The Move (t-minus 7 days and counting)

It's getting down to the wire.

I was very busy this weekend, and am still sore now, though I did take a break here and there.  I have to say, I wonder if I won't feel quite so creaky in a month after I can get some rest, or if this is a new, permanent condition.  In which case, it really is good this is the last move in a long time.  I just will not be able to do so much of the work the next time around.

Anyway, I stayed over at the new place Saturday night, and I'll probably do that one night this week (though obviously a bit harder to do on a school/work night).  I unpacked essentially all the CDs and started on the DVDs.  I may not actually get the books up in time, but the key is to get them out of the way, but also leave a space to get the desk into the back room where it is supposed to go.  I am going to gamble that it will fit into that slot next to the 4th bookcase (rather than cutting a wedge out of the molding beforehand).

I also put a narrower bookshelf together for my son's room.  Now we just have to get rid of the older one.  One thing that added several days to this process was moving this enormous desk to my son's room, which is why the bigger bookcase doesn't fit.

On Saturday, after making a couple more trips with the ZipCar, I dropped my son's bike off at the shop.  It turns out that Canadian Tire didn't really construct it all that well, and the mechanic had to make quite a number of adjustments and tightenings, but now it seems like a decent bike.  It's almost adult size, but he's growing into it and getting pretty good.  My daughter is really struggling to deal with life after training wheels, but I suspect she'll get there eventually.

Since it was a nice day, and I thought I deserved a break, I biked off to 4 of the photography exhibits mentioned in this post that were still open.  Of all of them, I liked Scott Conarroe's Canada By Rail and By Sea the best.  I also dropped into work for about 30 minutes, which was good, since I didn't have time to go on Sunday, as I expected.

I had a friend come by Sunday and help out with some of the key electrical upgrades.  In one case, the outlet was done in 10 minutes, but then he had to essentially reshape the electric box and file it down to get the new outlet to sit back in there.  That added an hour to the chore, and I felt really badly about it.  Fortunately, getting a light into the second bedroom closet, which he had thought might be tricky, was just a 10 minute job.  Quite a number of the outlets in the house are reversed, but I think I'll leave them until my father-in-law comes up and we can spend an afternoon fixing them.

I moved a few more things out of the way, and I even had a chance to drop off a piece of artwork that needed its glass replaced.  I'll probably go to the same place and have them frame a poster or two (if there is any room left for more artwork after we get all the furniture in place -- it may be quite a challenge to get everything we have hung up, but I'll try to figure it out).  I cut it very close, but managed to make two more trips with the ZipCar in 90 minutes, even bringing back a bunch of empty boxes tp pack back up again.

I was so exhausted by this point, but decided that I should wrap up getting the upstairs bedroom painted, including the closet.  That way we can get all the random tape and stuff out of there.  I even painted the bottom half of the downstairs closet.  I'll touch that up one more time and paint the upper half tonight, and then I think I can cross painting off the list.

In terms of packing the downstairs, I have four drawers left in the file cabinets, which I'll pack up now.  I'd guess I can get basically all the random stuff in the basement done in two more trips with one of the bigger ZipCars.  That basically leaves my clothes to throw into bags and the art books to pack (those I will let the movers move).

Supposedly, the handyman company will give me a quote today, and I'll get them started.  I don't expect them to be done this week, but there's a pretty good chance they will be done before the kids are out of school, which would be great.  Kids and construction don't mix well.

On the evening of the 20th, I think I'll take apart the kids' beds (and ideally move the frames to the new house, but that may not happen).  Then in the morning of the 21st, I will basically need to tell the movers what needs to get packed up, take apart the bed in the master bedroom and get the mirror of the dresser.  Then I have to get to the new house and make sure they know where things go.  (I can probably collapse for the day once the beds are back in place.)  That will still give us a week to handle everything else that is left (like the shed which is supposed to be picked up on the 26th), and of course do at least some unpacking at the new place over the next few weeks.  So it could definitely be worse, though I wish it was just over.