Healthy Living Thread

[Dee*Jay]

Happy Wednesday kids!

Curby, in my opinion the place doesn't have to be AS perfect as it was for pics. If there are a couple out things out it shouldn't be a problem. Of course your realtor may have different ideas LOL, but I've already respected the fact that my sellers sill need to live their lives. That's too bad about the stone you dropped. Who knows, maybe it will turn up in the move! Good idea to build under the inspection requirements. Any time you can avoid bureaucratic involvement in your life it's definitely a bonus!

Yesterday was a dumpster fire. A regulatory report triggered some scrutiny that opened up a rabbit hole none of us wanted to go down. What a sh!t show. So I really got nothing done beyond dealing with that.

This morning I had a two hour transition meeting with my boss. Poor guy; I think his head might explode.

If the weather stays nice I might see if I can get Billy Ray out of storage tonight!

Alright, off to keep working on this pile o' stuff...

 

[marcy]

Hi Kids!

Dee Jay, this morning I spent about 30 minutes taking care of everything, setting things up and not one peep out of the realtor that someone wanted to see the house. Next time it’s a mess, I’ll get the text. I am going to be less picky. Marty is all for not needing permits and inspections. He has kind of ruled out the larger size because he’s thinking his 20” scope won’t be worth observing there because it’s darker than the city but not dark-dark. So that 20” mirror gathers a lot of light and the eyepiece is high so you’d see the light dome from the city anyway.

Darn for a report opening up a rabbit hole, I hate when that happens. Soon it’ll not be your monkeys or zoo. I bet your boss will miss you.

Yay for springing Billy Ray from storage. I won’t have Marty offer you a challenges. I haven’t been over about 60 mph for months. WTH?

Not much new with me today. I worked and tried to learn some new video tricks. You know some grade school kid already knows how to do this stuff. I am going to be a webcam so I don’t have to take everything apart to record video.

My “better” knee is still ticked off. It’s the one I use to walk up stairs and it’s not happy doing that. I have no idea if I did something to it, if everything I’ve been doing made it sore or if it finally said that’s enough! Hoping it improves.

Laters,
Curby

 

[Dee*Jay]

Happy Thursday kids!

Curby, I know having the house showing ready all the time is a big PITA... but the one time you don't do it... ! No Billy Ray release last night. Our friends were up in Madison and didn't get home until long after Liam was asleep on the couch. Hopefully tonight! I hear ya on some grade schooler knowing how to do everything! I was trying to figure something out on videos for Etsy since they are all about that now and I spent and ungodly amount of time doing something. Then I asked YF, and it was literally a one click thing. Argh.

I worked a bit late last night (I have SO much to get done by Monday!!!) and when I got home Liam and I ran to the local BBQ place, looked at the cars, brought food home, and put together a set of shelves that I bought for the basement that are about 1/2 inch too short for the intended purpose. I know half an inch doesn't seem like much, but the things I want to store on there (two boxes side by side) just don't fit, and having only one box per shelf is a giant waste of space. So they are going back. Dammit. There is an option at Target (which is literally across the parking lot from my bank -- why they never showed up on my search the first time I looked it beyond me... ) and I'm going to scoot over there today and get them. Other than that, today is work work and more work!

 

[Dee*Jay]

Happy Friday kids!

Yesterday I got so much done they should pay me double! I actually said (out loud), "I might have to work at extra day or two to get everything finished because next Monday is coming up way too fast... " YIKES!

I did run to Target at lunch and get the other shelves, which worked out perfectly. They actually had four sets and had just put them on clearance literally that morning so I bought them all (of course!). Event though I only need two right now, I'll never be able to find them again so I figured it was the wise move.

When Liam got home last night we went to get Billy Ray out of storage. He had a dead battery, even though I keep him on a trickle charger, for the second year in a row so when I dropped him off for the annual oil change this morning I told them to check the battery and just replace it if it's time. They also told me there's a batter trickle charger option and I'm going to get that for next year.

Alright, today I need to Get Sh!t Done, starting NOW!

 

[marcy]

Hi Kids!

Dee Jay, yay BR is sprung. Vroom Vroom. Those batteries do need replacing sometime. We stopped at our Porsche dealer because they had a big motorhome-like Porsche vehicle in their parking lot. I guess it was used to haul Porsches at one time. I was giving our salesman grief - they are under new owners - they better be offering to pick up my car for service it and return it 50 miles away. Now wouldn’t that be funny if they set it to 50 (it’s 35 miles now) and TBE will be 51 or more.

