Moving miscellaneous
Kaity Holtman
I should be telling you all about how excited we are for Halloween with an 18-month-old toddler – about jack-o-lantern painting or carving, fall days at pumpkin patches, and cutesy Halloween costumes I’ve made myself.
Yeah, none of that is happening.
Why? Because almost all of our attention has been turned to preparing to move into our new home, which we plan to do this weekend.
Luckily, Sam is too young to ever remember that he is missing out on important childhood experiences. He doesn’t know or care that he isn’t going to a pumpkin patch or helping mom messily paint a little pumpkin.
We have two adorable Halloween costumes that he got from his older cousins. I tried to put them on him Sunday evening. Let’s just say he was less than impressed with the cow costume, and he wouldn’t even try the elephant.
So I’m really just not sure what to expect from Halloween this year.
Anyway, I say all that, to say this:
Sam has been a great sport these last few weeks.
We’ve made many trips to the house, where he has learned to entertain himself by hiding in closets, climbing rolls of carpets, and shouting to hear his own echoes.
His least favorite thing is to get in and out of his car seat over and over again, which he’s had to do day in and day out.
Plus, we’ve just not been able to give Sam the attention we’d like to.
But thank goodness, our happy-go-lucky kiddo has managed to spend time with other family and stay a happy kid.
The last thing I want to do is to pass on any stress we’re feeling down to him. Stressed-out toddlers are no fun, and he doesn’t deserve that.
I’ve been saving his room until the end to pack, as to not change too much of his normal. And I’ve tried to prioritize him and his favorite activities, like playing outside and reading books.
Between this move and being less than 10 weeks away from my due date, I’m sure his world is being turned upside down enough.
I know that’s the case for my husband and me. We are so excited and so ready for this change, but we’re also wearing out.
We spent much of last weekend packing, and I’m doing exactly what I said I wouldn’t – keeping way too much stuff.
In my mind, this was the perfect time to purge a probably unreasonable amount of stuff. But then the tightwad – and apparently the hoarder – in me tells me to keep it.
Why? I’m not sure. But after all the declutter, organize, clean topics I’ve pushed, suddenly I feel like a hypocrite.
Some of it is sentimental, some of it is “someday I’ll have time,” some is that I paid good money for something just to trash it or give it away.
Whatever it is, I’m not doing what I tell others to do. It’s easier at this point just to move it and make those decisions later. And that sounds nice when I feel like I’ve done nothing but make decisions for the last year.
One place I did a lot of purging was our medicine cabinet – too bad those things don’t take up much space.
I was amazed how many medicines that it seemed as if I just bought within the last year were actually two, three, four years out of date.
We are trained to buy the bigger bottles because the price is cheaper per unit, but that only save us money if we aren’t going to throw out half the bottle because it’s expired.
The same goes for cleaning supplies. I know they don’t usually have expiration dates, but they usually have a manufacture date on them that would be helpful in deciding if they are actually still effective.
When thinking about these types of items, it’s important to note that Nodaway County’s last hazardous waste collection date at Depot and Halsey streets in Maryville will be Saturday morning, Nov. 4.
Also, the Nodaway County Sheriff’s Office on Vine Street will hold a prescription drug take back this Saturday.
One thing that has made the purging part of moving easier is sorting into piles. We have piles of trash, recyclables, hazardous waste, and items for donation, among others. That helps us sort out the bad and keep only the good.
It’s definitely a process that takes a lot of time, and I wanted to spend more time than I was actually able to. But life happens, and reality sets in.
This time next week, I hope to be sleeping in my new bedroom, maybe a little less stressed.
Kaity Holtman is the Agriculture Editor for the Maryville Daily Forum.
