Last Day of July... Only a month left...

Today was a good day of accomplishments.  I am sorting through notebook after notebook after notebook of recipes and quilt patterns.  When I have been traveling in the past and I had the ability to do some sewing while I was away, I would put together a notebook of motel reservations, maps, recipes for when I would be at a home where I might be cooking and patterns to make items I wanted to do on the trip.  These books had piled up and multiplied, so I have been sorting, purging, condensing items from those books and printing out a couple of the Mystery Quilt clues for quilts I am planning to make so I can pack the pattern with the material.

Yesterday I stayed upstairs as Rob and Kate were going to get the keys to our house and were planning to go there, call me on my Show and we were going to have a good look at the house that now has our names on the deed.  It did not happen when originally planned, but they called me a tad after 5:00 PM my time and it was after 7:00 PM when we stopped.

It is going to be a really lovely place to live with my dogs.  The rooms are nicely sized.  I am seeing all manner of things in each room.  I am seeing the ability to limit the dogs to the lower level where I am likely to be spending all of my time. (The lower level of the house is bigger than the entire house I have been in for the last almost 40 years.) 

It is a stunning home, with wooden accents on some of the walls.  A lot of updates have been made and some areas that will need to be updated.  The first thing that will need to be done will be to find a way to take the squeaking out of the kitchen drawers.  It is an older kitchen and the drawers are not using nice, quiet drawer closing systems.  Instead there is a center rail that keeps the drawer from tipping and the rail and the wheel screech and squeal like nails on a chalkboard.  There is also going to have to be a ton of shelf liners put in before the dishes and glassware goes into the cabinets.  There is a dishwasher for cleaning everything as I unpack.  I have not had a dishwasher since 1982.

We did find a water line in the kitchen for an ice maker but the fridge does not have one installed.  I will research whether one can be installed or, perhaps there will need to be a new fridge in the kitchen... or a stand alone ice maker purchased.  Time will tell.

Rob and Kate were debating about which bedroom they were going to make as theirs upstairs.  There will be times when they will be coming in and spending the night.  If they have early appointments in town or if the weather is going to be bad they will be staying with me in our house.  (Their 10 year plan has them moving into the house full time when it is time for them to stop living in their off-grid home)  Initially they were going to take the smallest of the two because the view out the window was of trees and garden.  But today they bought a bed for their bedroom and Rob thinks it may only fit in the bigger room.  Makes no difference to me which room it is.  I am bringing the trundle bed from the sewing room and it will make the unused bedroom into a guest room and TV den.

They also contacted me on the Show this afternoon.  They were in Sadler's Furniture store in Fairbanks.  They had heard an ad on the radio for recliners, so they went over and looked at the lift recliners.  I am leaving my sad, old recliner behind and had told Rob that I wanted an electric left chair.  Not that I need it now, I am just preparing for a time when I might need assistance getting out of my recliner.  So, they called me on the Show and I was able to shop for the recliner from here.  They had quite a nice selection.  We eliminated the leather covered ones... I like fabric in my easy chairs.  They are more comfy for my way of thinking.  

We checked out one that seemed similar in style to the one I have here.  It was grey in color and another color could be ordered.  There was another one by the same company in a lovely golden brown.  It would look really nice in the living room with all of the wood accents it already has.  It is a model that was being discontinued, so it was really marked down.  The nice thing is that it comes with massage and heat in addition to laying out flat and lifting me up to standing.  So Rob and Kate snagged it for me and the decorating of the house has begun.  I guess from there, they went looking for bedding for their room and found something they liked.  I am assuming that things will be delivered as soon as it can be arranged.  That means that I will have seating when I get there, so I can stay at the house and wait for the truck to arrive.

Here is a picture of the chair that I found online.  May not be the exact color, but it is close.  Exciting.....

Tonight Patches came over with dinner (some garlic pasta... yum) and we tacked the dismantling of the quilt frame.  We have reduced my quilt frame to a pile of wood and metal.  I will get pictures of it tomorrow after I have a chance to get the rails and legs and stuff altogether against a wall.  Now I can get to the file cabinet and closet to clear it out.  That room is almost finished.

Patches, I cannot thank you enough.  You are a true friend and I appreciate you so very much.

Update, pictures and settlement....

I always thought that weekends flew by when I was working and that they were just not long enough.  It does not change when one is retired.  Time flies by during the week and weekend time seems to fly by faster.  At least that is what I have been experiencing.

This weekend was no exception to this rule.

