Countdown - Week 4

Life is getting pretty crazy  exciting around here. The Estate Sale folks have been putting things on display, and bringing in extra tables to display more items. We shift items from one room to another, and then sometimes shift them back. My pots and pans have moved - other essential cooking items will move, at least for the sale. We need the cabinet space for items we want people to buy. 

In addition to getting ready for the Estate Sale we:

• called container moving companies to get an idea of the costs we will be facing. It's a bit hard to get quotes when we aren't exactly sure where we want to land!
• the side light windows for our front door were installed. The plastic trim on the original windows was broken in several areas and that trim is not available on its own. The trim and window come as a single unit. 
• The painter came to paint the exterior and interior of the sidelight windows. He also painted the inside of the front door and one side of three other interior doors that for some reason were never painted. He also worked on a corner in the basement that showed some problems with peeling due to previous moisture, and he touched up an area on the back door. And the charge for all of this??? $60. I feel guilty!

Our newly painted front door and side lights

• our new sod showed some areas of damage. It was a patchwork of green and gold. It appeared that some of the rolls were dried out on one side so we had beautiful green lawn on one side of some of the pieces of sod, and dried out grass on the other side. Ramon went down to his supplier, who suggested we hadn't watered correctly ... until he saw the pictures that Ramon had taken. Ramon returned later in the day and replaced the dried out pieces with fresh green sod.  
• the Estate Sale company had an appraiser come by to evaluate some of the finer paintings and pieces of furniture we will have in the sale. Some of the pieces may be offered in an online auction as well as for purchase on site. She will send a report to help the pricers decide the best price point for these items. 
• We Dreamers tackled the garage. Shelf by shelf. Foot by foot. It is slowly taking shape. It seems to have gotten worse... but one has to consider that we used to park two cars in here, and now all of the stuff that was crammed on shelves and hanging on the walls is more organized and it is not 4 layers deep!  I took all of our gardening tools and lawn and garden supplements down to the barn, as well as all planting pots. Some things were dispersed to the basement and others were set aside to go to the RV barn where they will end up in Florida or packed for wherever.

Yesterday....

... and today. 

Slowly more floor space is appearing!

• I packed an additional 10 boxes, and the guys (Mr. Dreamy and Littler Dreamy) packed some of their own... but they didn't count them!) and carted most of them out to the big barn. Mr. Dreamy took some out using the truck. As I have always done, he left the gate open to the pasture while he was shifting boxes (we are stacking boxes by the back door of the RV barn which opens up onto the pasture). Madam Zoe took it upon herself to finally enjoy the greener (ha ha - we are so dry, most of our grass is turning yellow) grass on the other side of the fence. She kept avoiding him when he tried to get her back. When I returned from visiting my dad I grabbed the newspaper that had recently been delivered and threatened her with that! She quickly trotted back through the gate!!
• I planted some petunias & snapdragons that have been begging to be planted for weeks. Some are in this bed in the back, the others are along the walk in the front. Our day lilies are looking fabulous! 

• We went shopping for dishwashers. Wouldn't you know, our current one kept tripping the breaker, something was not quite right. A newer, less fancy model, will be installed next week. 

The house is a wreck. It's a bit tough living in such chaos... and this spoken by one who's house was always a mess! Neatness is not my thing, but this is insane!