It’s Official

We are official full timers!

The closing went well and we left with a check in hand.

The guy that had agreed to buy the Grasshopper mower, came through for us and picked it up late in the day.  Crisis averted!

I have hesitated to say this, for fear of jinxing us, but things seemed to have gone extremely well, and exactly how they should have.  I always had a feeling that we’d get the house sold fairly quickly and that everything would work out.  We put the house on the market early in September and we closed on June 2nd, right at  9 months.  Considering we spent three months in Florida for the winter, I think we did really well.  We needed every day of that time to get rid of all of our stuff!

Yes, we had a few delays on our closing date, but realistically, we never would have made it for our first closing date of May 6th, or even the next one of May 20th.  We barely made it for yesterday’s closing!

When we left for Florida last winter, I said, “I hope the house sale doesn’t mess up our vacation and I want to close in April or May before it gets too hot.”  It was a little later than that, but it pretty much happened as I wanted.

We still have “custody” of the rv spot and the detached garage until Saturday afternoon.  We have some more stuff that needs to go to the storage shed and our “Fred Sandford” is coming today to pick up more “junk,”  and his golf cart. 

I have an appointment with the Vet for Squeaky this morning.  I’m dreading it, but we need to find out how she’s doing.  She looks good and her weight is good, but she’s still not acting like herself.  She’s irritable, doesn’t purr, and doesn’t seem to want to be bothered.  Maybe she’s just mad at me for constantly shoving pills down her throat.  I hope that’s all it is.  I guess we’ll see.

We are planning (at least right now) to head about 100 miles southeast to Stephen Foster Folk Culture Center State Park.  We’ll stay there a few days and unwind, then head down towards the St Augustine area of Florida.  It’s on the East (Atlantic) coast of the state.  There is a lot to do in the area with rivers and beaches, and we can stay free at one of our Thousand Trails membership parks.  I’ve hesitated on making reservations so I hope we won’t have any problems there. I guess I need to do some checking.

So far, it hasn’t hit us that we have achieved our goal….after all, when I looked out my bedroom window this morning, I had the same view!

Here is another picture of one of our favorite places…and one we hope to visit again very soon.  It’s taken at Fort Desoto Park. 

Today’s the Day

Well my little icon on my Droid phone that has been keeping a count of the days, now shows a big “0”.

The plan is to close on the house today at 2 pm.  We still have some stuff in the house, but it’s mostly emptied out.  We’ll finish that up this morning.

We were up early yesterday and didn’t stop until about 11 pm last night.  Poor Al is worn out.  Of course the 102 degree temperature yesterday didn’t help one bit!

We had to put the pressure on to sell the washer/dryer and small mower, but I dropped the prices and emailed a few people that had previously responded to my Craig's List ad, and we got them all sold.  The only thing left is the big mower, and the buyer  is supposed to pick it up today after closing.  If he doesn’t, we’re screwed!

We have 48 hours after closing to vacate the garage and the rv spot.  The garage is unattached and up on the hill by the rv spot, a long way from the house.  We figured we would need some time after closing to have the mower and golf cart picked up, and to prepare the motor home for travel.  It’s going to be strange being here when we  no longer own the place.   We plan to leave here Saturday, but we still haven’t decided where we will be going.

We are struggling with this oppressive heat.  Everything you do takes more out of  you when it’s this hot.  I’ll be glad when we can head south to Florida where it’s cooler!

I’m up early again for some quiet time before we have to start our day.   I have been reflecting on how we got where we are now and the big changes that have occurred during our lives together.  I was remembering the first time I met Al.  It was on the island of Guam when I was just 15 years old.  Who would have thought we’d be where we are today, preparing to make yet another huge change in our lives?

I remembered leaving Nebraska and our families a few months after we got married.  We studied  a map to pick out where we wanted to move, and with a leap of faith, headed to Tampa, Florida.  We’d never been to Florida, but it sounded nice!  I remember picking Tampa out because it was warm  and near the water.  Neither of had ever been to Florida so we had no clue what to expect.

After 30 years living in Florida, I remember taking that fateful drive and ending up in Cairo, Georgia.  I remember the first time we saw this beautiful piece of property and instantly falling in love with it.  I remember how very hard we worked to get all of our “stuff” up here and to get our Tampa house sold.  I remember how much we loved this land and how much we enjoyed living here.  We kept our full timing rv dream in the back of our mind, but didn’t know how we could ever leave this place that we both loved so much.  I remember starting to miss Florida and the beautiful oceans and rivers.  I remember the rv dream starting to be rekindled in both of us and I remember us coming to the conclusion that it was time to start over once again. That rv dream was back in the forefront.  Fortunately with every major change we’ve had in our lives, we have both wanted the same things, at the same time.  We just seem to grow together in our wants.  We’re very lucky in that respect. 

