Category Archives: moving

moving

Moving Update–March 23

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As of tonight, we have had 30 couples through our house, including the 24 that came to the open house.  We have 2 more lined up for Friday.  There have been over 1,000 hits on Zillow, the most our realtor has ever seen.  But, we still don’t have an offer.  So, we are trying to be patient, and just wait, while keeping things sparkling clean and leaving the house a lot.  I am encouraged by all the interest, though.  I have little experience with selling houses, but I’m figuring that the more interest, the better chances we have of selling sooner, rather than later.  I can see that keeping things perfect and leaving all the time, will wear on us all if it goes on too long.  But, again, patience.  It’s only been 1 week tomorrow:)

So far, we’ve gone camping and had a blast.  They wanted to show the house some more, so we went camping a little bit more.  Today, we went to the zoo with Patsy, and then out to dinner.  We are trying to spoil her a bit, as she is the only one here with us for a few days this week.  All of our attention has gone to the house lately, and she needs some.

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We gave the latest batch of prospective buyers over an hour to look around, but they were still here when we got home from dinner, so we drove on by and got gas, and took a small drive.  Tomorrow should be easier, we both have appointments, and we have no one lined up, yet.  So, we will spiff up in the morning and leave, just in case anyone texts us and wants to go through while we are gone.   Then, Thursday, and then Friday, the other girls will be home, so it’s “clean up” times 3—Yikes!  It took us 2 hours to spiff up this morning and we haven’t even been home from camping for very long.IMG_2312

The new elephant exhibit at the Oregon Zoo is amazing.  Those elephants have a huge enclosure and can walk for a long ways.  There are cameras to look at so you can find out where the keepers have the elephants at the moment, as the exhibit is in sections.  I can remember a time when I was young when we would go to the zoo armed with bags of cut up apples to feed the giraffes and maybe the elephants.  Those days are long gone, but it is amazing that the oldest elephant, Packy, is about the same age as both Rob and I and we both saw him many times growing up.  (This elephant in the picture is not him–we saw him and he is MUCH larger and more mature looking).  We had not been to the zoo for several years, and enjoyed ourselves very much.  Patsy loved both the zoo and her time of “getting spoiled.”  IMG_2316

 

 

moving

The House Is As Ready As It’s Going To Get!

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What a wild weekend!  The weather matched our weekend and went from this partially blue sky to pounding rain, a high-wind warning that only blew a little, hail, more driving rain, and a few minutes of sun.

In the midst of it all, we had around 45-50 people flow through our house during the past 4 days.  They were here to do as many jobs as they could so we could put the house on the market this week. Some were close friends.  Some were family. Some were complete strangers to us.  It was touching and amazing.   We made list after list of jobs that needed to be done.  Rob made one for outside and I made one for inside work.

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The entire house was pressure washed, including the driveway, carport, siding and roof.  The gutters were cleaned.  You can see how weedy the flowerbed was, and how wet and muddy everything is.  We were delighted when so many people decided to come anyway.

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This is the same flowerbed a few hours later.

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The carport is clean.   These pictures were taken during a small, small window of sunshine.  The rest of the day the people were drenched.  When lunch time came, many of them were so wet that they didn’t want to come in for lunch.  We were able to put up card tables in the front room so they wouldn’t need to worry about getting anything dirty. That floor can be mopped easily.IMG_2213

They even got the lower flowerbeds bark-dusted.

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The lawn was mowed on Saturday, when it wasn’t quite so wet.  There was also quite a bit of other outside work done, such as trash pick-up, a fence removed by the barn, a trash pile burned and then removed to look better, using the tractor.

In the meanwhile, the house was being cleaned from top to bottom on the inside.  We have been working on it for over 2 months, so this weekend was the time to finish things up.  The rooms were put into final order with lots of help.  I only got pictures of the upstairs so far.

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Ja’Ana’s room, after Aunt Rosalie’s magic touch.

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Patsy’s room, after Auntie’s magic touch!

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Lovana’s room.  All the girls cleaned up as best as they could, then Aunt Rosalie came in behind them and organized any remaining clutter, washed windows and sills, and vacuumed and cleaned carpets.

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The freshly painted upstairs bathroom.

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We call this the playroom.  It is an open room upstairs that we use for 4H sewing, crafts, etc.  I did not get a picture of the sewing room, but it’s clean, too.

