Still alive!

(yet another attempt to finish this post!)



Yes, after all this time, I'm still around. *L* I can't believe we've been here a week, and I still haven't posted this!

The move took place over three grueling days. We got the key later than expected, as the renovations took longer than usual. It ended up costing them about $11,000 to get it all done, and the co-op is going to be taking the previous resident to court over the damage she left behind.

The first day, we had the move in inspection. I really liked how the pale green walls turned out, and can live with the carpet and flooring. (Eldest has already submitted a request to the maintenance committee with paint samples to do her room in something other than white. I believe Youngest has a colour choice in there, too. This is entirely on their own incentive.) They did a great job with the renovations.

The girls and I made several trips hauling boxes - as much as we could fit into the car - right after the inspection. Then we continued packing again, which we'd had to stop for lack of space.

The second day, we rented a truck and moved furniture. Thankfully, Dh was able to get the day off. I can't say enough how much I appreciate my big, strong, burly husband! He was truly amazing! Yeah, the girls and I busted our butts, too, but nothing like he was able to do! I couldn't believe it when he simply picked up Eldest's antique pedal push sewing machine and walked it up the front steps. Those things are friggin' heavy! And he was in so much pain, too. By the end of the day, he could barely stand up straight, and was using a cane because of his knees.

Renting the truck was an adventure in itself. We had the elevator booked from 2-4 in the afternoon, but were set to pick up the truck at U-haul at noon. All we wanted was a 10 footer. It's a good thing we went to pick it up so early! First, they couldn't find a key for the truck that had been reserved for us. Then, they were going to replace it with a 27 footer. !!! I don't know that a truck that big would even fit where we needed to park to unload. In the end, it wasn't an issue, as the guy dealing with us was over ruled and couldn't give us a bigger truck. Instead, he had to get the one 10 ft truck they had left. The reason it was still there? It was stuck. It took him a good 10 minutes, at least, to get it out.

Dh and Eldest went in the truck while Youngest and I drove back in the car. In fact, Youngest and I never even saw the interior of the truck cab at all. *L* Dh found it a horrible ride - very rough - and the thing was so old, the speedometer was in miles per hour. Canada converted to the metric system over several years in the late 1970's.

Oh, and we were extra glad what I'd bought a dolly (though we used it converted to a hand truck most of the time). When we reserved the truck, we'd asked for 2 dollies. When we told them we didn't need them after all, we were told "good - because we don't have any." :-/ From the looks of theirs, the one we bought for ourselves was much better, anyhow.

We were actually able to get the elevator a half hour early, and boy did we need it! The "freight" elevator is no bigger than any of the other elevators. The only difference is that it has a back door. Since we also needed room for two people, with one being able to reach the buttons, not a whole lot could be taken down at one time. (And just to make things even more "fun," one of the elevators was still in the process of being replaced - which left only 1 elevator to service 19 floors.)

It took us two loads to get the furniture out. We barely made it within the time we had the elevator booked for. Someone else was moving in and had it booked after us, and they were already backing their truck into the loading area when we came back for the second load. At that point, we were just grabbing and throwing together everything we could, as quickly as we could.

The second load was small, but it had the biggest, heaviest piece of furniture we've got: a desk. It's designed to be useable from both sides, so it's wider than most desks, and is solid hardwood. It was a real monster to get up those stairs on the dolly!

As soon as we unloaded the truck, we rushed to return it, glad to be rid of it. Then we took a supper break before getting back to work - though we had to drop Dh off at the new place, as he was in no condition to continue.

Why it is that, no matter how much you pack, there always seems to be more? And it's those little things that make it the hardest.

The girls were such an incredible help. Eldest, who was in pretty rough shape herself, having been helping her father the most with the loading and unloading of the truck (all that weight lifting she and Dh had been doing for the past few months sure came in handy!), helped me clear out rooms while Youngest started cleaning rooms as they emptied. She actually likes cleaning, so that worked out.

We finally gave up for the night, as we were just too sore and tired. We made sure we had things set up enough to sleep on, and that was it. Thanks to Dh being very insistent, we no longer had a move-out inspection the next morning. Instead, we had the entire day to finish up and clean.

It all took a lot longer than expected, again mostly because everyone was so sore. Actually, Youngest was the only one of us that was ok. *L* Dh couldn't manage to come with us at all until much later - he had to really watch himself, because the last thing he wanted was to hurt himself so badly, he couldn't go to work. Not that it ended up making a difference, but more on that later.

