Taking Ruchi’s lists…and making it my own.

Things I have done

1. Got a mailing address 

2. Given notice at my job

3. Sold some furniture/yarn/bicycle/misc items

4. Updated all businesses with new address or closed accounts

5.  Given away some clothes. Packed away the rest for donation. Put up free ads. The compost bin has gotten the most interest.

6. Made arrangements to donate remaining furniture (thanks to Heather for suggesting it), computers and other electronic gizmos. For minimalists we certainly have a lot of crap.

7. Made plans for friend to drive me to goodwill to drop of other stuff. 

8. Swapped (using paperbackswap.com and swapacd.com) all our media and books.

9. Made a list of stuff I need a friend to store for me and then ship to me when I reach my destination. 

Things I have not done

1. Planned out our entire route. I have bits and pieces of every state. Looking at traffic maps, bicycle maps, reading about the weather (for example dust storms in Kansas) takes alot of time.  

2. Told my co-workers that I’m leaving. 

Things I am doing 

1. Keeping up with my blog reading (I’m only a week behind now, compared to being a month behind like I was the past couple of months).

2. Planning our itinerary. 

3. Sleeping for 8 hours every night. 

Things I am not doing

1.  Cleaning our place up. Its an incredible mess and everything is just falling by the wayside. I cleaned the bathroom last weekend and felt like I had actually accomplished something. Our living room currently looks like a disaster zone. Every evening we come home dog tired to do anything (quitting coffee has only made us more tired). We’re working until the day before we leave because we need the money. I want to have paid for everything before we leave so we can rely on our savings during our trip.

Things that have fallen by the wayside

1. Going to the Farmers’ Market. We’ve had stuff from our last trip to last us awhile, but we been really busy with other random stuff to get together to go to the market. Also we’ve been eating our bulk stuff (organic and not local).

2. Eating home cooked meals all the time. I’ve been eating out alot.  

Things that have not fallen by the wayside

1.  My calm and collected mind. For some strange reason I am not panicking about anything. I’ve managed to gain this previously elusive quality called "faith". I somehow have faith that things are just going to work out. This could also be the early stages of delusion, but I’m trying to be positive for now.

Things that suck

1. My commute. I hated it before I started the job and I still hate it.

2. Not having any offers, despite having the interviews that went well. I honestly believed I would be incredibly employable with a degree, which was why I went back to school. Boy do I regret going to college. 

Things that get me through the day 

1.  Frequent chats with my husband.
2. Reading comic strips