I know!
... I KNOW!
I suck.
... what? Of course I still love you! This is a me thing, not you!
Look, I meant to write, and then things just kept happening. And I have barely had time to breathe let alone put together a coherent thought.
... well if you're gonna be like THAT forget it!
... No, I'm sorry! Come back, I'll write, I promise!
OK, on a serious note, I'm not even sure where to start. It has been such an insane month. I guess the last time I wrote it was Weight Loss Wednesday. So... since then... let's see. I'll go day by day if I can even remember how to separate the days.
Thursday night I packed up a lot. I was getting boxes from the liquor store downstairs, so EVERYTHING I own was in wine and liquor boxes. It looked kind of amazing. I estimated that I didn't have that much stuff, maybe I would have 20 boxes or so at this point...
Yeah... it turned out to be a little more like this:
So. Yeah. Lots of boxes. But two or three liquor boxes equal one regular box... right??
I got rid of TONS of stuff too! I cleaned out my closet and got rid of probably half of my wardrobe. I also threw out tons of miscellaneous stuff that I just hadn't used and didn't need. I sold Puka's Cat Condo because that bitch just refuses to use it.
Oh there's a story! The guy that picked up the cat condo was talking about his kids who were like, 9 years old, and the fact that his car wouldn't start the day before due to the heat (it had been like 80ish. I can understand when we get up into the 100s. But 80s? You drive a POS, and I know it!) and then tried to hit on me. Like seriously. To the point where he was blushing and I was like "haha yeah thanks buh bye now!"
Creeper.
Anyway. Friday I was up until 4:30 in the morning packing. I didn't want the move to take any longer than 3 hours. For $85/hour, I was getting 3 guys and a truck, plus a flat 30 minute travel time, and my moving estimate was $297 total. It would be $20-$25 to pack up the TV extra carefully. And I had budgeted around $400 for the move, so I would have plenty to tip them with.
Friday afternoon I took Puka over to the new place. FYI: Puka does NOT like the subway. AT. ALL. She will bunker down inside her cat carrier, and meow like someone is ripping hairs out of her tail one by one. Everybody kept giving me looks like "what are you doing to your cat??" Thank god I had Ana and her adorable and sweet sister (Happy Sweet 16, Holly!) to help me carry the pissy cat to the new place. Once we got there, Puka pretty much stayed in her carrier the whole day. No big deal. I went home to finish putting the last few things in bags and boxes.
The movers arrive at 6:30, which was within their time frame. I booked them late (literally the day before) so 5-7pm was the only time slot they had available. I showed them everything I had, and then my day went downhill. First he said that I didn't have much, and that it wasn't a bad move. YAY! And then this started:
"OK so it's $35 to pack up the TV..."
"They told me $20-25?"
"Nope. $35. And it's $15 to wrap each mattress. So you have a mattress and a box spring, that's $30"
"Oh, my stuff is old, I'm not worried about it. You don't have to wrap it."
"Nope, it's the law. Due to bedbugs, they have to be wrapped. OK, and the mirror is $25 to wrap it."
"OK, no. Don't wrap the mirror. Just put it in blankets and if it breaks, it breaks. No worries."
"OK if you say so. And everything has to be in a flat bottom box. They are $13 per box to rent. All these bags have to go in a box. And the artwork too."
"Really? I wasn't told everything had to be in a box. You can't just take the bags?"
"Nope."
"Can you fit it in one box?"
"I can try. And we have to box up the artwork. I can't carry one piece at a time, and if I try to stack them they'll fall. You're attached to the art right?"
"I mean... the most expensive one was $20 at Century21, so... I mean... I like them but they are replaceable."
"No. They have to be in a box."
I wasn't able to ride with them to the new apartment, so I had to trust that 3 Russian guys were going to deliver all of my earthly possessions to me in one piece. I rode the subway over and thank GOD Flo was there. They started moving my stuff in before I got there and were done in under the 3 hours minimum mark. Perfect! But all those extra charges...
I had contacted the company before the move and asked if a tip was included in the hourly price, or if tip was expected. I was told that tip was not expected. That I could if I wanted to, but no, not expected.
