We tried to anticipate as much as possible, in preparation for this move. Especially with the family split between provinces for a while.

Stocking up on medications was one thing we tried to do, but there are limits. Two of my husband’s medications are extremely powerful. And, since people have been known to abuse them, he can only get 30 days worth at a time. He also cannot get advance refills.

They are both pain killers.  He has run out.

He had tried to refill them, but without a new prescription, from an in province doctor, it can’t be done. These are not the sort of meds you can just pop into a walk in clinic for. Not that there are any walk ins anywhere nearby.

Which means he has been without any pain killers for several days, now.  

I am hoping I can get refills at this end and drive them out with us. He would get them faster that way. 

It’s hard to imagine the pain levels he is dealing with right now.

Meanwhile, they are also discovering things about the house.

As I mentioned before, it has been empty for 2 years. 

Of people, that is.

Since arriving, my daughter has been tentatively going through the kitchen, which was in about the same condition as the last time I stayed there with my father, two Easters ago. Very eclectic in supplies and condition. No wonder my dad prefered his Hungry Man dinners! Lol

Trying to cook led to the discovery that there were no frying pans, so they bought a couple of cheapies. Later, it was noticed that there were no baking pans.  Another purchase was made.

My daughter then opened the oven door. 

There she found the missing baking pans. 

Full of dead bugs.

*shudder*

Ikea has good, reliable free WiFi.  It had been our intention to pop over and take advantage of that in a couple of days.  Then I got notification for an operating system upgrade.

So here we both sit, our phones and apps updated, making blog posts and uploading things.

My daughter has been disassembling the magical fairyland that is her bedroom/studio.

It has been dusty work.

This is the mess just made by our mama cat, partially cleaned up.  She knocked over my daughter’s jasmine.  The plastic pot is cracked from top to bottom.

She did this with her face.

She has the most destructive face and tail, ever.  If she’s not trying to knock things over with her face, she is catching her tail on things – usually charger cords in use – and dragging them down.

Tomorrow, I will have to go through our snow covered plant pots on the deck to see if I have a suitable replacement left.

*sigh*

As for the beast, as I started tapping out this post, she has settled down on my lap and is snuggling me.  Being adorable, of course.

It’s a good thing we love her anyway.

Doesn’t she look so innocent?

The Re-farmer 

His majesty is enjoying the newly empty cube shelves.

Several friends here in our Co-op have agreed to take some of our larger items, saving us from having to try and sell them or otherwise dispose of them. Today was supposed to be the day to haul the majority out, across the street to where their apartments are.

We prepped what needed to be prepped. Brought the last of the parts and pieces to the main floor.  We also cleared a wide enough path to access the door, which meant moving some things into the kitchen.  A cabinet was shifted and secured, ready to go onto a dollie to wheel it over. All sorts of areas got blocked off, but once done, we would have major space cleared up.

We were all ready to bring out the first batch, so I sent a text to the first person about it.

Then we took a break while waiting for a response.

After a while, I started working on downstairs stuff.  My daughter went to the second floor to work on stuff there.  Still no response.

A friend came over to help and we continued to work on the living room, while my daughter came down to work in the kitchen.  Still no response.

I get a text from the person we were supposed to go to later. Shift changes. We switch our plans to tomorrow. 

Still no response from the first person. This is unusual. I start to become concerned.

After several hours, a drive through lunch (because our kitchen was inaccessible for cooking), much sorting and a decent amount of packing, I get a response. Sure enough, there were medical reasons. Shifting to tomorrow as well.

We move a few things around to clear some pathways, but that’s all we can do until the stuff is actually out the door.

End result?

A productive day and a house that looks like absolute chaos.

As we were working, my daughter made an observation that echoed my own thoughts.  Unlike other moves, when we got to the other side, there is no simple unpacking and be done. The old farm house is still full of stuff.  A start has been made to clear out decades of my parents’ stuff, but the change in timeline means most of it will still need to be done. Priority was to install a laundry room on the main floor, which was just finished.  My husband is banned from doing any of this, so he doesn’t hurt himself more.  It’s too much for my younger daughter. She has started looking around and most of it, she has no idea what to do with. Other areas, it will be gloves and mask work. My older daughter will make a point of bringing her respirator for the drive, rather than packing it, so it will be available immediately.

It’s all rather disheartening, because when we get to the other end of the move, we won’t even be able to set up our beds and unpack.  We have to get the other stuff out, first.  And with some of it, I already know that mice and who knows what else have gotten into them.

It will take us months to settle in.  There is a limit to what we will he able to do in the winter, too.

So we will be going from chaos here, to more chaos there.

We chose this with eyes wide open, but still…

*sigh*

The Re-farmer

This morning, I dragged one of the broken box springs to the top of the stairs.  After leaning it against a door frame, I stepped back into the room for about half a minute.

I came out to find this.