Adventures in moving

I have survived the move, though it did end up being an adventure. When we picked up the truck on Friday afternoon they asked if we wanted to upgrade from 10" to 16" at no extra charge. If anyone offers you that and your stuff really would fit in the 10" don't take it. It's not just harder to drive and guzzling more gas, it's also truck rate for tolls and so 2-3 times the cost of a car. But it did make packing it very comfortable and low stress. And the guys I hire were fantastic: careful, professional, efficient, and cheap. So Friday went pretty well. 

Saturday we planned on leaving at 5:00 and managed to hit the road at 5:10. I'm pretty pleased with that considering how much I hate mornings. My biggest fear for the move was that we would arrive after the office closed (at 4) and so I wouldn't be able to get the key until Monday morning which would have caused all sorts of problems. But the drive went pretty well and we arrived with plenty of time. A couple hours later Jim and all my nephews showed up. While it was unpleasant hauling all my stuff up the 58 steps to my 4th floor walk up we survived it. And I promised them all I won't move again until I'm finished with school and settling into my next job. 

Then I bought them all a nice dinner in a restaurant around the corner. I think once I'm settled in I am going to like the neighborhood a lot. The park across the street is really lovely. And within easy walking distance there is a grocery store, a drug store, a 7-11, a gas station, several restaurants, a movie theater, a best buy, a world class art museum, and if I cared about such things a professional baseball team. And even though a few blocks away it's very busy the streets right around me are rather quiet. Though I wonder if it won't be quite so quiet once school starts and the students are all back. 

If the story ended there I would say successful move, yay! But then we woke up Sunday morning and discovered that Jim's car with attached trailer and my rental truck had all been towed. We called around trying to figure out where they'd been taken and found out the city tow lot is closed on Sundays so we couldn't get them out until Monday morning. Jim was supposed to be doing a craft show on Sunday and Mary and I would have spent the day unpacking. Instead we decided we needed to have some fun to make up for the trauma of waking up, looking out the window, and saying "where's the car?" it was a gorgeous day so we went and played tourist: Quincy market, Fannuel Hall, the seals at the aquarium, the freedom trail stuff in the north end. It was nice to have some relaxing time with the boys. 

Retrieving the cars Monday morning took about 2 and a half hours of running around. Turns out they weren't in the city tow lot. Three phone calls later we found them. It was expensive, but not more than I was expecting except for the fact that they charged us for Jim's car and trailer as 2 separate vehicles and the trailer was commercial, as was the rental truck. But at that point I was like: I have hemorrhaged so  much money already this weekend I can't even think about it. 

By 9:30 Monday morning Mary was on her flight home, Jim et.al we driving off and I parked the car in a 2 hour spot and took a deep breath. Then I packed up my gear and drove to Albany to give Blue to Mom and Dad and now I'm flying to Tulsa for a week of shoots with the Smithsonian.  I am so tired. But this week of work wasn't in my original budget and is what I'll use to pay for the move, so needs must. I'll survive and it will make the start of school feel that much more relaxing. 

(There is probably a lot in Kris & Linda's How to be Happy book that was naive and highlights how young we were, but I would still stand by most of it. And I would like to give a copy to the woman next to me on the plane. She has done nothing but complain and whine and nit-pick and find fault with everything around her.)