Last Minute Vacay Countdown

Weeeeehaaaaaa! I can't believe we leave tonight for our much anticipated, much needed vacation to Punta Cana! (Not stoked about the 6am flight that requires us to be at the airport for 3am...actually a little earlier to Park n Fly...but if it means I'm going to have sand between my toes in 24 hours then I'm all for it!)

Being the planner that I am, I made myself a to-do list this morning:

Since writing the list I've added in printing Park n Fly coupon, charging my iPod, charging my extra camera battery, stopping by the clinic for my final Twinrix shot, paint my toenails, confirm flight, and shower and blow-drying my hair before our nap (so I'm not futzing around at 2am!). Man I hope that's everything. It's an action packed day that's for sure. Good thing I'll be relaxing for the next seven days.

FH will be out and about this afternoon buying shorts and swimtrunks (nothing like leaving it til the last minute!) and getting us some travelling cash. I'm putting him in charge of bringing home dinner too, since I don't have time to cook and don't want any extra dirty dishes laying around.

See you all in a week!

T-minus 10 Days

Til honey comes home! Yaaieeee. I'm sure it will feel like 10 months because let me tell you that the first 3 weeks of this trip have seemed like 3 years.

Of course, what this reminds me of is all the stuff I thought I was going to get done while he was away. Mind you, I didn't do much the first two weeks because of everything that happened with Mojo so I shouldn't be too hard on myself. The crap weather hasn't helped either since two of my major projects would involve having some solid sunshine for at least a few days.

Those two main projects are:

- powerwashing and painting the front porch and stairs.
- powerwashing, sanding and painting the fireplace thing in the backyard (that thing is a freaking eyesore)

(I also had grand visions of working on the edging around the deck and such, but realized quickly that I can't do that one on my own. I'm thinking that will be next Spring's project.)

The other big remaining task is:

- the spare room! - moving extra storage boxes down to garage, setting up new bed, hanging art, cleaning up old dresser, finding new bedside table and lamp - you get the idea, I'm creating a guest room for my Mom to visit.

I am quite proud of getting the garage all organized though. That was a massive weight off my shoulders. The help of good friends was key on the project.

Now if the people that respond to kijiji ads were better at actually showing up, I could finally get our old appliances & furniture sold. I mean seriously, who emails and asks a bazillion questions and then doesn't show up? Or why would you offer half my asking price without even seeing the item? Or buy something and then get it home and decide you don't want it (not my problem!)? People are nuts.

I also wanted to find some cool adirondack chairs for out by the firepit, but maybe Mom and I will find those while we are out touristing around next month. (Anyone know a good place to get them in the Halifax area?...you know, the actual handmade ones...not the do-it yourself shitty ones from Canadian Tire.)

Anywho, I guess I just needed to write this down..and now that I see it written out I'm not so overwhelmed. Really, I only HAVE to do the guest room. The others can just wait for Mother Nature to work with me, and maybe for DBF to return. (Oh, I should note that he's only home for one night and then gone for another two weeks.)

The organizing gets worse before it gets better!

I forgot to take before pictures, but just trust me that these two small rooms were each piled high with random boxes, piles, furniture, whatever. A lot of things that were marked "basement" by the movers just got dropped in our little rec room (which really is just a den, and is now DBF's guitar room) so when we cleaned up in there, everything just got stuffed behind closed doors.

So yesterday I got out the handy-dandy drill and built the shelving (which I already built last year! but, of course, the movers disassembled it) so that I could stack up the Christmas decorations properly. Lots of room to maneuver now! Funny, I wound up with yet another HUGE box of garage sale stuff....amazing the amount of crap we moved with us that we soooo don't need (I think we have like 8 boxes so far, and we haven't even scraped the surface in the garage).

Then I got into the room under the stairs. Not really a lot in there, but what was there was just shoved in and taking up way more room than necessary. And we had started piling stuff outside the door in the alcove, so it was getting silly. I just rearranged and pulled a couple of things out and that's all it took. I was then able to slide our wine rack in there and finally unload our blossoming wine collection! (ha, and discovered quite a lot of white wine that needs to be drank (drank? drunk? drinken?) this year....good thing it's Summer soon!)

