(Picture of our appartment building on Terrebonne street)
The Move
by Chantal Bellehumeur
My boyfriend Jeff and I knew we wanted to live together early in our relationship and it soon became a question of when. We decided on the summer of 2015.
At first, we considered looking for a new place in my neighbourhood, Notre-Dame de Grace (NDG) so that my fourteen year old son Aidan could continue going to the same high school and also still live close to the majority of his friends. We were going to look for a 4 1/2 apartment like Aidan and I lived in, or a 5 1/2 to feel less crowded.
I have to admit that the thought of both myself and Jeff vacating our apartments and moving into a new place at the same time started stressing me out. I figured it would be much easier for Jeff to simply move in with Aidan and I, not to mention less expensive.
Although my rent went up every year, I paid much less than the average tenant in my neighbourhood because I had lived in the same place for so long. When Jeff and I looked online for places in NDG, we found the rent rates high.
We knew of neighbourhoods in the Montreal area where rent was much cheaper, but none that we wanted to reside in even if we didn't have Aidan to think about.
Continuing to live in my apartment seemed like the most logical thing to do in my opinion.
Aside from being able to keep a relatively low rent, I thought it would be cheaper if we only had to pay for moving costs on one end. I was ready to split the costs of Jeff's move if he was willing to come live with myself and Aidan.
Jeff needed to think about it when I first suggested slowly moving in with Aidan and I because I lived in a basement apartment and he did not find that enough light came in. It had never been a problem for me personally. In fact, I liked the dark and barely ever turned on any lights when I was home. Jeff was the opposite. He was also used to living where the natural light of the sun came shining through his open living room and kitchen area as well as his large bedroom. I had a lot of bushes and flower beds in front of my windows which obstructed some of the sunlight from coming in during the day.
After only a couple days of thinking, Jeff told me over the phone that he was okay with moving in with me. I felt relieved; not just because I thought it would be less stressful, but also because it was the only place I had ever lived in after moving out on my own and it had been Aidan's home since birth. The place was filled with memories and we both liked it there. It was a decent place in a good location; residential, but minutes away from a shopping and dinning area where street festivals occurred in the summer.
The building located on De Terrebonne was only four stories high, had a nice lobby which had been recently renovated, and we had two washing machines as well as dryers in the huge garage to do laundry in. I didn't have to carry the bins of dirty clothing up or down any stairs since I was on the same level as the garage/laundry room. The garbage could be brought in the garage at any time so I never had to think about garbage day.
I was also on the same level as the storage rooms and my walk in locker, which was included in the rent, was right next door to my apartment so was easily accessible. When Jeff agreed to move in, I asked for a second locker and was given one at no extra charge the same day beside the locker I already had. It was perfect.
Three big rubbermaid bins filled with Halloween props were moved from my bedroom to the extra storage, opening up the room and giving it a less claustrophophic feel. It made a big difference.
I wanted to clear more space, but when I did that the areas just felt empty. I kept having to visualize Jeff's stuff for me not to have a panic attack. I did not deal well with drastic changes. Plus, I was also used to finding room for things, and only got rid of stuff when I needed to. That manly only happened when Aidan grew out of his clothes or felt his toys were no longer age appropriate.
We did a couple garage sales in the past, but I did not find that they were worth it. I mainly liked to just take a walk and put bags of unwanted items in donation bins when I needed to get rid of stuff.
Getting fresh air, no mater what the reason, was always good for me. I didn't tend to go out much in the winter because I disliked the cold, but I tried to go outdoors as much as I could in the spring and summer when it was warm out.
We didn't have a balcony like the tenants of the upper apartments, but we could make use of the large side yard anytime. Aidan played there in the winter as a child, building snowmen and forts with my help. In the summer, we had BBQ's or simply brought our home cooked meals on a wooden tray outdoors to eat when it was nice out.
Sometimes, I took lilacs from the yard's tree after it bloomed. The purple flowers smelled nice and decorated the apartment nicely, even after they died because I would let them dry up in a glass vase.
There were nice flower beds around the building as well as green grass, and a long gravel driveway led to the garage door on the side. We could use the garden hose if needed. It was very useful when we wanted to put out the charcoals of our portable BBQ.
It was almost like living in a house without having to pay for heating, hot water, or anything that broke.
Aidan and I had been friends with our only basement neighbours who lived right across the hall from us for ruffly eight years, but Wendy, Mike and their two daughters Molly and Olivia moved the previous winter. We kept in touch though, and visited them in the house Mike and Wendy bought not too far away from us.
The university students who moved in the apartment after Mike and Wendy left had parties sometimes, but I never complained because they were always done on the weekend and we barely heard them the majority of the time. Apparently, Jeff's neighbours were a lot worst. He was not going to miss them.
One thing Jeff was going to have to get used to was the noises my superintendent made. Denise and Tony lived right above me on the first floor with their teenaged children. When they walked around, we could hear their heavy footsteps as well as the occasional sound of a cane hitting the hardwood floor. We could also hear the floorboards creek. Sometimes they dropped things on the floor and it sounded like they were playing bowling. I was often amazed that the ceiling had not caved in yet.
We had a good relationship with Denise and Tony, who had seen Aidan grow up. Although we didn't know everyone else who resided in the building, each person we ever ran into were always very nice and polite. I felt safe living there, and it was also convenient.
Everything we needed was a just short walk away; grocery stores, pharmacies, banks, parks, and even the library as well as the sports centre where you could go swimming for free. We had many options as far as public transportation was concerned; six different busses could take us to four different metro stations.
Jeff was used to a two minute walk to get to a metro station, so that would be an adjustment for him. But, he liked the fact that everything else was close; especially cafes. A new one called O Grace de Madeleine opened up near my place, soon to be his, and we claimed it as one of our favourites. They had good coffee, fresh patsies, and excellent service. The friendly staff made it feel very homey.
After we received our lease renewals, I extended mine for another year while Jeff informed his landlord that he was moving out of his 2 1/2 third floor apartment after about a dozen years of living there. He knew Mrs. Wong would be very happy to do major renovations and raise the rent as much as she could.
The only novelty in Jeff's apartment since he lived there had been the look of the bathroom. During the week long renovation time, he had to use the bathroom in a vacant apartment. Another bathroom apartment was being renovated at the same time, so the bathroom of the vacant apartment was shared.
Some renovations had been done in my apartment over the fourteen and a half years I had lived there. My bathroom had been completely redone because a pipe had burst, and the kitchen tiles had been replaced. A few minor repairs had been done too.
I painted all the walls and in the process the doors as well so they were all white. The outside of the entrance door was dark green like all the others in the building. During the holidays, I liked to put two thick red ribbons across it as well as a matching bow where the ribbons met to make the door look like a big Christmas present.
I was not the only one decorating the exterior of my apartment. The Superintendents decorated the metal railings of the staircases with fake pine tree garlands furnished with small red bows as well as multicoloured lights to make it look festive, and hung a wreath in the horizontal window right above the front doors.
Denise and Tony also decorated for Halloween and whoever wanted to help give away candies to the trick or treaters got dressed up in something spooky. I did that many times when Aidan wanted to spend Halloween with his friends.
We had friendly neighbours despite their scary appearances on Halloween night.
Sometimes the tenants would leave things they no longer wanted or needed in the garage for anyone to take. I took a lot of good stuff in throughout the years, and left a few things for others too.
