Crunch Time

I'm sitting in my mom's living room; my son is building a fire, my granddaughters are in the kitchen, and my little dog is sitting next to me. That paints a pretty picture, but the reality is not so pretty -- at least when it comes to the condition of the living room. But you have to make a mess to clean up, right? Well, maybe, but I'm leaving in less than forty-eight hours and am going to really have to bust a nut -- so to speak -- to get things ready for leaving.

We took a bold step today and dragged everything the vintage store didn't buy to Goodwill. I told my son to take what he wanted, if anything, from the bins and asked for two things for myself. I thought it would be better if I didn't look, and I was right. It was so easy to get rid of it! And now I don't have to haul it home. Still, I have more than I can take home this time, including the awesome mirror I want, the china, and the wrought iron furniture. I don't think the house will sell the minute we put it on the market, and even if it does I can get my son to take some items to his house until I can get back up here for them.

This afternoon we saw a red fox run across the road; yesterday morning I watched a family of deer make its way through the back yard. These are things I don't see in Florida, or even in town here, for that matter. I will miss those events and others like them. On the way back to the house, we stopped for the mail. The latest electric bill was over five hundred dollars. This house is big with all electric heat. I won't miss that.

I have been putting a lot of pressure on myself to get everything done before I go home, thinking that this is the last time I will be in the house. It won't be. Even so, tomorrow I'm going to pour it on and leave things a lot better than I found them.