Too funny about YF knowing the Etsy magic you spent hours on. Tomorrow, I plan on playing with a camera and images.

Phooey those first shelves were an out 1/2 inch too short. Nice you snagged four sets at Target that work great and they were on clearance. Perfect.

MMM BBQ. I hope you don’t have to work longer than planned.

Yes, selling a house is a PITA. We got an offer - $15,000 off price plus $7000 closing costs and we pay for new roof (we knew that was coming) and any other thing found in inspection. We asked to wait until Sunday since today was an open house, that they rejected. So we countered with a higher price, fixing the roof, no closing costs and ability to move out the next day after closing.

Today’s open house the realtor said went great. Lots of people showed up and she thought quite a few families were interested. Then another family came and looked later this afternoon. We’ll see what happens.

We went to Colorado today to meet some friends for lunch. Marty looked at tractors at a few places. Then we went to Best Buy to look for a short camera tripod, stopped at Porsche then had lunch.

Thursday night we went to supper by TBE and the right garage door was open and the door to go inside the house was open with no one in sight. There were workers at the houses around us so we hoped they’d take care of it before they went home. We drove out there today after breakfast and the door to inside was still open, but the garage door was only half closed and crooked. So we told our realtor. She contacted the builder and they said they’d check on it. She got back to us saying one of the garage door rails was bent “somehow” and they need to replace it. We went out there during the 4 p.n. Outing and couldn’t tell if the door to the house was closed or not, but the garage door was within about a foot of closing now. WTH??

We’ve just been watching TV tonight and I got about 12” done on my niece’s scarf.

Tomorrow will be another fun-filled day.
Laters,
Curby

 

[Dee*Jay]

Happy Tuesday kids!

Curby, how goes the house sale? Any offers from Sunday's open? Are you still negotiating with the first potential buyer? WTH indeed about the garage door! OF COURSE now Marty wants a tractor. Your post reminded me to check Costco's site and I ordered some more packing tape. It's normally $26.99/eight roll pack but on sale it's $6 off, which is quite a savings, and given how much we go through I always snap it up at that price. Unfortunately they limit you to five, which I ordered online, but I'll run over there in the next couple of days and get five more.

Well my "retirement" yesterday isn't going like I planned... as I sit here typing from my office... I was here alllllll weekend -- and there was still more to do. So yesterday I told my boss I was staying three more days. He was like, "How 'bout three more YEARS?" But no. Come Thursday I'm OUT!

Alright, off to put my nose to the grindstone!

 

[marcy]

Hi Kids!

Dee Jay, noooooo to working more days. That’s how it starts. Good luck with that. Come on Thursday.

Yay for getting packing tape at such a deal.

No new offers on the house. We had a quick showing at noon today. I figure they didn’t like it, or just wanted to see something again. We got the bid on painting. $6800 for two sides of the house. And the roof is $24,000. I’m practically hyperventilating. The insurance on the roof has something around $5,000 deducted for depreciation. It looks like i can get it back if I turn in receipt for getting the roof replaced.

I continued trying to figure out how to do videos with me in the picture recording audio. The app I’m using has horrid help and I can’t find written instructions, only videos. I need to have some young kid help me.

Onward and upward …

Curby

 

[marcy]

Hi Kids!

Not much new here today. Tomorrow shingles get put on the house.

I figured out “mostly” how to do the picture-in-picture videos. Don’t like myself on camera though. Ha Ha.

Laters,
Curby

 

[Dee*Jay]

HAPPY RETIREMENT DAY KIDS!

Curby, Are you accepting the offer that came in then since you're getting the roof redone? Is your agent going to continue to do open houses in the hopes of more/better offers? Have you started packing yet?

Well Today is THE DAY! I'm down to the nitty gritty! I even drove BR this morning I was in such a good mood LOL.

Alright, off to finish up the last few things on my list!

 

[marcy]

Hi Kids!

Dee Jay. Woo hoo! Yay for being retired. I should try that someday. What are you doing to celebrate? Sleep in? Drink Prosecco? I’m excited for you. Good day to drive BR in to town.

