It’s official. We are some of “those people” who are renting a storage unit! Yikes. How did we get there? Quite simply put—we got there because Chris’s dad’s house in Ohio has sold and we don’t have time to UHaul our treasures across the country right now. Whew. We had an exhausting but productive weekend and I wanted to share a bit of our adventures.
Chris and I went and secured said storage unit on Saturday morning. Great owner and great conversation. I quipped to her that I bet she could tell us some interesting stories and she laughed and agreed and shared a couple!!! The best one was about a client who pays cash, wants no bills sent his home address and is always ahead in paying. Funny thing–he comes in as a man and leaves as a woman…….and not a pretty woman according to her. I commented that the lighting is not too great in those units so I am sure that is the problem.
So the day of moving and loading and sorting began and with some great help from the local church we got all the furniture we had intended to take moved to the unit easy peasy. Chris and I made quite a few trips later in two cars with fishing gear, duck decoys, books and other assorted treasures to be sorted out later. Chris’s sister Colleen and her husband and daughter along with Carlton came over to help get the stuff out of the basement and finish packing up the rest of the house for the auction and by the end of the day we had made huge progress. The May 5th estate auction date looked much more realistic! The garage is filled once again and I am amazed at how much stuff we have taken out of the house–one huge garage sale, 3 rolls offs and a garage filled for the estate sale. The house seems to be sitting up a little bit higher now.
Of course since we are not going to be there for Carlton’s birthday on the 20th we had to celebrate with him early and a trip to Olive Garden complete with gift cards and an Ohio State watch made for the perfect night. He was so happy! And I was happy that he was happy!
Sunday we finished moving all the stuff, packed up what we could that was left in the house, stripped the beds and enjoyed a fabulous dinner with the mom of the best man in our wedding who recently lost her husband. She is a very perky 90 year old and it was a great way to leave town and enjoy the the last night in Lima. We headed to Detroit and stayed in the hotel in the airport and got a good night of sleep before I headed back to Iowa and Chris to China.
Our journey is coming to an end. The house will be someone else’s and with it come a lot of emotions and feelings. While we ate breakfast at Ike’s I got a little misty eyed thinking of how many times Dad took us there to eat and Chris had to remind me that it was I that was supposed to be strong for him! It has been a very long year and as we near the end of this part of our journey I am grateful for the love and support of so many along the way—including my bloggy friends. From the bottom of my heart–thank you.
20 Comments
Leave a commentWow, you packed a lot of work and emotion into a weekend! Transitions are always hard and a few tears always help with the healing! Love you!
Thanks!!! We are indeed getting to the end of this journey. It is kind of bittersweet as we will no longer be going to Lima for visits but will just shift to Ada instead. It’s all good and time. Love you back!
I do miss the Olive Garden. I was thinking earlier that I wanted some Italian food…dang now I really want their bread sticks and salad. I hope you enjoyed for me.
Oh man–if I had known I would have swiped a breadstick and sent it to you!!! Next time!!! You may have to soften it up a bit by the time it gets to you but hey—-it will be worth it, right?
Considering it took me a month to get my xmas cards that they opened I might be able to use it as a bookend.
Either that or a billy club to fight off unwarranted advances as you are out walking!
LOL…it happens more in the pubs 😉
LOL I bet!
Please don’t let that beautiful furniture end up on “Storage Wars” (Ohio).lol
And Happy Birthday to Carlton
Oh I promise it won’t!!! My friend Ann has about 5 old tv’s she wondered if she could stow there and then we could later default on the unit and see if they would dispose of them since she can’t get rid of them!!! 🙂
Oh, Beth Ann, you must be exhausted! Some of the furniture in the storage unit is gorgeous. So glad Carlton enjoyed the watch. I love the Olive Garden! Take care of yourself. Hope you can get some rest.
Hugs,
Kathy
A lot of it was stuff that was in the family and Chris’s dad refinished it. Future homes for teapots. 🙂
Pretty furniture! That will play a lovely supportive role for your teapots!
Yes indeed they will!!!! One of these days when we get them together!
I am so afraid of my kids having to go through the horrible job of going through my things after I’m gone, I’ve become a bit of a non-hoarder. Every time we move I get rid of more & more stuff & I’m finding I don’t miss any of it at all. Glad you were able to get so much done in such a short time, it’s nice when everyone helps out.
Being a non hoarder is a good thing!!! We have accumulated a lot more “stuff” since our move back to the US and it is time to whittle it down again….just gotta do it!
I loved the pictures of Carlton and I could tell how happy he was. Blessings to your family for loving and taking such good care of him. I can only imagine how tired all of you were when the furniture was moved,
We were tired but it was a good kind of tired and like I said, we had help moving the furniture from a couple guys from the church or Chris’s back would have been out again!
It must have been an emotional weekend. It’s never easy to have to sell something that has so many memories attached to it. I remember when we left Germany and my mom and I were packing up our house, a house my parents had built with their own two hands… we cried buckets. But I’m sure it’s a bit of a relief to, to get everything in order and moving forward.
It was emotional but I think that the hard part will really be the auction when the actual “things” are being sold to strangers, you know? But it is all part of the process and definitely time to move on.