IT WAS GREAT BUT IT'S COMING TO AN END

Yup...it has been an awesome almost two days.  Bill and possibly April are on their way home today.  That's okay though.  I can't say I missed them, but I will be happy to have them and their noise and mess back again.

Everything except some very bare essentials in this house are all packed.  The house is actually echoing.  And it is kind of shocking how easy it is to live without all that crap.  Monte's bedroom is packed almost to the ceiling with all the stuff we obviously do not need.  So...this is making me rethink the unpacking at the other end.  Hmmmm.....maybe I will just have the boxes put into the garage and I will slowly, really slowly consider each thing before taking it into the house.  I thought I did this on this side of the packing but I am thinking not enough.  I will see how many boxes I can leave unopened!

It is kind of weird sitting in a house that does not need one thing done.  I will take an hour to finish the bits and pieces  in the kitchen and then I do believe I am going to go out and find a new light fixture for over the table.  This has been a bit of a bone of contention in this house.

I bought a light from Ikea, not expensive, about a year ago.  I had Bill install it for me.  And I loved it.  But Bill, and everyone that comes by do not.  I call it shabby chic, they call it "old lady pantaloons"  Most insulting.  I will take a picture of it and put it on here.  You can tell me.

Yay!!!  Cookie just phoned and she is coming over tomorrow.  We are going to go out together and find a light for over the table.  And Aryn suggested that I take this one here over to the new house and hang it in my purple room there.  Such a good idea!

I had Ferguson's Moving come in last week and do an estimate.  She was such a nice little girl.  We went through the whole house (and that was when it was an awful mess).  Then she stood right there in my kitchen, worked the numbers for about fifteen minutes, then told me what it would be.  And...they would hold the stuff over night, take a morning ferry and deliver it early as possible the next day.

Three days ago I had Williams Moving come in.  I hated her immediately.  She marched in like she owned the place, talked to me like I was a dumb two year old.  The house was totally packed and spotless I might add, but she  continuously made comments like,  "well that can't go like that, it has to be totally packed in a box, (my large electric roasting pan) we can't take that without crating it...that will be an extra 250 dollars, (a large mirror) , no open containers, we won't take those (in the shed the containers of tools), is that going?"  She would ask that repeatedly after I said no it is not going, whatever it was.  Three times she asked if there was anything in the back shed until I yelled, "NO NO NO, I told you NO there is nothing back there."  When we got downstairs I told her only three things were going, nothing else, it was someone else's apartment.  But she pointed at EVERYThING and would ask, one by one, is that going?  Finally I gave her shit and told her to start listening to me or we would stop this estimate right now.  She finally, in a very clipped snippy voice announced that the stuff would not be delivered for four days after pickup and "would an 18 wheeler be able to park at the house?"  What???  Four days??  And how the hell would I know if an 18 wheeler could park there.  Its a house. On a street.  WTF??!!  And now there is still no estimate.  I am pissed.  I phoned

I THINK IT'S CUTE

earlier today and the lady said that it was almost ready.  If it isn't in my email box at ten to four I am phoning back and telling them to get stuffed.  I won't use them anyway but I am curious to see what there price is compared to everyone else.  They all came in between 6,000 and 7,000, delivered the next day..thank you very much.

Well I just heard from Bill.  He will be home in time for dinner so I am going to go into my pristine kitchen and mess it up.  I think I am going to make minted lamb chops, new potatoes, cauliflower and broccoli casserole.  We are going to load up the truck with mirrors and stuffed hanging salmon etc and he is going to head back to the island with a final load.  Moving companies don't like moving those things.  TTYL

PS:  Williams quote just came in....it was 25 bucks less than Fergusons...whom I am actually going to use.  I like them!

ALONE AT LAST!!!!

