Moving

I am quickly remembering why I said my last move would be the last I ever made.  Experienced movers have my highest respect.  It took a full year to get all of my stuff from the old house to the new house on my last move and they were only a half a mile apart!  Packing this time around has certainly taken less time than before, but is also much more complicated.  Since we are keeping our house in Doniphan, we must decide what to take and what to leave and determine what we will need more in each location.  Suddenly items I have used perhaps once in the last 10 years become necessities I cannot imagine living without.  I never make cut out cookies and decorate them, but what if I decide I now want to and do not have the necessary tools?  So many decisions to make!  Fortunately, we are finished packing with the exception of a few items we cannot really pack until the very last minute.

While the packing is relatively complete, there are still a lot of tiny details that must be dealt with before leaving - changing addresses, getting phone and television hook up in Nanwalek etc.  Driving through Canada has become a much larger undertaking than we ever imagined.  They are quite concerned about firearms entering their country so two faxes and countless e-mails and phone calls later, we are still waiting on the final authorization to transport them through the country.  We must also present a complete list (in triplicate) of every item we will be transporting through Canada.  My list currently consists of 10 typed, single spaced pages, but I must confess to being deliberately difficult.  I could create columns shortening the page length and items such as hand towels, bath towels, and kitchen towels are separate listings.  My secret hope is they will see my lengthy, overly detailed list and decide not to exercise their right to go through each and every container.  We also plan to cross the border late afternoon in the hopes the border patrol will be tired, cranky, and much less inclined to take a peek at everything.  The less time we spend at the border, the sooner we reach our destination and get off the road!  We'll see if all works as planned.