I gradually started getting rid of some of my things to make room for Jeffs', starting with three unmatching tables I had in the front hallway, and an old uncomfortable dark brown couch that previously belonged to my parents. The thin fabric the cushions of that couch rested on were held by metal. With Aidan's help, I put the tables as well as the couch outside in the side yard by the three tall green recycling bins and they were gone the next time I went out.
Jeff was originally going to bring stuff over a little at a time and then rent a truck at the end of June to move the remainder of his belongings. However, after we got married in April we decided to advance the moving day.
My best friend Sarah and her boyfriend Thomas were getting married on the 17th of May so we would be out of town near Ottawa that weekend, and Jeff's pregnant sister Heather was due at the end of May so we decided to move on the weekend between those two events.
Until then, I did a cleanup of my bedroom closet as well as the kitchen cupboards and linen closet, got rid of a wobbly small white bookshelf I had since I was a kid... Everything was gradual.
Aidan did a massive clean up as well, putting things he no longer wanted in small plastic bags to be donated.
On his end, Jeff was doing a gradual cleanup too. Like me, he had collected a lot of stuff throughout the years; some he didn't remember owning, and stuff he did not understand having kept, such as a bag of old socks that were full of holes. Large garbage bags were filled and either thrown out or donated.
Since Jeff needed to rent a car to go to his mother's house in Pierrefond for Mother's Day as well as our niece Zoey's second birthday party, we thought we could get a Communauto vehicle near Jeff's place and quickly stop by his apartment to pick up a few of his belongings and bring them to my place as well as take a few boxes of donations to the Renaissance thrift store on the way.
It was a good plan until we got into a minor car accident. Shortly after picking Aidan up at our apartment, a car hit us hard from behind as we were about to make a right turn onto St-Jacques street from Cavendish. It came to us a a shock.
Everyone was fine, but our rented vehicle was damaged on the right side as well as the back. The bumper was coming apart.
Having pulled into a parking lot, Jeff and the apologetic driver of the other car filled out an accident report with my help because only a french form could be found in the glove compartment of the Communauto vehicle. Both men felt more comfortable with the english language.
It wasn't until we got to the Renaissance store and handed in Jeff's donation boxes that we realized we could not close the trunk of the car because of the damage. Lucky for us, the nice man who had taken our donations was able to help us out. He gave us some strong string and tied the hood to the bottom of the car. It did not keep the hood completely shut, but it was better than nothing. Later that night, while we were still at Jeff's moms, it poured and we were worried about water going into the trunk. Everything turned out fine.
The preparations for the move continued on both ends.
Every so often, Jeff and I would discuss what we had in double and what we each really wanted to keep versus what we would give away if we could not find room for it... It wasn't always an easy task.
The hardest part for me was taking down most of the frames I had up. There was a lot of artwork I had done over the years and it felt like I was taking down part of my soul. But, I had to agree with Jeff about the fact that I did have too many of them up and it wasn't fair for Jeff not to be able to hang some of his things. So, I unframed a lot of things and kept the artwork in the drawer of my art table in my bedroom. I put my collection of autographed pictures in a binder. Removing them from my living room walls made it look really bare, but I knew it it was only temporary. I wanted Jeff to feel at home and be able to add his personality to the decor. There were some frames I took down from the hallway walls and just set them aside if ever we wanted to do a rotation of our frames. I often alternated my decorations, so why not frames too?
Despite the fact that I had taken a lot of stuff down, I didn't think we would be able to find room for all of Jeff's frames but didn't want him to get rid of any just yet. I told him to bring them all and that we would set the ones we did not hang aside along with the ones I had removed.
Figuring out what piece of furniture could potentially go where, and what to get rid of was much easier. Jeff really wanted to keep his computer desk even though mine was more practical because it had shelves and a cupboard, but we mentally figured out a way to make them both fit in the living room along with his couch, my end tables and matching coffee tables, plus also keep his coffee table with drawers for storage.
Jeff wanted to sell the furniture he wasn't planning on relocating as well as his appliances, but they did not sell like he had hoped. He only made money from his kitchen table and ended up giving away his drawing table.
I had a complete bedroom set and really wanted to keep my queen sized iron bed frame, which I furnished with red curtains. Jeff had no problem with that but insisted on keeping his comfortable mattress. The one I owned was rock hard. I was used to it, but had to admit that I was looking forward to sleeping on a soft mattress every night.
A few weeks before our scheduled moving day, I suggested Jeff's unsold bedroom set go in Aidan's room. My son still had his childhood wooden bunk bed as well as furniture, including a white wooden Winey the Pooh toy box he turned around so nobody would see the childish artwork, and I thought he would like a more adult room.
Aidan emptied the old toy box and I offered it to Jeff's sister for her two year old daughter. I had hopped that it would leave the apartment before Jeff's move because it was in the way, but it remained with us for a while longer. Jeff dropped it off at his sister's during one of his donation runs after the move, and it was put to good use.
I was shown a cute picture of Zoey comfortably reading on the toy box and it made me smile. I was glad to see the toy box being recycled after being used by my son for so long. I hoped that Zoey would keep many treasures inside like Aidan had in the past.
Memories of Aidan playing and laughing in his room flashed in my head. They were replaced by visions of him sitting at his desk drawing or doing homework, then lying on his bed with his ipod. My son had changed a lot.
After my grown up baby confirmed wanting a new bedroom set, Jeff took measurements of his bedroom furniture to see if they could fit in Aidan's small room and I figured out how to make everything fit nicely. Aidan would have to keep one of his single beds, but he said he didn't want a queen sized bed anyways because it would take up too much room.
One night after work, Aidan and I dismantled his top bunk and moved things around his room. The lower part of the wall where the double decker bed had been against was as black as coal so he had to scrub it with magic erasers and wet rags. It took a while for it to all come off, but we got the job done.
A few days before the move, I relocated some furniture to other rooms to make it easier to bring the new stuff in as well as Jeff's boxes. I could not move around in my bedroom anymore and half my living room looked like a disaster. I had found a new place for our big bird cage and Aidan could barely get to it to feed our two birds Link and Snow for a few days. I was eager to get Jeff's stuff in and be able to get everything in order.
I had been told by Denise that large furniture could be picked up on Thursdays, so on the Wednesday night before the move we took my old light brown coloured hide-a-bed from the living room to the side yard. It was very heavy and awkward to carry; not that I did much lifting. Jeff and Aidan took care of that. I simply helped them slide the couch, which was older than I was, across the hallway and then they tilted it to the side to be able to get it through the front door. By doing so, the springy bed part opened. I wanted to get some string to tie up the bed part but it was out of reach so I got some gift wrapping ribbon instead. It snapped as soon as Jeff and Aidan tilted the couch again.
Jeff and Aidan eventually managed to get the couch outside. I took out the big brown cushions with light red and blue flower prints on them, feeling nostalgic. I knew it was for the best to get rid of the hide-a-bed and its cushions; it had definitely seen better days. But, it still felt weird to me. The fact that there was a big empty space in my living room where the couch had been didn't help.
The next day, I got a call from my superintendent because the couch had not been placed close enough to the sidewalk and it had not gotten picked up. Denise said she tried to move it herself but it was much too heavy. The boys had to get back to work for the following week's pick up. Somebody randomly took the hide-a-bed from the side yard before the week was over. I don't know how they managed.
