Checks On Our Checklist

Why did I acquire so much stuff?

I am a huge fan of design magazines, especially while waiting in a line at the grocery store. I flip the pages and see how tranquil those rooms look. The glossy pages accenting those clutter free rooms. My mind wanders to a space that isn't rented and lacks someone else's grandma's wallpaper. How nice it would be to have just collections of useless globes on my shelves.... Oh, I wish I could hang shelves....

Wake up call! The beauty of moving is realizing that I can now purge all of my collected hoopla and invest in some of those awful globes, or something else equally as useless. And, maybe, I will hang shelves.

So, as we continue to prepare for this move, we have some serious boxes to check before I can restock my new place.

1. Apartment - Check

For anyone who is wondering finding an apartment in a foreign country, or any rental space for that matter, is no small task. I highly recommend having someone at your destination to scope out the scene for you and see any potential properties in person. We used colleagues of Hubby's to scout potential properties for us, relay pictures and just generally represent us. Contact people quickly if you like a place. We lost out on a few places because we waited for a showing. Fill that paperwork out to hold your place as a potential renter so that you don't loose out. Finally, have lots of background information from your bank, landlord, etc. Oh, and don't forget that you will probably need 2X the first month's rent, plus a deposit.

Thank you to everyone who helped make apartment shopping 2000 km away easier. All of you at Relevance are awesome, as well as some local folk with kick butt personal cheat sheets to the area!

To see a glimpse of where we are headed check out West Village.

2. Purge everything - Half a check

It is really difficult to purge your entire life so far. Thanks to a certain professional organization company - Sparkelize - for some serious inspiration here. I have been able to come to grips with my 'stuff' and really prioritize what I need and what might fit in my new home. Like them on Facebook to get some amazing pointers! I must admit, I did go to bed many a night with the help of Captain Morgan, especially when it came to letting go of all of the educational materials I had collected as a school teacher. I have to remind myself to keep what I need, keep what I really love and keep what I use. Everything else can go or be replaced when I need it.

With that being said, I am still in the purge phase. I am held back by a busy toddler who needs her time at the park and nap time. Nap time is a great time to purge, getting it to the thrift store... not so much. So out it all goes, into the garage for dear Hubby to cart to the local thrift shop in that one single hour he has after work before it closes.

Another huge thank you to the family and friends who have helped move/store/rehome our bigger furniture pieces.

3. Clean it - Yet to be accomplished

I hate this part. I was hoping to start early, but.... yeah... cough....

Well, tomorrow is Saturday, perhaps then....

This is my 5th move in 7 years, I should be good at this by now, but I hate it. I don't scrub my oven (nor do I use it) so when it comes to the big move day out come my gloves and scouring pad. Yuck. When leaving your rental there are some things you need to do to get that big fat deposit back, including...

- Clean cupboards, behind appliances, tub, shower, baseboards, windows, closets, vents, toilets, sinks
- Vacuum and steam clean those carpets
- free the garage/shed of all of your stuff and sweep those puppies out
- weed the garden and mow the lawn (normally my yard is immaculate, not this year. Now I have to ask myself if weeding is worth the deposit)
- repaint - if you painted
- repair - if you damaged

Since Hubby, the Babe and I are good tenants this box won't take that long to check off - if I don't weed. I have moved my entire living room into the dining room so that I can steam clean early. Hopefully it actually gets done. The Babe has developed a fear of vacuums, which means my floors are crumby at best. To vacuum and steam them would be a miracle at this point.

4. General Moving Stuff - Check

Hubby is most incredible at arranging moves. He has a list in his head a mile long of the nitty gritty that needs to be accomplished before, during and after a move. He should almost write this part...

Basically, for any move have your basics covered. Cancel services and set up new ones. Spend that extra money to have your mail forwarded - you will forget to give your new address to someone. Give notice to your landlord and arrange for a walk through. The list is really endless here, I don't know how Hubby does it, but it's all done... sing song... :P




For now that's really all the checks on our checklist - if you don't break them down into sub groups - oh the sub groups!!! Except for the one check box where I get to endure surgery one week before we move, but hey, minor details.... I'll fill you in on that later. Lastly, in regard to my opening comment about 'stuff,' I vow to never have so much again. Keep me honest and clutter free folks!

