Big news and awful Internet connections

A big Welcome to Alan McMillan, our newest follower!  Thanks for joining us, Alan - things are starting to really move quickly now, and I'm glad you're along for the ride!

I’m having a heck of a time with this new Samsung 4G card from Verizon. Since I received it I’ve had really spotty connections.  It constantly shuts off, and after five calls to Verizon yesterday, they are sending me a new one, which will arrive Tuesday.  I’m hoping the problem is with the unit itself, and after Tuesday it will be smooth sailing.

I cancelled my cable TV and Internet service weeks ago, so am now using only my computer and the 4G card for TV, which is really frustrating, since it shuts off every five minutes or so. 

I’m typing this post on Word, and will do a quick cut/past into Blogger and post it.  Hopefully I’ll have a connection long enough to do that.  

I did find out, though, in one of my Verizon calls yesterday, that Santee, where I’ll be staying in my RV park, DOES HAVE 4G!  Yeaaaaah!  This 3G is slower than cable Internet, but the 4G is just as fast, and I’m going to be happy to have the 4G for sure.

Last night I was so frustrated, I packed Katie and my computer in the car a drove up the street to Starbucks, bought a coffee, and watched two of my TV shows on ch131.com in my car.  I’m having really bad withdrawal from TV watching and computer surfing.  I don’t have very many TV shows that I like to watch, but geeez, I’d like to see a couple of them.

So, my big news is that I am being laid off; my last day of work is June 2!  I have 11 more days of work before I’m done.  Forever.   

No.  More.  Working. 

I had a long talk with my boss (my son) on Wednesday and he would really like to reduce the staff by one person, and since I’m not planning to work beyond December, he wanted to know if I could afford to leave sooner.  With unemployment, I definitely could, especially since I won’t have my condo too much longer (I hope).  It kind of seems like everything is working out for me to get into my plan sooner than expected.  If I still had my condo with a renter, I would want to work through December for the extra security of the six months of full time paychecks and to see if the renter was stable, but…  Now I don’t have to worry about it. So that’s what we’re going to do.   

He had me type of a list of all my duties so he could determine which ones he’ll give the two office employees that will be left.  He will still give me special projects as they come up that I can do from The Palms, and hopefully that income will extend my unemployment a bit.  He’s also working on another possible income stream for me.  It may not be in place until next year, but if it works out it will be a good income producer for me and something I love to do – all computer related.  So, about the time I finish unemployment, or before, I may have a good income stream in place.  In the mean time, I plan to check into all the links I’ve been collecting for writing, editing, researching, etc. that I can do from the road using my computer.  I really enjoy that kind of work, and hope to be able to still access some opportunities in those areas.  

No photos today – I’m not going to frustrate myself further with trying to upload and lose them. (Besides, there’s not much going on.)

Katie and I visited The Palms yesterday.  I needed a deep bowl to microwave an artichoke. I have NOTHING here at the house to cook with.  I don’t have any pots – they all went in the Estate Sale.  I have only two pans, and they are both at The Palms.  There was a pretty good size bowl, though, in the set of storage containers I got a Costco, and I brought it home and it worked perfectly.  

On Friday I got more storage containers for The Palms.  They had four drawer plastic storage containers, similar to what I already had in my craft room for mostly quilting things, but the ones I had were too wide to fit into my one large closet in The Palms.  On Friday I found narrower ones, and got two. I won’t have enough hanging space, so I’ll use those for Lingerie, Tanks, Tees, Turtlenecks, etc. Each drawer will hold one thing, and it will be very organized and easy, and the things that need to be hung, will have room.  My label maker is going to be busy!

I also got more racks for the kitchen cupboard, to double the storage areas.  I put them all in and re-arranged things, so now I have lots more room, and it’s more organized.  I also need a few more containers for overhead cupboards.  What I have in the cupboards so far fits fine, but when I open them after driving, things fall out and I’m trying to catch them before they hit me.  I need some containers that aren’t tall, just enough to hold everything in place.  It will be easier to find things, too, if I just have to take the whole thing out, or slide it partway out.  Then I can label the outside of the container and see at a glance what’s inside. 