The downstairs got deep cleaned.  Cobwebs captured, baseboards scrubbed, walls wiped, smudges removed, windows washed, floors swept, the downstairs bathroom’s paint touched up, and the kitchen cupboards were lemon-oiled.  A friend took charge of the laundry room, which had not been touched, yet, and organized it completely. I will try to capture some pictures of the downstairs tomorrow.

We made food for people.  Sunday, others brought some, too, which helped me tremendously.

Today, I could barely climb out of bed and go to work, I was so tired.  However, it is a grateful, happy tired that comes from a job well done.  Tomorrow, I will get up early and spiff things up downstairs (including mopping), and make sure everything gets put back correctly upstairs and down. Rob did do some bathroom cleaning and lots and lots of laundry today, so we can hide it in drawers, etc., and not have big baskets of it sitting around. I even took a bunch of clothes out to the camper for our upcoming camping trip.  They will not be seen there.  Less is more, they say, when it comes to listing a house.

A photographer will be here at 11 am in the morning.  I keep seeing more things that could be cleaned, but it’s good to have a deadline or I would probably keep cleaning forever:)

moving

Cleaning Weekend–Part 1

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Our weekend cleaning started off with a bang.  Of course, the object of this push is to get the house ready to put on the market this week.  On Friday, during 4H, my sister Rosalie had a free hour.  She whisked Patsy’s room into shape during that time!  Then, when Patsy got home from school, I went through the items Auntie had set aside and Patsy chose to keep or discard them.

Another 4H mom washed windows while waiting for her daughter to finish sewing, others swept and tidied. After they left, Ja’Ana and I washed down one of the bathrooms with TSP so it could dry by Saturday.  Then, I baked some desserts with Patsy. I also made a salad with the lentils and brown rice.

On Saturday morning, my sister showed up again.  She finished up Patsy’s room, helped Ja’Ana get hers the rest of the way done, and vacuumed and washed windows in all 3 girls’ rooms.  She then proceeded to clean their carpets, a job I wasn’t sure would get done yesterday.  My daughter Abbie had to work yesterday morning, but came and helped her auntie finish those jobs in the afternoon.

7 men and young adults showed up.  The pressure washed the house on the outside and the roof.  They mowed the huge lawn, cleaned the gutters, built a huge fire and burned a lot of trash, carried boxes and bins to the basement, touched up the basement paint from last weekend, touched up the paint in the downstairs bathroom (the one we washed), painted a stair railing, changed lightbulbs in high places on ladders, and worked on the shop.

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I set Ja’Ana to making another salad, because they ate the other one up.  This time, she used some cooked quinoa, a can of beans, the rest of the brown rice (the lentils were gone), and the rest of the ingredients it called for.

We served turkey, salad, a pan of pinto beans I had cooked with peppers with cheese to sprinkle on top, desserts, soda from 2 litre bottles, and carrots and celery with dip.  There is still turkey left for today, but the rest is history.

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A friend came and took the last little pig away.  He was going to keep it with his pigs and raise it a little more, but his pigs were not pleased to see it and were cruel to it, as pigs often are.  So, with Rob’s permission, he sold it to a farmer he knew and brought Rob the money.  At this point, we just needed it gone.  The other pigs are sold, and ours will be ready to pick up soon from the butcher.

Rob did get a little bit done in the shop, but most of the work was outside.   He had quite a few rocks he had collected over time, and was able to share them with a couple of the young men who had an interest in having them–so lots of rocks were hauled away as well. One of the young men has an interest in dahlias, so we let him dig up the bulbs from the flowerbeds.

My aunt came to get Ja’Ana and brought 2 orchids and a pot of basil. She gave them to me so that we wouldn’t have to constantly get fresh flowers for the mantle–orchids will last. The basis is for the kitchen.  As was suggested by a reader comment, my daughter is bringing some limes and lemons over today to put in a bowl.

Today, we are the service project of a small church.  We hope that the weather will enable them to spread bark dust and that the rest of the house will be finished.  We have a few other family and friends coming over as well, especially this afternoon.  We are so grateful for all the help we have received from everyone.  Although Rob and I have been working for over 2 months, every day we can, we would never have finished so soon without all of this help.  It has been a blessing to us.

 

 

 

moving

Moving Update March 6, 2016

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During this past week, we were able to accomplish some major progress towards our move.

