Countdown - Week 6

My blood pressure has been really high. I know it is stress, and I'm not dealing with everything that goes along with the move very well. I think the hardest part is that I was raised to "finish what you start". I can hear my dad telling me that, over and over, and over.... with the move, there isn't a way to finish each task at this time. I can't pack everything in any one room because we need things to live with or for showing the house. Yet, we are having an estate sale before the house goes on the market and we have to make sure that things we want to keep are removed. Evidently, it is driving me crazy!! Everything is incomplete. There is mess everywhere I look. Even Mr. Dreamy has mentioned increased stress levels - and that just isn't his style.

And, speaking of incomplete, this "Week 6" has been interrupted by a wonderful trip to San Francisco. Our sweet little Alexis turned 2 and long ago we had made arrangements to visit. We had our reservations for the B & B near our son's condo in the Mission District long ago. Then, our son and DIL bought a house! Closed on the house! And moved into the house! So, we cancelled our reservations at the B & B and we stayed chez son & DIL! (I think they may have their own high levels of stress!)

So, here's what we accomplished half one week, and half the next:

• I met with the estate sale folks at my dad's place. They took pictures of the things we will be bringing over here to sell. We created a calendar for the next few weeks showing when they will be here for pricing, etc. They stopped by our house again and we planned where they will set up their tables and the basic traffic patterns through the house and yard.
• I was supposed to meet with a mover, but his estimator did not show up. Harrumph! I called another and got a price. The estate sale folks are going to get me another name.
• We had another estimate for painting. It was very reasonable. So, Mr. Dreamy bought the paint and the painter began painting. What a relief not to have to do all of that. When we arrived home we drove into a home with a freshly painted garage door, newly painted porches and a gleaming picket fence. Wow!
• We Dreamers began researching and writing up information about some of the fine art in my Dad's collection that will be going up for sale so we can share that information with potential buyers. We still need to get an appraiser here. 
• I packed a few more boxes. I am up to a total of 32. In addition,  I packed 8 boxes at my dad's place, and carefully bundled 8 paintings, and brought them over to our place and unpacked them for the sale. In addition, I carried out two large garbage bags of bedding. We finally cleared a place in the big barn to stack boxes, and I moved most of the packed boxes to that storage area. 
• We hired the painter to patch the ceiling in the basement where the plumber needed access to fix our leak. He also painted the ceiling and put in the baseboards.
• Our pool table found a new home. I advertised it on a "Free in Parker" FaceBook page and within minutes had a taker. I am so thrilled that Trey got in their first. He deserves the table. His dad came over with him and we took the table apart, carried it upstairs piece by piece and loaded it into Dad's truck. Trey (23 yo) shared with me that he played a lot of pool when he was younger as he spent a lot of time in the hospital. He was so excited to get the table. Dad shared that Trey was born with Short Gut Syndrome and his parents were counseled to "pull the plug" and let him die. Trey was a fighter. He's seen so much hardship, but for now, is doing well. I'm glad!
• Sod was finally put in place in the front yard. It looks great! I took leftover pieces and patched them into the back yard. I seeded bare spots where I didn't have sod. 

From this:

To this:

• The landscape folks also put mulch around all of the trees and in some of the gardens. I planted a few more bedding plants here and there. 
• The painter had a friend who was able to replace the missing stones on our fireplace. I hate to admit that one of my friends and I both scavenged construction areas for left over pieces of fake stone to replace the missing pieces. 
• I took the doors off the shelving units in the living room to make it easier to display items for the sale. After the sale we will need to take them down and move them out. This is all getting scary. It is really happening!

Things are slowly coming together. I am feeling a bit more confident that it will all happen, and I'm able to sleep without waking at 3 or 4 AM running through lists of things that need to be completed. So, here it is, Father's Day, and I'm fretting over "finish what you start"!!!