Moving woes, broken toes and a missing cat! (and a few choice words)

Moving is stressful and hard and dirty and painful! We did the second half of the large move this past weekend. A rented UHaul, long border wait times. crappy parking, two parking tickets were just a few of the snags we faced on day one of the final half of moving.

Saturday: John spotted a fab dining room set including china cabinet on Craigslist , so we picked that up first on Saturday. It was an ordeal though. We bought if off of a nice older couple and with much blood, sweat, near tears and one tumbling old man. He was determined to be part of the process and seemed adamant about tying a rope to every piece we carried down the treacherous stairs, which in theory was a good idea, but in reality was more dangerous – a definite tripping hazard. Following our stint with the old couple, we loaded up the few things we had in our storage locker – John’s favorite pink chair included 😉

Sunday: Loading day. Back and forth from our 2nd floor condo down to street level with everything. We were not without incident though. Somehow, managed to drop a deep freezer onto my foot, crunching my big toe in the process. A few minutes later and some choice words I opted to take a break. We loaded up the rest of our stuff all morning with just enough time to book it off to the ferry. It’s quite a scene to fit two full-grown adults plus two dogs into the small cab of a Uhaul rental truck. For two hours. On a ferry. But we managed. Wally was set on driving though. Benji wasn’t sure where to sit. We managed to unload the truck once we arrived in record time. We were happily greeted (in the dark) at our new place by 5 deer on our front lawn. Neat. Back to unloading. Everything went off without a hitch…almost. The second to last piece to come out of the truck was part of the china cabinet from yesterday’s older couple. Running on nearly nothing, and extremely exhausted, I for some reason ,thought I could handle lifting a huge, heavy piece of furniture late at night. On the count of 1-2-3 lift! Suddenly, I went down. Under the cabinet. On to my knee. Pain and confusion followed by a few choice words. I was okay, but minus a pair of jeans (that completely tore apart this weekend) and a swollen knee and a bruised ego.

We cracked our celebratory beers that night and bundled up to go outside to see the stars. We could hear coyotes somewhere out in the field and that was it. Very cool.

Monday: Up early to load ourselves and the pups back into the Uhaul to catch the morning ferry. 2 hours later, back in the old place. Crap, the patio door was open! Betty (my cat) nowhere to be seen 😦 Time was ticking before we had to get the rental truck back over the border (which already had a lineup) and the cat was missing. I was hysterical! A few choice words later, we were furiously driving the rental to the border and quickly came home to begin the search…..

Within 20 minutes we had located Betty but couldn’t get to her. It took John jumping a fence, an old lady with a broom and another old lady’s car keys and one random guy in a plaid shirt (plus me) to wrangle the cat and we had rescued her within an hour. Phewf! Just enough time to jump in the truck and drive another hour! The day resulted in me getting a handy-dandy new (used) SUV and a few beers (once home). It’s been a long weekend of blood(for real! and bruises), sweat – a whole lotta, and tears (sad and happy) but we survived. And we are stronger for it! This weekend we will officially be islanders.

Go forth and be happy!

Does drinking a ton of V8 really count as getting my veggies in?

Moving is a lot of work. So is managing a full course load at school via correspondence (all done from home). Since we have taken the first full truck load over to our new place this past weekend, I am left with one of each type of dish at home and we have been working at “clearing out the fridge”, which equals – eating everything before we buy more. I am down to some flimsy carrots left in the fridge, and no they did not look edible. Gone. I noticed two unopened jugs of V8 on the pantry shelf and I thought “better start clearing off the pantry shelf”.

So, I’ve consumed a mass quantity of V8 in 36 hours. Does this count as getting my fruit and veg intake? I hope so.

The Tyee – Girl Meets Boy

The Tyee – Girl Meets Boy.

 

I find this first part of a two part series article, very interesting. I have been curious on how those in the transgender community want to be addressed, included and understood. This is a really good intro and I am looking forward to tomorrow’s second half!

Greece

The current header is of a Greek church in Loutsa, Greece. My sister lives there and this particular one is part of our walk along the seaside anytime I go visit. I like to look back at some of my photos from one of the 5 times I’ve been there (yes lucky me, but I’d trade never going to have my big sister living here with her kiddies).

I love going to visit Greece. The food, the music, the lifestyle, the scenery. Everyone should go. Drink ouzo, homemade Greek wine, experience a real seaside Taverna. It’s marvelous.

Ah…Greece.

Fall has officially fallen at my house

It’s funny you know, because I get the feeling that I am not the only person who loves this season. I love wearing sweaters, jeans, new knits I’ve been working on and hats! I can officially announce that I feel fall now. It’s cool, windy, the squash are fequenting the produce sections and it’s getting dark at dinner time.

Today marked the day where fall kind of pulled at my heartstrings….I began dismantling my garden 😦 It’s one of those things that I dread usually, but in the spirit of getting ready to move, it was a job that needed doing. So it was mixed with excitement (because surely next years’ garden will rock your socks off) and sadness.

My five tomato plants served me well this year albeit quite late (must have been the late start to summer). I couldn’t quite bring myself to take them all down, so I trimmed down two and raided the others. With the help of Wally (who was most interested in collecting tomato droppings…in his mouth).

