Crunch time

Here's where my next post will be coming from - once we get a new ISP.

We leave on Thursday. My "to do" list features odd things like "take cat pee to the vet", recycle old trailer and motorcylce batteries", "return modem to Shaw" and it is growing by the minute. It's currently 2 pages long.

Mike flies in tomorrow afternoon to sign all the paperwork, and out again Thursday morning as he has to work Thursday night. I'm hoping against hope to get up the Fraser canyon before dark, in a car loaded with 3 dogs, 2 cats, a big box of houseplants, and bags of miscellaneous stuff that didn't quite get packed in an orderly fashion.

Packing Up, Cracking Up

How the hell did we accumulate so much stuff? It's insane. We have enough stuff to operate a small town. I've been packing, pitching, and piling for days. There doesn't seem to be an end in sight. 1-800-Got-Junk? came and took away a bunch of stuff yesterday. At last count, I have 14 large boxes and inumerable bags of stuff for the Canadian Diabetes folks to pickup next Tuesday, and I haven't even begun to tackle our bedroom or the laundry room yet. This is nuts.

I'm unemployed. I have a rotten cold.

The leadership group took me out for a late lunch at Sammy J. Peppers on Friday, and by 3:30 I was home and jobless. I got a fabulous Starbuck's barrista machine, spa certificates for the Hills Ranch, and $ to purchase a Hawthorne tree in the spring as a remembrance. I wonder how they do in Zone 3, and if deer are fond of them?

Mike arrived home at about 8 pm Friday, after driving all day after driving all night. The moving sale on Saturday was a big success, and netted over $1K! Yay. Sunday was busy too - Mike did a dump run, and we moved furniture, packed, disassembled and generally created more clutter than we cleared. Our house is not looking attractive at the moment. Stu's girls arrived with Chris and Kim's friend Ari on Sunday night to pick up some furniture; we hadn't seen them in forever! I was too sick to get out of bed on Monday morning when Mike left, and didn't accomplish much at all. Today featured a trip to the vet with Lucy to have a lesion excised from her leg - she's all dopey and has a buckethead. I did tons of work in the kitchen today, and the cupboards are 70% done. My God, we have way too much stuff. I'm filling the dining room with stuff for the SalvationArmy to come and pick up later in the week, or at the beginning of next week.

9 days left.

I feel...special.

The staff and residents had a farewell party for me this afternoon - I was showered with gifts, with cards, with flowers, with balloons, with praise, and with hugs...it was wonderful. After 10 years, I'm sad to be leaving, but so excited about the move. The staff have been circulating a notebook for the last few weeks, and nearly everyone has written something for me...it's going to be my bedtime reading tonight...in the meantime, I've been sorting through and pricing stuff for the moving sale Saturday, making neon signs and wrapping in plastic to post around the neighbourhood, and denting the wall moving a bookcase that I should have waited for help with.

Just talked to Mike, he's coming down for the weekend! He gets to do fun jobs like disassemble wall units, patio tables, etc. etc.

And now, Jasper and I are going for a drive around the neighbourhood, in the dark and pouring rain, to post my signs.

Counting Down

Only one week left at my job! And then I'm gainfully unemployed - that's going to feel very strange.

I've got a moving sale happening on Saturday the 14th - Karen, Nancy and Debbie have very kindly agreed to give me a hand. There's an ad going in Wednesday's local rag; and I'll advertise it at the community centre, on craigslist Vancouver, and on kijiji vancouver. Hopefully a lot of surplus "stuff" will sell.

The following days will be filled with sorting, packing and cleaning - the movers arrive on the 26th. It's starting to feel a bit surreal.

...and a Happy New Year!

We spent a quiet New Year's eve, watching the fire and gazing out the living room windows at the stars and trying to identify constellations. Must dig out the astronomy books; we can see tenfold the stars at night in Lone Butte compared to what we can see in the city glare. My friend Orion features prominently in the winter sky.

I drove up on the 31st, and back down again on the 2nd. Just over three weeks and the 900km round trips will be a thing of the past. Eight more days of work and I'm done!