I can't believe this tiny little gift just plopped into my lap!!!  I didn't have to lay awake at night plotting.  I didn't have to pull out my manipulating skills I learned watching soaps when I was younger.  I didn't even have to hurt anyone's feelings.  But....Bill is on the Island for a couple of days and April is going to visit a friend  for a couple of days.  AND I GET TO BE ALONE!!!!!!  Now that doesn't mean I don't want Elliott to come for coffee or Cookie to come visit...but I don't have to find a million things, check to see if Bill has fallen down somewhere and can't get up, drive April (well I am about to drive her out to West Van and I don't mind driving her anywhere anytime), get asked if I am making dinner...at 8 at night, go into the other room to watch a tv show, get picked on by a ganging up April and Bill (they admitted to that) and I have to go lock myself in the bedroom to get away from them,  I don't have to do anything except what I want to.   Life is gooooooood!

As I said I have to drive April right now.  This is a good example....last night she said 9 o'clock.  So I get up, get dressed, pull my poof, put in my teeth and right at 8:54 she comes to me and says, "So when should we leave?  Like in 15 or 20 minutes?"  What???  "NO, we leave in six minutes. "  And right now I am going to stand up and yell "I will be in the car!"  There....I will be back on here later :)

What a lovely day!  I went to the fat lady store on the way home from dropping April off.  I had a lot of  fun in there today.  My fave sales person was there and we visited for quite a while....women's rights, would you believe...still.  We talked for a long time and ended the convo with the thought that men were pretty useless.  Somehow I don't think that that is the right way to end these types of conversations!

I just counted, I wrangled 21 phone calls today...kids, Bill and workmen.  It seemed like every 15 minutes the phone rang.  I also got about the same number of texts from all sorts of people.  Oops...there goes the phone now!

I am turning it all off and going to bed.  I did get my hair washed today and cleaned up the house ....  again.  But now its dark out and I am getting that awful feeling of being watched.  Good thing I have Molly here to protect me!  TTYL

SOME THINGS SHOULD NOT BE TAKEN FOR GRANTED

I have always found it easy to process and be organized.  Actually I would have gone through my whole life and never really thought about it...then I ended up with Bill, who can't process tying his shoes, never mind packing up sheds, his side of the bedroom and....well not really much else.  He did pack up the awkward stuff like huge vases and weird breakables.  His genes must have passed on to the two kids we spawned....neither of them process well either.  Along with this goes the inability to focus for more than about four minutes on any given task.

Today I sent Bill out to do the last half of the back shed.  I told him that he couldn't just move stuff from the shed to the back deck or yard.  He had to actually get stuff in the garbage, packed stuff into the other organized shed or into his truck to go back to Van. Island later this week.

It started well.  For about four minutes.  I checked on him every 20 minutes.  And this is how it went:

At the first check I noticed that stuff had started to creep out of the shed and onto the surrounding area.  At the second check, he was standing in the shed, not moving, just staring and even more stuff was outside the shed.  At the third check he was gone.  April came upstairs and asked me to go down to the garage as Dad was in there asking her about stuff that she couldn't answer.  So I went down and reasonably asked, "What the hell are you doing?"  His answer?  "I am trying to figure out what to put in the truck to take over."  "But why?" I ask. "You are supposed to be doing the shed!!"  And then there ensued a loud angry conversation about ....well crap I am not sure now...but it ended with him yelling "WELL I AM JUST GOING DOWNTOWN THEN"  (which is pretty funny because there would be nowhere he would go)  so I yelled back "FINE THEN!!  I WILL JUST GO DO THE DAMNED SHED"  I stomped up to the shed and kind of kicked things around and moved a full garbage can to the growing pile of junk for junk guy.  Bill sauntered around the side of the house and out to the shed like nothing had happened so I went into the house.