The end bill came and I was charged ......
$418!!!!!!!!!
What?! How is that even possible! That's all the cash I have! I have $10 left to get myself some dinner (since all I've had today was peanut butter and jelly on pita bread which was gross and so I only ate half of it). But the mover wasn't done yet. I hand over the last of the money that I have to him and he says:
"Usually on a job like this a tip is expected..."
"I spoke to the company before the move and they said tip WASN'T expected."
"Who said that? Jon?"
"Yeah."
"Well of course he said that. All this money goes to the office. We don't get any of it. Each guy was expecting $50 for a job like this..."
"What?!? That's a 50% tip on the original estimate! Are you kidding me?! You had 1 flight of stairs at each place! This was not a tough move as New York apartments go!"
"This isn't a bar or restaurant. That's a customary tip for us."
I gave them each $15, which the mover scoffed at and said that he couldn't go to the truck with something that pitiful. He made me feel awful! And over something that I was told I didn't even have to pay! I said I could meet them later in the week and give them more of a tip, but that I wasn't guaranteeing $50 per person. He agreed and left. I was really uncomfortable. So I'm calling the company today to see what they say. First, I was getting conflicting information, which is why I asked in the first place. I have heard of companies adding $18 to the total automatically. But 50% is outrageous! I just don't want to be murdered by a disgruntled Russian mover in the middle of the night, what with them knowing where I live and all. Awkward...
I'll keep you updated on that situation.
So my entire apartment worth of stuff fit into my new bedroom. This either means that I have a very large bedroom, or I have a very small amount of stuff now. Maybe both?
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| Here's the before... |
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| Here's the after... |
and from the OTHER direction:
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| Before... |
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| and after... |
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| The New Building |
Puka was a little nervous. So she spent Saturday night, Sunday and most of Monday in this closet:
... Just in general being scared and skittish. But she has seriously warmed up and is making her presence known. I'll include more pictures of the finished place once it's... ya know... finished. Last night I did laundry which is good since I was down to 2 pairs of underwear and some mis-matched socks. I was pleasantly surprised to see that all of my clothes somehow are going to fit in the new closets. I didn't see that happening, but I didn't know what else I could do. At least I won't have to find a new solution for that! I am still waiting on my mom to send me my bed frame so I can get that done. I'm also waiting on my next paycheck so I can get a few things that I need around the place. Money is a little tight until the 15th which is unfortunate since it's only the 2nd. But you know... whatever....
By Sunday I was pretty stressed out. I had secured a girl to come pick up my coffee table and couch on Saturday during the day only to find out that she couldn't make it. Then she wanted to reschedule for Sunday which was fine. I had been up until 3:30am, but I could TOTALLY be in Queens so she could pick up the couch and coffee table at 9am. Except when she showed up she didn't want it. Awesome.
Also? THE MOVERS DIDN'T MOVE MY MIRROR! Ya know, the mirror? The one that they wanted to charge $25 to wrap up and when I decided they could just wrap it in blankets, they opted to JUST NOT MOVE IT. Along with my clothes hang-drier, and a couple other odds and ends. So I had to pay for a cab (which I paid for with the money that I had gotten from creepy cat condo guy) to take it back over to Manhattan. UGH!
So that was an entire Sunday morning wasted. I got home and made myself some leftover pizza for lunch. I called my mom and told her I was a little upset with how poorly I was handling the stress. She told me that I had dealt with a lot over the last months between roommates, failed apartments, missing $1150, moving, the whole DJ break-up and dealing with everything on my own thing... whatever. She told me to just relax. Finish my lunch, take a nap (since I had gotten about 15 hours of sleep over 4 days) and everything will seem better when I wake up. Of course she was right. I slept from 1:30 until 3pm. Flo was out doing a walk-through of her old apartment so I had the place to myself. It was lovely. I got up, and finished unpacking. EVERYTHING. That made me feel better. I decided that I wanted to just relax on Monday. That I couldn't do another day of moving stress since it had been about 3 straight weeks of constant stress.
