21 days left.....

Our landlord came by this evening to let us know that he is on schedule with getting our place ready for August 1. This is both great news and disappointing news at the same time. Great because I can't wait to get out of this place--the neighbor kids told Annabel she couldn't play with them yesterday. Heartbreaking!--and disappointing because we have a family reunion in McLeese Lake that same weekend and the dates will definitely collide. We are trying very hard to hire someone to move us this time 'round but with the timing being so close we may not be able to find anyone. And then there's the possibility that if we CAN hire someone we may not be able to afford the trip to the reunion.
My task this week is to find a moving company and then we can take it from there. This reunion is very important for me this year too. First my cousin is getting married and her dad, who is giving her away, is recovering from brain surgery and undergoing chemotherapy for brain cancer. Second, i don't know the next chance I'll have to see my brothers and their families and my mom since we live so far from them now. And third, we are going to be spreading my dad's ashes in the forest where he used to hunt while we are all together. I so much do not want to miss this trip. Its going to be one heck of a busy weekend if we can pull it all off. Things always seem to work out for us in the end so I'm trying not to get all stressed out...not yet.
Still 21 days. Anything can happen

So What's It Like?

A little early to tell for sure but so far it ain't so bad here. I've never been one to NOT try new things and I've lived in several very different places so adjusting to a new place isn't really that much of a challenge for me. The settling-in process is what is frustrating for me and that won't be happening for another few weeks. *SIGH*

Anyway, we've been trying to learn the city. Jeff is leaving his GPS with me during the day while he's at work so I can find my way around and its been a life-saver. Annabel and I found a really nice water park on Friday and it was such a nice reprieve from the heat--I only wish we found it sooner. It was a great afternoon for both of us. i was able to even out my burn (which has finally faded to a tan) from the drive here and Annabel made a new friend. She gave her our phone number and hopefully we'll be able to play with her again soon. I'm so not worried about Annabel adjusting. She is so quick to make friends. Its great to see that.

After Jeff got home from work we all went for a bike ride in our new neighborhood. The ravine behind it has a great trail through it and there is a large park (Homesteader Park) just a couple of blocks away. 'Haven't been there yet but plan to soon. There is also easy access to the Hermitage Park, another very large park that runs the length of the river with trails for both hiking and biking in the summer and cross-country skiing and snow-shoeing in the winter...and loads of site seeing and bird watching. We plan to head over there today.

The weather here is great. Aside from it being blistering hot while we were unloading the truck its actually really nice when you're not working so hard. The first few nights were a little tough to sleep but then we had a nice BRIEF rain storm that cooled everything off very quickly. The great thing about it is that after it rained the clouds just blew away and the sun came out again. As strange as it is to look at the horizon and NOT see mountains the benefit is that the weather just keeps moving on. It doesn't linger for days and days. So we have a 10 minute thunderstorm and 30 minutes later the ground is nearly dry again and you would never know it happened. I'm sure there are longer storms at times but these little ones are great! And the thunder and lightening is nothing like coastal BC...it actually reminds me alot of South Carolina--which I miss.

Is there anything I DON'T like?........Sure there is. i don't like that my family and friends are 1300 kms away. I don't like that these people are so far behind in their "green" efforts. I don't like the Safeway here (but I didn't like the one in Abbotsford either...it was the only grocery store I could find on Thursday without the GPS and I needed to buy food). I don't like this temporary townhouse. Pretty minor really. Overall I think I can actually begin to call this home--after we move to the other place, of course.
Till then I still just feel like I'm visiting.

We Made It!!!!

OMG!!!! I didn't think I would ever be saying this but we are finally in Edmonton! Contrary to what most people think, we will NOT be moving back because if I ever have to go through an ordeal like this again it will only be from the inside of a pine box!

Jeff arrived in Abbotsford safe and sound at 10:30am on Friday June 27th. Annabel was soooo excited to see her daddy again and didn't want to leave his side the whole time we waited for his baggage. It was touching to see their reunion.
Of course MY reunion was even more touching...and I'll just leave it at that ;-)

Packing up the truck started off the BIG MOVE....and it really set the tone for the rest of the trip. We called UHAUL the day before to find out what time we could have the truck. 12pm! Alright, I thought, its later than I wanted but we can work with that. Well we thought maybe we could see about getting the truck sooner so the next morning we called them again to see about the possibilities. We were then told we couldn't have it until 3pm. Now a brief move across town isn't really affected too much by a 3 hour delay but when you have a 14 hour drive ahead of you and people waiting to help with loading, it really does throw a wrench into plans.
Anyway, we got the truck back to the house by 3:30pm and Tammy and Quin came over to help out. Soon after our neighbor, Rick, joined in and even with the extra help we weren't able to finish before 7pm when we were due at Auntie Grace's house for Jeff's B-day dinner.