Of course, the camping gear still needs a home....so that "extra" space under the stairs will probably get used up (it goes waaaaaay back behind those suitcases and paint cans, but the home inspector told us to keep a clear path to the water shut off that is under there). At least now it's all tidy so I can see everything though, so it will be a quick transition. Actually what I'm hoping is that once the garage is finished, we can move that extra paint out there....and I just now decided that those suitcases are going next to the guitar cases in the Christmas closet...so yup, lots of room for camping gear! Guess I know what I'm doing tomorrow. :)

Hmmmm....

That didn't go quite as planned. Work ran late. Got talking to Mom on the phone and sort of lost track of time.

I did get the dresser dragged to the front porch...of course, then I realized that today isn't garbage day (it's compost day...we only get garbage pick up every two weeks) so now the ugly dresser is out on the front porch. Oooops. Well, it's only a week. :)

I could've continued on and done either the boulevard work, or some of the storage work, but I had to go to the gym....so, the list (minus the dresser) moves on to today.

After work today...

- pick up some topsoil for the little strip of boulevard in front of our place
- quick mow, rake, water, lay topsoil, rake again, sprinkle grass seed, water again
- rope off so neighbors and sanitation workers don't step all over it
**project weather dependent of course. looking like it really wants to rain out there.**

- drag broken-ass old dresser down the stairs and out to the curb...piece by piece
- prep cardboard that seems to multiply in our garage for recycling day

- assemble shelving for furnace room
- start (and hopefully finish) organizing camping gear & Xmas decorations

- oh, and get to the gym somewhere in there too!

The Spare Room

Slowly it is going from "spare room" to "guest room".

This is what it looked like when I started yesterday:

This is what it looked like when I finished:

The open box in the middle of the room is garage sale stuff....just the box is too heavy for me to lift alone. The boxes behind that are board games, and DVDs that don't fit on our rack....so I need to find a shelf for those (I'm thinking an extra shelf in our laundry closet will take care of the games....dunno about the DVDs yet). The stack of boxes to the side are all DBF's....mostly stuff that was cleared out of his closets when we moved, but he hasn't gone through yet. And the dresser is broken and will be moved to the curb on garbage day for whatever industrious soul comes along to give it a home.

Almost ready for it to get a bed! Mom, when are you coming to visit? haha. :)

The weekend shall be mine!

My inevitable to-do list has been growing all week. Summer is upon us and everything I had wanted done for Spring is still nowhere near done. Ack. Stupid East Coast weather has impeded the process...as well as laziness and hectic schedules. Booooooo.

This. ends. now.

I decided last night that I would get all of my housekeeping done so that I didn't have to do it all on the weekend as we usually do. No helper for the chores this week, since DBF is at sea....so I didn't want it to consume my entire Saturday. Got everything but the vacuuming done, but that was taken care of today so it's all good. I even did all the laundry....folded and put away too. Woot!

So this leaves me all day tomorrow and Sunday to work on the crazy-ass to-do list. I don't even know where to start. I guess the weather will help dictate that, because if it's as windy as it was today there won't be much getting done outside.

I think I will start in the spare room and work my way downstairs towards the storage rooms and garage.

Indoor list for your perusal:

- Office (sort filing, finish tidying, etc)
- Spare Room (move garage sale stuff down to garage, put bookshelf together, get rid of broken dresser, make ready for actual use)
- Storage Under Stairs (pull everything out, put back only wine rack, luggage and wrapping supplies)
- Furnace Room Storage (pull everything out, build shelving unit, put back only Christmas decorations... and potentially camping gear)
- Garage (aka: black hole of death... keep plugging away at sorting between "keep", "sell", "trash", "donate")

I bought a dolly today. I don't know why we didn't think of this before. Now I'll be able to move the extra appliances and heavy stuff out of the way for proper sorting, viewing and storage. For only $35, who knew?!! Had I known they were that cheap I would have bought one years ago.

