Remember the Glamping Fabric from here ? I finished the place mats today !
I don't want to jinx anything but I think Spring has finally arrived in Seattle. Yesterday was such a gorgeous day. Bright blue skies,a soft breeze creating little blossom snowstorms as I passed under the plum trees,and the feel of the warm sun on my face-just amazing. I feel so grateful to be able to enjoy every single moment of it. But , isn't there usually a but ? I need to kick into gear and get serious about packing up the house so we can paint and do all the fun things to get ready to put it on the market. I'm trying the self talk thing by reminding myself that the work I'm doing now will be done and soon we will be on the road. I've been working really hard to stay in the moment and not day dream about taking off in Ruby in December. It's so hard,especially on days like today. I want to be out on the open road,getting ready to pull into a campground on the beach or out in the desert. Sigh.
"The past is gone, the future is not yet here, and if we do not go back to ourselves in the present moment, we cannot be in touch with life.”
Present moment, concentrate,keep myself aware of today and enjoy it, who knows what comes next. Lately I've been avoiding present moment . Present moment means going through things for "keep", "throw away" or "donate" piles. Letting go of possessions is a challenge. I can't tell you how many times I've put my aunt's little porcelain plate into a box and pulled it out wondering if it's something I want to keep. Last night laying in bed I came to a decision about having a garage sale-not going to happen ! I dislike having garage sales (love going to them). There's a domestic violence shelter that we've donated to in the past and I've decided that's where everything is going to go. No haggling in the driveway over $1 or $2 for a frying pan. Now, I'm just trying to look at my possessions as , what do I need to live ? And what is "fluff", nice to have but not necessary to exist. It's the "fluff" that gets to you. Those are the possessions that have the memories-you know the little collection of Eiffel Towers that takes you back to the streets of Paris; the mosaic mirrors that were intensely labored over; the tiny eclectic jewelry boxes picked up at garage sales-you get the picture. Oh and don't forget the two boxes of photo albums, collected before I went totally digital ! Those are the most difficult to let go of. Will I really forget the excitement of camping on the Pacific coast trail if I don't have a picture of it ? No,the memory will never fade.
I almost feel a little guilty over collecting "things" for Ruby. But what I'm learning from this house cleaning is how to let go of the "fluff". And especially since Ruby has limited storage I don't have a choice, unless we end up hauling a trailer behind Ruby and that is not going to happen ! What I'm trying to do is make everyday items special-like the shabby chic place mats I just finished. You remember the fabric I bought here ? Well they worked out beautifully-and now when we are sitting out at the picnic table I'll remember sitting in my sun room,looking out at the birds and flowers in the backyard as I was sewing them. Sigh.
It's another gorgeous day in Seattle and I'm in my "present moment mode",packing and sorting. Enjoy your day and your moment.
"A good life is when you assume nothing, do more, need less, dream big, laugh a lot and realize how blessed you are."
Unknown
.jpg)
If you know anyone who is interested in a gorgeous mosaic life size mermaid,handmade by me ,let me know. There is no room inside Ruby for her,and she's been moved to a "try to sell list". Email me if you are interested ♥
.jpg)
I can sympathize with you over the garage sale decision. We tried to have sales as often as we could last year, considering Sharon's work schedule, but in general it was a waste. We live on a circle drive in a hard to find area within this retirement area Village, and people just don't show up for them. The first one last year had us busy until after lunch, but the rest of them we barely had three people show up. On some days there was literally no one show up. Our prices weren't "give away" prices, but they were fair. I know that some of the people that showed up originally were simply looking for cheap stuff that they could put in their own yard sales and make a profit.
ReplyDeleteI can understand their thinking, but on the other hand, this wasn't stuff that we "had" to dispose of immediately. We had another year of thinning things out, and wanted to maximize our profits from it as best we could. I was an eBay trainer, through their Education Specialist program, and if anyone was going to make a profit on anything, it would be ME!
This year, at this time, we are down to about 2-1/2 months from our departure time, and prices are coming down on most things, but we are not going to mess with garage sales this year. We are choosing specialized items to sell on eBay, and the rest will go into one huge moving sale early in July. Whatever is left at that time will go to a second-hand shop for whatever they are willing to pay, as long as they empty the house out. After that, we will do a final cleaning and turn the keys over to a realtor to sell the place after we are out of here. With everything else we have to do before we leave, and Sharon working a crazy schedule right up until the 24th of July, we don't have time to sort, price, display and schedule garage sales...especially with no better response than we have seen in the past.
Anyway, I have read up through 2013 on your blog, and will be starting 2014 soon. I see some things happening regularly that I want to give you some tips on, but in all fairness, I'll wait until I catch up, just in case you might have changed things since you started. I'll email you directly when I get to that point. I like your stories and your photography is great!