I think we will both be a little sad to leave this place, but we are ready to get on with the next phase in our lives. 

Today is going to be a very busy day.

Here is another picture of the “prize.”

Final Steps

With our closing date scheduled and things moving along, we have quite a lot to do in the next few days.

We were tired when we went to bed last night, but I awoke at my usual 4 am,  and my mind started racing.  Normally, I watch tv for a few minutes and then go back to sleep.  This morning, I decided to get up and get started. 

The first thing I did was submit a change of address to the Post office.  They have a nice website and you can do everything online.  The only thing I questioned was why they charged me $1.00.  They said it is to verify that you are who you say you are.  I did a little research and found that is indeed their procedure, so I submitted my credit card info.  In fact, I had to pay twice because of Al’s business.

I will need to change our rv insurance, and cancel our homeowners insurance, but I think I will wait until after closing just to be sure.

We have 48 hours after closing to leave the rv spot and  vacate the garage.  We wanted to have time to get rid of the mower and golf cart once we closed, and I’m sure glad we did that.   We want to wash the motor home and cars also before we go.  It’s been so hot and dry here that everything is covered in red Georgia dust.  The motor home is parked on the edge of the property near a dirt road.   Every time a car drives up the road, we get a new layer of dust.  We also need to change the black and grey tank valves, and clean the air conditioner on the roof.  We need that thing clean and running good in this heat.  After we close on the house, we should have a little time for all of these last minute things.

I went on my last ride on my zero turn mower.  With the dry hot days, the grass hasn’t been growing much, but still there were a few spots I wanted to neaten up.  I was half way afraid to mow for fear the mower would break down.  Not that we’ve had any problems with it, but this would not be a good time for any last minute problems.  I sure did love to ride that mower!  Al ended up having to mow the banks around the pond again…and he sure doesn’t love that job! 

I am so glad we never moved out of the motor home after our winter trip to Florida.  It is one less thing we have to deal with right now.  It’s a bit disorganized right now, but basically we’re ready to go. 

It’s going to be a busy few days……..

and another picture of  “the prize”

We still don’t know where we’re going first, but you can bet some water will be around very soon!

Good News

We got an e-mail from the Realtor a little while ago, that they had been given the “clear to close.”

I guess we shouldn’t have gone to then country buffet for lunch and then came home and had a 2 hour nap.

We made another run to the storage shed via the beer store and Al is waiting for Tommy (aka Fred Sanford) to come load up some more freebies.

My kitty sitter Debbie came by earlier and I loaded her up with more cleaning supplies and stuff from the refrigerator and cabinets.  We are really going to have to push it now, but at least we have some motivation.

We have to make another trip to Good Will and the library to drop off some books, but that can wait until tomorrow.

Al called the guy that’s buying the mower.  He still says he wants it and will come Thursday after closing.  As far as we know right now, the closing is 2pm on Thursday.  Our main thing right now is the washer and dryer.  I have an idea for that, now that I think of it.

The buyers wanted to come do a walk through at 9 tomorrow morning, but I put them off until 11 am.  We don’t want them interrupting our coffee time, do we?   We’ve been jumping through hoops for them and I guess that’s my way to rebel.

Wish us luck….we still won’t believe it until the fat lady sings!

Possible Changes

We got the foundation work done and inspected Thursday, which was a day ahead of schedule.

Our Realtor said they are now trying to change the closing date to May 31st instead of June 2nd.  Yikes!

We could just request we keep the same date, but we’re afraid to do anything to cause any delays, so we’ll be ready when they are.

We’re trying to kick it into gear and get it all done.  The buyer for the golf cart paid us with the understanding, he will pick it up next week.  He also took a trailer full of junk that Al had given him.  He’s one of these guys that won’t turn down anything free, so Al loaded him up with lots of treasures.  We think he’s a bit of a hoarder.   He got some good stuff, but nothing that we could really sell for much money.  It was a good deal for both of us.  Al filled up his trailer and is wanting him to come back today for more!

A lady came to look at the recliners and she gave me a deposit and will pick them up Monday after she comes back from her camping trip!  Yeah, rub salt in the wounds!

The only big things we haven’t sold are the washer/dryer, desk,  and small lawn mower.  We’re hoping to get them sold this week-end. 

update….

Well, we had our Friday garage sale and made $72.  We got rid of some shelving units and that were taking up space and a few more tools.  We felt good about it, but didn’t sell the little mower, desk or washer and dryer.

The “okay to close” paperwork didn’t get back from the underwriters yesterday, so it doesn’t look like our closing date will be moved up to the 31st.  That’s okay, we were going to make it work if necessary, but now we we’ll have a bit more time.  Right now, we still have to wait for that okay to close, but the tentative closing is scheduled for June 2nd.  I hope the holiday on Monday doesn’t cause any delay. 

Our last garage sale should be today.  We don’t have much left, but if we could just get rid of the washer and dryer, we’d be happy.