The morning of the move, Sunday May 24th, we got rid of my mattress. We also moved Aidan's tall wooden dresser to the garage. He had already taken all his clothes out of the light brown unit and put them in plastic bags.
I stuck a note on the dresser so that nobody in the building would take it, just in case Jeff's dresser did not end up fitting nicely in Aidan's room, his clothes did not all fit in it, or Aidan ended up not liking it despite the fact that he had seen pictures of it.
Jeff's friend Richard came to pick us up with his eight year old son Brian at around 8:50 in the morning. I had been introduced to Richard along with his girlfriend Chloe the previous summer during a sidewalk sale. At that point, Richard had been clean shaven. The day of the move, Richard had a long beard. (That same beard got him mistaken for a homeless man him and Jeff's mutual friend Dave a few weeks later, which was pretty funny.)
We arrived at the Uhaul truck rental place before 9:00, as planned. Jeff had made the reservation of a small truck for 9:00, but there was only one person working at the front desk and a small lineup had already formed inside the reception area. Jeff was only given the keys at 9:40 after signing some paperwork.
He was explained a few important things before he could drive the rental truck. We then both got in the large vehicle, eager to leave.
Just when we thought we were ready to go, Jeff realized he needed to adjust the truck's rearview mirrors but could not figure out how. I tried to move the one on my side of the vehicle but failed. Jeff went back in the Uhaul office to ask for help but the only info he was given was to manually move the mirrors, which is what we had both already tried to do. We ended up leaving them as they were.
We saw a few raindrops hit the front windshield and hoped that it was not a sign of how the rest of the day was going to be. The light rain didn't last.
The drive to the neighbourhood of Mount Royal wasn't too bad. Richard had gone ahead of us with the kids, who were busy on their portable gaming devices, while we were still waiting for the truck key.
Richard called us from his cell to let us know the ongoing construction on Jeff's street, St-Joseph, was horrible. He said he had to do a few detours on one way streets then park in an alley behind Jeff's apartment building. St-Joseph was blocked from vehicles in one area, including where Jeff had originally been told by a foreman that he would be able to park his moving truck.
As though that wasn't stressful enough, Jeff suddenly realized he had left his apartment keys at my place. I remained calm and called Richard using Jeff's cell, asking if he could drive back to my place and have Aidan get Jeff's keys because neither myself or Jeff had our sets of keys on us. I didn't want to bring my purse with me so only Aidan had the home keys.
While Richard headed back to our place, Jeff drove through traffic, did the required detours, and went through a few alleys to finally end up behind his apartment building. Luckily, there was enough room for him to park the truck without obstructing the way of other vehicles.
It was a bit chilly out so we decided to just wait in the truck rather than outside. As minutes went by, Jeff considered getting a coffee at the cafe we could see a couple streets away. He finally went, during which Aidan called to say he could not find Jeff's keys. I told him different places to look but he had already searched there.
Jeff came back with his small hot coffee and I informed him of the situation. He gave Aidan permission to look in his bag, then his coat pocket. Aidan finally found the keys in the jacket Jeff decided not to bring with him at the last minute, figuring he would not need it.
After hanging up with Aidan, Jeff and I continued to wait in the truck. My husband kept shaking his head in disbelief of all the bad luck we were having. I am usually the one who panics but I calmly told Jeff that we were going to find all of this funny one day. He thanked me for keeping my cool and for reassuring him that everything was going to turn out just fine. I knew it would.
Richard finally called to say he had just parked on one of the side streets further from Jeff's building, so Jeff and I got out of the truck and prepared to meet up with Richard and the kids.
Jeff opened the back of the truck and we took out the rented dolly as well as the bag of blue protective blankets. We then brought them to the front of the building and up the small flight of concrete stairs.
A young couple exited the building so rather than wait for Aidan to hand Jeff his keys Jeff kept the door open and I walked up to the third floor with the bag of heavy blankets. The dolly was left on the top of the stairs outside.
Richard and the boys soon arrived so them and Jeff joined me upstairs. Before unlocking his apartment door, Jeff warned Richard and I that not everything was packed and that some boxes were not taped. I imagined a disaster, but it wasn't so bad. We managed to get organized in no time, bringing boxes outside and leaving them in the front then using the dolly to get a few of them at a time to the truck.
We were a bit distracted by the work being done on St-Joseph street as well as the road beside Jeff's building. There was a big hole the size of a room where the two streets met, and an excavating truck kept digging while another truck drilled loudly on the asphalt further away.
We all made many trips up and down the stairs before a construction worker told Richard we could move our truck on St-Joseph right in front of Jeff's building. Richard informed Jeff of the good news and then took the keys from him to manoeuvre his way from the alley into the construction zone with the truck and parked in front of Jeff's entrance.
Richard did most of the truck loading from this point on, being experienced in helping out with moves.
The kids started hanging out by the stairs and guarded the truck while the adults kept working. Although they had never met before that day and there was a six year age difference between them, Aidan and Brian appeared to get along very well. Rather than pick up their video games when they were no longer needed to bring stuff down, they socialized together. While sitting on the concrete steps, the boys invented a game with rocks and laughed a lot together.
It started getting warm out and the fact that Jeff, Richard and I were still going up and down the three flights of stairs made us sweat. At least it wasn't raining as the forecast originally predicted. The sun was actually shining quite brightly.
Soon it was time to bring Jeff's furniture down. I held the front door open each time Richard and Jeff were ready to exit the apartment with a heavy piece. I was quite grateful for Richard's help, knowing I would not be able to get the furniture down with Jeff like he did. Aidan is strong, but there was some awkward turns in the stairwells and I am not sure he would have been able to lift anything really high when necessary. Jeff of course was grateful for Richard's help as well.
We were supposed to have an extra pair of hands that day, but Jeff's sister was giving birth a week early so her boyfriend Darren obviously had other priorities.
We visited Heather at the Jewish hospital on the Wednesday after work to see her baby.
While we were moving, Jeff and I thought about Heather and hoped she was doing well. She gave birth to a healthy baby girl named Skye.
I had been pregnant with Aidan when I moved to Montreal in the apartment Jeff was about to live in. Looking at Heather and Darren's baby at the hospital brought back a lot of good memories. I thought I would have to learn how to hold a newborn again but quickly remembered when I was asked if I wanted to hold a sleeping Skye. She was so tiny and my "baby" was so big now; he became taller than me the previous summer and I didn't think it would be long until he passed Jeff in hight.
I was glad that Aidan had warmed up to Jeff from the start and continued getting along with him. I was looking forward to being a reconstructed family.
We finished loading the truck, having to leave a few things behind because we needed to return the rented vehicle at 3:00 plus needed to make time to get back to NDG and unload the full truck. Jeff still had the keys to his apartment until the end of the month so he was just going to rent a car to bring what was left.
Everyone headed back to my place in the same vehicles that they came in. Every so often, Jeff and I heard things move around in the back of the truck and we both hoped that everything was okay. It sounded like something broke at one point, but we found everything completely intact later.
It should have taken us about twenty minutes to get to my apartment, but there was a lot traffic at the beginning of our return route. Pedestrians moved faster than we did. It wasn't just the construction causing the roads to be congested; firetrucks were ahead of us.
When we finally arrived at our destination, Jeff parked the truck in the side yard close to the garage, and then I went in the building to unlock the garage door.
