Yesterday was non-stop. I was out the door shortly after 8, got home after 7, so wiped I have no idea how far after. About the only thing I didn't pay for was gas. I wish I could say I took care of all my shopping but that's far from the truth.
I first headed down to the metro. I needed to meet somebody to hand over some cash for a combined past/future payment for help in moving things. There were thrift store purchases a few weeks ago needing bigger transport than a compact, and this weekend they will go from Paul's house to the new, along with lots of other stuff. With a recliner and couch in the new place tomorrow, we'll at least have places to sit and/or stretch out. Oh sure, there are two places to sit there now, and their the plumbing works perfectly! But they are not comfy long-haul, and it's a bit weird carrying on a conversation while on them, especially considering they are in separate bathrooms. Not to mention hard to hear, even if you don't close the doors.
There was a detour on the drive, since the person I was meeting is a late sleeper. I decided to hit a Target on my way. The plan was to find bath rugs for the new place, since all the old ones had gone into the trash instead of getting packed. Trust me, they needed to. The last couple months down there, accessing the laundry had been problematic. This shopping trip should kill the right amount of time.
But there was a big surprise! They didn't have any contour rugs for around toilets! I could still find the other one Steve wanted in Navy for his bathroom, so picked that up. As for my bathroom, all the available greens were depressingly drab, olive toned, and for my taste, ugly. Hmmm, so what else? I found a couple plastic 3-drawer storage units, the kind great for socks and undies. Steve had decided not to pack his dresser for the trip north, not knowing how small a bedroom either of us would have in a new place we hadn't seen. These are great inside a closet sitting on the floor, and being nearly transparent, one can easily see what is in which drawer. Then I went back to the "seasonal" far corner to look over pots to move my new ponytail palm houseplant into. It needs more space. I wound up with potting soil but didn't care for the pots. Time to check out, and make my next appointment, paying a helper.
Once that was accomplished, I headed to my credit union. I had a list for them but forgot one part of it: depositing a bunch of checks I've been sitting on. They are still in my pocketbook, a couple for under a dollar, combined. A slight overcharge in prescriptions. It wasn't my only mistake. At least I got to sit down with a banker to accomplish the rest of my needs, since they took about 20 minutes. First, cutting the certified check to pay for the new home. This alone was more than I had ever spent in one time in my whole life! But then, with our new address, and the credit union having merged and getting a recent name change, it was time to order new checks. Here was my other mistake. When my banker offered to shred the pad I was still using, I totally spaced the fact that I'd need one for the last errand of the day! It had to be a check, there was no provision at the site for taking a card, it was over my ATM withdrawal limit for the day, and we haven't yet set up direct bank deductions. We will in a week or two.
Since the credit union was across a huge parking lot from Walmart, I decided to check there on bath mats. Also plant pots, since I knew they carried one I liked and chose not to buy previously. As for a mate to Steve's navy rug in a contour rug, I snatched their last one. (These two stores must have the same buyer since all their bath rugs were identical!) I still had nothing for my bathroom... but there's online shopping with lots more choices later. I got the new plant pot, and a nice saucer. Just as I thought I was going to leave, a selection of lightweight dishes caught my eye. The old combined partial sets from when we first moved together had gone to a young couple at our last garage sale. We kept a small decorative dishes set, never opened from when we moved it south in 2012. These new dishes on the shelf have a nice color/pattern, but the best part was the plates are almost bowls, with about a 1" high rim. Perfect for steaks! We always have an issue with the meat juice, the butter/juice from the sauteed onions and mushrooms Steve puts with our steaks. These would keep that from spilling. I got 4. We didn't need any other dishes since mugs and bowls and other stuff had been packed. The old plates went away because they were very heavy, and my shoulders have a problem lifting heavy things off high cupboard shelves, starting with my own arm weight having to be factored in.
I knew the Walmarts I'd been shopping at sold vinyl on rolls, cut to size in the fabric section. I didn't like the patterns I'd seen in other stores, but this was a new-to-me one, so I thought I'd check. We will have two wooden tables needing protection, one specifically from watering plants. Finding my perfect pattern at long last, I located a clerk to measure and cut. The remainder after the first cut was perfect for the second table.
The back of the car was now full. Did I stop spending? Hardly! It was off to a big box hardware/appliance/carpet/etc. store. First, a freezer. I went in looking for a chest style, and immediately decided, given the lack of sensible baskets in them these days, that our backs would never tolerate what it would take to dig out whatever was sitting near the bottom, especially since my plans for that space mostly included turkeys, plural. Upright freezers it was then. They had the brand Steve's friend (who runs an appliance store) recommended as best quality. By now I had staff help, so I picked out the size/price/features I wanted, after discovering their Memorial Day Sale on them hadn't been ended yet. Yeee Haaaaaaa! Delivery was going to be free too, as part of the sale. Could I be there to get it delivered Wednesday? You bet!
However, a question was raised. This would be inside, over a carpet over wood, not in a "nice" basement on concrete nor in a garage. What would be needed to prevent possible water damage? I called Steve's friend and got his advice. I know what to hunt for, and given the size of the footprint of the freezer, how big it has to be. However... Can we push back freezer delivery another week or so? (I'm making a list for today's phone calls.)
