Healthy Living Thread

[marcy]

Hi Kids!

Dee Jay, I'd be passed out after the long weekend you had. What a relief all the handbags were still there to pickup. How scary. Good deal the sales were higher this year.

I totally agree - no way Batman to that guy and old movies are the best.

Yay for signing the papers on your condo. The staging lady is coming by here next weekend, then they are taking pictures a few weeks later so things are moving along quickly. He is building about 5 or 6 houses out in the same area as our house so they won't be focusing just on our house. Phooey, don't they know it's all about me?

What did you and sister #2 have for dinner?

I did mostly busy work today. I copied and pasted text from a PDF to a Google doc for the boss to edit. What SUCKED was the book has 3 columns and more often than not the text copies across all rows than going down the column. It's still easier to clean up than building blackout patterns with tens or thousands of zip codes.

I finished the scarf for my sister, next on the knitting schedule is mittens to match.

The highlight of the weekend was a homemade cocoa brownie with cherry Garcia ice cream on top.

Of to lift.

Laters,
Curby

 

[marcy]

Hi KIds!

Dee Jay, did you get rested up after your long and busy weekend?

We're having another Wyoming Wind day. Our house sounds like a rattly old cabin. I never moved our deck furniture back to where it was so I don't have to worry about it "walking" south today.

I sent about 8 teddy bears home with our cleaning lady to give her grandsons. Think I might go "look" at the back bedroom this afternoon since tomorrow is trash day.

I did hear from the realtor who works for our builder. Our drywall is done and we can get in as soon as it's dry. That means we'll probably get in there this week. I want to remember to take a picture of the mountains from my future office window.

I got one mitten done last night and maybe can finish the other one tonight.

Laters,
Curby

 

[Dee*Jay]

Happy Wednesday kids!

Curby, #2's flight was delayed and she didn't even get to the hotel until after 9 pm. I went down early (got there around 6:45) and packed a lot of stuff, so by the time she got in I was tired anyway, and we just skipped it. I hate working on documents with columns -- something is always screwed up! Are the other houses the developer is building also sold or is he just putting them up knowing they WILL sell? I can't wait for pics of the interior of TBE. Actually, take a video!

Yesterday I got everything loaded into the car, signed all the paperwork at the attorney's office, and made it back to The North Estate in time to pack an order and get it to the post office by five. I had another order too, but that one didn't make the cut.

No idea where the rest of last night went. I was wide awake from one to three. Ugh.

Today I've got four hours of continuing ed and a slew of meetings. I also need to make the post office run. Busy, busy, busy!!!

 

[Dee*Jay]

Happy Thursday kids!

Nothing exciting to report here. Liam and I went to Costco after work and I fell into bed early early! My plan was to also get up early early and pack the two orders I didn't get to last night, and by the time I got out of the shower there was a third one, so I bolted down into the basement and took care of everything before work. I got in a few minutes later than usual, but nobody cares.

Today I'm booked with meetings and con ed, and I think I have to scoot to the Post Office at some point in between.

Tomorrow my plan was to work from The North Estate, but now I'm thinking I might run downtown and pack up the rest of the kitchen stuff and the coat closet. In theory, I should have enough time this weekend and with the official move out next Wednesday, but there's always more than you think!

Alright, off to do some actual work!

 

[marcy]

Hi Kids!

Dee Jay, congratulations on closing on the condo. Woo hoo! Since you and Liam had recent experience packing things out, do you want to come visit? I'll send some glasses and china home with you.


And yes, there is always more to pack than you think. I moved my stack of craft storage containers in to the closet in the back room, but Marty wants me to clean out that closet and the other closet and get some stuff downstairs. My "horde" of paper products is obvious. I quite buying stuff months ago and still have overflow. But it's whittling down. If we have another TP shortage, I'm not sharing. This weekend is 3 closets to clean out. I am going to having to de-personalize the house too. What'll I do with all my teddy bears?

Nice that no one cares if you show up at work late, you got all those orders packed and ready to go. I have my sister's hat, scarf and mittens in a box. That's as far as I've got with them. Of course, they require no padding.

How many hours of continuing ed did you knock out? I told Marty I should put my astronomy class online, make videos and charge people for it. Like i have the time.

I just got done lifting and have my supper baking in the oven. I might work on one of the closets since I don't have a knitting project started right now.

The thrillometer isn't registering much.

