the deep moans round with many voices

I officially took possession of my new apartment on Saturday! I am not actually moved yet -- I am still living in my parents' guest bedroom in their basement -- but all the big furniture is there and I spent several hours unpacking and putting things away on Sunday afternoon and again this evening.

Getting my three U-boxes delivered was more of a production than it should have been, which was entirely due to technical glitches on U-haul's part. In summary, I wanted to create a reservation to have U-haul drop off all three boxes on the street, hire some movers for two hours to unload them, and then have U-haul pick the boxes back up on Sunday. I even got permission from the local police to have the boxes on the street overnight despite parking ordinances that require everyone to clear out between 2am and 6am. But U-haul's website would only allow me to create a reservation for box A. Even if I clicked on box B or box C to start the reservation, the only box that appeared as an option was box A.

Eventually I made a reservation for box A so I'd have an order number to reference, and then texted U-haul's help line. (Yes, they have a text-based help line. This is both very nice -- no phone calls! no hold music! -- and moderately frustrating, because it can be harder to explain exactly what you need via a phone keypad.)

Instead of adding box B and box C to my existing reservation, the help line guy created an entirely new reservation for all three boxes, but set it to self-delivery instead of company delivery. Which meant I now had to cancel the initial unloading-only contract with the movers (I got a credit) and create a new one for delivery AND unloading.

Also a couple days later I discovered (via a U-haul email telling me the delivery had been rescheduled from 9am to 10am) that the help line guy hadn't bothered to cancel the original reservation. I duly tried to cancel it. U-haul's website wouldn't let me. I texted the help line again, got a different person, and told them to please CANCEL order #1 and KEEP order #2. The new help line tech did that.

Which you would think would finally clear everything up, but when my moving crew showed up at the U-haul storage center on Saturday, the U-haul crew initially thought they were there for order #1 and only had box A ready. *headdesk* The moving crew lead called me to verify which order was correct, I told him order #2, he said "I knew it! I told them!" and then went and made U-haul fix their end.

I think in the end the expense wound up about the same, and this way all three boxes were cleared out and returned on the same day instead of staying overnight, but it was a pain in the neck.

...

I already knew I needed to buy a new sofa (this one, I think, will be some kind of sofa-bed) and also a new desk, but I think I also want to get some kind of open shelving unit to extend my kitchen. The current cupboards and drawers have a bit less useful space than my old kitchen, besides which I want to move a bunch of the cookware to easily reachable height instead of having things way up high or down where I need to crouch to reach them.

I also want to repaint a couple pieces of furniture I've been hauling around since childhood (they are both sturdy and useful, but primary colors are not really my style) and either paint or varnish/stain a wooden "shelving unit" that I knocked together out of two cheap-ass shoe stands (I flipped one upside down and bolted them together) about 15 years ago. In my old apartment it languished in my entry room gathering dust and holding assorted random junk, but I have decided it will suit well as a nightstand and therefore it needs to be made presentable. :)

Also also I need to install curtains to supplement the blinds, buy a shower caddy, and add some towel racks or towel loops to the bathroom, but those are easier projects. You can buy curtain rods, shower caddies, and towel fixtures practically anywhere.

Today I repotted a bunch of plants. Tomorrow I need to buy some more potting soil because I still have four to go.

I also need to buy a bit of chain for hanging one of my newly potted plants from the ceiling, but that's a less immediately pressing concern.

Some of the plants in question are houseplants, but others are from the Wine & Herb fest and need to go outside once potted.

I actually was going to take one out this afternoon, but when I did I discovered that I REALLY do not trust the structural integrity of my back porch/deck thingy. I must text Landlord Dude and let him know he needs to replace that this summer.

(For context, the deck is untreated wood and I have lived in this apartment since June of 2009. I do my best to keep the deck clean and clear, but there comes a time when decay cannot be staved off any further.)

This evening I realized that my habit of scheduling tax CE virtual class sessions on Tuesdays has betrayed me in November, because I will be working on the 22nd in order to take the 23rd off. This is, of course, because I will spend the entirety of the 23rd driving to Chicago.

(In point of fact, I will start the trip the evening of the 22nd to knock off a couple hours, because I am not the most efficient long-haul driver. My eyes are strongly susceptible to road strain, so I tend to pull off every 45-75 minutes to give them a break, and often to take a little 10-minute nap for good measure.)

Anyway, I rescheduled two classes, and for a third I will just go into work early on Monday the 21st and Tuesday the 22nd to make up for taking a 2-hour break from 10am to noon. Oops.

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In unrelated news, yesterday I did laundry a whole week late -- sometimes life just kind of happens, you know? -- and today I folded, hung, and otherwise put away the majority of the clean items. \o/

I also repaired the pocket in a pair of comfy pajama pants, so I can now once again stash my phone there while lounging around the house.

Oh, and it's Halloween! We (by which I mean the tenants of the four apartments in my house) pooled our money and Downstairs Neighbor S purchased a whole mess of candy for trick-or-treaters. We still ran out before the end of the night, as is traditional. I live in a destination trick-or-treating neighborhood -- lots of local kids; lots of houses close together, many of which are duplexes; slow traffic; good sidewalks; you know the drill -- so we are perennially slammed and never have quite enough even though we keep increasing the money pool.

I also provide a wicker basket and a laminated "Take 2 Pieces" sign (for when we're not around to staff the porch), because if you can't misappropriate the office laminator for personal projects, what is even the POINT of having one around??? ;p

Today, after literally 20 years of living in assorted rental housing situations, I finally bought renter's insurance.

Yes, I know. I have been ABSURDLY lucky to avoid catastrophes this long!

But I was printing out my new car insurance cards just now, and it occurred to me that luck cannot last forever and insurance bundling is a thing, so as long I was logged into Geico anyway -- why not? And now I am insured for a year for the low annual cost of $158.00, paid in full to avoid installment charges. :)

As a random bonus, I can now explain with greater authority to rental company tenants why they should get renter's insurance and how it is both cheap and painless. *wry* Previously I always felt slightly hypocritical about that, the same way I feel slightly hypocritical about selling add-on products to my tax prep clients.

(I mean, I wouldn't pay for most of them... but then again, I actively enjoy doing taxes so I wouldn't pay for tax prep in the first place, and clearly that is not the case for my clients! Just because I personally don't care about paying for audit support and representation doesn't mean it's not a valuable service for other people. *hands* And I do think the Not the IRS tax ID theft protection and identity restoration aid service is a good deal, so that one I do wholeheartedly recommend.)

And now back to spreadsheets. *sigh*

I cannot actually be bothered to install my air conditioner today, particularly since it's already getting too dark for me to usefully prune the lilac bush (it's right next to the window and pruning makes it grow back very enthusiastically, so each year I have to clear a space for the AC all over again), but tomorrow night it's only supposed to get down to about 66 Fahrenheit after a midday high in the low 80s, so tomorrow is AC installation day.

Tonight I will just run all my fans full blast.

Hmm. And I need to buy a fourth fan, to replace the one that died last year. Right now I have the box fan to draw air in, the fan in my bedroom aimed directly at my bed, and the small fan that usually circulates air through the kitchen but is currently acting as my computer room fan. It does an okay job cooling me while I work, but is not adequate for shoving air out of the room once I have the AC turned on.

Right. I will look into that...