Back outside, I proposed making sandwiches for everyone since it was way past lunch time but Richard had stopped by the Provigo grocery store with the kids to get some ready to eat crispy chicken and fries. Aidan and Brian were sitting on the curb of the garden eating the fast food from cardboard boxes and drinking bottled pop.
Jeff, Richard and I started unloading the truck, bringing everything in the garage as rapidly as we could, while taking bites of the greasy yet good food. It went a lot faster than loading the truck, and the men were back on the road to bring the rented vehicle back in no time.
Before leaving, Richard helped Jeff bring the heavy furniture such as a tall black bookshelf, a brown couch, and Aidan's new bedroom set as well as the queen sized mattress inside my apartment. I was able to start arranging everything afterwards.
Brian stayed with me to continue hanging out with Aidan. While the boys remained in Aidan's room eating small freezies I offered them, I started brining in the boxes from the garage to the apartment. I even put some stuff in storage. I asked Aidan for help with a few things, like taking Jeff's computer desk and coffee table in the living room, but tried to do most of the work myself since he was having fun with Brian. By the time Jeff returned, there was barely anything left to do except unpack.
Richard brought Jeff back to my place, technically his too, in his car after getting the rental truck back and had to take off with Brian right away. I had planned on ordering pizza for everyone but Richard and Brian were expected home for diner. Jeff and I gave our thanks for the help and went in to continue setting things up.
Aidan took his clothes out of the plastic bags and placed them in the long dark dresser Jeff had given him, which came with a large mirror. He also stored some things in his two new matching night tables. He seemed happy with his new room. It definitely looked more adult than before.
We took a break to eat supper, then Jeff and I continued unpacking until I was ready to go to sleep. Jeff and I had to work the next day and Aidan had school.
Jeff and I put my red sheets on the queen sized bed, put matching pillowcases on his old pillows and we were off to sleep. It was incredibly comfortable and I was glad to no longer have my hard mattress.
It was also a nice feeling to know that from this point on I would be falling asleep beside Jeff every single night rather than just a few times a week when he came over.
The following two evenings, Jeff and I took care of the rest of the unpacking and put doubles of kitchen stuff in a big Rubbermaid box for Aidan so that he would have them when he moved out. Jeff set up his computer and speakers, placed his guitar and base on a stand, we hung up frames and decorative swords... Our apartment soon looked like home for the both us.
I was amazed on how quickly we got everything done, and how well both our things fit nicely together despite the fact that most of Jeff's things were more classy and modern while a lot of mine were very theatrical and old fashioned.
We planed on donating some boxes to the Renaissance store when Jeff could rent a car again and originally left them in the garage, but my superintendent left me a phone message telling me they were in the way. Denise also said I had to move the mattress and dresser we left in the garage to be picked up the following day.
Unfortunately, I only got the message the day of the pick up because Jeff and I were visiting Heather and Skye at the hospital the previous night. It was too late for that week's pick up but we still moved the mattress outdoors for the next one. I preferred to leave the dresser indoors so the on and off rain would not ruin it.
A couple days later, we were informed that the mattress did not look nice against the neighbour's wooden fence so we had to move it out of sight until the pick up date.
When I finally decided it was okay to move the dresser, Jeff helped me bring it outside. I put a note on it that said it was looking for a new home, and when I went outside later that day it had already found a new owner.
Jeff brought his bicycle over to a bike shop near his old apartment to get it fixed, which he then rode from the plateau all the way back to our place a few days later. It took him about half an hour; I thought it was going to take him much longer.
My husband rented another car to get the remaining items form his place, but Jeff was still not officially moved in after that. He still needed to get rid of his fridge, stove, washer and dryer because his landlord did not want them.
Originally, Jeff found a charity that could pick them all up and give him a tax receipt for what they were worth. They could do so on Friday June 5th and Jeff's landlord was okay with Jeff having the apartment keys until then without having to pay an extra month's rent. Mrs. Wong told Jeff to make arrangements with her associate, Mr. Tiger, to hand in his keys at the end of the day, which he did.
Jeff took the day off work to wait for somebody to come pick up his appliances. When I called him from the office during my lunch break, thinking he would be bored just waiting around an empty apartment, he informed me that his washer and drier had already been picked up but not his stove and fridge.
Apparently, a special tool was needed to remove the fridge door so the charity did not take the appliance. They decided not to take the stove either. So, Jeff had until 5:00 that day to find a way to get both appliances out of his apartment. That stressed him out and I felt helpless on my end.
My husband called a few places to see if they could do a pick up. I had suggested a company called Got Junk but they were going to charge about $70 per appliance for the pick up, saying it was to pay for the gas.
Jeff finally found a store that sold old appliances near his apartment that would take his fridge and stove since he was giving them away. They said they could pick them both up near the end of the day, but at around 6:00 Jeff had not heard from the pick up man and was starting to stress out again.
There was a wooden climbing board above Jeff's bedroom doorway that needed to be removed so during his waiting time Jeff asked his downstairs neighbour if he could borrow a drill. While doing so, he told his neighbour about his fridge and stove and the man offered to take them both. As it were, he was renting a fridge and stove from the landlord as opposed to owning them.
I didn't understand why the same landlord refused to rent out Jeff's appliances with the apartment, which would have been very convenient.
Jeff and his neighbour informed Mr. Tiger by phone that the appliances would be moved the following day and he had no problem with the plan. Jeff then called the store to let them know he no longer needed a pick up. Thirty seconds later, the pick up man called to say he was just around the corner. He had not gotten the cancellation message yet.
Although Jeff felt bad for having called the store numerous times to make sure the pick was going to happen and then cancelling at the last minute, he was happy to finally get rid of his appliances. He hoped that his neighbour or Mr. Tiger would not change their minds.
Jeff gave the keys of his empty apartment to his neighbour so that he could get the appliances and then give the keys to Mr. Tiger.
Jeff and I waited until the next evening, when nobody contacted him about the appliances, to say that he was officially moved in.
That weekend, we got rid of more donation boxes and everything was in order. I swept the floors, which is something we had been putting off, and put Jeff's broom away in the linen closet.
When I went to reopen the door of the closet, the round silver knob would turn but the bolt would not move. Jeff tried to open the door too, but without any success. We thought about removing the knob, but the screws were on the inside of the shut door. Our tool boxes were in there, so removing the hinges was not a possibility. It was too late to call the superintendents so we just went to bed.
Aidan told the superintendent of our problem when he came home from school the next day. Denise came down to check out the issue and was unable to open the closet door. She said she would call the office and have them remove it.
A few days went by and we started needed things that were inside our linen closet. Although we had tons of toilet paper rolls in there, we ended up having to buy more. We also had to buy some laundry detergent to be able to do laundry. Since I was really tired after a long day at the office, I accidentally bought fabric softener instead and had to go back to the store.
A week later, nobody had come by yet to open the closet door for us so I called the office myself and explained that it was more urgent to get that door opened. When I got home, the doorknob had somehow been removed. Denise left me a message saying her and Tony had removed it so we could open the door, but that they were still waiting for a new knob.
The Move
(Memoir by Chantal Bellehumeur)
My boyfriend Jeff and I knew we wanted to live together early in our relationship and it soon became a question of when. We decided on the summer of 2015.
