Our friends Allison and Andrew Redmon are  about to move to Saudi Arabia in a couple of months and asked for some packing tips! (You can follow their adventure here.) I felt a little silly when Allison asked for advice but I realized after 5 moves in 5 1/2 yrs it’s probably legit to give some ideas. When she asked I couldn’t even think clearly with my house full of packers. But now the dust has settled, quite literally.  After this bit I am going to take a long break from even thinking about packing.  {I broke this into 3 posts so you don’t fall asleep while reading}

I sat down today to think through what I would even recommend and I thought I would share it with all of you as well….

*Big disclaimer, many of you have done this a million more times than us. I don’t in any way feel like an expert so feel free to chime in. I think we all find our packing groove and what works for our families but I always love new ideas to make it easier. And…obviously these recs are assuming you have a shipping allowance and that you aren’t just taking the essentials in suitcases. Coming from a missionary family background I am stunned every time our stuff gets moved around the world. It is no doubt a perk of the job, but not one we take for granted.  So, if you have some space and weight and need some ideas, read on. If not, make friends with an Embassy family and beg them to share their peanut butter on occasion!*

Here’s kind of our system when we approach packout:

~START EARLY, if you work gradually the days before packing won’t feel so stressful! Our first move we were both up until 2 AM the night before finishing getting everything sorted into “DC”, “Storage”, “Overseas”, “UAB”, etc. It was so much work but we should have started earlier (the fact that we had a month to pack and be gone while working our last weeks gave us a time crunch too)

~Give stuff away!! Go through your house with an empty laundry basket or box and fill it with all of the things you don’t use or don’t need. You will accumulate a lot and it makes it so much easier to do a quick purge before you begin thinking about packing.

~Pick a room for each category “UAB”, Storage, Suitcases, etc. That way you aren’t have to keep track constantly and the packers know exactly where everything goes. Each time you see something that goes in that category drop it off in the designated room. I find this saves time in the end scrambling for what shouldn’t be packed where.

~Wrap all linens, clothes, pillows, etc in plastic bags!  You will need Ziplock bags!!! Like a million of them. A few moves back we discovered that ziplock makes giant bags. *ziplock isn’t paying me to advertise for them, we just wanted to recommend them based on our own experience*. The giant bags have been perfect for linens, clothes…you name it, it will fit. We also use the small bags to double wrap toiletries, pantry items and other loose things. When you arrive then you also have your supply of bags to use. If your stuff is just put into boxes it will arrive smelling like cardboard. And some things like quilts and bedding are tough to get smelling really fresh again, assuming your things are going by boat like ours, that is 2 months or so of box smell!

~Categorize! We typically gather all of the linens to pack together, all of the bathroom stuff, etc.  I find we rarely go somewhere with the same number of rooms, etc so it is easier having everything together instead of getting 4 boxes of towels, linens.

~Double bag spices and pantry items. Put the first bag in upside down so that the opening faces the bottom of the first bag. That way if it pops open it is much harder to makes its way up to the opening.

~Take pictures of each room to get a visual list of your belongings for insurance purposes if needed.

~On packing day pick up donuts for the packers!! Or something to inspire them! It never hurts. This time around Seth took around ice cream bars in the afternoon to perk everyone up. And on another day Jackson and I had made some cookies so he took those around and offered them to the packers.

~Realize that things are just things and that passing each and every of your earthly belongings to men tossing boxes can be a bit unnerving. (I often find though that when the truck drives away I am so relieved to no longer be responsible!)

~Lock your kids in the atrium to keep them safe during the loading…

kidding, even when they are with their dad and given snacks and capri suns they will realize your intent to keep them out and will bang and shriek on the glass forcing you to let them in. Never hurts to try!

~Go out for dinner to celebrate surviving!! Or at least have a fun drink.

You probably think this is going to be a deep post on thankfulness for neighbors. Sorry to disappoint! It is actually about the freebies we have gotten from our neighbors. It is common in the Spring for people to get rid of things and to put them out on the curb. They don’t really do garage sales as we all learned and most don’t have big cars to drive stuff away to donation locations so they often put things out for people to take.

Last year we scored this guy below. It is an old free standing kitchen cabinet with a counter top.  At the time I was in need of a higher changing table for Owen. We were using a dresser and not only was it getting scratched but it was breaking our backs. So I painted it a cheerful blue and made it nice and distressed and we have been using it ever since.   It is perfect because the counter top can just be wiped off and sanitized unlike the dresser.  I am thinking it may go in the laundry room of the new house or I may be on the hunt for a butcher block to replace the top and some fresh paint so I can use it in the kitchen as an island (shhh, Seth doesn’t need to hear all of my ideas just yet).

A couple of months ago I spotted this armoire up the hill on our neighbors sidewalk with a big old “gratis” sign. Seth wasn’t too thrilled because it is huge and required help but I think he is learning that my freebies are often worth it!

