Apologies for my tardiness in updates. The last few days have been long and the evenings pleasant but short. Most things from the last few days are a blur but I remember the important stuff – the time spent with friends and family. So let’s start with that.
- A special thanks to Pete and Judy for hosting a great dinner Wednesday evening as usual as well as a thanks to everyone who was able to attend to say goodbye (till next year).
- An impromptu dinner out with my one and only brother Brian Thursday night at Sakura II. Hey Brian, I’m leaving town in the next few days so that monthly eating out budget you mentioned being so high should go down a bit. 🙂
- A dinner out with the family, Mom, Dad, all 5 of my kids (a rarity having them all together these days), Cheryl, Brian, Stacey, and their crew.
Each evening (except tonight) I’ve been sleeping within about 15 minutes of arriving at the apartment for the evening. Thanks to Rachel for sleeping in the chair this week so I can sleep in the bed in this one bedroom apartment.
Tuesday I continued packing food, clothing, bedding, towels, and dishes. I must move slow, cause as I recall that is all I really got done albeit the clothes were put away nicely, sheets and towels neatly folded. Yes, you are reading this correctly. I hung my shirts and folded my other clothes, folded the sheets and towels for those of you who know me and are currently in shock.
Wednesday was spent going though and clearing the bedrooms of belongings, major trash, and removable stuff in the walls in advance of Maria so she could clean the rooms really well for me. I then ran errands which took me a few hours. A bit more work before showering for dinner as previously noted.
Thursday was spent doing minor repairs around the house such as rehanging closet doors and replacing window balance springs on a living room window. Replacing the springs was an interesting project. Did you know that the third time is a charm only if you are paying attention to what you did wrong the first two times? On the forth attempt of reassembling the window springs (need to replace them as pairs), I took my time to really understand what I did wrong in my previous attempts as oppose to the “I must not have done it right, let me do the same thing again to see if it works this time” approach. Equally embarrassing was my effort to disassemble new hinges to rehang a closet door that I strangely lost 2/3 of both top and bottom hinge (I’m sure I disposed of them in the purge this spring not knowing what they went to). And yes, I still intend to build a house myself. It will be a learning experience, that is certain. As previously noted, I had a nice dinner with Brian since I was in Portage running more errands around dinner time and was starving. A dinner well worth the time given some of the things Brian asked if I had thought of which I hadn’t or if I had, I had discounted but maybe shouldn’t have after giving them more thought. Then back to work at the house replacing light bulbs in the basement and restoring as many basement ceiling tiles to their proper place as I could manage.
Today (Friday) was spent dealing with trying to get the spare tire on the truck loose to no avail and loading the truck. Thanks to Brian for having me check that spare tire. At least now I know. Not sure what I am going to do about it in this short time. Given all the flammable penetrating oil that has been sprayed in the area to try to break the secondary clamp loose I am hesitant to try to cut the bracket to at least free the tire. I did buy a spare tire for the trailer although like most projects, even that took three trips to the tire store. One to order it, one to pick it up (I didn’t want to sit there and wait for it so I had Rachel pick it up on her way to the house), and one to swap out the wrong tire they gave us for the correct tire and rim. Thanks to Jacob for making that third run for me. Thanks to the in-laws Bob and Sharon for stopping by for some coaching on the operation of some of the travel trailer’s systems given this is my first RV, the info provided was helpful. Unfortunately, I forgot to send the carload of stuff I had set aside for them with them, so that stuff is now sitting in the apartment with a lot of other stuff there is no room for. Thanks to Rachel for her help in loading the trailer’s fridge and freezer with goods from the house while I loaded the truck. The bed of the truck is 95% packed. there is a bit more space available for the trailer tire, the truck tire if we are able to break it free before I leave.
Even with all that progress, I definitely won’t be leaving Saturday morning as desired. At this point, even Sunday morning is questionable. I REALLY want to get though Chicago either Sunday morning or late Sunday night, but I have to get the house and garage cleaned out before I leave. That means more trips to the apartment, storage unit, goodwill, and dump. Not sure how much more stuff I will be cramming into the trailer. I may very well already be pushing the weight limit. Won’t know until I go have the trailer weighed (if I have the trailer weighed).
So I’m dozing off while I try to finish this post so it is time to call it good for now. I’ll finish with a couple of pics from early in the week. On the right is a pic of the “Sasha fence” in the truck and the left is Sasha’s first visit inside the trailer. She was chilling out while I worked after she was done checking out the trailer.
Seeking Simplicity 