Laters,
Curby

 

[Dee*Jay]

Happy Saturday kids!

Curby, my continuing ed plan got slightly derailed yesterday because the second webinar of the day was rescheduled to the 13th. Argh -- I'm allllllllmost there! I don't exactly have a "horde" of paper products down at my condo, but I do have a pile of paper towels and TP to be relocated back up to The North Estate. Did you get into TBE yet with the drywall up? Decluttering and depersonalizing is always a PITA, but it really does make a difference.

Yesterday I went downtown early and packed a bunch of stuff. I somehow ran out of packing tape though (???) so only got one really big piece of art done. I'll have to do the other one today. I did get a lot of the kitchen stuff up here and two crates of books, plus some other random things. I also talked to my financial guy on the way out of the city, and he was like, "Sure, Trixie, pull the plug!" I I was pretty relieved that he didn't try to smack me down LOL.

I've had a couple of sales off my website these past two days, so I'm happy about that! Every Etsy order goes out with a website flier and a discount coupon... but getting traction is sooooo slow.

Alright, off to pack up a couple of orders and organize the stuff I need to take downtown (more tape... boxes... more bubble wrap... ).

 

[marcy]

Hi Kids!

Dee Jay, yay for almost being there on finishing your CE. We did not get in to TBE yet, I’m betting it’ll be soon though. We worked on the house most of the day yesterday. I did the utility closet today and got what dust I could see behind the washer and dryer. I am sure there was enough to make a significant sized dust bunny. After whacking my head getting under them, I tend to neglect it. And yes this is a PITA. I packed up my “ding” bell that beckons Marty to come eat or hey read the text I sent you. What’ll I do now?

We weren’t planning on taking down any of our pictures or art. We’ll see what the staging lady says. TBE doesn’t have as much open wall space either. Too many windows IMO. Time will tell.

Yay for Trixie to pull the plug.

Hopefully your website continues to pick up more customers. Or is it a case of be careful what you wish for?

I hauled a few loads to the Goodwill. Marty has a pile of stuff in the basement he is paying someone to haul off this week. Quite a bit of it will easily be donation ready, but he’s not patient enough to do that. Then again, I can’t say I’m a patient person.

Friday we went to one of the local home shows. He’s trying to get a price on using solar power for his observatory. No one would give him an estimate and were put off when he said it wasn’t for our house. He did buy a set of Cutco knives. I don’t see anything wrong with the ones we have, but …

Yesterday was marathon going through stuff. We met some friends for supper and both kind of zonked out early. I went through about 1/6 of my photos. Dang, I took a lot of pictures over the year. I sent an old picture of myself to a friend of mine. She had no idea who it was.

This morning I did laundry, and a bit of work, then I tried to reconcile the gym account for May. Our bank got hacked and some people had their accounts wiped out, so they have two point verification now. So, Marty’s billing software for the gym no longer pulls in transactions from our credit union. First I tried to enter the other transactions manually. Wrong. Then it said you could import your bank statement. I tried that and it imported the payments already there. Delete, delete, delete. So then I was thankful someone invented the word fuzzy math because that’s how I resolved my discrepancies. I added the debits / credits that are not already imported to that billing system, figured out the difference in payment, and added that. Voila! Instant reconciliation.

We’re going out for Mexican food shortly. Then I can knit the rest of the day. Thrillometer = 0.

Laters,
Curby

 

[Dee*Jay]

Happy Monday kids!

Curby, I'm AFRAID to look behind the washer and dryer! Whatever is living back there can just STAY! The North Estate isn't great for hanging artwork either. In addition to the many windows, the rest of the walls just don't lend themselves to display. A doorway here, a jutting wall there, and other oddities. I wonder why the solar people care whether it's for a house or a different kind of structure. Maybe it's a size thing; i.e., the observatory isn't very big so it's not lucrative to them... ? I've never had much luck importing banking files. The best I can do usually is get the info into csv and just move over one column at a time, and sometimes even that doesn't work.

The packing/moving saga continues. Saturday I didn't get downtown until about 2:30, but I packed a bunch of stuff into the car, and then Liam and YF came down with the truck. We got the dresser out of the bedroom and almost all of the stackable filing cabinets drawers, and I had all sorts of random stuff in the Deemobile.

Yesterday I packed up two Etsy orders, finished a couple of loads of laundry and did my nails before I went downtown. I know it seems weird of do my nails before going to pack stuff, but they were super long and a couple of them were cracking so if I didn't cut them way down and do them then they would have all be destroyed by the end of the day.