Bluebirds Fledged

We have a Bluebird nest box located about 10 feet in front of our front window of the motor home.

We were hoping since we’re living in the motorhome now, we would have a chance to watch the babies fledge.  We’ve been keeping a close eye on them.

Since we’ve been living here in Georgia, we’ve had the chance to really learn a lot about the various birds.  We’ve learned that the different types have such different personalities and habits.

They don’t just drop all the eggs at once.  It’s normally one egg per day.  Mama doesn’t start sitting on them until they have all been laid.   They seem to hatch on different days as well.

We aren’t sure, but we think they started fledging last week.  On Tuesday, there was unusual activity around the nest box, so we decided to keep a close eye out to see if we could witness an actual fledge.

We have the sunscreen on the front window, so I only had a small area with a clear view out the drivers front window.  I stood patiently zoomed and focused on the nest box opening.

While I was waiting, I saw Daddy Bluebird feeding the baby and I’m sure offering some encouragement to take the big step!

I finally saw a little head peeking out.  The picture didn’t turn out great unfortunately.

 

He was getting ready, so I stood there as still as I could, determined to catch his first flight.  After a few minutes, he finally got brave enough and this is what I photographed.

Don’t see him, do you?  Well actually he is a little to the right.  I snapped the shutter as quickly as I could, but he was quicker.  Once he finally made up his mind, he went fast.  I guess there is no slow “first steps”  for birds.  You either gotta go or not!

Al found him sitting up on an electrical wire right about the motor home.  Notice that he doesn’t have a tail yet?  We’ve noticed the babies fledge with very minimal tail feathers. 

If you look carefully, you can see a little bit of blue on him, and you can see the start of his tail feathers.

Yesterday the final two babies fledged.  There were 5 eggs originally, so we assume all hatched.  We see the family hanging around pretty close to the nest box.  They will stay together and soon we’ll see 7 Bluebirds sitting on the power lines all in a row. 

They left the nest box a mess.  They normally do a pretty good job of keeping it clean, but I think with the 5 babies there was no room for mama or dad to get in to do any cleaning.  Al is going to get some rubber gloves and a gas mask and remove all the old nesting material.  They’ll be starting another nest very soon.   I guess we won’t be here to see it though.

Today, the foundation guys are finishing up.  We’ve had to  keep Sweet Pea up here with us to keep her from “helping.”  Al and I are getting more and more attached to that big red dog and I think there will be some tears when we leave…not because of the house, but because of that darn red dog.

Closing Date Scheduled

We’ve been busy so I’ve neglected posting to my blog.

Last week-end we had a Saturday garage sale and managed to sell a few of the remaining larger items.  We ended up $730 richer, and some very big bulky items gone!

We are having some work done on the foundation today.  Once that is inspected and passes we are hoping there are no more delays.  They’ve scheduled a closing date for Thursday, June 2nd.

We’re requesting that the sellers allow us 48 hours after closing to vacate the rv site and garage.  This will give us a bit of extra time in case we have any issues selling the mowers or washer and dryer. 

We have a buyer for the big zero turn mower, the golf cart and the bedroom set.  We’re pretty comfortable these buyers will come through, but until we close, we’re not parting with them.

The only other things are the big desk and washer and dryer.

We’re still trying to clean out the house, garage and sheds.  It’s amazing how much little stuff that is too good to toss and takes up too much space to bring.  We’ve found a few people that want all our junk, so that’s what we’re doing.

Carol is right….this job is not for sissies!

The Cat is Away

and the mouse is playing :)

Al is back in Tampa and I had a real difficult time getting motivated yesterday.  No one to make me feel guilty, I guess.

My friend Carol just got a new Kindle and has been reading like crazy.  She recommended the book, “The Help.”  I ordered it from the library for my Sony eReader, but it was on hold, so I splurged and paid $9.99 from Amazon.    We normally don’t pay for books, since we can download ebooks from the library.  I put the Kindle app on his iPad, so he can read ebooks on his iPad.    I was wondering if we wasted our money on his eReader that be bought a few months ago…before we even thought about getting the iPad.  However, yesterday I sat outside with the eReader in the bright sunshine and I had no glare  and a nice bright, clear screen.  The iPad has such a glare in the sunlight it would not have worked, so I think we’ll still use our eReaders.

I took  Squeaky outside in her cage for some sunshine.  The Vet said sunshine/vitamin D was good for her liver and jaundice problems.  That was my excuse to sit and read for a while and not feel too guilty :)    Our 96 degree temps are history,  and yesterday was actually a little cool because of the lower temps and strong breeze.  I think we’ll be back up to 80 today and then I’m sure it will start to get hot again….darn it.

I got an update from the Realtor on the pending sale of the property.  We’ve never had much land before, so we didn’t realize the requirements were different than if you just own a house on a small lot.  