I set an alarm Saturday morning... something that I really dislike doing now that I am retired.  But Sew Much Love was meeting on this Saturday.  It was a working meeting as we were running out of pillowcase kits for the ladies to work on when they come in to sew.  So Patty arrived as did Sheila and Anita.  Beverly was there, too and me.  Patty brought her special cutting setup and Beverly cut out parts and pieces for the Sani-Pad project.  Anita and Sheila, along with Patty's ability to cut pieces quickly put together 57 pillowcase kits, so we are ready for the August meeting. 

I was tasked with going through the 'loaner' sewing machines.  I had given Sew Much Love a couple of my sewing machines that will not be going to Alaska.  So I cleaned them, oiled them, changed needles so they are ready to sew.  Then I went through a couple of machines that had recently been donated.  I cleaned out the lint in the bobbin areas, oiled the rotary hooks, opened up the upper mechanism and oiled the moving parts.  I changed needles, put in a bobbin and ran some test strips through the machine until it was sewing a nice, even stitch.  By the time the day was over, there were 6 working sewing machines that can be lent to ladies who come to sew but have no sewing machines.

I came home, planning to take a nap, but that never happened.  I had things to do and each one seemed to lead to another and before I knew it, the time had come to play Dungeons and Dragons with Rob and Kate and friends in Alaska.  They call me and I can see them on my Amazon Show.  Since they are four hours later than my time (for now) I usually am awake until 2:00 AM which makes for a very short time for sleeping before I had to get to church.

The nice thing is that I have turned over the complete responsibility of the A/V job at church to Laura Wagner.  This weekend she had taken on all of the duties herself.  So... at least I did not have to be totally on my toes.

After church, I gave away some coats.  I had come across some really nice coats that my mother had owned.  (My Dad had brought them to me when he moved to the area after my mother had passed away.)  One was rose colored leather, one was a brightly colored patchwork suede coat, one was a mink stole and one was a mink and leather jacket.  My mother did not get gussied up often, but from time to time she liked to dress well.  And my father saw to it that she had some nice things to wear.  I was not ever going to fit into them... my mother was much more slender than I will ever be, I inherited my father's body type... so I wanted them to go to a good home before I headed to Alaska.  I was NOT going to put them out on the "free table".  So I had taken them to church.  Saturday, Beverly took the suede coat.  She looked beautiful and it will keep her nice and toasty during Pennsylvania winters.  Sunday Parmalle Hershey took the leather and mink jacket.  Sarah Hershey took the rose leather jacket and Laura Wagner swished home with the mink stole.  I am thrilled to have been able to bless this women with such nice jackets.

I came home to enjoy a visit from my niece and nephew... Nancy (Boylan) Wallace and her husband Jeff.  These folks were related to my late husband, Nancy was Rudy's sister, Marcy's daughter.  They have always included me in Thanksgiving and Easter dinners, even after Rudy died.  They brought lunch up and had planned to dig in and help me with sorting things.  But we ended up just talking and talking and talking.  I think I really just needed that break.

Today I had the car back at Hershey Motors.  They installed the wiring harness so I can now tow things with lights.  BUT, they noticed that the hitch device that I gotten for the car did not have any hardware to hold the spare tire that I will be hauling on the road to Alaska.  I came home to search for anything that might have been in the box, but there had not been any other hardware included, so they are going to come up with a plan B so the tire can be mounted.  I am so lucky to have a shop willing to help me with this issue.

Then I heard from Rob and Kate.  Settlement was today for the Alaska house.  We thought they would be getting keys today.  But it seems that in Alaska, when one buys a house... you go to settlement, sign the papers, pay the money and then you have to wait for the paperwork to be filed overnight and THEN you can get the keys the next day from the realtor.

They did go through the house for a pre-settlement inspection.  They talked to the sellers and got some information from them.  Everything seems to be in order so tomorrow, after they get the keys and the sellers are gone (they are spending tonight in the house) we will be walking through the house to see it empty and bare.  The interesting things they learned today was that the area being used as storage at the top of the stairs in the living room used to be a BIG fish tank that held Piranhas.  Also, whoever originally built the house had phone jacks installed in each and every room.  It was rumored that they might have been drug dealers.  The current sellers certainly were upstanding citizens, so I doubt that stigma still exists.  The sellers also had an offer on the table for the house that they were considering before they got our offer.  But those buyers needed a really quick turnaround to purchase and the sellers liked the fact that we were not in a big hurry and had wiggle room with time frame.

