Blaine Voyage

Well, I may be in denial, but it’s almost June…

I will write about some of what we’ve been up to in more detail in individual posts when I have a little more time, but in the meantime, here’s an overview of the last few weeks.

We did a lot more cleaning of the house, and put it on the rental market. Fortunately, after a few stressful weeks, two applications (both excellent — it was tough to choose, but we know our renters will be great) came in, and we are thrilled to report that we are on a now forced schedule (phew), as our renters’ lease starts on July 1st. Shit got real. Really real. 

In the meantime, we are madly emptying the house. The POD needs to be out of our driveway by June 4th, so Mike did yeoman’s work this weekend getting it filled. It’s pretty much done, but we will be scouring the house over the next few days to see what else we can get in there. 

Julianna had fun playing the panorama game in the now empty (!!) playroom.  

As a reminder, in the middle of the preparing for putting on the market process, the playroom previously looked like this…

… so we made some serious progress. The upstairs office is basically empty now as well (Mike has a few random things still scattered on the floor), and all of the rooms are largely decluttered. 

My last day of work was Tuesday. On Wednesday I celebrated my first day of (F)UNemployment with a trip to Manhattan to spend time with some friends (most of whom I’ve known since high school youth group), eat delicious food, and see Dear Evan Hansen. 

On Thursday I worked on my to-do list, spent a little time crocheting with a local knitting and crocheting group at a local coffee house, had lunch with someone I respect, picked up Elizabeth from Bat Mitzvah tutoring, and then stopped to smell the (rainy) flowers for a bit on the way home.

If you’re ever in the vicinity of Montclair, New Jersey in late May, I can’t recommend Presby Memorial Iris Gardens enough. Those gardens were one of the deciding factors that led us to move to Montclair, and year after year, they never disappoint (even in the rain). 

Friday was my first day of getting stuff done. I took care of the over-40 booby smooshing and related testing, and began plowing my way through the most recent to-do list I had, making good progress. 

Saturday morning, I was feeling panicky because my to-do list wasn’t updated or comprehensive enough, so I called a Family Meeting Saturday morning, and we rattled off an impressively long list of 55 items (and I’m sure there are still more items that belong on there).  We made some meaningful progress for the next few hours on Saturday, and then took a break for our neighbors’ annual Memorial Day Weekend barbecue, which I will certainly miss next year. But as I’ve written before, as we embark on this journey, it is good to feel rooted in a neighborhood and community.

And, for the last two days we worked. A lot. But we’re making progress, and we even managed to have a little fun along the way…

Mike was entertained by having the opportunity to pretend that the POD was his man-cave, Game of Thrones, cold beer, and all. Elizabeth was not amused.