California Dreaming

This week's theme song is sung to the tune of "California Dreaming", but of course, I had to change the words! Sing along...

All the grass is brown, and the sky is blue.

We have lots of flies, and mosquitoes too!

Things would be much better if I was in El Sobrante,

California dreamin’ on a burning summer’s day...

Packed another box, put some things out for the sale,

Began to think of moving, then it began to hail.

California sounds much better,

She began to wail,

California dreamin’ what would this move entail?

All the grass is brown, and the sky is blue.

We have lots of flies, and mosquitoes too!

Moving to El Sobronte seems the thing to do,

California dreamin’ I can’t wait to move...

California dreamin’ I can’t wait to move...

California dreamin’ I can’t wait to move!

In last week's countdown I mentioned that Mr. Dreamy had flown to California. We are living another example of "Never say Never". After getting caught in the 2007-08 downturn in real estate we didn't sell our SC home for 3 years. We said we'd never buy another home without having sold the home we live in first.  On Saturday our son went to a home we saw online and gave us a FaceTime tour. The house had several features we liked, including the possibility of parking the RV next to the house, and the house would be about 35 minutes from the grand child(ren).  But it didn't totally float our boats. When our son returned home he poked around on Redfin and he sent us some links to other homes that might work for us. We fell in love with one of the houses. As they say on TV, the house "ticks all our boxes!" 

It has RV parking. It has a 3-car garage so Mr. Dreamy can have a workshop. It has an extra bedroom for me to use as a sewing room (and it has a few more, so friends can come sew with me!) It's 25 minutes from our son's house, and shopping is convenient. 

After looking at it online in pictures and in a virtual walk through, we thought that it might be worthwhile for Mr. Dreamy to see the house himself to determine if it is as perfect as it looks online. So... he went online, got tickets, arranged for a car rental, arranged for parking at the airport... and off he went. In addition to the dream house Mr Dreamy looked at 5 other houses we had explored online. None of those would work for us... but the dream house was/is perfect.But then reason prevailed. What would make us think that a 5-bedroom house was reasonable? Why would we want a living room, a dining room, an eat-in kitchen, a family room and an office? 

Who would take care of the property while we were off traveling, or living on our lot in Florida. Nah. It didn't add up. So, we gave up our opportunity. 

But, dreaming about living in that house and location was a nice diversion from the pre-sale insanity in which we are living!

The ABC's of the TCS Sale

TCS is conducting our estate sale beginning Thursday, July 13.  I thought it would be fun to create an ABC book of some of the items that are included in the sale.

A is for Antiques
Some are older than me!

B is for Bronze
We have two or three.

C is for Couch
Come have a seat,

D is for Decorations

What a mess! Will it ever be neat?

E is for Ralph Waldo Emerson
Why do we have him,  I ask?

F is for Feathers
Robert Shields made these masks.

G is for Glass
Both round and flat,

H is for Powder Horns
of horn, wood and brass.

I is for Italian ducks
My stepmom thinks they are weird.

J is for Jewels, but mostly just Junk!
For your wrist, neck or ears.

K is for Kites
They will fly high in the sky.

 L is for Linen and Lace,
Some yellowed as years have gone by.

M is for Money
Bills, quarters, pennies and dimes,

N is for Nambu
A metal alloy with a shine.

O is for Old News
Where did we get all this stuff?

P is for Paintings, Pewter, Porcelain, & Purses too,
We are having this sale because enough is enough!

Q is for Quilts
Between mine and my moms, I have quite a few.

R is for Rug Beater
That's a chore I wouldn't want to do.

S is for Silver,
Would you want to polish these?

Tis for Tools and Toys
... and one that fits both categories!

U is for the Ugly Dog Trophy
That our sweet Monty dog won,

V is for Volcanic Ash in Blown Glass
that really sparkles in the sun.

W is for Turned Wood Bowls
Scott's prolific and they fill every nook

X is for Xeric
as in this Colorado gardening book.

Yis for Yachts
Yes, I'm almost done!

Z is for Zapper
Zap those bugs! Hey, it's fun!

If you'd like to see more pictures click on the link for TCS sales at the beginning of this post.
If you want to buy something, let me know!

Countdown - Week 3

We have accomplished so much that my anxiety has begun to decrease. Now, that is truly amazing! Whoohoo! I almost feel like I am on a roller coaster ride; I hopped was thrown on the wild ride in May when we returned from Florida. I felt the pressure as we climbed up to the peak of the ride. Ching-Ching-Ching-Ching. (Can you feel it?!) Now I have reached the peak. I am teetering at the top. The car is about to make the plunge. When it does, it will move on its own free will. There is nothing controlling the free fall....  the car will turn, it will climb, it will loop the loop! It is exhilarating. It is exciting. It is scary as Hell!

This week:

• the dumpster was delivered. The driver was amazing. He was able to maneuver within inches of trees, gates, fence posts, oh... and me! We have the dumpster for two weeks and at the end of that time our house should almost be ready to go on the market! We are getting close!

• the new dishwasher came and was installed. We discovered that our original dishwasher was never installed correctly. There was no "air brake" in the hose and that allowed water to run back into the dishwasher when we ran the disposal. No wonder the dishwasher always smelled stunk!

• we fired our realtor! When we started this adventure, back in May, we interviewed three different realtors. We selected one based on her enthusiasm for selling our house and for helping us get it done. She has been very distant. All of our dealings with her have been initiated by us. We still hadn't signed a contract and she hadn't pushed to get that done. So.... we begin again.
• I sold both of my saddles. My Tucker went to Texas and I will drop the military police saddle off to a visitor who will be here from Nebraska for a wedding. As I brushed out the saddle pads and girths, Haffie hairs began to fly around. Of course, I was thinking that some of the hairs were Pippin hairs, and I couldn't help but equate the hairs flying around to releasing the ashes of our beloved to the wind. Oh, how I miss that naughty boy!

Shane has finished packing the Tucker.
I took a picture to send to Paige, the saddle's new owner.

Paige sent me a picture of her daughter sitting on the new saddle .
Her horse seems to think the saddle fits just fine!

• It's really, really, real. Our estate sale is listed online. 
• We had movers move things. I met them at my dad's place. They moved some pieces out to their truck.  They moved some pieces from one room to another at Dad's. Furniture was moved into our home and other pieces went out to the barn. We moved some pieces from one place to another in our house. I have things that won't be included in the sale in our bedroom. I have chairs in the bathtub, a bench in front of it and other things are hanging out in the bathroom as well. There is more in the closet. We have extra furniture in rooms that already had their full complement of furniture. 

• The TCS folks have been here pricing and staging. Every horizontal surface is filled with crap wonderful treasures for someone to buy. We are struggling with finding counter space to make sandwiches! I still have some areas that need to be sorted as we keep moving junk and piling it up. I am hoping it all sells and is gone!!

• The sales people want the nicest things in the dining room, the overflow of that in the kitchen and the everyday stuff in the pantry. I spent a few hours in the kitchen and pantry rearranging things. So the kitchen no looks like this:

• The sod is doing well. Of course, we are giving it plenty of water, which means it is growing like a weed. It is a small patch of grass and I find that I have to empty the grass catcher three times in one mowing! It was time to mow the grass again so I did that in-between trips to and from the barn and down and up from the basement.
• Mr. Dreamy hopped a plane for California. I'll write more about that next week.... maybe!

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!