So, tomorrow, we should be able to go through OUR house to see it from a different set of eyes.  EXCITED!!!

Today was laundry day, stripping my bed, washing clothes, etc.  I did get downstairs to get pictures of the progress that has been made in the sewing room.  I will post the before picture again and then the current condition.  Still lots to do, but making progress feels really good.  Thanks, Patches.  You have no idea how your assistance has helped me physically and mentally!

Before.. the picture Rob took for the movers in June...

From the same direction today...

Area at the front of the room where you can see flooring...

Area next to basement fridge where nothing is stacked anymore...

Miles waiting at the top of the stairs whenever I am down in the basement...

And so, you on the same page.  I am folding laundry, making my bed so I can sleep tonight and getting ready to make something for dinner.  I hope your day has been a productive as my day...

Dates change and things speed up.... and what a good friend does!

Yes, the trash men have to hate me.  It was a very heavy... at least by my standards.. on Wednesday mornings.  I keep waiting for the garbage pickup company to call me to tell me that the container is much too heavy, but so far nothing.

Wednesday was a day of setting dates.  I will be making settlement on my house in Parkesburg on September 3rd.  They know I may be here for a few days longer.  It is not a problem.

I also had an email from Rob asking me to contact the Alaska insurance agent since I was primary on the homeowners insurance, I needed to call her and accept the terms and get that rolling so settlement could be set for the Alaska house.  So I contacted Heather at HUB International and we talked both home and auto.  Turns out that in order to have the homeowners policy, I was also required to cover my car.  So we got the verbal stuff done and Heather said she would need information from the bank to finish her stuff.

In the meantime I was getting help in my sorting and purging.  My friend Patches DiGregorio from church, had offered to come and help me with that task.  Actually, I asked her if she could help and she said certainly.  My church family is the greatest.  I am going to miss them terribly.

So, after working all day at an insurance company, she came home, grabbed dinner for both of us and arrived just as I was feeding the dogs.  We had chili and ginger ale before heading to the sewing room in the basement.  This is what she saw...

This is the picture that Rob took that he thinks frightened the moving company.  It scared me and I am the one who made the mess.  But we started where he took this picture from and we are working our way down the room.

Wednesday, we cleared off the dresser that Rob was standing in front of to take the picture.  Then we moved to the table to the right, also unseen, and through the piles on the left up to the laundry basket.  Added to the taking along pile, had several things that were going to the Sew Much Love group at church and stuff to out to the free table.  Patches also took one large trash bag out to the porch for future trash days and  we started on number 2, before we called it a day.

Thursday was a day of servicing, putting things out on the table sudden shifting of settlement dates in Alaska.  I had Mack Services coming in to do the annual servicing on the furnace and air conditioner.  The service contract had already been paid for, so I am going to be leaving the HVAC in good condition for JohN and Addie.  The service tech was to have arrived around 8 AM, but was delayed until 9:30 AM.  He worked until noon before he was done.

The stuff from the purging went out on the table first thing and by mid afternoon, it was pretty much gone.  I had been gathering things during the day and kept adding to the table.  It always amazes me how much stuff has been moved from the front of my house in the last couple of months.

I had word from Rob that he and Kate had landed in Seattle, on their way home after a business trip to Colorado for Kate.  Then the emails began to fly.  The bank was looking for the insurance information and asking for a settlemtn on the Alaska house for MONDAY.  We had thought that it would be the 31st.  Not quite ready for two days earlier, but it has seemed like such a long time since the offer went in and was accepted, we were just happy to see it happening at all.

So this morning (Alaska morning time) I had to call the insurance agent and get the forms emailed, printed out, scanned and emailed back.  Then I had to call Heather and make the payment for my auto insurance.  That will take effect September 15th, about when I should be arriving in my new home state.  At least I will not be trying to figure out what I need to do to get insurance.  Already taken care of.

I am continuing to work in the Happy room.  Gathering the hoops that have been lying around the room and getting them back into the closet where they have should have been hanging.  Taking stuff out to the free table.  I cleared out some jackets that have been hanging at the top of the stairs to the basement.  It is sometimes hard to remember the simple things that you see everyday have to be sorted though as well.

Patches returned this evening, bringing dinner again.  Tonight we continued Jane's march to the back of the sewing room.  We tackled the laundry basket from the picture and unearthed the trundle daybed that is on the right-hand side of the room.  I will take pictures sometime tomorrow of the progress.  Just to say that there is a bed in that picture should indicate the progress.  We have a system... Patches brings me the bag or box or pile to be sorted.  I sort and give her the item(s) to go into a certain pile.  She takes it there and brings me more to sort.  It is so nice as we can cover a lot more space and things with the two of us working at it.

