Packing for the Big Move

After spending the last week in San Francisco for Kiva Fellows training, I returned home at 5:30 in the morning yesterday to this scene:



Apparently, my stuff had not kindly packed itself while I was away.

Brian and I spent yesterday making this pile look a bit smaller with the help of ingenious Space Bags -- you may have seen the infomercial, and yes, they really do work:



But reducing air does not reduce weight, so we used a luggage scale to prevent a last-minute disaster scene at O'Hare tomorrow.



Now, that pile of stuff looks like this:



I know. It is a lot of stuff. I have always prided myself on being a light packer, but this time around a backpack will just not cut it.

Now, about lugging that pile to the airport ticket counter tomorrow...