What do you do the day before a big move? I took full advantage of wood furniture empty without knickknacks littering their surfaces and polished them with love. A love they rarely see on a normal day. I did every last bit of laundry! Why you ask? It's not like I don't have a machine in the new place! I also got a pedicure for the last time at my spa Caroline Legault, and a haircut for the last time with Mel at St. Laurent Trends.
Yep, that's what experts around the world diagnose as abnormal and slightly crazy. It would have been full on crazy if I started polishing the silverware too.
Polished me and our belongings ready for the final move out event. I have to say at Clan Panneton http://www.leclanpanneton.ca these guys do what they say and say what they do. In addition, they're very inexpensive. Friday morning experienced movers' (22++ years) Alan and Eric had our "abundant shit" moved out in just over 4 hours. Impressive!
They were off and running to the Ontario border whilst I was moping the floors before we left and that's when Mike realized he was missing his car/house/condo keys!!
"Call the movers!!" as we quickly realized it was packed away in his jacket on the truck!
Hmmm change locks on the house or go find the movers and get those keys back!!? Option B, luckily they were only down the road at Tim Horton's having lunch.
As my faithful brother Adam headed out with some items to store in his garage and become the new owner of other items, Mike and I started the task of feeding Gravol to Vickie and Ellie.
Stowed away in separate rooms I prepared 1/3 of a Gravol per plate hidden within some wet food and brought to each of the cats to devour. The veterinary said it was the best option for their age to make them drowsy for the long drive. Be warned it's not effective on all cats but it's better than having two anxious cats on a five hour car ride.
Vickie in true form ate all her food as if it were the last supper. Ellie on the other hand nibbled her way to the pill and stopped at its distasteful likeness.
It left us with no choice but to give it to her the old fashioned way, open mouth, close and stroke chin until swallowed. Except this stubborned pill that was already moist from the food sat in her mouth dissolving which made Ellie produce copious amounts of saliva to counter the sourness. So much that when she shook her head it was as if a St. Bernard was there, as loads of her spit flung everywhere around her. Freaked out and thinking we poisoned poor Ellie I called the vet for advice.
The vet technician assured me Ellie was just creating saliva to get rid of the Gravol's taste and no harm was done. Relieved I finished cleaning Ellie's saliva off the walls, floors and Mike's shirt and into the car they went. Separate cat boxes smoothed up against the front seats wedge between frozen food and computer equipment. Vickie is going to love this....
As we made our way down the 401 it was very clear which cat the Gravol worked on and which it did not! The constant "meow" to remind us that this was not part of the deal for Ellie would only subside after about 1.5 hours into the drive. It was a grand test of Mike's limited patience, luckily she gave up and starred hopelessly outside.
Upon arrival at their new home I sprayed a pheromone product Feliway in all the rooms to give them a calming familiar sense. The cats walked out of their cages and quickly covered the entire condo taking in all the new smells and dimensions. Mission accomplished, now we order food and wait for our precious crap to arrive in the morning. Our first night in our new home as one family, Ellie still slept at my feet and Vickie in her bed. Some things stay exactly the same, no matter the province you live in.
