Moving on Down

So, Danny and I got our official moving date.  We're to be in our new apartment by Saturday!!!  And the woman down there now should be out by tomorrow.  Our landlord was shocked by the upkeep on our place.  He was sure that he was going to have to replace the floor (it's a cheap laminate tile floor made to look like parquet tiles) but we've done enough that he's not even charging us an increase in our security deposit for the more expensive place.  Woo Hoo!  It's nice to be appreciated.
I've gotten a good chunk of our knick nacks, fancy dishware (what little we have) and books packed up.  I've once again run out of boxes.  I really thought just moving downstairs would be simpler but I'm honestly amazed at how much stuff we truly have.  I'm thinking of giving away a good chunk of books again and clearing out the pantry and donating stuff to the food bank here.  I already have a request in for more boxes from my father-in-law since the kitchen he runs often has good boxes left around that are great for moving (it's free and it's recycling). Danny's also going to go to the local liquor store and get some wine boxes (again free & recycling).
Danny and I are debating getting a Kitchen Aid mixer since the company is apparently discontinuing some colors since they have them marked down 50% off both on Amazon.com and at Target.  I've always wanted one but I could never justify spending $300 on a kitchen item (I spent less for out kitchen table/bench set).   And it appears that no one gets rid of one if they have one, I have been trolling craigslist for one for years to no avail.  But half off is pretty  reasonable, I think.
I don't know what's reasonable to expect for my cooking ability with moving and all but I've tried to plan my meals for the week anyhow.  I stupidly packed up my dried beans already and misplaced them in my many kitchen boxes so we're going meat heavy & quit and easy this week.  Here it goes:

Monday: Pot Roast w/ potatoes & carrots (in the crock-pot)
Tuesday: Crock-pot pulled pork tacos
Wednesday: Baked Tilapia w/ Thai rice & broccoli
Thursday: Crock-pot chicken Soup (I found the cutest little whole chickens on clearance at Target)
Friday: Corned Beef & Cabbage(in the crock-pot)
Saturday: Ordered out Pizza (It's moving Day after all)
Sunday: Chicken Nuggets w/ tater tots & salad

And for those of you not counting that's 5 out of 7 days worth of meals in the crock-pot. And you can bet that if I knew how to make baked fish or nuggets in there, they'd be crock-pot meals too. :-) well, the baby woke up so I'm off.

Life on a New Schedule

Our little world got shaken last week and it's upset my whole schedule.  Danny lost his job.  His boss let him go with no reason and seemingly no cause.  It happens, and we've basically come to the conclusion that anyone who could do that isn't someone that Danny should be working for anyhow.  We know that God has a plan for it all and we're praying about it to figure out what's on the horizon.
But as for my schedule, I've made up a new one since Danny's made some suggestions that I thought needed addressing and I've noticed that some stuff is just not fitting where I had it. I've moved some stuff around and added items here and there.  Weekly Checklist: this is my publicly accessible google.doc of the updated checklist that I made if anyone else is looking to set up something similar.
I'm still allowing myself some flexibility to see what needs tweeking, but I realized the other day why I've never needed a schedule like this before.  I've been the primary earner in our household for the majority of our marriage and Danny's been the stay-at-home parent since Joey was born.  My efforts had been focused one working and now that Danny's been working again, I've only had a few months to switch gears, oh yeah and I had a baby during that time too.  And on top of that, I am still working part-time.  Yeah, it's been pretty much a whole year of transition for us, and it seems we have a few more hoops coming up.  We're still planning on moving to the larger apartment one floor below us.  I've already started purging in preparation.  The nice thing is that since we are only moving downstairs, the process of moving will be so much simpler.  No trucks needed and not even really many boxes.  Clothes can be carried straight from our closets on their hangers and be hung straight up down a flight of stairs, drawers can be carried down without being unloaded. The biggest hassle with probably be the books and knick knacks that will need to be boxed and the curtains and shelves.  And our Landlord wants us down there ASAP so as soon as the current tenant is out, we'll be on our way.  I'm pretty stoked about it.  We'll be losing some closet space (hence the purging) but gaining so much square footage, it's totally worth it.  Well, I'm off to go do stuff.  Tootles.