XI. No Más!

In the Staging Area: about one-third of everything we'll put in 
storage. This is nearly everything that will go on top of the 
chest, bookshelf, desk, and dresser. And that's about it!

No More!

We’re in the final final FINAL days of getting rid of, organizing, and packing, and we had a setback this past week when sweet suffering spouse endured a health problem and the side effects of some serious antibiotics. And then we lost our internet connection for nearly four days.

The question is: What will we take with us on the plane to Guadalajara? That trip is only eight--now, seven--days away, and the question is still up in the air. 

It will cost nearly $1000 to ship four boxes. That sticker shock led us to seek alternatives. 

We figure we can cut back to three big boxes, and we can check one or two of them as excess baggage on our flight. That would halve the cost. But that leads us to the question of how much hassle it would be for us to wrangle 4 or 5 pieces of luggage each (plus carry-on) through airports in two countries, plus customs. Add to that getting it all on and off the rides to and from the airports, the latter about 40 miles from GDL to Ajijic, in a foreign land.

My perfect desk: four sturdy
pieces with a work surface 
of 32"X54".

It can be done, but at what price to sanity? "Plan ahead, be scrupulous and relax," is the best advice I’ve been given, on one or another of El Rinconcito’s gringo webboards. We’ve been frequenting these online forums lately, asking questions as they come up, and getting mostly good counsel (Where to schedule reliable airport transportation? Luis y Francisco Miramontes, por seguro), along with the few inevitable busybody postings that allow bustylady2 and 66leadmetowater to spout off and show how much they know.

As far as today goes, my balls-to-the-wall wifey, who’s storming through the kitchen now—driving every unattached object before her—was just heard proclaiming, “If it’s not something we’re putting it in our mouths in the next five days, or using to fix something to put in our mouths—it’s history!”

I’m using the same sweep-like-the-hands-of-a-clock strategy in my office. Today is the day I dismantle my well-used Ikea desk. The office is no more; now officially, it's "The Staging Area".

UPDATE: Two days later, and TOMORROWS's the day The Young Man (our well-mannered, weightlifting next door neighbor) and I take bed, desks, chests, dresser and TV (plus all the boxes, totes and et ceteras pictured in the Staging Area, above)—take it all to the outer suburban Money-Saver Mini-Storage, where the moving truck comes free with the locker rental. This means that TODAY is the day for final bubble-wrapping and taping, staging, and prioritizing the truck packing. I've finished most of that; now I'm taking a wee beer break.