More stuff that needs to be done outside:

- design garden area (figure out how to deal with the boring mess the previous owners left us)
- dig out said garden area and plant perennials (oh ya, buy perennials....and a shovel...oh and edging...hmmm, and an edger...errr, and top soil...)
- more weed n feed for the lawn (those freaking dandelions are resilient little buggers)
- edge and clean up lumpy lawn mess around deck
- finish sanding new stairs
- sand and paint fire pit thingy in back yard (apparently it's good fun, when it's not all rusted and ugly)
- power wash front steps, paint front steps
- tidy up front garden area (maybe add some of those perennials...)

Good lord!! It's going to be Autumn by the time I get through all of this. Well, at least I won't be bored. (and DBF will be home for a whopping five days so I'm sure he can crank out a few things....haha)

And away he goes....

Today DBF is leaving to go visit his boy in Winnipeg for a couple of weeks. Unfortunately it still hasn't worked out for me to go with him and meet his little man, but we're working on it. It's actually harder now that we've moved, because now I want my vacation time for visiting my family and friends back home. A compromise will have to made at some point...just not this time.

He's looking forward to taking part in a major childhood milestone...the boy's first bike!

Our friend Mark was asking me last night what my plans are while DBF is away, and my answer was NOTHING. LOL. Well, actually I said "sitting on the couch in my undies watching reality TV"...but I only plan to do that once or twice. :)

I actually plan to do the opposite of nothing. I have started a MASSIVE to-do list. I have several goals for the next couple of months, and a few things that need to be done in the next week or so. DBF's sailing schedule is nutty for the next three months, so I figure I'll do as much as I can while I'm here on my own...so that when he does have time off it's not consumed with chores. He can work on the few bigger projects (like the stairs off the back deck) and I can deal with organizing and sorting and decorating. At some point this Summer we need to have a garage sale, so keeping things organized for that will be important. It would be nice to actually be able to use our garage for more than storage too, so I'll be chipping away at that each weekend now that the weather is more agreeable.

We have a few big ticket items that need to be sold too....some furniture, some appliances, etc...so if I can make those easily accesible that can be something else easily dealt with when he's home for a few days. The internet will be our friend on those things.

When we moved in, the movers dumped a lot of stuff in the garage...in the storage room...in the furnace room...and in the spare room. Most of which needs to be rearranged and moved around for proper storage. It would be nice if all of the Christmas decorations were in one place...and maybe the camping gear was all in one room. Makes sense to me, but apparently not to the movers. And honestly there is a lot of crap that we probably should have gotten rid of, but the move was so hectic it was easier just to bring it.

This week's main goal will be to finally organize all of my paperwork and get my taxes done. It's amazing how every year I say I'll get them done earlier, but inevitably I end up racing to get them done at the end of the month. I do have my own new file cabinet now, with folders for each month of the year...so at least next year I won't have to spend a week sorting and entering all of my expenses into a spreadsheet. I plan to do them monthly....mhmmmmmmmm.

You would think I would be used to DBF going away by now, but I'm not. I'll miss him. Boooo. :(

How NOT to get things done!

Fall asleep on the couch after dinner!

Man, I was exhausted apparently. All this getting up extra early to go to the gym is catching up with me. I guess I needed it because I was out like a light for about an hour and a half. And of course, when I woke up I had no desire to scrub the tub or hang curtains.

Oh well. The list moves on....

To-Do Lists are my life!

DBF is on duty unexpectedly tonight (covering for a guy who's Grandpa just died...) so I have an extra night of catching up on stuff I've been putting off. I have a bad habit of procrastinating on things around the house because I think he and I need to spend time together when he's not at sea. This is fair when he goes away frequently....however, he has been home for a month and is home for probably another month, so I guess the excuse just isn't working this time!

I have a HUGE to-do list (as always), but for today...

- finish laundry (and actually put it away!)
- clean both bathrooms
- polish bedroom furniture
- hang new bedroom curtains
- put new bedding on bed (this also includes a quick trip to Linens & Things for a bedskirt to match the new duvet cover)
- sweep, dust & vacuum living room (we have to do this at least twice a week because of Sheddy McShedderton...AKA Mojo the hairy beast dog)
- empty my stuff out of DBF's file cabinet, load into my new cabinet, move his downstairs to his office/guitar room
- start on main April goal: sorting 2007 receipts, etc for taxes

All this after work...Tuesdays are generally my longest, busiest days.

