hello! this is my first post as a new blogger, so here goes...
I live in a small rural new mexican village. I moved here at halloween of 08' from Cottonwood AZ driving a borrowed suburban and pulling a 6 x 8 uhaul it trailer. In the suburban I traveled with my 4 children, 2 large dogs and 5 cats. In the uhaul I brought 2 couches, a futon mattress, our most important clothes and most important toys. All in all, a 6x8 isnt very big, so i had to leave most of our belongings in storage in AZ. That was difficult for me as I am a cancer, and very attached to my belongings, and very much defined by the space i inhabit. Still, this move was to be very good for my family in many ways, so I took the plunge with the know that I would one day soon be back to get the rest of my "stuff".
Now, I waited all winter, and made do with the few pieces of junky furniture the last tenant left behind, and made an acceptable nest for us, all the while dreaming of my things. I have to add that my jeep was also left behind because right before we moved the engine blew. And engine that had just been replaced 3 weeks before by a supposed reputable jeep dealership Oxendale Jeep. They refused to replace the faulty engine on warranty even though I had just paid them 3000 for it. So I had to make due living in rural NM with No car, until the new 2nd engine was ready, and until I could come up ith another almost 3000.00 to pay for it. Seeing that I am a SAHM mom that was a difficult task. I had to wait until tax time for our refund in order to get the car back. Fast forward to March 09', we survived an isolated winter in our new home thanks to a bus route for my kids school, and a graceful, generous neighbor who lent me her car every 2-3 weeks to go grocery shopping. I suppressed my design decorating urges with magazines sent to me by my awesome mom who lives in Connecticut. I dreamed of how I would decorate once I had my things. I painted the kitchen cabinets a fresh coat of white. I made due. Finally the day came for our tax refund. I was so excited to go get my Jeep and some of my things! My best friend came to get my daughter and I and bring us back to AZ. We got my jeep, a bittersweet success as I truly didnt feel I should have to pay for another engine, and was pissed that I had to give up most of my tax return to a bunch of crooks who clearly took advantage. Anyways. So I got the jeep, hooray freedom! And began to look on craigslist for an inexpensive trailer to bring home some of my things. I had devine luck. I found a trailer for under 100- that was nothing to look at but in good shape none the less. I had to outfit it with new lighting, but after a trip to autozone and an hour of basic wiring, my daughter and I were ready to pack up some stuff. We packed up as much as I could in our new 4 x 8 trailer, my dressers, some art supplies, my altar objects, some more kids things. It was a decent sized load and I was temporarily satisfied. A couple weeks later the cosmos coverged and I found myself packing up my daughter to return to AZ one last time to finish with this storage once and for all. I had to complete my home! I had to have all of myself in one location. So last weekend (April 3rd-April 7) was it. It was to be dual purpose trip as my best friend is returning to our homestate of CT at the end of the month. I arrived at her house Friday night to help her do some packing and organizing. We stayed the weekend heading to storage on Monday morning. It was a daunting task from the moment I opened the storage door. In my optimism I had had envisioned packing the storage in one more load with ease, in a matter of hours. Reality check, I had left the storage totally disorganized and there was way more stuff than I thought. So I had to get creative, pick and choose what I would live without, and find a way to pack the rest...
zari in the empty trailer excited to be having an adventure!
I set up a couple stations for Zari to play, one in the empty trailer, one in the car, and one in storage, and I shuffled her from spot to spot while I sorted and packed. When she got impatient, I put her in the backpack, and wore her for several hours while she napped and I packed. It was 80 degrees. It was hot . I was totally overwhelmed, but still I kept on at it. By 6:30 PM a full days work Zari was totally over it. But I was only 3/4 done, with no way to go anywhere, so I gave her some dinner, and made a bed for her in the car. She was asleep by 8 and I was back at it, determined to finish! At 1 a.m. I was mostly done. I had puzzled in all that I could. Rearranged, stuffed, fitted and tied. I wrapped it all in a vintage parachute, covering that in bungee nets. I was delerious. I looked at my finished project and thought no way was this safe to drive! I had visions of having to start all over. I tempered my overwhelming sense of dread with driving around the storage in circles of various speeds, so assure myself that it would not tip over or fall apart. Temporarily satisfied, I made myself a bed in the front seat, and went to sleep.
The next morning there were a few loose ends. We wrapped them up and I made a deal with myself. Not 100% sure that this would work, I told myself I would drive the 20 miles to the highway entrance, and if I felt the load was in anyway not safe, I would turn around and regroup. Thankfully, it was a success. Nothing moved, everything seemed balanced and ready to go. I got on the highway, and headed for home. 11 hours , alot of strange looks, and a very tired daughter later we arrived at our home in New Mexico with the rest of our things.
I wanted to take pics of the whole ensamble, but by the time I had woken up the next morning, S had already unhooked the jeep. So here is the finished project on the road in from of our house, sans jeep... Fully packed and loaded, the unveiling, second layer and bottom layer. Now Easter weekend has just passed. Everything is unloaded from the trailer and awaiting its proper place within the home. So welcome to the unveiling of my creative chaos and stay tuned for the evolution of the black cat casita. Many blessings, Chella.
fully loaded
view from front
the unveiling
other side
the front
second layer