On the fourth check I looked out purple room window, and again, no Bill.  I went to the kitchen and looked out the door and there he was, clippers in hand, dead heading a plant.  What the hell!!!?  "BILL!!" I holler out the screen door.  "Well I have to get this stuff cut off and into the garbage before tomorrow.  Its garbage."  He states this in a loud petulant defensive voice.  I had to laugh.  Seriously its like dealing with a two year old.  "Put them down Bill, you can do that later...we are trying to get the shed done today.  Remember?"  I went out with him and got him started again.  Jeez!  I was trying to get the bathroom sorted and packed and I wasn't getting too far with that.  Once again I left him to get on with it.  A few minutes later I saw him get in the truck and drive it down to the driveway and start loading it up with the stuff from the basement.  I gave up.  I do believe at least four containers of stuff are still sitting out there waiting to go into the organized shed.  At least its at a stage that I can finish it myself now if I have to.  He does a lot work, I know he does, it just isn't the organized processed way I like...clearly I am NOT the boss in this house.  And I appreciate my ability just a little bit more.  If we were all process challenged we would be in serious trouble!  No pics today....I am too tired to even bother.  TTYL

PS.....Claire, if you are reading this, I am telling you this is exactly what happened!  He is going to to try to tell you it wasn't, but it was!!!

KILL ME NOW.....

I don't know what ever made me think I liked moving.  I don't.  Maybe five six years ago when I was younger and had a much smaller stomach (its amazing how one's stomach can get in the way) it seemed like a good idea and it wasn't too hard to execute.  Not any more I tell ya.  And ten years ago our house burned down and we owned nothing.  Bliss!!!  How did this happen in ten short years?  We have so much frigging junk I have had to hire the 1 800 got junk people to come.  I think the neighbours already figure we are pathetic hoarders, that truck out front will confirm it.  I asked the guy when I phoned if a psychiatrist came with the truck.  I am not ocd but I need help.

Emily came back yesterday in the early afternoon and she was an invaluable help.  Wow!!  We hit the garage and many hours later had it organized and a sizeable ever growing pile of crap for the junk guy who is coming on monday morning.  What a tiring filthy spider infested job that was.  And I am going to do a little slag on Bill here...he deserves it.

When I first met him years ago, he was just coming from a ten year marriage with Kim.  He used to complain about how she, when she needed something (like a dog collar, or makeup or a hair dryer), instead of finding one of the many she had already bought (his words) she would go out and buy a new one.  Well, let me tell you, I don't know if that was true or not, but him???  Holy crap!!!  I found four tool boxes FULL!!  Right plum full of every tool one could ever want.  I found nine hammers, not the cheap wooden handle kind...noooo...the stainless steel, rubber handled type.  I found three brand new saws.  I found four electric drills.  Seriously!  And....eight gallons of bleach.  Eight, only one was open and had about one inch taken out.  He had endless amounts of weed killer, bottles and bottles.  So....he had better never ever complain again!

Today I went out and tackled the old wooden shed in the back of the property.  But first...I had to remove about 400 pounds of dog crap.  That area back there is obviously Parker's bathroom.  And even then I still managed to step in some...both shoes, covered.  DAMMIT!!!  And then when I got the stuck stubborn door open, it was one big spider mansion.  I had more spiders running around in my hair.  I can honestly say that I am now immune.  In fact I almost wish a bad one would bite me and make me sick enough to go to the hospital for one month, sick enough to not be able to eat, and when I got out the move would be done and I would be fifty pounds skinnier.  One can only hope.  The shed was full of all the Christmas stuff, paint cans, ten or so bottles of weed killer,  three good hammers and a tool box, full.  I give up.

When Bill got home at around two thirty we hopped into the car and made a much needed Costco run.  We were out of kcup coffee cups.  Three hundred and fifty dollars later...jeez...I can't even remember what we bought, other than coffee.  I do remember buying yet another set of chicken and beef  containers of oxo

YOU WILL SEE IN A MINUTE WHERE THIS CAME FROM

ANOTHER FORGOTTEN PAINTING FOUND

ITS TWICE AS BIG NOW

RIPPING APART (OR TRYING TO) A TOO BIG COUCH

.  I am terrified they are going to stop stocking them, so I keep buying them and hoarding them.  I asked Bill to check and see if there was an expiry date on them and he said it was 3049 so I bought some.  Now we are home, unloaded, put away, and I am dead.  I just can't move out of my chair right now.  I think I will go and try out the tub.  I haven't had the courage to use the tub part for about a year and a half.  I do believe there is the possibility that I may get stuck.  But I think I just might risk it tonite......I am pretty sure if we have to call the firemen for help they won't talk about it later.  TTYL

