Waiting for ?

Hmmmm. It's wait time, and as I tend to be somewhat impatient to complete projects, I find it trying. We are waiting for an offer on the Art Gallery; waiting for our buyer to sell her home; waiting for the Panama Consulate to reply; waiting for our newly arranged suite to become available; waiting to pack, to unpack, to move! Funnily, when you are in this mode, all the plans seem unreal and far off, as though we were joking all along. NOT!

No second guessing here, but this past month has seemed to drag...that's not all bad as the weather is great, I feel like I'm on vacation, there's enough activity at the gallery, and pressures to document etc are gone. August will pick up, especially if sales in the Real Estate area increase. Then it will be all last minute preparation of course. Strange how so many of us perform better under pressure.

Thoughts... an overseas move involves much preparation and planning with a long time-line. Cannot avoid that! Then comes the slump time when the planning starts to show results, albeit very slowly. Finally, more work as the plan really swings into gear and all that pre-work pays off. At present, I use this time to sort and cull "stuff". This is a very necessary step in the planning as like most folks, we have collected much that is basically worthless. I have three categories: retain, reject(essentially give away or throw away), and recycle(give away or re-purpose). I have filled several blue bags with paper (OMG, all those trees!), packed many boxes of books(mostly texts), donated cushions, furniture, clothing, shoes, drapes, bedding, dishes et al. A good part of the plan all round!

We will have two smaller bases once done: the small apartment in Canada with some much loved leather seating (couch and loveseat) a cosy chair, storage cabinets, a small dinette, a small desk and bookcase area, and our "old" bed. The kitchen is new, and we have lots of matched dishes to use, only needing to buy a small set of saucepans so far. Some new towels, use of current rugs, and the use of stored draperies will finish the space comfortably. We had bought several new pieces in recent years, so, our as yet un-built home in Panama will get the new dining set, the master bedroom suite, my new office furniture, the blue guest bedroom furniture and will only need living and patio furniture plus a sofa bed for the 3rd bedroom. I hope! I plan for computers in both locations preferably with fax, and we will definitely use SKYPE for much of our family contact. Many changes could occur as we move forward(eventually). Difficult decisions re what to take to Panama and what to leave in Canada include our paintings/pictures, books, photographs, personal keepsakes...so much hinges on whether either of us will live permanently in Canada again!! I suspect I will return at some point. In fact, we have already agreed that if we absolutely hate living there, no problem, we'll just come back.

I still have to catalogue EVERYTHING that will be shipped and value it for the movers insurance; the cost will be 3% of the valuation. So far the estimate to crate and ship what we plan to take will cost about $15,000. Add to that some costs for storage once shipped. Allied provides 120 days included in their price, then we will pay around $165 per month until unpacked. The up-side is that we will not pack anything and the company will unpack in each designated room for us to put away our belongings.