Unfortunately, our stuff still looks like this…

I see it multiple times a day as I get in and out of my car. It’s a painful reminder that we still don’t have a house. (which is a topic for another day!) But I’m realizing more and more how much I long for things out of these boxes. Just on Sunday, Steve was telling Hallie that her dress was getting too short to wear. Little does he know, she’ll be wearing it for a while longer because she has a box full of dresses in the next size, brand new with all the tags somewhere in that pile! They’re probably right next to the tennis shoes for Hunter, which we had to rebuy. My amazing ability to purchase things at a tremendous discount in advance isn’t working out so well for me anymore!

I can do without a lot of the “stuff” but there are several things I would love to have now, not that I can’t live without them, I just think about them often. A list in no particular order:

Clothing: For starters – my clothing. We moved here when I was pregnant with Bennett…I’m well past the post-pregnancy stage and would love my clothes that fit! Likewise we have boxes of clothes for all the kids in the next size up that I’m afraid is going to be relatively useless by the time we unpack!

Baby Items: I had enough foresight to understand we might not have access to this stuff for a while…just not for as long as its been. I managed to pull out all of the clothing for Bennett (from Hunter) up to 6 months. He’s now needing clothing larger than that. Or the baby toys that I refuse to rebuy – the play mats – rattles – teething rings, all of it. I’m sure it’s all squished together in one box, keeping one another company. I’m ready to find that box!

Salsa: Funny as that may seem, and although not necessary, I want to eat our salsa again. The salsa we grew from our own garden and canned with love. It’s divine and I’m tired of this store bought junk.

Books: I feel guilty that Hunter is relatively foreign to books. Sure we have a couple that we’ve picked up over the past couple months but reading time with Hallie was so special. We have our family favorites and one day Hunter will know what those are.

Movies: We don’t have TV currently (which I hope lasts for a long time) but it would be nice to curl up to a favorite movie once in a while. We do netflix, but have to watch in on the computer and they don’t have our favorites…it’s just not the same.

Kitchen gadgets/gear: Nothing can replace the feeling of feeling comfortable in your kitchen and having your go-to tools. The non-slip bowls, food processor, bread pans, and all the cake decorating/party things you could ask for, you know, the stuff you are familiar with. Cooking is not the same without them.

I’m sure if I sat here long enough I would have a list a mile long. But just the mention of these few items makes me a little nostalgic. I know this stage is temporary. I get it. We will look back one day and realize how quickly this time went by. But it doesn’t seem to make it any less hard right now.

Okay I’m done. Pity party is over. Besides what good is a pity party without cake? And what good is cake without all my decorating tools??