THE COUNTDOWN

So many things happen now that would have got my blood pressure boiling, but I can just sit back, relax and think...."Two weeks....two weeks....and I am out of here!  I just don't care."  You can tolerate almost anything if there is an end in sight.  Big long line ups in traffic?  I can handle that.  Big huge apartment complexes being built in the most ridiculously overcrowded spots?  I don't care.  Nasty people yelling at me when THEY are in the wrong?  Who cares...not me.  I am so ready to blow this stupid town.

Yesterday I decided to organize and pack my clothes.  It is so confusing.  I packed clothes into the big suitcase that I will be taking on the cruise and not wearing between now and then.  I packed clothes into the medium suitcase that have to go on the cruise but I need to wear between now and then.  Then I packed a box of clothes that either didn't get packed away permanently and I won't see til we move, or I need to wear them and NOT take them on the cruise.  Confused?  Well so am I and horror of horrors, when I did do that packing....I was missing key items I need for the trip.  CRAP!!!  This entailed another trip to the Fat Lady Store.

I was going to get my hair done yesterday but I just didn't feel like sitting in that chair for 3 hours or more, so I went in, gave my hairdresser 50 bucks, apologized profusely and left feeling like a tool.  Its bad bad etiquette to cancel a three hour appointment.  The hairdresser is right beside TFLS (fat lady store) so in I went.  And it was all different.  They have a new counter and moved everything around and I was totally lost.  I did not have my usual FLS experience at all.  It was all discombobulating.  I was originally going to get a couple pairs of lovely pants (I say so hopefully) and a couple of lovely shirts.  But things were so displaced it threw me right off my game.  I ended up buying two white t-shirts, two black t-shirts (identical) and one blue and one black JEGGINGS!!  Oh my God!!  I swore I would never wear them but here we are..way too comfy and easy to put the pounds on.  I brought said stuff home and immediately put them in the big suitcase.  I weighed it, 41 lbs, good, done.

Yesterday we were expecting Emily and friends for dinner and the night.  Bill left very early in the morning for the Island.  As he was packing the truck he opened the passenger door and smacked himself in the right ear...hard.  He came in and actually told me so it really must have hurt.  Well, hours later, he phones me from somewhere on the Island to tell me that his right hearing aid was missing.  What???  You didn't check to see if it was still in your ear after it got royally smacked?  You didn't notice when you came into the house that you could hear out of one ear but not the other?  Come on!!!  Who does that?  Out I went and crawled around the ground on pine needles and dog crap, looking for a teeny grey hearing aid....and...I found it!  I can't believe it..it was so tiny and so hidden.  He was pretty relieved.

In our house, a tradition that started many years ago, was to get chinese food every time Bill went out of town, and, because we were having 6 or 7 people in to dinner, it was perfect timing.  Em arrived with her two lovely friends from England and a lovely handsome charming funny interesting intelligent young man, someone she met in Germany, only to find out he grew up in Kamloops and they know all the same people.  And he doesn't like people.  This is a young man after my own heart I say.

We ordered a ton, and I mean a ton, (21 dishes I think) of food, sat at that big old table and ate and ate and ate and laughed and had a great time.  They all went out after, downtown, clubbing.  This morning they crawled out, and April made a big send off breakfast and they all disappeared.  Em is coming back later for the night.  I think she is going to help Ape downstairs.  I am heading out to the shed to organize it and then pack up the garage.  I aint going to bed til its done!  TTYL

A PLATE OF LEFT OVERS APE MADE UP FOR HER FRIENDS

JUST THE LEFT OVERS

APRIL TAUGHT MOLLY TO SIT, SHAKE, AND ROLL FOR A TREAT, I CAUGHT HER IN MID ROLL

PERFECT ROAD TRIP

What a great day!!!  Aryn picked me up this morning around 8:30 and off we went.  The traffic wasn't too terrible and the sun was shining and we stopped in Hope for coffee and visited and told stories and generally had a fantastic trip up.  We got into Mom's by about 12:30 and found her sound asleep in her wheelchair with the last of her lunch in front of her...we woke her up and she was instantly all smiles and so happy to see us.  She needed reminding now and again who Aryn was, but as soon as we said Aryn's name she remembered all there was to remember about her!  She has such a sense of humour and as long as we talk slowly and clearly she can follow along.  We really did have a good time with her.

