Move #13

Moving, in a nutshell:  

Compression...

And in our case, Compression again, as we tightly packed not only the truck but a storage unit as well...

Decompression...

(Sorry for the crappy pictures, we left the camera at my sister's with the kids.)

And finally, Compression.

My husband didn't bother mentioning the flour handprint on my behind before snapping this pic.
Thanks a lot.

Leaving half our stuff behind each Summer makes us realize how much stuff we could really do without.

Yes, our employers house us in a one bedroom apartment... all five of us... but hey, it's free, so I'm not complaining.

(On top of the unused bunk beds that come with the place is our only space for storage.  In case you were wondering what's up there. You may recognize the set up from last year, although this time the whole place is reversed.)

The boys are cozy in their "cave," and we sleep on a futon in the living room.  At least I'm not in my third trimester this time around.

It's not perfect, but it's liveable. At least for 3 months out of the year anyway.

Is it worth it?

Well, we get to swap this...

(Ignore the rainbow, and imagine barking dogs at 2 in the morning.
This is the only picture I have from our old balcony.)

...for this.

You be the judge.

Church Mice

Once upon a time, there was an old lady whose job it was to clean the whole church. One day, as she was working, she  came to one room that was particularly messy.

"Oh my!" she said. "This room is so messy, and I'm already so tired, I just don't think I can face this one right now. Perhaps I'll come back later," and she closed the door to go work on other things.
Meanwhile, some little mice who had been hiding in the closet said to each other, "That nice old lady is always cleaning and working so hard to make this place look nice. We should do something special for her.  Hey, I know! Let's surprise her by cleaning this room for her.  That will make her so happy! She'll be so surprised!" With that, the mice began cleaning as fast as they could.


Soon after that, the little old lady came back.  She opened the door slowly with a few jiggles of the handle (because the church was getting so old and the handle didn't always work properly) and when the mice heard her, they ran back into the closet and hid.
"Hmm, maybe this room isn't as messy as I remember," she said, "but it's still too messy to face right now."  She looked around listing all the things that needed to be done, but it was still too overwhelming. "Oh dear, I still don't think I can face it yet. Maybe I'll save it for last," and with that she left the room and closed the door behind her.


Once the coast was clear, the mice came out, and began cleaning again, paying special attention to all the things they had heard the lady mention.  They worked quickly and quietly.
A little while later, the old lady came back --once again struggling with the door, and the mice had just enough time to hide again before she came in.  This time the lady definitely noticed a difference in the room.

"My goodness!" she exclaimed. "Something strange is going on.  I'm sure it was dirtier than this when I was in here before. Maybe I'm going crazy, but I wonder what will happen if I leave it just a little bit longer..."  She noted out loud the few things that still needed to be done, and tried to remember them just to make sure she wasn't imagining things, and then she slowly backed out of the room and closed the door.


The mice warily came out of hiding.  They giggled to themselves to think that the lady didn't know it was them. They finished tidying up, until the room was spotless with nothing on the floor and everything in its place.  There were a few things that didn't belong in the room, but belonged elsewhere in the church, and the mice quietly opened the door and set those things in the hallway. However, when they went to close that stubborn old door, "BAM!" it slammed shut and made a terribly loud noise.  The mice squeaked in fright and hid in the closet again.


The old lady who had heard the noise came to investigate.
"What on earth was that noise?" She said to herself as she opened the door.  "Oh!" she exclaimed, dropping her dust rag in surprise.  "What's going on? Who has been cleaning in here?" She looked around in disbelief.  "Perhaps it's magic?  No... there's something here, in the dust... mice footprints!  It was mice who cleaned this room for me.  How kind!  I will do something to let them know how grateful I am."  And she quickly left the room.

The mice crept out of hiding, and found the dust rag lying there.  They decided to use it, for good measure, and just as they finished up they noticed that the old lady hadn't closed the door behind her, but in fact she was peeking in at them with a kind smile on her face.  They squeaked and quickly ran and hid, but she didn't chase them.  She quietly walked into the room and gently set something down saying softly, "Thank you little church mice!"  Then she turned and left, closing the door behind her.
When the mice finally dared to come out, they found a plate full of wonderful treats, perfectly fit for some helpful little mice.

THE END

This is a game we played as children with my mother or older sister playing the part of the old lady, and we got to be the mice. Why a church, and why mice? I have no idea. I'm not sure where the story came from, it may or may not be original, but I've definitely taken liberties with it as I've written it down here.  After all, it was a little different every time we played (i.e. sometimes the lady left a vacuum instead of a dust rag, or both).  Anyway, I have fond memories of this game. I recently introduced it to my own children and it's been a hit!  I told them the story, and then the first time I had their dad do it with them as a mouse to show them how it's done (they are 4 and 2 after all), but since then they've shown themselves capable of cleaning their own room all by themselves!

Of course, as with all cleaning tricks and games, the novelty will soon wear off; but if it works for even a little while it's worth it right?  I'll take whatever I can get.

I'll post other ideas to make chores fun as we try them.

Do you have any other fun cleaning ideas?