FHA requires a ratio of 60/40  of house to land value.  In other words the house and any out buildings need to be at least 60% of the total value of the property to qualify for FHA financing.  They think we are close enough that  will go through once we get some foundation work done.  That’s not good enough for me though.

I was concerned the appraiser didn’t do a thorough job and did not consider all of the building we have on the property.  I requested a copy of his appraisal.  I suspected they would not release it (work product), and I was right.  They did give us a breakdown and it appears he undervalued (by a lot) the outbuildings.  We are trying to get that corrected now.    I would rather not be “close” as far as the land to property ratio, so we’re trying to get that looked at again.  The Realtor thinks it’s looking good though anyway because apparently the buyers have strong credit. 

We’re just going with the flow and as bad as we would like to have this over with, truthfully, I don’t see how we could have ever made it happen by the original closing date of May 6th. 

We are starting to think about our options as to where we will go when/if the house closes.  We may go over to Savannah, Georgia.  We’ve seen some good reviews for Skidaway Island State Park.  

Another potential candidate is  Ho Hum Rv Park in Carrabelle, Florida.  It’s right on the Gulf coast and only about 95 miles from here.  They have waterfront campsites, which would be a very nice change.  Hey, maybe we could go there first, then head to Skidaway?  After all, we will be “on the road.”

One thing for sure though…. I’m not making reservations!

Appraisal

We finally got the call yesterday that the appraiser was coming out.  He was an older gentleman and his wife came with him.  She kept reminding him to look at certain things.  I had to remind him twice to take a measurement of the front porch.  He was a little absent minded :)  I didn’t know what to expect, but assumed he would look carefully at the house to make sure it wasn’t falling down or in need of major repairs.  He took a few photos and that was about it.  I walked around with him though to make sure he was aware of all the “amenities.”  The issue right now is that it won’t appraise for the amount we have the contract for.  If it doesn’t we’ll have to go to plan “b”….and I don’t know what it is yet.

We felt good that one more step has been completed, however we won’t know anything concrete for several days.  We are starting to think a little more of our future, but of course aren’t making any firm plans just yet.  We still have a LOT to do.

We’ve hesitated on selling our Honda Crv until we were sure the house would sell, but now we’re thinking that it would be nice to be rid of it before we leave.  We had initially thought about using it for our toad, but have decided to keep the Nissan truck, because we need the room to haul kayaks.  I love my little Honda and am going to hate to sell it, but I hate worse having to follow behind Al and the motorhome from one destination to the other.

We’re expecting another hot and humid day today.  It was stifling yesterday afternoon.  We need to get started earlier in the morning, but I just hate giving up my blog reading, coffee drinking time!

Countdown

Sunday is supposed to be a day of rest, but unfortunately it wasn’t the case around here.

We find it easier to get and stay motivated when things are progressing with the sale.  Since we are feeling a little more optimistic now, we’re making progress again.  We work better under pressure :)

We spent some more time on time on the closets.  I had already taken out tons of clothes and donated them.  I was surprised that there were still so many things left. 

Through this downsizing process, I am realizing how much money we wasted over the years.  We had clothes we didn’t even remember we had.  We had countless projects that we bought things for, but never  completed.   What a waste. 

We took a load to the storage shed and another truck load to the dump.  We have another load to take to Good Will today.   

The past several years I have been reading blogs about people starting their full timing lifestyle.  I found it interesting and informative.  One thing that pretty much everyone said was to not get a storage shed.  They said you would pay rent for a year or two then end up tossing all the stuff anyway.  I was determined not to have a storage shed, but Al  disagreed.    Well,  now that the time is coming, I have relented and we’re going to have a storage shed.  I admire the people that get the job done without having one, but I don’t know how they do it.  You guys have my utmost admiration!

I managed to finish mowing the pasture yesterday and hopefully it was for the last time!

Al worked on one of his storage sheds and pretty much got it all cleaned up. 

Today we need to “pretty up” the house, in hopes that the appraiser will be coming in the next few days. My brain tells me he won’t really be looking at how pretty things look, but I still feel the need to have it look it’s best.  Unfortunately, all the packing and sorting has made a mess of things.

If we close on the 20th, we have 10 more days!

Garage Sales Ending?

We survived another garage sale week-end.  With any luck, next week-end will be the end of them.

We found out that apparently the buyers loan is out of underwriting and they have ordered an appraisal.  We just have to wait for his call to schedule it.   We’re hoping he won’t find anything major that needs to be done and that the property will appraise high enough.

We are still very hesitant on selling necessary items, like the mower, golf cart, bed and a few other pieces of necessary furniture.  We know the deal could fall through at any time. 

We had a fairly successful sale this week-end, selling $455 worth of stuff,  counting the tool box we sold earlier in the week.  Boy am I going to miss that extra money when we’re done! 