We drove back home the Duffy Lake road...so beautiful.  Our province is amazingly diverse and beautiful...from desert to ocean.  We stopped in Whistler and parked and wended our way through throngs of happy healthy people and many bikes.  We went to 21 Steps for dinner.  It was delicious and filling.  I would definitely go back there.

Nothing much else to report.  Just a perfect day.  Now its back to reality.  It appears that whilst I was away, Bill didn't get too much done!!!  I am trying to get him to finish up outside and do the shed.  I can't really do that part but he still ends up in here packing up stuff that I can take care of.  Oh well, less for me to do I guess.  Its hard to believe that we only have a couple weeks left in this house and living with April.  I think I will pull a Scarlett O'Hara and not think about it right now....later!  TTYL!!

ARYN AND MOM

HMMMM....TWO OF A KIND

SO MUCH FUN TOGETHER

TAKING A LITTLE BREAK

ARYN PATIENTLY WAITING WHILST I VISITED THE LOO

PASSING SCENERY

PERFECT WAY TO END THE DAY

BACK AT IT IN EVERY WAY!!!

Okay, that was the longest I have EVER gone without my laptop, ever since I bought one years and years ago.  I left it here, thinking we were going to be back within two days and  there was no internet there anyway.  Well, we stayed til today, Monday, and I didn't have my lappy to do my pics on.

What a whirlwind few days.  We got over there on Thursday, driving down from Nanaimo.  We weren't meeting the realtor until 2 and we got in there about noon.  We went to Costco to buy a couple of twin beds (so we could sleep on something that night) and all they had was mattresses, not the whole set.  Plus the twin bedding was for two year olds.  Damn!!!  Also we were looking at other necessary stuff just so we could stay in the house and Costco was royally letting us down.  Under these kind of circumstances I become very very agitated and cranky.  Out in the truck I was having a hissy fit and freak out and Bill started to yell at me.  He got out of the truck and turned, shaking his finger at me yelling "Just stop it!!!!  Just Stop it!!!"  And I was yelling back "No!!  I won't!!  WE NEED BEDS!!!  Don't you understand!"  So he just said well I am out of here.  So I hopped over into the drivers seat, got out my keys and hollered "Well I am leaving.  If you don't get into the truck you can walk to the house."  Its about a half hour walk for normal walkers, all uphill.  And I drove off.

I drove up to the house, got out and started to unload it in front of the garage door.  By now it was one o'clock.  All of a sudden my phone rang.  It was him.  Phoning from his cell phone.  "Ummm...I am sitting out in front of Costco....ummm...if you want to pick me up....ummm"  Ah fer jeez, I felt so bad.  I went back to Costco and sure enough there he was, sitting on the post out front with a cup of coke in his hand.  When he opened the truck door he handed the cup to me and it had one last swallow in it.  "Did you save this for me?" (like he often does) I asked.  "Yes" he answered.  Oh man!  "I don't deserve this," I said back to him.  "Well if you notice I didn't buy you your own!"  Then he climbed in and I apologized and off we went.  "Sigh"

Aryn and Bradley arrived Thursday night.  We had so much fun sitting around with Andrew and them and Bill and I.  We laughed til we cried, drank a ton of beer (well Andrew didn't...he still had to drive back to his hotel..one more night then he would move into the house) and had so much fun.

First thing Friday morning Aryn and Bradley started painting.  They are so fast and efficient and we love Bradley.  He is so funny and such a hard worker and we love his east London Accent.  Awesome!!  They painted all day while Bill and I ran around getting acquainted with Langford, buying microwaves, toasters, towels etc...another day of purchasing for yet another abode.  That evening we all, including Andrew, went out for dinner to Bin 4, a burger lounge.  Such amazing good burgers, upbeat atmosphere and we laughed and drank and had a blast.  Best part?  Our realtor paid for it with a gift card she gave us!!

