Monday, May 21, 2007

Addendum

I talked to DS today. The movers who were supposed to arrive at her house in PA in the late afternoon - 3, 4, 5, something like that - they told me they'd leave about 10 am or so - didn't get there till 9 pm and didn't finish till midnight.

I really wonder what clock they're using - and what they were up to for all those hours!

Sunday, May 20, 2007

A Moving Experience

Yesterday my sweetie and I went up to Connecticut to help with Daddy's move out of the assisted living apartment (he's moving in with my sister in Pennsylvania, which is so great!) Viv had the idea of going up to help DS (Dear Sister) get away earlier on that long drive. The movers were originally supposed to be there between 10-12, and then said 9. We waited. We waited. DS made phone calls. We waited. We had lunch. They finally called from Danbury at about 2:30 or so. DS and Daddy met them at the storage unit for the first part of the moving at about 3:30.

When they arrived at the apartment, they had no boxes to pack the books, despite the dispatcher saying he'd send them with 150 boxes. So they had to go out and get boxes. The maintenance supervisor at the apartment was worried that they wouldn't find anyplace open. At about 5 they finally reappeared with bundles of boxes (marked U-Haul) and rolls of tape, and the boxing commenced.

They asked how long the building would be open - we told them 10, they said they wouldn't be done by then. My heart sank. After we showed them that all the drawers of all the furniture were empty, and that there were really only the books to pack, things seemed a little better. DS and Daddy decided to leave. Hugs, kisses, etc. I decided to go to the grocery store for some snacks and water for the wait for Viv and me. When I got outside, DS was on the phone with Viv. The movers were saying that they thought the distance between the door and the truck was too great, they'd have to charge more, and DS should talk to their boss. Well, their boss was unavailable. She'd been phoning all day and no one was answering and his voicemail was full. Just MOVE IT we communicated.

I got to the grocery, shopped, came back and all the boxes were done. Then they started stacking the furniture. They put things on a dolly, then they had to go through the locked door to the Alzheimers Wing, entering a code each time. The alarm went off a couple of times because the door was open too long, but we figured out how to turn it off (no one came to see what was happening.)

If this is a long post, well, it was a long day. At 9:30 they had got the final bits out into the hall by the elevator and we decided we could leave. I drove back to Brooklyn, ended with a perfect double-parking experience, and so to bed. When? Midnight.

Crafting tie-in - I did a little knitting while we waited, also looked at the Stitches East brochure with my sister, and finished several barrettes!

Monday, May 07, 2007

Brief Report

My sister and I went to Maryland Sheep and Wool on Saturday. This was our second visit and we changed a few things from last time. We arrived at 8:45 instead of 11:30 - this was a great idea. We will do this again! My sister also got the show book ahead of time and we marked the vendors we especially wanted to visit. I arranged them in order by building and booth number and we were all set.

I will say that this year I noticed more porta-potties as well as more restrooms (I know there couldn't have been more restrooms, but last year it was so crowded that we couldn't see them!) One set of porta-potties also had a porta-sink outside it; you pumped the water with a little foot pump. It was nice to be able to shop with clean hands! We also noticed a porta-ATM under its own little blue tarp.

Early as we were, the line for the show products (t-shirts, bags, etc.) was already really long. Everytime we came out of a barn, we checked it, and it never got shorter, only longer. I didn't need the t-shirt that much...

We found loads of beautiful yarn, we visited all the vendors on our list and discovered some new ones which is always fun. We also got beads for stitch markers, and I got a beautiful shawl pin. Best of all, we weren't completely exhausted by the crowds and the heat this year.

I've already started a sock with the Panda Cotton that I got at the Carodan Farms booth!