Honey's gone for the week

haha, my turn to spend the day with no pants! OK, well honestly, because I work at home there are many a day that I spend in either PJ bottoms or yoga pants and a hoodie. And for me, that's even better than having no pants!

I suppose I have to wear pants anyway, because someone has to take the dog outside. :)

Last night I decided to be a lazy bum and left all of the chores for today. I had a glorious long, hot shower, curled up in my fuzzy robe and watched Disc One of Gilmore Girls Season Six. (I got it for Xmas and this was my first chance to get into it.)

I plan to do something similar tonight, but not until my chores are done....

- laundry
- polishing living room tables
- polishing dining table
- dishes
- sweeping
- vacuuming area rug
- find restaurant for Saturday date night
- call gym and set up appointment
- walk the dog & drop off/pick up mail

I think that's enough for one day. :)

More to do

This week's crazy-ass to do list:

- find post office and put in change of address (ASAP!!!) - done
- organize office - done
- borrow drill so we can hang the bracketless shelf over my desk
- finish putting bedroom furniture in place
- laundry - done
- finally get all clothes, etc put away in bedroom - done
- finish putting away all linens and bathroom paraphenalia - done
- find new home for litter box
- find new home for dining room bench (it's been shafted from it's spot by the new ottoman) - done for now
- remove box of "garage sale" dishes, etc from kitchen - done
- organize pantry and empty last box of kitchen stuff - done
- pick up tables from the Brick - done
- DBF to finish pinning down stereo wires, etc. - done
- get living room furniture into proper placement - done

(Next week we're dealing with painting bathroom, organizing spare room, and oh god....the garage! DBF also has his guitar room/den to contend with. and somewhere in there we need an area rug and some art on the walls....)

- online banking - done
- fax back insurance papers - done
- organize all receipts for DBF to take to work to claim back our monies! - done
- order bday gift online for friend back at home - done
- learn how to sort and organize garbage/recycling/compost (I think we might need a degree in bioscience for this one!)
- choose date for housewarming and send out invites - done

Living Room Set - check!

Saturday was furniture shopping day. Now, you'd think that this would be exciting, but as you may remember we have already been through this process back in November when we came out to get the house. We had our minds set on something specific and can't find it. So, we decided to try over on the Dartmouth side at Gallery 1 and Leon's....as we had pretty much exhausted most of the possibilities in Halifax.

Gallery 1 was huge, overwhelming, and in the end disappointing. Leon's was a joke...lots to chose from, but no decent styles and of course no changing fabrics or anything...everything is as is.

So, we decided to regroup and go back to the beginning and start over. Back to The Brick we went. And there it was...the first set that caught our eye was a set we had almost immediately dismissed the first time around (because back then we were still focused on a two-cushion sofa...only to eventually realize those are EXTREMELY difficult to find). And it was ON SALE. Discontinued item, one set left, priced just right! We had to take the ottoman as part of the set, but they brought the prices down even lower than the sale price, so we basically got the ottoman for free. If we don't find a place for it in the house, we'll just sell it.

The set isn't the "perfect choice" for either of us, but a good middle of the road compromise. It's the right color, it's comfortable, it has the curved arms that I like, and the squared cushions that DBF likes. It's going to look stellar in our living room and we both have somewhere to lay to watch movies. All important bases covered! Oh, and because it's the floor set, we can have it delivered right away!!

We ended up chosing a set of occassional tables while we were there too. We liked the price of these (even if they are glass and we're probably going to have to take out stock in Windex to keep them clean all the time!) and I kept going back to the cool legs. Plus I think the color will match fairly closely to the TV stand I ordered the other day.

Next up.... area rug, lamps, and art!

It never ends!

Yikes! Now that we're here, it's a whole new crazy-ass to-do list!!