At first, we considered looking for a new place in my neighbourhood, Notre-Dame de Grace (NDG) so that my fourteen year old son Aidan could continue going to the same high school and also still live close to the majority of his friends. We were going to look for a 4 1/2 apartment like Aidan and I lived in, or a 5 1/2 to feel less crowded.
I have to admit that the thought of both myself and Jeff vacating our apartments and moving into a new place at the same time started stressing me out. I figured it would be much easier for Jeff to simply move in with Aidan and I, not to mention less expensive.
Although my rent went up every year, I paid much less than the average tenant in my neighbourhood because I had lived in the same place for so long. When Jeff and I looked online for places in NDG, we found the rent rates high.
We knew of neighbourhoods in the Montreal area where rent was much cheaper, but none that we wanted to reside in even if we didn't have Aidan to think about.
Continuing to live in my apartment seemed like the most logical thing to do in my opinion.
Aside from being able to keep a relatively low rent, I thought it would be cheaper if we only had to pay for moving costs on one end. I was ready to split the costs of Jeff's move if he was willing to come live with myself and Aidan.
Jeff needed to think about it when I first suggested slowly moving in with Aidan and I because I lived in a basement apartment and he did not find that enough light came in. It had never been a problem for me personally. In fact, I liked the dark and barely ever turned on any lights when I was home. Jeff was the opposite. He was also used to living where the natural light of the sun came shining through his open living room and kitchen area as well as his large bedroom. I had a lot of bushes and flower beds in front of my windows which obstructed some of the sunlight from coming in during the day.
After only a couple days of thinking, Jeff told me over the phone that he was okay with moving in with me. I felt relieved; not just because I thought it would be less stressful, but also because it was the only place I had ever lived in after moving out on my own and it had been Aidan's home since birth. The place was filled with memories and we both liked it there. It was a decent place in a good location; residential, but minutes away from a shopping and dinning area where street festivals occurred in the summer.
The building located on De Terrebonne was only four stories high, had a nice lobby which had been recently renovated, and we had two washing machines as well as dryers in the huge garage to do laundry in. I didn't have to carry the bins of dirty clothing up or down any stairs since I was on the same level as the garage/laundry room. The garbage could be brought in the garage at any time so I never had to think about garbage day.
I was also on the same level as the storage rooms and my walk in locker, which was included in the rent, was right next door to my apartment so was easily accessible. When Jeff agreed to move in, I asked for a second locker and was given one at no extra charge the same day beside the locker I already had. It was perfect.
Three big rubbermaid bins filled with Halloween props were moved from my bedroom to the extra storage, opening up the room and giving it a less claustrophophic feel. It made a big difference.
I wanted to clear more space, but when I did that the areas just felt empty. I kept having to visualize Jeff's stuff for me not to have a panic attack. I did not deal well with drastic changes. Plus, I was also used to finding room for things, and only got rid of stuff when I needed to. That manly only happened when Aidan grew out of his clothes or felt his toys were no longer age appropriate.
We did a couple garage sales in the past, but I did not find that they were worth it. I mainly liked to just take a walk and put bags of unwanted items in donation bins when I needed to get rid of stuff.
Getting fresh air, no mater what the reason, was always good for me. I didn't tend to go out much in the winter because I disliked the cold, but I tried to go outdoors as much as I could in the spring and summer when it was warm out.
We didn't have a balcony like the tenants of the upper apartments, but we could make use of the large side yard anytime. Aidan played there in the winter as a child, building snowmen and forts with my help. In the summer, we had BBQ's or simply brought our home cooked meals on a wooden tray outdoors to eat when it was nice out.
Sometimes, I took lilacs from the yard's tree after it bloomed. The purple flowers smelled nice and decorated the apartment nicely, even after they died because I would let them dry up in a glass vase.
There were nice flower beds around the building as well as green grass, and a long gravel driveway led to the garage door on the side. We could use the garden hose if needed. It was very useful when we wanted to put out the charcoals of our portable BBQ.
It was almost like living in a house without having to pay for heating, hot water, or anything that broke.
Aidan and I had been friends with our only basement neighbours who lived right across the hall from us for ruffly eight years, but Wendy, Mike and their two daughters Molly and Olivia moved the previous winter. We kept in touch though, and visited them in the house Mike and Wendy bought not too far away from us.
The university students who moved in the apartment after Mike and Wendy left had parties sometimes, but I never complained because they were always done on the weekend and we barely heard them the majority of the time. Apparently, Jeff's neighbours were a lot worst. He was not going to miss them.
One thing Jeff was going to have to get used to was the noises my superintendent made. Denise and Tony lived right above me on the first floor with their teenaged children. When they walked around, we could hear their heavy footsteps as well as the occasional sound of a cane hitting the hardwood floor. We could also hear the floorboards creek. Sometimes they dropped things on the floor and it sounded like they were playing bowling. I was often amazed that the ceiling had not caved in yet.
We had a good relationship with Denise and Tony, who had seen Aidan grow up. Although we didn't know everyone else who resided in the building, each person we ever ran into were always very nice and polite. I felt safe living there, and it was also convenient.
Everything we needed was a just short walk away; grocery stores, pharmacies, banks, parks, and even the library as well as the sports centre where you could go swimming for free. We had many options as far as public transportation was concerned; six different busses could take us to four different metro stations.
Jeff was used to a two minute walk to get to a metro station, so that would be an adjustment for him. But, he liked the fact that everything else was close; especially cafes. A new one called O Grace de Madeleine opened up near my place, soon to be his, and we claimed it as one of our favourites. They had good coffee, fresh patsies, and excellent service. The friendly staff made it feel very homey.
After we received our lease renewals, I extended mine for another year while Jeff informed his landlord that he was moving out of his 2 1/2 third floor apartment after about a dozen years of living there. He knew Mrs. Wong would be very happy to do major renovations and raise the rent as much as she could.
The only novelty in Jeff's apartment since he lived there had been the look of the bathroom. During the week long renovation time, he had to use the bathroom in a vacant apartment. Another bathroom apartment was being renovated at the same time, so the bathroom of the vacant apartment was shared.
Some renovations had been done in my apartment over the fourteen and a half years I had lived there. My bathroom had been completely redone because a pipe had burst, and the kitchen tiles had been replaced. A few minor repairs had been done too.
I painted all the walls and in the process the doors as well so they were all white. The outside of the entrance door was dark green like all the others in the building. During the holidays, I liked to put two thick red ribbons across it as well as a matching bow where the ribbons met to make the door look like a big Christmas present.
I was not the only one decorating the exterior of my apartment. The Superintendents decorated the metal railings of the staircases with fake pine tree garlands furnished with small red bows as well as multicoloured lights to make it look festive, and hung a wreath in the horizontal window right above the front doors.
Denise and Tony also decorated for Halloween and whoever wanted to help give away candies to the trick or treaters got dressed up in something spooky. I did that many times when Aidan wanted to spend Halloween with his friends.
We had friendly neighbours despite their scary appearances on Halloween night.
Sometimes the tenants would leave things they no longer wanted or needed in the garage for anyone to take. I took a lot of good stuff in throughout the years, and left a few things for others too.
I gradually started getting rid of some of my things to make room for Jeffs', starting with three unmatching tables I had in the front hallway, and an old uncomfortable dark brown couch that previously belonged to my parents. The thin fabric the cushions of that couch rested on were held by metal. With Aidan's help, I put the tables as well as the couch outside in the side yard by the three tall green recycling bins and they were gone the next time I went out.
