Prepping for the Sale

1 week until the hugeungous yard sale that will take place next Sat (if you're in town, come and bring friends). We're going through more stuff and finding a TON to get rid of. Pricing comes this weekend as well (joy).

Little Victories

I just realized I hadn't posted that I got my Alaska audiology license in the mail last weekend. I was expecting it to take a little longer, but Oh well. It's here. 

I've found out that moving my car up to Bethel, should take less than half my moving allotment. So unless what I've decided to move turns out to be super heavy, I'll be taking my car. I have the moving survey planned for the Monday morning after the yard sale. The goal will be to have gone through everything that's in the storage unit and here at the house by then so I'll be able to just get a final quote and schedule the move. All in all, it was a good email. I'm honestly not taking enough that i think it'll be much of a problem.

Speaking of what's being moved, I made a Costco run yesterday and got spices, olive oil, quinoa, rice, sugar, oatmeal, olive oil, detergent, canned veggies and some soup. And a printer (5 in one) from an office supply place. I still need to get rice pasta and rice flour and I'd like to get some hot chocolate and lemonade mix as well. I also need to buy a TV. Not sure exactly what I'm doing on that front but I'll get something before the move. I'm thinking 32" or more because I'm planning on using it to watch movies, etc from at least my comfy chair. Granted, I don't know how big a living room I'll have. I also don't know for sure what I'll put the TV on. I have a 2 shelf bookshelf that it might fit well on if it's stable. The bookshelf itself is quite sturdy but I don't know what will happen. I'd rather not move anymore furniture, but I may need to get something.

I was able to get through all the kitchen stuff and figure out what I was going to take and not take. That is going to be the highest number of boxes I'm sure. But it's done and now I'll make a trip to storage to deposit things and keep trudging through the rest of my maybe/unknown boxes.

I went to the Dr's today to get my annual physical and bloodwork, as well as get updates on some boosters (had to get another tetanus), have them check for titers (immunity to certain things when exact immunization dates are unknown or when you may need to check to see if you're still immune to something). For instance, I got the Hep B vaccines before either college or grad school. It's been a number of years since then. Also, now they give a Hep A and Hep B vaccine series together where when I got it, it Hep A wasn't part of the equation. Since we weren't sure about A for sure, the doc is checking for immunity of B to see if I'll need to start the booster series before heading up.



Tomorrow's plan:

• Take boxes/pkgs to storage for shipment
• Go through socks and underthings to get rid of super-old-buried-on-the-bottom-stuff
• do laundry and put things away to see if I need to get rid of anything else.

6 weeks

A month and a half, 45 days. That's all that's left in the warmth. I remembered this weekend just how hot and muggy summers get around here. I quickly remembered how much I dislike the heat. I've always been a jeans and long sleeve girl so I'm looking forward to a bit colder weather.

I feel like these weekly countdown emails are a good place for just a general recap. Hopefully, I'm not too far off. 

Anyway, my survey for the moving company is scheduled (for the Monday after the yard sale). Yay for details moving along. My brothers were also in this weekend and I was able to figure out what all they're taking as far as furniture goes. I have also been going through a lot of the clothes. Mom is also sending me up there with a pair of snowshoes which will be interesting to try out.

I got a fantastically informative email from a woman who lives/works in Bethel currently. She was very thorough and was able to tell me things about the layers that I'll need as well as rain/mud boots (and due to the amazing timing of the email was able to pick up a pair of BOGS at DSW during a weekend shopping trip. It was also very good to know ahead of time that there is no dry-cleaner in Bethel. I can send things to Anchorage or I can just not take things that are dry-clean only. The more I know before I get up there, the better prepared I am.

Still need to get in touch with more people about apartments but it's very hard to do that from afar. I don't want to get something sight-unseen, but I don't want to feel pressured when I get up there. I've got a couple feelers out and people are sending me postings as they show up. I have a few more calls to make though.

For now, I'm going to pass out then enjoy a birthday dinner for a good friend tomorrow.

Man's Best Friend

It saddens me greatly that I will NOT be taking my dog, Kota, with me to Alaska.

Keep in mind, my dog, is an almost 4 year old black lab. She spends a large portion of her life trying to play with anyone she can. Note: I said anyone. My dog thinks she's a person. When she sees other dogs, to initiate play, she goes down into play posture but her hackles go up (?!?!?)