- call for new phone/internet/cable (thankfully this is one-stop shopping!) - DONE
- find locksmith to change locks on new house (DND is paying, so might as well!)
- email previous insurance company to get forms for cancelling old contents insurance
- investigate gym possibilities
- contact Revenue Canada to inquire about changing from GST to HST (for work contract)
- submit address change to Canada Post (we held off on this so our mail wouldn't start going to the new house before we move in)
- start tedious task of changing address on all subscriptions, government stuff, etc.
- find out about switching to Nova Scotia car insurance
- find out about switching to Nova Scotia driver's license
- find out about switching to Nova Scotia health care (website says you have to live here three months, so what do I do about prescriptions and health care until then?)
- pick out and buy new light fixture for new living room
- pick out and buy new taps for 2 x bathrooms and kitchen
- pick out paint for living room and bedroom
- find new living room furniture (sooner rather than later would be nice!)
- update cell phone number
- find good pizza delivery place (this is a must!)

Whew. I think that's enough for now!!

The to-do lists just keep on coming

Yup, another crazy-ass to-do list! Thank God my friend loaned me her Jeep while she is at work today. Not sure how I figured I was going to get all of this done on foot!

- buy case of beer
- race out to old place and check mail
- stop at neighbor's house and drop off beer as thank you for helping move massive Firebird parts for DBF
- pick up gift certificate for best restaurant ever out by old house
- stop by neighbor Jen's place to drop off mail key & thank you card/gc for letting me use her car all last week!
- race back into town to meet up for much overdue lunch with oldest friend (who I haven't seen in a couple of years)
- 4:45 spa massage at Silk Road (what a great bday prezzie!)
- shower and get cleaned up after massage
- dinner with one of my bestest friends
- somewhere in there find time to pick up giftie for friend that is letting me live on her couch all week (and use her Jeep today!)
- buy baby Gravol for helping kittie sleep on airplane tomorrow night (oh and Pounce treats to hide it in)

Oh boy! I'd better get going!!

And the homesickness begins...

Well, not homesick yet, but definitely sad to be leaving.

Yes Mom, I cried in the car when I left.

I'll probably dehydrate myself with all of the crying this week. Time is ticking by so rapidly now that I am overwhelmed with all of the visiting I still want to do. I'm slowly realizing that I just can't fit everyone in. And when I do see someone for the last time, it's hard to wrap my brain around that. Close friends I know I will hopefully see when I visit, but who knows when that will be....

Plans for New Years have been tough too. I want to do something with EVERYONE, but not everyone is friends with each other or can agree on what to do. In the end, I am choosing a quiet home party with a few friends and for those that I don't see tomorrow night I hope to see them during the remaining days and evenings I have left.

I am also not looking forward to the inevitable homesickness when I actually get to Halifax. The dog and the cat are not going to be thrilled with the extra cuddling I'm going to need. Did I mention that DBF and I only get 2 days together before he has to set off on his first sail on his new ship? Yup, that's right. New city, living in a hotel, and he has to leave right away. Booooo!

It's an exciting adventure for sure, but the lead up is not too terribly wonderful. I do not recommend embarking on a life-changing move at this time of the year. If we have the choice next time, we will certainly try to do it during a less emotional time of year!

Family Fun...over.... :(

Well, my time here at Mom's is coming to an end today. I'm heading back to Victoria today to stay with a friend for the remainder of my time on the West Coast. I fly out to Halifax on Friday night.

Today I have to repack my suitcases (trying to fit in my Christmas loot!), sort out all the extra crap in my car that I dragged up here from Victoria, clean the litter box for transport back to Vic, convince the cat to get back in his little carrying case for a while, and drive back to Victoria.

I am staying with a girlfriend who is returning from Edmonton tonight. So I will stop by her place to unload and get the cat settled, then I'm heading out for dinner without another friend and then meeting up with the first friend for drinks after that.

Who knew last minute socializing could be so stressful?!

DBF's time in Winnipeg is dwindling down and he is getting sad to leave his little boy. He has to leave in the next couple of days to drive to Toronto to visit his Mom on his way to Halifax. It's gonna be a tough drive with shitty weather conditions, but I have faith in him!