We only had that one offer who rejected our counter offer. Yes, we are having an open house on Saturday. The painters might be here, but I’m thinking too bad, life goes on and it shows we are painting the house. The roofers are here today. They were LOUD!!! And messy. We’ve packed up some things and it’s stacked up in the unfinished parts of the basement. The potential movers didn’t get Marty’s response so they didn’t come today. Time’s ticking down FAST.

Laters,
Curby

 

[deegee]

Hellooooo! I stepped away for a few years, and Marcy retired, went back to work (something enjoyable, I hope), and is building a new house. Deejay sold her condo downtown and retired too. You both have been busy!!

Marcy-is your retirement job full-time or do you work when you want to? Do you enjoy it? Did Marty retire too? What made you decide to move? I don’t want to do that again until we both retire and move out of WV to a warm but not humid place. Good luck with selling your house. Don’t you hate putting money into it to sell it? I guess it’s a necessary evil.

Deejay-are you planning to get a retirement job? I imagine your vintage glass business keeps you plenty busy. I didn’t know the name of your shop on Etsy, but I did a search and picked you out right away. Your pictures are awesome!

Life got busy there for a while. I won’t bore you with details. I’m eligible to retire too, so I’m quizzing everybody about it. But wouldn’t you know it, I got a promotion and the biggest raise I’ve ever gotten effective June 1. I am in a governmental defined benefit plan, and our retirement is based on service and salary. One more year at my current salary makes a huge difference in my retirement income, but I don’t know that I can hang in there another year. ARGH!

I have lost all interest in jewelry. Don’t know what happened there. I broke my ring finger last year and have never had my engagement ring resized. I’ve been wearing a right hand sapphire as my engagement ring. I need to have my ering resized or reset, but I don’t know what I want to do. I was thinking about an emerald target ring, but I dunno.

Welp, gotta go to bed so I can drag myself into work bright and early. I’m really struggling with that now that I’m eligible to walk out for good. That’s a wonderful feeling. Have a great Friday!

 

[Dee*Jay]

Happy Friday kids! AKA, Retirement Day One!!!

DeeGee!!!!!!!!!! Girlfriend, it's so good to hear from you! I don't have anything planned other than working on the store, but I'm guessing that after I spend the summer cleaning up the house and dealing with my backlog of inventory I'll be ready to consider a little something part time. Maybe give one or two days a week to a small local account firm during tax season... ? Yet to be determined. I understand what you're saying about another year making a big difference in your retirement benefit. If you can stick it out, that doesn't seem like a bad idea.

Curby, I didn't really do much today that I wouldn't have done on a normal Saturday, but I did take an hour long walk around the neighborhood. When Liam came home the dogs and I were sitting on the couch drinking wine and internetting.

Tomorrow there is an estate sale close by that has a bunch of clear and I'm going to go early and see if I can get it cheap since it's the last day. Other than that, no plans besides continuing down the clean up and organize path. But at least now I don't have all the time pressure to get everything done on the weekends since my life has just be come onnnnnnne lonnnnnnnng weekend! Remember the three days of the week during covid, yesteday, today and tomorrow? Well I can see that becoming my "new normal" in terms of a calendar as of now.

Alright, off to have one more piece of chocolate retirement cake and then who know what other "excitement" the night will being LOL.

 

[Dee*Jay]

Happy Saturday day kids (AKA Day 2!)!

This morning I went to an estate sale early. The glasses I went to get were gone but I got two other sets and a two-tier Christmas tidbit tray, so all was well. The weather is crappy, ergo no listing pictures, but I'm on the third load of laundry, have done a bit of cleaning up downstairs, and am currently contemplating a nap.

I feel like I've been retired forever LOL.

 

[marcy]

Hi Kids!

@deegee how nice to hear from you. I got bored within two months of retiring and lucked in to this online job. I am editing for EarthSky.org and even making podcasts for them that are on YouTube and assorted social media. I am enjoying myself and working pretty much full time hours. Marty is not retired, he is younger than me. He thinks I’m nuts to work so much. We are moving so Marty can get darker skies and more of the sky to take Astro photos. It’s on a little over 5-acres and on the north end of town. I knew getting out of the house would cost Marty, I think Marty was a bit surprised. Congratulations on getting a big raise that’ll make a difference in your retirement. That’s a tough call when you are eligible and considering retiring now. My advice is follow your gut, what seems like the right thing to do. Best of luck with your decision. Darn on breaking your ring finger. I fell and broke my wrist in December of 2022. We were on the way in to my favorite jewelry store in Denver and I slipped on ice. I still say it was the cheapest trip to the jewelry store ever. Even with the medical bills.