My trip down was long and slow and I had to take a nap when I got there! I didn't really start packing stuff until after 3, but by the time Liam got there (after dropping YF off), my car was FULL. He and I put the last piece of furniture that I'm moving to The North Estate in the truck, along with some other random things, and made our way back up. I had an order to pack, but I was just beat at that point, so I got up early this morning and did it.

And now... I'm at work. Oh joy!

 

[Dee*Jay]

Happy rainy Tuesday kids!

Yesterday I worked all day and somehow got virtually nothing done... ??? When I got home Liam made burgers on the grill and we paced out my latest and greatest "idea" -- an above ground pool! Costco has one that is 20' x 12' x 48", and it's really very inexpensive. We figured out where it would work best in the yard and he mowed a patch in the right size so we could get a sense. Before we go any further I'll make a mock up of the size/shape (oval) using paper and we can move it around to be sure. There are a bunch of other moving parts (is the ground level enough right there or do we need someone to come in with a skid loader and smooth it out, what about having pool water delivered, etc.), but I think just just might work!

After that I packed up two orders, including a set of Twelve Days of Christmas glasses, and went to bed. I actually fell back asleep after turning off my alarm this morning and got up twenty minutes late. It was pouring when I was ready to leave so I held off a little and got in about half an hour late.

Tonight I'll head downtown for the final pack up of all the random stuff that's left (really not much!), and tomorrow morning at 8 am the furniture that the buyers aren't keeping should be heading out the door. I have a weird feeing that the HVAC guy who's supposed to take the rest of it is going to screw this up somehow, but I really hope I'm wrong!

Alright, off to get ready for a meeting with my boss. I've got three major things to talk about and only have an hour on his calendar today.

 

[marcy]

Hi Kids!

Dee Jay, the walls and windows in TBE are the same as North Estate. We will see. I’m not giving up my Snoopy prints. That’s a good idea to move columns in a CSV to import. I will finish the year manually entering the other transactions. I might just do it in Excel next year.

So you got everything to the North Estate. Our house must have lost a few hundred pounds. They junk removal guys came a day early. The basement looks amazing. I cleaned out the cabinets over the washer and dryer tonight. Still didn’t have Marty tip them forward so I can clean under them.

Did you guys decide to get the pool? Do you like to swim? Great idea to make a mock oval to move around and see where it fits best.

I can’t believe it’s Friday tomorrow. Seems like a long week. I am almost done with another scarf, so other than work, cleaning out stuff, I’ve been knitting. My hay fever is kicking in, welcome to springtime.

Does YF have eclipse glasses? There’s a sunspot you should be able to see with them. Marty had our stack strewn around In a storage bin but I dug one out. It was cloudy all day here, but I did check them to make sure they were safe.

Laters,
Curby

 

[Dee*Jay]

Happy closing on my condo and quitting my job day!!!

Curby, Liam needs to talk with the homeowner's insurance lady today about adding my stuff into the policy, and I told him to discuss the pool too. My guess is he'll just give her my number and I'll end up having the conversation, but that's fine! I think YF got eclipse glasses from school. I'll have check and see if he's still got them. I agree -- it HAS been a long week!!!

Wednesday we got everything that the buyer's weren't taking out of my condo. It really couldn't have gone any better! The building's HVAC guy was there right at eight with two other guys, a van and a truck. They have it all loaded up by nine. Liam and I took some time to get the rest of the ancillary crap out, and then I cleaned until around three. On the way out of town I stopped and dropped off my modem and cable box (which had never been removed from the original packaging since I didn't have a TV). I could have Fed Ex'd it, but I have heard horror stories about people who do that and then the company claims they never got it. When I got back to The North Estate I packed up two orders and feel into bed.

Yesterday was work... and today... !!!!!

Closing is at 10:30 and the instant that wire hits my account I am quitting!

Alright, off to twiddle my thumbs and try to be patient for a few more hours. Ugh!!!

 

[marcy]

Hi Kids!

Dee Jay, tomorrow is the big day. Good luck. Marty passes off all the phone call and arrangements to me too. I hate taking care of them.

Nice to get everything cleaned out and moved too. It’s the same here on modems and cable boxes, I drop them off too. I’ll be dropping one off soon. We get fiber internet at TBE. Yay. Should be screaming fast.

