Well, with a lot of great advice and kind words from you all here, the manual labor is over and the pool is finally filled - (5400 gallon Intex) - I 've taken my first water readings and here they are, hope I did it right :

pH 7.2
TA 50
hardness 400

Chlorine is off my chart (Walmart 5-way test), I added a jug of bleach last night and the test was done early morning, no sun yet. I'm hoping it's not too much, but from what I've learned here, with no CYA yet and an anticipated sunny day in the high 90's, I think it'll be OK.

I've added 1/2 the jug-recommended amount of CYA into a skimmer sock that I tied off and have floating around in one of those chlorine puck floater type thingies.

Any suggestions on the best way to raise my pH a bit, along with whatever else should be adjusted?

Thanks! Amy