Tomorrow is Sew Much Love at church.  We are having a working day to make kits for future meetings.  I am going to be going over the sewing machines that we have to find out which ones work and do not work.  Then back for more sorting before doing Dungeons and Dragons with Rob and Kate and the gang.  It will be nice when we can finally do this game in person.

So, off to bed.  It has been a good week.  It is all coming together and coming along very fast.

Dates are getting scheduled, things are moving and the big rush begins.....

This morning started out with the normal amount of, I really should get moving.... but after I do.....

That was until I heard from the moving company.  I have a tentative "loading" date.  It can be two days on either side, but the date I am now aiming for is having the moving truck here, loading everything that I am going to take to Alaska is September 6th.  That is a tad over 6 weeks from today.  And everything will be done or not done and I will be watching people pack the items I am taking and then loading them on a truck and pulling out of my driveway after 40 years in this house.

I really had thought I would end up being here until I died.  And I really thought I would be here until I was no longer in control of what I can do and my poor children would be tasked with doing what I am doing now... going through mountains and mountains of years and years of accumulated stuff.  And I am struggling, trying to let some of it go.  And yet I am also letting go of more than I expected to let go.  I have six weeks to do the final purge.

So, today I started working on my Happy Room.  For those who do not know, I have a 12 needle, single head embroidery machine and it is a Happy Embroidery Machine.  I had a small, home based business from 2007 until my husband passed away in 2011.  Happy will be making the trip to Alaska as my daughter-in-law has shirts that she wants me to embroider.  (I had thought I would have to leave Happy behind as many of the houses that we looked at did not have room for Happy to be live.)  The new house has a nice, large room that was being used as the Master Bedroom, but I think I am going to set my bedroom up in the family room and have the huge Master Bedroom become a craft, sewing, quilting and embroidery room.  That way I can have one really messy room that we creative folks thrive in... at least I do.... and the rest of the house can remain more clutter free since I will be sharing the space with my son and daughter-in-law from time to time.

I have not done much embroidery over the last couple of years, so the room had become neglected and a place for orphan stuff to land.  I need to clear the room out so I can get to Happy, take him apart into the original pieces that he came with and put him back into the original box that he came in.  When we got Happy, it was highly recommended that we save the box, and so we did.  

My niece and nephew, Nancy and Jeff Wallace are coming up this Sunday to visit, bring lunch and wish me well on my adventure.  They are my late husband's side of the family and Nancy and Jeff have always made sure that I was included in holiday activities and have helped out when I needed assistance.  So they are bringing lunch and have offered to help me with anything I might need.  So, I am thinking that if I have Happy cleaned, torn apart and ready for the boxing up, that the three of us MIGHT be able to do that.  If it is beyond our combined strength. then we may wrap my Grandmother's china up and get it into boxes. Her china is in small boxes in the attic, lightly wrapped in old, old newspapers.  They needs to be packed better to survive the trip to Alaska.  This is the china that I remember seeing at holiday dinners when we went to Illinois to spend Thanksgiving.  The new kitchen may have a place where I can have the china available to be used again.

So here are some pictures that I took of almost "before".  I dove into the sorting and purging and then remembered to get the "before" pictures.  So some purging has already been done.

Looking toward the door to the room... before

Looking at the closet in the room where hoops were hung and thread and blanks stored... before

Storage shelves between Happy and the Window.. started but not finished...

Looking from the door at the desk area and hooping table... before

Looking on the left side of the Happy Stand on the floor... before

Looking under the Happy Stand... before

I worked off and on all day.  I had one big contractor bag that I can usually fill with trash and still lift.  Not today.  I had lots of old catalogs and old stationary and envelopes that was going into the trash.  So I had to grab a second bag and reduce the amount in the contractor bag so I could get it out into the trash.

Here are some pictures that shows some progress has been made.

Standing at the door, looking at the left side of the Happy Stand.  The stuff was piled up to the hat hooping frame.

This is the closet.  You can see the  thread on the shelves.  It was hidden at the beginning of the day...

The left side of the Happy stand.  No thread and bobbins on the surface... just lots of dust.

The right hand side of the stand.  Just some spray adhesive that will make the trip.  Please note that the machine's name is really HAPPY.  I did not make that up.

The storage units beside a Happy.  The wire baskets are off in a storage area for things to be moved.  The black stand will move tomorrow.