Did you guys see any northern lights this weekend. They were crazy nuts here on Friday night. Marty went out near TBE and got some great shots. I went to bed. He woke me up after 1 a.m. and said you want to see them. I put shoes on over my skipper socks, got a coat, hat and mittens and ventured outside. Wow! We watched and took pictures for over an hour then went to bed. They were visible in town last night too. But we didn’t go out. They could be good again tonight or tomorrow night.

We got to go pick our ceiling fans, vanity and pendant lighting this weekend. We had our pick of two hardware stores so checked both of them out.

Marty got the garage down to fighting weight and stored some stuff in the RV plus made a trip to a dumpster. I ended up working quit a bit this weekend. Guess I am doing a livestream video in the morning on the Milky Way. Wish me luck.

I got my nephew’s hat and scarf done, but can’t find a box in the house to pack it up for shipping. That wasn’t a problem before Marty de-junked the basement. I have some yarn coming from Hobby Lobby so maybe it’ll be the perfect size.

Laters,
Curby

 

[Dee*Jay]

Happy Monday kids!

Curby, your pics of the northern lights are fabulous! I also really like the one you posted in Hangout of the lights above your neighborhood. If you crop out the close by structure on the left it looks like a magical scene with a gothic castle. (Or maybe I just listen to too many goofy audiobooks and my imagination has run wild. ) I didn't see them though... I kept forgetting to go outside and look LOL. Too bad you don't live closer, I've got boxes in evvvvverrrry size. So is everything picked out for TBE now?

This weekend was jam packed. On Saturday I went to the local auction, where I spent more on Liam's stuff than I did on my own. He walked through, told me the three things he wanted, and headed to another location. I got everything, ran home and unloaded the car, took a shower, and went to the gem and jewelry show. There was only one thing I really wanted. During covid I'd gotten these teeny tiny gold huggies, one pair in yellow and one in white. Somewhere along the way I think I threw out the yellow because they were SO small I would wrap them in a kleenex to keep track of them. And we all know how that story ends. Ugh. So I found that vendor again and bought TWO pair of yellow this time. When I got home Liam and I were both hungry and didn't want anything in the house so we went out for pizza.

Yesterday I took a bunch of pics since I was completely out of listings (I didn't even have anything to list on Saturday, which is the first time in ages I did have something to put up). Then I took a nap, did some general cleaning up and laundry, and next thing you know I was climbing into bed.

And now... here we are! Today's The Day! I've got a Teams meeting with my boss that includes someone else at 9:30 and after that I'm going to zip down to his office. Hopefully he takes his "loss" well... Will keep you posted.

 

[Dee*Jay]

Happy Tuesday kids!

My boss is a gem! When I talked with him yesterday he said he wasn't surprised by my departure, and frankly I think if he was in a position to exit he'd be following me right out the door. But that part about a wife and three kids (one just graduated from college last weekend, one IN college, and one that will be there in two more years... well.. yanno... ). I'm making the rounds a telling other people now and the general consensus is "good for you!" LOL.

I had two orders come in yesterday, which is good because selling glass is about to become my only source of income! I really need to clean up the basement because I've got a "situation" down there. I have to move things to get to other things, and being that cluttered up makes me anxious. I truly am a neaknick at heart!

After work I ran to the house of a guy I know from the local auction and bought a box of glass he'd last looked at in 2012 (based on the newspaper the glasses were wrapped in, and he said he'd had them for a while before that) and then went home to have a conversation with someone who needed career advice. Really. From ME. You can't make this stuff up! I went to bed early and then had to get up early to pack the orders since I didn't do it last night.

Today I need to keep going down the path of cleaning up all the outstanding stuff so I can leave these people in a good place.

Alright, off to see what's in the magic pending pile.

 

[marcy]

Hi Kids!

Dee Jay, counting down the days …How nice your boss was cool about it. And yes, it’s good for you.

The northern lights did put on quite a show. I wish you lived closer too - I’ll be giving you some glasses and other stuff. Our new knife set showed up. I have to admit they are nice.

I don’’t Know if we’ll have more to pick out for TBE. We are going to meet the guy who builds the shelves and racks in our walk in closet. There’s some new ordinance they have to put a retractable electrical plug in the island. WTH? The most likely place in the world where water or something else can get spilled in that. I made myself some mashed potatoes for supper and when I got out my mixer I truly thought to myself never did I ever wish for a flimsy retractable electrical plug on the kitchen island.

