Hi JuJu;

A few quick notes:

1. Add more plain 6% household bleach BEFORE your pool turns green -- about 2 gallons at a time, added in the evening.
2. LOWER THAT PH LEVEL! Get at least 2 gallons (see below about borax), and lower your pH to below 7.6!
3. Get the K-2006; this page explains details about getting kits: How-to-Get-the-Right-Testkits-for-your-Pool
Report complete results, once you have them.
4. Consider doing borates to 50 ppm (ie, BioGuard Optimizer). You'll need the test strips, about 15 boxes of 20 Mule Team borax, and about 5 gallons of muriatic acid. Borax makes a pool a bit more forgiving, and also, a bit more 'sparkly'.
5. Plan to lower your alkalinity -- you do this by lowering the pH to just under 7.0 and aerating . . . and then adding more acid as the pH rises.
6. One-time-per-week pool care is very much on the low end of things. You don't need to be so precise on everything, but you DO have to maintain an adequate chlorine level ALL the time. "Adequate" is determined by stabilizer level. Read the "Best Guess" page, for more. (Linked in my signature.)

About opening and closing: Opening requires no special equipment, in most cases. If you know what bits go where, you can do it yourself. If not, watch this year, and DIY next year.