We will both be so happy when all this rigmarole is over!

Home Sweet Home

Ahhhh....nothing like a full night's sleep....except maybe a full night's sleep with no alarm clock!

After loading my piles of stuff from the hotel into the car, a lovely lunch with a girlfriend, picking up my new favorite Christmas drink (grande Christmas Blend egg nog misto!), and dropping the last bag of garbage into my friend's dumpster, the kitty and I hit the road for Mom's house.

Because we left later than planned, it actually worked in our favour....traffic was only mildly busy leaving town and once on the highway it wasn't abnormally busy at all. Driving Jen's car was a little different, but still good on the highway and comfy for both me and kitty.

Mr. Stoopy was none to impressed with being stuck in his little case, so I opened the top up so he could stick his head out. He seemed so forlorne that I decided to just let him step out of the case....he was sooooo happy! He sat on my lap for a little while...such a good boy! Then when he got sick of my knees moving from shifting gears he stepped back to the passenger seat...so I moved his case over and he curled right up on the seat just like it was the bed at home.

Once here at Mom's I let him out to meet her two kitties. They aren't too impressed, and he didn't seem thrilled either....but mainly they just do a lot of staring at each other and posturing.

All is well. Stoopy and I have our own room upstairs and once I went to bed he was happy to curl up and make himself at home. All is well in kitty land!

I slept for like 12 hours last night. Guess I needed it!! Of course, it made me late for the errands I had to run today, but I got em done. Whew! I'm pretty proud that I managed to pull off Christmas even through all the other crap I had to do this year. :)

Now I have tonight to just relax with Mom and the cats, then tomorrow is the big family gift exchange so I'll be up doing the snack trays, dips and treats... then we spend the evening with the family opening gifts and visiting.

Hope you all enjoy your holidays, wherever you may be!

HAPPY CHRISTMAS!!!

I'm homeless!

So I dragged my sorry ass out of bed about half an hour later than planned yesterday morning, but I was still at the mall before 9:00am so I figure I was doing good. I stopped for a huge coffee and breakfast sandwich, went to Zellers for Windex and I was on my way.

Starting at 9:30 gave me 4 1/2 hours to get the house cleaned and I used every last minute.

I'll give you the short play by play...

1) Living Room: cleaned all windows (5 floor to ceiling ones on the back wall, and three panes to make up the oversized picture window on the front wall) including all of the ledges, took out all hooks for the blinds, scraped candle wax off floor, mopped like a crazy woman.

2) Bedrooms (of which there are three): windows, general dusting of corners, mopping.

3) Bathroom: scrubbed from top to bottom, including removing fan cover and cleaning, wiping out medicine cabinet, wiped down gross toilet and floor by hand (it's actually easier than mopping it)

4) Hallway: dusted out closets, swept, wiped down all baseboards (for some reason the dog drools more in the hallway), mopping.

5) Kitchen: I had already wiped out half of the cupboards, so wiped remaining cupboards, cleaned counter tops, swept three times (it's was wicked dirty in there!), wiped a lot of dirt off walls from behind appliances, mopped like a mad woman, scrubbed sink when I was done mopping.

6) Basement: Picked up remaining debris and swept. That is all I could bring myself to do down there.

I never did get that baseboard back on....I just sorta pushed it up against the wall and left it there.

Housing guy showed up 20 minutes early, so I was still scrubbing the sink and organizing garbage/recycling when he came in. He was thorough but seemed to be in a hurry to get me outta there, so I basically just signed off and then shuffled out the back door.

Our buddy never showed up to pick up Arron's Firebird engine, so that was annoying, but because it's the weekend the housing guy said we can have til Monday before they'll haul it away. We don't want that so we've been harrassing our buddy non-stop. I wound up with another massive bag of garbage and three small boxes of recycling.....so the neighbors took the recycling (because they can put out an unlimited amount on the next pick up day) but I've brought the garbage into town and hopefully a friend can sneak it into her dumpster.....

Anyway, it's done!!!! I can finally relax and enjoy Christmas!

