My Latest: Packed Lunch and Home Repair (and Panic)

a write-up of the felted wool lunch bags that I made for the kids

a review of How to Fix Absolutely Anything: The Instructables Guide to Home Repair

and a round-up of other DIY packed lunch storage solutions--I really want to make a bento box!

Things are a little crazy around here right now. Matt's focused on getting all our utilities hooked up, moving our stuff over to the new house (he's really only got time for one trip every evening, so what gets moved is kind of random--yesterday the coffee table, all our old yearbooks, my writing portfolio, and some potted plants went), arranging the repairs that must be done, figuring out how to make the most massive wall-mounted pipe-and-marble bookshelf EVER (more on that later), and researching the couple of things that we MUST buy--dishwasher, king-sized mattress.

I'm working on downsizing our possessions so that we're not moving for the rest of the year (yesterday I went through billions of glass and plastic kitchen storage containers--do we really need THAT many mixing bowls?!?), packing, and figuring out new stuff that we should probably buy/make/rejigger for the new house--computer station for the kids, TV stand with video game storage for the small living room, probably a second TV stand for the master bedroom so that we're not squinting across the room at our small-ish TV, and where are the kids going to put all of their thousands of treasures, none of which they insist can live in a bin with other treasures, but must instead be displayed, individually, with the maximum possible wasted space?!?

On top of that, I've been doing some crafting/shopping for sleepaway camp next month--Will has no pajamas, the kids both require socks that go "over the ankle," and their own flashlights, and EVERY ITEM MUST BE LABELED.

Oh, AND it's already high time to get organized for our big road trip and dinosaur dig. The paleontology and Laura Ingalls Wilder unit studies need to get fired up, and I need to figure out what to buy to keep us from dying of heat stroke, and I'm worried that I should actually go ahead and pack us for this trip, lest all the stuff that we need--binoculars, bug spray, sunhats, etc.--get lost in boxes and can't be found next month.

Hmm, should I go ahead and pack for sleepaway camp, too, for the same reason?

And what about Will's birthday, which will take place during our dino dig? Should I buy, wrap, and bring her present along? Have her birthday early? Late?

Okay, I need to stop writing now. I have seriously just elevated my heart rate while sitting at a table in the middle of the public library. I'm going to go get that current issue of Entertainment Weekly that's on the shelf over there and not think another thought about my to-do list until I have read the entire thing.