Preparing to Move #7

I am exhausted.  Two days ago I loaded half my household into a Big Steel Box, with the help of my friends Jamie and Jen.  It actually only took two hours, and we had enough room to add the chesterfield, which took up more space and made everything tighter.   Yesterday I cleaned the house thoroughly, and moved a love-seat from the dining area into the space vacated by the chesterfield.  I am so glad I have a massage booked this afternoon.  My body is a little stiff, particularly my arms and upper back.  When I soaked in my jetted tub last night, I checked my muscles to see if they were firmer.  Not at all, actually.  Just a little sorer. 

When I did a set of Tai Chi this morning, I could tell my muscles had tightened up in the last few days.  It felt good to straighten out and stretch.  I will feel even better after my massage this afternoon, from Hali at Rejuve Studios.   

My realtor, Marilyn Moldowan, will be here shortly to sign the contract and photograph the rooms.  She told me to declutter, so I have.  WHEN THE SNOW MELTS I will move 7 boxes of Garage Sale items to the carport.  Right now they are in the back porch.  I had to find a place where they wouldn’t be photographed.  Who will buy my wonderful house?  It is a good investment, here in Killarney/Glengarry.  I am confident it will sell quickly.  Even though it could be a tear-down, it has been super for me to live here.  I am ready to move because I’m tired of doing yard work.  However, a young couple, or a retired couple who like to garden, could be very happy here.  Convenient, cozy, and comfortable.  I wonder how Marilyn will promote it?

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Preparing to Move #6

I have a Big Steel Box in front of my house, waiting to be loaded.  It is an 8×10′ steel container, that will be picked up by Big Steel Box on March 28, taken to their yard to store for the duration of my sale, and then delivered to my new place when I move in.  My son Bob told me about this possibility, but I didn’t think I would move my house with them because at my age and health, I’m not strong enough to do all the loading and unloading.  However, I can do a lot of packing and carrying for short distances.  When I realized that photographs of my home would look terrible with all the boxes and paintings leaning up against the walls, I ordered the Big Steel Box to store my stuff.  Photographs will be taken on March 29. 

I am getting stronger and even losing a few pounds.  My arms and back aren’t as sore now as the first few days of loading and moving.  I have about 18 boxes ready to go, and another 4 larger boxes of garage sale items.  The recycling bin was overflowing yesterday, as it has most weeks since November.  I feel somewhat embarassed that it’s taken me so long to clean out old files, discard magazines I kept ‘for reference’, and throw out unviewed slides.  My place is looking cleaner and emptier every day!  Yesterday I sorted through more books, and took a small box of spiritual books to Our Angels Centre for Well-Being.  They have a used book shelf, of good books on spiritual themes.  I don’t need to take all my books with me.  I’m nostalgic about a few and may re-read some again as I offer more workshops.  However, customers at Our Angels will be quite happy to pick up spiritual guides at  low prices.

I have worked steadily the last three days, as well as proofing the latest files from my graphic designer, Kathy Lycka.  The book is getting much closer to a third printing.  About time.  I have only 19 copies left, and am meeting with a group at Wild Rose United Church on Sunday.  There we will talk about how young children express their spirituality, and how we as parents and grandparents can nurture that.  I’m really looking forward to meeting with the parents.  I expect to learn a lot from them!

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Preparing to Move #5

Both halves of the garden shed are gone.  When I went outdoors to start dismantling the second one on Friday, I worked for an hour without a reversible drill.  I got the facing panels off, then decided to photograph it and advertise it for FREE on Kijiji.  Am I ever glad I did that!  Within an hour I had Ken over here, with his reversible drill and his pickup truck.  He took apart the sections in the first shed, that I thought I would need to get taken away by Got Junk.  Ken wanted both sheds, as his wife told him to get busy fixing up their sheds.  He worked hard, and I kept myself busy helping, then chipping away the ice frozen on the garage floor.  Outdoors for 6 hours, and I left Ken dismantling the second half on his own while I went out for dinner.

Today I’ve been packing up more books and music, plus sorting books, DVDs and CDs into Garage Sale, Discard, or Take.  I have a Big Steel Box arriving on Wednesday, so I can load everything that’s packed into it, then they will store it at their yard, and deliver it to my condo (once I buy it).  This seems like a really good way to do the job.  I’ve been very focused the last few days, and have packed over a dozen boxes.   However, the big downer just happened.

I have a box of about 35 trays of 35mm slides, taken over 15 years, from 1959 – 1974.  I chose to take slides instead of photographs, because they were cheaper to develop.  Some years ago I converted many of them into videos called Childhood Memories, making 3 copies.  One went to daughter Lynne, another to son Bob, and I kept the third one.  They are the best of the slides taken while the kids were growing up.  I still have that video, and I even have a VCR to play it on.  What to do with the rest of them?

They are ready for the landfill.  I read the labels as I put the trays  in a garbage bag.  There went Fontainebleu, Venice, and Ireland. Following trays were Dachau, Co Down, Edinburgh, and the Tower of London. Other trays were labelled Grade Nine grad, Sports Day,  and Moorecroft Camp. Later came Frieda Lake, Powell River, Victoria, Savary, and The National Hockey Championship.  That was a great year, for the Powell River Regals won the Canadian championship for Senior B Hockey.  They defeated a team from Quebec, and the whole town celebrated for days. 

