lists

Maybe if I write it down I can stop trying to hold onto it in my head and it will all see easier. And, since you asked, in the next three weeks (We leave Monday, June 20)...

I need to:

1. make second grade movie
2. sort everything for packing--what stays, what goes in boxes, what goes in suitcases--and make it easy for the Russian-speaking-only packers to pack it by moving things to different rooms
3. do a "dry run" to see what will fit in how many suitcases--aiming for three large and Lexi's wheelie bag (I don't know how I'll manage all this at the airport.)
   • mac mini
   • dvd player (universal)
   • monitor?
   • keyboard/mouse
   • Mouse, Medved, George, George's clothes
   • a FEW beloved books, preferably paperback
   • a FEW comfort dvd's
   • the green throw that is both a princess dress and her swaddling when she's a baby
   • towels x 4
   • sheets x 2
   • duvet cover for Lexi?
   • clothes
   • bike helmet

4. pack up personal things in classroom
5. get things home
6. deregister car--no idea how
7. sell car--have buyer but don't know how
8. deregister self--cancel visa, turn in consulate badge and diplomatic card
9. schedule last visit with Russian sw (and Galina)
10. vet visits this week, three days before and 24 hours before
11. bathe Beazy before vet visits
12. hope carriers come
13. try to find Delta approved carriers in the city in case they don't come...at a pet store near a metro stop as car will be sold
14. school bbq
15. class party(ies) for grade 2 (and maybe Lexi's for grade 1...but leaning towards no on that one)
16. end of year testing--dra, math, cumulative spelling
17. continue medieval unit--make castles, living history museum, batering
18. report cards
19. sports day
20. research French in-transit animal requirements
21. get pillowcase for Noor, who is leaving this year, and have Sofia and Carlotta sign it before they leave early
22. ask Marina to call Meridian to schedule pick-up and Alina Nikolaievna to say good-bye since I won't make it out there before they move all the kids
23. not feel guilty about that
24. fill out all sorts of ridiculous forms detailing everything I've bought either here or in the US and brought here in the last six years that is being shipped home
25. supervise packers
26. organize gifts--and who would use American children's meds, games, and baking ingredients
27. sell my electronics to remaining and incoming staff members
28. wash everything going in boxes
29. bake banana bread with the bananas in the freezer
30. normal cooking, washing, cleaning (quit having the cleaner two weeks ago), homework, playing, bathing, etc.

get in the US within a week (hopefully sooner) of our arrival:

• car--I want a gently used CRV
• internet access
• couch
• beds
• table & chairs
• car seat until ours comes
• monitor (if I don't bring mine)
• library cards
• pool membership
• bikes
• swing?
• television?
• find out about Jenn's Blue Cross insurance plan

31. **keep life as normal as possible for a sensitive little girl who is feeling the stress despite my best efforts and who seems to be at the start of (exhausting) anniversary regressions on top of everything else and needs extra reassurances and Momma-time**

32. breathe
33. sleep
34. call Aetna AGAIN about where the reimbursement check is

I did:

1. roast a chicken today only to find, when I was cutting off a leg for Lexi, a bizarre, large... blood capsule in the joint which exploded, rendering the chicken, in my opinion, inedible
2. throw away the chicken
3. wash our linens for packing
4. put school linens on bed

   I thought that I would want our things out and about for Lexi for as long as possible, so I scheduled our packers for a week before we left. Then, yesterday, I decided that might be too big of a shock. So, I started transitioning a few things--including bed linens. We've been weeding out toys for a while--but not giving them away. There is just a big pile of things "for the orphanage" (actually going to a group who helps families in need because they will pick it up) but she can still see it all. And, she can retrieve a toy if it's more beloved than I thought--like her Elephant and Piggie stuffed animals that she never plays with

5. pack away winter clothes for us both in a trunk (it's still chilly here)
6. call the vet & scheduled appointments for rabies shots and Mia's microchipping (he'll come to our house)
7. order official Delta approved carriers
8. our last grocery shop
9. take pictures of lamps, digital clocks, humidifiers, (fans are spoken for)
10. asked Marina to call the vet to figure out how to bribe our way onto the Air France flight (there is a precedent, but that flight left from Moscow)
11. find out Cobra for our insurance is a ridiculous $2000 pcm
12. put back up the apartment's curtains in Lexi's room
13. (well, my friend Kerry did for me) got water and electricity put in my name
14. give Lexi a haircut
15. schedule a haircut for myself
    

I gave up (as in released myself of the obligation to do, not as in quit):
photos

• I was going to have a professional photographer take pictures of us out and about in the city...but there's just no time. I may be able to have a friend take some. But, it may just not happen.