Under the Happy stand.  Still some hoops and stuff to sort out, but you can see the stabilizer storage under the stand...

So, trash is out waiting for my poor trash men.  I am sure that they are wondering what in the world I am doing.  I am filling the trash can to it's fullest, week after week after week and it is heavy stuff.  They will be happy to see me gone!!!

And now it is time for me to get some rest for more work tomorrow.

Hot... hot... hot... and we moved furniture!!

It is hot here in the southeast corner of Pennsylvania.  We are in the midst of a brutal heat wave.  The thermometer says it is in the 90's but the heat index is well above 100.  The TV news says the air is  thick and difficult to breathe.  They are right.  The heat pounds you in the face as soon as you step outside.  It takes your breath away.  Then, after being outside for a few minutes, coming into an air conditioned place almost sends chills down your spine.  There is no happy median.  At 72 years old, I just stay inside and as quiet as I can when it is this hot.

I was doing some running after the storms on Wednesday night.  I had my car back into Hershey Motors to have the lighting harness installed for the hitch.  I had ordered the full blown wiring harness with lots of spaghetti-like wires of many colors to be spliced into my car's system.  In all of the videos I had watched about adding a hitch to my Caddy, they found a plug already installed that just needed another set of wires to plug in and voila, the ability to plug in lights on a trailer.  But, when the guys at Hershey put in the hitch, they SAID that they did not find a plug.  So, I ordered a full hitch harness to be installed.  I asked Andy @ Hershey to please check again before they opened the package to check one more time for the plug.  (The kit was about 3 times as expensive as the plug in version)  And lo and behold, they found the plug.  So they have ordered the GM official plug-in and I will send the other one back to etrailer.com for a refund.  So, I will also be saving lots and lots of labor cost.  Yippee.

Saturday was an open craft day at church.  Patches came with a quilt top that she is working on.  She really likes doing her sewing with others around to talk to.  I started a chunky blanket with really, really thick yarn.  Donna was working on a crocheted Afghan.  At 10 AM Laura came in and then Laura, Donna and I headed up to the sanctuary where I spent two hours training Laura and retraining Donna on how to set up the video agenda for Sunday services.  Laura will be replacing me as that is my current job.  Donna will become her backup, along with Beth.  Laura handled the presentations today and did very well.  She will begin doing it all with me as her backup if she needs it.  This way, when I head north, she will be more confident in her abilities.

Today, after church, Josh (a young man from church) came over to pick up a twin bed, mattress, box springs, two dressers and a TV, blu-ray player and sound system for the TV to take to his home.  He is in the process of a divorce and is replacing furniture that he lost when his wife moved out.  Another church friend, Andy Propst, came out in the heat to help with the furniture moving.  I let Josh use my truck and Andy brought his truck so they could move things in one fell swoop.  So, basically, the basement bedroom is empty except for the quilt frame, a TV and the sewing machine.

We removed the TV from the wall in the sewing room and he also took the sound system, speakers and blu-ray player.  He was a happy camper.

So, more things are no longer in the house that need to be moved.  Josh will also be taking the extra fridge in the basement and the washer/dryer in the kitchen just as I am getting ready to leave.  So I only have a couple of tables and 8 chairs as big things left to find homes for.

My friend, Patches, will be coming over to help me tackle more of my sorting and purging in my sewing room.  Fabric that I do not want to take with me will either be given away to my sewing friends or donated to the Lancaster Reuse store.

There are days when I think I am never going to be able to do what is left to do by myself.  And then there are days, when I think I might just be able to get it done.  But, still no actual date for the movers, yet, but I am aiming to have as much done as I can by Labor Day.

At this point, I just want to be on my way to my new adventure.  But the house in Alaska has not gone to settlement, thus is not yet ready and I still have things to do here.  So I will just take things one day at a time.  It is all I can do.

Thank you, Danny...

Well, Danny Lantz... you are a very wise man.  He is supposed to be taking my whole house generator home with him.  He has slowly been taking the stuff that he and Marji want back to their home in Maryland.  

When he came up to get the lawn tractor, I asked him if he wanted to take the generator.  He asked me it I maybe I should keep it, just in case.  I am so glad that he did.

There have been some really wicked thunderstorms here in the Northeastern area.  Last night, yet another one blew through.  Around 7 PM the lights went out with a loud thump.  Sometimes, when the power goes out there is a little flickering and then they just go out in a woof.  Last night it just went out, they just went out... no flicker, just dark.

