A Wild Weekend Transition to Oak Park

Although we've been making trips to our new place to drop off stuff and assemble furniture, we hadn't really spent any time there. Hadn't had any homemade meals, hadn't spent the night.

The weekend started with Kirat & Nirali's engagement ceremony. It truly was a cool thing to be a part of, from the traditional greetings to the cool slide show. And even though every time I go to an Indian buffet all I get is chicken tikka masala, tandoori chicken, and the lamb curry--I still enjoyed the vegetarian buffet. Where can I get some of that sweet brown sauce?

Then on our last night in Chicago (sounds weird, doesn't it?) we got some pizza and watched a double feature of Revolutionary Road/Kicking and Screaming (Ferrell version). I was up til about 1:30 am or so, scrubbing down the George Foreman, and packing plates and bowls and stuff that we were using until the end. I didn't sleep very well that night, mostly because my brain was running on overdrive thinking about what was to come.

I maybe got 5 hours of sleep, as the movers were arriving at 8. We went with The Professionals and I can't say enough good things about them. Would use them again and recommend to anyone.

By 10:45 am, they left our Oak Park place with all of our furniture there, they even reassembled our bed and lifted the TV back on to the entertainment stand. One thing that our townhouse guy warned us about, is that the staircase to the master bedroom is too tight to fit a Queen box spring. The mattress fits because you can bend it. But the box spring is in our living room. So what we need is a split box spring, two seperate pieces. And the way our bed is, you couldn't even sit on a mattress without a box spring.

We put some stuff away before making our last trip back to our Chicago apartment. We polished off the previous night's pizza and made some phone calls about the split box spring. We packed everything that we had behind, cleaning supplies, the computer and modem, the vaccuum, the steam vac, a drawer of utensils that was almost forgotten, shower curtain.

And then we locked it up.

By 3 o'clock we had everything that we owned in one place again. Meanwhile, I was making calls about getting a box spring so we'd have a place to sleep tonight. The cheapest place I could find ($160) was closing at 5:30. The problem is that our Carolla was only going to be able to fit one at a time with the seats folded down, if it even fits.

At 4:25 pm we rolled up to Back to Bed in Elmhurst. I had called the store 4 times with questions--turns out it's a one room store and there's just one high-school employee. And he had caller ID. Anyways, he told me over the phone that they had it in stock and that delivery was $50. We figured it would be worth it to do it ourselves, even if it meant 2 trips, at least so we could sleep in our bed tonight.

So I walk in and say I'll take it. He says "the box spring is in the warehouse, I can have it shipped to this store for free for tomorrow." I couldn't believe it. I talked to this guy 4 times about what time the store was open til, if I could fit it in my car, and if it was in stock. And now's the time that he mentions that it's in the warehouse. So I ask him, where's this warehouse?

He pulls up "MapQuest" and quotes me 9 miles, 15 minutes away. And I say we'll pick up the box springs from the warehouse ourselves. He even drew me a map. So now we're on our way to the warehouse. And it's taking forever and it looks like we're in the middle of nowhere. (A subsequent Google maps search reveals the trip is actually 12.2 miles, 25 minutes.)

So we get to the warehouse, pop the trunk, fold down the seats, shove 1 piece of it in the trunk, and it gets about a foot past the backseat/trunk portal. The angle of the seats even when folded make a small vessel for rigid objects. So it's sticking out of the back of the trunk about three feet and I don't know what to do.

And the warehouse guy mumbles something. I ask him again, and he says "it works better on top." I ask him if he's got something to tie it on with, and he says "I've got rope."

So now we've got two pieces of a box spring double-stacked on our Corolla and he's tying rope around it. He does the back seat first, and then we get in the car and he ties one through the front seat windows.

And now we've got to make this trip back: 17.8 miles, 38 minutes, taking North Avenue to avoid the bumpy highways.


Brittany's hungry and thinks about Subway, but I tell her that if she wants anything it has to be drive-thru since we're tied into the car. So now we're rolling through the Portillo's drive-thru with two mattress on our roof. I get the combo roll (italian beef & sausage with hot peppers). It's easily the best thing I've ever had there and makes me regret all the times I've ordered anything else.

A little after 6pm we get home. I think about crawling out through the window to get a scissors, but was able to untie the knot while sticking my head out. We finally assemble the box spring, bed skirt, mattress, mattress pad and sheets. Of course we have no food. So I make a trip out to Trader Joe's and Jewel at 8pm. Oh yeah, and I forgot to mention that almost all our outlets are only 2-pronged, and everything from a TV to a laptop to the other TV needs 3-pronged outlets. So I stopped by Walmart as well.

But boy did it feel good to go shopping without any hassles. And to come home to a parking spot.

Things are pretty well unpacked but the first thing I did this morning was go to the landry room to get a towel, and find my robe in a box under a bunch of clothes. Today was also my first commute. Brit dropped me off at the Oak Park El stop.

Travel Times: 7/27
Left home around 7:56
Dropped off at 8:02
Green Line: 8:05-8:32
Red Line: 8:35-8:37
Arrive at work: 8:44

So it's about 45 minutes if Brit takes me to the train stop, I'm guessing about an hour if I bus/walk the Oak Park leg of the trip.