@Dee*Jay the beauty of retiring is you can decide to do something, or not. Every day is a Saturday. It was a nice day here so I walked around too - but it was in a few hardware stores. Too funny you were firmly planted on the couch - with wine and the dogs - online when Liam came home. That is wonderful you don’t have to stay up late to get things packet anymore, you can deal with it in the morning. If you want too, there’s always the afternoon. LOL to retired fever. Nice you still got some things at the estate sale.

We started the day going out to breakfast. Our realtor had an open house today, unfortunately the neighborhood had a garage sale today and the house across the street and by us had a full driveway of stuff so there was no place to park in front of our house. She didn’t have many people show up, but she thought those that came were serious buyers. One of the groups came last weekend and this time showed up with one of the parents. Maybe … We’re in limbo deciding what to do. Hoping things work out smoothly to close on this house, buy the other house and the person who buys our house gives us through the next day to move out. I guess our realtor ticked off the realtor who represents our buyer. We worked with her some on this house and she was a bit touchy. Our realtor let her know it was kind of rotten she wasn’t notified the closing date was moved up from October 31 to July 15. She said today that other lady has been chilly toward her since. We wanted to get in the house this weekend to take some window measurements and the construction guy’s realtor was very clear she wasn’t going to do it. Our realtor is meeting us there tomorrow.

During the open house, we wandered around a few hardware stores looking at shutters, shades and curtains. I was all set on having plantation shutters on all windows, but some of the big windows I’d rather have something I can either pull up or open drapes. I like how shutters look but if you just open the slats, the entire window is showing.

We had lots of rain this afternoon. I’m hoping we don’t have any hail on our new roof before the house sells.

Take care.
Curby

 

[marcy]

Hi Kids!

This retired lady worked 7 hours today. WTH? Copying tedious tiny little illustrations for the book we are editing.

But we did go out to TBE and got some pictures. Marty measured the windows. They painters came and painted quite a bit on our deck today. We had some people look at our house but they didn't like the color.

Here's picture from today. The bathroom tile is shiny gloss, it seemed VERY slick to walk on it. Marty thinks it's because theirs construction dust all over it. I'm not convinced.

Laters,
Curby

 

[marcy]

Hi Kids!

We had another house viewer today. I went and ate lunch while they were here. I got my Monday lifting done and haven’t done much tonight.

Tomorrow we are meeting the builder at TBE at 3. I am not sure why. At least I get to look around again.

Laters,
Curby

 

[deegee]

Dee*Jay-I have a feeling you’re going to make me want to retire, seeing what all you’re going to get done without being chained to a job! I don’t hate my job. I think I’m just really burned out. My boss told me I could take a leave of absence for a month if it would help. That may make me not want to go back though. Do you still dabble in real estate at all? You have fabulous items on your Etsy shop. I recognize some of it from my mom’s house! Do you ever buy stuff and then decide to keep it?

Marcy-I love the pictures. So exciting!! Seeing it take shape and you can start making plans for decor and such. Are you keeping your furniture or getting new? We’ve been in our house for going on 11 years and I’m thinking you moved not long before we did. I could never have a house built. I still haven’t picked out a paint color for the kitchen or hung any pictures. How sad is that? I \hope your wrist healed properly and doesn’t give you any trouble. The jeweler told me to give it a year for my finger to find its new size. It’s been a year now, and the new size seems to be 7.25. It was a 6. Bummer. I’m 6 months older than Matt. He always makes sure to send me a message on my birthday reminding me that I’m older than he is, and he hooked up with a cougar. Argh.

I’m off to bed. Our downstairs air conditioner got fixed today after 4 days of being broken. The house was so stuffy last night, it was hard to get any sleep. It’s nice and cool tonight, so I’m going to bundle up and head off to dreamland. Have a wonderful Tuesday!

 

[Dee*Jay]

Happy Tuesday kids!

