In fitness, a 'rest day' isn't a day to crash-- it's a day to walk your workout back to a maintenance level before resuming a training level. So it is with the week's packing rhythm, as I contemplate the rest day/church weekend. I'm thinking what small NON-packing tasks I can incorporate into the next few days to facilitate a return to messy shredded paper on Monday.

I'm about to prep a divided box for knicknackery I'm sure to come across as I recheck each room for artwork (lining the base with shred). But most of those types of fragiles are packed.

Today marks the transition to packing the framed art. Some of the upstairs art is now downstairs, and some packing materials for them are gathered. Today I customized boxes and other cardboard, to pack my mom's family barometer into a box a bit too tall for it.... the box is about 5x16x48".

I took a smaller box and cut it down to cradle the lower, round part-- taping the plastic-wrapped, padded barometer into place. Then I slipped all that into the box, putting an open egg box over its head (and wishing I had a spare banjo case!).

That left a handy compartment for one framed piece, which I wrapped with a small mirror that just fit inside the edge molding of the picture frame-- taping all that together to preclude shifting. Two hollow plastic legs left from an old shelf took up some space, and gave strength and rigidity to the long, shallow box. I wrapped that framed item with a thick, paper leaf bag, and cushioned that with a bit of shredded paper.

It took over an hour, but it was worth it. It will hang in the hallway alongside Hardi's rectangular barometer, framed by the archway that leads to the hallway from the LR, which is also directly ahead of the front door entry area-- to remind us how we started blending our households 25+ years ago. Our framed wedding invite and a framed St. Francis prayer will complete the composition.

The rest of the framed art requires a weekend of pizza for the remaining boxes needed. I'm not taking ALL the art on this trip-- just one of each size for layout planning, since the art will be rotated seasonally.

~Susan