And as always, I am promising myself to get better organized. The move was complete hell. I had so many offers to help but because I'm so disorganized, if people had come over originally, there was no way of organizing them to do anything. Except for my kitchen which two friends came over and packed up last week-end.
My old apartment was way, way too crowded. That was another factor in getting me moved. So much had to be cleared out before anything else could be packed. I took my new place a week early so it did help to clear out some of the clothes. And then my movers came on Friday. It turns out that my box spring which has been sitting in the hallway for two years is also too big for my new place, and is now gracing my new hallway. Time to sell that baby...
Anyhow, once my movers left, there was still depressingly a lot to move. That was completely unexpected or I would have called on friends to come over on Saturday. However, my parents were there and they moved the last of it for me. I also got a call from a friend of mine on Saturday - nothing to do with my move, but when I answered and told him I was moving, he got so excited in telling me that he had bought a new car two days earlier and wanted to try out the hatchback. Hence, he took over a load of items for me.
Moving the cats was a whole other ordeal. There was no way of moving them on Friday as I didn't have a car so I slept at my new place, and left them in my half empty old place. I figured that the easiest way of dealing with them on Saturday was to let them go outside and keep their normal routine. As my father and I drove loads over to the new place, I took a cat at a time. The first one I grabbed was Fur. One minute she was sitting in a garden watching us move, and the next I had her stuffed into her kitty carrier.
The harder one to move was Tasha. In the summer she sometimes stays out for days. There was no sign of her nearing the end of the day and I realized that if I didn't get her soon, she would be out all night. Luckily when I called and called for her, she came near. I wasn't ready to drive over at that point, so I shut her in the bathroom until my father and I had packed the car. Getting her in her carrier was not easy, but resorting to the 'wrap and toss' - wrapping her in a t-shirt so her front legs were immobilized and then shoving her head first into the carrier - worked fine.
The cats were completely freaked out in the new place. They both haunted me the first night there. Now they are settling in and have gone back to their own routines. Today I am off work so I will see if they can be coaxed to go outside in the new neighbourhood. So far Tasha went running past me to go outside, only to turn around in terror and come bounding back in. I suppose it's a whole new set of scents to get used to here.
And my parents were troopers. They did so much for me. I know they were frustrated with my lack of organization, but they came through anyhow. They took me out for dinner on Saturday (I now live just down the street from our favourite Indian restaurant in Toronto), and last night I took them out for dinner as a thank you for their help. I had wanted to take them to a Korean restaurant, but as the one I had been thinking of was closed, we ended up at a nearby tapas bar. It was absolutely delicious and so simple. They really did a great job with the tapas. Our waiter also recommended the perfect wine for me to try. Of course I can't remember the name, but it was just the type I like.
I do love my new apartment though. Once the pile of boxed starts to diminish it will be great.