Jeff was originally going to bring stuff over a little at a time and then rent a truck at the end of June to move the remainder of his belongings. However, after we got married in April we decided to advance the moving day.
My best friend Sarah and her boyfriend Thomas were getting married on the 17th of May so we would be out of town near Ottawa that weekend, and Jeff's pregnant sister Heather was due at the end of May so we decided to move on the weekend between those two events.
Until then, I did a cleanup of my bedroom closet as well as the kitchen cupboards and linen closet, got rid of a wobbly small white bookshelf I had since I was a kid... Everything was gradual.
Aidan did a massive clean up as well, putting things he no longer wanted in small plastic bags to be donated.
On his end, Jeff was doing a gradual cleanup too. Like me, he had collected a lot of stuff throughout the years; some he didn't remember owning, and stuff he did not understand having kept, such as a bag of old socks that were full of holes. Large garbage bags were filled and either thrown out or donated.
Since Jeff needed to rent a car to go to his mother's house in Pierrefond for Mother's Day as well as our niece Zoey's second birthday party, we thought we could get a Communauto vehicle near Jeff's place and quickly stop by his apartment to pick up a few of his belongings and bring them to my place as well as take a few boxes of donations to the Renaissance thrift store on the way.
It was a good plan until we got into a minor car accident. Shortly after picking Aidan up at our apartment, a car hit us hard from behind as we were about to make a right turn onto St-Jacques street from Cavendish. It came to us a a shock.
Everyone was fine, but our rented vehicle was damaged on the right side as well as the back. The bumper was coming apart.
Having pulled into a parking lot, Jeff and the apologetic driver of the other car filled out an accident report with my help because only a french form could be found in the glove compartment of the Communauto vehicle. Both men felt more comfortable with the english language.
It wasn't until we got to the Renaissance store and handed in Jeff's donation boxes that we realized we could not close the trunk of the car because of the damage. Lucky for us, the nice man who had taken our donations was able to help us out. He gave us some strong string and tied the hood to the bottom of the car. It did not keep the hood completely shut, but it was better than nothing. Later that night, while we were still at Jeff's moms, it poured and we were worried about water going into the trunk. Everything turned out fine.
The preparations for the move continued on both ends.
Every so often, Jeff and I would discuss what we had in double and what we each really wanted to keep versus what we would give away if we could not find room for it... It wasn't always an easy task.
The hardest part for me was taking down most of the frames I had up. There was a lot of artwork I had done over the years and it felt like I was taking down part of my soul. But, I had to agree with Jeff about the fact that I did have too many of them up and it wasn't fair for Jeff not to be able to hang some of his things. So, I unframed a lot of things and kept the artwork in the drawer of my art table in my bedroom. I put my collection of autographed pictures in a binder. Removing them from my living room walls made it look really bare, but I knew it it was only temporary. I wanted Jeff to feel at home and be able to add his personality to the decor. There were some frames I took down from the hallway walls and just set them aside if ever we wanted to do a rotation of our frames. I often alternated my decorations, so why not frames too?
Despite the fact that I had taken a lot of stuff down, I didn't think we would be able to find room for all of Jeff's frames but didn't want him to get rid of any just yet. I told him to bring them all and that we would set the ones we did not hang aside along with the ones I had removed.
Figuring out what piece of furniture could potentially go where, and what to get rid of was much easier. Jeff really wanted to keep his computer desk even though mine was more practical because it had shelves and a cupboard, but we mentally figured out a way to make them both fit in the living room along with his couch, my end tables and matching coffee tables, plus also keep his coffee table with drawers for storage.
Jeff wanted to sell the furniture he wasn't planning on relocating as well as his appliances, but they did not sell like he had hoped. He only made money from his kitchen table and ended up giving away his drawing table.
I had a complete bedroom set and really wanted to keep my queen sized iron bed frame, which I furnished with red curtains. Jeff had no problem with that but insisted on keeping his comfortable mattress. The one I owned was rock hard. I was used to it, but had to admit that I was looking forward to sleeping on a soft mattress every night.
A few weeks before our scheduled moving day, I suggested Jeff's unsold bedroom set go in Aidan's room. My son still had his childhood wooden bunk bed as well as furniture, including a white wooden Winey the Pooh toy box he turned around so nobody would see the childish artwork, and I thought he would like a more adult room.
Aidan emptied the old toy box and I offered it to Jeff's sister for her two year old daughter. I had hopped that it would leave the apartment before Jeff's move because it was in the way, but it remained with us for a while longer. Jeff dropped it off at his sister's during one of his donation runs after the move, and it was put to good use.
I was shown a cute picture of Zoey comfortably reading on the toy box and it made me smile. I was glad to see the toy box being recycled after being used by my son for so long. I hoped that Zoey would keep many treasures inside like Aidan had in the past.
Memories of Aidan playing and laughing in his room flashed in my head. They were replaced by visions of him sitting at his desk drawing or doing homework, then lying on his bed with his ipod. My son had changed a lot.
After my grown up baby confirmed wanting a new bedroom set, Jeff took measurements of his bedroom furniture to see if they could fit in Aidan's small room and I figured out how to make everything fit nicely. Aidan would have to keep one of his single beds, but he said he didn't want a queen sized bed anyways because it would take up too much room.
One night after work, Aidan and I dismantled his top bunk and moved things around his room. The lower part of the wall where the double decker bed had been against was as black as coal so he had to scrub it with magic erasers and wet rags. It took a while for it to all come off, but we got the job done.
A few days before the move, I relocated some furniture to other rooms to make it easier to bring the new stuff in as well as Jeff's boxes. I could not move around in my bedroom anymore and half my living room looked like a disaster. I had found a new place for our big bird cage and Aidan could barely get to it to feed our two birds Link and Snow for a few days. I was eager to get Jeff's stuff in and be able to get everything in order.
I had been told by Denise that large furniture could be picked up on Thursdays, so on the Wednesday night before the move we took my old light brown coloured hide-a-bed from the living room to the side yard. It was very heavy and awkward to carry; not that I did much lifting. Jeff and Aidan took care of that. I simply helped them slide the couch, which was older than I was, across the hallway and then they tilted it to the side to be able to get it through the front door. By doing so, the springy bed part opened. I wanted to get some string to tie up the bed part but it was out of reach so I got some gift wrapping ribbon instead. It snapped as soon as Jeff and Aidan tilted the couch again.
Jeff and Aidan eventually managed to get the couch outside. I took out the big brown cushions with light red and blue flower prints on them, feeling nostalgic. I knew it was for the best to get rid of the hide-a-bed and its cushions; it had definitely seen better days. But, it still felt weird to me. The fact that there was a big empty space in my living room where the couch had been didn't help.
The next day, I got a call from my superintendent because the couch had not been placed close enough to the sidewalk and it had not gotten picked up. Denise said she tried to move it herself but it was much too heavy. The boys had to get back to work for the following week's pick up. Somebody randomly took the hide-a-bed from the side yard before the week was over. I don't know how they managed.
The morning of the move, Sunday May 24th, we got rid of my mattress. We also moved Aidan's tall wooden dresser to the garage. He had already taken all his clothes out of the light brown unit and put them in plastic bags.
I stuck a note on the dresser so that nobody in the building would take it, just in case Jeff's dresser did not end up fitting nicely in Aidan's room, his clothes did not all fit in it, or Aidan ended up not liking it despite the fact that he had seen pictures of it.