So, Kota will stay and I will go and miss her crack-puppy antics. Sigh, I better get pictures. I'll post em when I do.

TGIF

After a VERY long week due to outside-of-move factors, I made another run to storage last night to grab more boxes and take measurements of the dresser my brother is inheriting...

Now, usually when I fill up the X-terra with boxes, I can fill up 2 handcarts from the storage facility into my truck. After depositing my books/binders from work and taking the requisite measurements (causing some confusion in translation when the truck beds measurements were given as length from cab to tailgate and I gave measurements of dresser as width as you're facing it. Luckily, it didn't take much time to un-muddle that confustion), I filled up 1 handcart and couldn't find any more boxes/duffles to easily come over. It's all furniture really.

When mom got home later, I mentioned to her there weren't anymore boxes to bring over and she stopped, then turned to me and told me that wasn't the best thing to tell her. Oops. I'll attack the last of the boxes and my room/clothes and hopefully have everything pretty well squared away soon.

Time flown & Details

The realization struck me at some point tonight that it's been two weeks since the written roller coaster has begun and three since the entire ride left the gate. On one hand, it's been a lot less upheaval than I anticipated and on the other, you haven't seen my basement. It's truly amazing to see the symphony of details.

The last couple days for instance:

• I have needed a break from going through boxes so I've gone through them little by little. 
• At the same time, I've made a final Dr.'s, dentist and hair appointment, and yes, hair is important, especially for a girl going off to start a new job where I don't know where my next salon options might be. 
• I've started tracking down records the hospital needs as far as immunization and TB. 
• I've called half a dozen places to find somewhere that could winterize (Alaskan-style) my car and also followed-up with the moving company (trying to not be too annoying but get some answers). 
• I've checked into the termination policy for my current cell phone and found out that Bethel has a cell phone store near the airport, but that it's only open M-F, since I'm arriving on a Sunday (assuming everything goes well), I may have to borrow someone's phone or find a payphone or use a calling card to let my family know I've landed since I don't know what internet access will be like immediately.
• I've also set up the blog to be able to post via email so no matter where I can email from, I'll be OK.

I'm sure there are a few other pesky details that have been handled but that's all my brain can handle right now. Just a few weeks to go before my stuff takes off. Gonna go hit the hay. Night

Life in the slow-lane

I find myself hoping that I'll really enjoy living up in Alaska, and more than that, in a village that's remote and hard to get to.

I know I mentioned in my first post that I learned a long time ago that I didn't like big cities. Beyond that though, I don't like the hustle and bustle that a lot of places offer. Malls, shopping centers, the list just goes on and on. I always feel like a dork when I'd rather curl up on the couch reading or learn to quilt/knit/crochet/backpack than go out like everybody seems to want me to go. I hardly ever drink, partially cause I'm allergic to beer and partially because there just doesn't seem to be much of a  point. The loud music and huge crowds at bars or clubs is just too much stimulation. I glaze over, just like I do in every other situation with a ton of people.

At work it's a little different. I'm testing 1 on 1 and sure it's one after the other, but there's some control over it and I (hopefully) get lunch and at least a couple few minute breaks to sit down and catch my breath.

I've dreamed of living in a quiet little town, and now not only do I get that little town, but one that's fairly hard to get to. As long as I can deal with the cold - and I feel that's mostly an issue of what clothes you have - I think the environment will be great. So for now, I'll cross my fingers and hope that I like it as much as I imagine I will. Maybe I'll live there for forevermore. I s'pose we'll see. If nothing else, I'll get a 2 year break where I get to pull over into the slow lane and relax.

Yard Sale list...

