We Quit

We quit! Yep, we quit our jobs! February 9th, 2017 is our last day. Paul gave notice just before Christmas and I told my boss on Friday the 13th! The humour of that, while lost on some people, was not lost on me and I will admit to a giggle about it. Luckily our coworkers are very excited for us and have been great. For both of us the build up to quitting was bigger than the reality. It was almost like nothing changed but then reality kicked in and “shit got real”. So, we quit, now what? Everything! All the stuff we have talked about but couldn’t or didn’t act on needs doing. We need to decide what we are keeping, what’s going to charity, arrange last-minute appointments, organise our finances, pack and test pack. There is so much to do. I say this as I sit here typing but consider it a needed break since I made a bad decision about cleaning the BBQ and then using it, but I digress.

This is what our apartment looks like. Those that know me understand that I am slowly going crazy, part of my personality is in the fetal position, twitching. We sleep on an air bed and sit in our camping chairs to watch our TV… which is a computer monitor… resting on boxes. I remember the camping chairs being much more comfortable than they are. The missing factors are a campfire, friends and copious alcohol consumption.

Packing up the apartment

We may have sold the furniture too soon, but with good reason. Despite the optimistic articles you read Calgary’s economy isn’t doing well and people aren’t spending. It is the worst we’ve seen since moving here in 1993. We didn’t want the day before we leave spent running around and trying to dispose of things. Paul, aka “Kijiji king”, had the furniture posted and sold same day. There are a few things we want to keep though, and thankfully Paul’s parents have been kind enough to offer up some storage space in their basement.

I have now taken several breaks from this to shuffle boxes, convincing myself: be cut-throat in what we are giving away. In August I told myself I would only unpack things as needed, anything not used, we could just give away. Unfortunately, things didn’t go to plan and everything found a place. Now we are trying to decide do we use that? What would the cost be to replace it? How easy is it to pack? The focus this week is the kitchen… I like to cook and over the years have collected lots of useful things. These are items we will use when we settle down and are in great shape. Tupperware anyone? Paul has even convinced me to keep a set of Corelle, yep the Corelle I have tried to get rid of for 20 years (thanks Cory Berg ). Will wonders never stop? When we originally started planning we went a little crazy and got rid of a few things that in hindsight we could have kept.

The spiralizer, sold it and Erin let us buy it back, with the promise to part with it before we leave. The mixer has gone to a good home. I know it will be well used but I’m still waiting on my cookies. I’m sure that was part of the deal, right Kristen? Again, I digress and now want a cookie. Sadly, I’ve been typing this up for a week which equals avoidance of packing. It’s been busy but I am not complaining and truly know how lucky we are. Our families support our decision and our friends are excited for us. What more could a person ask for? In 31 sleeps we will be on our way to a new adventure! Can’t hardly wait!