We got rid of a lot of little stuff.  Al made a table of items that were 5 for $1.00.  It’s amazing all the little things he had accumulated, screws, nuts, bolts, and the like.  We marked things way down and even put out a pile of “free” stuff. The name of the game is volume!  Some of this stuff could easily be taken to the dump, but this way someone else hauls it away and we get a buck or two.

We’ve been working on getting the pasture mowed (for the last time…maybe).  It’s too big of a job to do all at once so we just do a little at a time.  It’s almost finished and I should be able to get it done today.

Our weather has been wonderful.  It’s been getting into the 50’s at night and upper 70’s in the day with lots of sunshine.  I wish it would stay this way, but unfortunately  our heat comes back today.  We’re expecting temps up to 96 this upcoming week! 

Our nest of Carolina Wrens (Nancy) have hatched out in the garage.  They are right in the the midst of all the garage sale goings on, but it doesn’t seem to bother Nancy at all.  Al put up a tarp to give her some privacy, and she seems to be doing well.  Carolina Wrens always make their nests in good places out of the weather. 

Our Bluebirds have also hatched in the nest box by the motorhome.  We have a good view of Mom and Dad keeping the babies fed.  This box has a door you can open,  so I’ll get some pictures of the babies soon!

Here is a picture of some newly hatched Bluebird from 2 years ago.  Notice their nekked little bodies!

Aren’t they cute?

Progress ?

We did another Craig’s List post yesterday, and managed to sell Al’s big tool box right away.  The guy that bought it was a machinist and was very glad to get it.  He even sent us a thank you email after he got home.  Do you think we may have sold it too cheap?   At least it’s gone!

Update on Squeaky

I finally broke down and took Squeaky back to the vet for a checkup.   We needed to run some blood work to see what/if any progress has been made.

She’s been on antibiotics over a month (this round) and I was hoping we could  take her off some of the meds.  The antibiotics are making her sick to her stomach and I really hate to keep forcing them into her.  She’s getting extremely tired of having pills shoved into her 7 times a day and is starting to fight me.  It breaks my heart to have to do this to her because she’s at the point where she hates to see me coming!  She used to love me so much and now she avoids me.  Heartbreaking!

She has Cholangiohepatitis.  It’s basically a bacterial infection in the gallbladder, pancreas, liver,  and bile duct area.  It’s extremely hard to cure and can be fatal.  Evidently it’s quite common in cats, but this is the first I’ve heard of it. 

The vet drew some blood and ran a whole series of tests.  The good news is that a lot of things have improved.  The bad news is that it’s not enough, and she still needs to continue the meds.  At least we know there is some improvement.  The vet wants me to continue what we’re doing and check her again in 3-4 weeks.   She was encouraged though and so I felt better.  I know I have to keep the meds up and even though they make her feel bad, they are helping her….so I have to do it!

Update on house sale

The Realtor sent an email yesterday stating the mortgage broker  “got the approval for the property and will order the appraisal tomorrow.”  I guess that means things are finally progressing.  I just hope the appraisal will be okay and not find anything we need to do.

 

We have started mowing the pasture….the last time?  It’s about 4-5 acres and is a very big project.  We normally only mow it monthly during the summer and we were hoping to not have to mow it before we moved.  I was trying to ignore it, but Al guilted me into mowing it.  I started yesterday afternoon and mowed until I couldn’t mow anymore, then he mowed a while longer.  A few days like that and it will be done….for the last time!

Two Tired Puppies

And I don’t mean our neighbor dog friends.

Our 2 days of garage sales are over (for the week), and we are both very, very tired. 

We had quite a few people show up at 7am (the signs said our sale started at 8am), and Al might have been a little grouchy :)   He told them to come back later, we weren’t ready.  At that time of day, after a sale the day before, he was in no mood to be rushed.

We got everything out and ready to go a little before 8am and people started coming in pretty steady.  There was a big yard sale at the church up the street and I think that may have brought us some business.  Al put signs up in their parking lot :)

We sold $607 worth of stuff and got rid of a lots of stuff that had been hanging around a while.  Our prices are coming down and we rarely refuse an offer. 

By 1  pm, we were tired, hungry and hot.  We went to lunch, then back home for our after garage sale nap!  That has become a nice ritual.

After a short nap, we were a bit rejuvenated.  I did some mowing, and Al did some trimming and hauling of branches.  We’ve neglected the yard and it’s starting to look a bit shaggy.

Today, we’re going to take it easy.  We plan to go into Tallahassee, have lunch, and pick up  a few necessities that we can’t get locally.   Who knows, another nap may be in our future this afternoon!

Happy Easter Everyone!

It’s Hot in South Georgia

It feels like summertime.  High temps, humidity and lots of mosquitoes!  It feels like summertime, except that it still cools down enough to turn off the a/c at night.

