Breathing Under Water

 Glug, glug - I mean, greetings from the Stress Pool! The water is a bit cold these days, but since we've been completely submerged, what difference does that make?

The last time I wrote, we had given the real estate agent the date of March 1 for putting the Grouse House on the market. Events weren't going as swiftly as we would have liked, but that was in part because some people were procrastinating. DH might say it was me; I would disagree. 

We found a place to rent - not too far away, and closer to work for me, which has been sort of nice! I also don't have to get on the highway - a good thing, since it is under construction, and just not a pleasant ride at this point. I can stay on the road that runs right outside my front door - as do a bazillion other people! That road has traffic from early morning until late in the evening, and with single pane windows...yeah, you get my drift! We signed a lease on March 1st. Then the move could commence, but let me go back a couple steps.

While I had been purging, it was a slow go. Thirty-five years of memories and accumulated stuff doesn't disappear overnight! At the end of February, I had just about finished going through things in the office when DH announced he'd arranged for the first move for the following Wednesday, which was March 3rd.

"Oh, that's good...what's going first?"

"Your office and the studio."

Wait...what? All of my stuff? Holy Bunch of Stuff, Batman - that gives me less than a week to get this done, and while working full time! Boxes, bags, paint, inks, easel, tools, other supplies...I have a lot of paraphernalia that is associated with artistic endeavors. At first, it was just supposed to be a couple of the storage shelves...now it was everything! By Tuesday, March 2nd, I had a lot packed, but some things hadn't been touched. I was out of places to pack, out of room to move (I wasn't getting any help, because it was my stuff), and I had to go to bed. There just wasn't anything left, not with coming home exhausted from work and then trying to get this done. DH ended up going down in the middle of the night, and his idea was just to pile all the things still hanging about along the walls. Enough was cleared so that the movers could take the furniture out.

Then, the real work had to start. I started at one end of the room and moved across to the other, throwing most of it away. A lot for the shredding pile - apparently, you don't really have to keep paper work from fifteen years ago, but when you've forgotten it even exists...

The second and final furniture move was scheduled for March 18th, and move we did - in the pouring rain! Our first night in the rental, living out of boxes...what fun! But, our move wasn't over yet. There were still some boxes, and more stuff to go through - an 8 cubic foot dumpster was delivered to the driveway the following week, and we ended up filling it. Big thanks to my Mentor, Donna, who would pick something up and say, "You don't need this." Big Brother, Ms. Business, and Moink hauled a lot of stuff out to that dumpster, and boxes into cars.

The maids were coming on the 31st, so we needed to have the main rooms cleared. They came - wow, wish I'd had maids all along! Eric came by, his cape waving in the breeze, did a once through with DH, and they talked about things that could still be done. One was to remove the linoleum from the front hall - it was coming up anyway. DH went over one day to do that. Oh boy.

Adhesive. Someone used some super adhesive to put linoleum on a hard wood floor. My buddy, Cyndy, advised looking up what might remove it - but that varnish might come up with it, too (and it did!)- and then she popped over during Spring Break to give me hand for a couple hours. She even lent me a few tools to get the job done. It took hours of hard work, and several washes with hot water and Murphy's Oil Soap (good stuff!), but I got it finished. We painted a few rooms, Big Brother came by with his brother-in-law, Alex, and they put up the closet doors that have been sitting in the garage for a thousand years. I looked around at the cleaned, fixed-up house and said to DH, "Hey, want to move back?"

I can't even explain the look he gave me, but in a nutshell, the answer was 'no'.

It went on the market a few days ago - the photos were amazing! I entertained myself at lunchtime on Friday by looking at them on the computer - and started sobbing when I got to one that looked out from our bedroom to the back patio, remembering how I loved lying in bed on a summer day, listening to rain pattering on the aluminum awning. Remembering adding block to extend the patio; how the boys used to run through the woods up behind the house; when Big Brother threw a basketball through a garage door window; footsteps running through the house as they chased each other; the daylilies I'd lovingly planted in the backyard...but managed to get it together before my afternoon classes. 

I am happy to report that there has already been an offer, and we'll discuss it with Superhero Real Estate agent Eric tonight.

So many other things to talk about, so come on over to the pool, and please bring an extra towel for me (mine are still packed!) The adventure continues! I just hope Eric wears his red cape.