Moving On...

Yep. It's here.
This is an insane week. It all happened very suddenly.

The first flight on the trek to Beijing is on the 19th.

On Sunday, I made my final donation to the women's shelter, and today Brett made his final run to Goodwill. Any small stuff remaining will just get tossed.

Nice ladies' clothes, a few blankets and a pillow, for the shelter.

Packing has begun: 
Books will line the bottom of each suitcase. We're not taking many, but as soon-to-be-teachers, we each have some books that will prove useful. Also, not knowing how long until we will have a TV hooked up, and not knowing our way around, reading material may be vital entertainment! (Yes, we each have e-readers, too.)

Last night I packed the first suitcase, with winter clothes and a few other things. I think we were getting stumped by trying to decide on what to keep, and then getting discouraged at not making enough progress (at least, I was a bit discouraged). So I put in a few books, two pairs of my winter boots (stuffed with winter socks, to save space), and piled in a bunch of winter clothes that I knew we wanted. One suitcase sealed is a helpful turning point.
 

At 44 lbs., that sucker is full!

If I do a suitcase each night, we'll be okay. Brett is off all week, so he's doing a lot of throwing things away and running things into storage. Today I went home at lunch to clear out my desk. Goodwill is coming tomorrow to collect all the remaining furniture. THEN the apartment will feel empty.

We are trying to eat only food we already have on hand, or just run to the store for perishables - I need my apples, and prefer a salad at lunch. Today I threw away the container I brought my lunch in (which would have come home to be washed).