First, we met with a realtor.  We do not know her personally, but she was highly recommended by a friend.  She looked through everything, gave advice, suggested a price and we made a plan.  We were quite disappointed with the first price she suggested, it seemed so low.  We do agree that it is her job, and not ours, but after a discussion with her just today, she said she had been contemplating and studying the issue and felt we could go up $10,000 without it being a problem.

We have been spending every spare minute cleaning, sorting, packing extra things and donating van loads of things.  We have sold a few things on e-bay that had a little more value.  Right now, we are so busy that if we can sell 1-$25 dollar item on eBay vs. 50–50 cent items at a garage sale, we are calling it good and donating the rest.  We are only taking time to do appointments, necessary meetings, church, the childrens’ activities and piano lessons.  We have lined up quite a few people for this week.

Last week we and our helpers picked up all hoses from the garden and outside areas, removed some old shelves and painted part of the basement, cleaned and swept the rest of the basement, packed and sorted things from the house into bins and carried them into the basement, worked on our red car (nephew)–at HIS house, completely organized and stocked the camper, packed up my stoneware to give room for appliances to be in cupboards instead of on the counters, and took several loads of shop tools, etc. over to my brother-in-law’s house for storage.

On Monday, I work.  Rob will take the Rav4 in for the service work (re-building the engine at no cost to us–warrenty issue), donate another van load to the charity shop, finish dinner, and take the chickens to the auction for sale on Tuesday.

Tuesday:  I will hopefully get a little school done with Ja’Ana in the morning.  My mom and aunt are coming in the afternoon for a while to help.  At 5 some friends are coming over for dinner.  They are part of a very small church that goes one Sunday a month to do a service project.  We are their project this month.  Although we have never been anyone’s project before, we are touched that they though of us and are gladly accepting the help. On Tuesday, we will hammer out the details of what needs to be done and make sure they are in the loop so progress continues the entire time.

Wednesday:  I work, Rob sorts and packs, and he takes Ja’Ana to her evening youth group.

Thursday:  Keith, our son-in-law is coming to help Rob.  He will also be shown jobs that need to be done so he can boss people around during the weekend.

Friday:  4H.

Saturday:  Help lined up for me:  My sister Rosalie, dear friend, a child or two, …Help for Rob:  5 men and ….  In the afternoon: Oldest daughter, Abbie. My aunt will get Ja’Ana and take her to my other sister’s house to spend the night.  She will be happier keeping her church routine and has a meeting Sunday afternoon in Salem (an hour away from here) in regards to her upcoming mission trip.

Sunday:  Our friends and their small church (15-20 people), Son-in-law Keith, daughter Abbie, friends (several) and …..  Gail will bring J home in the evening.  Each month, this small church chooses a service project to do as a church.  This month, we are their project. We have never been anyone’s project before, but are ecstatic and grateful of the help.  So, they are coming to help spruce up the place.  We invited any other friends and family who wanted to help to come either Saturday or Sunday.

During this blitz we hope to clean up the rest of the rooms in the house getting them picture perfect.

Clean up after painting the upstairs bathroom.

Wash walls and touch up paint on the downstairs main bathroom.

Finish the girls’ rooms, packing up anything extra and making sure all else fits into the drawers and closets.

Finish packing the camper.  We will go camping soon and we might as well put some extra out there.

Clean my room to the corners.  A lot went out of here on Saturday that was piled up in anticipation of the camper’s return from the repair shop.

Get bark dust spread on the flowerbeds.  Weeds removed as much as possible in the mud.  Plant primroses.  Rob has the bark in a pile, will buy 2 flats of primroses.

Finish emptying the school room.  I will leave a few books and other items on the bookcases, but put all sewing items upstairs in the completely cleaned sewing room.  I sewed both downstairs and upstairs at times, but will arrange it all into one room upstairs now.

Clean all kitchen counters, sweep, mop, and have someone wipe the microwave and appliances.  Lemon oil the cupboards.  Clean the cluttered bay window.

Buy an orchid for the mantle.  My aunt suggested it would last longer and look elegant for the showings.

Clean all bathrooms, wipe baseboards, fingerprints, sweep, etc., etc., etc. the entire house.

We have more to do, but this is a start. It all has to be finished by next Sunday night.

Next Monday or Tuesday, they will photograph the house and it will be listed on the 17th.  We will have a weekend where there is an open house and hopefully many showings.  Then, it will be by appointment only.

