Moving house is a stressful and busy endeavor — even when it’s someone else who is moving.  My mom is moving across the country.  She’s moving from her own fairly small 5-room house into my sister’s much larger house — but mom will only have one room of her own.

Going through all of mom’s possessions has been an interesting exercise.  For the most part, it has been an exercise we’ve all enjoyed.  After all, most families do this after a loved one has died.  In our case, my mom is still alive and is taking part in the process.

Of course, we’ve all assured each other that this property division is not final — a good number of the who is taking what decisions have been based on purely practical matters such as who can most easily transport an item and who currently has space for it.  Although the process is stressful and we’ve had a few hurt feelings and minor skirmishes, none of those have been started or have been about who gets what.

My sister, my mom, and I are all gearing up for a big garage sale this weekend.  Every single waking hour has been spent sorting, organizing, dusting, and deciding — with a few side trips down memory-lane 

All of this really does have something to do with money.  Spending money, that is.  I think you’d be hard-pressed to find an individual or family in the process of moving who doesn’t experience an increase in the frequency of their dining-out.  Moving is hard work and time consuming and it’s just too tempting to decide to grab a quick, hot meal at the local take-out establishment.  Tonight was such a night for our motley crew.  My sister picked up a bunch of mexican food and my mom and I stopped at the Teriyaki Chicken Bowl ($7.75) for those who wanted something different — that ended up be The Daughter and my mom.  Naturally, I had to provide my own nourishment since restaurant fare isn’t an option given my extensive food allergies.