For those that might be thinking about coming to the yard sale... here's a list of some things that will be included in the fantastical event (plurals are meant to be there):

> Clothes (All types: shorts, t-shirts, tanks, camisoles, Capri's, slacks, blouses, shoes- all types)
> Purses, Bags, wallets
> Kitchen odds/ends (Smoothie maker/Blender, Tea maker, bread cubby, glasses, cosmo glasses, travel coffee mugs, muffin tins, bamboo banana hook)
> Decorative items (candles, candle holders, baskets of various sizes and shapes, coasters, vases, wine rack, fruit basket, fake flowers)
> Workout stuff (workout DVD's, weights of various sizes and types, medicine balls, yoga/exercise balls, resistance bands, Rollerblades, boogie boards)
> Small household furniture (bedside tables, floor lamp(s), coffee table, wooden TV stand, 7-8 foot wooden bookshelf- broken shelves someone with skills with tools can work with, enclosed CD/DVD cabinet, wicker end table, old fashioned wooden sheet music storage cabinet, Shelving cabinet)
> Books, magazines, CD's, DVDs
> Misc (Nalgeen bottles, lunch bags, school supplies- calculators, notebooks, loose leaf paper, clothes dryer, hair straightener, small and large box fans, bagless vacuum cleaner, ironing board, large dog kennel, guitar tab books, various storage systems)

This is in no way and extensive list, this also doesn't include things my parents are putting in since they really haven't gone through most of their storage areas. And honestly, I still have at least a few truck loads of to go through so there will be more.

The goal is to get things gone, so bring friends. No reasonable offers will be turned down.

It's a small world...

There's a little flashing red light on my office phone. I dial into voice-mail and start taking the message that went something like this-

"Hi, this is Jane Doe (name changed to protect the innocent), I'm sort of a cousin of Susie Que (name also changed to protect the innocent), who visited your office last week. She told me there was this really nice young woman who tested her who's moving up to Alaska soon. I just can't remember the young woman's name who I'm supposed to be calling but I'd love to talk to her about what it's like living up there. I lived in Bethel, Alaska for 11 years (Yes people! You're reading that correctly, it's the village/town I'm moving to). My number is 555-5555. Please have that nice young woman who'll be moving to Alaska call me."

Who'da thunk it???

Current Ponderings

So this is a bit early to be thinking about this but my mind wanders between tasks sometimes.

I'm pretty sure I'm not going to get cable up in Alaska because then I'd sit on my tush instead of trying to experience some of the cultural things in the town and working on hand skills like quilting or crocheting. I want to try and take pictures of as many town events as I can to share and show people what things are like up here. I will be getting internet. I can't update my blog and Skype with friends and family or email without the internet after all. But at the same time, I started thinking about cell phone.

I'm thinking a cell phone as opposed to a land line would be the safer option (take a trip to Anchorage for the weekend or walking around exploring, etc.). But when it comes to the phone itself... I've gone down to a basic regular phone -one with just numbers, and a send and end button (as opposed to a smartphone, e.g. Blackberry, iPhone, Palm)- and didn't like it but I'm wondering if I'll need/want a more sophisticated thing up there without everything going on that happens in a bigger city. I'll keep the iPhone that I have for all the apps and iPod capabilities it has and I an sync my calander with a cord to my computer. And any phone I get will need to have texting capabilities.

So the pondering, in short... Do I get a regular phone or a smartphone up in Alaska?

Opinions? Comments? Things to think about?

Comments

For those that may have tried to post and your post didn't show, or weird things happened before your post just simply wasn't there, we've determined you do need cookies enabled in your browser to leave posts. I completely understand wanting to be more private online and not leaving much of a footprint, but comments won't stay.

Skype

I registered for a Skype account today. I went ahead and added the couple people that had given me their names. I'm not sure how often I'll be able to Skype with people, but I'd rather have it as an option than not.

7 Weeks

7 weeks until my departure. It's sneaking up fast. I bought a few things today to lighten my load as far as what I would take with me. Everything that's being moved is being done by weight so what I do take I want to be light but also I really don't want to take much. Kitchen stuff is being slimmed down substantially. I'm trying to see what can do double duty in my pots/pans. I found these silicone pot/pan lids that will let me leave my glass lids at home. I also found Correll dishes that are lighter weight and less breakable than stoneware or porcelain. My brothers are inheriting my current set of stoneware. I feel like I'm changing out gear for backpacking as opposed to car camping. Most everything's getting sold though honestly which is a good feeling.

So in 3 Saturdays there will be a great yard sale at my house. Please feel free to tell all and email me if you don't know the address. I'll be more than happy to give it to you. I'll be posting on Craigslist and in the newspaper of course and fantastic coworker told me about this radio show that tells people about yard sales super early in the morning so I'll be up and putting info out there too.