We were up early Saturday morning for the garage sale.  We had a pretty good sale and ended up making $281.  The best part is I unloaded :) one set of china!   One down, two to go!

Sweet Pea came over early in the  morning to help with the garage sale. She loves greeting all the people.  We were worried that she’d end up getting hit by a car with all the people coming and going.  Al took her back home 3 times and 3 times she came right back. 

The third time she came back, she brought her friend the Jack Russell Terrier, with her.  Between the two of them, we were constantly having to worry about them getting run over. We knew she wasn’t going to stay home with all the company at our house. so we decided to try “plan B.” 

We have two large animal cages.  We managed to coax Sweet Pea into the larger one and quickly shut the door!   She wasn’t real happy, but she behaved herself and was safe from getting hit by a car.  Then we decided to try the rambunctious little Jack Russell.   With a few bits of kitty food, she went right in and we locked the gate!

So now, we had two dogs trapped in cages in our garage.  Of course we had to explain to everyone that we weren’t being cruel to these two dogs.  We put a fan on them, so they were nice and cool.  They were so cute in their little jail.

The owners of  Bella, the Jack Russell came to get her later in the morning.  They had heard we had their dog and appreciated us keeping her safe.  One dog down, one to go :)

One reason we had hesitated about having garage sales at our house, is because we didn’t want people wandering around our property.  Yesterday about 4:30 in the afternoon, we had someone else come for the garage sale.  Our signs said the sale ended at 1 pm, but they ignored that.  That wasn’t the worse though.  Sometime after 8pm, we had another garage sale customer!  This lady looked at Al’s big tool box and said she’d bring her husband back.  Well he was working and didn’t get a chance to come back during the day, so they came by last night.  They didn’t buy  the tool box, but I think they’re coming back to get it.  They are interested in a few of the larger tools and maybe even the wood splitter, so we can’t complain too much.  But really….8 pm?

Today is another day and another garage sale.  I’m really not optimistic that closing will go as scheduled on May 6th, but if it does, we will only have 3 more sales here at the house.  We had way too much stuff and the guiltiest party is Al.  I never dreamed he had so many tools!

Time to get moving!

Getting Ready for ANOTHER Sale

We’re (hopefully) down to two more week-end garage sales.  We’ve been busy trying to sort stuff.  It’s the little things that will kill you!

We’ve been putting together boxes of little things to be sold all together.  That’s worked well on some of Al’s tools, so we’re doing it with other things, like cans of spray paint, insecticidal soap, garden tools, kitchen utensils, and any kind of thing that can be grouped together in a box.  I’m trying to keep like things together, but I usually end up throwing in whatever I find.    Most of this stuff isn’t worth much by itself, but it has some value to other people and I hate to just throw away good stuff.  This way, someone else gets the use of these items, and best of all…they take it with them and save us a trip to the dump!

I went through my kitchen drawers yesterday and for the life of me, I can’t understand why I have so much silverware….but not a complete set that matches!  How did that happen?  

We still haven’t heard anything on the buyers loan.  The last we heard is the bank wanted some additional financial info from them.  I guess the fact that they haven’t denied the loan is a good thing.

The Realtor said the buyers are interested in some furniture and once the loan gets approved, they would make arrangements to come see it again.   I guess that means they are in town?   The problem with that is, we don’t want to wait until the last minute to see what they want.  Of course if their loan doesn’t get approved, we won’t need to rush selling furniture.  There is a lot of furniture that we could easily live without, even if we need to move back into the house.  We want to give them the opportunity to buy the stuff, but we don’t want to pass up any sales.  It would certainly be easier for us if they bought the stuff…especially the heavy items.  I had intended on putting more items on Craig’s List this week-end….but now I don’t know.

This is getting old.  I want to be done!

Update on House Sale

A couple people have requested a status report on where we are in the sale process of the house.

It seems like it’s moving very slowly and there is really nothing new.

According to the Realtor the buyers credit looks good.  I’m not exactly sure what she means about that though as I’m sure she isn’t privy to their credit information.

I spoke with our Realtor yesterday and she said it’s in underwriting now and when that part if finished, they will send the appraiser.  She said there is  no way to know what the status is, or to hurry them up.   This is just the way it is. She suggested we don’t sell all of our furniture at this point.

In the meantime, we’re continuing to sell what we don’t need and assume everything will work out like we hope.

We’ve had a busy few days.  Monday night  some severe storms were heading our way with the possibility of some tornado’s.  We’re still living in the motor home.    We didn’t have any strong winds  or hail at our house, but the next morning when we went into town, we noticed a house right up the street with the roof  peeled right off.  We saw a few pine trees that were split like tooth picks, and a large oak down on driveway.  We feel sure there were a few tornado’s and we’re very thankful we didn’t have any issues.  We did spend an hour or so in our tornado shelter though!

The guy  picked up the boat yesterday and someone is coming to look at the wood splitter today. 

