I called the DAV in Wichita this morning and scheduled a pickup of items left over from the garage sale. Apparently they do that; they're sending a truck through Newton today, actually, and will be here between 12:30 and 4PM. This means that I had to get everything packed neatly for them and remove all the price stickers off of said things, box away the stuff that I'm keeping and bring it in, and keep an eye out for them.
Well, about two hours ago, I did all that, and asked my neighbors if I could bring the car to the middle between our two duplexes so that the truck could get in the driveway. They agreed, so I did that as well. As I got out of the car, I heard someone yell for me.
It was the kind older lady from across the street -- they'd bought my lawnmower from me on Friday morning. Oh no, was my first thought -- the mower blew up on them, or something. This was not the case.
"Hey, I was just wondering," she asked, "do you still have any of those Hot Wheels left?"
I still had half a tub of the Hot Wheels left, even though they were easily my best-selling item at the yard sale over the weekend.
"Yeah, they're in the garage. I'm getting everything ready because I have the DAV people coming in their truck to haul away the rest of the stuff I don't want or need."
"Would you take $30 for the rest of them?"
They apparently have a nephew who loves toy cars, and, well, it's better that they go to use and I get the money out of them than not, right? So I said yes, and she gave me thirty bucks. I got to keep the tub, thankfully -- I'll need it when I'm packing up the rest of my clothing and other things.
They also told me that I could use my old mower again to mow my grass once or twice between now and when I move, which is awesome, very nice of them, and very lucky for me that I sold the mower to someone who is quite literally about 60 feet from my house. Such nice people -- I wish I'd developed a more neighborly friendship with them in the two years or so they've been living there. This past week was quite literally the first time I've ever talked to them because I'm so rarely out and about unless I'm going to teach or coming home from teaching. Or, you know, those nights where I go to Walmart at 2AM.
Speaking of that...
Last night was one of those trips, and it went really well -- I showed up at exactly the right time. Why? Because as I went down the cleaning aisle, there was a massive stack of detergent boxes, already broken down and ready-to-go. Some of them are big. Not huge, mind you, but more than big enough for what I need. I took probably fifteen of them and put them in the trunk of the car when I left. I now may have enough boxes to get everything I need packed up and ready to load into the U-Haul. May.
Last night's trip was primarily for supplies, mostly for cleaning supplies. As you know, I have to clean this house and get it looking as good as I possibly can before I leave it. This is going to be no easy task, especially my Man Cave upstairs (where I've been smoking for the past five years). To those ends, I wanted to get all of the cleaning stuff I could now, while I had actual cash for it (from the yard sale, of course), as well as pick up the normal around-the-house stuff and food that I need on a week-to-week basis.
I got these things:
- Windex
- A new toilet brush
- Clorox wipes
- Paper towels
- A sponge mop (with refill) for the bathrooms
- Foaming bathroom spray cleaners
- Pledge
- Bleach
- Laundry detergent (because I'll need it)
- Vinegar
The one thing that I need that I couldn't find is a dust mop. Just a simple dust mop that I can spray Pledge onto and get the cobwebs and dust off the walls and out of the corners -- I wasn't able to find one. I may have to look around town or go get something like that at the Dollar Tree, as I know I've seen them there before in the past. That might be an afternoon trip for me once the DAV people come, as I'd like to go wash my car anyhow today or tomorrow.
The entire trip to Walmart took $108 of my yard sale money. Well, $103, really, as I had $5 in coins that I dumped out and cashed in at the Coinstar machine. I'd tell you the exact total, but I can't -- as I was leaving Walmart, the wind whipped the receipt out of one of the bags and I watched it fly across the parking lot, into the night, at high speed. Oh well. I can't really help that. But getting the supplies I need now helps me tremendously, and not having to put the costs of them on one of my cards helps even more. Yes, I'll get paid again twice this month, but after that, I have no more money until I become employed somewhere in Omaha. My big bills for the month are already paid (rent, electric and water), but I'll have another set of them comin' in soon that I'll have to take care of (credit cards and internet) that I'll have to deal with before AND after I move.
Daisy, of course, has her own things to do and deal with -- tomorrow she's beginning the move into our new place, and our new furniture gets delivered tomorrow afternoon. Over the next two weeks (since she's, y'know, there) she is going to be moving in her stuff and setting it up on her off days, much like I'll be doing here in vice-versa at the same time (read: packing everything that's left and cleaning the hell out of everything). I have a class to teach tomorrow and a final to give next week as well, so I'll be in and out and juggling everything involving that stuff myself.
The good news? Aside from those two days, and probably a few hours on a third day to make sure my exams are partner-graded correctly and turned in to the office, the rest of my time can and will be spent readying for the move. I drive up to Omaha to drop off the car on the night of the 17th, we come back down here on the 18th, we pick up the truck on the 19th, load it up for most of that day (and probably the 20th), I turn over the keys to the landlord and shake his hand, and we go.
It is a somewhat-tight schedule, yes, to know that in a little more than two weeks I will no longer live here, buuuuut....it's also somewhat freeing. Until I look around the house and realize that I have a lot of stuff left to do in those two weeks. And a lot of that stuff has to wait until the last, oh, 24-48 hours before we actually move (stuff like unhooking the computer, steam-cleaning the carpets, and most of the actual cleaning of rooms/spaces that are currently filled with boxes or furniture that won't be moved until they're on the truck). Not to mention that in order to do a lot of the actual moving and cleaning I'll have to lock the cats in a room somewhere, just so they don't escape or get into any of the cleaning supplies or sprayed-down sinks, toilets, and counters.
Over the next few days (basically the rest of the week) I will be making calls, one by one, to turn off utilities after a certain date (probably the 21st) here at this house. The utilities don't really get "turned off," but they simply revert back to the landlord's overall accounts for them for all of the houses he owns and rents out. This means that no, I won't have to worry about working without water and/or lights, not that I would anyway -- I expect to be out of the place the day before the cutoff date. I'm taking care of this stuff piece-by-piece, and hopefully I'll be able to get it all done within the next several days at the latest. I then have to update all of my credit card information to the new addresses, too, as well as put in an official change of address form at the post office and change my other online account stuff (student loans people, Amazon, etc etc) and figure out what I need to do with my car's registration and title, if anything right now. Add to that the fact that I have my car insurance coming due again at the end of June, and I have an expensive, busy two months ahead of me.
It's now 3:15 PM and the DAV people haven't come yet; they're supposed to be here by 4. This means that I should be watching for them a little more closely over the next 45 minutes or so...which means I totally need to get off the computer.
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