Monday I slept in late. Like... noon. Flo was already gone getting her nails done. I washed some dishes, but as soon as I heard from Miranda that we were going to Central Park for the afternoon, I was outy! (Holy throw-back phrase...) I met Miranda, Natalie, Josh and Matt at the Great Lawn. I had missed the end of the softball game, and subsequently a lot of my old restaurant friends. But I was outside and stress free. I laughed... like a for real laugh! I felt happy and not on edge or annoyed with people. I felt great! I could feel my skin soaking up the vitamin D (a little too much because I got a little burn on the tops of my arms and chest. But I am no longer iridescent which is a nice change)!
I brought everybody back to the apartment to check it out, which they just loved (the boys loved the Wii more than my apartment I think. But whatever... I'll take it!) after I introduced them to 16 Handles which they just couldn't get enough of. I even got a "job well done" high-five and hug from Matty and Josh over the sweet treat. So let that be what convinces you of the amazing powers of 16 Handles... you will be hugged by boys! Which I guess can be good or bad...
Monday night I went to see Bridesmaids. It wasn't exactly what I thought it was going to be. It was funny, I enjoyed it. But it wasn't, laugh out loud, pee in your pants, squirm in your seat, laughing 10 minutes after the movie ends because it's so funny, funny. It was just good to get out.
And THEN. It was Tuesday. First day back to work. I am the only assistant in the office this week, so it's a bit busier (and I should probably NOT be writing this right now, but I had to! I missed you guys!) than normal. I met Terri for dinner at Blockheads. This was the first real meal I had in 4 days. I wasn't sure what this was going to do to my weigh loss for the week, but I had to eat. I was so hungry! Now... the frozen peach margaritas on the other hand... maybe I didn't HAVE to have those. But... in a way I did... and so I had them. And they were phenomenal. And I loved it.
My couch and coffee table still weren't sold as of yesterday. I put them on Craigslist for free yesterday morning just to try to get rid of them. I got somebody to come get the coffee table last night (after 2 separate people canceled at 6:30pm to come get the couch and coffee table. Bastards.), and I found somebody to take the couch tonight. They aren't paying anything for it. I just need it gone. They are coming to take a look at the couch tonight before they officially move it. So barring any "craziness", I'll be done with the couch as of tonight. Keep those fingers crossed Internet! After that, it's just the DirecTv issue that I have to deal with, which , to be honest, I can't even talk about right now. I'll have to fill that all in on Monday because MY GOD THE STRESS IS EATING ME ALIVE OVER HERE!
OK, so you are seeing that, yet again, it's Thursday and not Wednesday. And I owe you a Weight Loss Wednesday. As you may recall, this was to be a big week. I needed to lose 1 pound to reach my weight loss goal of losing 10 pounds by move-in. If I did, then I was treating myself to a massage. If I didn't... well... I only believe in positive reinforcement here. I have been punishing myself for too long. Time for some feel-good vibes!
I moved my gym from the 33rd street location to the 82nd street location since it's within walking distance of my apartment now. Good warm-up or cool-down walk. This gym does not have one of those old scales with the little single pound weight that you push over ever so slowly as you become more mentally prepared for the outcome. Nope. This one you stand on and the little dial shoots to your weight and ready or not you're staring at the number! It's like doing the Polar Bear Swim, or taking a shot of tequila! Ready or not, here it comes!
So I step on the scale, hold my breath and watch as that bright red dial zings to my weight...
I LOST 2 POUNDS!!!
So not only did I reach my goal of losing 10 pounds, I very nearly blew it out of the water by having now lost a total of 11 pounds in just 5 weeks. Which means I am actually ahead of my goal of 2 pounds per week! And I owe myself a massage!
My next weight loss goal is to be down 15 more pounds by the end of July. That's 8 weeks away, so if I keep going the way I have been, I should be able to make it. But I am aware that plateaus and rough weeks happen. But I have a goal, and I know I can do it if I can just stay focused!
So there you go. Now you have a little window into my most recent life and why I've been so distant. I'm sorry, I'll really try to stay more on top of keeping our relationship a top priority from here on out.
Hopefully tomorrow I will have something really light-hearted to write about! Here's hoping!
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