It's a nightmare.
Let me tell you a little story about my experience last weekend.
All week I had carefully planned. I had a schedule. I stuck to my schedule. I had help lined up. I had a plan. Everything was going to run smoothly.
It didn't run smoothly. Not even a little bit.
Friday night Mom insisted I book a Uhaul. So I did. I went to sleep, hoping my friend's fiance would be willing to drive it for me. After all, I'm not very good at driving a sedan so I can't imagine driving a 10' Uhaul would end well for yours truly.
The next morning I woke up, packed the last few things, got breakfast at Starbucks and settled in to wait.
Then the texts started.
One friend was stuck in traffic. The other two were sick.
Super.
Eventually the stuck in traffic friend arrived. We chatted for a few minutes and then retrieved the Uhaul from one of Balimore's less-than-pleasant neighborhoods. After handing over my debit card and receiving the only instructions regarding the truck (return it with the same level of gas that it has right now), we were off.
Turns out, Uhauls are surprisingly easy to drive. So I bounced and bumped my way home, trying to not hit anything, flip the Uhaul or leave Katy stranded at a stoplight. God bless my ability to multitask. We parked the truck and began loading things up.
The first to go was my sofa. Then we filled the truck with lots of boxes. It took for-e-v-e-r. Back & forth and back & forth we went, carrying stacks of boxes down the elevator and into the truck out back. Then back up the elevator we went for another load. We settled into a good rhythm but the truck never seemed to get any fuller and the pile in the living room never seemed to get any smaller. Eventually the truck finally filled up and we ran the first load over.
We struggled a load up the stairs (oh the joys of living in a second floor walkup). Then we went for another load. Some guys around our age were loitering on the front steps. We talked to them. Their friend had just moved in and was sorting out an issue with BGE. They had nothing to do so naturally they volunteered to help us move boxes. Because that's what everyone does. Totally kidding. Very few people do that.
We took a lunch break at Chipotle then got back to work. The boys were wonderfully, saintly little helpers so I didn't have the heart to tell them that just dumping things willy-nilly in the new place wasn't quite what I had in mind. And when I say willy-nilly I mean it: I walked in with some boxes and one of my armchairs was on its side in the middle of the room. I shrugged, added my box to the chaos and went for another load. I'd rather have willy-nilly help than no help at all. Unfortunately everything wouldn't fit in the second load so we got as much of the big stuff as we could before the truck had to be returned to its sketchy home.
I got the truck back into the lot at 3:58 PM. It was due back at 4. Not that the grizzled old man who checked me in seemed to care. Finally, Mom and Kara called to say they were in DC. So we went back to my old apartment to shower. Why not the new place? Well, two reasons. First, there was still no A/C in the new apartment. Second, the former tenant took the shower rod. WHO DOES THAT? Who takes a shower rod?! Since I still had a shower rod at the old place, I found the shower curtain along with a change of clothes and brought them back over to the old place.
When I emerged from the shower, Katy was asleep on the living room floor. Mom had called while I was showering so I went to retrieve her & Kara from the pet store across the street while Katy took her shower. Dinner was at restaurant week restaurant #5 (for me): Chazz in Harbor East. It was delicious. Sadly no photos though--I was so tired & hungry that all I could think of was stuffing my face. I know, I know. But we had just moved in our defense.
Saturday night Kara and Katy headed to DC and I stayed the night with Mom in her hotel.
Sunday went about the same as Saturday. Mom and I went to the new apartment and did some arranging, getting all the furniture where we wanted it to be. Thank goodness I had her--I would not have been able to make everything fit like it does. And yes, we stood the sideways chair up on its feet. After about two hours of shoving things around the A/C-less apartment we decided it was lunch time so we went to Subway. Kristen met us at Subway and after lunch we went back to the old place to finish up there. Between Ryan, Kristen, Matt and myself we managed to get everything into the new place while Mom began cleaning the old one. Apparently the parking spaces behind the building are reserved--Matt and I were screamed at by a nameless, faceless woman for parking in her spot. So we moved the truck, unloaded the bookcase and went back for more. Once we were done, Mom and I went to Walmart and dinner while Kristen, Ryan and Matt headed home. After an hour of debate, Mom and I decided to buy a large fan at Walmart. Sure it was an extra $20 but with no A/C coming until Tuesday and lots of work to be done on Monday we decided it was worth the expense.
