Last Night at the Chief

Last night was Cameron's final evening working at The Chief this summer.  I couldn't believe it as it seemed like he had just started.  This was definitely the perfect first job for him.  He not only enjoyed it, but put quite a bit of money into his savings.  From catering to scooping ice cream to working the cash register, Cameron loved it all and met a few new friends as well.  I know that his favorite shifts were the ones that he worked with his friends from Bethany - Avery, Justin, Noah - just to name a few.  It was fun listening to his tip total for the night and trying all of the new flavors that The Chief had to offer this summer.  

To celebrate Cameron's last day, Grandma, Grandpa and I stopped by for a treat.  I chose chocolate as that has become my favorite flavor of the summer.  It wasn't quite ice cream weather, but we enjoyed it just the same.  I was happy to see that Cameron was working with Avery.  Meg and Nick must have had the same idea as they drove over from Jimtown for ice cream as well.   He enjoyed seeing everyone and it was the perfect way to end his last day at his first summer job.  

Garage Sale Success

It was absolutely exhausting, but overall the garage sale was a huge success.  We made more than we had in a long time and sold at least 75% of our everything that we brought down.  It was also a lot more fun than I thought that it would be.  Cameron stopped by on Friday to help.  He said that he thought that he would be sad watching so much of his childhood walk out the door, but it actually made him feel really good to see young children excited about their purchases.  Aunt Jan visited the sale multiple times and it was fun to catch up with her.  Grandma and Grandpa were extremely helpful and even made some money for themselves.  Packing up the garage was extremely easy as there just wasn't a lot left.  We were positive that we could get everything into the van to drop off at the Depot this week.  All that I had to do last night was count the money and put it in everyone's account.  None of us plan to have another garage sale, which makes the success of this one even better.  

Back in Florida

Since I was going to be busy all weekend with the garage sale, Doug decided that he would leave early this morning for Ocala.  Normally, he stops at Brett's for the night to break up the trip, but he felt that getting down there a day early would give him time to rest and relax before work started for the week.  He was also concerned about everything that he was hauling to Florida.  The Pilot was filled with memory items that our family had collected over the years.  He didn't want to risk anything happening to the cargo if he stopped overnight.  Thus, last night we packed the car and he was on his way well before 6:30 a.m.

I talked to Doug several times during the day.  It was a long trip for him with a 45 minute delay in Kentucky.  He filled the time by listening to a few Rewatchables and his favorite 1970s bands along the way.  Even with the delay, he was able to make it to Ocala in time to order pizza from Marco's.  He even unloaded everything in the Pilot tonight.  I was very glad to hear that Doug made it and that everything including him arrived safely.  It was a nice way to start his last trip alone.  

Another Inspection?

Our realtor called recently to ask if it was ok if an inspector came into our home to do a water test.  She said that the seller also wondered if they could walk through the house for a final inspection at the same time.  The date she suggested was a week before we closed and the day after we took Cameron to college.  

I was absolutely flabbergasted with the phone call.  I tried to ask her why there was going to be a water test this late in the selling process.  We had already been told several weeks ago that the house had passed inspection and was approved for close.  She explained that it had to do with their VA loan and that the lender forgot to have the water test done.  I asked her if I could call her back as I was completely caught off guard and a little panicked about the water test.  What if we didn't pass?  Could the seller still back out?  That would mean that we would have held the house for them for the entire summer only to have to relist it.  I asked Doug what we should do and he said that we needed more information before we could make any decision.

Thankfully, our realtor called back before we ended our conversation.  She had called the loan officer and he explained that a clear water test would only help the buyer get a better interest rate.  We agreed to let them do that, but asked that it be done as soon as possible.  That way if there was a problem, we would still have time to fix it.  We also told the realtor that we had no interest in the buyer walking through a week early as we wouldn't have time to completely clean the house by then as we still had to take Cameron to Bloomington and finish packing.  She agreed with both and this week the water test was completed.  We didn't hear anything back, but the sign in our house still said pending, so we figured that all went well.  I will definitely be glad when all of this is over.