Curby, OF COURSE your neighbors decided to have a garage sale at the same time you're trying to have an open house. Isn't that always the way?! Oh no to feuding realtors. That could get ugly -- make sure you have plenty of big plastic contractor bags for body disposal if it comes to that. WOW, I really love the kitchen! And I'm pretty pleased with my room too. Is there a stairway down to the basement behind the half wall by the front door? I know this is less square footage than the current house, but I think it feels really big with the open floorplan and high ceilings.

DeeGee, well if I had to give an assessment of my retirement to this point -- five days in, LOL -- it would be "Highly recommend! Five stars!!!" But let's get practical here for a second... The improved retirement payments will stay with you far longer than the one more year you'll have to work to get them. I do understand -- truly I do! -- but if you cannnnnn somehow stick it out... ??? My financial calculus was somewhat different because all I would gain was six months more pay (obviously), two more stock vestings, and another bonus. But the bonus wasn't guaranteed and this year the bonus payouts were lower than the projection, so I had no confidence in the number for next year either. (Can you imaging how p!ssed off I would have been to work all that extra time to get my bonus, only to have it suck?!?!) Basically, my financial gain was a one-time situation, but it sounds like yours would go into perpetuity. That's a tough call! I do sometimes come across things I want to keep for myself, but I have to say it's happening less and less. And I'm in the boat now of "the cobbler's children have no shoes" as I only keep the glasses for myself that are chipped or scratched or somehow otherwise unsaleable. How did it come to this, ha ha?! It's funny you saw stuff from your mom's house in my shop. I think to myself, I'm not selling THINGS, I'm selling NOSTALGIA!

So today was kind of a bust... and kinda not. I let Liam talk me into going to an auction over an hour from here based on the pictures. He was like, "You're RETIRED! What else do you have to do on a TUESDAY?!" I got up early and went over... and decided in about ten minutes my time would have been better served doing something -- almost ANYTHING -- else. But there I was, so I stayed. I was three hours into the adventure before they ever got to the first thing I wanted to buy. Some guy that I see around locally was there too and we were both bidding on glass. I ended up paying WAYYYYYYY to much for two flats of stemware thanks to the competition. Then HE ended up paying way too much because I bid him up on another flat, thinking he was going for something else. Afterwards I went up to him and said, DUDE! We have to COMMUNICATE! By the end of the auction we were new BFFs and at least in the future we'll talk to each other rather than running prices up to quadruple what they should be, not knowing what the other one is going for. Argh. So it was a bust because I paid far more than I should have, but not a bust because now this guy and I are friends going forward.

When I got back I scarfed down a big bowl of leftover pasta from last night (How's that no carb resolution going there Dee?! ) and ran Liam's packages to the post office. In between all that I had an order come in... for THIRTY GLASSES. I guess I know what I'll be doing after dinner!

BTW DeeGee, Curby and I make reference to "Liam" thanks to the dream you had all those years ago. Do you remember?!

 

[marcy]

Hi Kids!

Deegee, yes we both moved at about the same time. I hope you aren’t following me this time. It’s a lot of work. Glad you got your AC fixed. Of course, I’m sitting here in a zipped up sweatshirt, but the house does get hot and stuffy if it’s not running. That’s too bad your finger is still swollen. I know it takes a while for swelling to go down. I couldn’t wear my wedding rings for about 2-3 months. My wrist healed pretty fast. It took me about 2-3 weeks after I got moved to a removable splint to get full range of motion back. I was lifting again about 3 weeks after I was released . It took me about 6 months before I could hold anything even slightly heavy with that hand for more than a minute or two. I rarely had pain with the break, but my thumb joint must have been broke or cracked and they missed it. It’s obviously larger than the other hand and it took me about a year before I could stand to knit for more and about 30-40 minutes. It’d make it hurt so bad, I had to sleep with a Velcro splint. I think I was lucky overall. I notice an ache now and then in the wrist, but not often.

Dee Jay, I wasn’t happy to hear we might have dueling realtors, we met with the builder’s realtor today and she was fine. Our realtor couldn’t make it. I made sure to tell the lady today we were really happy with the house and everything looks good. I will stock up on body bags, that 5+ acres can come in handy. I’m thinking whatever drapes or window covers I get in your room should be blackouts. I mean, it’s better for sleeping. I don’t know if we’ll find this house too small even though it’s smaller. I do have a picture of the stairs with one of our friends going down the steps. I’ll post it. Too funny you are rating retirement as five stars already. You are selling nostalgia. That’s great you made friends with your competition so you won’’t be running up each other’s bids. Yay. Did you get your 30 glasses packed?

