23 days to go!

We spent the day Monday clearing some things out that we had stored in the basement... An old furnace, and old clothes dryer, some Mason jars, and various other assorted things.  Today, I had my last league golf day.  I was sure we were going to be rained out, but we just got it in before the rain started up again!  We had a really nice banquet afterwards.  I've really enjoyed golfing with these ladies, and am going to miss it!

While I was golfing, Brad was taking care of some business things... setting up an appointment with the lawyer for closing, scanning and e-mailing him the papers we signed this weekend, selling some more farm equipment from out in the barn...

When I got home, I decided to try a closet trick I've read about.  My closet is plenty big for everything I wanted to bring, but I know I still have things in there that I don't really wear.  So I took each hanger in there and hung it up backwards, like someone hung things from behind the hanger bar.  As I wear each thing in there, I'll hang the hanger the correct way.  At the end of this first year, anything still hanging backwards gets donated.  I've thought about doing this while we were still in our house, but just never got around to it.  This will help me get a few more things cleared out, because, while the closet is big, it's also a good place to stick other odd things, like the container with extra bedding and pillows, and the broom and hand-vac, since what the previous owners were using for a coat/utility closet has become our laundry/Brad closet.

Tomorrow is Brad's league golf day, so I will have to find some little jobs I can do while he's gone.  Getting the car completely ready to sell is the next big thing.  We were going to list it today, but I didn't want people calling about it and coming out to look at it while he was golfing... I know they'll ask questions I can't answer!

A productive day!

We really got busy today!  The attic is completely done:

(No comments on the wall board and carpet choices up there... We didn't put them there!!)

And our bedroom is emptied out too!

We also sold the sailboat today, along with an extra boat trailer, mast, and sail.

Cute little boat captain not included...

We've decided we've done enough for today... Koegels for dinner as a reward!

Awning Practice

We've owned our RV for several months now, so we decided we had better figure out how to open the awning.  The couple we bought it from gave us a very short, sketchy description of how to do it.  After going out and studying it for awhile, and trying a few things unsuccessfully, we resorted to the internet... Gotta love YouTube!!  So now we have a covered "front porch"!

I think we'd better practice a few more times before we hit the road.  Don't want to look like rookies when we get to our first campsite!

AND.... I think we can finally say this "out loud"... We sold the house and farm!  We will close on the 30th!

28 days!!

Brad sold a couple of his boat motors that have been hidden in one of the outbuildings all these years... What else is hiding out there???  We finalized arrangements for our on-the-road address, where we can have them scan and e-mail us pics of the envelopes, and let them know what to toss, and what to send to us at whatever park we're staying at.  I sorted through another box in the attic (I could have sworn I had sorted through all my stuff up there!!!) and found a lot of fun photos to ponder over.  We are also watching Missy, the dog of friends of ours, and we've decided that 3 dogs and a cat full-time would be too much, but while still here at home, it's okay.  On the road, all doggies will have to be on leashes!  Now, we can just let them out the door.

 Hank

 Budger

 Our guest, Missy

 The boss, Bo

 Budger is leading the way, showing Missy and Hank how to use the ramp

 C'mon, Missy!

 Good job, Hank!

Last 30 days...

Well, here we are, September 1st... Our last month on the farm.  We still have a lot to do, but we have gotten so much done.  Brad spent today figuring out some storage issues with important documents, making arrangements for mail service while we're on the road, and bringing some other treasures out of farm buildings to list for sale.

I posted pictures of some of my apple decoration treasures on the local Buy & Sell site to just give away to someone else who would love them, and had a bite right away.  There's just not room in the RV for everything I had in my kitchen!  And this is actually the second group of apple things I've had.  My last house had a very small kitchen, and I had given away my previous apple decorations, and then started over here (with 2 or 3 carry-over favorites).  I promised Brad the RV wouldn't be inundated with apple things, and I've done a pretty good job, but 3 or 4 things have migrated in.

My give-aways from today... I hope they're loved!

One month to go!

This morning we took another load of donations to town.  Seriously, I thought we'd have gotten to the end of things to donate by now.  But we had kitchen things to drop off at the Shelter, our old bathroom sink and vanity to take to the Habitat ReStore, and other miscellaneous things to give to St Vinnie's.  Brad thinks we still have another pickup load of things to take in to donate, but I'm not so sure!

We dropped off the truck at the dealer's to get an oil change and service to make sure it's ready for its first big trip, and spent the waiting time wandering down the Thunder Bay River and reading all the information signs about the history of the ships that have been down the river, in Thunder Bay, and sailing Lake Huron and the other Great Lakes, and how many of them are now settled at the bottom of Thunder Bay due to fires or shipwrecks.  Very interesting, and good exercise!

This afternoon I took some time to clean out our car to get it ready to sell.  I don't know if we're quite ready to be a one-car family, but we don't want to leave that for the last minute, either!  I also spray-painted a knob we picked up at the ReStore to replace a wobbly one on the sliding door in the RV that separates the kitchen/living room from the bathroom/bedroom.  It feels good to be just doing minor fix-ups now, instead of the major ones we were doing earlier.

More decorating and selling

I figured out today how to get our two favorite pictures of each of us with our kids up on the walls.  I had a couple of old frames that had never been used, that were the right size, but not right for the RV (the frames were made to look like rulers... probably bought from some school fund-raising project many moons ago).  I painted them with the RV wall paint, and now they're perfect!

Brad, Sean, and Seth were at Michigan Adventures amusement park.

Jordan, Abby, and I were staying in Key Largo... I think this picture was at Islamarado.

Brad sold a vintage motorcycle today, to someone who was excited to have a winter project.  I had no idea this motorcycle was even on the property... He had it stowed away in one of the outbuildings for the last 5 years!

We also have a couple on their way to buy our camper.  I hope they enjoy it as much as we did!

Slowly, slowly, getting things cleared out!