An Awesome First Day

We started dragging everything out into my Mom's driveway by 8 a.m. this morning for the first day of the garage sale.  Even though my cousins had bought a lot of the big pieces, there was still a lot to move.  We had planned on the sale starting at 9 a.m., by by 8:30 the place was absolutely packed.  I couldn't believe how much we had sold in the first few hours.  I knew that we had great prices on everything, but I wasn't quite prepared for the volume of sales that we had this morning.

The rest of the day was busy as well.  By the time we closed, we had sold almost all of the big ticket items that we really wanted to get rid of, including Meg's American Girl Doll, Rebecca, Doug's chainsaw, the grill, bonfire pit, outdoor furniture, and so much more.  Very few people asked us to come down on anything and everyone left saying how impressed they were with our sale.  

I don't know what tomorrow will bring.  I hope to still sell Cal's tow chain and the large black toy cabinet. Either way, my Mom and I were very happy to be able to consolidate clothes, spread items out on the tables and even bring a few small tables back inside.  The rest of the family was just happy to see their earnings for the first day.  It definitely was a profitable one.

Let the Downsizing Begin

 Two weekends ago we moved almost all of the garage sale items from our house over to my Mom's garage.  That included a lot of boxes that we had stored in our basement as well as several pieces of furniture.  My plan was to spend the subsequent weeks marking the big items and then grouping the rest together by price, i.e. all clothing 50 cents, games $1 and so forth.  

On one of the days that I wasn't able to be at my Mom's working on the garage sale, she invited Aunt Jan over to look at everything and see if there was anything she or her girls would want.  At first they didn't tell me and just sent pictures to Jennifer, Jackie and Jeannette.  They knew that I would say, "Just take it."  After the third or fourth text that I got from my mom asking me for a price on something, I figured out what they were doing.  I decided at that point that I would contact my cousins myself and make a list of what they wanted.  That way they could pay me on Venmo and then all we would have to worry about was how we were going to get everything to them.

Tonight the Pancoast family and the Dustins met Aunt Jan and Uncle Lee at my Mom's to pick up their new treasures.  Thankfully, Doug was around to help load their vehicles as we filled each and every one.  I was incredibly glad that they were interested in a lot of the big pieces of furniture.  It was nice knowing that several of Jeanette's antiques would stay in the "family."  Jeanette brought both of her boys with her.  They had fun "shopping" at our sale as well and went home with every thing that was frog related including frog slippers and a croaking cookie jar.  

Although I was happy to have started our large sale early, the best part was seeing my cousins.  We hadn't gotten together as much these past few years due to everyone's busy schedules, so it was really nice to catch up on what they had been up to lately.  Jeannette said that she was a lot more sad about us leaving then she thought that she would be.  Even though we hadn't seen each other a lot, she said that it was nice knowing that I was only an hour away instead of living in another state.  I could understand what she meant, but also realized that we would be traveling back and forth quite a bit, at least the first few months, so I would still be in Indiana a lot.  I also knew that I could visit them when they were in Florida this coming February.  Overall, it was a great night filled with lots of memories that ended with a lot of smiles and my Mom's garage looking a lot less crowded.

Moving Out

Meg and Nick packed the CR-V this morning and were out the door by noon.  I really thought that they would stay a little longer, but Meg wanted to get the title to her car switched before they moved her into their apartment.  Meg's vehicle was packed, but most of what she owned had already been taken to Chicago by Nick last month.  

I was very excited for Meg, but sad to see her go.  I knew that her leaving was the first big piece to us moving as well.  Although I was glad to be getting closer to our relocation to Florida, I did sob once she pulled out of the driveway.  I knew that the best way to get over it was to start cleaning her room.  That would give me a project to keep my mind off of her leaving.  It worked and by the time she called to say that they were getting Culver's for lunch, I felt a lot better.  Meg talked excitedly about moving out and I was happy for her.  As an added bonus, she had pretty much cleaned everything out before she left, so by the time she arrived at the Illinois BMV, I was finished with her room - one my item checked off of my todo list and a very happy new Illinois resident - what could be better?