Funny, you didn't mention the apartment was on the third floor...
Yesterday was a busy day. A busy, busy, day. mollymorrison and sorerutenshi claimed the apartment they'll be living in after their wedding yesterday, and nightwolfwriter and I helped them move mollymorrison's belongings out of our house and into it.
It was an adventure. Oh, yes. Mr. Murphy is alive and well. Most of the drama centered around the truck we used, though.
mollymorrison gets points for reserving a truck from one of those move yourself places. Unfortunately the location she chose had some major technical difficulties yesterday. The store was supposed to open at 7 am, but no one showed up until after 9 am. We live in a population dense area, so even when we called the 800 number to try and change the reservation or get a truck from another location, there wasn't a truck to be had in a 50 mile radius. Clearly this isn't something one can do on the spur of the moment. ;-)
The truck was surprisingly easy to drive (in spite of having no rear-view mirror) but that's the kindest thing I can say about it. It was a brand new truck, but the previous driver hadn't cleaned it out. There was an old milk bottle in the door pocket and cigarette ashes everywhere. The best part was the door on the back. The tension cables somehow slipped off their guides and wrapped around the door axle. We thought for a while we were going to have to get a repairman to come out. sorerutenshi "solved" the problem for us by simply disconnecting the cables. That made the door more of a challenge to open and close, but at least it didn't make us fall too far behind schedule. I don't envy whoever Molly deals with when she turns the truck back in. I suspect they'll get an earful. ;-)
Since nightwolfwriter and I gave mollymorrison our used living room furniture, she had a little more than she thought she did. However since she and sorerutenshi were both driving their own vehicles, and I drove my car down while nightwolfwriter handled the truck there was plenty of spare space for the stuff that didn't wind up in the truck.
sorerutenshi got a crash course in the fine art of caravan leading yesterday. It doesn't sound difficult, but when you have three vehicles on your tail, you have to judge things like making turns and changing lanes differently. It's no longer "can I make it?" it's "can everyone make it?" He did okay once he got used to that. nightwolfwriter could only go so fast in the truck, so he set the speed of our little convoy. mollymorrison had the foresight to purchase some walkie-talkies for us, which was immensely helpful for communicating lane changes and turns and also made the hour-long drive much more entertaining. :-D
Schlepping all that stuff up two flight of stairs to the new apartment was hands down the hardest part. Lucky for us, a couple sorerutenshi knows came over to lend a hand. I've never been especially good at pacing myself, and have two basic speeds: full and stop. After the morning's adventures and packing and loading the truck, I was seriously starting to run out of steam. They took us out to dinner afterwards, then we got in the car and came back to our now strangely emptier home. The cats are acting up already and I'm sure all of us are going to be confused for the next few days or weeks until we adjust to having one less person in the house again.
Yesterday was mostly work, but today I get to play. I'm scheduled to check out a few scrapbooking stores with a friend of mine, so I should hush and get ready. Hope everyone has a wonderful Sunday!
Wish
It was an adventure. Oh, yes. Mr. Murphy is alive and well. Most of the drama centered around the truck we used, though.
mollymorrison gets points for reserving a truck from one of those move yourself places. Unfortunately the location she chose had some major technical difficulties yesterday. The store was supposed to open at 7 am, but no one showed up until after 9 am. We live in a population dense area, so even when we called the 800 number to try and change the reservation or get a truck from another location, there wasn't a truck to be had in a 50 mile radius. Clearly this isn't something one can do on the spur of the moment. ;-)
The truck was surprisingly easy to drive (in spite of having no rear-view mirror) but that's the kindest thing I can say about it. It was a brand new truck, but the previous driver hadn't cleaned it out. There was an old milk bottle in the door pocket and cigarette ashes everywhere. The best part was the door on the back. The tension cables somehow slipped off their guides and wrapped around the door axle. We thought for a while we were going to have to get a repairman to come out. sorerutenshi "solved" the problem for us by simply disconnecting the cables. That made the door more of a challenge to open and close, but at least it didn't make us fall too far behind schedule. I don't envy whoever Molly deals with when she turns the truck back in. I suspect they'll get an earful. ;-)
Since nightwolfwriter and I gave mollymorrison our used living room furniture, she had a little more than she thought she did. However since she and sorerutenshi were both driving their own vehicles, and I drove my car down while nightwolfwriter handled the truck there was plenty of spare space for the stuff that didn't wind up in the truck.
sorerutenshi got a crash course in the fine art of caravan leading yesterday. It doesn't sound difficult, but when you have three vehicles on your tail, you have to judge things like making turns and changing lanes differently. It's no longer "can I make it?" it's "can everyone make it?" He did okay once he got used to that. nightwolfwriter could only go so fast in the truck, so he set the speed of our little convoy. mollymorrison had the foresight to purchase some walkie-talkies for us, which was immensely helpful for communicating lane changes and turns and also made the hour-long drive much more entertaining. :-D
Schlepping all that stuff up two flight of stairs to the new apartment was hands down the hardest part. Lucky for us, a couple sorerutenshi knows came over to lend a hand. I've never been especially good at pacing myself, and have two basic speeds: full and stop. After the morning's adventures and packing and loading the truck, I was seriously starting to run out of steam. They took us out to dinner afterwards, then we got in the car and came back to our now strangely emptier home. The cats are acting up already and I'm sure all of us are going to be confused for the next few days or weeks until we adjust to having one less person in the house again.
Yesterday was mostly work, but today I get to play. I'm scheduled to check out a few scrapbooking stores with a friend of mine, so I should hush and get ready. Hope everyone has a wonderful Sunday!
Wish