Hopefully we can get rid of most of the big things before the end of the month.  Slowly but surely and one step at a time.

Our little storm brought a cool front and we awoke to a temperature of 39 degrees!  I was so glad I decided to put the electric blanket back on the bed last night!  It felt so good this morning.

Today we’ll take Squeaky back to the vet and then hopefully we’ll get back to bringing more things out for the garage sale.

Successful Moving Sale

Well today was a pretty good sale day.  We had people coming in at 7:30 for the sale that was to start at 8:00 am! 

We had a lot of people and they kept us busy, so the time passed pretty quickly.  We ended up making about $280, so it was worthwhile for a Friday sale. 

We’ll be back at it bright and early in the morning.

We met a lot of nice people and had some enjoyable conversations with them.  We never had the first problem with anyone stealing anything from the prior sales we had here in Georgia…until today.  This evening when getting ready for tomorrows sale,  Al noticed some tools were missing.  Nothing overly valuable, but it makes you angry.  We are now thinking a few things may have walked away last week-end, so now we’re going to be watching more closely and looking for those  repeat customers.  We’ll be especially watching the men!

We’ve been very lax in watching the stuff because we’re in a small town with a very low crime rate and most of the people seem to be good and decent people.  Obviously some one is not so good or decent.  Lesson learned.

Dean and Shirley, our old neighbors and kayaking buddies in Zephyrhills,  just got themselves a new toy.  Check our their blog and see their new Cricket golf cart.  Wish we could get one, but I don’t know where we would put it.

Dean and Shirley are full timers.  Dean is a retired Pastor.  They spent the last two winters in Zephyrhills and the summers in Iowa to be nearby family.  They may spend next winter in Texas, but we’re hoping to see them back in Tampa next fall!

Before we left, Shirley asked me to help her set up a blog, so one morning we spent a whole 10 minutes getting her started and you can see she’s running with it.  Blogger sure makes it easy!

Tomorrow is another early day and along with our moving sale, we’re expecting number 5 and 6 Sea Eagle kayaks to arrive :)   More on that later.

I Had to Drink the Margaritas

A guy that came by last week-end and said he wanted the freezer but couldn’t pick it up until this week.  Since we know how that usually goes, I didn’t think we’d see him again.

He surprised me and called to make arrangements to pick it and the fireplace set up yesterday afternoon.

I moved what was left in the big freezer to the freezer on the refrigerator, but didn’t have room for the big jug of frozen margaritas. Since  I’m not one to waste things… I had to drink it before it melted!  Not really, I only had one, and that one margarita made me sleepy!

So he took the freezer and fireplace tools, so I’m counting that in with last weeks moving sale, so we now have a grand total  $266.

Al had a guy come look at the boat but so far no sale.

We took a truck load of trash to the dump and another truck load to Goodwill.   I said last week we needed to get rid of 1/6 of all our stuff at last weeks garage sale.  We are getting to the point where we are deciding the value of the items and if the potential sale is worth the trouble.  If not, they are going to the dump or Goodwill and won’t have to be handled again.

I went through my drawers and tossed a bunch of stuff and the closets.  I’m going to put a rack of hanging clothes at the sale for $1.00.  Those will be the better things…the others are going to Goodwill.  If I can’t sell these things for $1.00 then I give up!

I have a dentist appointment this afternoon and I need to take Squeaky to the vet.  She is due for some more bloodwork testing to make sure her liver function is still good.  She also has a swollen lymph node in her jaw/neck area so I’m wondering what’s going on there.  She still doesn’t quite seem back to normal.

Thanks for all the suggestions on how to get rid of our stuff.  I have thought about an estate sale, but have wondered if we’d make any money ourselves.  There is a guy in town who does that, so maybe it’ll be something to consider for the remaining items. 

I’m feeling a little better about our progress, but of course it’s early.  I’m sure the closer we get to the end, the less confident I will be.

We’re waiting for the appraiser for FHA .  This could be where we hit a snag.  He may require us to do certain things that will cost us money.  If the house doesn’t meet their qualifications, they won’t give the loan.  Hopefully this will happen this week.

Time For Plan “B”

Remember I said we would need to get rid of 1/6 of all our stuff at our garage sale? 

Well, we didn’t even come close.  Not only did we not make much money, but we didn’t get rid of much in terms of volume.  We sold a grand total of $126.

We had an ad in the local paper, but it turns out not many people read the paper.

We had a few signs out, but not nearly enough.  Lesson learned.

I was afraid being out in the country would hurt us and it apparently did.

When we had the storage lot in town, we found just putting signs on major roads brought in lots of people.  The storage lot we had last fall is no longer available or we might consider doing that again.

Next week, we will have signs everywhere!

In the meantime, we are going to start loading up stuff for the trash and Goodwill.  We have got to get rid of stuff, and not wait until the last minute.

