Deep breaths, mama!

Okay, so what is a quasi-neat freak supposed to do as the piles of moving boxes encroach upon her home???  She carries around a brown paper bag and breathes into it occasionally, that's what!
This moving stuff is messy business, i tell you... I was doing the math, and this will be my fifteenth move. You'd think I'd be a pro at this point, but each one has been different with the only similar trait among them being, "chaotic." This is problematic since i work best in a clutter and mess free environment. It offsets the spazziness in my brain.

Here's the quandary: being proactive in packing up, sorting, discarding all the while, still living. I mean, the laundry isn't going to fold itself! That's why I am scrambling the inter webs scouring for any advice and tips that I can find:
 "Organize your move"... "Moving across the country"...."Moving with kids".... "Packing tips".....You name it, I've googled it. Typically, I'm looking for ideas that are mentioned more than once, since I figure they've been corroborated by more than one person. So far, I'm seeing three biggies:

• Pack one room at a time.
• Pack the stuff you haven't used in at least a month, first.
• Keep a running notebook containing all your lists and information.

Okay, so check. Check. Check. I am three for three. But you know what? It's still nuts in here.
Because it's clutter upon clutter, and you never know what new project will present itself once you dive deeply into the closet-abyss.

Case in point: I unearthed 2 missing backpacks. They were full of fruit roll up wrappers, old notebooks, all of our household's missing pens/ markers, shin guards, toys and (hooray) money!!!  But after emptying the bags all out, I'm bugged by the dirt. So of course, they must be washed- which means I may as well throw in a load of sneakers and other "canvassy" type things along with them.
An hour later....
Sooooooo....where was I?  Oh yes. The closet. The closet with muddy rain boots in it--boots that should be scraped and wiped down before I even think about packing them. So here we go, busy with something else. Are you getting the gist, here? Project upon project. Is it any wonder why i only get two boxes packed per day?

This is where my easily-distracted sanguine personality comes back to bite me. I get lost. The upside is, I have a lot of fun getting there. And at least my stuff is clean.
So yes. It is slow-going, but at least as of today, the rolling pin was packed. Which means it's officially official: we're moving! 

It's official!