From Grits to Chopsticks

By definition, we will be ready to take off on Monday morning when our first flight departs from the Atlanta airport.  But as expected, there is still a bunch of stuff to get done before then.  I suppose that the things-to-do list will always expand to fill the available space before starting a trip like this.

Timothy joined us for the weekend and has been a big help.  After helping clean out the garage and basement, he spent most of Saturday afternoon doing something he loves – working in the yard.  The weather was beautiful and the yard had been neglected for most of the winter, so he pruned, raked, swept, and hauled away trimmings.  We have some big trees in the backyard, and the sea of leaves threatened to swallow him.

Jimmy and Nancy also came over to help us clean and pack things away for safe keeping in the basement.  In spite of our efforts to skinny down our stuff, there are still a bunch of boxes and containers down there basement.  Hopefully, we’ve put the most useful items near the front of the pile and done a good enough job of labeling to find things to bring over to China when we make our next trip.

And then, there’s the quandary of trying to pack everything we think we’ll need into two suitcases and a carry-on bag (each).  We’ve moved a bunch of times, but this is the first time that we have to squeeze all of our things into such a small space.  Shipping of goods to our new city is quite expensive, so we’ll probably end up buying things with a low value/weight ratio.