I do remember those Huggies you got a few years ago. That’s great you got some new ones. I keep toying with getting some gold hoops or huggies. But first there’s the TBE.

Good luck wrapping up everything at work. And yay for making a living selling glass.

Not much new with me. The lady comes tomorrow to tell us what to do to get our house ready to sell. I have a lot of teddy bears to still hide. They are taking pictures on the 28th. Then …

I haven’t got my Micheal’s order yet to start on my next knitting project. My niece is expecting in November and since I found my crochet hooks and patterns, I can now make her some tennis shoe baby booties. I’ll make her 2-year old son a matching pair. Fun.

We were in the 70’s today and only moderate winds. Shocker! It’s the switching back and forth between AC and heat season.

Laters,
Curby

 

[marcy]

Hi Kids!

Most of the suggestions we got from the “stager” make sense. Some seem to be a bit much. I don’t think a few empty hangers is a deal breaker. Hanging pictures in the toilet room and spare bedrooms seems like an unnecessary task. They are coming to take pictures on the 23rd now. And maybe putting the house on the marker by June 1. TBE has the tile and flooring underway. Our house is next on the list for cabinets, doors and trim installed. Once that’s done they’ll give us a closing date. Wow. It’s going fast.

I took down some of my stuff in the gym. See I started.

Laters,
Curby

 

[marcy]

Dee Jay, strange question I just thought to ask you, the stage lady said we shouldn’t have a tablecloth on the table. I’m like, huh? What difference does that make?

 

[Dee*Jay]

Happy Thursday kids!

Curby, I don't know about the requirement to have a retractable plug in the island (not even sure what that is... ?) as every municipality has different requirements, but whatever outlet they do put in likely has to be GFCI (ground fault circuit interrupter) so that if it did get wet it would trip and not start a fire.

Some stagers are pickier than others, but they generally know what they're doing. Regarding the empty hangers, that's a new one on me, but maybe they are trying to make sure the house looks neat and there are no extraneous things around. Pictures are a tough one... you want artwork (yes, including in the bathrooms) but you want it to be neutral tasteful art. Regarding the tablecloth, that can break up the space, especially depending on how long it hangs down, and make a room look smaller. See -- look at all this crazy quasi-useless sh!t I've gleaned over the years!

Apparently they announced me departure yesterday in the Senior Operating Committee Meeting. I didn't know they were going to do that (I elected NOT to spend three days in Effingham this week!) and was taken off guard when five people sent me teams messages all at the same time. A little warning from my boss would have been nice!

Today I've got an actual clvsterfvck on my hands due to a customer issue, so I need to deal with that ASAP. Ugh.

 

[Dee*Jay]

Happy Monday kids!

This weekend flew by! Friday I worked from home and got pics done for just a few listings. Saturday was the beginning of the big summer flea markets. I went to one about half an hour away Saturday morning, and was out of there in about two and a half hours, spending only $135. That's OK, the stuff I got was pretty good, but I usually have to make several trips to the car and come home loaded up. Yesterday I went to a much bigger market that is only antiques (as opposed to the Saturday one where you could find anything) and spend just over $300 there. I also got some good stuff, again much less than usual) but made a strategic mistake taking a pass on some glasses early on and then finding the matching pitcher an hour later. When I went back the glasses were gone. Oh well, I'm sure I'll come across them again! Both days were warm (80s) and sunny and even though I loaded on the sunscreen I still got a little pink.

Starting the official countdown: Retirement is in FOURTEEN DAYS!!!

Alright, off to get a bunch of work done before lunch so I can run to the post office with packages.

 

[Dee*Jay]

Curby, I keep forgetting to tell you, I sold two settings at the gem and jewelry show a couple of weeks ago. One was the plain yellow gold setting that Sunshine (yellow oval diamond) came in and the other was the rose gold and diamond halo setting that Uni came in. I didn't get a ton of $, but frankly I didn't get much (or any) less than I would have sold them to a fellow PSer for, and least it was easy, painless and instantaneous.

Two things gone from my life!

 

[marcy]

Hi Kids!

I’m alive. This packing up the house and getting it ready for pictures made for a busy weekend. Our dining room table looks so tiny now and there’s probably too much empty space. Marty moved the Snoopy vulture picture to the dining room. I would have picked a different one. We have most of it ready. Got the flowers planted outside. Pictures on Thursday.

