Disappearing stuff....

     The elephant is slowly disappearing! We've managed to open every single box we had packed away in the garage and the amount of stuff that has gone on to new homes is simply mind-boggling. I can't get over how much we have accumulated in the course of 18 years of marriage and three kids. Joe and I were pretty ruthless about paring down and have about 12 of those Rubbermaid tubs that are getting stored in Joe's parents' crawl space. Joe's toy car--his 1968 Datsun Roadster--will be going into storage on the second floor of his dad's shop. I promise to take pictures when that happens because it will be quite the production to get it up there! My parents will be taking care of all our quilts that aren't coming along, and Joe's dad is also taking a bunch of Joe's tools, which Joe is happy about--he should be able to get them back someday.
      We've sold a lot of the rest of our stuff--it really feels good to be able to just call it "stuff"--between Craigslist, Facebook, and good old garage sales. In addition, the house officially went on the market on Friday two weeks ago. It looks so weird to see that sign! Good, but still weird. It makes all this even more real, as if it wasn't already!
      Also, Joe's final day of work has been determined. We've been operating and planning on the assumption that Joe's contract would be extended and he would work until the end of June. However, the whole government shutdown left contract negotiations high and dry and his contract wasn't able to be extended. Therefore, he is done with his job May 31, a whole month earlier than we had been planning! It's okay because now we have extra time to see some places here in Southeast before we take off for what could be a very long time.
        Plans continue to take shape. More soon...