So today I started by cleaning out all my drawers. Then I started cleaning the twins room and moving some furniture around. It is really the only way I know how to clean. I cleaned out all their drawers and removed all the small stuff for an upcoming yard sale. Last week I went through and cleaned out all their old books. We donated all the picture books to a neighbor expecting twins. It was hard to say goodbye to all the books that we have read to our four children over the years, but we just don't need them any longer. The boys are reading chapter books and so they barely touch the easy ones anymore. I did keep a couple sentimental books and also all the Jan Brett books. She is my favorite children's author and probably only because I met her once at a teacher's conference.
After cleaning the twins room, I moved onto Eric's room. He had cleaned it on Friday or Saturday morning, but by Saturday night it looked like a tornado had gone through. Eric has boxes and boxes of books (another good reason I am glad I bought him a Kindle.) I made him go through each box and separate into piles of what we should keep for twins and which should we donate. We got them separated on Saturday night, but we didn't finish cleaning up the huge mess we had made in the process.
After cleaning the rooms, I didn't touch Erin's because I think it really did have a tornado come through and I had nothing to do with that one, I filed our tax return. I love doing taxes and sometimes wish I had gone to school to be an accountant. But not really, I just love numbers. I love that a big portion of our income (like housing allowance) isn't taxed. So we still get money back each year. But I bet I will hate doing taxes once I no longer get a refund. I know that financial planners always say that you should never get a refund because that means you are giving too much each month. But I love the refund and I always use it to pay for family vacations. I know that it makes more sense to invest the money, but considering that my emergency fund last year only made $24 in interest, there just doesn't seem to be any money to be made in savings accounts these days.
I then read a few chapters and took a short nap. I had a nice quiet lunch while I clipped coupons. I just love days like today. I almost wish everyday could be like this. But I don't see another day like this coming up anytime soon. Maybe once I move and no longer tutor or volunteer.
Anyway, I was doing all the cleaning to prepare for our move to Omaha. The last couple weeks, I have put together the plan for the move. We still don't know when Mario has to leave, but as it stands this minute, he will have to leave on February 23. Hopefully it will get extended until at least April, but I am not holding my breath. Compared to the deployment, this is nothing. So I am not too worried. My plan is to pack out a week before the move so I can spend the last two weeks in a nice TLF with the kids on base and have little stress while Eric takes his finals. Mario will fly back to Tucson in time to drive away with the family. We plan on making a stop at Hoover Dam and then travel to Utah for a week. Eric was quite upset that we aren't taking the most direct route to Omaha. So I found a way to satisfy him-EFY at BYU for a week. We will also get to visit my parents on their mission in Heber Valley. Then we will spend a week at a resort in Park City. I loved staying in Park City on our drive to California from Illinois.
