Load Container-Tick

Well, the container is gone as well as a bulk of our stress. It is something else to pack your life away into little boxes. It was a lot of fun to dumpster dive for boxes and to go through everything. I love boxes and it all started off really well when I had matching boxes that I could stack nice and tidy-like, then it all went crazy and before I knew it there were Cheezle boxes next to the Cadbury Almonds and the tidy box world I had created had morphed into a horrendous pile of mismatched boxes. One thing I have had to admit to myself is that I fit the profile of a hoarder personality. I can see how it all happens. Some hoarders start off because they are actually very tidy and organized. The problem ends up being that you have to find just the right place for everything and since that can sometimes take time-a shelf may need to be cleared and carefully labeled with a Brother labelmaker (just to throw out an example-purely hypothetical...) piles are created. Mark learned this about me quickly into our marriage that I had a habit of pulling everything out of cupboards and drawers onto the middle of the floor and then walking away. The task was simply too daunting. When I did get back to it, my colour coding and sorting would only enable me to fit 1/3 of what was previously in there so piles remained. The piles don't annoy me as much as a untidy drawer or closet. It is like I have x-ray vision and I can see through the walls into chaos.
Anyway, this....trait of mine really slowed down my packing pace. Everything had to go into just the right box and be with all the right "friends". All boxes had to be completely sealed off to the best of my abilities. For some reason, lamination by tape flaps made my mind feel like it was THEN that my cardboard box was transformed into something waterproof. I know it wasn't and why would it need to be anyway? It all was going into the water tight Kien. Again, my crazy mind couldn't help but imagine that when my stuff is shipped "overseas" as they say, my boxes would be bobbing up and down freely in the ocean like ice-cubes in a bowl and hence, would need to be waterproofed- easily achieved by taping off just the corners and flaps. None of it makes sense and in the end, I had to just start chucking things in to get it done. Now I am dreading unpacking because things aren't properly sorted. I really need to channel my energies away from neurotic obsessions to things that enable me to be more productive.
Just a quick thank you thank you thank you to family overseas helping organize the cross-country move, and to all the friends, neigbours, and missionaries that helped tidy our trashy yard, baby-sat my sick kids, and fed our starving family all weekend long. I don't know if I could have done it on my own. I am thankful for times like these when I am completely humbled and I can realize how utterly selfish I am when someone is moving. I never help in any way. Sure people survive and they look like they are doing okay but when the load is lightened it is so much better. So once again-THANK YOU! Oh and also we have received some really awesome parting gifts that were extremely thoughtful and absolutely perfect. I am a horrible gift giver so these thoughtful gifts were much appreciated and a bit of a wonderment for me. My lack of gift giving skills would be an entirely different post. Please forgive me for my poor grammar and spelling mistakes, I am really struggling with any sort of smarts at the moment. So, here are the pix...
The girls' new sleeping arrangements. They are most unimpressed with the accommodations provided but as Kurt would say, so it goes... Since this picture, the quilt was packed :).

The loaded container. See, plenty of room to spare! Can you see how uniformed boxes would have looked so much cuter?

I told the kids they had to go to the neigbours for one final day and that they were absolutely not to step inside of the house until we were done and then we could be completely done with packing and I could stop being "Freaky Mum" to them. They quickly complied and Aida even took the time to write "Kids R Banded (banned) 12:15+ - 5:15. They did it too. It is nice to be done.