It’s hard to know why I have kept them for so long.  Since I moved here in 1986, I only looked at them when I wanted to make the Childhood Memories videos for Bob and Lynne, and one other time when a niece contacted me to see if I had any photographs of her and her father.  I was able to remember the summer weekend when I visited her and my cousins in Comox.  I found the slides, fairly quickly, and made photographs to mail to her.  I know she appreciated them very much, as she was adopted and had moved around a great deal.  I was glad to give her a piece of her 9-year-old life, recorded by my camera.

Well, now they are gone – or will be when the garbage truck comes on Wednesday.  I had to record this.  I have to mark these transitions, and these losses. I feel sad about moving and needing to sort, pack, discard and let go.  It would be easier to stay in my home until I die here and let my kids throw out the detritus of years.  It should not be their job.  My photos are my responsibility. 

Besides, I’m ready to sell my house this spring.  I’m tired of all the yard work.  I like my flower beds, and don’t even mind mowing the lawn.  But maintaining a house and yard takes time, energy and money.  I feel better now that I’ve recorded my feelings.  Now I can go back to work.

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Getting Ready to Move #4

After Global Surveys phoned me this morning to say the city didn’t authorize compliance with my buildings, I did a little research.  It appears that the two half-sheds that house my garden supplies and my bicycle and patio furniture is too close to the property line.  Well, I knew that of course, because when Lois, Les and I built those sheds, we knew it was too close.  We chose to do it anyway, thinking that when I sold the house, we would deal with the problem then.  

The garden sheds were made up of two halves of an old metal storage shed.  It took the three of us two days to create the sheds, which abutted the side of the carport.  They have served me very well for the past 12 years.  The city department told me I had 2 choices: remove the lean-to, or apply for a development permit and go through the process of re-surveying, etc.  I decided to tear it down.  At 11:00 a.m. I dressed in my work clothes, gathered screw drivers, hammer and pry bar, and headed to the carport.  I was just to start when my neighbour Paul walked down the lane, on his way to work out at the gym.  We greeted each other, I explained I was moving, and my goal was to tear down the sheds.  What a sweetie he has turned out to be!  He passed on going to the gym, went back to his place and returned with a power drill with a reversible action, plus many more tools. 

I must be guided by someone or something pretty powerful, because Paul worked with me for over three hours.  He persevered through rusty screws, nuts and bolts, and even cleared the snow off the roof that covered the middle alcove between the sheds.  I realized quite quickly that I would not have been able to do this myself.  I would have become super frustrated.  Here was this sweet man – strong and fit and owning all the necessary tools!  He took a few items for his own garden, but I owe him bigtime. 

When I tackle the second shed on Saturday, I’ll know the necessary sequence.  If he can help again, all the better.  What do you give a neighbour who helps out spontaneously?  I suggested a gift certificate to his favourite restaurant, but he seemed hesitant.  I’ll ask his wife. 

Spirit, thank you so much for sending me outside at the exact moment Paul would be walking down the lane.  I truly am guided in this move, and all the preparation for it.

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Clicked on my poster

I’ve been trying to view the poster I uploaded under Workshops and Presentations.  The right side is obscured by the sidebar, which lists my posts by month.  I’ve tried to get rid of the sidebar, but nothing I’ve tried so far has worked.  However, I just clicked on the poster, then all of it appeared.  I still have a question into WordPress Support to find out how to move the Search Box at the top, so it doesn’t obscure the menu titles.  It’s been like that for over a year.  Yesterday when I talked with Kathy Lycka, my graphic designer, she showed me how to do a few things, and explained why I couldn’t upload her poster previously.  She sent me a smaller .jpg version that I was able to upload.  However, the right side is blocked.  You have to click (double-click?) the poster to get the most important information. EGAD!

I used to think WordPress was easy, but there’s a lot that I don’t understand.  I don’t have much patience to figure it out either.  I would rather be writing my novel, or doing something for fun, rather than keeping track of this website.   I need to be working on the new power-point for next week’s workshop.  It will get done in time, but I hoped I could just do this quickly, then get to it before I leave soon to meet a friend.  So I’m totally frustrated by not being able to quickly correct the problem.  AUGH!

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Our Bodies As Energy 101 – update

There are enough registrants for the workshop to ensure some great conversations.  I’ve also invited my massage therapist Haley Belanger to co-facilitate it with me.  It’s so important when working in energetic healing to stay grounded and centered.  Haley and I have talked about that A LOT and she will share some techniques to help us feel more connected with our bodies.  We’ll experience Tai Chi exercises as well as other  ways to increase our awareness of our bodies’ energy.  We will play with magnets and talk about how our bodies function as electro-magnets.  We will talk, discover ways to increase our frequencies, and refer to recent books and articles. 

Did you know lunch is included in the ridiculously low price? Healthy food and homebaked snacks.  There’s room for a few more, so if you are interested, call or email me.

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The Painting has a new home

The painting has been spoken for – to a woman who remembers it at my home.  This feels right.

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