Jeff's friend Richard came to pick us up with his eight year old son Brian at around 8:50 in the morning. I had been introduced to Richard along with his girlfriend Chloe the previous summer during a sidewalk sale. At that point, Richard had been clean shaven. The day of the move, Richard had a long beard. (That same beard got him mistaken for a homeless man him and Jeff's mutual friend Dave a few weeks later, which was pretty funny.)
We arrived at the Uhaul truck rental place before 9:00, as planned. Jeff had made the reservation of a small truck for 9:00, but there was only one person working at the front desk and a small lineup had already formed inside the reception area. Jeff was only given the keys at 9:40 after signing some paperwork.
He was explained a few important things before he could drive the rental truck. We then both got in the large vehicle, eager to leave.
Just when we thought we were ready to go, Jeff realized he needed to adjust the truck's rearview mirrors but could not figure out how. I tried to move the one on my side of the vehicle but failed. Jeff went back in the Uhaul office to ask for help but the only info he was given was to manually move the mirrors, which is what we had both already tried to do. We ended up leaving them as they were.
We saw a few raindrops hit the front windshield and hoped that it was not a sign of how the rest of the day was going to be. The light rain didn't last.
The drive to the neighbourhood of Mount Royal wasn't too bad. Richard had gone ahead of us with the kids, who were busy on their portable gaming devices, while we were still waiting for the truck key.
Richard called us from his cell to let us know the ongoing construction on Jeff's street, St-Joseph, was horrible. He said he had to do a few detours on one way streets then park in an alley behind Jeff's apartment building. St-Joseph was blocked from vehicles in one area, including where Jeff had originally been told by a foreman that he would be able to park his moving truck.
As though that wasn't stressful enough, Jeff suddenly realized he had left his apartment keys at my place. I remained calm and called Richard using Jeff's cell, asking if he could drive back to my place and have Aidan get Jeff's keys because neither myself or Jeff had our sets of keys on us. I didn't want to bring my purse with me so only Aidan had the home keys.
While Richard headed back to our place, Jeff drove through traffic, did the required detours, and went through a few alleys to finally end up behind his apartment building. Luckily, there was enough room for him to park the truck without obstructing the way of other vehicles.
It was a bit chilly out so we decided to just wait in the truck rather than outside. As minutes went by, Jeff considered getting a coffee at the cafe we could see a couple streets away. He finally went, during which Aidan called to say he could not find Jeff's keys. I told him different places to look but he had already searched there.
Jeff came back with his small hot coffee and I informed him of the situation. He gave Aidan permission to look in his bag, then his coat pocket. Aidan finally found the keys in the jacket Jeff decided not to bring with him at the last minute, figuring he would not need it.
After hanging up with Aidan, Jeff and I continued to wait in the truck. My husband kept shaking his head in disbelief of all the bad luck we were having. I am usually the one who panics but I calmly told Jeff that we were going to find all of this funny one day. He thanked me for keeping my cool and for reassuring him that everything was going to turn out just fine. I knew it would.
Richard finally called to say he had just parked on one of the side streets further from Jeff's building, so Jeff and I got out of the truck and prepared to meet up with Richard and the kids.
Jeff opened the back of the truck and we took out the rented dolly as well as the bag of blue protective blankets. We then brought them to the front of the building and up the small flight of concrete stairs.
A young couple exited the building so rather than wait for Aidan to hand Jeff his keys Jeff kept the door open and I walked up to the third floor with the bag of heavy blankets. The dolly was left on the top of the stairs outside.
Richard and the boys soon arrived so them and Jeff joined me upstairs. Before unlocking his apartment door, Jeff warned Richard and I that not everything was packed and that some boxes were not taped. I imagined a disaster, but it wasn't so bad. We managed to get organized in no time, bringing boxes outside and leaving them in the front then using the dolly to get a few of them at a time to the truck.
We were a bit distracted by the work being done on St-Joseph street as well as the road beside Jeff's building. There was a big hole the size of a room where the two streets met, and an excavating truck kept digging while another truck drilled loudly on the asphalt further away.
We all made many trips up and down the stairs before a construction worker told Richard we could move our truck on St-Joseph right in front of Jeff's building. Richard informed Jeff of the good news and then took the keys from him to manoeuvre his way from the alley into the construction zone with the truck and parked in front of Jeff's entrance.
Richard did most of the truck loading from this point on, being experienced in helping out with moves.
The kids started hanging out by the stairs and guarded the truck while the adults kept working. Although they had never met before that day and there was a six year age difference between them, Aidan and Brian appeared to get along very well. Rather than pick up their video games when they were no longer needed to bring stuff down, they socialized together. While sitting on the concrete steps, the boys invented a game with rocks and laughed a lot together.
It started getting warm out and the fact that Jeff, Richard and I were still going up and down the three flights of stairs made us sweat. At least it wasn't raining as the forecast originally predicted. The sun was actually shining quite brightly.
Soon it was time to bring Jeff's furniture down. I held the front door open each time Richard and Jeff were ready to exit the apartment with a heavy piece. I was quite grateful for Richard's help, knowing I would not be able to get the furniture down with Jeff like he did. Aidan is strong, but there was some awkward turns in the stairwells and I am not sure he would have been able to lift anything really high when necessary. Jeff of course was grateful for Richard's help as well.
We were supposed to have an extra pair of hands that day, but Jeff's sister was giving birth a week early so her boyfriend Darren obviously had other priorities.
We visited Heather at the Jewish hospital on the Wednesday after work to see her baby.
While we were moving, Jeff and I thought about Heather and hoped she was doing well. She gave birth to a healthy baby girl named Skye.
I had been pregnant with Aidan when I moved to Montreal in the apartment Jeff was about to live in. Looking at Heather and Darren's baby at the hospital brought back a lot of good memories. I thought I would have to learn how to hold a newborn again but quickly remembered when I was asked if I wanted to hold a sleeping Skye. She was so tiny and my "baby" was so big now; he became taller than me the previous summer and I didn't think it would be long until he passed Jeff in hight.
I was glad that Aidan had warmed up to Jeff from the start and continued getting along with him. I was looking forward to being a reconstructed family.
We finished loading the truck, having to leave a few things behind because we needed to return the rented vehicle at 3:00 plus needed to make time to get back to NDG and unload the full truck. Jeff still had the keys to his apartment until the end of the month so he was just going to rent a car to bring what was left.
Everyone headed back to my place in the same vehicles that they came in. Every so often, Jeff and I heard things move around in the back of the truck and we both hoped that everything was okay. It sounded like something broke at one point, but we found everything completely intact later.
It should have taken us about twenty minutes to get to my apartment, but there was a lot traffic at the beginning of our return route. Pedestrians moved faster than we did. It wasn't just the construction causing the roads to be congested; firetrucks were ahead of us.
When we finally arrived at our destination, Jeff parked the truck in the side yard close to the garage, and then I went in the building to unlock the garage door.
Back outside, I proposed making sandwiches for everyone since it was way past lunch time but Richard had stopped by the Provigo grocery store with the kids to get some ready to eat crispy chicken and fries. Aidan and Brian were sitting on the curb of the garden eating the fast food from cardboard boxes and drinking bottled pop.