I want to get a nesting set of pots for The Palms.  I remember reading in someone’s blog about some they bought at an RV Rally.  I  think you can also get them on-line.  They looked nice, and she loved them. Said she was sorry she hadn’t invested in a set much sooner. They were kind of pricey, though.  If anyone knows what I’m talking about, can you leave me a comment?  I did a search yesterday, but with the connection problems I was having, I couldn’t find anything that sounded like what she had. I think they are, maybe, specifically made for RV and boat use.  The pots and pans nest and the handles folded or came off for storage.

It’s grey and damp outside, with a little rain.  But the sun is starting to poke out a little.  We may drive down to a free internet location again and watch a Netflix movie.    

From Me and My Dog, have a great Sunday, everyone! : )

The condo looks great - empty - but great!

Well, things are relatively back to normal here on the home front.

Here are some photos of my current living arrangements - not for long, though.

 Dining room - our current bedroom

Living room - my current LR/Office

 Master Bedroom

 Guest Room (My Sewing/Craft Room)

Patio

I have food in the cupboards and fridge, and clothes hanging again in the closet.  I am pretty comfortable for now.  Before I started all this, I figured I would be comfortable with a bed and chair and that's what I have, and it's working fine for me (and Katie).

On June 1 I'll move into the RV park, but will continue to stay here from time to time to keep an eye on things. I'll keep the gas/electric going.

The condo looks so empty and clean - it's actually in better condition than when I bought it 6 1/2 years ago. I've made some nice upgrades, and it should be worth more than my purchase price.  According to my Realtor, the only comparable in the area to my condo is one that sold in February as a regular sale. It sold for $125K less than I paid for mine.  There is no way it will ever appreciate enough for me to sell it and break even.  So I am going ahead with the short sale.  I'll let you know how that goes.  I'm not worried about it. I have excellent credit, and with the credit score hit I'll take with a short sale, I'll still have better credit than a lot of people.  The sense of relief I have at this point is incredible.  

I also have some big news that I'll post next time.  : )))))

And now I'm going to get a hair cut, and Katie is going for her booster shots this afternoon.  I'm keeping my fingers crossed for us both!

From Me and My Dog, have a great Friday, everyone!  : )

Estate Sale - one more day... then I get my house back

Thank you, Pidge. I looked at the end of my followers list, and in the followers without a photo I found some new people.

So.... Welcome to Steve, a new Follower to Me and My Dog.  I checked out his blogs, and it looks like he's really into Poker!  Steve, we're really happy to have you join us on our adventure!

Welcome also to April Solla and trustnoone1018, who recently became Followers. They don't have photos or blogs that I could find, but I'm sure happy to have you following along with me and my dog, Katie.

To answer some of your "comment" questions about the Estate Sale:

Yes, a LOT of the stuff in the photos in my last post was not mine. And a lot of it is still here, but it should all be gone tomorrow.

I don't think I was taken advantage of, not much anyway. I think maybe this is a normal thing for these kinds of sales.  I think they could have been a little more organized, and they could have kept things cleaner (my carpets), and I would have appreciated them getting everything out sooner.  My understanding was that everything would be gone on Monday after the sale.

I actually agreed to have other people's things, from previous Estate Sales, included in my sale.  I didn't realize how much there would be, though. That is why we had a 65/35 split of the take. That way they could continue selling things from previous sales, and increase their take. If I didn't agree, I would have gotten a 50/50 split.  They said they also did well with the "other people's" stuff, and previous customers would be happy to get a check in the mail.

They hire a crew (two people at my sale since my home is small) and moving vans to and from each sale to haul things to the next sale, they have all their sales equipment, cash register, website, all the business expenses.  I don't think they would have netted much without the other stuff being here.

They said they did much better than expected at my sale, they keep adding more from boxes of stuff on hand that doesn't fit at first, and that keeps people coming back to see what's new the next day.  They had a high volume of lookers each day. My neighbor said people were coming and going all day, and they extended the sale to 5:30 each day because of the traffic.

For my stuff, every piece of furniture was sold, anything that really had any value.  Only little things were left like dishes, glasses, Christmas ornaments, things like that.  I didn't want them to schlep my leftovers to their next sales, so I opted for a "buy out," they called a couple of companies who will buy out the remainder after Estate Sales, and I was offered $250 for what was left. I thought that was very generous, and it was still a 65/35 split, so the deal was made.