 

I know you can't tell what's in the boxes, but to give you an idea, the boxes are stacked 2 deep and on a wall about 15-20 feet across. Wherever possible, we have the boxes stacked up to about my height (just over 5 foot). The bags are all filled with clothes, shoes and bags/accessories. My mom has gone through a handful of stuff and my dad is planning of going through a tear. Really, we're planning on this pile probably doubling. There's currently no furniture in there just yet and I know they'll be at least a half dozen to a dozen pieces, a TV and there's a very good chance of a dryer as well (if it doesn't go on craigslist first). Alright, back to the piles for a little bit.

Letter to Mr. Bicycle

Dear Mr. Bicycle,

I loved the trips we had together and I'd like to think you agree we had some fun, especially trying our darnedest to try and get through the sand pits and high tide. Unfortunately, I won't have much of a chance to ride you anymore now that I'll be living with so much ice and snow- and really there aren't many mountains or even hills. I'm sorry if this makes our parting sad for you, it's actually pretty sad for me. I decided to take you back to REI so some other outdoor enthusiast will hopefully be able to enjoy all you have to offer after you've been sold at the wonderful REI Garage Sale. I will miss you. Happy trails friend.

E

Car & Winterization

So firstly, I discovered a new word today... Bloggable: to be worthy of a blog entry.

OK, the car situation. I've been getting more and more information thrown at me about the car since this whole thing started. The very first thing I was told was that I wanted a "beater with a (block) heater", probably 4x4. OK, this made sense.

So I started looking into selling my car (Nissan X-terra 4x4, that I LOVE). Very quickly there were 2 interested parties that were friends or friends of friends. My dad also called in the cavalry. A friend from a past working gig now lives in Seattle and is apparently very good at research. She also has daughters and understood the drive to do things the parental way when your kid's moving practically halfway across the globe (OK, slight exaggeration there). She came through with a TON of useful information and some info I'd never thought of before. For instance, older 4x4's are money pits. When I take a minute to think about it, it makes sense. There are more thing involved mechanically and most people don't get to truly use the 4x4 parts enough for them to be lubed etc. So to get a 4x4 that's not a complete pit yet, our dear Seattle helper did a search in that area for vehicles that fit the very flexible descriptions we needed catered to, only to find out that the replacement cars I'd be looking at were more expensive than what I already had and I know the condition and how to drive my vehicle. With this information, we started wondering if it might be better for me to keep my X-terra and just worry about it being transported up there (which is covered in my relocation, it'll just take up a large portion of it).

Within 24 hours of this new info from Seattle, I had the 2 interested buyers both inform me that for whatever reason, it wasn't going to work out. call it fate or kismet, or divine intervention. Whatever way you want to slice it, it's looking more and more like I'm keeping my truck and taking it with me.

Now, the next most important thing is winterization. I was sent a little list which included: heater for the engine block, transmission and radiator, grill cover and replacement of fluids to cold weather fluids. I called 6 places here in Norfolk, then I called my brother and asked him if he knew of anywhere that might do it since he used to work for a mechanic in the area, then i called an uncle in KY since I'll be there next month and figured I'd see if he knew anybody. Nothing. I even had the Nissan dealership tell me the only thing I'd need was to change out my fluids and check my belts, etc.. I had to inform him that where I was going was cold enough that I'd in fact need more than that. Oy.

Now for the Cherry- I finally got so fed up with no's that I decided to call one of the auto-repair places in Bethel to ask and see if they might be able to do it sometime over the summer and I found out that not only can they, it's quick (couple hours) and easy and the whole thing'll probably only cost me about $400-500.  So now, all I have to do is get the darn thing there. Still waiting on quotes from moving company, and I may not know for sure till after the survey. Who knows.

Alright, onto the dungeon of boxes.

Breather

After about 2 weeks of looking at details and making trips to the storage unit and getting paperwork together, I took last night off. I came home just to curl up on the couch reading, then put myself to bed reading at an early (for me) 9:30. I'm honestly not sure if I saw 10 or not. I know the sleep did me some good. I'll try to go through a bunch of the kitchen stuff tonight and cull out the duplicates.

I know I need a good sewing kit bag. I've got it all in a rolling mesh drawer unit right now. That's not going to move all that well and I'm afraid for storage it may not be the best idea either. I'll keep my eyes peeled.

