It's All About Me

At midnight I woke up with a start. Where were the cat carriers?? I had put them on the bed meaning do not pack or at least I thought I did, but they were nowhere to be found. So I got up and broke into every bedroom box except three I could not reach. I found Biggie's but I did not find Julio's. I sent an email to Natashia apologizing.

She's not happy but I don't care. They asked when it was not clear. Why would I not want the cat carriers when I'm moving??? But, no ask. Worst case, after everything is gone, I can go over to Goodwill and buy another one. But, Natasha's reply indicates she will find it so I'm choosing not to worry.

Her reply also reported that the elevator we need at Timber Ridge is still broken. That's a major PIA.

Now I'm waiting for the third bad thing to happen.

It's now 7 and I have tucked away all the stuff and emptied the litter robot. They are fascinated by the little temporary box o' litter now in the bathroom. Natashia will pack the rest. After everything is out, I still have cables and cords to retrieve. My back is already sore.

I put out the one carrier in the living room and there was much investigation. I got a great One Minute A Day last shot of the month, last shot of the condo... I fed them this morning but did not leave the food out long. I want Julio hungry when it's time to capture him.

The movers will be here at 8:30 as will Natasha. I figure it will take about 2 hours til they are done. Natasha does not want me at Timber Ridge until they have unpacked but she's just going to have to deal. I'm going to get there when I get there. I'm at the end of my moving spoons.

I've been culling for years. And then I had trash haulers come get half my stuff in September. Of the rest, more than half is being donated and still I have sooooo much stuff!! I packed a lot myself into large plastic bins. About a dozen of them. And still sooooo many boxes needed to pack the rest in.

My toothbrush only move is a laugh.

There are three wonderful packers and they really do know what they are doing. I am so glad I hired them. Well worth the coin.

But how is there still so much stuff???

My back is broken. It has a serious case of move-itis. The next thing I need to do is take all the jackets and coats and hoodies off the hooks in the hallway and hang them on hangers but I don't have the energy.

I have gotten a lot done today. Tomorrow if I wake up early, I'll make a McDonald's run. If not I'll just have coffee and call it breakfast. Oh wait, no, I think I have a burrito in the freezer. Then shower and dress and pop the shower curtain in the dryer so they can pack it. I think I have all my do not pack stuff segregated and safe.

I got a lot of the tech unhooked today. Not all, but a lot.



Some more will go tomorrow and some will go when I do, on Tuesday.

I took a load of garbage down to the dumpsters. There are two for garbage. Building manager, Jathan, has one locked - no announcement or notice or reason either sent in email or with signate on the dumpster. So the one left is overflowing. I added to the pile. I will miss Jathan and his annoying shenanigans not one tiny single bit.

When you sell a house, you are supposed to disclose issues. I feel like I should warn any buyers about that little pissant. I won't but I'll feel guilty for not.

Now it's time to put my feet up and watch CBS Sunday Morning while I work on the sleeves of my sweater.

I keep finding stuff that isn't done yet. How is this possible?? Little things here and there but really. And things to figure out - cat food, cat water after all is packed up. Gathering up all the keys and fobs and leaving them somewhere. OMG here is a giant stack o' papers from a refi in 2002. This house is small compared to a lot but it's giant when you consider all the shit in here. I am so relieved to be going to a smaller place.

Someone started telling me the rules for adding a storage bin to my parking area and I said STOP!! I do not even want to know about places to put more stuff.

I made the Amazon return and got a bagel sandwich for lunch. It was tasty and Biggie just hopped up here for what I thought was a lap session but, turned out he only wanted to lick the cream cheese off my sweatshirt. Thanks, bud.

And I realized that xfinity is going to want me to plug a computer into the ethernet port of the modem. I'm not sure where my USB ethernet dongle is and if it works. Amazon fixing that issue with a delivery on Monday.

After they pack up everything on Monday, what am I going to do for coffee on Tuesday? Holy crap on a stick, that really nice McDonald's a mile from here is open 24 hours!! Who knew? I can pop down there and pick up breakfast Tuesday.

It's little shit like that that is driving me nuts right now. Also I'm waiting for the fridge to make enough ice so I can unplug the nugget ice maker and give it a good cleaning. It's long overdue.

and... now the laundry is done.

First of all only 5 sleeps til I move. I think I can make it from here.