We also have decided we need to drop prices and make these items “too good to pass up.” 

After our sale, we went into town for a few groceries and we treated ourselves to lunch at the local country buffet.  Yumm..    We had worked really hard this past week and decided we needed a good meal and then a good afternoon nap.

Unfortunately our nap didn’t pan out because we got a hail storm.  Nothing like hail hitting your roof to wake you up.  I’m reminded why we prefer Florida weather.  I hate these strong winter and spring storms!

Today we’re going to the local diner and have breakfast.  We went there one day last week and I had a wonderful breakfast with country ham. I’ve been wanting more country ham ever since.  After breakfast, we’re going to get things together for a run to Goodwill tomorrow.  “Stuff” is going to leave the house today!

Someone Invaded My Campsite

Last evening, Al was down by the house working, while I was “upstairs”  in the motor home fixing dinner and getting my shower.  The motor home is up on a hill a pretty good distance from the house.

I decided to walk down and get him.  So down I walked in my jammies.  Hey, that’s one of the benefits of living in the country :) 

I got about half way there when I noticed a truck in the driveway.  I debated for a few minutes whether or not it was Al’s truck, but finally decided it wasn’t.   Oops..better go back up and get some clothes on.   I called Al on his cell and he confirmed we had visitors! 

The way our property is, there is a dirt road that runs parallel to the south side of the property but we have a private driveway through the woods that we use.  Most people don’t know you can also get to our property by the dirt road. There is a gate with a no trespassing sign by our private driveway.  We haven’t had any problem with anyone coming onto the property…other than UPS or FedEx, so we don’t close or lock the gate.  (until now)

We had an ad in the local weekly paper for our garage sale this week-end,  and these two guys saw the ad and decided to come on in and see what we had.  We weren’t too happy about that, but they bought a ladder and may be interested in the boat.

We will be locking the gate from now on.

The good thing is that they own a business in town where they buy and resell furniture and other things.  The one guy is a collector and since we have lots of stuff, he may be a good guy to know.   They have a cousin that is an auctioneer and he will sell your things at auction if you like.  They are interested in purchasing furniture, boat, mower and a lot of other things.  I realize they won’t be offering top dollar, but at least it’s a back up plan for the things that don’t sell quickly.

I put our phone number in the ad (for directions) and have been getting calls about some of the items.  That  was a mistake and on sale number 2, the phone number won’t be on it.

I also listed some stuff on Craig’s List yesterday and have gotten a few responses.  I guess things are starting!  I’m a little hesitant on selling things like our bed and bedroom furniture until after the 31st when the buyers “due diligence” period ends.  Once we get some word on their financing and the due diligence is over, I’ll be more comfortable selling those types of things.  We can certainly live here in the motor home, but if this deal falls though, we could end up not selling for months or even years, so I hate to sell the things we really would need.    The problem with that is if it does go through, this stuff needs to all be gone. 

Yesterday started with me at the dentist to finish up a crown that I started in December.  The doc glue down the temporary real well since I’d be out of town and he had a devil of a time getting it off.  At one point he said I had 3 hands in my mouth!  He also filled two cavities and by the time I left, I felt like I’d been beaten up.

Al had been busy while I was gone and gotten the yellow pollen cleaned from both porches and was working on raking the leaves in the front. 

Poor Al, was worn out by the end of the day.  We’re making progress, but there is so much more to do.

I did laundry and boy does it take longer when you can only do one load at a time :)  Yes, that is the advantage to the Laundromat.   I took advantage of my clothesline and now everything has that nice fresh smell.

Our weather has been unseasonably hot here with the temp getting up to 87 yesterday.  That’s one thing I like about Georgia.  The spring and fall last longer than in Tampa.  This year it’s been way too hot for this early.  The Wisteria blooms have really taken a beating from the dry hot days.

Here are a few pictures of the Wisteria and flowering trees and shrubs.  I wish you could smell the wonderful fragrant Wisteria.  It has the most unusual fragrance and you can smell it all over the property.

Spirea

Crabapple

Dogwood

Wild Easter Lilies

We have really enjoyed living here and being around the beauty.  However, it’s a lot of work and we’re at the point we don’t want to work this hard. It’s especially hard on Al as he has to do most of the more physical labor.  We will miss our little house in the woods but we will be very happy to start our new life.  We can find beauty everywhere and that beauty can change from week to week.  We will miss our birds and wildlife, but we always have birds when we camp.  Normally the first thing that gets done when we get to a campsite is put some bird food out.   I keep remembering a trip last summer at Ochlockonee River State Park where we had a very friendly family of dear (including small fawn), and white and gray squirrels.  It was a wonderful trip.

Al I and I are “water people” and we need to be closer to it.  This place is just a little too far from the Gulf of Mexico, Atlantic or “good” rivers.  So I’m sure we’ll be happy  in our new life.

Another busy day starts…..