Given the massive amount of work still to be done and my lack of A/C, I decided to stay home from work on Monday. Sunday night I stayed with Mom in Alexandria at a fancy schmancy hotel. In fact it was a bit too fancy for us; within the first ten minutes we managed to break almost everything. Mom pulled the mini-fridge over on accident, I tried to pull the air vent off the wall thinking it was a table or a hidden ironing board and we broke the remote control. We also convinced the bellboy that we were serious wineos. That one was my fault--while he was still unloading our luggage and telling us about the amenities in the room I pulled a bottle of wine out of my purse and plunked it down on the counter. He paused his spiel and asked if we would like a corkscrew and some wine glasses. We nodded emphatically. He left and returned ten minutes later, not only with the corkscrew and glasses but also with a bucket of ice to cool off our bottle and a free glass of wine from their "wine hour" for each of us. I decided that even though this hotel was too fancy for me I liked it a lot.
Monday morning we wandered into a deli for breakfast. When we returned to the hotel, the front desk informed us that apparently an engineer noticed that Mom's new car, Wanda, had a flat tire. Since Mom had a spare they offered to change Wanda's tire for us, also free of charge. So we went up to the room, twiddled our thumbs and waited for Wanda to be fixed. Finally Wanda's tire was changed and she was ready to go. From there it was off to make another Walmart run and get some groceries. Apparently Mom didn't think 2 jars of jam, 1 jar of peach butter and a bottle of vodka was sufficient food for the week. I think I could have made it work though.
Actually no I don't. There was no way that would work.
Anyways.
Along the way we made a pit stop to get the punctured tire patched up. Naturally I found us the most colorful place on earth. And by colorful I mean a small shack that wasn't even equipped to take credit cards. But hey, they fixed the tire properly and checked the pressure on the 4 tires still on the car. It was then off to Walmart for a new coffee pot (mine had been broken in the move) and the sketchiest groceries I've ever bought. But you know what? I was way too tired to care. So we bought about four items for me to eat that week and called it a day.
Finally we went back and loaded up the final few items at the old apartment. We said our goodbyes to the Queen Anne Belvedere and headed over to my new home. We changed into shorts and tshirts and got to work. Well, first we had lunch at Chiptole. THEN we got to work. Because food is important. And no one should work in an A/C-less apartment on an empty stomach. Once we were fed and changed we started building various items. The day before, Mom had inadvertently discovered that what we both believed were drawers in my kitchen were actually false fronts. This discovery was made when she accidentally yanked one off to reveal...nothing. Where a drawer should have been there was just a hole. So we had bought a cute little metal cart to augment my 4 cabinets in the kitchen. Mom assembled that while I assembled my new over-the-toilet storage tower thing. It took four tries but I finally got it properly assembled. By the time I was done, Mom had finished building her cart and sanitizing the kitchen.
We got the kitchen and the bathroom all set up before it was time for Mom to leave. First was a trip to Subway for dinner, followed by fro-yo next door at Tutti Frutti. Given that I had planned to dine on a bowl of cereal for dinner, Subway and Tutti Frutti were a huge improvement. Mom headed back to DC to see Kara, and I finished unpacking the closet.
Sadly, I was far from done. Thankfully, the adventures would continue as I settled in. Hey, it's me we're talking about here. Goodness knows nothing in my life can go smoothly. But that's why I like it so much.
But more about that later.
We struggled a load up the stairs (oh the joys of living in a second floor walkup). Then we went for another load. Some guys around our age were loitering on the front steps. We talked to them. Their friend had just moved in and was sorting out an issue with BGE. They had nothing to do so naturally they volunteered to help us move boxes. Because that's what everyone does. Totally kidding. Very few people do that.
We took a lunch break at Chipotle then got back to work. The boys were wonderfully, saintly little helpers so I didn't have the heart to tell them that just dumping things willy-nilly in the new place wasn't quite what I had in mind. And when I say willy-nilly I mean it: I walked in with some boxes and one of my armchairs was on its side in the middle of the room. I shrugged, added my box to the chaos and went for another load. I'd rather have willy-nilly help than no help at all. Unfortunately everything wouldn't fit in the second load so we got as much of the big stuff as we could before the truck had to be returned to its sketchy home.
I got the truck back into the lot at 3:58 PM. It was due back at 4. Not that the grizzled old man who checked me in seemed to care. Finally, Mom and Kara called to say they were in DC. So we went back to my old apartment to shower. Why not the new place? Well, two reasons. First, there was still no A/C in the new apartment. Second, the former tenant took the shower rod. WHO DOES THAT? Who takes a shower rod?! Since I still had a shower rod at the old place, I found the shower curtain along with a change of clothes and brought them back over to the old place.
When I emerged from the shower, Katy was asleep on the living room floor. Mom had called while I was showering so I went to retrieve her & Kara from the pet store across the street while Katy took her shower. Dinner was at restaurant week restaurant #5 (for me): Chazz in Harbor East. It was delicious. Sadly no photos though--I was so tired & hungry that all I could think of was stuffing my face. I know, I know. But we had just moved in our defense.