The next day, after an all day shopping and picking flooring etc and painting, Bradley, Aryn, Bill and I went downtown Victoria.  Andrew had gone back to north van to do some packing.  We stood in line for about an hour at this one particular Italian restaurant...Pagliacci, and I would stand in line two for the food and ambiance we got there!  And the line up was so much fun too.  Victoria is such a beautiful wonderful KIND place to spend time in.  It is so NOT like Vancouver, I won't even go downtown here.  Sorry to all of you that love this city, I just simply don't.  We have definitely moved to the right city for me.  I am a weenie and Vancouver is just too hardcore for me.

Yesterday the kids did more painting and we, of course, did a bunch of returning of loser merchandise. We also found a great place for flooring and made the arrangements.

Now today we got the 8:30 am ferry and we are home, back in the land of boxes.  Such a busy week coming up.  Tomorrow I am going up to Kamloops to see mom, just for the day, with Aryn.  The next day we get Ferguson's Moving coming in to give us the estimate.  And the next day is HAIR DAY!!!  Another three to four hours in the chair.  I have got to cut this stuff off, I don't care what the family says.  Gotta run!  TTYL

MONTE'S COUSIN EMILY WITH TWO OF THE DOGS

I JUST DON'T UNDERSTAND WHY I AM NOT SKINNY....ALL THAT PACKING AND HAULING AND RUNNING UP AND DOWN

THE KIDS GOT RID OF THAT AWFUL GREEN AND THEY WILL BE TONING THE BROWN WAY DOWN

I MUST HAVE BEEN DRINKING TOO...THE PIC IS KIND OF FUZZY

THERE IS BRADLEY THE MAGIC PAINTER!

OUR GRAPES

OUR PEAR..REALLY...ONE PEAR

HMMMMM......FUEL

WE LIVE RIGHT NEAR THIS RACETRACK!!! (ABOUT HALF A MILE)  THESE DRAG RACERS WERE SO LOUD AND CRAZY!!!  I WILL BE SPENDING SOME TIME OVER THERE FOR SURE

THIS CAMERO REMINDS ME OF MOM

LOOK AT THE JUMP START THE GREEN CAR GOT!

WE DROVE A LITTLE WAYS ALONG MILLSTREAM PAST THE SPEEDWAY AND FOUND A LITTLE HERD OF DEER LAZING ABOUT

THE SUNSET FROM OUR DECK

THE MOONRISE FROM OUR DECK

NECESSARY FAT LADY STORE RUN

I packed all my underwear.  All of it.  I am, at this moment, sitting in my chair, in my shorts, commando.  And I can't unpack them.  First I would have to find the right box, cut the excessive amount of taping my husband seems to think necessary, dig through a ton of disorderly jumble of clothing and then redo the whole thing and put it back where I found it.  So its off to the Fat Lady Store for yet more stupid underwear...I am going right now.

Back, and with more clothes than just underwear, of course.  But I really like the extra stuff I bought.  And I put it in the right box, I hope.

I have totally changed my mind about liking moving.  This really sucks.  I think I was younger and had more energy and a stronger body the last time I did all this.  My feet, my back, my head hurts and I can't quit sweating.  In my head, when I am laying wide awake in the middle of the night fighting off panic attacks, the virtual packing I do seems so much easier than it actually ends up being.  And now Bill and I are fighting, I am sure because of all the crap we have to climb over, sort out, pack or throw out,  it gets tiring.  And the tape gun seems to never work, or at least it doesn't for him, and the boxes are filling up  and piling up at an alarming rate.  I honestly didn't think we had that much stuff.  All of this just gets on our last nerve so we start yelling awful things at each other.  Yesterday Bill got so mad he called me an unspeakable name and threw the tape across the room.  All because I was continuously calling him stupid, which I still think he actually was at that moment.  "sigh"