So, the theme of packing and moving is still running high around the house, and so is the theme of making it fun. Here are some of my strategies:

-as previously mentioned: beer/wine/spirits of choice

-fun music

-teamwork (thank you John!)

-wearing a costume : this one may sound odd, but as I’ve been sorting and packing I have come across old costumes, wigs and ridiculous clothing/shoes, so I like to dress up in any of these while packing/cleaning. Why not. I’m having fun and getting work done.

-try to not make the day revolve around packing, do random intervals of packing (which I do when I need a break from readings for school).

Birthgiving Weekend

So yesterday was John’s birthday. It was the first year that I can remember that I didn’t organize and cook a Canadian Thanksgiving feast. Instead, since John’s day fell on our T’giving, we did our own thing. John decided that hitting up the driving range for a couple of hours would be a fun afternoon to spend part of his day and of course it meant that I get to join. I researched the local driving ranges in our area and opted for one that is pretty near our area as well as sounded most welcoming to our kind…..total novice amateurs. It said “family friendly”.

It sounds totally ridiculous but I managed to burn through at least three outfits before I decided on what would be “golf appropriate” before we left. Upon arrival we started to get really excited – it was a beautiful sunny day, kind of warm for October and it didn’t look too busy. We paid for our two baskets of balls and club rentals and were directed out the door to drop our tokens into the ball machine.

Oh the ball machine…..

So I walked passed half a dozen or so older men, very into their driving. It was quiet and intense. Then I spotted it…”The ball machine!” I ran to it with my two tokens (each for what we were told was about an hour’s worth of golf balls). I plopped the token in and….oh shucks….the balls came spewing out at record speed, spilling all down the aisle of the upper driving range deck. I noticed a heaping pile of empty baskets BESIDE the ball machine, slightly tucked in the corner. It was too late. They poured for several minutes while the old men turned and watched in disgust. There was one fellow who assured me “it’s not the first time that’s happened!” with a chuckle. He helped wrangle the rogue balls with us. John laughed. I wanted to cry.

After clambering to locate enough golf balls to moderately fill a basket, we walked to the furthest places at the end of the aisle….far from anyone’s whispers. After a while I gathered myself enough to start driving and we both ended up having a blast. We even got another basket (though I made John go get it and reminded him to use a bucket). After the first 30 minutes of humiliation, I admitted that I was having a good ol’ time at the driving range. Success at the expense of some dignity.

We concluded the day with a nice dinner out and a movie. Not too bad for a Birthgiving Sunday (the term that’s been coined for John’s holiday/birthday).

Packing continues….It’s a real drag but with each box filling up I get more and more excited for the move. I have learned that by organizing the packing with a slight schedule/plan helps, and so does beer and wine – for optimal enjoyment levels. We are planning to take our first big truckload over next weekend. My How-To-Raise-Chickens book has arrived and I am eagerly scanning the pages for the perfect breed. Oh the excitement!

The Good News

Image via Wikipedia

So…..a couple of days late but not short of excitement, I am happy to report we have found our perfect place to call home! Not only is it superb, it is a mini-farm type place where we can raise our own chickens. This is thrilling for myself and John, and jives with my effort to maintain my ethical meat-eating practices. I am over the moon to be moving out of the lower mainland (big city busy feel) and on to the peace and tranquility of a rural lifestyle. And now a big sigh of relief…..ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh…………

Except, now we have to pack! And move! And stay on top of the four courses I am currently enrolled in! It is safe to officially announce that I am overwhelmed with excitement and an incredible amount of work to do! Imagine if I hadn’t quit my job recently and I had that in the mix too, eeek!

So it seems as though my blog – which never really had any one specific direction – can follow my transition from city girl to chicken-raising-farmhouse girl. In addition to my continued success at avoiding meat other than ethically raised.

Oh and by the way, I made a terrific garden fresh tomato bisque today from an insane amount of tomatoes that desperately needed consumption, fresh picked basil and some dried herbs from last summer’s garden adventure. Talk about local! And vegetarian 🙂

Well, as the excitement mounts and the packing commences, I’ll be sure to keep updates on the trials and tribulations of a big-ass move.

Now…back to school for this gal.

I miss you blog!

Ah…crazy week, with it being my last as an employee of company-I-shall-not-name. I have commenced my first official week of being a volunteer for the dog rescue organization – which I love already.

My last day of paid work was yesterday. Of course I was anxious to be done, but a wave of sadness swept over me in a way I wasn’t prepared for. I had the pleasure of going to lunch with the folks I’ve been supporting for a few years now, and I honestly hadn’t laughed so hard in months. Though I am incredibly sad to say goodbye, I felt reassured that the work I had done with these guys was worth every bit of it and that I have four friends that I am so grateful to have. On to a new chapter….

Tomorrow marks an exciting new beginning. School begins (though I still haven’t received any textbooks in the mail yet, so fingers crossed) and John and I are off to look at our dream place on the island. We spent the afternoon in the company of the homeowners here on the mainland and we both (hope it isn’t jinxed now!) have a really good feeling about it. Ideally, by tomorrow night, I can report that we’ve got it.

I have more to write about, but it must wait until tomorrow at the least. I just couldn’t help myself from adding a little something….

Happy Sunday!