 

moving

Another Moving Update–Feb. 27

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The process of sorting, weeding out, burning, and donating continues.  We had quite a bit of time on Thursday, Friday and today, Saturday to work on this project.  We also had several people help us out this week, and we are very thankful.

On Thursday, we focused on the basement.  It consists of 3 small rooms.  It is musty, full of spiderwebs, and molds easily.  The first room has some old carpet in it, but the other rooms are rocks and stone with a little concrete poured down in places.  The original house was built in 1925, so I call this my “Nancy Drew” basement.   I keep my canning down there.  There were also things like old water coolers, an old clarinet, old fishbowls, Christmas decorations that were no longer used….and so forth.  There was a place where one of the children started putting dahlia bulbs in peat moss and then decided to stop, leaving a huge bunch of screens, peat moss, etc.  There were lots of cardboard boxes and other debris from the years.  This is a picture of the first room, with all of the empty jar removed.  We cleaned that room entirely, and packed up all of the empties.  Then, I moved the full jars from the second room into this room and filled the shelves.  The second room is now mostly empty.  There is a 3rd, super small room that holds the water heater, and a little area where previous owners kept their canning.  It won’t be very hard to clean out.

On the opposite side of the room, that you can’t see in the picture, we put a pallet for cardboard boxes of empty jars.  We also started bringing bins down and stacking them to the ceiling.  The bins are filled with things that will go into storage, and putting them down there buys us a little more time before we need to rent a unit and opens up more space in the house to look better for showing it.

By Thursday afternoon, the basement was about 80% finished.

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On Friday morning, very early, 2 young men came over.  They took all of this trash, plus more down to the burn pile.  It was from the basement and other places.  They climbed up into the attic above the garage, and hauled everything down.  My garage table was full, and the garage itself was full to the brim.  I could hardly walk, and actually felt so overwhelmed, it was not good, because we have so many empty boxes in there right now.  BUT, those wonderful young men took many of those bins from the attic right down to the basement (things like Christmas decorations that I had put up there the way I wanted them) and I started going through the other boxes. They took more bins that were ready to go as well, and it started to clear out.  Rob set them to work taking  more unwanted items out of the basement and other places and putting them into the van to donate. My mom and aunt showed up, and started helping clean and sort.  The boys took off, having given us as much time as they could, and Rob loaded up the rest of the van for the charity thrift shop and took off with it.  By the end of Friday, the garage was navigable, and more items in the house were packed or donated.

This morning, another crew of men, including my nephew, showed up at 7 am to work on moving some of Rob’s shop to storage at my sister’s house in an old semi truck trailer that they have.  They got 2 entire trailer loads over there.  Rob had them help load another bunch of un-needed stuff into the van and I finished filling it up and he took it off and donated it this afternoon.  I worked with Lovana on several boxes of her things, and they are taken care of.  Lovana and Ja’Anas’ rooms are both very close to being ready to show.  Patsy’s is not.  My friend Tamara and her son Cameron came over for several hours and we worked on the school room some more, and Cameron put sleeping bags into protective bags and carried them and a few more bins down to the basement.  The schoolroom was a huge task, due to having so much stuff from so many years of homeschooling.  It is getting close, and I have 4 more boxes to take and try to sell at the used book store.

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The front room is finished.  I just need to keep it looking good, floors swept, etc.  I have much to do, still, but we are making huge amounts of progress every week.  We hope to have it ready to list within the next week or two.  We have a bunch of people who want to help in a couple of weeks.  We will probably have them do some yard work and a little painting.  I cannot express how grateful we are for all of the people who are helping out.  Although I do feel overwhelmed at times, I am actually feeling pretty good about the amount of things I am getting rid of, but am starting to wonder if I am still keeping too much.  When you see the stack of bins and think about how much more you still have……it’s kind of sobering.  I figure I’m letting at least 1/2 of my things go–I guess time will tell if that’s enough.

moving, Saving Money

February Use-It-Up Project a.k.a “Yikes, I used up my fridge!”

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Now that we are starting to sort and clean so that we can put the house on the market, I’m even more determined to use up items, especially food items. I have a very large stockpile and only want to move the freshest food.  However, I do not want to wipe out my food storage entirely, so I am seeking balance in this project.   After a successful Use-It-Up project in January, I am encouraged to work even harder at it in February.