With that taken care of, I walked 20 feet to the neighboring department and ordered the new carpeting for Steve's bedroom. We'd been in the store a week ago and written down his choice of carpet and pad. The current carpet has gotten stretched, has ridges in it, and is a tripping hazard. The new one is blue, of course, and the name is easy to remember because it's the name of one of the granddaughters. The installer will be out to measure and give a final price on Saturday. (Having the pieces of furniture we can sit in brought out there the same day will be a real benefit!)
Was it that late already? I called Steve as arranged to make sure he was up and getting dressed, drove the 18 miles home to pick him up, with barely time for me to grab a couple granola bars for the car for lunch, and headed to the new home to swap a check to the seller for the keys and whatever else needed to be discussed last minute. We wound up 15 minutes late. Since everything but potting supplies were for the new home, I also took those straight inside, along with the fishing chair for Steve to sit on. No point taking them to our temporary domicile and bringing them back another time. I still have energy but not that much!
Our next stop now was going with the seller over at the DMV to switch the title on the home. Wheels or no, they are handled like vehicles that way. The DMV is just one town away, and as always there was a long line. Lucky for Steve there were empty chairs, and he entertained himself interacting across the room with a one-year-old in a stroller and his slightly older sister. As we've also come to expect, once we were called up, there were paperwork issues. Our seller was an heir, not the owner listed on the title. She had it mostly covered in her handful of paperwork, but the death confirmation was looked up online. It had been in the St. Paul newspaper. Then there was more she had to sign on her parts of the transfer before she could leave.
However, Steve and I were now sent, with a new stack of paperwork including the old title and an affidavit that she was authorized to sell it, to the county courthouse. It was conveniently just two towns over in the other direction, and if we were lucky and the right people had the time to deal with us promptly, we could be back before the DMV closed for the day. What was needed was "the letter" - the county people would know exactly what was meant - proving there were no outstanding property taxes due on it. We were sent to one window, luckily with chairs outside in the hall so Steve could sit, because the real person needed was way down another hall. Looking at Steve, the guy who answered our bell went to go get her and ask her to come back to this location. Once she did, after asking a question, she went back for more paperwork. This is when the fellow who went and fethed her to save us walking discovered he'd locked himself out of his own office. No biggie, he just rang the bell we'd rung to get him, and another employee let him back in. By then the woman with the paperwork returned and escorted me to yet another window while Steve enjoyed his chair longer. I paid all the taxes through the end of this year, a totally unexpected cost. We found out we can't file for homestead until January 2 of next year, so they should go down then. Even as just personal property, this payment was over a thousand, but we had our letter now for the DMV.
We were in time to get back in their doors, where we spent 20 minutes of signatures, showing IDs, providing other information, and putting separate charges on the card for each little piece of the process, before walking out with photocopies of the old title and proof we'd done the transfer. I lost track in the process of what the charges even were, though once finally home for the day they were already online.
With a bit of time to kill before our final meeting of the day, we popped back in to OUR new home. Might as well unpack what I'd hauled in earlier, measure a couple spaces, and take advantage of private bathrooms. I also took more note of how unkempt the plantings around the house had gotten in two weeks! The rhubarb has bolted, small bushes are being choked out by other plantings and surprise weed trees. Some mowing had been done but I see a solid couple weeks of work ahead of me just to return order. The management is very fussy about that. There will be weeds to pull, a raised bed of solid weeds to be dug up once I've sprayed to kill the aggressive contents, and then I can begin to transfer bulb plants and other perennials into it, getting it settled down by fall so the daffodils, tulips, and such can go in. (Memo to self: buy large box of biggest Hefty bags for plant waste and haul to Paul's compost pit. Tomorrow.)
There was still more money to be spent, in our final meeting of the day. It was a formal long sit-down with Monica from the management company. A few more things, like our lease to be signed, places still needing initials in long columns because why only have half a page in use and waste the rest of the paper? Find more stuff to be initialed! There was a lot of explanation of what certain regulations covered, some "What abouts...?" on our part like did we want to have our parking spaces plowed for $20 a time? (YES!) or who provides wifi, which days are garbage pickup (now on her list to find out: this company is new here, so new we're Monica's first such meeting for the park) and that last little matter of a check for two months rent, one held as a deposit.
Steve to the rescue! His social security came in a couple days early, and it more than covered that cost. He conveniently still had checks. In turn, I arranged to take care of some of his expenses with my card where that worked until we were even again. Or if my checks show up sooner than the two weeks' promised wait, I could just write him a check for the balance. Or hit an ATM for a fairly small emergency cash amount. We'll figure it out.
So done spending money? Heck no! I missed an adequate lunch, and the end of the meeting lasted past our usual supper time. Since it had been held at the local DQ, and our official paperwork was (mostly) over, we each got something there. I almost spent more after I got home, but fell into the google-hole of looking for my new bath rugs. It was overwhelming! I wound up on eBay with 20 in my watchlist, then at another site putting half a dozen in my cart. I figured a night's sleep would clear my head enough to figure just which to order. (I was right.)
We still faced getting the whatever for under the freezer, suitable bathroom rugs, some cleaning supplies, getting insurance on the new home, ordering a pair of bar stools, buying cleaning supplies so we (I) could wash our new dishes, a new Rx refill, gas for the car, and who knows what the heck else the next day or the next.... (Spoiler alert, I found a simple adaption to solvethe freezer issue, so no delay on that install. Or not from that reason at least.)
And the next month. But unless the I win a lottery I don't even enter, there will never be a spending spree to match this one single day.
I doubt I'd survive it.
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