1 week... y'all. Hee Hee

The Prep Work

So we're moving. No, not across town this time, we're really moving. All the way across the continent, to a new country, a new culture and a new climate. Truly, I am most worried about the climate, but I'm sure I'll adjust.

Here's the back story...  

After graduating from university in Regina, SK, Canada, I accepted a teaching position in Plum Coulee, MB. Yeah, I didn't know where it was either... Anyways, we moved, cats, birds, husband and all to a town called Morden, about 25 minutes West of my school. I worked for three years while the Hubby finished his degree in Computer Science. Then came baby and out went the birds. Hubby graduated, yay, and found employment. After Maternity leave I accepted a position as Resource Teacher in a town just slightly closer to home. Life was great, the daycare was great, the commute was easy, the grocery store was just down the road. And then came November... 

We're moving... to Montreal. Hubby's company was doing well and wanted to bring all of their remote developers to a central Canadian location.

Ok, I'm fine with that, no big there. I can learn a new language. I spent a Summer there in high school. My kid will have an accent, cool! And then came December...

Layoffs, we're not moving. Ok, brain back into rural Manitoban life, got it. No problem, my job is awesome, I could retire here, I got to help design the playground, I teach Tech and Art and work with amazing people. All is great. Then in January...

Jack... How do you feel about California, North Carolina or Vancouver? Here we go again. Brain is all over the place. Hubby accepts job in North Carolina after rounds of interviews (that nearly killed all of the nerve in me... I mean, where the ____ will I be living/working?)

Then the hard part. My job. Do I stay or do I go? Really, who gives up a permanent teaching position in this day and age? Like, really? We'll I certainly can't stay and parent and work all alone. So the decision was made, I go. But, do I quit? Ultimately, yes, I had too. For all the parties involved that tried as hard as possible to keep me on, some things are just meant to be, and for me - and my little family - adventures await. 

In the Spring I visited our new home in North Carolina. Urban life. Not big, but certainly Urban. There are some things I will have to get used to again. It's been 5 years since I lived in a city, and the occasional visit to Winnipeg does not count. Traffic, freeways - real freeways, the kind that you see on TV, fast paced people and unsafe neighbourhoods. The pros out weigh the cons in this case. The city was beautiful, up and coming and it had a life to it that didn't shut down at 5:00, plus things were open on Sunday's! Restaurants, coffee shops, play places, art spaces, boutiques, flowers (in the Winter). Wow. 

So off we go. After the prep work. 

Having Hubby accept the job was step one, me resigning was step two. But there is so much involved in uprooting your family from one life and into another. For starters there is everybody else. The people that matter, our friends and our family that we've grown accustomed to having around. Hubby's family and extended family are all in Winnipeg. Mine are here in Morden and just to the West in Saskatchewan. Not only will we no longer have free babysitters, but we will also not have our support network, and more importantly, our daughter won't have her grandparents, aunts and uncles close by. Some of our closest and dearest friends are here too. It is sad to think that our daughter may not remember the hours of enjoyment she has had with all of the great people that currently surround us. 

This Summer has been the busiest Summer I have ever experienced, and believe me, as a school teacher I have had to cram a lot into two months. We have been away almost every weekend and some week nights too. Back and forth to small town Saskatchewan or Manitoba, or the city, the lake, who knows. We are visiting as much as we can. While all of that visiting takes place we are purging. Large rural town living has allowed for too much stuff. Everything must go. It is both refreshing and maddening. At times I wish I could just buy all new stuff when the plane lands, but in reality, I don't have that kind of cash. 

So that is where I am at. Purge, purge, purge, and visit, visit, visit. I don't want to see my car anymore, and I really don't want to see my basement again either. But, I continue to prepare, to jump on a plane and shake up my life. 

3 weeks left.