We are moved. And I’m using the term moved very, very loosely , because well, Addy & I are here, and the furniture is still in storage, with an eta of Saturday afternoon. Yes, today is Friday. Mover issues. I think by now, I could write a whole book on moving to NYC [chapter 1, bring lots of money. Chapter 2, plan for NOTHING to go as you planned. Chapter 3, have back up money. Chapter 4, travelling by taxi with dog. Chapter 5, rummage through old coats, jackets, and jeans looking for spare money]
Ahem. Sorry to digress. Anyway, checking out of hotel TODAY, refusing to pay for another night as I just handed over an INSANE amount of money for a deposit and ONE month of rent [incidentally, these checks when combined equal nearly 5 months of rent that I was paying in Fredericksburg]. In theory, meeting movers at storage and then catching a ride to house. In reality, movers were overbooked. No worries, rent a car, stop by storage get some pillows and bedding paraphernalia, drive dog & me to new house to meet the nice gentleman who is going to turn on my gas and thus provide me heat & hot water. Thinking that with pillows and bedding paraphernalia I could “rough” it one night. HA HA HA HA. AHEM. In the state of New Jersey if you want to get a rental car using a debit card, you have to have a license issued in the states of NJ, NY, or PA regardless of the fact that you just moved here and since you were living in a hotel, getting a license with the address of the hotel seemed a bit, I don’t know—INSANE so you still have your TEXAS license. Although they were willing to accept it IF I could get the university to write a letter showing that I was in fact enrolled [because perhaps the student ID I showed them was fake!] AND a copy of the lease AND a bill with my name on it at the new address…all within 4 hours, as that was the check out time at hotel. So new plan: taxi and try not to shoot the nice people who work for a company with stupid rules. Not thrilled as it will cost more than rental car, but okay. We are now running late and must skip storage for pillows and bedding paraphernalia as gas man will be arriving at house in about 2 hours [and of course, if I am there—he’ll be late but if I’m not there—he’ll be on-time and leave and I’ll be without heat [which is fine right now] and hot water [which would suck right now!] for the weekend. Taxi ride was fun….it’s very interesting the industrialness of New Jersey as you drive south towards Newark and quite disgusting if you ask me—smog, smog, and more smog. OF COURSE Mr. Taxi Man had never been to Staten Island. I told him I’ve never been by car, so it’s an adventure for both of us! [He didn’t seem too sure of my enthusiasm]…and then we got lost. Not lost. Misplaced. Okay, we hit Victory [Street, Avenue, Road, Blvd, whatever] which, I believe, runs pretty much down the entire island and is the road we need to get to my house. So left or right? Neither of us are sure because the directions Mr. Taxi Man had actually spit us out on Staten Island at a different location—although I’m not sure how, as it’s an ISLAND and there are only a few way ON and OFF of it. But we [and by we, I mean he] decided to go right. After about 10 minutes, he pulls over to ask someone. It’s the OTHER direction….”all the way down”—Mr. Taxi Man looked at me “what kind of direction is that? All the way down?” So we chucked a u-ie and started all the way down Victory [Street, Road, Avenue, Blvd, whatever]. After about 15 minutes at a light Mr. Taxi Man asks someone else “just keep going, all the way down.” At this point it’s all I can do not to just laugh out loud. I mention that it’s an island so really how far could it be? Apparently still a ways down. We FINALLY arrive, just in enough time for Addy to give the place a sniff down and me to reassemble her kennel before the Nice Gas Guy gets there to turn on the gas and light my hot water heater and my furnace .
Now in hindsight, no 10X10 storage unit full of crap is a good thing for giving the place a thorough cleaning [after locating a grocery store to stock up on basics and cleaning supplies]. So here I sit in my uber-clean house that has electricity, heat, and hot water….but no furniture, cable, towels, or bedding. Being of girl scout mind, I made a make shift bed—using clothes and a blanket that I stole back from Addy. It was my blanket…before I stole Addy’s blanket to give to Stella because Addy drug Stella’s blanket outside through the mud and it needed to be cleaned and I wasn’t sending Stella to Granny’s without a blanket. Poor Addy. Once I got my “bed” made, she proceeded to lay on it and looked at me like “thanks Mom, but what about you?” Poor, poor Addy. She was not a happy girl, as she finally gets a house with a yard and all she wants is to curl up on her blankie and go to sleep and mean, mean Momma stole it! Hopefully just for one night. I’ve already made the decision that I don’t care if I have to personally lug all the boxes upstairs by myself because my time limit with the movers ran out, the FIRST thing they are doing once it’s unloaded is assembling my bed!
:ISHEZ
PS—nothing scares the crap out of you like spending the night in a new place—sleeping on a palette of clothes and a dog blanket, just about to fall asleep when you hear CRASH! What the??? Oh, just the freaking, fracking shower curtain rod fell. Oi. Oh well, you benefitted, as I’ve been typing this while waiting for my heart to resume back to a normal pace to re-attempt sleep on my clothes/dog blanket palette!
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