Monday, June 7, 2021

Everybody’s fleeing!!

Well, not really. The Saturday of Memorial Day weekend, a U-Haul truck pulled into the cul-de-sac and was parked to receive stuff. When I woke up Sunday morning, there was another one.

Busy, busy, busy around here these days. I’m not doing the U-Haul gig. Two Men and a Truck will move my stuff up to Wisconsin. I’m lazy.

THE GOOD

Received an email a couple days ago from the assistant manager of LeSilve, the apartment complex I liked the most. They had a new opening in the building that allowed dogs and cats, would send me photos, and if I liked the apartment, leasing paperwork would be sent. I enjoyed seeing the photos and a video clip, sent a “yes-I’ll-take-it” email, and I felt very grateful and fortunate.

No balcony or patio. Better yet–a four season sunroom!!! With this being Wisconsin, I’ll get much more use out of the sunroom.

THE BAD

Chaos. The kind that comes from purging, packing, and having a garage sale.

The kitchen chaos station. It drives me crazy.

Living room mixture of stuff to be moved and stuff to sell at the garage sale

Hallway. Oh, there are my old slippers!

BACK TO THE GOOD

A fun moving sale. I invited a few pals to bring stuff over. It was great meeting folks and chatting away. I failed to convince anyone they needed some 1960s era men’s handkerchiefs in original packaging…leftovers from cleaning out my dad’s bureau. I had his 1940s era slide rule and instruction book out on a table, but someone suggested I look up its value. I did and took it back into the duplex.

Some of the leftover items will be taken to Goodwill. Others I will put outside on a sunny day with a “Free” sign, like the two baskets in the photo above.

Meet My New Best Friend

I have a love/hate relationship with my smart phone. It’s mostly hate because 1) it interrupts me too often with texts from well-meaning friends and family, and 2) I keep misplacing the damn thing.

Honestly, I will have it in my hand one minute, set it down, and then when I need it, a major search gets underway. I get pissed off, start mumbling, and I end up knocking on the door of my new neighbor, Marsha, and asking her to come over and call my phone. “I know it’s in there. If I hear it, I’ll be able to find it. I’ve looked everywhere!” I plead.

Went through that scenario twice in one week, and I said, “That’s enough. Surely Amazon has a gadget that helps you find your phone.” Indeed. There are several, actually. I ordered the one pictured above. My phone now sports a red plastic thingy on the back. When I press the red key icon on the remote device, my phone beeps. It’s terrific. The remote control gadget sits in a little stand and stays in one place in the living room. If I find that I want to have the same assistance finding other things, there are three more color thingies I can attach to things. It’s humiliating enough to need help finding the damn phone. Why do I get the feeling that I am preparing myself for assisted living?

THE UGLY

Having to inform important entities about my change of address.

Being stuck with website chat beings programed with a set number of responses, none of which answer my question; all of which raise my blood pressure.

Being stuck on multiple levels of phone trees because a website chat function didn’t help me, so I have to sit and listen to music I hate and reminders to keep holding.

(Hats off to the websites that employ actual humans to chat about inquiries.)

Knowing I will have to go through all of this again. My cousin, Bob, agreed to be my interim address for important mail while I reside in an extended stay hotel during July. I move into the apartment on August 1, so by the middle of July I’ll be back at it.

At least it’s a simple process to have the U.S. Postal Service forward mail to a new address. Thumbs up to their website.

Almost Done Packing

I am creating bins of things I’ll need to have on hand while I’m staying at the extended stay hotel: Stuff for the dog. Stuff for my photography. Stuff needed for office/laptop functioning. Bathroom stuff. The pharmacy. Clothes and shoes.

Meanwhile, cabinets and drawers are almost empty. The garage has been cleaned out. I’m just about at the stage where I just throw unrelated things into boxes and tell myself I’ll figure it out once I’m in Wisconsin.