Exhausted & excited

Well, the last 2 weeks are hard to put in words.  Since this is also my journal, I'll try, although it may be a little incoherent.  After 3 months of downsizing, we spent 3 solid days packing (and more dragging stuff to the dumpster).  We thought we were close to ready, but we weren't.  "Every time I open a drawer I find books!"  Friends and family showed up to drag away trash, do extra Goodwill runs, claim more of our stuff, stayed late when the minivan decided to start acting up, loan us vehicles or simply provided moral support. There are a few things that will probably go missing for a few weeks.  We didn't know that we had to have the house "almost empty & clean" for the pre-closing the night before!  Amelia the cat started to realize something was up.  Husband came home the last night and said, "No recliners.  No TV.  This place sucks!  We should move."  

On closing morning we only had to drag out the mattress & box spring (at which point the cat stood in the middle of the bedroom floor and howled.  Heart breaking).  Then box spring wouldn't fit in the minivan.  Then the minivan threw ANOTHER belt.  We dropped the cat off at the office, again.  We showed up at our closing relieved and left with the savings account a little fatter!  My step-daughter came by that night and bought my car.  "How come everybody keeps handing YOU the checks?"  We showed up at our friends house with 2 duffels, a cat and the espresso machine.  Apparently, we're hilarious.  We passed out as soon as we hit the bed.

The original pile.  It grew after the closing.  Will it fit in the minivan?

The day after our closing, I had to go out to the plane and clean IT out before a maintenance flight on Sunday.  Everything going to the boat was now in "the pile" in my husband's office.  A lot of people stopped by just to see "the pile."  "Is that all going to fit?"  Good question.  I started consolidating and repacking.  This ended up being good practice for the boat.  Why pack a box of sugar when you can pour it into a ziploc bag? It's amazingly convenient to have everything you own in a pile at work.  Need trash bags?  No problem.  Didn't dress for the weather?  No problem.  Hungry?  No problem, it's in "the pile."

Every time I walk by a window, I say "Hey!  Look!  Horses!"  Oh, they live here.

Scrambled eggs without having to go to the farmer's market.  Bravo Ladies!

We have a wonderful friend with a finished, walk-out lower level who invited us to stay with her for the 10 days we would be homeless. Amelia could be locked downstairs with us and Husband could sneak in & out without bothering anyone.  This turned out to be a good transition.  Then my friend realized we could animal sit while she headed out of town!  Win, win.  Our cat, 1 dove, 1 dog, 3 Koi, (4 horses and 2 chickens, but they had a separate caretaker).  Amelia ignored Snap the Dog on the other side of the glass door and wasn't very interested in the bird either.  However, she was pretty sure she wanted to go in the basement and visit the fish!  She happily settled in with her food bowl and favorite blanket. 

Everyone keeps asking when we're leaving.  We're leaving when Craig is done with work, the van is loaded and we've overstayed our welcome at our friend's house, which is hopefully "by the end of the month."

A bottle of wine by the fire pit.  That's the Moon & Venus.  We know because this was a long discussion that had to be settled with an iphone app