Packing | Wishes And Pixie Dust

March 28, 2011
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This ‘n’ That

We have been slowly moving along, and just wanted to share our latest thoughts and activities.

We did hear back from The Gardens at Citrus Tower, and right now they remain our #1 choice. As we mentioned before, we really cannot apply until mid-May, so we are kind of in a holding position until then. Our original plan was to apply at all three complexes in May, visit them all once we arrive in Clermont on July 25th, and then make our final decision. However, all three complexes do require an application fee, as well as a deposit. The deposit is non-refundable if we choose not to live there. In the interest of not throwing money away, we have decided to make our decision here in Wisconsin, without physically viewing the apartment. We realize this does pose some risks, but we feel we can get a fairly good feel from the websites, we have friends in Orlando who have promised to scope out the area for us, and we go with the realization that we can always move in twelve months if we’re not satisfied with either the neighborhood or the apartment. We will feel more secure leaving Wisconsin knowing that we have an address we are moving to. We will probably have to stay in a hotel in the Orlando area for a few days, if for no other reason then we have to wait to get beds delivered. We are looking for feedback on the best place to buy beds in the Clermont area.

We are slowly packing up our belongings, and our new goal is to pack one box a day. If we do more, great!, but the minimum is one box daily. We average about one Goodwill trip per week now. Downstairs we are pretty well at the point where most of what is left are things we are bringing with us. Mark is working on moving our music CDs over to our external hard drive, and we are both trying to duplicate our videos to DVD. Our Disney videos we will need to make a decision on, as they are write-protected. We may look into re-purchasing them over the next four months, and only saving the ones that are currently not available on DVD.

Our second car is listed on Craigslist, and we have an interested party coming by to look at it this afternoon. If all goes well, this will allow us to pay off the loan on our other car, plus have a little extra to bank. We’ll go back to being a one-car family, but with Mark working at home full-time, it’s not too much of an inconvenience for us, and it will save us approximately $150 per month. It will also save us on our renewal fees for AAA, coming up in June.

It really is amazing to see how God is blessing our family with every aspect of this move. It’s exciting to see how all the details are coming together nicely, and at times even better than we expected. We really feel Florida is where we are meant to be, and while we will miss certain aspects of Wisconsin, we are so looking forward to creating new memories and experiences in Florida. In some aspects, it’s difficult to believe that two months have passed since we first made the decision to move. It’s hard to wait four more months, but we both feel it will be here before we know it.

Thanks for following along,

Mark and Jen

March 19, 2011
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What a week!

Dear friends,

It seems that we were caught up in our daily life this past week and therefore didn’t put as much attention to our move as we would like. Even so, we did manage to get a blog post out, make a run to Goodwill and donate two pieces of furniture to two different recipients in our local Freecycle group. All in the name of progress.

I don’t believe we’ve formally shared this fact on our blog, but our youngest son Ben has autism. We wish to share this information to provide hope as well as information to other parents who may have a child with special needs, and are considering a long-distance move. When I refer to keeping things as normal as possible for as long as possible, he is the reason why. We are acutely aware that this major life change, while good, will be hard on him especially. Right now he is very excited to move to Florida; he has really embraced our dream, and it truly is a dream we all share: Mark and I would not consider moving if it proved to be a true hardship for either one of our children.

On Monday, I met with his teachers and staff for his annual IEP meeting. I have been very open with the school as far as our moving intentions, so they have been aware for a couple of months now that we are relocating. We are moving forward with his IEP as if we were staying here, and modifying his curriculum to meet those needs. Until we have our permanent residence, it is too difficult to guess what might happen in Florida. The special education teacher has put in several phone calls to Clermont Middle School, all of which have been not responded to at this point, and I admit, it’s a little disheartening. Our intent is to place Ben in public school, but I am also willing to homeschool/virtual school him if the public school district does not meet our needs.

Tuesday was our Ben’s 11th birthday. We celebrated by going to Chuck E Cheese for dinner, and then back home for an ice cream cake and presents.

Wednesday was “spend a lot of money on car repairs” day. :=) We currently have two vehicles, but we made the decision from the start that we would only be moving one. Unfortunately, the car we are selling decided to have a flat tire, so we replaced that on Wednesday. We also brought in our other car for a tune-up, as we had a $20 coupon to our favorite auto repair shop. $700 later, our car is in tip-top shape :=). We will be bringing it back in July to make sure there are no additional repairs that need to be completed. We are using the sale proceeds from our 1st car to pay off the loan on our 2nd car. We are excited to be able to begin our journey without car payments. We considered trading in both our cars for a newer and bigger vehicle; we have our eyes on a Hyundai Santa Fe, but as long as our car is in good condition, we’re going to wait and save up money for a bigger down payment and look at buying a new vehicle in a year.

Thursday was St. Patrick’s Day as well as Catie’s orchestra concert. The corned beef turned out delicious in the crockpot, and Catie played her violin beautifully.

Today (Friday) we sold a craft storage container for $5 on craigslist, did some decluttering in the sunroom, and our Mayflower rep brought over a huge stack of boxes for us. Right now the challenge is where to put the packed boxes. We are still four months away from our move, and while we live in a fairly big house, there really is little available room just to stack boxes. This is why we have started to donate/sell our furniture this early. Catie has her solo ensemble choral performance tomorrow, but we are hoping to find time to empty out the secretary and list it on craigslist. We are fortunate in that we have a small foyer by the front door, and this enables us to put our furniture or other belongings there while they await pick-up. The area in which the secretary is in will allow us to place quite a few packed boxes there.