Today I take ownership of my new place. It's actually not ownership. It's actually kind of a weird lease.

I will have paid $488,000 as kind of a first and last month's rent. 80% of that will come back to me when I leave. But, since I'll probably be dead, that 80% will go to my estate. So it's really no longer my money. (Except, there is a weird 'out' to the 'lease'. If I decide I hate the place and want to move within 4 months, no harm no foul - I get it all back.)

So my ownership is more like a lease on steroids.

$5,211 per month for the place, all utilities, about 20 meals and an enormous number of services and benefits.

I will pay for boosted internet, my subscriptions (TV, books), yarn and cat food.

Today I sign the papers and get the key and the garage fob. At 11 am today.

6 days!

I think it was because of the lack of food, that I ate all day yesterday. Or I feel like I did. I polished off stuff out of the freezer and stuff out of the fridge and more. There wasn't much there to start with and now, there is way less.

It is very weird to open up the freezer and see everything. I mean I don't have to open a drawer or move anything to take complete inventory.

I think I'll make a run to Thriftway (a semi fancy market). They have good cooked meals and some cookies that I'd like to stock up on.

The litter robot situation is now all settled in. They are using it consistently. The way it works is that they go in and pee or poop and leave and then 15 minutes later, it rotates and drops any clumps. The 15 minute wait is to give the pee time to clump. But, in my case it's in hopes that Julio will be long gone by the time it rotates. He loves the rotates. The minute it starts, he gets back in to investigate. This stops the rotation. It then starts back up after he's out... in 30 seconds. So he gets back in. Last week, it would take sometimes an hour to do a whole cycle but now he's not quite as vigilant and sometimes doesn't get back in at all.

The beauty is, however, that 1. the litter stays in the machine instead of on my floor and in my bed. and 2. NO sifting through poop and pee to remove the clumps every day. Right now, the app says the collection tray is 30% full. It falls into a bag which, when full or fuller, I'll pull out and toss and replace. Soooooooooo nice.

I was wrong about the Amazon 6% no rush shipping reward being gone. It popped up again this morning. Their algorithms are so complex.

All of the essentials for the new apartment have been selected and purchased. The sofa arrives on moving day - Oct 31. The dresser and dining chairs come the next day. We are using chunky white shelving in several places like the living room TV. That's all coming from IKEA and should be in its flat boxes in my unit by move in day. My game plan now is to look into hiring Timber Ridge maintenance peops to assemble them as well as the sewing cabinet. Also hang the ironing board on the wall.

I made a giant list last night of all the various parts and pieces and when they are coming from where and if/how they were paid for and how much. I have written checks for stuff that have not yet been cashed and have credit card charges for others and have not yet been invoiced for some. It's kind of a massive juggling act at this point.

I decided to hold off on counter stools for now. I am going to move in and then see if I even want them. I remembered that I bought some for this kitchen which has a long peninsula. I never used them and finally after years of tripping over them, I gave them to goodwill. It would be great to avoid the clutter.

There are other things like a full length mirror and closet hooks that I know I want but want to live there for a bit and decide what kind and where.

My new apartment is nestled on the side of a mini mountain. Best I can tell, the elevation is about 1,000-1,200 feet. Last night's weather forecaster said that this week there could be snow down that far!! SNOW!! This is something I had not considered. I will be able to watch the snow and stay snug as a bug in a rug complete with not even having to step outside to get meals. This could be very very good.

I got an email this morning from the new resident coordinator. She said she had some closing preparation binders for me and when was I going to be in the area? ??? Er How about now?

So I hopped in the car and headed east. Happily the sun was not out. That drive is one big glare when it is. So I got there easily and comfortably. Mary is really nice and has the most luxurious hair of anyone I've ever seen. And she had a boatload of papers.

Turns out the famous Kavier, whom I have yet to meet, is now out with an 'emergency appendectomy'. Has anyone ever had a non-emergency appendectomy? Aren't they all kind of emergencies?

Ok, I'm back. If I had not read the community website from front to back and back to front, I'd have been a little overwhelmed but turns out I knew most of what she told me. Every department - security, health, recreation, fitness, social, admin, food, etc. wants info about the new kid. So there area a million forms with duplicate info. Every single one wants to know my emergency contact. I think maybe it's possible I now have my brother's phone number memorized.