We ventured out to TBE estate again today. They wanted to have us pick where the outlets would go on top of the island. We passed. That means no outlets on the end of the island either, but no holes in the pretty countertop. There is wiring to the island because the dishwasher is there, so we could add them later. They just wouldn’t pass inspection now if the put them on the end of the island and no on top. But we honestly don’t use the outlets on our island much now. I occasionally charge the battery for my camera and occasionally use a hand mixer on it. But my big mixer is always out anyway.

They are coming along on painting the house. It looks nice. I also got my depreciation back on the roof. Yay. That almost pays for the painters. Of course, I haven’t paid the other half of the roof yet. TBE is sure expensive.

Laters.
Curby

Here’s the steps: (that's one of the drinkers)

 

[marcy]

Hi Kids!

They are almost done painting over our egging stains. The deck looks nice on our security cameras but we can’t go out there until it dries. It looks like there are still some dark spots, I think it might be the stains leaking through. We will see. The house looks really good.

No house visitors today or scheduled. I’ll pull some of our stuff out and that’ll mean we get some requests. Guess interest rates aren’t coming down so that won’t help any. Phooey. One day, this will all be behind me. Or I’ll drink wine and not care.

I got suckered in to participating in another livestream for work. I am not a fan of those. That’ll be on Monday. I did get two podcasts almost done today. I started another one, but I’m not liking it so far.

Oh the life of a YouTube star NOT!

#thrillometer is low.

Laters,
Curby

 

[marcy]

Dee Jay, here’s a new Marty photo for YF. Check out the cool face-on spiral galaxy by it.

 

[Dee*Jay]

Happy Thursday kids!

Curby, that's is an ASWESOME photo! I'll show it to YF as soon as he gets here for the weekend. He's doing football camp this summer so I have a reprieve from full time ferals in this first summer of my retirement. The pics of the stairs help - I just wasn't sure how that part was laid out. Holy cow; TBE is getting SO close to being done!

Yesterday was a big listing day. I'm getting fastER at the videos, but still by no means FAST. I need to MacGyver a way to stabilize the flexible arm that the camara is clamped too. Even with the lightest touch to turn the video on it still shake. After got back from the post office I tried to take a quick nap before Liam got home from work, but the instant I dropped off the dogs went nutso over something outside. Ugh. We did Panda Express for dinner. as you can see, we are very *fancy* people! I cleaned up the kitchen when we got home from Panda and took all my quilts downstairs and stored them. Baby steps! I also queued up four listings for today, but decided to be absolutely "wild" and not list anything. Instead I'm trying to tackle the dining room. Now that I've got better organization in the basement it's easier to take things down and put them in a place that makes sense.

We're having dinner with friends tonight after I sign up for an estate sale that starts at nine tomorrow morning. Not much else to report!

 

[marcy]

HI Kids!

Dee Jay, TBE is coming along. I tried to go pay off the second-half of the new shingles, but that was a wasted trip. Their bookkeeper is only in Colorado, I was going to put it on my debit card and she told me there was a 3% fee on that - $350? No way!!! And I didn’t take my checkbook with me. It’s on the other side of town and there is construction out front so it’s hard to get in there. Guess I’ll go back tomorrow. I hate to send that big of a check in the mail.

Sounds like you had a semi-leisurely day. You’ll get faster at videos. And yay for being organized.

I picked up a friend this morning and we went to lunch. She has a lot of anxiety in her life and I guess she doesn’t even like to drive anymore. After we ate, I ran her out to see TBE. Then it was back to work.

The painters got the house done. I guess you can still “kind” of see the egg stains. We weren’t supposed to walk on the deck today, so I’ll go look tomorrow. I’ll be quite unhappy if the stain leaks through. From what I read online, the egg stains need some treatment to prevent that. The painter never heard of that.

I did get my lifting done too.

Laters,
Curby

 

[Dee*Jay]

Happy Sunday kids!

Curby, did you get the second half of the shingles paid for? I hear ya on not sending a big check in the mail. I'm rolling my last 401(k) into another account and the only option was to send the check. Ugh. How did the painting turn out? Any issues with the egg staining?

