House is Empty

Stix n Brix
Clayton, NC

First of all, I want to thank everyone who left comments and family who sent cards.  Smudge will be missed for a long time…

Gin’s mom has been in and out of the hospital since her surgery due to low blood count.  If you ever have a chance to donate blood to the American Red Cross, please do it.  I’ve donated over a couple of gallons in my life and know that it’s made a difference for others.  Their new home still isn’t finished but should be ready by Tuesday.  We plan to go there for a few days to help with the move.  They’re under a lot of stress I’m sure.

We’ve been at our house for about two weeks and have been busy just about every day.  First of all, we ran into our friends Tricia and Dan at a nearby campground by coincidence.  They came to our house for a little visit.  Gin has done a bit of touch ups around the house and I had a root canal.  I’m not sure which was more fun.  We did take a few minutes to enjoy the view from our back porch.

The leaves are pretty this time of year, but the backyard will be covered in a couple of weeks.  We probably will not be here though.

On Wednesday, we posted the dining room and bedroom furniture on Craigslist.  That night, the bedroom was gone.  We had decided to have a yard sale this weekend so we pulled everything that remained in the kitchen, garage, and office into the garage.  Our plan was to sell as much furniture as we could too.  On Thursday evening, we talked with our neighbors Mark and Kelly and told them they could get first dibs.  They got a few pieces of furniture and Mark called his dad Jim to have him check out the couch.  Well Jim decided to get it along with everything else we had out for the yard sale.  He knew of a family in need through the church he attends and we were glad to get rid of it.  On Friday, Jim filled up his truck and trailer.  It was nice to get all that stuff gone.  The only thing that remained was our dining room stuff so Gin put it on CL again Friday night.  First thing Saturday morning, I had an email from someone who wanted it.  So now it is gone too.  The house is totally empty!  We move fast!  Now if we can just get that shell sold…

Thanks for dropping by, and enjoy each day of your life’s journey by finding beauty in the ordinary.

Yard Sale #3 and Miata

Stix n Brix
Clayton, NC

We’ve had some beautiful weather here the past couple of days so we took full advantage of it.  On Friday, we prepped for the yard sale.  The garage was full of stuff.  We had everything priced and closed the door by 8:00pm.  We were two tired dogs…make that three.

 

Saturday morning started bright and early.  At 6:15, Gin opened the garage door so that we could put a few small tables in the driveway.  Five minutes later, we had our first customer, never mind that the signs say 7:00.  Oh, and by 7:05, half of the stuff was gone.  Everything was pretty much gone by 8:00 so we closed up a few minutes later and got busy with other projects for the day.  We cleaned out the garage and I took two loads of stuff to the dump.  Gin put a new battery in the mower and I cut the grass.  Naturally the weed whacker wouldn’t start so I took that to the shop.  After lunch, I took advantage of a clean garage and washed and waxed the Miata.  It had been at least a year since I had washed her so she got two coats of wax. 

 

We bought the Miata on June 17,1995.  I still remember the test drive.  As Gin pulled out of the dealership, I put on my seatbelt and knew that we were going to get a new car.

 

She only has 120,000 miles on her and we’ve taken good care of her.  We towed her to the Shenandoah Valley one time and enjoyed a topless ride on Skyline Drive.  She’s been my commute car for the past few years because she gets 30 mpg and is easy to park.  We are putting her on Craigslist this week so it’ll be hard to see her go.  I just hope that she sells soon and that the new owners will like her too.

 

Since the car was spotless and the weather was wonderful, we took her for a spin with the top down.  For the first time in a long time, Gin drove.  It felt wonderful!

We are both sore today since we overdid it on Saturday so we’ll take it easy.  Tomorrow will be my last trip to the range.  I don’t mind shooting the gun so much, but I’m real glad this is the last time I have to get gassed with the gasmask.  We have a great place to have yard sales but we won’t have any more until we pack up the MH for fulltiming.  Oh happy day!

Thanks for dropping by, and enjoy each day of your life’s journey by finding beauty in the ordinary.

Stuff

Stix n Brix
Clayton, NC

We had a visitor Monday afternoon.  A hummingbird hovered at our big window at the breakfast nook.  I think she was trying to tell us something because I hadn't put the feeder out.  Is it possible that she remembered the feeder from last year?  Needless to say, I stopped what I was doing and got the feeder ready.