This past week, I targeted what I call “freezer #3.”  Unfortunately, sometime in the not-so-distant past, one of the kids got something out of this freezer and didn’t get it closed correctly.  Sadly, this happens more often than I’d like around here, so I have a habit of going past those freezers and pushing on every one daily, sometimes several times a day, to make sure the doors are shut.  Thankfully, because of this habit, I caught the problem in time to save everything, but ice had formed on many items as well as the shelves.  I’m trying to empty it all the way out and defrost it, then re-fill it with stuff from another freezer, clean that one, and so on until some are empty and all are clean.

Sadly, the refrigerator in the kitchen developed some problems as well this week.  When Rob was working on correcting that problem, he put a heater inside to thaw some ice that had formed and was about to stop the fan from working.   It melted the ice all right…..and part of the fridge!!!! It now looks like something from a science fiction movie inside and some of the plastic shelves on the door are either gone, or will never be the same.  Also, I am wondering if it is sealing properly anymore.  We put several hundred dollars into the fridge last summer for the same exact problem, and he thought he’d fix it himself this time.  It still works!  Whew!  The fan isn’t stopped by ice anymore!  That’s a bonus, but I really didn’t exactly mean to use up the refrigerator when I started this project:)  So, we used up the fridge, but will make out with it until after we move and will not take it with us.  If it becomes inoperable, we will just bring the one from the garage in and make do.    It’s been trouble for us anyway, but now it’s really a troubled fridge. But it works for now.  I guess I’d better get some more items up on e-bay.  My “fix-up-the-new-house fund” needs more money in it!

I dug out some frozen lemon loaf and I served it with dinner.  I used a small amount of corn fetuccini noodles and a small amount of spaghetti noodles, also corn.  I used them both on spaghetti night.  I used a bit of frozen basil in the spaghetti and a carton of frozen peas that were 2-3 years old.  I found some salad shrimp that I thawed, but they were so old that I gave them to the cats.  I took some old glass jars of lemonade and juice and let the kids have them.  On Lovana’s cooking night, she used cabbage from last summer’s garden (kept in garage fridge since then), frozen fish, and potatoes.  Rob used carrots, also still lingering from last summer.  I also got refried beans out twice from #3.  I also moved 2 hams out of there into other freezers, opening up more room.  Now, there is a lot of room in there and I’ll be aggressive about getting more out this week.

I thawed and served a large bowl of ham and bean soup for lunch yesterday when a friend came to visit for a few hours.  She lives 2 hours from my house and I don’t get to visit with her very often and it was nice to have a prepared meal so I didn’t have to stop visiting for one minute.

I thawed some old bread and will feed it to the pigs.  The kids continue to eat frozen berries and banana in their smoothies.  I keep serving canned fruit and using canned and frozen vegetables.

Lovana made pizza one day and successfully used up some pepperoni and Canadian bacon that were about 3 years old.  (I’ll frankly say she didn’t want to use them, I actually tasted them first, could tell they were fine, and forced her to use them.  She was assuming that because they were so old, they would be yucky, but they weren’t.)  She also used up a large amount of chocolate chips when I was not paying attention, making cookies that were extremely chocolaty.  I explained for the umpteenth time (she says she doesn’t remember hearing this) that we double the dough part with the same amount of chips so the chips stretch farther.  I’ve been trying to not micro-manage her cooking choices, but at this rate, we will not have any chocolate chips left for me to manage. I’ll have to say, though, the cookies were really good to eat.  I didn’t have to worry about forcing anyone to use them up!

I’ve been loving it when I just thaw something to eat when I’m busy sorting.  We are making progress, but it’s a huge job.  We got a huge bonfire going today, and burned a lot of trash.  Rob took a huge pile to a Kiwanas Thrift shop.  I sorted out  a lot of books that I hope to sell on E-bay.  I have some set aside for a homeschool used book store as well.

I had to buy matches this week, but that was all.  I need to figure out what else I may need, and get it.Otherwise, it’s wonderful to have that $50 sittiing there for another week when I may have additional needs beyond my lowered budget.  I’m excited to see how it goes.

 

moving

Moving Treasures

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While I was sorting a bookshelf a couple of nights ago, I came across a red notebook that had been my grandma’s.  I got completely distracted as I started reading it, and realized it contained recipes, housekeeping tips, and all of her canning records.  There was a page for each year, starting in 1940 and continuing until 1990.  I had so much fun reading over how many quarts of this and that she canned and froze.  I only noticed a few years when they butchered pigs, but saw quite a few entries for canned fish. I’m pretty sure they butchered chickens at times, but I didn’t see entries for that.

