The final countdown

I must say (while knocking on wood) that the last 2 weeks have gone by relatively smooth considering all we had to accomplish leading up to this move. In just 10 hours we will have boarded our first plane and will spend the next 11 (maybe more) hours counting the moments until we land in Pond Inlet. The rest of the post will be all over the place cause I'm exhausted, my friend Nancy pants is on her way and I wanted to get one last post in to keep you up to date - who knows how long it will take to get the internet hooked up.

We managed to sell off all the big stuff, and store the rest (although there was some last minute scrambling at 9pm (thank you Rose!) with stuff that was forgot in various nooks of our 3 bedroom flat. I will miss the brick walls and hardwood floors dearly, the random craziness that is the village, and my  crazy friends,  but am so excited for something new and so happy so many of our friends have been supportive.

We had quite the gathering on Saturday ( thanks to everyone who could make it!) did not plan accordingly and ran out of food and booze way to earlier.  A colonel sanders looking fellow somehow knocked down my mailbox and there was a piece of the railing sitting with the trash, all in all a good evening, and some friends even acting a little bitter, but all in all a good evening with some fine folks.

Sunday we had a very hungover sister and her better half help us move all our boxes to storage. I love you even though you reek of garlic, you should have been home studying you silly fool.

We shipped the rest of our boxes today with good ol canada post.  We made 3 trips in vain this morning to the post office a block from us as they were having issues with software or something so we had to give a cabbie 20 bux to drive 7 boxes and a guitar 4 blocks to a pharmaprix. It left $1000 dent in my bank account.  ( not to mention the $200 I spent last week). We had to bust open the box of records as they were too heavy for the scale to weigh - even after weeding some out they still cost $200 to ship. And Holy Shnikies do people stare at you when you have 2 trolleys full of rubbermaid containers. One particularly elderly fellow was just having a field day pointing and staring at the mess of totes mumbling something in a particularly strong Quebecois accent . It was a process, but I digress.

Surprisingly made it to Wal-mart, stocked up on wool socks, thermals and sweaters that did not consist of cotton. One last trip to Canadian Tire and the pharmaprix for hair elastics because he can not live without them.

Lucky for us Laavie cat has nestled herself in her brand new carrier (okay maybe the cat nip helped) so this should soften the blow when we actually leave the house with her still in it tomorrow morning.( I can hear her screams in the taxi now)  I still suspect she will not be pleased with the whole "flying" thing, but mommy has gravol for worst case scenarios ( for you fellow cat crazies, yes I checked with the vet).

 I think this is all I can muster at the moment, spell check is working at a feverish pace and my luggage will not pack itself.

Good night all,
A

and SOLD

Yeahhhh the place got rented for March!
We sold all our appliances today!
Packing is almost done!
Snow storm coming!
update soon!

packing updates

Almost done with the packing, surprisingly I think we will get the comforts we want withing the moving budget they gave us. The Xbox of course is coming on the plane with us, the Wii will have its time through Canada Post. Yes moving via Canada Post, really the only way to get boxes of stuff there. Once we get there we can place orders for big items via sealift,  this is how they get things like building supplies, vehicles and other items that are too big to fit on a plane.  No one is going to ship you a sofa or elliptical via plane.

We managed to sell off our appliances today for less than we wanted, but the clock is ticking and it was a relief to know that they will be gone this week.  I also found someone who just moved and is starting from scratch, she;s going to rummage through the kitchen etc and see what she likes. Less to store :)

Our apartment is gone, but we found out that our land lord rented it for April rather than March so we are stuck with having to pay a months rent. If anyone needs a place in Montreal for a month - make us an offer!

Now to stock up on warm socks and long underwear for the grueling weather ahead.  Today's forecast is a balmy -37 with a wind chill of -44, it will be about the same when we land on Monday.

bad blogger

I've been knocked out with a nasty cold the past few days, so I can't say anything has gotten done. There is talk of a "packing party" this Sunday, the extra company *should* help me keep my focus in making piles of  sell/no sell/donate/etc. 

I'll update you will more insanity as it ensues.
 
A

The countdown begins

We'll count backwards

Feb 15th

Day 13 - opened my email to find our itinerary for march 1st. MARCH 1st - all happening so fast, I'm so excited I could puke!  Luckily I have Wednesdays off so I can get some stuff done tomorrow (My many lists are in disarray however I will try to get around to posting them sooner than later).

Tomorrow's exciting adventure list includes:
1) Finding someone to do my taxes
2) Airline approved carrier for the wee one
3) Shop for boot, socks, scarf, hats, mitts


4) Book vet visit for Laavie
5) Cancel hydro, Internet, Netflix (how i will miss thee Netflix) .

what to do in Pond Inlet

I've gotten quite the few comments on how bored we will get when we move.  I think city life has conditioned us to believe there is nothing to do outside its glorious gates. A small list on what we will be up to while we're not working:

Kayaking
Fishing
Dog Sleding
Snow Mobile / 4 Wheeler excursions
Whale watching (and other creature watching)
Photographing everything
Exploring the ice caves
Drunken poker games
Camping in the national parks

On those -60 blowing snow blizzard days, there is always a coffee & Baileys, a warm bath and a good book.  And cable And the internet. Our time in the north is what we make of it, I think the above is a good start.

Cheers,

A

Pond Inlet

Got the call today - we are going to Pond Inlet.  The photos that I have found look pretty amazing and we are both terribly excited to be moving so far north. Now to attempt to concentrate on my last big project before I leave.

--

Today was unproductive at best.

Nunawhut?

I always get nervous on days like today. I always hate giving my notice under any circumstance as you never know how your boss(es) will react when you give them the news. It can determine just how well the last weeks at your job will go.

Luckily, as I started to spread the news of our plans, I received more kind words and encouragement than the expected "why??" *insert funny look here*.  I was assured we'd be missed, and some of my co-workers already started to stock up on hugs. *shucks*

As excited as I am today to finally break the news of our plans, I know the weeks ahead will sadden me when I have to leave my work family behind.  I have promises of adventure tales and photos to live up to. I better brush up on my photography skills in the coming weeks.

We should know early next week where our new home will be and how much time we have to get ready. I'm not going to start stressing about all the "to do's" until Monday. I plan on dragging M around the city to enjoy it while we still can.  I think a trip to ChuChi is in order.

Till Monday,

A

Dance Off

We got the call from Winnepeg this afternoon!  They are meeting with the managers this week to see who needs us, and we will have our offer Monday. I immediately scheduled a dance off for Thursday evening. We are both super ecstatic and can't wait to hear where our new home will be!