Day 2

Could not fall asleep last night for the life of me. Finally went down at 2AM. Managed to turn off my alarm on my phone when it went off this morning because I didn't wake up to it. Woke up instead an hour and a half later, which never would have happened with D and the kids in the house. No time before running out the door to catch the bus to do anything I intended to do this morning, so significantly annoyed.

Make it to work on time, since I always leave for work early anyway and waking up an hour and a half later is still early.

Receive text message from D. As predicted, she cannot assemble playpen. I envision her, tired and frustrated from lack of sleep, struggling with this infernal contraption while epithets drip from her lips like rain. I send her a three line set of instructions, the same instructions I have given her every time she has ever had this same problem, which is often enough that I should make a macro. She texts back "got it first try. My life doesn't work without you." As a sentiment, it's one I share, but for her it's probably more literal than for me. She has fought a decades long war against inanimate objects and is convinced they act in concert against her. I attribute that to her allergy to instructions.

Have only received limited news from D, but she has apparently arrived at destination and ostensibly the boys handled the road trip well. Looking forward to finding out more about the trip once she finally accesses a computer.

Have realized we are practically out of laundry detergent. Have also realized this is not as immediate a problem as it would have been with boys in house, given that I will only have a couple of loads a week compared to 2 or 3 loads a day.

Probably going to pack clothes tonight, then dishes. Will try and pick up disposable plates and cutlery so I can scour the kitchen of dishes and utensils.

Home from work I spend an hour sorting my clothes. Set some aside for active use, some for the trash , some for charity and the rest packed into a box. Take two bags of clothes for charity up the street to the diabetes association donation bin.

Pick up laundry detergent on the way home, though it seems laundry detergent is never labeled laundry detergent so have to ask clerk at drug store if in fact bottle in my hand is laundry detergent. She affirms my suspicions

Home again, I gut the bedrooms of clothing and linen. Clothing I pack in boxes and linens I throw down stairs to use to pack interstices between boxes.

Call D at her sister's in Burlington. Have a nice chat about what I've done, how the drive went and how the boys behaved. Talk briefly with Liam who shares with me limited information before cutting our conversation short with an "I love you daddy! Good night!" After I'm done talking with D I receive the same sentiment from her.

Pack the boxes of clothes, the linens, a couple of suitcases, D's chest of drawers and the top half of the china cabinet ( which we used as a headboard) in the POD. It might not look like it from the chaos in my house but this now means that the large majority of our stuff is now in the POD, at least what we are keeping. The couch and the master bed are going to friends, the bottom half of the china cabinet and my boxes of tools and miniatures need to come upstairs from the basement, and I need to pack the dining room furniture (which will probably go last) and try to fit D's steamer trunks in, but it's still looking like everything will fit. This pleases me.

Going to relax the rest of the evening. Proud of what I've done, however.