Denial. Its not just a river in Egypt.

I am moving in approximately six weeks. I have not packed a box. We don't have a place to live. But I've given notice at my job (they are supposedly choosing someone from the applicant pool by the end of business on Monday) and have a new job waiting for me. I have never been an organized individual by any stretch. I'm much more of a micromanaging organizer. I can have an organized drawer, or cabinet, or bookshelf, but not an organized whole. Nor do I keep a neat and organized house. My decorating style is "early American packrat". Every room has at *least* one pile of something in it. Most rooms have all surfaces covered in clutter. Do I feel a certain amount of embarrassment and shame for that? Yep. Do I do anything to alleviate that? Nope. Its genetic, I tell you. I think I inherited my mom's attitude on housekeeping. She was of the mindset that she worked full time and the last thing she wanted to do with what free time she had was clean the house (though I don't think my house growing up ever looked like the way I keep or don't keep house now). I've just taken that mindset to new heights or depths, I guess, depending on how you look at it. And my father has a love of piles, or maybe I should say "had" it, because Debbie has put a limit on his piles, how high they can be and where in the house they are allowed. But I'm digressing a little. In any case, that lifestyle always makes for hellacious times whenever we move. For whatever reason, the bulk of the packing falls to me. You would think that I would have learned my lesson by now, as we are living in our 5th place. But I have not. And you would think I have driven myself crazy enough times with my own procrastination that I would not let it get to this point in the moving game without having anything packed. Yet here I stand, surrounded in piles and clutter and wondering how I am going to get it all packed. A few friends have offered to help me pack, but honestly, I am embarrassed to have them come in and see my house in such a state. You know how some people clean their houses before their cleaning people come? That's what I feel like I need to do. I realize that I am now beyond the point of being able to sort through anything other than to separate what I'm keeping from what I'm throwing away. As much as I'd love to separate my stuff from an organizational standpoint, there is just not enough time in my mind to do so in this time frame and still be working full time. Though with my replacement on the horizon, I have to see if I can afford to not work for a little bit before the move, and figure out just how long I can not work. Any thoughts....any suggestions...any companions in my illness? =)

I'm a weiner

So I spent this weekend in the Poconos at a Simply Cropping three day getaway. This was the view of Camelback Mountain taken from the hotel room balcony. It was funny to see greenery where there will be snow-packed ski trails before you know it. The pond had its share of wildlife.

These ducks were a trip. The first place I went when we checked into our room on Friday was out on the balcony. When I looked down, this is what I saw.

I called to Michelle, who came out with her box of Wheat Thins and we fed them. So they were our new friends all weekend, and we brought dinner rolls back from every meal so we could keep feeding them.

At one point when we came back to our room to feed them, they were nowhere to be seen. So Michelle started to call to them....not with quacking noises, but just with the words. "Duh-ucks. Quack qua-ack." And I'll be damned if Dr. Doolittle didn't have them running. I even took a quick video of their approach:

It was just part of a great weekend. I am really hoping that the SC girls continue to do crops in the Poconos, because traveling there as opposed to Philly was definitely a bonus.

Oh, and I almost forgot the best part. I won the grand prize drawing, which is a free spot at another SC crop within the next year. So I've got another reason to look forward to going back!