The girls and I managed for a while, but Eldest finally had to stop. As things got later, I ended up coming back on my own to do that last few things. I was about 3/4 done vacuuming the living room when I discovered our vacuum cleaner was badly clogged, and I couldn't fix it. (It ended up having to be partially dismantled). After fighting with it for a while, I gave in. I did a bit more wiping down, packed up the fridge and freezer stuff, and headed out. It was past midnight by the time I left, and I was feeling pretty bad about not being able to finish cleaning properly - though I admit I was too tired to be too guilty about it.

My night wasn't over yet, though. We'd been eating out for the past several days, and were all craving home cooked food. Since we hadn't done any shopping to avoid having a lot of food to move, we didn't have even the basics to make a breakfast. So I headed over to a 24 hour Walmart before heading home, so we could at least have breakfast. By the time I got home, it was coming up on 4 am.

In the morning, Dh and Eldest went back to the apartment for the move-out inspection. There was no way I was going to make it in! I asked Dh to send my apologies for the state of the apartment, but it turned out to be unnecessary. They were actually very happy over how much we'd done. They were going to steam clean the carpets and paint the walls anyways, so not doing those was ok. As for the deep cleaning in other areas, it was just going to come off our damage deposit. We figure we might get about 1/3 of it back, but based on past experience, we're not counting on it.

So by Sunday afternoon, we were completely free and clear of the apartment! The move was officially done.

Now we have the fun part of trying to figure out how to unpack everything. Although we have more space, the layout is different enough that some things just don't have places anymore. Plus we'll need to get furniture we were able to get away with not having, like dressers, now that we no longer have walk-in storage rooms with shelving in our bedrooms. Little by little, though, things are being unpacked.

Dh had recovered rather well physically, having been so careful in regards to his back and knee problems. Unfortunately, he still ended up missing work. He'd made it in on the Monday, but by Tuesday, he'd come down with a vicious cold. Three days later, it was even worse! When he called in sick for a 4th day, he was told he needed to get a doctor's note. So, instead of being where he should have been - in bed, drinking hot liquids - he spent 2 3/4 hours in the waiting room of a walk in clinic, just so he could pay a doctor $20 for a piece of paper saying he was too sick to go to work. Gee, that makes so much sense. Not. The dr. was actually a bit alarmed by Dh's symptoms, and ended up prescribing anti-biotics, just in case Dh's sinuses get worse instead of better. Hopefully, we won't need to fill it. He seems to be getting better.

Meanwhile, we're all quite happy with our new home. Even the cats settled in remarkably quickly. We weren't too concerned about Eldest's cat - this is her forth move with us - but Youngest's new cat is a lot more hyper. They both seem to really enjoy all the extra space they have to run around in!

The girls are loving having their own rooms, though Youngest's room is much colder than the other rooms. It's the only room that isn't completely on top of the lower level. Instead, it's partly above the entryway. It doesn't look like the floor is insulated much. Meanwhile, the rest of the upper level tends to be almost too hot, while the lower level stays cold. We've yet to work out a happy balance with keeping various vents open and closed to regulate the temperature. All in good time.

Our views out the back are pretty impressive, and we've got a large Red Mountain Ash (Rowan) tree in front that attracts quite a few birds.

We've also already had the maintenance guy over to fix a few little things. I was wrong on my assumptions about the colour changes. It turns out that it was a committee decision to change the colours, not just the one guy. We happened to run into him while going into the high rise and he came over with us, bringing along a cover for our kitchen light he'd had to have special made, as it's a discontinued line. While he was here, he fixed a couple of taps we discovered had problems, replaced the peep hole that accidentally got partially painted over during the renovations, and a few other little things. He also took back the CFL bulbs we'd replaced with regular incandescent bulbs. We may not want the things in our home, but maybe someone else will want them. All of this on a moment's notice. This weekend, he's going to be looking for some insulators for the outlets on the outside wall for us. We can feel cold drafts coming in from them. He also made sure to tell us that, if there's anything we think we need, to check with him first in case he already has it, so that we don't spend money we don't need to. I thought that was kind of neat!

All in all, it looks like things are going to really work out well here.

The only downside I'm finding is my own physical issues. I had expected my arm to be a concern, but it is feeling really great, even after lugging stuff around for 3 days. What I didn't expect was for my knees to be as much a problem as they are. I've long had troubles going down stairs, but since the move, it's been worse. I find myself having to go down stairs turned sideways, taking each step one at a time while bracing myself on the wall and rail because of the pain in my knees. Painkillers don't seem to be helping any. The noises coming out of my knees these days are nothing short of spectacular, too! I can't seem to move them at all without all sorts of crackling, popping and snapping sounds. It would be amusing, if it didn't hurt so much at the same time. It's been a long time since I've been in this much pain. Granted, it's been worse, but that doesn't make it any easier to deal with! *L*

Ah, well. Such is life. I'll get used to it.

And hopefully, I'll be back to posting more regularly again, too.