Downsizing costs money

Mover's came and packed the van to capacity. I will pick up the cubicle this weekend and get the rest (as well as retrieve my truck). No car hauler for this kid.

There is something soooo embarrassing about having people see YOUR STUFF. LOOK-there's a dog turd hiding under the bed. Horrors. I gave a way a perfectly good (if ostentatious) bed but carefully and lovingly packed 12 rubbermaid containers with holes and names labled on them (for the babies).

Moving, much like any other disaster, reduces you to basics and forces you to decide what is important to YOU, not to anyone else.

I do have curbside karma though-the extra tanks were all picked up by two under represented populations-a fat black man and a fat, shirtless white man with terrible feet just like I have. I'm sitting here now, a prisoner in my house, while I watch them load their treasures-but I want to preserve their dignity....because it's my trash. And I am really no better than they are-a fat white woman with bad feet, who didn't believe the experts when they said tanks were not the way to go with snakes....live and learn.

I snapped at my mother today. Seems that the camping stuff bought with the trailer money arrived yesterday, along with the rat shipment which wasn't due till Friday. That created quit a stir, and THEN Overstock.com went nuts and delivered my patio furniture. That put her over the edge-unplanned for deliveries of NEW stuff.

But I learned a valuable lesson-I just thanked her for putting the rats in the freezer and told her not to worry about the rest. (wish I had been a little nicer). But dammit-it's NORMAL to want patio furniture for a new patio. I am not going to go to hell because I spent 300 bucks. Really I am not. And I am not going to explain that I am well under budget for this entire move-because in typical Deb fashion I budgeted high and then shopped around. I am not going to explain it because I don't want to get into the habit of explaining things.

The point is-I don't have to justify it. Mom is a wonderful, loving 73 year old lady who worries about me. But if we are all going to survive this natural disaster, I am going to have to remain intact as well-the Debra that lives in Dallas is going to have to move to Oklahoma-not the Debra that left Oklahoma. And the Dallas Deb wants 4 chairs and a table that matches on her patio. AND she wants her washer and dryer enough to spend days and dollars loading a truck and driving it to OKC rather than buy a new used one when she gets there.

And, she wants to sit and blog while trash pickers haul off her mistakes even though she's hungry and hasn't eaten in 12 hours. Ok, there is probably more room for personal growth.