I even snuck in one final Chiropractor appointment on my way into town, and it was heavenly and I can still feel my tension releasing.

Funny enough, I even managed to grab a couple more prezzies yesterday in my travels so I'm doing OK on that front. I just need a few little things when I get to Nanaimo and I'm done. I am pretty proud that I was able to get that done throughout this gong show.

Last night I had dinner and drinks with some great friends, and although I was seriously tired, I was so happy to actually be dressed up and enjoying good food and company. It was nice to exhale and enjoy the night.

Today, kitty and I will pack up into the car and head up island to stay with my Mom for a while. Poor kitty just made himself at home here, and now I have to shove him back in his carrier and make him ride for two hours in a car to a house with two other kitties. Poor guy!

Holy F'ing Tired Batman

OK, so the light show last night was cool...until...the firetruck turned on it's pumper and continued to pump into the wee hours of the night. So much for my early night to bed and long, good night's sleep.

I dragged myself out of bed after barely 5 hours sleep, splashed cold water on my face, brushed my teeth and sleep-walked down to the car. Woke up enough to make it to Starbucks and the 40 min drive back out to the house to meet the movers for 9am.

Turns out that they'd been waiting for me since 8am. Nice. No one actually called and told me a time....I just asked the packer the day before and he said it's usually 9:00. I think an email to the moving company is in order, because that's just poor business.

Anyway, movers were super nice and all was good.

I hung out for a bit, cleaning out the fridge and packing up the things the packer said I couldn't take with me. (sidebar: you would not believe how many aerosol things we had...it's insane! cleaners, air fresheners, hairspray, WD-40, sunscreen, starch....you name it.) Because it's winter and things will freeze on the trip we aren't allowed anything liquid, or canned goods, or anything like that. So the food bank is going to get a fairly hefty donation from us.

At lunch I buggered off and went shopping for a sparkly shirt to make me feel more festive at a dinner I'm going to tomorrow night.

When I returned the truck looked pretty friggin full to me, but they ensured me that it would all fit. It's truly a science what these people do....like a massive, real life game of Jenga or Tetris or something.

I decided to go hang out with my neighbor while they finished up (I turned the heat off at home because they had the door open all day and I wanted to conserve my freshly filled oil tank, so it was bloody cold). When it neared the end, he and I stood in his driveway and watched them work out the puzzle of the last tiny bit of space with still a fairly hefty pile of our stuff to load.

Long story short, I ended up not being able to take my big plant. Not the end of the world because it would probably freeze and die anyway, but I have had it for 14 years (it was the first plant I got when I moved out) and it is super hearty so I thought I would try to take it. They said they could have squished it in, but it likely would have been tipped over or really squashed....so I decided it would live a better life with Jen and her fabulous green thumb.

I also gave up a wicker chaise lounge because it was just such an awkward shape they couldn't fit it in. Again, not the end of the world, but I couldn't help but wonder what they would have done if I had demanded that it go. They were super nice though, and she even offered to pay me for it, but I said to take it as a baby present (the driver's wife is very pregnant). It's only from Ikea and I want skookum new Adorondak chairs for the new place anyway.

Besides, the entertainment of watching them try to fit it in without wanting to let on that they just couldn't do it was totally worth it. :)

They had five different clients' stuff on that truck. Good thing we didn't have even one more box....or they really would have been screwed.

They finished up around 3:30, so I took a bit of time to get started on the sweeping, etc in the house while I waited for the next guy to show up to get my car. He came around 4:30, and I watched him check over my silver girl and load her up on his flatbed truck and take her away. It was sort of sad because I love her!!

I intended to keep cleaning until Jen came to pick me up, but I was just too tired and the neighbor offered me a drink. I happily accepted!

Then Jen came and got me, I helped her do some stuff at home while she packed for her trip, then I drove her in her car to the airport. I am using her car while she is away....how handy is that?!!

By the time I drove all the way back from the airport, got dinner and got back to the hotel it was after 8:30. Then I had to work for two hours. Lovely.

Now I'm off to bed where hopefully I'll be out within two seconds. So I can get up and go out there and clean the damn place tomorrow. Yippee. Not.