T-Minus 22 Days

It is now just over three weeks until we move. The excitement in the Smith household is palpable. Even the cats sense something's up (as they do every time we go on vacation).

Speaking of the cats, we're currently in the middle of a long-term deceptive plan to get them on the plane. Anne got two airline pet carriers, which we leave open in the office so they can get used to them. The plan being that on the big day, we can nonchalantly zip the cats up in them and they won't know until it's too late. It won't happen like that, I'm sure, but at least they won't suspect too much until the first zipper zips.

You may be asking yourself "Two carriers? I thought you had three cats?", and you'd be right. Unfortunately, the airlines only allow two pets in the cabin per flight, so one (un)lucky cat has to go in cargo. Just try to imagine a 5 1/2 hour flight locked in a box with no idea what's going on. Doesn't sound pleasant, especially since the two older cats cry incessantly for the entire fifteen minute drive to the vet's once a year.

We're trying to nail down the logistics of closing on our new house in PA. Of course, we picked a pseudo-holiday (President's Day) to try to close, which means there is no money wiring going on and the banks are all closed. Our agent out here says the money can be wired from our buyers to the builder of our house the previous Friday, so hopefully that will work out and we can just sign the papers Monday morning.

As far as packing goes, we're doing a little bit here and there, and the house is slowly filling up with boxes. As it turns out, the cost of moving a 4-bedroom house across the country is so enormous that paying the movers to pack our stuff is a relatively insignificant part of that, so whatever we don't feel like packing ourselves, we'll leave for them.

We've managed to get rid of 90% of the crap we didn't want (craigslist is a wonderful thing), which is good because we're selling the Subaru and won't be able to make any big dump runs without borrowing somebody's truck.

At three weeks, it's now really starting to feel tangible. Instead of the move being "something that's going to happen in a few months", it's now "Oh shit, I only have three weeks to get all this done?". But I think we've got everything under control - it's just that final few days of paperwork and logistics that's going to keep us awake at night until it's over.

Once we're there, I'll have two weeks off before starting my new job. That two weeks will be filled with: unpacking, registering the cars, getting drivers' licenses, unpacking, finding new doctors/dentists/hairstylists, unpacking, my dad's birthday, more unpacking, my sister's newborn baby, and still more unpacking. All in the dead of winter. Should be fun re-learning how to drive in the snow.