We also went to the local book sale at the Fairgrounds: it’s our yearly tradition and we always spend at least $30 in books and magazines. This year we spent $0. Every book or magazine was looked at in the context of : “Do we really want this bad enough to move it?” And the answer every time was “no!”. It really wasn’t as enjoyable this year because of that. While this transition time in moving is necessary and worthwhile, we also long for the day when we are settled in Florida and able to relax into routines, and yes, acquire “stuff”. :=)

We appreciate your readership: please feel free to add us on Facebook if you haven’t as of yet, and we love to read your comments about our adventure :=) Some of our decisions have been made because of your feedback, so we do appreciate them all.

Enjoy your weekend!

March 17, 2011
by wishesandpixiedust 1 Comment

Packing those boxes

We are going to share several packing tips that we’ve come across recently, in the hopes that it might help others who are moving long-distance. Even though we’ve moved a few times, we’ve come to realize that our packing methods were less than acceptable. Thankfully we’ve had minimal breakage over the years, but with a 1,295 mile trip, we want to ensure our boxes arrive safely.

1. Start off with having the right supplies. Packing tape, packing paper, bubble wrap and sturdy boxes are four essential items. It is recommended to use clean newsprint for your packing paper, so the ink does not transfer to your belongings. We were able to buy end rolls of paper from the local newspaper company for $2 per roll.

2. Boxes need to be packed tightly. If you pick up a box and can hear things shifting and moving around in there, there will probably be breakage. Fill in all the gaps with packing paper. If you have children who are bringing stuffed animals, they make great filler. It doesn’t add a lot of weight to the boxes, and it prevents needing separate boxes for them.

3. Plastic totes are not necessarily the way to go. If they ship during transit, they could pop open and all your belongings will be scattered in the moving truck. We do have a few that we are bringing but we are going to secure them with wrap and packing tape and hope for the best.

4. When packing breakable items, fill the bottom of the boxes with crushed paper. This is where buying the end rolls of paper really come in handy. You can rip off as much as you need.

5. Books should be packed in a small carton and placed on end (not on top of each other).

6. Plates should never be packed flat; place on end. When wrapping plates, start from the corner and wrap diagonally, tucking in the edges as you go. Fill the bottom of the box with crushed paper, place plates on end, and then separate layers of plates with crushed paper.

7. Bowls will be packed the same way as plates.

8. When packing bowls with lids, first wrap the bowl and tuck paper on the inside. Then place lid on top and wrap entire bowl again.

9. When packing stemware, roll a piece of packing paper and roll along the stem of the glass. Then wrap each piece individually with more packing paper. Stemware should be placed on edge in the box (up–> down).

10. Cups should be wrapped individually and then packed into the box upside down.

11. For odd-shaped items, roll a piece of packing paper around the handle. Then wrap the item using new paper.

12. If you have silver in a chest, there are two possible ways to wrap. You may wrap pieces individually and reposition in the chest, or you can fill in the empty spaces in the chest with tissue paper. Wrap the entire chest in a paper pad or bubblewrap.

13. Vases should be wrapped in bubblewrap and then in a paper pad.

14. Be sure to label all boxes with breakable items as FRAGILE with an arrow pointing up.

15. Mirror boxes are available to wrap mirrors or picture frames, and are adjustable to fit the size you need. Wrap in paper then place in a mirror box. Be sure to tape all the way around the box.

16. Electronic devices should be unplugged 24 hours before you move, to allow the devices to come to room temperature. The same rule applies when you arrive at your home or apartment: allow 24 hours before plugging in.

17. When possible, use the original packing and boxes for TVs and computers. Cut out a piece of cardboard to fit your screen before packing.

This is where we will give a shameless plug for Mayflower. :=) If you visit www.mayflower.com you can view different moving videos (which are also available on www.youtube.com; do a search for Mayflower).

Mark and Jen

March 2, 2011
by wishesandpixiedust 1 Comment

When You Wish Upon A Star

Monday, June 7, 2010

When you wish upon a star

Makes no difference who you are
Anything your heart desires
Will come to you

If your heart is in your dream
No request is too extreme
When you wish upon a star
As dreamers do

Fate is kind
She brings to those who love
The sweet fulfillment of
Their secret longing

Like a bolt out of the blue
Fate steps in and sees you through
When you wish upon a star
Your dreams come true

–Disney©

This blog will follow our family as we prepare to move from Wisconsin to Florida, and we’re excited that you’ve chosen to join us! We decided to name our website Wishes and Pixie Dust, (and included the Disney song above), because it is our love of Disney that has precipitated this move, and with a little luck and pixie dust, our dreams will come true.

Our dream first began in 2006, after our first family trip to Walt Disney World. It grew to a distant wish, to a real possibility by 2008, after our December 2007 visit, and confirmed after our August 2009 visit to the World. We live in a state where the weather is totally unpredictable six months out of the year, and instead of asking ourselves, “Why do we live here?” we’ve made the leap to do something about it.

We have set a move date of September 15, 2010. We are a family of five, but only four of us will be moving to Florida. Our oldest son will be a junior in college, and will relocate to Madison. Our daughter will be a freshman in high school, and our youngest son will be in eighth grade. We will be moving after school starts, but feel it’s important not to leave before we get our oldest son settled.

Like Carl and Ellie of The Relocated Tourist, we will be selling all our possessions except those that have sentimental value or are not practical to replace, and plan on having professional movers do the bulk of the work. We drove down to Disney last August, really enjoyed the drive, and look forward to being able to do it again. We just don’t want the stress of U-Haul for this move. We plan to host a huge yard sale this summer, not so much to earn money but to pare down our possessions.

We welcome all comments and suggestions! Right now we are very much still in the planning stages, but have decided on Clermont as the city we’d like to relocate to. We will update our blog and hope you’ll follow us along on our journey!

Posted by Wishes And Pixie Dust at 9:19 PM