Well it's been a crazy couple of days. I went to the estate sale on Friday and bought exactly two things, one of which is a birthday present for a friend. Then I went back on Saturday when things were half off and bought EIGHT big boxes of glass. So much for any progress that's been made in the dining room ha ha. I have no idea where yesterday went... ??? And today I did some listing, got Liam a pizza for Father's Day lunch, and just packed up 40 pieces of glass, including a $1,300 sale for those beautiful blue glasses that I got a little while ago. The same lady bought both sets and I'm so happy they're going to a good home!

The Big Dog (Blue) has some sort of sore of his hip that he's been licking and we had to use the clippers to get the hair away from that area so we could see what was going on. Now he's got a bandage with Neosporin and we put a pair of Liam's boxers on to keep him from lickining at it. Poor guy. And now someone in the neighborhood is shooting off fireworks. He's laying against me, right on top of my left foot, and I can't feel my toes but I don't want to move it because at least he's not barking if he's tight up against me. I predict some benedryl coming on...

No idea what tomorrow will bring, other than a MASSIVE trip to the post office. I might have to get the big cart to bring things in because I've got three 18x12x12 boxes and other 12x12x12, plus all of Liam's stuff. Maybe he can sneak out at lunch and help me!

Alright, off to find another glass of wine and drug up the dog LOL.

 

[marcy]

HI Kids!

Dee Jay, it is kind of scary to send big checks in the mail. I hope your check arrived safely. I did drop off my final payment on the roof and got a receipt. Ha! The paint is still looking pretty good. You can see a sheen sometimes, but you move a foot and it’s fine.

Wow, for the big sale of blue glasses. That sounds like a lot of glasses to wrap up and ship. You do keep resupplying your stock.

Poor Blue. Is he doing better. I know fireworks really upset pets. Poor guy.

We had a busy weekend. Saturday we met with the mortgage lady, there was an open house here that no one came to and then we went to a wedding a reception. Sunday was running errands and getting some stuff done around the house.

Today a was a scramble scanning tax docs to send the mortgage lady and - as predicted - a few issues to figure out along the way. Never a smooth path there. Some friends had about 12 steaks thawed out so they invited us over supper. I baked some chocolate chip cookies to take. It was a fun outing. The sun was setting when we left, so we ran out to TBE and here’s a sunset from our driveway.

Laters,
Curby

 

[marcy]

Hi Kids!

We visited TBE this morning. I don’t see how they’ll be done by July 15, but we’ll see. We got the bid from the movers today. I need to confirm a date with them soon. And start packing. Not a single person has looked at the house for over a week now.

Laters,
Curby

 

[Dee*Jay]

Happy Friday kids!

Curby, if your real estate market is anything like ours it's the summer slump right now. But I bet it picks up in a big way right around the 4th of July, if not before. My check did come in the mail and I managed to deposit it using the mobile app... after a little tech snafu, but ultimately it got done. All twenty of the blue glasses made the trip intact and the buyer was very happy. What a relief!

I can't believe I haven't checked in for five days! I swear, being retired is like a never ending long weekend. I've been working on listings and today I went to two estate sales. One I stumbled on on the way back from the Audi dealer (more on that later) and I bought a bunch of stuff, including some Christmas dishes. At the other I bought three fabulous sets of glasses and some VERY EXPENSIVE Christmas dishes. SO expensive that I had to take a minute to think about it, but I will get my money back 3x or4x. It is service for twelve and a bunch of serving pieces, but still, $900 for dishes is a lot.

Now about the Deemobile. I was driving around this morning having a little neighborhood garage sale adventure and suddenly a message flashed telling me to pull over and turn off the engine and the coolant was low. It has been in the 90s here lately, including today, and was like rut ro! So I drove straight to the dealer and pulled into the garage bay. The coolant was at the minimum level, but not below that. The damn Germans are so alarmist with their flashing dash messages! The dealer topped off the coolant and now everything's fine, but still, it almost gave me a heart attack there for a minute. I needed to schedule an oil change anyway so I did that while I was there too.

Tomorrow I am going to wash and list those expensive Christmas dishes, and who knows what else. My main goal is not to leave the air conditioning at all since it's going to be 90+ yet again. I feel like the witch in the Wizzard of Oz... I'm mellllllttttinnnnggg!

