Well, dear readers, I have survived the big move, sorta kinda, maybe, who knows? It was, quite honestly, the kind of day I never ever need to have again, although it did have some decent moments. But I am all in right now, sore as can be, and if I could fit in the washing machine, I’d do a cycle or two and then rinse and dry. I don’t know what that means, but I like the sound of it. So, let’s get down to brass tacks, shall we, or, at the very least, aluminum tacks, and tell this sordid tale from start to finish, whilst Eugene Ormandy has his way with Kodaly’s Harry Janos Suite. I was awakened at eight-fifteen by a call from the movers. I got myself out of bed (six hours of sleep) and called them back. Seems no one was there to let them into the warehouse. I told them I had nothing to do with that building, so I texted the helper and she, of course, did not respond. But they called her, and she was nice enough to take their call and she showed up about fifteen minutes later, so they were thirty minutes behind right off the bat. Their estimated arrival time, based on seeing what was there, was noon. I texted the boss and asked if that was still the ETA, and he texted back that no, it was taking much longer than anticipated to get everything into the TWO huge trucks. He said they’d be there by two. The problem with that, of course, is that I got there at eleven to sign papers and get the lay of the land. I was done with that part by eleven-thirty. Then all the helpers arrived – they all showed up, with Marshall Harvey joining us at two. So, on the clock, we had to sit and wait. We finally went to some Mexican jernt just to get out of the heat – a couple of them had some fries, but I just did a Diet Coke. We went back to the storage place at 1:30 and waited.
They didn’t end up getting there until two-fifteen. The got their trucks to the loading dock and when they opened both sets of doors, it was rather shocking to see the amount of stuff they then were going to have to unload. But I think there were five or six of them, and they got right to it. I’d already opened the three spaces and they’d packed the truck properly, so they were able to get all the shelving units into the big space and thankfully they all fit in there. The helpers had figured out how they should go and all that took only fifteen minutes. Then they began to unload all the CD boxes. But all the big excess stock boxes came first and those all went into another unit. One of the helpers organized that and, at first, it was very easy to navigate – she’d left two aisles for me and all the box titles so they could be read easily, so that was good. Then all the smaller boxes came and the three fellows doing the shelving of them began organizing and getting everything on the shelves alphabetically. They were all great about it, but it took about three hours to get that done, maybe a bit more. By that time, truck one had been emptied. Then came truck two, and we began taking that stuff into the third storage unit. That included all my personal stuff. I went back and forth to the truck and that unit, and the gal who’d organized the excess stock room organized this one, too. While I was in the truck, I just happened to upon one single box to see what was inside – and this damn notebook we’d spent WEEKS looking for was right there – I couldn’t believe it. That was a real luck out and I’ll know today whether it’s still needed and if it is, I could make some nice dough and get other goodies, too. I honestly think they didn’t look very hard. But I got lucky and that was one of the good things. I also found some stuff I put in the trunk to bring home, some stuff I may offer up as a way to cover some of the horrifying cost of this crazy move, which ended up $1,200 over the estimate, which was high to begin with. It was actually closer two 2K over, but he took around $800 off the bill, due to the late arrival and all that. But the moving fellows were just great, and I had them laughing a lot. I also gifted them some stuff I knew I didn’t need – some nice chairs, a nice table. They were very appreciative. And I tossed a few things, too, and I can toss a lot more when I get back in there in a few weeks. But then, we discovered there were sixty more boxes of excess stock, so all that nice organization went out the window the stacked as many in there as they could until it was full up with no way to walk in there at all.
It was apparent that I would, after all, need the fourth space, so I went and arranged that, and there were still about twenty excess CD boxes that went in there. But that’s mostly empty right now, so when I go back in a couple of weeks, we’ll take those sixty boxes that were piled in and put them in the fourth space so we can have our aisles back and I’ll be able to get in there to see what’s what. We finished right at six, both the unpacking and getting everything where it needed to be and the boys organizing the big space, with all boxes mostly alphabetized perfectly. The movers left behind a little step ladder – just two steps but that will make it easy for the helper to reach the top shelf. By the end of it, I could barely function, and my throat and mouth were so dry it was ridiculous. Then I signed a couple of things for the gal helper, who’s a huge Partridge Family fan, and we took lots of photos of that. I could barely walk to my car.
Then Marshall and I went to Marie Callenders – only outside seating there until June 15. I got a Cobb salad with ranch, and it was very good, and Marshall got some fish tacos. And then I came home – I was going to go to the mail place to see if the important envelope had arrived, but I just didn’t have it in me to do so. I had a lot of e-mails to sort through, I wrote the guy that I’d found the big notebook, and then I listened to music, which was very helpful.
By the way, Mammy Yokum passed away yesterday – well, the only Mammy Yokum for me, that is – the wonderful Billie Hayes. Here we are at one of the Ray Courts signing shows circa 2000, when the shows were at the Beverly Garland. What a treat it was to finally meet her. And a few years ago, I had several telephonic conversations with her and we almost got her to come to our production of Li’l Abner with the Shermans. Alas, it didn’t work out.
Today, I would love to have a ME day after all that, but I’ll have to be up early, go pick up the important envelope, do banking, and then I have to go back to the storage place around two to meet up with the helper’s mom to show her everything, give her the keys and the little card you swipe to get in. Hopefully, that will all go smoothly. Then, I’m meeting one of our Indiegogo contributors to give him all his stuff. He took most of the first edition musicals and a lot of the vocal scores. I think Marshall will join us there for a meal because he did yesterday’s move for free. At some point, I will really need to watch, listen, and relax.
Tomorrow will absolutely be a ME day and other than doing Kritzerland show stuff, I’m not doing anything but recovering. Then, the rest of the week is Kritzerland show stuff, perhaps a Zoom rehearsal or two, and I’m not sure what the weekend holds.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, be up by ten or thereabouts, hopefully pick up the important envelope, bank, meet the helper’s mom at the storage facility, deliver a lot of stuff to our Indiegogo contributor and have a meal, and then I’ll watch, listen, and relax. Today’s topic of discussion: For our carnivores – what are your favorite meat dishes, whether dining out or preparing at home? Conversely, for our vegetarians, what are your favorite vegetarian dishes, whether dining out or preparing at home? Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, happy the moving ordeal is done.