Have I mentioned the reno is a go? Yes, it’s a go. A builder fellow has been officially hired and we are BUSY. Well, we are busy when we are not feeling completely and utterly paralyzed by the enormity of the situation.
Here’s the scoop. Our first big problem has been solved. After much web-surfing and phone calling we finally found a nice two-bedroom apartment that is walking distance from where we live.
Important sidebar: I need to send out a HUGE THANK YOU to District Realty. I was so impressed by their service. They went above and beyond the call of duty and found this place for us. If you are looking for a place to rent in Westboro for any length of time do yourselves a favour and call them first! Thank you as well to Peggy Blair (@peggy_blair on Twitter), an Ottawa realtor and mystery writer who held my hand and helped us look for a place too. :)
Anyway, the new place is great and I’m very happy with it. It’s a low-rise apartment that’s being renovated before we move in, which is great… although I don’t know what “renovation” entails exactly. The superintendent, who is very nice, told us that he needed 15-20 days to complete the job, so that could be anytime between May 15 and Friday June 1. The not knowing is going to make hiring movers and getting our internet/phone (we’re ditching cable!) a little tricky.
Gah.
In the meantime I’m trying very hard to ignore the immense amount of work that is required on our end. In fact, the process of sorting and packing up all of our crap is my idea of hell on earth. What I wouldn’t give to wave a magic wand and have it all be done already.
Here’s my dilemma: we need to sort through every single one of our belongings and place them in one of several piles:
- the long-term storage pile (subdivided into things we can bring to Mark’s parents place and larger things we can store elsewhere)
- the destined for the apartment pile – kitchen stuff, clothing, furniture
- the garage sale pile (or charity donation pile, i’m not sure what to call this one yet)
- the garbage pile
I’m seriously beginning to wonder if we really need to buy into any secure storage. Mark’s parents have offered up their basement for this purpose and I think we can leave a few things in the house during the reno (like the steel storage shelving in the basement). But there are a couple other things that I wonder if we can farm out somewhere. Anyone want to adopt a sofa bed for 8-months? And maybe a coffee table and a dresser? What about a houseplant or two? (I am not kidding.)
In order to ease my packing and sorting burden for the next few weeks I am launching a strategy that I’m calling USE IT UP. The USE IT UP rule applies to half-empty bottles of salad dressing, bags of brown rice in the back of the cupboard, shampoo bottles, body and skin lotions etc etc. because there’s no way I’m packing and storing or hauling half-empty bottles of anything, anywhere.
Funny thing is, as I was smothering myself with Body Shop stuff this morning, I wondered why I haven’t been using it. What on earth have I been saving this stuff for anyway?
p.s. do you think I should send our builder the link to my “Reno” board on Pinterest yet? Or will I just scare him away? ;)