Saturday night Kara and Katy headed to DC and I stayed the night with Mom in her hotel.
Sunday went about the same as Saturday. Mom and I went to the new apartment and did some arranging, getting all the furniture where we wanted it to be. Thank goodness I had her--I would not have been able to make everything fit like it does. And yes, we stood the sideways chair up on its feet. After about two hours of shoving things around the A/C-less apartment we decided it was lunch time so we went to Subway. Kristen met us at Subway and after lunch we went back to the old place to finish up there. Between Ryan, Kristen, Matt and myself we managed to get everything into the new place while Mom began cleaning the old one. Apparently the parking spaces behind the building are reserved--Matt and I were screamed at by a nameless, faceless woman for parking in her spot. So we moved the truck, unloaded the bookcase and went back for more. Once we were done, Mom and I went to Walmart and dinner while Kristen, Ryan and Matt headed home. After an hour of debate, Mom and I decided to buy a large fan at Walmart. Sure it was an extra $20 but with no A/C coming until Tuesday and lots of work to be done on Monday we decided it was worth the expense.
Given the massive amount of work still to be done and my lack of A/C, I decided to stay home from work on Monday. Sunday night I stayed with Mom in Alexandria at a fancy schmancy hotel. In fact it was a bit too fancy for us; within the first ten minutes we managed to break almost everything. Mom pulled the mini-fridge over on accident, I tried to pull the air vent off the wall thinking it was a table or a hidden ironing board and we broke the remote control. We also convinced the bellboy that we were serious wineos. That one was my fault--while he was still unloading our luggage and telling us about the amenities in the room I pulled a bottle of wine out of my purse and plunked it down on the counter. He paused his spiel and asked if we would like a corkscrew and some wine glasses. We nodded emphatically. He left and returned ten minutes later, not only with the corkscrew and glasses but also with a bucket of ice to cool off our bottle and a free glass of wine from their "wine hour" for each of us. I decided that even though this hotel was too fancy for me I liked it a lot.
Monday morning we wandered into a deli for breakfast. When we returned to the hotel, the front desk informed us that apparently an engineer noticed that Mom's new car, Wanda, had a flat tire. Since Mom had a spare they offered to change Wanda's tire for us, also free of charge. So we went up to the room, twiddled our thumbs and waited for Wanda to be fixed. Finally Wanda's tire was changed and she was ready to go. From there it was off to make another Walmart run and get some groceries. Apparently Mom didn't think 2 jars of jam, 1 jar of peach butter and a bottle of vodka was sufficient food for the week. I think I could have made it work though.
Actually no I don't. There was no way that would work.
Anyways.
Along the way we made a pit stop to get the punctured tire patched up. Naturally I found us the most colorful place on earth. And by colorful I mean a small shack that wasn't even equipped to take credit cards. But hey, they fixed the tire properly and checked the pressure on the 4 tires still on the car. It was then off to Walmart for a new coffee pot (mine had been broken in the move) and the sketchiest groceries I've ever bought. But you know what? I was way too tired to care. So we bought about four items for me to eat that week and called it a day.
Finally we went back and loaded up the final few items at the old apartment. We said our goodbyes to the Queen Anne Belvedere and headed over to my new home. We changed into shorts and tshirts and got to work. Well, first we had lunch at Chiptole. THEN we got to work. Because food is important. And no one should work in an A/C-less apartment on an empty stomach. Once we were fed and changed we started building various items. The day before, Mom had inadvertently discovered that what we both believed were drawers in my kitchen were actually false fronts. This discovery was made when she accidentally yanked one off to reveal...nothing. Where a drawer should have been there was just a hole. So we had bought a cute little metal cart to augment my 4 cabinets in the kitchen. Mom assembled that while I assembled my new over-the-toilet storage tower thing. It took four tries but I finally got it properly assembled. By the time I was done, Mom had finished building her cart and sanitizing the kitchen.
We got the kitchen and the bathroom all set up before it was time for Mom to leave. First was a trip to Subway for dinner, followed by fro-yo next door at Tutti Frutti. Given that I had planned to dine on a bowl of cereal for dinner, Subway and Tutti Frutti were a huge improvement. Mom headed back to DC to see Kara, and I finished unpacking the closet.
Sadly, I was far from done. Thankfully, the adventures would continue as I settled in. Hey, it's me we're talking about here. Goodness knows nothing in my life can go smoothly. But that's why I like it so much.
But more about that later.
Posts
Yes it was a colorful place to get the tire fixed! Very colorful! Baltimore has character!! Or characters!!
ReplyDeleteLove you dear!