratched and such. Well, it took them an hour. Jake and I were pretty bored and it smelled gross in the store. We went outside for a bit and walked next door to a sporting goods store. But, that store smelled much worse even than the record store, so we walked back out and then went next door to the guitar store. It didn't smell quite as bad, but not great. lol
They had some really neat looking guitars and some really ugly ones too. And all kinds of price ranges, from a few hundred to many thousands of dollars.
When they finally finished up with my stuff at the record store, it totaled about 5 dollars more than what I spent at the shoe store. Yay!!! I was hoping it would cover that purchase and it did, so well worth it. And the extra five bucks covers the gas for driving there and back. lol

If anything else shoe wise before I go, maybe just a pair of good tennis/sport/walking shoes, since I don't have a decent pair, only a cheapy pair, though they look nice. But not great for walking long distances I don't think.

Yay for productive days and new shoes!
:D

Sunday part 1

Well, yesterday was quite busy.
I went through most of what I owned, deciding on what I would ship over to Egypt and what I would leave behind to sell or give away.
Everything that I wanted to ship, I put in boxes so that I could weigh them so that we can get a somewhat accurate quote for shipping costs.
I have 4 boxes worth so far, totaling about 135 pounds, but I will have at least one more box. One of those four is a box of books at 50 pounds. As much as I'd like to leave some of that weight behind, from what I know, books are one of the harder things to get there, at least in English and not costing an arm and a leg. So I am bringing a minimum. Truly I am. lol
If you saw all the books I was leaving behind you would understand.
Also have 5 bags worth of clothes to give away to friends or donate to goodwill. Why I kept some of this stuff I don't know. I keep things thinking "some day..." but someday never comes! Let this be a lesson to me. It would have been much easier thus far if I wasn't always keeping things for a later that never happens. :D

We decided that we weren't going to do a 3rd bag on the airline, as it would be cheaper to ship things over, so I am trying, after getting rid of more clothes, to figure out what things will need to be shipped and what will fit in my baggage. This means, of course, that I have to repack and unpack everything, again. Gee, that's not irritating at all. lol
But, I need to try to max out the weight limit for what I can bring on the plane, since that will be mostly free, and send the lighter stuff to be shipped.

Today so far I bagged up the clothes I am donating and starting to put some clothes in a box, but before I continue putting clothes in a box, I figured I should decide what I can fit in the baggage, and what are the best two bags to use based on their dimensions and the allowed dimensions per the airlines. That will come at some point later today.

After chatting with hubby this morning, Jake and I will hopefully be going in to Walnut Creek so that I can try to sell off all my old vinyl, and also visit a shoe store there that sells Clarks shoes. I love their shoes and although you can find pairs here or there in stores in the mall, I think there is a whole Clarks store over in Walnut Creek, and I want to check it out.

To be continued later in part 2 perhaps....