I did all that - the form filling - when I got home. While I was still there, she went over a bunch of stuff and answered my questions and gave me the forms to take home, fill out and bring back next Thursday.

Then I went to All The Best Pets to get CBD calming drops for the cats. I tried to get some yesterday but I went to the closet All The Best Pets and THE only person in the store - one single clerk, no customers - said they didn't have any - without even asking me a question. I am sure they did but he couldn't be bothered waiting on an actual customer. Today's guy was the opposite. So I got the goods and then came home.

When I got home I got a text from Frank asking if I was up for a little visit. YES!! Perfect. I thought that was a great idea and texted him back. And then sat down and filled out my brother's phone number a million times.

Also I realized I not only do not have a copy of my Long Term Care policy (which they want) I don't even know the name of the company or how to get a copy. I got the policy years ago through my financial advisor so I sent him an email asking who to ask. He replied really fast and said he'd have a copy sent to me. Yeah!

I gathered all the docs that I have in PDF and sent them to Mary. I still need my car registration and medicare and Humana cards to take for them to copy.

I gave permission for them to tell others if I was in the hospital or on vacation. Permission to enter my apartment when I'm not there (for packages/maintenance/cleaning). Permission to use my photograph. Details on my car. Details on how to get their monthly fee out of my bank every month and about a million other things. Whew.

But it's done. And ready. But, where's Frank? Well, turns out, I answered his text at the web page. Google recently did something new to their messages web page and now it updates itself every few minutes and it ATE my reply! And my window of op had slammed shut. But he said maybe Sunday we could touch base. No more web page texts for me!

Now it's 3:15 and I have not even watched the bake off yet. I think I'll refill my water and get my bake on.

All the quotes are in...

I had guessed that the move itself and all it entails was going to cost me about $20k. I was wrong. $31,762.

$9,910 to paint the new apartment
$3,564 carpet for the new apartment
$3,585 to paint this condo
$7,067 carpet for this condo

Note, the new apartment was 5 different colors of paint. And it's 726 sq feet. The condo is just under 1,300 sq. feet.

$3,864 to plan and coordinate and execute the entire move
$2,693 to move my stuff and take the rest to Goodwill

$31,762 - holy crapoly.

And we still have furniture to buy. We'd better make a flat out killing selling this place!!

And, just like that, my brother's inheritance - as a friend of mine in the south used to say - "like a pecka in winter"

Another night of great but short sleep. I woke up at 4. It's ok. In 18 days, I can start all new habits so I'm not at all worried about the ridiculous ones developing now.

I am a little, very little really, worried about Biggie. He threw up a little bit twice this morning - kind of an unballed hairball. But also ate like normal before and after. He did not finish his treats (in the snack holder) which is very not Biggie. But, it's too soon to worry much. At least the vet is now open Saturdays if I need them.

Julio, meanwhile, thinks the litter robot is a playground. He's in and out constantly. But neither of them has used it as a litter box even one time. Their old litter box is nearby and now very low on litter and not very clean. I put a little of the stinky old litter into the robot. I'm hoping they get the hint.

I'm still waiting on the estimate for painting this place. Bret the realtor may be handling that on his own. Doesn't really matter either way to me. But, I think, now, outside of that, I have all the other estimates/invoices in hand.

Nothing on the schedule today. I could use some food but I'm not really inspired to go shopping. I might go over to Uwajimaya and score some poke and a salad to tide me over. I was going to go to Costco and get some coffee but I checked Amazon and their price is better right now so they win.

It's going to be interesting to see how life shakes out in Issaquah. Right now, it's a PIA to go places. My parking space isn't handy and then downtown traffic and getting around to places that have good parking. PLUS Amazon drops shit at my door.

In Issaquah, my parking space will be VERY handy and there is tons of easy to get to shopping with very easy parking. And Amazon drops shit at the front desk which is a very long walk from my apartment.

I think my shopping habits are going to change considerably. I'm worried about Amazon stock but I don't own any right now so I'm not that worried.

I stopped in the Target that is very close to Timber Ridge yesterday and it's a lovely store and I got fabulous service. I haven't been in a decent Target in years. It was delightful.

It just occurred to me that my view will still be obscured by The Tree That I Hate when I move. I can see the sun coming up between the leaves. I will NOT miss that damn tree.