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Friday, June 29, 2018

Really...We are Still Around

June 29, 2018

Really we are still around...We have been busy trying to empty out the house. After almost 49 years of marriage and 24 years in this house it is a task. Some days I feel like we are really moving forward then there are days when I take a walk around and feel overwhelmed and just a little discouraged. Then I remind myself how great it will feel to shut the door on a totally empty house. The goal would be to get it on the market before we leave this fall. Regardless, it will be empty and we do not plan on living in it past this summer...fingers crossed that these goals are reached.

Quick overview of what we have been up to since we pulled into the driveway on April 27, 2018.

On May 5, 2018 we traveled to Mount Pleasant, MI to watch our daughter officially receive her Bachelor's Degree from Central Michigan University. A good friend of Rachel's from school, who now lives in Mount Pleasant with her husband and daughter, and has a photography business came and took pictures. Two of the many excellent ones she took are below.



Her oldest daughter, who made the journey with her from day one, was there
to share her mom's accomplishment.

Charlotte with her cousins.Marcella on the left and Noah on the right.
They along with their Mom, our daughter-in-law Nadine,
also joined us for part of the graduation celebration.

In June we drove downstate to spend some time with our son, his wife, and their three children. While there we celebrated out son's birthday, and our grandson's, Noah and Jonah's, birthday. There were a few Beer Margarita's consumed after all we were celebrating.

Noah on the right turned 8 on June 19th and Jonah on the left turns 6 on July 21st.


Our son turned 34 on June 6th. Not sure where the time has gone.

Nadine and Thomas in our backyard last summer.

We have also taken the time to go out to dinner a couple of times with family and friends. No pictures because I failed to remember to take them.

Tom just got back from a few days of camping, fishing, four wheeling, and canoeing with a couple of his canoeing/fishing friends. They try to do it once a summer and he said the bugs were awful. Never the less he said they had a good time and he even caught a couple of fish, just no keepers. (Side Note: Mosquitoes never bite Tom so I do not think he has the right to complain.)

We are still waiting to hear about getting the damage done to the Stinger "B" when we were in Ajo taken care of. The body shop and the insurance are having a disagreement as to what it should cost. Since, this particular damage was in no way our fault we are not real "happy campers" right now. We just want the damage fixed and not just a patch job. We feel it should be done right. Hopefully, they will come to terms very soon.

We have someone coming to put the new pump, which the company sent free of charge, in the washer/dryer next week. So that is good news. Also, when I need a break from the house I have been going through the stuff in the motor home, re-arranging, and getting rid of what we do not need. Tom still has his part to do, plus, he has some work to do on the awning.

So going through "stuff", packing what we want to keep, letting our kids take what they want, and getting rid of the rest is our lives right now. Amazingly the more we do this the less we keep.

We have been busy and the goal is to be backing out of the driveway by mid-September.

I will admit we do have a few fun things planned in the coming months. So it will not be all work and no play.

I will try to update again next month, if not sooner. In the meantime we have been checking in on what everyone has been up to. Even if I do not comment I am reading and sharing with Tom.

Wishing everyone a continued wonderful summer.








If you would like to leave a comment, we would enjoy hearing from you.
If not, we are still glad you stopped by to visit.

14 comments:

  1. I don't envy you two with your downsizing challenge. Good luck.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks! It has been and continues to be a challenge. In the end it will be so worth it.

      Hope you are having a wonderful summer.

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  2. Nice to hear from you again. Good luck with the purging of "stuff"
    Glad we got that behind us over 12 years ago , life is much simpler.
    Hope you can get the accident damage taken care of soon. We got ours taken care of no problem.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks. We are so looking forward to life being simpler.
      We read about and saw the pictures of the work you had done. Nice.
      Tom is confident the shop will do a good job, the nice thing is our nephew works there. The "road block" is the insurance company.

      Delete
  3. Gosh ... I have so many momentos of my travels, I don't know if I could get rid of them all. Sounds like you have it under control however. Just keep your eyes on the prize. Hope they fix your rig right and soon!!!

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    1. We do have a small storage unit because there are some things I am not ready to part with yet and Tom has a two canoes and a kayak. It is strange though the more we do this the easier it is to let go of things.
      The Stinger "B" getting fixed soon is our hope, also.

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  4. Getting rid of “stuff” can get overwhelming. We gave away things, had garage sales, donated and threw away. I’ll never have a big house again. Good luck!

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    Replies
    1. Overwhelming is right though we did decide not to do a garage sale we have put a few things up on a local online rummage sale site. I find I am keeping less and less as we go along. What our kids/family do not take is being donated. Hope you are enjoying your summer.

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  5. Congratulations to your daughter on her Bachelors Degree.
    As mentioned before the House and STUFF own you and the less you have the more Freeing it is. You still have to watch what you bring in the MH because by nature Humans are gathers.
    Dealing with Insurance Companies is a PITA but once you are back on the road you can shop around.
    Wishing you both a Great Summer and hoping our paths will cross again.
    Be Safe and Enjoy!

    It's about time.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you, we are proud of her accomplishment.

      We just hope we can get the repairs done here before we leave. Our nephew works at this shop and they have a good reputation.

      The goal is to be free of stuff...

      Hope to see you both down the road.

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  6. So glad to hear from you again! Figured you have been really busy and the blogpost shows that's true! Congrats Rachel! Huge accomplishment. Your grandkids are adorable. Love the pic of Nadine and Thomas! Looking forward to hearing from you again soon! :)

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    Replies
    1. Thanks Shirley.

      I am going to try and be a better blogger...:)

      Delete
  7. Thank you for the update! Congratulations to Rachel! You must be so proud! You have been busy and I sure remember trying to live life and downsize at the same time. Good luck with the process!
    Hugs

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    Replies
    1. We are proud of her accomplishment.
      I will be so glad when the last box leaves this house. The heat and humidity we have been having the last couple of days has not helped.
      (((hugs)))

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