About half of the things are gone now, and about half of what's left is packed up in boxes, and will be gone tomorrow.  The carpet cleaner is coming on Thursday.

One thing to remember is that when people have Estate Sales, at least around here, the owner of the "estate" has usually died or moved to an assisted care or similar residence.  They are gone, the sale is held, the money paid and everyone is happy.  I'm still here, and popped in almost every day.  I wonder if that is unusual for them, and if I was just too "present" at my own sale.  If I had gone to visit my daughter for a week or so and then come back, I wouldn't have seen all this, and it wouldn't have been a problem.  Do you remember how your house looked when you were moving?  When most of the stuff was boxed up, there were creases and marks in the carpets where the heavy furniture was, cobwebs and little pieces of things left from moving out the big stuff.  Just kind of messy.  That's what my place looks like now - other than the carpet stains, which hopefully will be taken care of.

And I do have to say, they called me at least once a day to keep me updated on what was happening. I appreciated that. And now that it's almost over, I can't imagine any other way I could have gotten rid of everything in one week.

When I get the final payment, I'll let you know what what my total was, might as well.  Considering all my furniture was at least ten years old, not in perfect condition, and I didn't want it, I'll be very happy to get the check.  They give their customers a money order or Cashier's Check, the first one is 65 percent of the cash they took in, the second one depends on the "hold time" the bank places on the checks deposited. When they clear, usually 3 to 5 days, then I'll get the remainder.  They gave me an approximate number, but I'll tell you when it's final. Maybe it will help someone else out there make a decision, and you'll know much more than I did.

Soon this will be over and I'll be bringing The Palms to Santee Lakes, and Katie and I will be full-timers, and this will be an interesting memory.  We move on June 1!!!

At the beach on Saturday, I pulled out the couch and Katie and I took a nap and tried it out.  It was really comfortable!

 Just a reminder - love my kitchen!

Can't wait!

From Me and My Dog, have a great Tuesday evening, everyone! : )

OMG! Wait till you see this!

Happy Mother's Day!

This is what I found when I came home today:

 They said my house was almost empty - this is the living room

 My dining room

 The dressing area outside my bathroom

Kitchen

They told me they are having the carpet cleaned.  Now I know why.  This is the carpet right inside my front door, see the lovely black stain:

This is the worst stain, but there are small ones all over the carpet

 The guest bedroom was almost empty, this is where we are sleeping

I borrowed my neighbor's vacuum and a sheet to lay on the carpet, then put my open sleeping bag on top of a quilt so we can sleep in reasonable cleanliness.

I made more than I expected from the sale, but honestly - I think I've been sugarcoating things. It hasn't been as easy as it looked.  The ladies were pretty disorganized, brought in, I felt, a lot more of other people's stuff than I thought they should have.  Once I was committed and signed the contract, I just kind of let things go, figuring they have been in business a long time and were the professionals.  But I really don't think they respected my property.  I sure liked them and trusted them at our first meeting, but...

(Merikay asked in her blog if any of us delete or re-write our posts - well, Merikay, here is the space where I cut out all my ranting... Four long paragraphs.) 

Just beware if you hire a company to do an estate sale.  I can't believe they are all like this, do some checking of references before signing the contract. 

I might be a little happier after I receive my check.  I'll let you know.  : )

I had a comment on my blog that a follower is in the middle of a short sale.  I have been thinking about doing that. I just learned about short sales from two ladies at my Estate Sale. They both did short sales on their homes and explained how it works.  One has a realtor that specializes in short sales and I’m going to call her tomorrow. 

I will never move back to my condo, I can’t afford the mortgage when I retire. I’ve already lost my $70,000 down payment because of the downturn in the market, and now I’m thinking, why bother with renters?  It will never appreciate to the point where I can sell it and break even, why not just let it go. 

I just had a woman call me to rent my place, and she explained that she had to let her home go, but her credit report was still 720, so it didn’t hurt her too much. That’s 4 people this weekend that told me they had a short sale, and I've never talked to anyone before about short sales. I’m wondering if someone is trying to tell me something?!?