I noticed that at the beginning, she wrote of taking her frozen foods to a locker.  Then, after a few years, those entries stopped, somewhere in the 60’s. I’m sure that’s when she got her freezer.  I still have and use her upright freezer. I don’t know if it was her first and only one, or if she replaced it somewhere along the line, but I know it’s very old.

It was very fun and informative to read over some of the old housekeeping tips, such as how to set a table properly for breakfast, and other such ideas.  I won’t be getting rid of the old notebook.  I anticipate reading the whole thing one of these days when I have more time.

Life changes, moving

Moving–Pre-Packing Organization

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Now that we’ve decided to sell the house for sure, we need to get it ready.  I feel like I need to get some of my things out of the way so that people can see the house in its best light.  Also, a lot of my things will need to go into storage during the transition, so I want them to be packed carefully so they don’t get damaged.

I want to pre-pack for the month of February.  We have been offered the use of an empty semi-truck trailer to put many things into for free.  I hope to list the house in March, and I plan to have it looking nice by then.  Our house is not super messy, I just hope to make it look  nicer so I get a better price for it.  The shop is actually a concern.  There are a lot of things in there that need to be sorted and moved to storage so it doesn’t look so full.  The barn is 90% clean, thanks to friends who came a couple of weeks ago and helped.

It is likely that the house will sell quickly if we price it right.  The market is hot right now and the average time of sale is 12 days in our area.  Then, if it does sell quickly, we will need to finish packing, put all of the boxes in storage, and move into our camper for a few weeks until the new house can be purchased.

When I think about the amount of work that needs to be done, I feel like crawling into bed and putting the covers over my head.  I decided I needed a better, more specific plan than just staring around at all of my possessions and wondering if there were enough cardboard boxes in the world for all of them.  So, here’s what I came up with.

Rob got me a huge pile of cardboard boxes from stores.  He also bought a big pile of plastic totes with lids.  The boxes will be for things that cannot be damaged by moisture or mice and the bins will be for things like delicate dishes that need extra protection, fabric, and any clothing that ends up getting put into storage.

I started going through things like dishes, candles, baking pans that were seldom used, homeschool curriculum from other years and things like that.  I was completely overwhelmed until I convinced myself that I didn’t have to do it all at once.  I simply took the small amount of time I had available, say 1/2 hour or hour, and tackled one small area or shelf.  I then grabbed an item or 2 and made a decision.  I packed some for later, threw away a lot, and then divided the rest into “sell” or “donate.”  I also left quite a few things on shelves or in cupboards that I anticipate we will use during the interim before the house actually sells.  I haven’t gotten very far, yet, but am starting to see progress.  I figure that when all of my family and friends come to help me, now I can point to a shelf of books and say “pack all of those”  and not have to make any decisions, thus using their help more wisely. I won’t get it all done ahead, so I figure I will have plenty to decide on that day!

I am delighted that I sold a bunch of homeschool curriculum on e-bay already. It will ship out today, and that’s another big box gone.  All money we get from selling things will go into a special account for things like paint and curtains for the new house.  I anticipate that the new house will be needing a little TLC, since we are going to find one that doesn’t cost very much, since we won’t qualify for a loan.  How much TLC needed depends on the price we get for this house.

I started packing empty canning jars as we empty them.  I will actually go down to the basement when I get time and pack up several boxes of empty jars.  We will continue to eat from the full ones, and I will deal with those when the time comes closer to actually moving.

I am making a large pile of things to put into the camper, i.e. more canned food items, etc.  It is in the shop getting some warrenty work done (let’s not even go THERE today–I’m not pleased that it needs it–but glad it’s getting done for free), but when it comes home, I will pack and organize it for an extended “camping trip.”  That can be pre-done and will actually give me a place to store a few things.  I don’t plan to stop life when I’m living in there, so I want a few projects in there to work on.  I anticipate that it will be a short stay–and easier than moving in with friends or relatives while we wait for things to close.

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As soon as we get a big pile packed, and some strong friends to help, we will start taking loads over to pack into the semi.   We are still eating down the stockpile, but will have lots to move anyway.  I plan to put bins of food in the front of the storage semi and then “shop” from those bins each week while staying in the camper.  We already have a place to plug in our freezers and will shop weekly from those as well.

It’s a plan.  I’m eager to see which parts work and which parts need tweaking!  I’ll take any and all ideas you may think of.