Now, for the last several years, I have not had to connect the generator to the house.  The power goes out and then a minute or two later, it comes right back on.  Not last night.  It went out and I waited and waited and waited, but no power.  So, once the rain eased (it was teeming)  I headed out to the garage, managed to get the old, rusty padlock off the side door and got in to get the gasoline I had saved... just in case.

I filled the gas tank on the generator, plugged the big plug into the outlet I had installed several years ago.  I put the gas line into the open mode, put the choke on and pushed the automatic start.....  Silence.  I checked to make sure I had everything right and it looked like I did, so I pushed the button again.  Nothing,

The little battery had gone dead.  It has a pull cord, and I tried it, but I just no longer had the strength to pull it hard enough.  I called Danny to see if he had checked it the last time he was here.  He had not.  I had also called my neighbor< john (the man who is buying my house) and he said he was on his way home and would be over when he got in.  In about 15 minutes, he was on my deck.  He checked everything, made a couple of pulls and the generator sprung into action.  We got it running smoothly and headed home, with my grateful thanks.  Then I went down to the basement, shut off the big draw things like the central air, hot water heater, etc. and then flipped the main power from outside to off, lifted the Interlock switch and flipped the generator input to on and the house lit up like a Christmas Tree.  So, by 8 PM, I was back to normal, fans running to stay cool and TV and Internet back on.

It was after midnight before my account on the phone app for PECO indicated that my power had been restored.  So, back to the basement, turned all the switches back to normal to find the power was indeed back.  Turned the generator off and headed to be.

Do not think the house in Alaska has a generator.  It may be one of the first things I get.  Not so much in the summertime, but I do not want to be without power when it is dark and 40 below outside.

A Day of doctors and shopping.....

The day began with the normal routine.  I tell Alexa to Wake Up and I get the temperature, forecast, information on the "Day" being celebrated and an odd factoid to have me thinking all day.  Then she turns on my Mr. Coffee Pot in the kitchen so I can have some cuddle time with Miles who waits patiently on my bed until I am ready to get moving.  I get up, take my morning meds (the joys of being a Senior Citizen whose body is beginning to break down), let the dogs out, feed them, then grab my cup of coffee that is ready and waiting for me to start my morning.

I checked the "Free Table" and found that early morning the same yellow car that had grabbed some stuff early the day before had stopped and taken some of the better stuff from the table.  After my shower and dressing, I took some more stuff out before heading to see my doctor, Elizabeth Cuneo, at the Penn Medicine branch of Lancaster General Health Services in Parkesburg.  The convenience of this facility will be something that I will miss.  It is just a couple of miles down the road and all of my doctors are there along with a full service lab, X-Ray, MRI and Physical Therapy.  Dr, Cuneo is an amazing doctor and I will miss having her as my primary physician.  We connected from the moment we met.  She asks great questions and makes suggestions about how to deal with my health.  We discuss things and decide on a course of treatment.  No demands... we are working on things together.  I would highly recommend anyone looking for a down to earth, caring doctor to give her a try.

From there, I went shopping.  I am sending a couple of boxes to Rob.  They will be full of things that he can add to my new house before I arrive, if he gets a chance.  He took some things with him when he left here a couple of weeks ago.

I also went to two Dollar Trees, and Walmart looking for a couple of craft things for final Sew Much Love projects.  I did not find everything I wanted, so I have some searching to do.  I also got some hardware at Home Depot to send to Rob to set up dog leads and a key safe where I can find the keys when I arrive at my new home after my long drive through Canada.

It is Take Out the Trash Day, so at the moment, I am taking a break to cool down from gathering all of the garbage together.  It is hot and humid and going to get more so by the weekend.  I really do not do well in heat anymore.  I sweat with lots of heat and humidity and my skin actually seems to feel like it is burning.  I think I am making a good move by heading to the colder climate.  Not something I ever thought I would be saying.  I always imagined moving to Florida as many other seniors have done.  Just goes to show, what we imagined and dreamed of in our youth is not always what will happen.

Sorting and Purging... and.... sorting and purging.....

My days are getting very, very similar.  I look at a spot.  I pull everything out.  I sort... is this trash or take to Alaska or "Free Table"? I separate the items into their pile, box or bag.  Then I go to another place and start all over again.

I have one tub started with delicate dust catchers, chachkies, or sentimental clutter.  I have gone through a mirror that had little shelves on the sides.  50% of the clutter went out on the table.  50% got wrapped and the mirror went out to the table.  I have been gathering other little things that have decorated my living room with about the same result.

