Downsizing

Today's picture is of Shana making a run to the Goodwill store to drop off more donations. In this case, one of the donations is her beloved giant bear, which she acquired in high school, and which is already well traveled. It drove cross country with Phil when he delivered Shana's first car (my cast off Honda Accord) to her at Bryn Mawr College in Philadelphia. It moved from there to Raleigh, and has stayed with her through several Raleigh moves. At long last, it is time for the bear to find a new home. Symbolic of many things that Shana is casting off on this trip.

This mornings big discovery was how quickly posting something for free on Craig's List works. Shana had a nice, but heavy, desk that no one had bought, along with a large TV, a couple of patio chairs, a not-in-great-shape coffee table and a large planter stand--all items a bit too large or cumbersome to fit in Shana's car in order to get to Goodwill. So at 8:30 this morning, just before we left for breakfast, Shana posted a picture of these items, which we had set out by the curb. The post indicated her address, and that they were free, first come, first served. We also hung "free" signs on them. A bit to our surprise, all items were gone when we returned at 10:30 am. "Free" works fast!

We are down to the last bits and pieces of packing and cleaning up the house. We will be scooting around tomorrow morning delivering the last few things, doing a final laundry, and acquiring the last items needed for our road trip. We hope to be off to Asheville NC in the afternoon.

Step 4-Packing Shana

There has GOT to be a way to get that memory foam in there. It has a mind of its own and keeps unfolding, so the truculent foam is being secured in place with a ratcheting tie-down. Notice how many helpers it takes to get the job done right!

There's now just enough space left for Shana and me to stuff in the few last things that we keep finding in the house and we start to clean things up. The afternoon we spent painting
Shana's bedroom. With three of us it took only an hour to get a primer coat on. Shana and I will have time tomorrow to get the second coat on, so we have saved Shana the cost of paying to have the room repainted. One of the last tasks of the day was to assemble the remaining pieces of a desk Shana bought that's a typical Ikea assemble it yourself project. No one has bought the desk, and we don't have a way to get it to Goodwill, so her plan is to put it out by the road with a "free" sign on it, as well as to list it for free on Craig's List. Its a nice desk so we figure it should be gone by the end of the day.

Tomorrow we will get rid of the rest of things in the house that aren't going with us, do our final cleaning, and be ready for a few final chores that have to be done on Monday.

I have to admit that I was quite amazed both that we got nearly everything in the container that Shana wanted to go, and that we got it all done so quickly, with time left to do other things. A banner day!

Step 3- Packing Shana

NOW you begin to see the full measure of this little container. With packing genius Wes at the helm, the container has been stuffed from top to bottom, back to front. We are nearing the end, with the few spaces left. We've been at this a little more than two hours. Many hands make the work go quickly.

Packing Shana - Step 2

The mattress, box springs and bed frame head and foot boards are now in, and lo and behold there's still lots of room. Lots, that is, relatively speaking. We have an enthusiastic crew who are pushing Shana to get all the drawers stuffed and things packed so they can load them. Even though we have been packing for three days it's still not all in boxes.

Packing Day - Step 1

Here is the container into which Shana's belongings will be stuffed--if we are lucky. It looks pretty small thinking about the bed, dressers, bookcases, couch, end tables, plus the bunches of boxes and containers that have to go in it. Our crew arrived about 10 am on Saturday. Here we go!

Kae and Shana's Day Job - Step 2

My job is to come along behind Shana and pack the things she has decided to take into boxes. on Wednesday and Thursday I packed up the kitchen and several boxes of books, and part of a
storage closet. Today I finished off a couple more boxes and then diverted to an unexpected task--painting. Shana has been in here current rental home for three years. It's a nice little two bedroom duplex with lots of space (not so good if you like to acquire things). Her rental agreement allowed her to paint rooms, with the proviso that they be returned to their original white on leaving. So she painted her large dining room a gold color and her bedroom a dark gray. Now she needs to repaint them or pay her landlord to have it done.

Here comes Mom, stepping into the breach to save her $210 (per room). This afternoon I spent painting the large dining room. It looks like that room will make it with one coat of paint, helped by an extra coat around the edges. The bedroom is going to require two coats and we're not sure if we will make that one. I can tell you that I am one tired puppy tonight.

Tomorrow Shana has several friends coming to help her begin to load the container which is sitting in her driveway. We need to get the heavy things into it (her bed, dressers, side tables and her couch, along with several boxes of very heavy books). It is her hope to get most of the things she is moving loaded tomorrow. She is a little short of having all of it packed, but we will see.

And here I was thinking that my staying a week between the car tour Phil and I took and Shana's departure would be a time when I would trying to think of what to do with myself. Tour around Raleigh? Visit the art museum? Instead I have been working full tilt each day and falling gratefully into bed each night. I'm certainly sleeping well!

Shana is out tonight having dinner with friends and I am staying home to (a) eat up food in the fridge, (b) be here for the person picking up the bookcases and (c) relax a bit while shredding paper. Saturday and Sunday night we will be eating out because by then all the cooking ware will be packed. Fortunately Shana acquired a nice quality air mattress for guests several years ago, which Phil and I have used several times. When her bed gets packed tomorrow, we will be hunkering down together until we leave. Mother and daughter togetherness time!

Shana and Kae's Day Jobs- step 1

Shana and I are doggedly working our way through the things that need to be done to allow her to ship her container of belongings on Monday and for us to leave on our cross country drive that same day. Shana's current day job is sorting--sorting through closets and cupboards and piles and boxes to figure out what to discard and what is to go. Here she is, sorting. The look on her face shows how she is feeling about this day job--added to which she has a cold. She is making progress, but she has lived in North Carolina for 11 years, and even though she has moved a couple of times, she has still accumulated a lot of STUFF. We have already made one trip to the Goodwill, and another is coming, along with a couple trips to the dumpster to offload paper. She is actually have pretty good success getting rid of larger things on Craig's List, having sold a washer and dryer, a portable dishwasher, one small TV with its stand, a television console, two small bookcases, a computer desk tower, and a side chair with ottoman. She also managed to get $280 for her old car, a Civic that wasn't running, to a friend of a neighbor. That has reduced the inventory of "large things we have to figure out how to get rid of" to a large desk and a large, old-style TV. so farm so good. See the next post for my day job.