Good news though, I got a message back from the moving company about scheduling a survey for the estimate. Not i just have to make sure as much as I'm going to ship is going to be there at the storage unit when they come. They're also working on the quote for the moving of the car. It'll apparently be cheaper for me to ship it from Seattle so I may actually end up making a road trip. I need to crunch the numbers and look at the maps to see if it's going to be that much cheaper and if it would be worth the gas and a week's worth of driving cross country. It may be a ton better to just let it be considering how little I'm looking to actually move.  (see, even when I take a day off from manual labor, I can't take the day off from brain labor).

Weekend:
-> return bike & bike rack while also scouring clearance racks at REI
-> try to sift through more boxes and organize boxes already sifted
-> consolidate coins so I can find a coinstar later (I have way too much change lying around and I'm NOT moving it)
-> start going through wardrobe for sell piles

Poll

There's a poll on the sidebar right now. If you have a moment, I'd love to hear your input. Everybody's got different reasons for things. I may or may not have a CD player in my car but there isn't all that much road there either. Unfortunately, I don't have an MP3 connection in my car either and if I do go with an older car, I'm betting they won't either. Just niblets to chew on.

Wool is my bestie

Yet another trip to the storage unit and playing a game a K/S/T (keep, sell, toss... I'm really getting sick of typing it so I'm officially shortening it). The TV that whines, yes, it emits a very high pitch whine, is out for curbside pick-up and may or may not still be there by the time the garbage truck rolls around. But I grabbed as many boxes as I could and headed back to work on the wall of yard sale as and such.

I have to admit the storage unit is emptying out nicely. I took pictures of the dryer while we were there and posted them back at home. Hopefully that'll get rid of it before the yard sale.

Through some amazing research from a friend of my dad's- who I believe lives in the Pacific Northwest- I found out ultimately it may very well cost me much more to sell my car and buy a used one than to ship mine to Alaska. I'd be letting it depreciate but overall, it'd be cheaper for me. I will also need to winterize my car, but once I know if I'm actually take it, I will look more into where I can do that. I'll probably see if I can call ahead and get one of the shops up there to be ready for me. I'm hoping it won't be so hard to get in since I'll be getting up there in June. I still need a few questions answered, but I've got those questions out there waiting.

But back in the basement, as I'm unpacking boxes and boxes, I find tons of stuff to add to the SELL stacks, but even better Mom comes down with her arms full and asks, "How much do you love me?" Now here I am at 9:30 thinking this is a trick question so I just bite my lip and twist it, raise my eyebrows and shrug. I figure no answer gives me an out either way. She then chuckles and tells me that I'm learning but I'm not good enough yet and plops her armloads on the couch. "Do you want your blue Alpacha wool back?"

Now, a little bit of back-story... we've lived a few places before including upstate NY and CT. Both are somewhat cold. Syracuse, NY regularly was in contention for being named the city with the highest snowfall in the U.S. often only to be beat out by little towns in Alaska (now I see that as a bit ironic, anybody else?). So my mom is also always cold and when we lived in those areas was ALWAYS wearing multiple layers of wool. She is also an AMAZING bargain shopper. And I don't mean one of those people who only ever shops in clearance racks but has a ton of crap they'll never touch. I mean she's got a really good eye for really good deals and often holds out when it's not a good price often to find it somewhere else much cheaper. It's a gift or something. So back when we lived in NY, I think. She got these great Alpacha Wool sweaters from somewhere and I'll be damned if I remember where it was now. She got this solid off-white one and I got this blue one with a stripe in it. Almost two-tone really. I had it for a long time, but when I left Syracuse I wasn't in as much cold as she was or I dealt with it better so I gave it back to her since she used them so much. And today, she asked me if I wanted it back.

I said, "Sure, if you want to give it back to me." and did my little bite lip, eyebrow raise and shrug thing again. She then started wondering if she loved me enough to part with some of the rest of her wool and proceeded to throw random sweaters at me so I could try them on. I honestly didn't know my mom had that much wool. We can now add wool-whore to her list of pseudo-deviancies. Honestly though,  I really don't care cause those sweaters are going to keep me sane and safe and ward during my winter months, which really last for 9 -10 months of the year, so I'll take my wool-whore and raise you some mittens.