We've been a little busy the past couple of days getting some things ready for Saturday's yard sale.  We even gathered up two big bags of "stuff" to throw away.  It's a nice feeling to make progress even if it's just small steps.  Gin has also put our waverunners on Craigslist.  I hope whoever buys them enjoys them as much as we did.  It's a good time of year to sell them so wish us luck.

While gathering up some junk to throw out, I found a few fortunes from fortune cookies.  Let me share them.  "Prosperity is a way of living and thinking, and not just having money or things."  "The most important things in life aren't things."  And the one that we really need to remember during the next few months, "All the effort you are making will ultimately pay off."

I want to welcome two recent additions to the list of followers.  Ruth who was at the rally and David & Maxine who were also at the RV-Dreams rally.  That was a great time in the Smokies and we are looking forward to going to another one.

Thanks for dropping by, and enjoy each day of your life's journey by finding beauty in the ordinary.

Yard Sale #2

Stix n Brix, NC

Hello to the most recent followers John, Dave, and Jo Beth and Catherine.  Dave has an extensive website and I'm sure we'll meet JB & C at the rv-dreams rally in April 2011. 

Gin has spent the past few weeks pulling stuff out of the cabinets and we had Yard Sale #2 today.  All I can say is...WOW!!  Yesterday we priced everything while it was in the garage.  It was full of stuff.  We got up early to put it in the driveway and of course, someone showed up before we got half of it out there.  It's still dark at 6:30am.  Most of it was gone within the first 45 minutes.  Needless to say, we didn't have time to get a pic of our setup.  They say that Christmas decorations don't sell.  Well, I was very surprised that all of ours sold before 9:00am.  We have kept one little nativity scene for the MH.  Everything else sold by 10:00am (except a puzzle which Gin will enjoy one more time).  We took a couple of pictures of things to put on craigslist in a few weeks.  Hope that goes well too.  We'll do a couple more yard sales next spring to really clear out the house before it goes on the market next summer.  Only 316 days before retirement!!

It's nice to read a fellow blogger and know exactly where they are because you've been there before.  This has happened a few times as we have read Nancy & Bill who live near Myrtle Beach, SC and now with Sherry & David who have just started their full-time life.  I'm so happy for them...and a little envious.  Our day will come before we know it.

Thanks for dropping by, and enjoy each day of your life's journey by finding beauty in the ordinary.

Yard Sale

Stix n Brix

You sure can tell when I'm in the worst part of my work schedule. I just don't have time to do a post. We've been busy in other ways too.

Gin has been busy the past few weeks putting some stuff in an empty room used as a staging area for a yard sale. Well Friday evening, I helped her get it all moved out to the garage for the yard sale today. Needless to say, I didn't sleep much last night. When my mind is on something, it's hard for me to sleep. Not to mention switching from day shift to night shift all the time. We got up early to get things moved out into the driveway and bring out a few last minute items. I don't know how we could have done it without a garage to do the last staging.

We had advertised it on craigslist and a fella had emailed to say that he was interested in the small generator we mentioned. He came by here on Thursday to buy it and a few other things. We had put up a sign in front of the subdivision too on Monday. We also put another sign up on Wednesday to our culdesac so a lot of people in the neighborhood knew about it too. We even had two women knock on our door at 9:00 Friday night to see if we would let them take a look since they don't get up early. Even though our signs and everything said 7:00, our first customers showed up at 6:15. All the good stuff was gone by 8:00 but we stayed set up until 10:00. Almost everything sold to our surprise. Our old puzzles stayed for a long time but the right couple came along and bought a dozen of them.

We are tired but we do feel like some of the burden has been lifted. It is true what they say about getting rid of that unnecessary "stuff" that everyone has. It feels a bit liberating, and it feels like the dream is going to become a reality. We mentioned to a few customers that we planned to sell everything and hit the road in the MH and they all said that it sounded wonderful. They wished that they could do it. We know that there is a lot more to get rid of, but this was a very good first step. Craigslist will come in handy next year when the furniture and other big items need to go to new homes.