So after that little episode, I grabbed the kids and we made a storage unit/dump/Wendy's run.  We actually had a blast and completely emptied out the unit.  At one point I had to go down to the storage unit office for a minute.  When I came back to the very empty fourth flour (its really eerie in  big storage unit buildings that are empty) I looked down the long hall to where our unit was and there was April all decked out in her grad dress prancing around.  It was so funny!  Then she put on my very very 80's wedding dress and twirled around in it!  We saw old pictures and books and awesome stuff I had saved from Bamfield.  Monte made a run to the house to take bikes up there and on the way back he stopped at Mcd's and got us iced coffees, so we sat down on the floor, took a break and drank our cold coffees and reminisced.

We then made a dump run which is always a good time!  April likes the smell in there, which is awful, says it smells like the olive bar at Superstore.  Its so much fun tossing crap out.  I love it.

Now today another fifteen boxes and the place still looks like a bomb dropped.  I am not even finished purple room yet and it feels like I have been packing it steadily since I got up.  Wait a minute!!  I have been packing it steadily, with a one hour break to go to the fat lady store.

Now I am too tired to even get pics to put on here.  I shall blog again when I am next near internet!  TTYL

ps:  Bill is simply amazing.  He just slowly goes around, takes stuff apart that needs to be taken apart, packs and packs and packs, and then tapes and labels everything, puts it organizedly in Monte's old bedroom......He is like the energizer bunny!

WE ARE BURIED...ALIVE

Well its been a crazy couple of days.  Fun ones but crazy!!

Kathy arrived Friday at supper time safe and sound from Kamloops.  We had dinner, in the living room as there are boxes beginning to take over our whole living space. Kathy is such a dynamo!!!  Immediately after dinner she swung into action cleaning my kitchen then we tackled the fridge, then we cleaned the kitchen again!  She was wiping down the cupboards and counters and cleaned the stove.  Wow!!  Awesommmmme!!

Saturday was another day of packing and sorting, finding things and losing things.  I actually got the drawers all sorted and packed in the kitchen.  Appliance guy came at two o'clock and 350 bucks later we have a working dryer and semi fixed fridge.  Another 200 dollars will be spent next week when he comes back with a certain part that is needed.  I remember the days when five hundred would have bought you three major appliances.

Around 4 in the afternoon he finally finished and left.  Bill and I then went out to Surrey to Tj's baby shower/backyard bbq.  What fun and great food!  It was so good to see everyone again.  And I finally got to meet Cookie's first grandchild.  And he is a beautiful baby!  It was so cool to see Darren, our little Darren, running around with HIS baby in his arms.  And pretty soon she will have yet another one!  Tj is due this or next week.

Yesterday I packed my bedroom.  Oh Lord!  Boxes and boxes and boxes of junk and books and clothes and shoes and bedding and a rainbow of crocs.  Monte asked me what was the most momentous thing I found in all that and I had to tell him it was a little spring the size of my thumb.  That spring goes on the pull out bed at the bottom.  Now people won't fall through the bottom of the bed.

The boxes have become ridiculously piled up now.  We can hardly wend our way through them.  Which makes me happy!  Kathy and the two girls spent the day skytraining and Kits Beaching, and finally ended up at the Rusty Gull where they met April, Jess and Bill.  They didn't get home til really late, all happy and tired.

Now its pack up a few kitchen things and stuff we need for the new house and then off to Port Alberni.  It turns out Monte has a doctor appointment on Friday in Port so he does have to bring his truck.  So I need to sign off and get at it.! I shall be blogging along the way.  TTYL

RING AROUND THE ROSY!

WE ALL FALL DOWN

PRETTY BACK YARD

THE LITTLE DJ

A COUPLE OF OUR FAVE PEOPLE...YAY BLACK VELVET!!!

BILL AND PAM

THE GRAND PARENTS

PRETTY DEVIKA....FIRST GRANDCHILD MOM!

ON THE WAY HOME

BOXES AND BOXES

MORNING COFFEE