Dinner was a nice break though. Grace made her famous ham and scalloped potatoes and packed up the left overs with some wonderful homemade buns for a picnic on the road--great idea! Jeff was loaded up with gifts and cards and cake and then we had to get back to the work of packing. So after tearful goodbyes to mom and Aunts and Uncle we headed back.

We worked hard and didn't get to bed that night till about 2:30am and didn't sleep well on top of it because we kept thinking about all that still needed to be done before we could hit the road. up at 5am for more loading and cleaning! We managed to FINALLY get away around 10:30am (5 hours later than we had planned).The weather was beautiful--until it heated up. Jeff had A/C in the moving truck which was good since he was carrying the cats (poor things, by the way!) but Annabel and I were in the Sunrunner and I tell you...it was HOT!!! We had the roof turned back (not totally off) to create more airflow but in the meantime I got a lovely burn with a seatbelt mark across my chest.
Annabel was my photographer and, despite having to stare at the back of the moving truck for 14 hours, she managed to snap off a few good pics of the beautiful mountains near the Jasper area (I can't wait to camp there!!!).

Tammy and Quin and Dusty came along with us as part of their vacation and I was able to pawn off one of the dogs to their A/C'd vehicle after a while. Was nice to have them come with us even though it wasn't much of a vacation for them I'm sure!

We rolled in to Edmonton around 2am and decided to stop at the 24 hour Walmart to pick up another couple of blow-up mattresses since the beds were buried pretty far in the back of the truck and no one was interested in trying to find them. I was surprised at how busy Walmart was! Who knew so many people shop at 2am????!!! Getting through the checkout was my first taste of my new home. The cashier commented on what a great sleep we would have on these mattresses and then asked where we were camping. We then told her that we actually just moved here from Vancouver. And this is her response to that--"That's my home town....Turn around and go back home NOW! I hate it here! You're gonna hate it here! Why would you move to this sh*t hole? Just leave and go back now!" Hmmmm, what do you say to that? I just smiled and shook my head. Welcome to Edmonton, I thought.

We got to our "transition home"--very small and actually a sorta bad area of town, oh well, its temporary--and all we wanted was to fall into bed. we managed to find enough bedding in the back of the truck and went to work on getting the mattresses blown up. Tammy and Quin used the motorized airpump to get their mattress up and then started on Dusty's but the motor had other plans. It apparently wasn't charged enough to get through it. Dusty was actually already asleep on a pile of blankets so he didn't seem to miss any mattress. So i took the pump and managed to get Annabel's blown up but there was nothing at all left for me and Jeff. we slept on the basement concrete while the motor recharged and around 5am we woke up and blew up the mattress for another 3 hours of sleep.

Jeff and I then spent the next 3 full days unloading the entire 26' truck in 30 degree weather! Fortunately Quin was able to help with the massive sofa bed which we acquired from mom cuz there was no way I would have been able to help with that. I'm amazed we were able to do as much as we did. I don't really remember much of the unload. i think I have chosen to block out much of those 3 days as a defense mechanism. I may need therapy down the road for PTSD but for right now i'm happy to forget.

So here we are, in transition. We are not in love with our temporary home. The neighbors on either side are nice but the girl across from us has been using our only parking stall to store her broken down Jimmy. Jeff has been very patient for the last 5 days and even offered to help get it running so she could move it somewhere else. He told her he'd help her out at 6:30pm yesterday....she wasn't home till after 9pm. So our patience has run out and she now has till the end of today to get it gone or we'll have it towed--at the advice of everyone we have met in the complex so far.
(pictures to come)
We went to look at the new place on Monday and its nice and will be totally worth the wait. Its not huge either but seriously there are only 3 of us. We don't need huge. its a nicer neighborhood and close to shopping and parks. I still need to check out schools in the area but I'm not worried. I'm REALLY looking forward to getting into that place. Oh, and Jeff and I will NOT be doing that move ourselves. We will be hiring for that one. Its just too soon for me to attempt that again. The pain is too fresh.

And what do I think of Edmonton? So far so good. Its dirtier though. People don't seem to care about throwing trash on the ground and trying to recycle anything is a big effort--no recycling bins at the dumpster. Haven't checked out the shopping yet but we're pretty broke from the move so we'll get at that later on. Too tired to shop yet! Did I just say that?

I'm watching the morning news on Global and I have to admit I miss Steve Darling and Mark Madriga!