Among the many things that are totally horrific about moving is the garage sale. Garage sales are great ways to get rid of things you have decided are useless and actually charge for them. Plus one point for garage sales. But they also introduce you to the weirdest people in your neighborhood, minus 10 points. It also requires you to get up at the crack of dawn on a Saturday. I should not see 6 am on a Saturday unless there is a road trip planned. Even then, we don't talk to each other, M. and I just go to the gas station, get orange juice, coffee, and snacks and wait until we're functional to speak. Minus another 5 points.
We started setting up at 6:30, and a nosy neighbor informed us as we were setting up that the city doesn't allow us to actually sell anything until 7am. She then proceeded to ask questions about stuff that she had no intention of buying. Thanks Mrs. Kravitz, geez. One woman tried on a coat of mine and asked if it had become too small for me, which was rude, but I guess she wanted to know why I was selling it. Still. A $5 coat that was never worn does not require a conversation. Buy it or don't lady! M's shoes were a big hit, though everyone was surprised that they were only one size. We had a desk out there and someone asked if we had a chair to go with it. Like, hello, this isn't a store, it's a garage sale. Also, I don't have several sizes of feet, so I pretty much am only gonna offer the one size.
Some people were nice, though, one lady practically sold our stuff to another person she described it so nicely! M. got rid of a lot of skate shoes, and a big heavy dictionary left for greener pastures. What actually ended up selling today was the odds and ends, clothes, and kitchen storage. My bookcases are currently back in the garage, along with a stupid huge desk and a TV storage thingy from back when people (us) had big tube televisions. Ugh. I think we're going to have to post craigslist ads for them.
Anybody need a big desk? Billy bookcases? Tv storage? Close-out prices!
As a special bonus, one of the big items for sale got knocked over by a random gust of wind, hitting my neighbor's car and denting the passenger door. So even though we made a couple hundred bucks, I'm sure that will go toward some kind of deductible for our insurance so that she can get it fixed. Sigh.
Worse tragedies have afflicted people, it's true, but I really hope we don't have to do this again.
We had a lot of Ikea furniture that we just didn't feel was worth it to move across the country. I don't know what it is about this move, but I'm much more willing to give up stuff and slim down our belongings. I guess because it's no longer a matter of filling up my car a bunch of times going between the old and new apartment. All of it has to go at once. Do 10 copies of that article I use for teaching really need to make their way across the Rockies? Is that set of ramekins as necessary as the other set of ramekins I have? I mean, how many people are gonna need ramekins at any dinner party I throw in the future? Why do I have three different kinds of padlocks? I apparently will never need to buy paper clips as long as I live. I have thousands!
It's starting to get real though, this big move. We have already contacted a realtor in Philadelphia to help us find apartments. She gets paid by the various landlords, so all we have to pay is a $50 credit-check fee and she'll organize a weekend of searching in early May. Pretty sweet! We have narrowed down our search to the Queen Village/Bella Vista/Hawthorne areas of downtown Philadelphia. I am doing a lot of work and writing, so I haven't done my usual round of intense research of the area, but I can't wait to find out about our possible future neighborhood! All I know so far is it's the area where Pat's and Geno's cheesesteak restaurants are and that the world's largest pinata is housed nearby.
How do people get through a long distance move? I'm expecting a breakdown sometime in May, around when the dissertation needs to be done and my students are begging me for higher grades.
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