Darn they announced you were leaving. It gives everyone a chance to bid you farewell and best wishes. And tomorrow (Tuesday) will be 12 days. How exciting.

It did warm up here already too. Glad you found some new treasures at the flea markets.

Nice to sell those settings. I was toying with selling some of my jewelry to get some stuff for TBE. I have things I just don’t wear.

Not much else going on with us. We ate out all weekend since we were working on the house. I had to “rest” for a while after we planted flowers but got my second wind soon and carried on. We got rid of a sleeper sofa and chair in the basement. I made a lot of “holes” here and there to stick stuff in when someone wants to see the house.

I’m glad I took a few macro shots of some flowers today, we had hail tonight. It was small so hopefully it didn’t do much damage.

I still haven’t found a box to ship the stuff to my nephew. I picked up a small box at Lowe’s then realized when I was putting it together it’s a moving box, he has handles on the side.

Laters,
Curby

 

[Dee*Jay]

Happy Tuesday kids!

Curby, glad to hear you're still kickin' - I was about to send a drone to fly over and see if there was any activity! You're going to look at the pictures of your house and be like... "Woah! This place looks great! Why didn't we always live like this?!" Are you going to mail the stuff to your nephew? If so, the post office has a bunch of free boxes if you send it priority mail. You might even be able to use a padded flat rate envelope given what you're shipping... ?

I have no idea where yesterday went! I did make a run to the post office and also stopped at home during lunch. I had this idea about more shelving in the basement to put my random one-offs on, and before I ordered more components I wanted to see what I had. Turns out I had enough to do what I was thinking of, so that was awesome! I'll need to order more clips if I want to put up any more, but I've got plenty of the panels (this is just cheapie modular stuff). Liam was laughing at me because I reinforced all the corners and created middle shelf hangers with pipe cleaners, and then made boxes that slide in and out of the middle shelves by cutting USPS boxes in half (they are the absolute perfect size), but hey, it worked! He of course hummed the MacGyver theme song LOL.

Today I've got an audit wrapping up, a check in with my boss (that I'm pretty sure will be cancelled, and a haircut over lunch. The lady I'm going to only seems to work from 10 am to 3 pm. I guess that won't be an issue any more!

Alright, off to bug IT about some things I want done before I head off into the sunset.

 

[marcy]

Hi Kids!

Dee Jay, we picked up the small throw rugs today by the entry ways and wow it does look bigger. It seems empty. We didn’t do everything the stager suggested, but it looks pretty darn good. Even with all the stuff we’ve stacked up in the unfinished part of the basement there’s still a ton of open space. We will see.

I tried the XL padded envelope I’ve got for my nephew’s package, but it doesn’t all fit. I thought of those priority boxes. I will probably go to the post office tomorrow and look in to that. Get it out of here before Thursday - picture day.

Good job to MacGyver the shelving in the basement. Sounds like you got everything handled there. That was nice of Liam to provide some background music for you.

Things are winding down for you at work. And so what if you don’t get something done? They aren’t going to fire you. But you wouldn’t do that to them anyway. I remember those last few weeks as well. It was rather surreal.

Not much going on here. I did get the hat for my niece done tonight. I am not a fan of this yarn, but oh well. I couldn’t find what I wanted in the craft stores so I ordered it. It’ll work. It seems like thicker yarn than I’ve been using, so I made the had with 6 less stitches. Ha! I’ll make the scarf with less stitches and switch to smaller needles for the mittens. And I doubt a hat and mittens for a toddler will take me very long. I should start a knitting Etsy store. Not!

Laters,
Curby

 

[Dee*Jay]

Happy Wednesday kids!

Curby, isn't it funny how adding stuff into or taking it out of a space makes it look bigger or smaller? The thing that always confounds my buyers is that an empty room seems smaller than one with furniture in it because there's nothing for scale. You'd think it would be the opposite! Too bad the envelope didn't work, but I bet there's a box that will. These last few weeks are going to be utterly crazy in terms of trying to get everything done. Ugh.

Yesterday I somehow worked hard all day and feel like I have nothing to show for it LOL. Liam and I ran to Costco after work and then we went Back Down Into The Basement. Some pretty significant things were moved around and I even have room now for more shelves. Liam has two extra sets over in the storage locker so we're going to go over there tonight after I measure the space and bring a set back. Of course this is all a domino effect... move/clean up one thing and then are there ten more to deal with LOL.