I actually didn’t mind the green but it needed to be freshened up. I couldn’t decide where to use it but then decided with the boys sharing a room that they could use some storage space for books, toys, etc.  So, we, I mean Seth, sanded it, removed the doors and the hanging rod and added shelves to maximize the storage. We painted it a bright barn red on the outside and refreshed the cream on the inside. I cut up maps of the places we have lived and pressed them into the back boards with mod podge. We love how it turned out! Here is a picture of it without the shelving.

(the map panels are of Bogota, Virginia, Texas and Bern. I think this piece will be a fun memory  with the maps as well as really practical!  It will house the boys toys in their *maybe* share room)

We also scored a coffee table but I forgot to snag a picture before it got packed!

In a place where things cost WAY TOO MUCH we have been so thankful to score some things for free! Thanks, neighbors!   And thanks Seth for humoring me with my freebie projects!

But for a real neighbor thank you, thank you to the neighbor that planted the poppies down the road, we have been enjoying them so much! I had to include this picture for my sister-in-law Claire! I know she loves poppies!

SO all week I waffled about if this Saturday was the day to pick strawberries. We had a group that wanted to go together, the weather was iffy and I drove by and saw that lots of the strawberries were still green. So by this morning I decided with a friend that we would pop over (it’s less than 10 mins from us) and pick a few and return with the group next week when the weather and fields were more promising. I am glad I didn’t take everyone along because the berries weren’t in their prime but I got a big bowl for the weekend and will head back.

I promised you this recipe from my friends mom, Theres! Thanks for the recipe, Theres!….

Theres’ Strawberry-Rhubarb Dessert

serves 6-8 people
750g strawberries
750g rhubarb
Einback (a very fluffy white bread, similar to Zopf) or Zopf (something like challah)
250g low fat quark (what is quark in English? it’s similar to joghurt, but firm, like a fresh cheese…)
500g semi fat quark
butter
sugar
syrup

Wash and slice the strawberries. Put them in a bowl and marinade in syrup for 30 min (Holundersyrup tastes best, but any berry or fruit syrup will do).

Wash rhubarb and cut in 1cm pieces. Add sugar and cook in the microwave until it’s soft (10 min at full power. Instead of microwaving, you can cook the rhubarb in a pan. In that case add some water.

Slice the Einback oder Zopf (challah white bread) in 1 cm slices, enough to cover the bottom of your serving dish. Butter them, add some sugar and toast in the oven until they are light golden.

Mix both quarks, add sugar to taste.

Pour strawberries and if necessary rhubarb in a sieve/strainer
Lay the toasts in the dish, cover with a layer of rhubarb. Add a layer of quark and put strawberries on top.
Enjoy!
T.

I realized that really we don’t have anything comparable to quark in the US. You can use cream cheese  whipped with sour cream and sugar I bet to get something similar.

Here are some other strawberry recipes!

*Last year we made strawberry bread…like banana bread but with strawberries!   Here is the recipe we used last year.

*In Barcelona we went to the Hard Rock cafe because you know every American abroad needs a decent burger every once in a while….the point of mentioning this useless information is that I ordered a strawberry basil lemonade and it was amazing!  This Strawberry Basil Lemonade recipe isn’t from hard rock cafe but I bet it’s similar.

*This year I plan to work our way through some of Southern Livings suggestions for strawberries that came in the April edition. Here is the link for them online if you aren’t a regular with them!  We will for sure be trying the chicken salad with strawberries, strawberry hand pies and some of the other salads!

*and of  course you can make jam! I learned last year from a friend how to can jam and also made a batch of freezer jam. If you haven’t tried freezer jam give it a go! It isn’t too tricky and you will feel oh so domestic each time you pull out a fresh jar of homemade strawberry jam.

Saturday evening our friends invited us  to their house for some time out of the house with the kids playing in the garden and an early dinner. She said her mom, Theres, would be providing the food!  Her mom brought a beautiful spread of cheeses, smoked fish and bacon, bread, vegetable soup and a wonderful strawberry rhubarb dessert!  The boys played with their buddy Anna in the garden and enjoyed the gorgeous weather. By dinner time they were covered in sand and had to be hosed down. It was a really nice afternoon and a much needed break from our prepping for the packers. We felt so spoiled and taken care of!

Daniela’s mom kindly agreed to share her recipe for the wonderful dessert! I will get back on here soon and share it! Saturday we are picking strawberries so I may wait until Sat!

And as if this didn’t spoil us enough Daniela is the one who took the boys yesterday and brought dinner. And our friend Merve is delivering dinner tonight. Some other friends, Karen and Andy are having us tomorrow night to get us out and away from the boxes.  It’s funny because when I wrote this post a few weeks ago I was writing it about us taking meals, it never crossed my mind that we might need them. It has been such a blessing this week when I feel like I am wiped out and distracted. It’s going to be so hard to say goodbye to our friends!