One of two jungle gyms impressive piles of boxes in the house (the other is in another room).

Our move is sneaking up on us at an alarming rate. Thankfully everything is going as planned so far. We only have about two weeks left here (schedule always subject to change, when dealing with the Marine Corps), but I really need to have the house empty by next weekend so I’ll have enough time to get the inside ship shape… and also enough time to resolve as-of-yet unrecognized impending disasters (like, the Marine Corps).

Today the children helped a great deal with picking out a few books (okay, a whole box full of books) to keep out and hopefully take with us to Oregon. We may have to go through them again and pare down some more, depending on which of our vehicles we drive out. Going through books has really been the hardest part of packing (for me, anyway). I love my books. Love.

Moving on.

Yesterday and Tuesday my friend Katie came over and we worked in the kitchen cooking and baking all day while the children played together. The idea is that if I have a ton of stuff prepared in the freezer, meals will be easier to prepare as more of my kitchen stuff gets packed up, and we won’t have to spend so much money dining out or ordering in. Oh, did I mention that my friend Katie actually did my grocery shopping for me? It so happens that I have EXCELLENT taste in friends, and it also happens that the one household chore that I despise more than any other (shopping) is her most favorite household chore. (And not only does she like it, but she also knows how to score the very best deals, and rounded out my slim-pickin’s pantry with enough food to last another two weeks for only $75–including beer.) But I digress…

We made angel food cake, roast chicken, corn bread, wheat bread, a massive batch of salmon patties, and two pie crusts (soon to be filled with pumpkin pie, made with pumpkin still frozen from Halloween). I also made and froze two huge (and if I say so my self, beautiful) pizzas, which will be for our moving party next week (date and attendees yet to be determined, Erik is in charge of that). I used Jackie Clay’s pizza dough recipe from our very own Backwoods Home Cooking (page 137). Yum!

At least we’ll have good eats during the move!