I have 90 Followers now!  Every so often the numbers are strange.  I had 89 before, and now it shows 90, but I don't see any new photos.  I hope I'm not missing anyone, the photos are added at the top where we can see them and there aren't any new ones after Bob, so if I've missed anyone, I apologize.

From Me and My Dog, Katie, have a good Sunday night, everyone!  : )

Easter photos

To answer my commenters about the generator's fuel:  I DO remember reading in the Onan User's manual that there is an automatic shut-off if the gas tank gets lower than 1/4 full, so you don't run out of gas for driving. I had forgotten that, and I think I asked my question wrong to the La Mesa RV man. I guess if it needed no fuel, it would be one of those perpetual motion machines, and they haven't been invented yet, have they?  I sure did like thinking that I could run it forever with no fuel, though. : )

Here's one more shot of the beach today:

I never posted photos from Easter at my son's house, so since I didn't take any today, I'll put them here:

 Have a little dip with your cracker, Graydin?

 The adults in the dining room, kids were in the kitchen

 They couldn't break the ribbon to "GO" until Graydin was ready.

The older kids were so patient.

 Is there one under there?

 Kennedy finds one!

 Look at all Gavin's eggs!

It was a fun day, good food, good company and a fun Easter Egg Hunt.

I am again here at the beach - we're in a different spot, the first one after the long red curb for the buses.  That gives me a good place to back up when leaving.   I really don't need that, though, because by the time I leave, everyone is gone and the street is empty of parked cars.

It's nice just hanging out after having a pretty stressful week, and all the packing and moving boxes I've done for the last couple of weeks.  (You should see my arms and legs - OMG - I have so many bruises!)

The Estate Sale ladies gave me the names of 4 people who might be interested in renting, I called them today and left 3 messages and talked to one older woman who is not sure yet. She needs to talk it over with her kids.  I just got a call from the ladies a bit ago.  The sale is over, they got one more name of a potential tenant, so I'll call him when I post this.  As long as they were willing to take names and numbers I decided to try that. These people have seen the condo, gone inside and looked around, and if I can get a tenant myself I will do that. But if none of these leads work out, I'll meet with the realtor - I am also thinking about a short sale. When I stopped by yesterday two different women there, one is a neighbor, told me they did short sales. Since I don't plan to ever move back to the condo, I just might do some research on that option.

The sale went pretty well, but am I glad it's over!  I am netting a bit more than I had hoped for.  I went to the condo last night.  After the first day it was a  mess!!!  But one of the ladies wasn't there that day or the previous night, so they were short handed. (She had chest pains and ended up in the ER the night before.)  She was back yesterday, and when I stopped by after the sale, the condo was much more organized and actually looked pretty good.  They had taken some of the other people's stuff out, and I was much happier with how things looked. 

When they called this evening, they said the condo is almost empty. A couple of big pieces of furniture still need to be picked up by the buyers, and they are having the carpets cleaned, and the companies for the sale of everything that is left will come by to bid on the remainder.  So next week some time I'll get it back, empty and clean.

I know you are all wondering what the final total sales came out to, but I'm not going to post that.  Every sale is different, and every area is different.  Even the people who came this week would be different than next week, so my totals are not going to be the same as any other sale.  I will say, though, that I had hoped for a certain amount, and my profit exceeded that, so I am happy. 

Katie and I have taken two walks so far, and she's being really good.  I wasnt' sure how she would be this close to all the people running and walking by the windows, some with dogs that she knows are there. Mostly she is quiet, a couple of times she barked, but stopped when I told her to.  A little guttural growling from time to time, but on the whole she's been very quiet, so maybe she won't bark much in an RV park, which will have far fewer people walking by The Palms.

Tonight we are going back to the same parking lot we were in last night, then I want to come back here again. I'm going to park further up the road, on the top of a small hill, where we'll get a different view and be able to walk in a different area.  I'm meeting my neighbor, Julie, for a Mother's Day lunch at 1:00, so we'll drive back home then.

I plan to bring The Palms back to the storage lot and get my car Sunday afternoon, and sleep in the condo tomorrow night, since I have work the next morning.  I hope I can at least find one clean, clear area to lay down my sleeping bag.  I may borrow a sheet from my neighbor to lay down on the carpet.

From Me and Katie, have a Wonderful Mother's Day tomorrow, everyone!  :)