Clarification

These question were asked so I want to make sure I'm not being to vague and confusing...

-> How much longer will you be at your current job?  ... My last day here is May 19th (Thursday), about 6.5 weeks from now.

-> I thought your new job was providing housing when you get there, why are you looking for an apartment? ... My new job will only be providing housing for 30 days then housing is my responsibility. I'm trying to get an idea of what's there now so I can check places out and get something when I get there. I don't really want to commit to an apartment sight unseen though, I am moving to Alaska sight unseen (who said I wasn't at least a little crazy)

-> If you need to furnish a place, why are you having a yard-sale?  ... I don't want to move an entire large apartment full of stuff across the country and through another country. I have a lot of stuff I've accumulated over years of living alone/with roommates that I don't really NEED. This is a really good reason to downsize. Moving costs will be quite hefty so anything I can do to keep those costs low will be quite helpful.

Drop-Off

Chair and Ottoman have been dropped off. Prices were very reasonable. Service was excellent and very professional and I'm excited to see the finished product. Super excited!!!

A funny thing happened...

A funny thing happened on the way  to the fabric store today... I turned the corner only to pull behind a car from - you guessed it - Alaska. It was at least a little bit amusing given the fact I was on my way to the fabric store to get the upholstery for the chair/ottoman in hopes of getting it back prior to my departure for that exact far-away locale.

Over 100 views

Seriously, who knew it would end up like this?

Today I go pick up the fabric and Dad's being super awesome and grabbing pieces of furniture from storage along with a couple extra boxes. I'll grab a few more when I drive past to get the fabric tonight.

It's still cold up in Bethel, High of 14 deg F. I wish Blogger had a weather widget I could add to make things a bit easier. Oh well, I'll keep letting you know the long way.

LT is my hero

So I get a text from my Mom today at work. Apparently, LT has stumbled upon a book "Living our Cultures, Sharing our Heritage, The First Peoples of Alaska" and has gifted it to none other than me, myself and I. This is a book my dad refers to a coffee table book of the various cultures of the regions of Alaska. It talks about various traditions from art, hunting, dance, beliefs and many many more. It's quite interesting I have to say. Many many HUGE thanks to LT.

On a slightly different note, my Alaska audiology license has been sent out. I called another couple places off possible upholstery places and it's looking like no slip-cover can be made so I missed getting the fabric today. Tomorrow's looking a bit busy after work hours

I came home and crashed though so I'm fairly certain I wore myself out pretty well this weekend. I'll work on some little things. I've been in email contact with some extended family in Anchorage and now know that a lot of items up there are quite expensive so I'll be trying to take some staples in my move.

High Temp of the day

Just wanted to note today's High Temp:

Norfolk: 85 degrees F
Bethel: 10 degrees F

Learning to downshift

My dad just walked up to me and asked if he could make a suggestion. He then proceeded to try and get me to get to a stopping point and do just that, stop. Apparently, 5th gear is not a good place for me to be for 48hrs or so (OK, I'll admit it may have been a few days longer than that). The good news is that I threw out 2 full bags of garbage today as well as created another bag of shredding and increased the sale pile fairly substantially (Mom is adding quite a bit in as well, making her happier. When mom's happy, everybody's happy).

I have a feeling that if we can get the yard-sale/moving-sale to bring in some people there might be a whole lotta stuff that is just gone. That truly gives me warm fuzzies.

Due to my inability to stop as of late, I think I'm going to have to institute a chill-time rule or a bed-time rule. Either way, I'll need to come down off the ride everyday from the looks of things.


Tomorrow's agenda:
> Verify the upholstery place can make a slipcover
> Finish Audiology license, get notarized and mail in
> Possibly go purchase fabric for this wonderful project
> and last but not least... more KEEP/TRASH/SELL
... oh, and of course go to work

First weekend (8 weeks to move)

This weekend has been the first since making this shin-dig official. With that in mind, we've been running around getting things done.