Today a lady who is going to take over some of my functions will be here so we can spend the day together. Poor thing -- if I were her I'd run for the hills!

Alright, she's set to arrive in about an hour so I better get organized.

 

[Dee*Jay]

Happy Sunday kids!

Well I have been a listing and organizing MACHINE these past few days, and scored a couple of good things this weekend!

Yesterday I went to an estate sale early, showing up in the cul de sac long before anyone else, for a set of Christmas dishes. I talked to the lady in charge and then still had a bunch of time before it started so I took a half hour walk around the neighborhood. When I got back there were other cars there, and finally they opened the door. I went in and claimed my dishes (which then got a SOLD tag) and headed back to my car to get packing materials. When I came back in some old guy was taking my plates off the table. I was like, "No siree! Get your paws off my plates mister!" He was quite pissy and said he'd come there "early" just for those dishes. I understand, but I also went there just for those dishes and got their earliER. The lady who I talked to first thing was in the kitchen and said, yep, she's first and she bought them. He left in a huff. I just love a good confrontation, especially first thing in the morning. Sets the tone for the whole day!

When I got back to the house I took some more pics and in the afternoon headed to another estate sale in my favorite neighborhood over by the river. The houses there are old and interesting and I always love to check them out. I got another set of Christmas dishes and the estate sale lady offered me a job when I retire. So at least I know I'll have SOMETHING to do if I want it! When I got home again I was just exhausted and hot and sweaty so I took a nap and then a shower.

It might seem crazy to be buying a bunch of Christmas dishes around Memorial Day... but this is really the best time because no one else wants them (well, except for Mr. Grabby Hands at the first sale!) and as I learned last year, Christmas SELLS. I had a place all set up for holiday stuff down in the basement but I'm going to have to rearrange because I think that pile is going to get pretty large between now and the holidays.

Liam grilled hotdogs for dinner and I cleaned everything up out of the kitchen from the pictures earlier and went to bed.

Today I'm going into the city to have brunch with friends who are in town. It's raining and with construction I anticipate at least a two hour drive. Ugh. Maybe I can slam out a few pics before I go.

What's going on over at TBE? Did you like the way the pics turned out? Are you and Marty grilling anything fabulous on the grille this weekend?

 

[marcy]

Hi Kids!

Dee Jay, it is amazing how adding or removing things really change the appearance of things. I guess our house is going on the market Tuesday and closing date for TBE is July 15. Aak.

Glad the basement is getting organized and there’s room for more shelves. You’ll have an entire warehouse in the basement. That’s too bad the guy got pissy about you beating him on buying the Christmas dishes. Some people can be such jerks. I bet Christmas stuff sells really well. I only use mine once or twice a year, but I like having it. Then again, if you lived closer I’d be begging you to come get it.

What kind of job would you do for the estate lady? My boss texted me to see how I was doing with the move and selling out house and let me know if I need to step back from anything to let her know. I thought that was nice of her. I told her work is a good distraction from the stress.

The guy taking pictures was very thorough. He was here over 3 hours. He does a 3D video, I’ll send you the link when I get it. You won’t think it’s my house though, there isn’t a teddy bear in sight. The same day we ran out to TBE to see how they started shelves and clothes racks in our walk in in closet. We specified we wanted to meet with then first so there would be room for our safe. They have spot that’ll work fine, but since we were inside we looked around. They are painting probably this coming week.

We’ve been eating out most of the weekend so far. But we did grill steaks yesterday. Marty ate two t-bones and one filet, I had one filet. We had popcorn later and watched some movies. I got my niece and her toddler’s mittens done and started on the little kid’s hat. My other nephew got his package in the mail.

And I didn’t do any work today. Shocking. But I did work about 4 hours yesterday.

Laters,
Curby

 

[Dee*Jay]

Happy Memorial Day kids!

Curby, that was really nice of your boss to ask if you needed to lighten the load! Any chance you can get rid of the stuff you don't like and use this as a reason, LOL? The "new" thing here in the city is drone tours of properties. Some of them are pretty good, but some of them make me want to hurl! The move will be here before you know it. I can't wait to see my room. About the spinel... birthday? Christmas? International Talk Like A Pirate Day? (Which is September 19 in case you were wondering. )

Yesterday I had a long slow rainy drive into the city, but lunch with my friends was a ball. Then we went back to the house of the people who live here and spent some time visiting. I think I agreed to go to Germany in September 2025. ??? Fortunately it stopped raining by the time I headed out... until I was about a mile from The North Estate, and then the sky opened up again.

