SparkDad

My family and I travelled this Christmas! It was a wonderful two weeks. We visited family and did a lot of fun things. As we approached the city limits on our drive back home Mama said, “We really need a bigger house.”

 

I agreed and we have a plan for selling and moving. No exact timeline , but a plan. I started thinking about moving today and cringed! Ouch! Packing! Lugging the boxes! Yuck!

 

So I looked up several movers to see what it is going to cost to have someone move us.

 

I found this a moving company website that creates a free estimate and allows you to compare movers

 

In my investigation I found that most movers take between 1-2 weeks, yes I said weeks, to deliver your property once picked up. MoveBuilder takes an average of 2-5 days so they won hands down!

 

They also had a lot of Service Options including Packing, Loading, Unloading, Storage, Military Relocation and Corporate Relocating. MoveBuilder offered the choices to choose different levels of packing, loading and unloading which is very different from other companies.

 

Their pricing was very good as well. They base the price on the size of the shipment and do not concern themselves with hourly charges, so that is one less thing to worry about.

 

My estimate will be back soon and I will let you know how it turns out! Moving is exciting, but I can guarantee it will be a lot of work!

 

- SparkDad

 

MMM! Chick Pot Pie. I am not sure what we needed comforting from yesterday, but when I looked up easy chicken recipes this is what came up! 

 

From start to finish it only took 60 minutes and 40 minutes of that was boiling chicken and cooking the pie in the oven.

 

Here is the recipe:

 

http://www.pillsbury.com/recipes/showrecipe.aspx?rid=12462

 

This week has been a lot more productive for me. I have organized my to do lists with Google Tasks.

 

I have multiple lists maintained to organize my different organizations. Here are the lists:

 

• Kids Activities – stuff that the Kids need to do
• MyTasks – things like change the oil , grocery list needs
• Scouts – my to do list for our Cub Scout Pack
• Work – Work to do list
• Today – I move items that I need to do today to this list form the others

This method has allowed me to get more things done and not be so overwhelmed!

 

See ya!

Well the first 3 days of Skeeter and Pork Chop’s vacation has been very productive! I have made great headway in the garage. Mama and Uncle Pete helped out as well. On the left is the before and on the right is the after.

 

 

You can see my post on this project here.  After moving the cabinets to the other wall in the garage, I used a sheetrock putty to patch up the holes in the walls and used a primer paint to paint the walls. Next I will paint the walls gray with red and black racing stripes. Then on the blank wall we are going to install either slat wall or peg board to hang gardening tools on.

 

The cabinets moved to the opposite wall.  In

between  the upper cabinet and the tall two door one we are going to build a workbench and shelves.

 

This arrangement should give us a lot more storage and the ability to park our jet skis and one car in the garage.

 

Other than working in the garage, I managed to clear out the front office of the house and pack up some books to sell on Amazon.com or at Half Price Books.

 

The house is really coming together.

 

I am out CYA!

 

 

 

Today is the first workday since Skeeter and Pork Chop began their four week vacation away. I have big plans to accomplish this month while they are gone!

 

1. Clean and Organize the attic

2. Garage “Man Cave” Project

- Paint Garage

- Build workbench and shelves

- Cover garage floor with rubber tiles

3. Paint master bath

4. Paint trim and doors in house

5. Paint Skeeter and Pork Chops room

6. Build shoe shelves in boys closet

 

Whew I am tired already! This weekend after the Jet Skis were serviced we went out to a local lake for some fun! We had a great time. BUT, we sucked a ski rope up the impeller, that was the end of the day for that ski. And the other one still will not idle well.

 

Other than that it was a great weekend! I will post some pictures of my attic and garage progress later today.

 

C Ya!

Our family does a fair amount of travelling. We have some very close friends that live in San Antonio and Dallas which is only three hours away so we go often.

 

On my last trip while getting ready I had the smart idea that I would make a standard list that I can use to pack.

 

This weekend we made one of those weekend trips to San Antonio and I remembered the checklist that I saved! What a time saver! I simply printed it out, slapped it on a clip board and I was done making the list.

 

Obviously you will want to modify the list and make it your own, but here is ours.

 

 

 

Trip Checklist – Days ____ Nights ____ Drive Time ____hrs.

 

Entertainment

IPOD’s and Bags ____ WII ____ WII Games ____ DVD Movies ____ DS/Games ____

 

Snacks / Food

Cooler ____ Drinks ____ Chips ____ Fruit ____

 

Clothes

Mama

Pajamas ____ Socks = Days x 1 ____ Undergarments = Days x 1 ____ Sandals ___ Shoes ___

Bottoms ____ Shirts ____ Church Outfit ____

Dad

Pajamas ____ Socks = Days x 1 ____ Undergarments = Days x 1 ____ Sandals ___ Shoes ___

Bottoms ____ Shirts ____ Church Outfit ____

Skeeter

Pajamas ____ Socks = Days x 1 ____ Undergarments = Days x 1 ____ Sandals ___ Shoes ___

Bottoms ____ Shirts ____ Church Outfit ____

Pork Chop

Pajamas ____ Socks = Days x 1 ____ Undergarments = Days x 1 ____ Sandals ___ Shoes ___

Bottoms ____ Shirts ____ Church Outfit ____

 

Other

Cell Phone Chargers ____ Medicines ____ Toiletries ____ Book ____ Map ____ Paper Pad ____ Pencils ____ Kids Toys ____ Kids Books ____ Blankets ____ Pillows ____

 

Vehicle

Oil Change ____ Wipers Checked ____ Tires Checked ____ Belts Checked ____ Air Filter ____ Fuel Filter Cleaner ____ Insurance Card ____ Vacuum ____ Check Spare Tire _____