Moving Mayhem = Clothing Catastrophe

In case you haven't heard, Jonathan and I are moving in just a few weeks from Goldsboro to New Bern, North Carolina. We are excited about it but of course are sad to be leaving all our family and friends at Faith (a long, sappy post about that is coming soon, no doubt!).

Anyway, for the past few weeks we have been in the throes of chaos around our house due to packing and trying to decide what can be packed up for a month and what should stay with us. (We'll be living with Mamaw during the month of June because we're cheap to save rent. =) It's amazing how much stuff we've accumulated over the past 2 years... especially I don't really spend money on anything but clothes! (True story, really. Not that I'm proud of it, but still...) We filled box after box (and countless shopping bags... I knew all those trips to Loft were worthwhile!) with picture frames (wrapped in Target bags), dishes, shoes, clothes... and on and on (pardon my boring lists). We had a storage trailer ready to go this past Tuesday and started the loading process on Thursday, thanks to some help from our friends Blake and Brook (they are the very best!).

Well, as could be expected amid all the confusion of moving and packing and loading, a crisis has occurred. What could it be, you ask? Your wedding china broken? Your furniture scratched? A mirror shattered?

No, no, and no. Here's what happened...

Jonathan decided to take a load of stuff over to Mamaw's a few days ago. He grabbed several boxes, a couple of bags, and some wrapped pictures and took them to her attic. I distinctly remember telling him to let me grab something out of one of the bins and then letting him load it. (You know me and my infallible memory!!!) So, to my knowledge this bin was safe and sound at Mamaw's all week, and I put it out of my mind. Thursday we loaded nearly everything else onto the trailer and I didn't really take much notice of what was being put on it, since I THOUGHT all of my important items (aka CLOTHES) were out of the loading zone. Apparently I thought wrong.

Fast-forward to yesterday afternoon. We attended a wedding in the morning, then stopped back by Mamaw's for me to grab a shirt out of this perfectly accessible bin. I pulled down the ladder to the attic, climbed up, and started digging through the ginormous pile of our stuff, certain I would locate it within moments and we could be on our merry way back to the apartment. As I opened bin after bin, finding only sweaters and winter clothes, my undercurrent of worry that had begun when I didn't see it immediately began to swell into a tide of panic.

See, this wasn't just a bin with a few tops in it. This bin contained EVERY one of my summer t-shirts and tank tops. Like, several dozen. (I know I have too many clothes, but that's a lecture I'll give myself another day.) Solid t-shirts, printed tops, tank tops... etc. I immediately asked Jonathan where it could be, since I just KNEW that he had brought it over here. He swears he didn't... I say he did. It will remain one of life's mysteries. (And I won't lengthen this post by many paragraphs by talking about miscommunications in marriage!) However, the problem at hand was that my bin was not in Mamaw's attic and somehow had inadvertantly been loaded onto the trailer with every one of our other possessions, meaning we would have to unload EVERYTHING to find it. And while I am certainly not above some extra work to get my stuff back, I felt it would be a little cruel of me to subject my husband to 2 more hours of manual labor just for my clothes.

So, I took it upon myself to climb up in the trailer and start looking. I felt like I was digging through the rubble of an earthquake, not to mention it was about 136 degrees in the trailer. (Can you tell I grew up on the West Coast where there's no humidity?) After several minutes, and nearly breaking several things, I decided to give up. Now, I have not yet admitted that there is even a possibility that the bin is actually gone. That's unthinkable, and the thought of replacing my entire wardrobe of casual shirts is more daunting than I care to consider.

To my credit, I didn't cry... which is saying quite a bit considering I wasn't feeling too hot anyway and was already emotional about leaving our first apartment. And I am painfully aware that crying over a box of clothes that I (fingers crossed) will get back in four weeks is just silly. (Not quite "catrastrophic", as this post's title suggests.) But, these are the problems of a clothes-aholic such as myself. I'm convinced that the Lord has been orchestrated this whole mix-up to teach me a lesson in vanity, since I'm death on repeating my outfits (not other people doing it, just me). So, if you see me looking overdressed over the next few weeks, I'm not trying to look fancy... I just don't have any casual clothes right now! =)

Oh, and there is an upside to this story... I get to go shopping!!! My poor husband feels terrible about this entire ordeal, so he's letting me increase my shopping budget for the month? Actually, he's giving me a shopping budget for the month; it's normally nonexistent. (Don't worry, I'm squeezing everything out this I can I have assured him that all is well. =) If I were clever and crafty like my friend Cheryl, I'd just whip up a few things on my sewing machine (she regularly makes me feel lame by posting her adorable DIY clothes on Pinterest)... but alas, I am certainly not. So, shopping it is!  Any suggestions for pieces that will be super versatile, since I can't buy too much? I'm thinking some solid tops (boring, I know, but I have to have some to wear with my printed skirts) and a few with patterns. Hmmm.... I guess there are worse dilemmas to have, after all! And of course I'll share my deals as I find them... I like to pretend that you all care. =)


Happy Memorial Day, everyone!


Ash

1 comment

  1. So sorry for all the frustration you had to endure. I know you must have been a real peach to live with. ;)I feel like we have reversed roles...I no longer care about repeating outfits, and have chronic shopping issues. Ughhhh...stupid Dave. Dave Ramsey that is.

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