Shawl Photo, on Moving and Other Bits of Randomness

No sense crying over spilled soap?  We had sent the children to wash their hands before dinner as usual.  Only J was last and she has developed this habit of playing in the water for the longest time.  So long that gradually it starts to dawn on you that you've been listening to the water run for quite some time, at which point you go in to tell her that's enough only to find she hasn't even put soap on her hands yet.  This is aggravating to say the least and explaining to her that not only having the water run that long is not good for the environment but we also pay for water consumption makes no impact.  Okay she's 4, she doesn't get it yet but we're working on her.

So it was another one of these times when both hubs and I start yelling for her to speed it up as we're all waiting for her.  So O decides to add his mite and proceeds to go into the bathroom to get her.  Well, I'm distracted what with serving supper out on the plates etc and I'm not really aware of what's going on until we hear an odd noise followed by screams from J.  Have I mentioned that she's a screamer?  Hubs goes into the bathroom only to be greeted by the sight of smashed bottle of liquid handsoap pooling all over the floor between the counter and toilet.  Oh yeah.  Add to this the fact that I had recently in a fit of organized efficiency just filled the soap container to the brim so that I can back the refill container.  Surely that would be enough soap to last us for the two weeks to the move.  Who would have thought plastic would break like that.  I certainly didn't.  For the record this container was one of those hard plastic types that you buy to match your decor etc.  So we had fun cleaning that up.  Ten minutes later we had a margarine container full of soap filled with hair.  Oh yum.  While we recently cleaned the bathroom, I swear we are a family of shedders.  While my husband likes to blame me and the girls, I like to point out that a good many of those are body hairs. heh heh.

Okay if I haven't grossed you out too much... I'd like to show you E's shawl that she made for shawl dance.

It's actually a dark blue material, the flash seemed to fade it out quite a bit.  You can see where the bottom part looks unfinished but is actually done in a lighter red pain.  I have to say I like the more colourful parts the best.  It's supposed to be a hummingbird. one or two?  I'm not sure. ;)

She was tickled to think that I was going to put it on my blog.

E:  "What's a Blog mom"
Me:  "Well, a blog is where mommy writes about our life, like a journal, do you want to see it?"
E:  "Sure"
Me: "There it is, I post recipes and photos and talk about lots of stuff."
E:  "oh neat.  Can I go watch t.v. now?"

*LOL*

I guess it wasn't exciting enough for her.  Of course I haven't been posting many photos lately.  Still I told her I would let her know what everyone had to say about her shawl... so those of you who don't usually comment why not start today and make E's day!  The rest of you who do, I know you will make my girl happy!

Just slightly less than two weeks to go.  We are making a lot of progress.  My mom took the kids yesterday for part of the day and it gave us a nice break from them and an opportunity to pack without them.  Yeah.  They seem to delight in discovering every little stinking thing that we want to get rid of and suddenly declaring it as their most favourite item of all time.  This be it a toy, ribbon or broken flashlight.  And there most favourite thing to do is climb in the empty boxes.  Which would be fine only after the three of them start horsing around usually the box ends up being destroyed.

Here are my moving tips of the week:

Hiring Movers

• Most movers charge by the hour and they estimate how many hours it takes by the amount of junk stuff you have.  Don't always go with the lowest but with the most realistic estimate.  They will come out to your house and do a free estimate.  Getting a feel for the sales person that comes into your home can tell you a lot about a company. 
• It's always a good idea to check with your local Better Business Bureau to see if there has been a history of complaints. 
• Moving has changed a lot.  Often what differentiates a company if the hourly rates are the same, are the services they provide.  Most provide free boxes and packing material.  Does your mover charge you overnight storage if you need to move over two days?  Good to know. 

Here's one for a chuckle.  We asked two moving companies to come in and give us a quote.  Because of the time we are getting possession of our new home the movers have to pick up one day and deliver the next. 

One quoted us $130.00 an hour and approximately 9 - 10 hours, 4 - 5 hours per day, coming in around $1,300.00.  The second one quoted us $139.00 and 18.5 hours,  9 Hours each day.  for a grand total of $2,997.00.  That's right,  $3,000.00 to move us 60 km up the road. 

 I emailed the 2nd guy back and said, hey are you sure you put down the right amount there it seems a little high.  To which he responded back that it was just an estimate if the time takes less then we'll be charged less etc and we have a lot of stuff blah blah.  Sure, we do but he's the professional.  If he's estimating 18.5 hours and we sign off on that you can darn well be sure that they won't be hustling their asses to make the time go faster.  Crazy. 

Well my MIL has come down about 5 times while I've been trying to get this done and surely is thinking what a lazy packer I am so I better sign off and get some work done.  

Have a great day!