Today I went through my pantry area, not for food, but for kitchen appliances that I have not used in years.  They got dusted off and placed outside.  I am at the point of hopping from place to place and sometimes not in any particular order.  

I am pulling art from my walls. I have accumulated quite a bit over the years.  I have some original art that I would not part with for anything.  I have some art work by special people that I am only keeping a couple of items.  I have a couple of things I have asked my brother about and they are in limbo until he tells me if he wants them or not.

I am trying to make decisions about my quilt frame.  Initially I had planned to take it, but, it is an old wooden Grace frame.  I got it for a song and it just never quite worked very well as far as loading a quilt and moving it through the process.  So I am debating about not taking it and buying a newer one once I get to Alaska.

Just so much to consider and I have about 6 weeks to get it all under control.

Today I put stuff out on the replacement table.  I have some lovely pink signs that declare the items to be free but to please not take the table.  Hopefully everyone who stops can read and understand.

This is a picture of the third load out.  I put things out and within 20 minutes or less, someone stops and takes all of the good stuff.  Then I fill it back up and even still putting stuff out and a car pulls in and starts loading up stuff.  The third load went out later in the day, so it is still on the table.  It will be ready to go first thing in the morning unless a late evening shopper stops by.

Tomorrow is 'take out the trash day' so after my doctor's appointment at 11:30 AM, I will be full force into the sorting and purging.... again.

But, I am having some fun while I wait for my stuff to head down the road in some other vehicle.  For those of you who know me well, I have cameras all over my house watching everything I do.  I have a small bevy of Wyze Cams that do a wonderful job of looking at things and are low in cost, starting at around $20.00.  I had one in my Embroidery Company office, looking out the side window.  Since I have not done any garden work this year, all one can see out of the window is tall weeds and sticker bushes.  So, today I moved that Wyze Cam to the front window in my bedroom which gives me a view of the "free table".  This way I can see when someone stops and what they take without really peeking through the blinds.  The camera also records 24/7, so if this table disappears, I can check the SD card to see who took it.  I love technology!!!

Bucket List Item.... Check!!!

Today was a wonderful day.  No sorting, no purging... although I have an interesting story about this morning that I will add to the bottom of this blog.

This day I went with two of my quilting ladies to Shady Maple... a smorgasbord restaurant in East Earl, PA.  They have a convention center/meeting room that can hold up to 850 people.  And yesterday and today one of my quilting idol/guru, Jenny Doan from Missouri Star Quilt Company was presenting her "Jenny on the Road" shows and I had a ticket!!!

Sharon DiNardo and Sheila Williamson also bought tickets.  Sharon drove up from Delaware and arrived at my house at 8:30 AM.  We arrived at Shady Maple at 9:15 AM for the 10:00 AM show.  We met Sheila in the lobby.  The place was already getting quite crowded.  The center area was full, so we had to go into one of the side wings to find seats.  I know they had tickets for sale at the door, but by the time Jenny came out, I did not see an empty seat in the room.

We were not allowed to take videos of the show, but we could take pictures.  This is the best I could do, as she was always in motion on the stage as she talked.  I have never been to a trunk show before, so I do not know what is normal, but Jenny would put up the basic building blocks of a quilt block on the small design board on the easel and then show how cutting the blocks a certain way and then turning the smaller blocks could create beautifully intricate quilts with limited cutting and ease of sewing.  She started with basic baby quilts from charm packs and ended with Dresdan Plates from Layer Cake fabric in all sorts of designs.

She shared how it all started and her first video experience.  She explained that there was no grand plan and that things just seemed to fall into place.  She is working for her children who are running the company and doing a bang-up job at it.  And she is having the time of her life... and it is infectious.

She spoke and laughed and shared and taught.  She had us oohhiing and awwwwing at her creations.  She had us laughing with her and had us in tears when she talked about the generosity from around the world during disasters from many talented quilters.

Here is a small pile of the quilts that she shared with the group.

Then my group got into a long line and we slowly but surely headed to the stage to meet Jenny in person.  I knew it was probably my one and only chance to meet my quilting idol.  And after more than an hour in line (I was not the only one who wanted to meet Jenny), I was able to get her to autograph my newest Block magazine,  chat a moment and then get a picture with her.  She is every bit as lovely and gracious as she appears and she wished me well with my move to Alaska.