-> 1st, the treadmill was taken away.
-> 2nd, we visited the storage unit to get pictures of the chair and ottoman to take to the upholsterers. It's much shorter than I remember. Mom saw the fabric that was on there now and decreed (HIGHLY suggested based on a really good eye that I do NOT posses) that I was not allowed to get it recovered but instead had to get a slip-cover made. The ottoman will still get covered because it's just hideous but I'll call Monday to see if I can get them to do a slipcover and if so, how much fabric it'll take. While we were at the storage unit we grabbed boxes to throw in the back of the truck (SUV) (every load is valuable at this stage of the game and I'm not sure how much longer I'll have this vehicle) and we headed out to our next stops
-> 3rd, we visited a couple fabric stores to see what was available for the chair and ottoman. I did find one I liked. It has a pattern to it but it's much more my style than what's on it now. And colors I tend to use more when decorating. Once I make sure they can make a slip cover and get an idea how how much more/less they light need in terms of yardage, I'll go over and grab some after work.

This with a Dunkin Donuts run and a stop in TJ Max (I'm keeping my eyes peeled for Marino Wool socks and might just be buying them from everywhere in the city) brought us up to about 7:15. After dinner I went through more of the boxes for KEEP/SELL/TRASH and got some paperwork together for today...

Today is Sunday and this brings a whole new bottle of fun. I'm meeting someone to look at the car today. For those who might not already know, my vehicle is a Nissan X-Terra. It is an SUV built on a ladder-box frame. It is the only SUV consumer reports rates for off-roading (and YES, I have off-roaded minorly with it, not rock-crawling or anything like that but definitely off the beaten path where a civic or camry would get stuck). This gentleman is looking for a car for his wife so I'm hoping his wife is OK with truck-like suspension and handling. It idles louder, it's a V6, it's an on-demand 4x4. We're meeting to test drive and go over some features this morning and see what happens.

Then later, tagging some yard-sale items. Good fun. Ha

:)

Treadmill is gone! Woot Woot!

Screw Tiptoeing... I'm going Trompin

So the evening I got the email saying they were offering me the position, I came home and logged into 6pm.com. For those that are unaware of this website, it's the clearance/discount sister site to Zappo's (really kick-booty shoes- let's get something out of the way here... I am trying to reform my language so I will occasionally put in something a little 'off', sorry).

Back to the point... So I came home and went to 6pm.com right away and looked up boots. My mind was boggled, however, I was soon introduced the the world of temperature ratings and found Sorel boots to add to my love of all things Keen. I found a few pairs that sparked my interest and quickly filled up my shopping cart. Steep discounts rock my world.

Today I arrived home to a box (the size of my 80 lb lab) filled with my 3 pairs of boots bound for helping me prepare for Alaska. You a little curious yet?

These are the "Red Keen's" They're a shorter book but pretty warm. Slightly big.

These are the "Tall Boots". I may find better ones in AK for certain types of weather but it's really hard for me to find boots that work on my calves and these do. Woot woot!

And these are the Sorel's. The crown jewel of the bunch. rated to -40 degrees. TRIPLE WOOT WOOT!!!

Yard Sale!!!

So instead of donating all my crap and getting to write off at most like $500 or so on taxes, we've opted to have a yard-sale... In looking at the details of said sale we found out that Norfolk is even stranger than we thought. First, you can't post signs. The cops will bring them to you. So we'll post something in the paper and on Craigslist and see what happens. Second, there's a license fee... seriously? Oy. What're we gonna do though? I need to get rid of my stuff and whatever doesn't go I'll donate after the sale. There are a few bigger items I'll try to sell of Craigslist if they don't go in the sale but we'll see.

Found a place to upholster my chair/ottoman so I've gotta take that in asap. I'll go on a fabric hunt this weekend and then Mom and I will take the pieces in to get recovered next week. Once I dig them out of storage, I'll post a before and after pic. I got the chair off a former employer and I got the ottoman from my grandmother. The chair has a print on it from when they lived in France I believe and just doesn't match my taste but it's SUPER comfy and the ottoman has this chevron pattern from the 70's or something. When you use them together they are seriously the most comfortable set in the world. I ADORE them. I can't tell you how many times I've fallen asleep curled up in them. So I've decided I'm finally making them match. Especially since that and a pair of bookshelves are some of the only furniture I'm taking (I'm pretty sure I'm close to certifiable). Not 100% sure of my new bed size so I'll have a variety of bedsheets more than likely and I'll be whittling everything else down too. That's one way to clean out the sock drawer.

