Odds & Ends

Over the past two months we have stayed at this lovely home. It is called the Blessing House and is owned by a friend in my book club. It certainly has been a blessing to us. The previous owner had a landscaping business. His talent is very evident in the lovely gardens and patio he designed. Part of our arrangement with my friend was to clean up the gardens this spring. We enjoy this type of work and enjoyed the exercise. There were probably over 75 large bags of garden trash. The tall grasses had to be all cut down but they are coming back now and look very nice. Below are a few pictures of the house and gardens. 

We have a few remaining items (furniture and decorative items) to dispose of and then we’ll be done. An antique dealer came last evening and looked at everything. He decided to place into auction one of our end tables. They have a live auction once a month where items can be bid on in person and over the internet. He thinks the table will do well and will list it in July.

 

The remaining items were taken out to another auction house in Greenwood (Christie’s) that sells items every Wednesday. We were told that their average audience is around 1200 people. They charge a flat rate of 25% of your sell price.

 

My brother cams on Saturday to pick up some items that we want to keep…for now. We’ll re-evaluate them in a year. We will not have the cost of storage, so for now we’ll hold onto them. Most of these items are more sentimental in nature than valuable.

 

The only remaining household items are for Jen and we will take those to her in mid May. They are all boxed up and ready to go.

 

Two months ago the two car garage was stacked full with furniture, gardening tools, and household items. It was very overwhelming. Could we possibly find “homes” for all these items in two months time? Someone gave me good advice once and said "just getting started gets you half way there". So with that in mind, we sold or sent items through Craigslist, EBay, auction houses, Goodwill, and friends/family. We feel such a huge sense of accomplishment and at the same time are a little exhausted. I mentioned to someone to keep talking to me at dinner or I’d probably fall asleep. :)  In all the hustle and bustle of everything  I think it’s important to reflect and celebrate your accomplishments. So with that in mind, we paused and looked at that now empty garage and said to each...job well done. 

Life is good!

Fixin' this and that

Our new best friend Al came over on Sunday and helped with some needed repairs to our motorcoach. It was a blue sky day for us! With Al’s help we were able to accomplish so much.

First item on the list was trading out the “house” batteries. Included with the purchase of our motorcoach were four new batteries. The previous owner had purchased them but hadn’t needed to install them. It was now necessary to trade up to better power. Al and John studied how they were already installed very carefully to be sure everything was lined up properly. There also was a guide to help you too. They carefully cleaned out the battery area and removed all the corrosion and dirt with a mixture of baking soda and water. Al had an old rubber mat that was cut to fit the area and provide a little more cushion. It did not take them long to install them. They were off to a good start.

In the meantime, I was using my new toy. It is a labeler that I had purchased at Cosco. It was recommended to us to use this to label all our bins and various items in the coach such as computer cords. I practiced using it with our filing system. Over the years I had cut out articles about places we would like to visit. Plus there was lots of campground information and seminar information we had received at the RV Dreams Rally. Everything is now nicely organized and in alphabetical order. I was able to discard a lot of information that we will no longer need such as motorcoach brochures.

The next project for the boys was to fix the automatic step cover by the front entry way. It is a cover that is supposed to cover this area when you are driving. It allows the passenger to put their feet down on a level surface and keep them from falling into the stair well. The previous owner said it had not worked for them. Before long this amazing duo had it working. They were both very pleased that they could trouble shoot this and determine why it had not been working.

With building confidence they then decided to install the solar panel on the roof. The panel had met with an unfortunate awning accident a couple weeks ago. We knew better at the time, but had opened out the awning at the rental house and had not secured it with stakes in the ground. It was not windy, but within no time John heard a loud thwack and found the awning on top of the roof with the solar panel crushed. I found a replacement one at Frye’s, a local electronic store, that was significantly less expensive then Newmar’s. With a little creativity they were also able to install the new one.

 

 

Four projects completed!  That was great.  Afterwards we celebrated dinner with Al and his family.  It was a perfect day.  Happy Mother's Day!