Sharon, Sheila and I headed to the smorgasbord and had a lovely lunch.  After which, we took a quick trip to the Missouri Star Quilt pop-up store where I got a couple of patterns and a couple of slotted rulers that I have been drooling over.  Then we headed home.  Sheila came with me as we were going out to dinner together later in the day.

After a phone call from my BFF, Marji Lantz, Sheila and I met Patches DeGregorio for dinner at Signature Pizza in Parkesburg.  We shared a cheese steak pizza and some onion rings.  We all caught up on our activities as we have been going in lots of opposite directions recently.

So, my purging did not do much today.  I had gathered a great many things together yesterday, but it was raining and I did not want to put them out.  Starting today, we are probably going to have several days of nice weather, so I will need to get busy to get things out and gone while the weather is nice.  

I set my alarm for 6:45 AM, threw on my caftan over my pj's and set up my card table that said "free" and my garden flag stand that said "free" and covered the table with DVDs and cameras and books and greeting cards from yesterday's sorting and purge.  By 7:00 AM, I had everything out and I came in to shower and get ready to go see Jenny.  Sharon arrived at 8:30 AM and we headed out shortly there after.  When I backed out of the driveway to head to Shady Maple, the table was empty.  There was nothing!!  NADA!!! ZIP!!!  Just the table and the flag stand.

After returning from the "Jenny on the Road" show, Sheila and I rested and headed up to meet Patches around 5:30 PM.  When I pulled into the front of my house...the TABLE and the FLAG STAND were GONE!!!  Needless to say, I got a giggle out of that.  I did not intend to take the table to Alaska, but I was hoping it would be around through August.  Tonight I am making new signs that says the items on the table are free but NOT the table!!!  Fortunately I have another table that I would not mind if it walks, but I am hoping I can control when.  I have another flag stand, too, but I think I will keep that on the back porch until the later weeks.

Tomorrow I get back to purging.

A New Chapter in My Life.....

It has been a busy couple of years.  Not sure what all I was doing, but between sewing, quilting, crafts and such, to say nothing of surgery to replace my left knee, it has been close to 2 years since I last posted here.

But I am in the midst of making a major change in my life and I am finding it quite exciting, a tad stressful and forcing me to make some trips down memory lane.

I am moving my my hometown in Southeastern Pennsylvania where I have been living since 1976.  At age 72, I am going to be moving to Fairbanks, Alaska.  My oldest son and his wife live there and I am finding the need to be near family a very strong draw... and so, I am going through my home where I have been for the last 40 years.  I am sorting through my "stuff" (and I have a lot of "stuff") and trashing some of the things, donating some of the things, putting some of the things outside with a free sign and, of course, putting the stuff in the "Take" pile.  It is perhaps the hardest thing I have done.

There are things I have found that I thought were long gone.  I have found things that Rudy owned, so rushes of fond memories followed by tears of grief are quite common.  But I am on a deadline... the packers will be here early in September and I will be driving the 4100+ mile trip from Pennsylvania to Alaska, hoping to get there before the snow falls.  I have two dogs, Winston and Miles, who will need to make the trip and shipping vehicles for a faster move was just too cost prohibitive. 

I will be living in a house that is being purchased by my son and his wife.  They currently live off-grid and have a plan to move back into town in about 10 years.  So, if I am still around in 10 years, we will be sharing this house.  It took quite some time to find the perfect home.  We had even put a bid in on another one but backed out of the deal when structural issues were uncovered in the initial inspection.  The second house is bigger and in a nicer area and is closer to shopping, so I am quite happy.

Isn't it lovely??  The Master Bedroom is on the lower floor along with a small family room that is being used as an office.  The owners owned a fabric/quilting store, so it has things that are set up for sewing and quilting.  I am debating about setting up my craft/sewing/embroidery stuff in the large Master Bedroom and making the den room my bedroom.  I have not seen the house in person yet, I just went along with video streaming during the selection process.  But looks as though I may be spending most of my time on the lower floor.

This is the Master Bedroom from the listing pictures.  It seems large enough to handle all of my crafting stuff.  If I can make this work, then the upstairs would be able to be kept neat and tidy for guests, something that my current, little house does not allow.

Going to be quite an adjustment, from 950 square feet to over 2100 square feet.  I am going to feel like I am living in a castle!!

So, stay tuned.  I will be posting pictures as I continue to prepare, as the packers pack up my life, as I travel the roads to my new home and the moving in.  I will also be replacing some of my larger furniture (the cost to move items to Alaska from here is going to be $2.00 per pound), so it is going to be fun, redecorating.

Come and enjoy the journey....