BTW, care pkgs of SMARTWOOL will always be accepted and they make long sleeve shirts so feel free to not be skimpy ;).

So over the next few weeks, my mind will be consumed with 3 piles, KEEP, TOSS and SELL. It's like that TV show on HGTV, except real-life and hard-core. Did you ever imagine me as hard-core? Seriously?

Oooh, ooh, I'm going to put up a to-do list next. He he he he... this blog thing might be really really fun or really really obnoxious. Either way. Remind me if I'm forgetting something if you've made a cross-country move please. I don't want to forget something ridiculously stupid.

hehe

Life is full of small pleasures. I just found out that there actually IS cell phone coverage. Whoo Hoo! Also, internet is slow, but what else can be expected up in the Great White Yonder. Get this... It's 2G in that area and they just got their first Android phone. I'm super stoked!!!

And, decided not to get a car till I get up there. Not sure exactly how yet, but I will figure it out.

It's official...

A (lower right) is Norfolk, Virginia (where I am right now).
B (upper left) is Bethel, Alaska (where I'll be moving early June)

I have accepted the position as an Audiologist at the hospital in Bethel, Alaska at the Yukon-Kuskokwim Health Corporation Hospital and I've resigned at Ear, Nose and Throat, Ltd. I will miss everybody I work with now, but I'm really looking forward to the chance to try something completely different. You might notice from this little image that this really is a bit of a trek. Also, you may notice Anchorage, AK. This is the place I'll be heading to get my big shopping like Costco runs and then have it flown in.

I highly recommend looking at the links on the right for "Bethel, AK" and getting a feel for the scope of what I'm in for. About 6500 people. 16 miles of road (10 of which are paved). Also, Bethel is the taxi-cab capital of the US. I'll be serving about 30,000 people from about 56 Tribes who will fly into my hospital in my little town of 6500. Just yesterday, or was it two days ago, they had a blizzard. There's an annual dog-sled race that's a prep race before the big one and I have about 8 weeks to get myself ready to move there. BTW, there's more information in my brain than I know what to do with right now.

Just an idea of what's on the To-Do... sell car, buy new car, cull through what to keep vs what to sell, have yard sale, cancel all memberships, change banks, get all healthcare records and verification of vaccines or titers, purge personal records, get chair and ottoman recovered (probably only furniture I'm keeping), organize movers estimate and then move, figure out why it takes my stuff 4-6 weeks to arrive, get new car winterized, start looking for a new place to live, and set up a Skype account.

Oh yeah, and sleep. Back to that list, see ya back here soon.

Rapid Onset

So I learned some time ago that big cities were not my cup of tea. I get done at work, head home, and somehow de-stress for some period of time before I feel like I can face the world again. The heartbeat is too strong in the bigger cities. I get my people fix at work then I go home and enjoy the silence and even made sure my dog responded to clicks and hand commands as well as spoken commands so I wouldn't have to worry about talking most days.

I can't remember how many times I've told people I wanted to move to the 'middle of nowhere'. Granted I was thinking along the line of Wyoming or Montana, maybe Colorado. Then, someone suggested Alaska. I'd never thought about that before, but I looked and found jobs in cities that were small and remote. Places with no highways, no shopping malls or even cell phone coverage (that one's going to take a little getting used to). I found a job posting for a hospital in a town that's not even accessible by road and submitted my application. 2 days later my phone rings. A week after submitting that application, I'm being offered the job and deciding to move to the Northwest corner of the continent (well almost). Type in zip code 99559 in googlemaps. That's where I'm headed in 2 months time.

I have a lot to figure out. What stays, what goes, what's sold off to the highest bidder? And in all that mess... I have to embrace the fact that my life is about to change. This is nothing like anything I've ever experienced and may never again. I plan on taking pictures and hopefully learning a bit about local culture. I'll definitely learning to cook between not being able to eat out and also needing to eat Gluten Free.

I know the area I'll be living in doesn't have the magnificent trees and mountain ranges much of the rest of Alaska has, but they do have an annual dogsled race and bush-planes to arrive to and fro. Please keep coming back to see what's going on, and let me know what you want to know. I should have internet and won't have cell phone but this should be a most interesting experience. Come along for the ride.