Heading tonight to a potluck dinner for Progressives in my small town. Since Mom and I are both going, I need to make two dishes. However, I’ve got so much going on with prepping for the estate sale and being the county Democratic committee chair, I don’t have a lot of time to cook, so I’m heating up a frozen sweet potato casserole and baking four apple strudels from ALDI which I’ll cut up into bite size pieces. If they don’t like it, well…oh well.

… We may have a buyer for our house. Already. Maybe.

We haven’t even gotten it ready to go on the market yet.

I’m like…I’m excited but at the same time that’s super fast.

Today, we cleaned and polished my great-grandmother’s Windsor rocking chair to prep it for auction. She had seven children and rocked each of them to sleep in that chair when they were babies, as evidenced by the wear on the bottom of the wooden rockers.

But this chair can’t go to Spain. So I will take a photo and then it’ll go in the auction with all the other items.

It’s a bittersweet goodbye to all the things.

Missouri folks, absentee voting with an excuse has begun! 🗳️

We don’t have time to tackle the basement and storage unit until later, but any tools that are in there can be sold in a separate sale. Everything else stored there goes in the trash.

All of the antique furniture from the storage room and from my bedroom is now in the blue room. ALL. OF. IT. Well, except for a cedar chest that is buried on the far side of the room. But otherwise, yes. It’s all in there, separated from the stuff we still need to sort and either donate or trash.

Tomorrow, I deal with back porch stuff we want to sell. Thursday is the library and Mom’s papers. Also, I need to put sticky notes on the furniture that stays. The auctioneers come Friday morning. 🤞🏼

I’m feeling like an old donkey. The more you put on me, the slower I go.

Ordered our free Covid tests tonight! Don’t forget to get yours. https://special.usps.com/testkits

In Wildwood with Marie and the momma. All books today are 50% off! If you’re in the St Louis area, come find us at Celebrate Wildwood in Wildwood, MO.

Scariest PG or G rated movie that scared you as a kid?

I’ll go first. Something Wicked This Way comes. I was TERRIFIED, but it was also my favorite. https://youtu.be/Up7KHbJTmoo

Excuse me, WHAT?!? My book is recommended in the same sentence as THE SHINING BY STEPHEN KING?!? WHAT?!? http://bdrpublishing.com/horror-genre-and-its-subgenres/

This Saturday, I’ll be in Wildwood, Missouri for Celebrate Wildwood with a table full of books to sell. If you’re near the St Louis area and you like books and crafts, there’s lots to see. Plus, there’s great food and live music. But also, books. 📚 Come find me!

Twelve more brown grocery bags donated to Goodwill today, filled with table linens, curtains, bedding, and more of mom’s clothes. I need to go through my own clothes again and winnow down by at least half.

Hopefully, things will keep moving forward smoothly toward the future we both envision.

And it gets us in the right frame of mind to let go and put the house on the market in the spring. Everything feels like it’s taking forever, but at the same time it’s happening so fast. I’ve owned this house for 20 years. Longer than anyplace else I’ve ever lived. My parents lived her with me for the last 8. Moving is an enormous decision. Letting go of everything we own is even bigger. Moving to a different country is a ton of work. But we are both certain it’s the right decision. —>

Whew. Prepping to sell everything we own in a big estate sale is so daunting. I’ve put my organizational skills to the test, breaking the work into chunks to make it less overwhelming, but the emotional work is just as hard. The auctioneer comes on the 27th for an assessment. We’ll be ready. I’m not sure how much we will make from all this effort, but having the house emptied of all but bare bones means I can clean, repair, repaint every room easily. —>

Even my 83 year old mother is a Swiftie. Vance has no concept of the influence of cat ladies.