OK, off to find some more audio books to check out of the digital library and do some internetting in bed. The Retirement Thrill-O-Meter is at about the same level as the pre-retirement Thrill-O-Meter: near zero!

 

[marcy]

Hi Kids!

Dee Jay, I hope the housing market picks up. That guy who made an offer continues to try and figure out how to buy our house, so far it’s been unsuccessful. The open house was busy this weekend. Another couple wanted to see the house this afternoon. Ironically, they are moving from some acreage north of town to the city.

Yay the check made it and the blue glasses arrived.

Darn the coolant light in the Audi. I swear every Audi and Porsche I’ve had has one little bug in it. My oil change is scheduled for August. They are always swamped.

Yes, you are living a non-ending weekend now. Sweet. Did you get the Christmas dishes on Instagram? I’ll have to check them out. I haven’t been on there much lately.

LOL on the “I’’m melting” I say that a lot when I am out in the rain.

We had a busy weekend. Ran a lot of errands. We picked up boxes and storage bins to start packing. I got another hat knit this weekend. And now it’s almost Monday.

Laters,
Curby

 

[Dee*Jay]

Happy Monday kids!

Curby, is the guy who wants to buy your house having a financing issue or is it something else? Maybe one of the people from this weekend or the couple today will come through! No Christmas dishes on Instagram yet. Frankly, not really much of anything on Instagram lately. I've had two meetings with the social media lady and so far I don't see any real progress. The house packing process requires lots and lots of alcohol. I know this from experience!

Saturday I was taking pictures when Liam called and asked me to come and "rescue" him from an auction about fifteen minutes away. I didn't even realize it when he left, but he decided to drive Liz (the 944) instead of his truck because he didn't think there was going to be anything to buy based on the pictures. Well of course there WAS stuff he wanted and he had no way to get it home. That disrupted my plans, but I went and got everything and then, as I was heading to the post office, I sold something else that I ran home and packed up quick. On the way back from the post office I stopped at an estate sale and picked up a set of Christmas glasses. Holy guacamole, I'm on a roll lately! When I got home I washed up the good holiday dishes from Friday so I could take pics yesterday. I kept pulling more and more pieces out of the boxes. Turns out there is service for fourteen, not just twelve like I'd thought, and a bunch of serving pieces. Sweet!

Yesterday I took those pics and got everything safely downstairs. By then it was lunchtime so I ran to UPS and then by McDonald's and grabbed window foot for YF and me. I told him he was responsible for dinner and he wanted to make chicken noodle soup. I was like... DUDE! It's A THOUSAND DEGREES OUT! But that's what he wanted so I made him go to Meijer with me and get the ingredients. I had four orders to pack by late afternoon and he put the meal together while I was down doing that.

Today I need to run to Costco (wasn't I just there?!?) and to the packaging place to pick up bubble wrap and peanuts. I ordered an indoor walking pad (like a "treadmill lite") and that is supposed to get delivered today. My idea is to put it in the dog room since it's a flat tile floor so I need to move some stuff around in there.

As you can see, it's another exciting day in The Land Of Dee's Retirement!

 

[marcy]

Hi Kids!

Dee Jay, the guy (I think) might need another loan to buy our house. We got a cash offer today. I want to take it. Marty is still stewing on it. IMO, it’s a HUGE relief to get it off our plate. And a cash deal is great. Other than a home inspection where we might have to fix something ((‘m not concerned) they aren’t asking for anything else. I suggest we accept and ask for the next day to move out. Our realtor was going to feel out that option with their realtor. I think we should throw in our security cameras to sweeten the deal. They want to close 4 days later than us, so we already got our builder to agree with that. Time will tell. I agree packing requires a lot of alcohol.

That’s too bad Instagram isn’t moving a lot of things. Is your website where most of your sales are coming from? Sweet to scoring 14 servings on those dishes instead of 12. I bought 20 sets of my Christmas dishes. You want to come get them? Too funny you had to go rescue Liam, at least it was close. I can picture the line from Jaws “we’re going to need a bigger boat”. Except in your case vehicle to get all of this stuff home.

YF made chicken soup from scratch? That sounds quite tasty to me. I love chicken soup.

I hope you like the walking pad. The dogs will think it’s their toy.

Not much different in my life today. Work, lifting and hoping we have a contract on the house by this time tomorrow.

Laters,
Curby