Eating out the pantry

All systems are go. We are only living in our flat for one more week! Last night we inventoried our pantry and now we just have to eat accordingly. Should only need to buy milk this week! If you are in Christchurch, come to our garage sale on Saturday 14th. We're getting rid of loads of stuff! I'm even considering baking for it - to use up some items from the pantry! I have stacks of dried fruit and plain biscuits, and there's a tin of sweet and condensed milk... bakeless slice? or a whole lot of muesli bars!

We are making a lot of lists. Last night we ventured a to-do list: holy cow. 3 whole pages of a notebook (A5 size, thank god). Next job is to sort this list into things that we can do before the garage sale and things that we have to do afterward (like cleaning out the fridge: can't be done until we're no longer using it really.)

Meanwhile, I'm starting to think about France. Until a few days ago I was so focused on all the things that needed to be done here, to get us up, up and away, that I hadn't really started looking forward to Paris and all its perks. Started reading the Lonely Planet guidebook we got for Christmas, and then found a website for the local community around where we are hopefully (probably) going to live. The neighbourhood hosts an annual cheese and wine festival! A video about it: http://www.ville-antony.fr/4-28283-Foire-aux-Fromages-et-aux-Vins.php

Fortunately this is in September so I'll be free to eat as much unpasteurized cheese as I like. Bring on the blue! In the meantime, there's a language to learn (the more I learn the more I feel overwhelmed by how huge a language is, and the less I feel I know!) and a life to figure out... where to buy bread? and where to get coffee? the quickest route to the train station and the best way to transport groceries, including nappies, and a baby, or two, on the train.

Aaaaah!
So for now I'm mostly focussing on the to-do list here, in christchurch, and then there's the list of people to see up north before we catch our flight. There are also packing lists and shipping lists and I'm yet to write a list of toys (which will need to be sorted into 4 categories: store in NZ, ship to FR, in suitcase, or in hand luggage for plane trip). Fun fun fun.