Thursday, January 06, 2005

I forgot how much I hate moving

I hate moving. I hate moving. I hate moving. It's amazing how much junk can be accumlated over the course just under 4 years in one place. Especially with adding 3 children since we moved here. I've been on a clean out mission since the twins were born. Last's years spring clean up saw a stack about as big as our kitchen out on the sidewalk but that was nothing compared to this.

I've donated van-fulls of stuff to charity and stuff for the trash. But there is still so far to go on the packing and de-cluttering. I've started to pack and there are piles of boxes springing up over the house - but there is still so far to go. I know we don't move for 3 weeks - but I want to take advantage of the time my sister Beth is here - because it's impossible to do anything without backup help with the kiddies. The sheer size of the tasks is daunting as is the prospect of setting it all back up on the other end.

Allan took down our wooden shelves last night and stacked/taped the peices together. Those are destined for our garage for storage. Together we tackled our boxes and junk drawers of computer disks/parts/CD's. We trashed tons of completely out-dated parts and all my assignment disks from college. yes - I used to actually have the ability to think rationally and write coherently. I also disovered disks with digital photos from my Grandmothers memorial service in 1996 - the first photos my dad scanned on his 1st generation handheld scanner, then saved to 3.5 floppies and snailmailed to me. We were able to save most of the photos off the disks but some were corrupted already from 9 years of storage.

Today we met with the co-op secretary to sign all the paperwork and turn in our damage deposit. After that meeting - I had our new address - so spent the afternoon on the phone. I've got phone service lined up to switch for Feb 1st. We have to get a new phone number though. I was driven batty by the Telus auto-attendant. It's VOICE RECOGNITION not "press 1 for....". Which is a nice idea in theory - but not practical at all when you are attempting to do this while holding a fussing baby and trying to mediate between fighting preschoolers. Whoever designed that doesn't have children or know children or think that people with children have to phone Telus.

We're also signing up with Telus for DSL. That is not without reservations - as Gail has had some very bad experiences with Telus - but it was cheaper than cable with Shaw. Significantly cheaper. So that was the deciding factor. I've also got to cancel our wwdb e-mail only account (which will require sitting on hold forever) get set up with Hydro for Feb 1st, get the mail forwarding paperwork filled out and start giving everyone else our new address contact info. I've also realized we need to buy a dryer AND a real vacuum cleaner. With real carpets our dustbuster on a stick isn't going to cut it anymore. We are also going to have to rent a truck. I've moved a lot and usually just by piling my stuff into my car or van. Even for the move from Maine to British Colubia - I only needed a small trailer behind the Nissan 240SX. But the volume of stuff has just surpassed what we'll be able to do ourselves with our van.

My passport arrived with Beth - USA passport in my correct name. That renewal required docmentation for 2 name changes - a marriage, divorce, marriage. Now that I have THAT - I need to get the kids paperwork filled our for their USA certificates of birth abroad so that they have the choice to live/work in either country when they are older. Another item on the to-do list.


4 comments:

Gail at Large said...
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Gail at Large said...

Make sure you inform Telus that you already have a modem (mine), so you can get the monthly $5 (?) deduction off your bill.

Oh, and I found this helpful -- BC Hydro has a moving checklist:

(Printer-friendly version)
http://www.bchydro.com/services/applymodify/applymodify2436.html?printnowA lot of the stuff applies more to you than to me.

Gail at Large said...

oops, I couldn't get the last line to break after the URL... I tried it twice.

Has it really been nearly 4 years? wow, how time flies!

Cheryl said...

Thanks Gail - I'll phone them again tomorrow and let them know that we have a modem. I filled out address change forms today and set-up a new Hydro account to start Feb 1st. They only keep records of old accounts for 1-2 years now - so I have to pay a security deposit again $182. Yes - almost 4 years - we moved in here I think April of 01.