Liam got me quite a few things at an auction, including some pieces that were made from 1866-1872. They are really cool! The condition isn't great, but they WERE made in the 1800s, so it's lucky they even survived at all.

Last night I ordered a tripod to hold my phone for videos. I wish I could have found one with a "stick" that would move the phone smoothly rather than just the static arm, but I guess for $19.99 you get what you get. I might try to MacGyver something once I have it see up and see what can be done.

I need to take pics today and do a bunch of laundry. Hampster... wheel... !

 

[marcy]

HI Kids,

Dee Jay, good plan to say anything I don’t want to do the next few months is something I don’t have time to do. Heck, I worked 6 hours today. I went in the den to write my article for the paper but ventured down another path first. D’oh!

I’m ready for international pirate day. My pirate name is Marrrrrrrcy.

Lunch with friends in the big city sounds fun. I need to get some lunches scheduled up myself. While I’m still in the city. LOL to agreeing to go somewhere. I do that all the time and never intend to follow through. Ha Ha. Alcohol makes me more agreeable, I guess. And talkative.

How cool to get some things made in the 1800’s. I’ll be anxious to see them. I hope the tripod works well for videos on your phone. I have a little stand for my phone or iPad that I can adjust the angle on it. It works pretty well.

We got the link to our pictures and video. I’’ll send you the link. It goes live at 9 a.m. tomorrow. I have watched a few videos of houses with a drone view. Not a bad idea.

I ruled out that spinel. It looks too similar to this sapphire ring. See, saving myself money already.

Off to lift. Laters.
Curby

 

[Dee*Jay]

Happy Tuesday kids!

Curby, I have to agree that the spinel looks a lot like your sapphire. Look at that -- you just SAVED money! Can't wait to see the house video. Fingers crossed for a fast and easy sale! Did the observatory ever get sorted out? And what about that aggressive annoying guy? I hope Marty told him to take a hike.

Yesterday I got a bunch of pics taken, did some (but not ALL) of the laundry, packed two orders, and who knows what else, but somehow the day was over. I made a mistake and decided to have a nice refreshing iced coffee around 3:30. Guess who didn't sleep at all last night! Ugh. This morning I packed two more orders that had come in and was about 15 minutes late to work. What are they going to do, fire me?!

Today starts several days of Working Like A Dog. I really need to wrap up a bunch of stuff before I sign off for good next week.

Alright, off to make a list!

 

[marcy]

Hi Kids!

Dee Jay, we had someone want to see the house today. They were here about 20 minutes and liked the house but aren’t making a decision yet. Time will tell. What a PITA putting everything away again. Do you think I need to hide trashcans, take off the tablecloth, etc? I was cold tonight and can’t remember where I hid my fleeces. Your Snoopy one is in some storage bin downstairs. See, I know where it’s at. They did approve an observatory and Marty is doing a smaller one (probably) than what they approved. We’ll see how that gets sorted out. Mostly it’’s under the required size to get permits and inspected. I have no idea if he told that aggressive guy no dice. The guy wasn’t at our last astronomy meeting.

Darn for not sleeping well after your ice coffee. I got up at 3:30 and tried to go back to sleep. I gave up at 5. And don’t you love being at that stage where you can say, “what are they going to do, fire me?” Ha! Good luck getting everything done. And if you don’t, it’s not your problem anymore.

Speaking of work, I hosted a livestream today. The other lady did most of the talking so that made it easy for me. I’m only that talkative after a few glasses of wine. Maybe I should try that the next time I need to be on a livestream. Of course, the problem with that is I think I’m pretty funny then too.

I’m glad I saved myself some money by digging out the similar ring. I would love a color change sapphire, spinel or garnet. Do you remember that gem jar I did a long time ago? One of the tiny color change sapphires I had for it was really cool. It was 2mm and changed from royal blue to bright red. And I dropped it down the edge of a chair and never found it.

I got the hat done for the little 2-year-old. It seems small to be, but my niece is expecting another baby so it won’t go to waste. Now I have to start scarfs.

Tomorrow is Wednesday already and 15 days for you to go ..,

Laters,
Curby