I had a busy weekend filled with grandkids and my first stop of the year for sweetcorn and green beans.  Oh I love this time of year for food.  I told Karl as we drove away with the corn and green beans that it would be so easy to eat better if only the fruits and veggies from this time of year were available year around.  Don’t you agree??  They all taste so much better when they are in season and picked timely.

I’ve been having grandkids a lot lately.  Gannon and Carver have been late…Georgia has been late and Scotty and Lucy were here for the weekend.  (more about that in an upcoming post).  We dropped Scotty and Lucy off with Lora on Sunday, stopped for corn and beans and headed home.  As we were going home Karl said, “Mom, maybe you should do something for you and get in the sewing room today.”

Karl has a bit of his dad in him.  It’s the exact same thing Kramer would have told me.  So much so that I decided I really should.  So I left behind all the “other” things I could or should be doing and decided to head to the sewing room.

In the past I’ve heard people say that after their spouse died it took a long time for them to get back to sewing.  I thought that was crazy.  But, now that I’ve lost a spouse, I can see that.

I went into the sewing room and seriously, had no idea what I had been working on, what I had been planning, or even where stuff went.  Remember I had finally only gotten through the whole sewing room a few months before Kramer got sick.  My memory of where things went was a little rusty.

I had to do a lot of cleaning before I could even attempt to sew.  I saw this book…I set it aside.  Seriously, I barely remembered a single quilt from the book.  It was like getting the book new all over again.

I got the machines set up….

I found the drawing of Georgia’s baby quilt…thank heavens.  I would have forgotten the layout I had in mind.

Ruby was a great side kick.

…and I even sewed.  See?? Continue reading →

Last week was clean out week here.  I didn’t have childcare.  I took the week off to work on getting a fresh start to my life.  Kalissa, Craig, Karl and Kelli (Kayla was here one day too) hung out in the trenches with me.  It was good as I needed help.

Some people thought it was “too soon” as Kramer only pass away a bit ago but for me the timing was perfect.  We were planning a garage sale all along and now was the time.  We dug deeper and cleaned out more than Kramer would have done himself but that’s okay.  The half finished projects aren’t going to be finished by anyone here….except for the few projects we kept back.

The garage was never cleaner.  NEVER except maybe the day before we moved in.  HA!!

We had a good sale…we sold about $2500 worth of stuff.  WOW…but there were LOTS of leftovers.  By about 10am Saturday morning I could see that there were going to be a lot of leftovers.  I started to try to figure out how on earth we were going to get through it all.  The kids had already helped with so much.  I felt terrible asking for more help now.  How was I going to get rid of metal stuff.  It can’t go in my garbage can.  AH!!  I’m not a real anxious person at all but I’ll admit to feeling a little anxious about it all.  I was okay with boxing up the things that could be donated to the thrift store but what about this other STUFF.

See???  It was a lot.  Little was worth anything…all of it were not things we could donate to the thrift store.

That stuff was all outside.  We had stuff inside that we were able to donate so we started packing it up.  Then Kalissa reminded me that last year when we had the sale we had a great response to our free stuff on the curb.  I told her I was so pooped I didn’t want to drag it to the curb so we picked the few things out we wanted and then posted on Facebook that anything on the driveway that was left was free and they could come and get it….and come they did.

Karl and Kalissa took off with a load of stuff that could be donated and I started cleaning the garage.  As I cleaned people came and picked through the leftovers.  About a half hour after the posting someone came (Let’s call him Charlie) and was actually interested in the snow blower that hadn’t sold he didn’t say he wanted it but did start picking through the junk.  A family came and was picking through the junk too.  At the same time, someone else messaged Kelli that they were interested in the snow blower too.  Well the person Kelli was talking to said yes first it happened to be a friend of her family.

So the guy “Charlie” got a little ambitious and started making a pile of the junk.  I could tell he likely wanted some of the things that others were taking.  About then the family left and “Charlie” came up to me and asked if I would hold everything for him if he promised to come and take absolutely everything that was left.

HECK YES!!!  My problem was solved.  It was the biggest blessing I’ve had in a long time.  WOW…all of the crap that I was anxious about getting rid of had a new home.  I didn’t have to worry about a thing.  Seriously, I was ready to give HIM money to take it.  I didn’t as he was THRILLED at getting all of the stuff for free!!

So while he cleaned off my driveway, Karl and Kalissa delivered the stuff to the thrift store.  I cleaned the garage and Kelli divied up the money.

Here’s my clean garage…. Continue reading →

Wow.

I’m working on a lot of things…
-garden
-landscaping
-visiting
-painting
-finding the house in the mess
-finding the sewing room specifically
-garage sale

What a list!

I did sneak in a little stitching time but not much.  I started this one….

I sat one night for about a half hour….It’s small so it should go quick if I only sit and take the time to do it.

I worked on this one too.  It’s the next Sheep Virtue.  The word for this one is “Patience”.  I started this one when Kramer was still alive.  It was while he was in the hospital that last time.  I finished the outside blue of the border and did the white.

At the time I started I thought the word “Patience” applied to me and I needed to be a little more “patient” with Kramer.  He had gotten a little more needy and at times I needed to remember to be patient.  I didn’t know then that the word “patience” was likely more for me reminding me that I need to be patient with myself.  I know that now…but onto the other things on the list.

A friend of mine was shocked when she heard I was thinking about a garage sale.  I am.  We have been thinking about it since March.

Over the past three months Kramer, Kalissa and I were all talking about having a garage sale.  I started sorting and tagging stuff.  We were gearing up for a HUGE garage sale like we had last fall….

Then something would happen.  Kramer would have a set back.  We’d end up in the hospital so the date would get reset.  Then Kramer would have a set back, we’d end up in the hospital and the date would get reset AGAIN.  It was a continuous problem.  Kramer so wanted to have a garage sale.  I did too.  Kalissa did too.  So to many having a garage sale may seem soon.  To Kalissa and I we feel more like we are carrying out Kramer’s wish.

Even though he was sick, I still went to one auction and we would stop at garage sales or thrift stores on the way to appointments buying things we planned on selling later at the antique booth or at our epic garage sale.

So…Kalissa and I have chatted and chatted.  I have this week off from childcare.  It’s the week to have the sale.  I need space. I can work on it as there are not kids here.  The majority of what is being sold is all things that we had planned to sell.  There are only a few exceptions and I’ve talked to the kids about those things….the lawn equipment.

Right now we have a snowblower that I can’t run.  We have a tiller that I can’t run.  We have a leaf blower and a weed eater that I can’t start.  With my shoulder I can’t pull the string to start them.  As of now, they are useless to me.  They use gas that needs to be mixed.  It’s all stuff that my 53 year old girl brain and body doesn’t want to deal with.

I started thinking about the equipment back when Kramer broke his neck.  I even started talking to him about selling them and getting something that was more user friendly for me.   At the time he understood my concern but thought he would get to a point where he could operate them again…so we did nothing.  Now I feel like he’d be okay with my selling the stuff and getting sometime I can use.

I do not want to be a burden to the kids and having equipment I can operate myself is one way to prevent that.  So…I’m selling the equipment we have.  I’m buying equipment I can use.  I don’t think that’s rash.  I think it’s practical.

..and that’s what I’ll be doing this week in between other stuff.