I am in Bloomington! I arrived at about 10am Tucson time, or 1 pm Eastern. I have to get my watch fixed so that I can pull out the crown to reset it to local time.
I am not moving back into my old house. I am living in my RV and clearing and cleaning my old house in order that I may sell it. I don't know if I'll get a new place in Bloomington or if I'll go someplace else, but I do know that I do not want to be in this house on this property so far away from town.
I began today by leveling and hooking up the little RV and getting her A/C going. I have just one 30A outlet and that's in the garage, which is a distance of probably 100 ft from the house. I don't have enough cord to park the RV in the shade by the house. I could park IN the garage and thus have shade, but I enjoy having some scenery! For the nonce, I'll be using the bathroom in the house, and that should work out fine for me. If I were parked next to the house, I have a full hookup for an RV, but it's a hookup for a 50A electric plug, and that I do not have for this smaller RV. Oh well...
After doing the hooking up, I opened mail that had gathered for me and sorted it. Then I made a list of things that I needed to tackle -- rooms that need to be gone through and the sorts of piles that I will make. I intend to go through a room at a time, taking the stuff to donate, recycle, and dump as I get through a room. My goal is to have only what furniture needs to be in there to demonstrate what the room is for -- nothing personal and nothing in any drawers or closets. Big job!
The funny thing is that, upon my arrival here, I mused about the fact that I have everything that I really need with me in my little RV and back in my little Tucson cottage! So everything that's in the house is stuff that I don't really need. Easy, right? Well.... yes, till I start going through things.
I felt plenty of feelings when I went into the house. I halfway expected Michael to be there waiting for me. Instead, there was lots of his stuff. I will see if his children or brother and sister want any of it -- the things that I don't want to keep, that is.
Then I worked a bit in the house, taking things out of my closet. I got all the shelves and drawers emptied, with piles on the floor to go to Goodwill, to the dump, and then a pile (too large) on my bed of things that I want to keep. I have to do my hanging clothes, and then a cupboard and two closets.. oh, and the drawers under my bed! I'd just about forgotten those. I have just a few things in Michael's closet that I need to disburse, because Ann and I had gone through his closet before I left. (That was a good thing, though I didn't feel quite ready then.) Then I'll be able to check off one of my rooms!
One enormous job that awaits me is cleaning out the attic, and I don't look forward to that in this heat! I don't think that it's hugely full, as attics go, but it'll still be difficult, hot, and dirty. And I'll have to be very careful, because I have just a little ladder access through the hall ceiling to the attic. I may see if I can find someone to help me with that.
Maddy and Eddie did great on the ride home and they are happy as can be in here with me now. I'd thought about taking Maddy into the house with me as I clean up, but... I'm not sure if I will do that.
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
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Hey sis...great to know you are "home". I know it doesn't feel like home anymore :(
ReplyDeleteSee your email I sent you today about help with the clean up, etc. We are here, just let us know what we can do.
Love you, Sis.
Hi fellow RVer. bob rogers here: you can get a simple plug to convert 50 amp to 30 amp; probably find it at Wal Mart.
ReplyDeleteGreat weather here still. Evenings are so beautiful. We can get in 40 or 60 miles before noon and be home before it hits 100. Then we hibernate in the AC until dinner, outside.
Glad to see you simplifying. We have never been sorry.
bob and claire
Janee, congrats. You made it to Bloomington, and the house was not buried under three feet of water. Indiana and the Midwest have certainly been getting more than their fair share of liquid sunshine in the last week or two.
ReplyDeleteOut little Peanut died this week. You can read about it in my blog, http://sunlaker.blogspot.com/ . We miss him a lot.
I wish you luck in cleaning the house. It is hard, but also refreshing to get rid of old stuff that you really don't need anymore.
I signed up for Bluehost tonight, and am starting to populate my new website at mysunlaker.com. lol, I followed your lead, and adopted the naming format as well as the web host. That way, I can take the domain transfer from JT --- or not.
Take care, John
Glad you made it home safely and dry. It was great seeing you last night. Almost like you never left.
ReplyDeleteLove, J
Wow, thank you for your comments!
ReplyDeleteSunlaker John, I cried when I read your touching tribute to your little Peanut. :( I'm so sorry. I know firsthand how it is to love a little dog and to have to watch the little dog die. You did the absolute kindest thing to say goodbye to your little one in your arms, with him looking at you. He knew. And you knew. Had he been made to awaken, he would have felt the pain of the surgery, and you spared him that. It was your last gift, John.
Our little animals count on us to do the tough stuff. In the wild, a wolf gets sick and he goes off to die, away from the pack. Our pets cannot make that decision, so we have to make it for them.
One thing that I've learned in the past year is that love is not free for those of us left behind. The price of love is the pain we feel when we lose our love. And is it worth it? You betcha.
I'm sorry about sunlaker.com, but I'll bet that Bluehost can wrest it away from wherever it is now. Tell them that you want to do that and to have them manage the domain, and that you want it to be a pointer to mysunlaker.com. JT couldn't manage pointers, but I would wager that Bluehost can. ;)
Sis, thank you so much for "lending" Steve to help me today (thursday) with my sorting and tossing. We took 20 bags of stuff to Goodwill.
Bob, I did order a 30 amp female > 50 amp male adapter from Camping World just last evening. I should have it in a day or two, and then I can move the RV into shaded comfort. :)
I will likely be spending more of the summer in Tucson, once this house is sold. I am sure that this simplifying is the way to go. I've had this in my blood for a long time. As I came back eastward, I tried to visualize what was in the house that I needed, and it occurred to me that I HAVE everything I need in my Tucson cottage and in this RV. There are a couple of things that I'm going to be bringing back though. ;)
John, yes it was great to "see" you last night on the cam! It did feel like I was right there.
Janee, be very proud of yourself for not becoming a curator of "stuff." We all do that to some extent -- at least most of us do. I have a hard time letting go of just about anything. I'm going through my closet now, ditching and pitching. It's liberating, and I don't need a T-shirt for every software application that ever was.
ReplyDeleteGood for you for making this big decision. You don't need to be out in the boonies unless you choose to be. Michael would be so proud of you, but then he always was.
Love,
Lynell