March 17, 2011 by Sarah
Yesterday we all (and by all I mean me and the kids) woke up with a blah feeling. Maybe a touch of the blues. Our UAB shipment had arrived the day before with our clothing and toys and books, which you might think would leave us feeling uber excited, and we were for the first day. But, as we were unable to make homes for everything (we still have so much stuff!) it was just sitting around in piles, organized piles, but still, piles. And after living out of a suitcase for over 2 1/2 weeks which was packed for 5 days of stuff, we all realized that we just don’t need all that stuff.
Let’s look at the laundry situation. Prior to the UAB clothing blowout, we were wearing our same outfits day after day and doing two laundry loads, or as I call them laundry bits because the washer is doll house-sized, everyday. We were keeping up with the laundry really well because putting on clean underwear and socks depended upon our doing so.
Now that our apartment is full of clothes to wear, we have no need for doing the laundry so often. So it sits in its baskets, piling up, waiting for someone to take notice. It’s only been 2 days at this point so things aren’t completely dire. And I refuse to let it get that way. So what are we doing today? We are sorting clothes. Again. We did what I thought was a really good sort before moving here, but it was not enough. We are doing it today because yesterday when we awoke overwhelmed by all of it, we just didn’t have the oomph required to making cutting decisions on paring down our stuff. You know, it takes a certain fortitude to decide to get rid of some cute little something that you look at in your closet and you like that that cute little something is there. Out, I tell you! OUT! They have no place here anymore. And that goes for the kids’ clothes too. I emptied Sadie’s pile of one full trash bag amount of clothes. The choicest ones I will save for Helen, but that’s not many.
Yesterday, when we were feeling a little blues-y we thought it would be fun to go to the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum. So, I pulled the diaper bag together and off we went. Helen rode in the Ergo, I carried the diaper bag on my back, and pushed the stroller. When we got to the stairs, the kids folded up the stroller and I carried it down the stairs, then through the maze of escalators. Thomas had the bright idea to take a different line than we had been taking, which meant we only had 3 stops instead of 8 and that made Helen a much happier rider. The kids do great on mass transportation, staying with me, knowing where to go, staying out of the way of the business commuters. Kinda cool to just go to the air and space museum because you need a pick-me-up.
Now for the real pick up to begin!