We have moved. My last post, I mentioned that we got the keys on Friday, moved some things on Saturday and that the big move was planned for Sunday. With the help of J's buddies and my sister and future brother-in-law, we did the move in 2.5 hours. However, that was only the main move. The days after the move involved us driving back and forth from the old place, filling up the car, and dropping off stuff at the new place.
Why didn't we just put those things in the truck? I don't have a good answer for you, but they just didn't make it on the list. Things like plants and other knick knacks were left behind. Seriously, everyday after work, we went to the condo and did about 2 trips of stuff. We would finish by about 8, then manage to unpack half a box or put something away and then fall asleep by 9:30.
Thursday night, the night before the condo closing day, we had one final load of stuff and then we cleaned the place. It was all echoey, and I made sure I did a final look around before I locked up, much like Denise Huxtable in The Cosby Show when she went off to college. And much like after she goes to college and the spin-off A Different World began to air, our life is also a different world.
Friday, we were both pretty happy as the condo was off our hands and we didn't have to go up and down those stairs again. Don't get me wrong, we loved the place, but in the end we started seeing the lack of functionality. I don't like having rules and having to pay if someone else breaks them. Also, taking bikes up and down those stairs? Not fun. Garbage on your balcony? Not fun. Garage? Pure fun.
J shovelled the driveway last night and this morning and eventhough he complained about his back hurting, I could see the sparkle in his eye from being able to shovel his very own driveway. Note to self, send him out to shovel every chance I get. It's for his own well-being :)
So I can see that this blog is slowly turning into a life blog and not a travel blog. Technically, though, we put quite a few km on the car just driving the 5km back and forth from old place to new place...not to mention the km we put on personally by going up and down stairs.
Don't worry, I will write about Munich next, I promise.
Saturday, January 29, 2011
Saturday, January 22, 2011
Closing day, kitchen island dinner, and frost bite warning
I said I wouldn't post until we moved, but I'm just too excited! My trip to Montreal ended early and I was able to catch a train back to Ottawa a full 8 hours earlier. J still had to go get the keys from our lawyer downtown...during rush hour...but I was here when he got back.
J had filled the car with boxes of dishes and the trunk was already full of Christmas decorations we had bought on boxing day at 70% off, and a few shovels for our new driveway (!!!). We dropped off these things by opening the garage (with the garage door opener button thing!!!) and taking things in through the garage door. I don't know about you, but we are freakin' excited to have a garage! No more scraping the car in the morning, no more taking bicycles up and down stairs, no more storing tires on a balcony. We. Have. A. Garage. And we hereforth pledge to "not be one of those families that has a double garage and has it so full of junk that we can't even park the cars in it".
We also took a few minutes to take a reading of the hydro meter and the water meter, upon our lawyer's advice. Later, if there are issues with the bill, you have an initial reading. Then we spent about 15 minutes going through the house to see if there were any gouges that we didn't see before, or garbage that needed cleaning up. The place was as we remembered, but will be needing a coat of paint throughout. Minor details. The bones are good, as our real estate agent says...
We went back to the condo and picked up more breakables that aren't really truck-friendly. Fine china (or, as my mom calls it, 'Best china'....however, it is really 'Only china' and thus the box was labelled 'Best and only fine china'), camping gear, hockey equipment and our golf sets. Then, dinner. We stopped at Arby's and picked up our food, laughing while I told J about this thing I heard on the radio where a guy pretends to be Elmo and orders food from Taco Bell (youtube it, it's hilarious).
We drove to the house (it's exactly 5km away from the condo) and took our dinner inside. When we bought the condo, we ate while sitting on the kitchen/living room floor. This time, we stood at the island. We ate our roast beef sandwiches (did you know Arby's is in trouble? Wendy's may sell the chain to someone else because it isn't making enough money. I blame my friend C who loves Arby's, but now lives in Germany and is unable to support them by buying sandwiches).
After dinner, we took in the things from the car and again, spent about 10 minutes going through the house....but this time we were just admiring. Back to the condo again and we filled the car with pictures from our walls, my keyboard, and one final box of glasses. Quick trip to the house and it was unpacked from the car.
Today, we will be doing more trips and Rogers is showing up to set up cable, internet and phone. At least, let's hope they show up. I may also call a locksmith to rekey our locks.
Tomorrow is the big move and we have 7 big strong men to help us out. There is a frost-bite warning for tomorrow, so at least we'll all be moving to keep ourselves warm. I bought those hand warmers for people's pockets, and we will be buying some apple cider to heat up on the stove.....and of course, pizza and beer! I wonder how it will be to drive a 24' truck. The 16' wasn't too bad....
J had filled the car with boxes of dishes and the trunk was already full of Christmas decorations we had bought on boxing day at 70% off, and a few shovels for our new driveway (!!!). We dropped off these things by opening the garage (with the garage door opener button thing!!!) and taking things in through the garage door. I don't know about you, but we are freakin' excited to have a garage! No more scraping the car in the morning, no more taking bicycles up and down stairs, no more storing tires on a balcony. We. Have. A. Garage. And we hereforth pledge to "not be one of those families that has a double garage and has it so full of junk that we can't even park the cars in it".
