It's hard to believe I received the formal offer letter just five days ago. It seems like a much longer time than that has passed, and it also seems hard to believe that there are still three weeks to go. Until I got the formal offer I refused to write anything down, plan-wise, lest I jinx it. But I was keeping a mental list of things which needed to be done, a list that turns out to have been quite detailed and long because when I actually wrote it down, it took up two pages.
I've jumped right into it, paranoid about leaving things till the last minute. Here's what I've done in the last five days:
1.) Made appointments for the cats to get current on their rabies shots and get micro-chipped.
2.) Bought the cats safety collars (break-away) for the trip so they can wear their rabies tags and new ID tags, which I also got. Because micro-chipping alone isn't enough to assuage Mama Cat's paranoia about one of them getting lost along the way.
3.) Bought the cats carriers for the trip. Minx, Morsel and Thundercat all get along well, and will ride together in the gigantic
Sof-Krate I bought for them. It's actually a soft-sided dog crate for larger breed dogs, but will nicely accomodate three cats with room to move about and lie down. Miss Lilly, since she is a calico and therefore does not play well with others gets
her own crate, also large enough to move around a little. Each cage will hold small food and water dishes. I also found the coolest corner litter pans, meant for ferret cages, which will fit in each. Not, of course, that they will be used but it seemed only polite to provide them. Actually, they may use them -- when
Baby Boy was first diagnosed with dilated cardiomyopathy he spent some time in an oxygen cage, kindly donated by a friend. It's basically a large dog cage, sealed in with plastic sheeting with a hole for a hose that runs to an oxygen concentrator. I used to put a small pan of litter in there for him, and he'd just put his hindquarters in and use it.
4.) Made arrangements to return said oxygen cage to said friend. She, like myself, is now caring for a second heart kitty, but like my Lilly, her cat is still asymptomatic as well. So it's been in my storage space for two years. Back it goes!
5.) Researched the route to Albuquerque, and found pet friendly hotels for the cats ... okay, there seems to be a cat-related trend going on here. Anyway, while a lot of hotels are pet friendly, we're somewhat restricted because "pet-friendly" usually means "friendly to one or two cats" and I have four. So it's places like Econolodge and Motel 6 and other places which have exterior corridors which make it easier to sneak in additional cats.
6.) Got my car lubed, oiled, filtered, had the belts checked, tired balanced and rotated (they're new-ish), the alignment checked, and the A/C recharged. If you live in eastern Massachusetts, go to
Hogan Tire for your automotive needs, specifically the North Beverly location. They rock. It needs one more thing, a new catalytic converter -- though I could in theory let this go -- which gets done next Friday.
7.) Called my bank and worked out when to get new accounts and all that -- they have a branch in Albuquerque, so no problems there.
8.) Packed up my kitchen, sorted for "keep" and "yard sale."
9.) Packed up my living room knickknack thingies.
10.) Cleaned out one of my storage spaces, sorted things for "keep" and "yard sale."
11.) Sorted out my 400+ books, got rid of most that I will not be keeping via donation.
12.) With my mother's help (thanks Mom!) took my bed apart and brought it outside for whoever might want it. It's an old wooden platform bed, which would fetch nothing at a yard sale, and this basically emptied out the bedroom, which we cleaned. This way, I can store all the yard sale stuff in there which gives me a lot more room. I put the mattress on my futon, so I'll be sleeping in the living room from now on. I also disassembled and threw out the old cat tree. Which someone picked up right away. Even though it was raining that day and even though it's four years old and the sisal has mostly been ripped away. But I did vacuum off the worst of the cat hair before I chucked it.
13.) Got the yard sale permit. They're free, but in a small town with minimal serious crime, the police actually do check to make sure you have the permit and will shut you down if you don't have it.
14.) Brought home some boxes from work and two bags of foam packing peanuts which, fortuitously, were in said boxes.
15.) Started training the three students in the lab to do all those assays and cells stuff I do now.
16.) Brought some stuff to Mom's for temporary (really, I promise) storage. Actually, much of it was hers to start with. She'll send it along after we move into our new apartment.
17.) Got a new apartment. Actually, Dancing in Socks Guy did this. His current apartment is a smallish one bedroom, which we might have gotten away with if it had just been us. But, there are of course the six cats to consider, so we wanted a two bedroom. Luckily, thanks to the end-of-semester student exodus, there is a ton of stuff available at the moment, but we really wanted to stay in the area he's in now. It's literally right across the street from the university and less than two miles from where I'll be working. This could have waited till I got there, but school starts up again in August, which means things start getting rented in July. Luckily, a two-bedroom in the complex where he is now opened up which made it so easy -- he's already a tenant there, so there was no fuss, just a small transfer fee. Sweet! Of course, this means we spend three days driving across the country, have one day to recover and then have to move to a new place. But it's literally fifty feet from where he lives now, and his friends will help. They'll have to because I'll be at work that day. Not a full day, just HR stuff. Oh, darn.
18.) I also got my signed offer letter and non-disclosure agreements signed and mailed to the new job.
19.) I also resigned my per diem home-health aide job. I was actually working Sunday nights for them, on a pretty regular basis, which I guess makes it more of a part-time job. My last day for them is the fifteenth. I will miss them, they're a great agency.
20.) Got a copy of my birth certificate -- actually, Mom did (thanks again, Mom!). Although she did ask, "Will they let me get a copy of
your certificate?" To which I answered, "Did you give birth to me?" I lose my birth certificates all the time, mainly because replacing it has never been a big deal since I live ten miles from where I was born. This is about to change.
21.) Found my social security card
and the title to my car! I filed away the loan maturity stuff the finance company mailed me when I paid off my car, and couldn't remember if the title was in there, an issue because I'll need it when I change my registration, and getting a copy of a car title in Massachusetts is a uniquely challenging experience. But there it was.
All that. In five days. And there's still so much more to do!
Elle