Jeff, Richard and I started unloading the truck, bringing everything in the garage as rapidly as we could, while taking bites of the greasy yet good food. It went a lot faster than loading the truck, and the men were back on the road to bring the rented vehicle back in no time.
Before leaving, Richard helped Jeff bring the heavy furniture such as a tall black bookshelf, a brown couch, and Aidan's new bedroom set as well as the queen sized mattress inside my apartment. I was able to start arranging everything afterwards.
Brian stayed with me to continue hanging out with Aidan. While the boys remained in Aidan's room eating small freezies I offered them, I started brining in the boxes from the garage to the apartment. I even put some stuff in storage. I asked Aidan for help with a few things, like taking Jeff's computer desk and coffee table in the living room, but tried to do most of the work myself since he was having fun with Brian. By the time Jeff returned, there was barely anything left to do except unpack.
Richard brought Jeff back to my place, technically his too, in his car after getting the rental truck back and had to take off with Brian right away. I had planned on ordering pizza for everyone but Richard and Brian were expected home for diner. Jeff and I gave our thanks for the help and went in to continue setting things up.
Aidan took his clothes out of the plastic bags and placed them in the long dark dresser Jeff had given him, which came with a large mirror. He also stored some things in his two new matching night tables. He seemed happy with his new room. It definitely looked more adult than before.
We took a break to eat supper, then Jeff and I continued unpacking until I was ready to go to sleep. Jeff and I had to work the next day and Aidan had school.
Jeff and I put my red sheets on the queen sized bed, put matching pillowcases on his old pillows and we were off to sleep. It was incredibly comfortable and I was glad to no longer have my hard mattress.
It was also a nice feeling to know that from this point on I would be falling asleep beside Jeff every single night rather than just a few times a week when he came over.
The following two evenings, Jeff and I took care of the rest of the unpacking and put doubles of kitchen stuff in a big Rubbermaid box for Aidan so that he would have them when he moved out. Jeff set up his computer and speakers, placed his guitar and base on a stand, we hung up frames and decorative swords... Our apartment soon looked like home for the both us.
I was amazed on how quickly we got everything done, and how well both our things fit nicely together despite the fact that most of Jeff's things were more classy and modern while a lot of mine were very theatrical and old fashioned.
We planed on donating some boxes to the Renaissance store when Jeff could rent a car again and originally left them in the garage, but my superintendent left me a phone message telling me they were in the way. Denise also said I had to move the mattress and dresser we left in the garage to be picked up the following day.
Unfortunately, I only got the message the day of the pick up because Jeff and I were visiting Heather and Skye at the hospital the previous night. It was too late for that week's pick up but we still moved the mattress outdoors for the next one. I preferred to leave the dresser indoors so the on and off rain would not ruin it.
A couple days later, we were informed that the mattress did not look nice against the neighbour's wooden fence so we had to move it out of sight until the pick up date.
When I finally decided it was okay to move the dresser, Jeff helped me bring it outside. I put a note on it that said it was looking for a new home, and when I went outside later that day it had already found a new owner.
Jeff brought his bicycle over to a bike shop near his old apartment to get it fixed, which he then rode from the plateau all the way back to our place a few days later. It took him about half an hour; I thought it was going to take him much longer.
My husband rented another car to get the remaining items form his place, but Jeff was still not officially moved in after that. He still needed to get rid of his fridge, stove, washer and dryer because his landlord did not want them.
Originally, Jeff found a charity that could pick them all up and give him a tax receipt for what they were worth. They could do so on Friday June 5th and Jeff's landlord was okay with Jeff having the apartment keys until then without having to pay an extra month's rent. Mrs. Wong told Jeff to make arrangements with her associate, Mr. Tiger, to hand in his keys at the end of the day, which he did.
Jeff took the day off work to wait for somebody to come pick up his appliances. When I called him from the office during my lunch break, thinking he would be bored just waiting around an empty apartment, he informed me that his washer and drier had already been picked up but not his stove and fridge.
Apparently, a special tool was needed to remove the fridge door so the charity did not take the appliance. They decided not to take the stove either. So, Jeff had until 5:00 that day to find a way to get both appliances out of his apartment. That stressed him out and I felt helpless on my end.
My husband called a few places to see if they could do a pick up. I had suggested a company called Got Junk but they were going to charge about $70 per appliance for the pick up, saying it was to pay for the gas.
Jeff finally found a store that sold old appliances near his apartment that would take his fridge and stove since he was giving them away. They said they could pick them both up near the end of the day, but at around 6:00 Jeff had not heard from the pick up man and was starting to stress out again.
There was a wooden climbing board above Jeff's bedroom doorway that needed to be removed so during his waiting time Jeff asked his downstairs neighbour if he could borrow a drill. While doing so, he told his neighbour about his fridge and stove and the man offered to take them both. As it were, he was renting a fridge and stove from the landlord as opposed to owning them.
I didn't understand why the same landlord refused to rent out Jeff's appliances with the apartment, which would have been very convenient.
Jeff and his neighbour informed Mr. Tiger by phone that the appliances would be moved the following day and he had no problem with the plan. Jeff then called the store to let them know he no longer needed a pick up. Thirty seconds later, the pick up man called to say he was just around the corner. He had not gotten the cancellation message yet.
Although Jeff felt bad for having called the store numerous times to make sure the pick was going to happen and then cancelling at the last minute, he was happy to finally get rid of his appliances. He hoped that his neighbour or Mr. Tiger would not change their minds.
Jeff gave the keys of his empty apartment to his neighbour so that he could get the appliances and then give the keys to Mr. Tiger.
Jeff and I waited until the next evening, when nobody contacted him about the appliances, to say that he was officially moved in.
That weekend, we got rid of more donation boxes and everything was in order. I swept the floors, which is something we had been putting off, and put Jeff's broom away in the linen closet.
When I went to reopen the door of the closet, the round silver knob would turn but the bolt would not move. Jeff tried to open the door too, but without any success. We thought about removing the knob, but the screws were on the inside of the shut door. Our tool boxes were in there, so removing the hinges was not a possibility. It was too late to call the superintendents so we just went to bed.
Aidan told the superintendent of our problem when he came home from school the next day. Denise came down to check out the issue and was unable to open the closet door. She said she would call the office and have them remove it.
A few days went by and we started needed things that were inside our linen closet. Although we had tons of toilet paper rolls in there, we ended up having to buy more. We also had to buy some laundry detergent to be able to do laundry. Since I was really tired after a long day at the office, I accidentally bought fabric softener instead and had to go back to the store.
A week later, nobody had come by yet to open the closet door for us so I called the office myself and explained that it was more urgent to get that door opened. When I got home, the doorknob had somehow been removed. Denise left me a message saying her and Tony had removed it so we could open the door, but that they were still waiting for a new knob.
It took another four weeks for a doorknob to be installed, but at least the door was open and we could make use of our things.
Aside from that little incident, everything went well after the move. There was an adjustment period for everyone, but we all fell into a routine which included visiting Heather, Daren and the kids once a week when possible, and did not get on each other's nerves.
It took another four weeks for a doorknob to be installed, but at least the door was open and we could make use of our things.
Aside from that little incident, everything went well after the move. There was an adjustment period for everyone, but we all fell into a routine which included visiting Heather, Daren and the kids once a week when possible, and did not get on each other's nerves.
Construction on St-Joseph street, at the corner of Jeff's appartment building. (May 2014)