Living in Box City and Saying Goodbye

We are doing pretty well with spreading out the packing love. We really wanted to avoid being completely worn out from 10 hour packing marathons at the last minute. We have tried to pack one or two boxes a day during the week and tackle some big stuff on the weekends. We have been making the rounds and saying our goodbyes which is no fun but necessary. We went ice skating with several Baltimore friends then had some yummy desserts at Shelly's place. I had a weird experience at the ice rink. My brothers are the skaters of the family having played ice and roller hockey for many years so you probably will never find me on the same sheet of ice as them. My fragile ego can't take that big of a blow. I used to roller blade a lot so I can get around just fine on skates even though I may not have mad skills. But this time on the ice was a completely different experience. They gave me hockey style skates which I was excited about because the ugly brown figure skates did not go with my outfit. But, I quickly discovered that I have ZERO ankle strength. I could not walk on them at all. My ankles flopped outward until I was walking on the sides of the skates! I attempted make at around the rink but after about 1/4 of the way I made a bee-line for the exit. After lacing up the ever-so-fashionable brown skates, I was able skate like a normal person who has not been on skates for a year. The extra 4 inches of ankle support made all the difference. I had no idea that my ankles were so weak (or flexible)! We went to the Erickson's for one last family dinner. Everyone (that lives in Virginia) was there, so it was great to see them one last time (for a while). We had another dinner party with Mike & Brittany, Dave & Kerry, and Jason. Everyone is doing great but going in completely different directions. One great thing about being in Utah is that most of our friends have Utah connections and will end up in Utah at some point. That makes the goodbyes a little bit easier.

We are still Alive - Just a bit Distracted

So Christmas and New Years has come and gone without a single post! Sorry We had a great Christmas at the Kneeland's in PA. We went to Christmas Mass with Toby and Linda and Toby's family. Christmas Eve dinner was yummy lasagna. Christmas morning was wonderful and more than we deserve. And a big turkey lunch rounded out the holiday menu. When we got back to the apartment our packing adventure began. We are trying to take it slow and not get overwhelmed with it. So that means our apartment will be box city for the next few weeks. We were able to catch up with Tara, Anne and Lara at Lara and Nick's place in Reston. It was good to see them again but the visit was too short and we didn't really get a chance to talk much. Our lives are headed in different directions, but hopefully not too far apart. So I mentioned before that one of the things we needed to figure out was what to do with our cars. After considering several options, and trying out a few that we discovered would not work we finally found a solution. We are now a one car family for a few weeks. We traded both our cars in on a newer model with a lower payment and cheaper insurance. We are now the proud owners of an inferno red, 2006 Jeep Liberty. It took us a couple of hours of negotiating but we are happy with the results. I think we make a pretty good team. So, I called into work, told them I had car issues and would be working remotely. I would not be back in the office until the 21st when I pack up my office. I told them to pretend that we were in Utah a little bit earlier than expected. Jill gets to drive her new Liberty to work for her last 2 weeks. Every day is a challenge for her. The girls are acting out, the staff are incompetent most of the time, and the management undermines all of the efforts to get things under control. Jill has had a couple of phone interviews with places in Utah. Hopefully she will find a job that she really likes, and it likes her back. That's it for now. Back to packing and giving stuff away - like my fish tanks :(