The past few days have been exhausting. I've been packing for days. And then the movers came on Wednesday. Of course they gave me a hard time about fitting their very long semi-truck into my apartment complex. For those that are unfamiliar with the professional moving process, a very long semi-truck is used to transport multiple family's belongings. So even though we don't have a lot of furniture, they still had to fit a gigantic moving truck into our apartment complex. Of course it fit, they just had to work a little harder at it. It took two movers about five hours to move all my stuff from the second story apartment to the truck. I was also told that I pack my books in too large of boxes. Again, for those unfamiliar with the moving process, you should pack books in small boxes because they are heavy and you need to lift the boxes. Even though the boxes were a little large, my thought was that these were professional movers and they should be able to handle it. I think for professional movers, these people whined a little too much. I was told that our household goods would arrive on Friday or Saturday of next week. The nice thing about that is Dad and I won't arrive in Washington until Sunday night, so Robb will be in charge of the move in. I think that's fair. I'm in charge of move out, he's in charge of move in.
After the movers left, I didn't have much time to relax. I began cleaning the apartment right away. First I had to vacuum the inches of cat hair that had accumulated under the bed and throughout the apartment. Then I began on the deep cleaning: patching holes, dusting all surfaces, cleaning the blinds, scrubbing the fridge and stove, etc. This cleaning process has convinced me to create a more regular cleaning schedule at our new place, so that I won't have to work so hard at our next move out. I am so grateful that my good friend Kelly came over and offered to help clean. So she dusted the blinds, slat by slat, and we had good wine and conversation. The next night she came over and helped me move a futon from the apartment to my dumpster. I must say that she was really excited about throwing the mattress over the edge of the balcony. It's really wonderful to have a friend great enough to help with the dirty work! (In the pictures I'm cleaning the blinds and Kelly is throwing a mattress pad over the balcony.)
I was able to finish up cleaning Friday morning and gave back my keys, loaded the cats in the car, and drove 2 hours to the Tampa Bay area to stay with my parents. For the record, Jack is a very good traveler and just relaxes in the car. Malibu is NOT as content and insisted on meowing and panting the entire way. The vet told me to consider giving the cats benodryl to relax them. That option is being seriously considered.
1 comment:
I agree with you that you apparently got stuck with the "Whiner's Division" of the Mover's Union; those guys drive in and out of apartment complexes all the time with their van, and they surely have picked up boxes of books before -- I mean, they DID seek employment as MOVERS, no? Crabbing away at single female customers must be the only happiness they find on the job between paydays; I'll bet they would have been much more pleasant if Big Robb had been standing there in the doorway. They could probably find fault with any customer even if everything was "perfect." They must miss saying, "Y'want fries with that?" and their jaunty paper hats from their previous jobs . . .
I'm glad you're spending some fun time with your extended family in the Largo area before you hit the open road again. Please say hi to your family for me, if you read this before departure; it was such a pleasure for me to meet and spend time with them in December, 2005.
Regarding the use of Benadryl, or diphenhydramine hydrochloride for the pacing paws in the car: the good news is that it's available as a cheap generic at any pharmacy or grocery store medicine aisle, can be bought in 25mg. caplets which can be crushed into kitty's food, or can be found in a children's liquid formula which can be "droppered" into food or water. When given to children, it's always dosed according to weight if they're under age 12, so with the cat, I'd try a really small amount at first -- maybe a quarter of a 25mg. caplet, or roughly 6mgs. ALSO, be aware that a Paradoxical Reaction can occur, making your cat more jittery and unconsolable until the medication is completely out of it's system; this is more common than the general public may think. I'd give it a trial while you're still in Largo to see what Malibu's response is: length of onset, note positive and negative reactions (including paradoxical), length of sedation time, appearance of a "hangover effect," etc.
Wow! It's great to be able to use some of my pharmacy technician knowledge again! And please keep updating your blog, as you find the time.
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