We also took a few minutes to take a reading of the hydro meter and the water meter, upon our lawyer's advice. Later, if there are issues with the bill, you have an initial reading. Then we spent about 15 minutes going through the house to see if there were any gouges that we didn't see before, or garbage that needed cleaning up. The place was as we remembered, but will be needing a coat of paint throughout. Minor details. The bones are good, as our real estate agent says...
We went back to the condo and picked up more breakables that aren't really truck-friendly. Fine china (or, as my mom calls it, 'Best china'....however, it is really 'Only china' and thus the box was labelled 'Best and only fine china'), camping gear, hockey equipment and our golf sets. Then, dinner. We stopped at Arby's and picked up our food, laughing while I told J about this thing I heard on the radio where a guy pretends to be Elmo and orders food from Taco Bell (youtube it, it's hilarious).
We drove to the house (it's exactly 5km away from the condo) and took our dinner inside. When we bought the condo, we ate while sitting on the kitchen/living room floor. This time, we stood at the island. We ate our roast beef sandwiches (did you know Arby's is in trouble? Wendy's may sell the chain to someone else because it isn't making enough money. I blame my friend C who loves Arby's, but now lives in Germany and is unable to support them by buying sandwiches).
After dinner, we took in the things from the car and again, spent about 10 minutes going through the house....but this time we were just admiring. Back to the condo again and we filled the car with pictures from our walls, my keyboard, and one final box of glasses. Quick trip to the house and it was unpacked from the car.
Today, we will be doing more trips and Rogers is showing up to set up cable, internet and phone. At least, let's hope they show up. I may also call a locksmith to rekey our locks.
Tomorrow is the big move and we have 7 big strong men to help us out. There is a frost-bite warning for tomorrow, so at least we'll all be moving to keep ourselves warm. I bought those hand warmers for people's pockets, and we will be buying some apple cider to heat up on the stove.....and of course, pizza and beer! I wonder how it will be to drive a 24' truck. The 16' wasn't too bad....
Sunday, January 16, 2011
Helen Niles....working on trials...and packing up files!
I am exhausted. 2011 has just started and I've already done enough work for the entire year!!!
But alas, having a house means having a mortage, means having to cut back a bit on the trip taking. FYI - Camping at Sandbanks (or anywhere else for that matter) and going on roadtrips aren't expensive! They are great alternatives if you are on a budget. Airfare in this country is ridiculous and you can easily drive someplace far and have a vacation for the cost of one person's plane ticket. You just have to be willing to spend a bit more time to get where you're going.
"Working on trials"? My job requires that I attend court hearings once in a while and I just had to attend one in Newfoundland. Short trip, but tiring nonetheless. Next week, which is closing day on our new house, I am travelling to Montreal for a different trial. It rarely happens that I have to go to these things and after 5 years of nothing, I have 2 within the same week. Unbelievable!
"Paking up files"? We are moving! My husband, J, and I have been packing things up for our big move on January 23rd. We had no luck with moving companies, so we reserved a truck and are moving ourselves with the help of 7 big strong friends (thank you!).
There was a huge storm in Newfoundland when I flew in, so I didn't get to see much. What I did see piqued my interest. I definitely want to go back and I don't think I'll have a problem convincing J. The cab driver that safely brought me from the airport to my hotel told me that Gros Morne National Park is best in August. The lawyer I was talking to mentioned that the George St. Festival is the week before the first wednesday in August. So all in all, I guess we'll go visit in August. At least we'll be sure that they won't get about 40 cm of snow in 24 hours!
I'm not really a winter person. Skiing is fun, but I love the sun and I can't stand these short days. I'd much rather be camping at Sandbanks:
or going on a road trip:
But alas, having a house means having a mortage, means having to cut back a bit on the trip taking. FYI - Camping at Sandbanks (or anywhere else for that matter) and going on roadtrips aren't expensive! They are great alternatives if you are on a budget. Airfare in this country is ridiculous and you can easily drive someplace far and have a vacation for the cost of one person's plane ticket. You just have to be willing to spend a bit more time to get where you're going.You learn a lot about the person you're road-tripping with too. For example, J can make these noises with his mouth that I can't seem to make. Also, you end up finding one CD that you play over and over again and becomes the CD of the trip. So our trip to New Brunswick in 2006 was the "Barenaked Ladies" trip. In 2007, it was the "Collective Soul" trip. In 2009, we made a bunch of mix CDs, so it was the "Mix CD trip". It's a great way to remember the journey.
Sadly, I may not post for a while as it may take a few weeks to get ourselves settled. I still have Munich to post about, so keep checking back!! In the meantime, I will be imagining us here:
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