Moving to an Apartment in Rocket City

Last week I asked Alison, my realtor,

Can I just move this summer

 (with the for sale sign up)?

She said yes.

I spent a few days in Huntsville earlier this month.  While there I applied to substitute teach for the fall and scouted out apartments. 

I chose one which is not far from my family.  It is a 1402 square feet apartment with two bedrooms and two bathrooms and an eat-in kitchen. 

So when you come into the foyer of the four apartments in this building, two are upstairs and mine is at the right on the ground floor. I signed the lease for two years electronically. 

Huntsville is colder than I have been used to in Florida, and so having the front door and the back door open to a foyer before you go outside is great. Also the front foyer has mail boxes! 

I will like an eat-in kitchen where I can also put my upright freezer.

The complex has an exercise room, pool, and walking track for dogs. Maintenance is provided. Really more plusses than minuses.

Last week my water heater went out. Today I had a new water heater installed in my house. It might have waited until the house sold, but it didn't. When I move to an apartment, the landlord will take care of things like water heaters. 

So what needs to happen for me to move to Huntsville? I have to do more packing and some downsizing especially of clothes. I have different sizes of clothing and need to settle on what to take. Also, I want to finish a quilt for the last grandchild of my husband before I move. I want to see people before I move. 

I do not know how it will all happen--moving--but better to move at age 70 rather than be moved to a nursing home later with someone having to sell my house and sort through my junk. I am taking care of it myself. 

Thanks for your prayers, folks. 

What I Did Over Spring Break

Monday, the first day of the Spring Break when I would not be able to substitute teach all week,  my realtor, Alison Terry, came over at 10 am. I had taken note of her instructions in January when she first gave them to me, and also HER positive coaching by text for two months. I signed the papers for her to list the house on Monday, March 9. 

Now Alison should have been pleased and in fact was,  because major furniture was gone as I have been blogging about on this site. Repairs that I wasn't able to do while I was my late husband's caregiver had been made. My brother loaned me money for a new water softener and I managed to pay him back at the beginning of this month. A new garage door was installed. Even so, the house was to be sold "as is"--no way could I afford to put in a new kitchen or remodel the two bathrooms or put in new rugs. 

Monday when she came Alison took numerous pictures for the listing. Here are some of the items she featured in the MLS side show:

The brick fireplace.

The circular driveway.

The pergola in the backyard.

The French doors to the backyard.

The lighted vanity and drawers in the master bedroom. 

AND

S P A C I O U S   R O O M S!!

The house smelled good thanks to AirWick in six rooms. (I was not aware of the dog smell in my house but she clued me in.) Family pictures were boxed up and much less was on the walls. 

Meanwhile a certain M. M. had fallen in love with our dream house right away when she saw it on the MLS listing Tuesday night. Wednesday M. M.  and a friend were the first ones to come. Sharon, the realtor from Realty 2000,  came half hour earlier  at 3:30. I had to be out by 4:00 with my dog. I gave Sharon my tour, telling her that the master bedroom used to have a king-sized bed, but was changed to a hospital bed for my late husband and a twin bed for me. Hospice had taken the bed back, and instead of thinking of it as the room where my husband died, the master bedroom now had a twin bed and a sewing island, not that I have done that much sewing lately. (Ziggy still has to sleep with his people, even if it is only I in a twin bed.) 

After Sharon's short tour, I met Sharon's  prospective buyers on the front porch. With Ziggy in my arms I managed to give my "Junk of Old People" rap, humorously telling the prospective buyers of my downsizing efforts. 

Then Ziggy and I did what we were supposed to do while three different realtors were showing the house--we left the house until it was dark.  To date there have been maybe a half a dozen showings and 127 people on my Facebook Like Page for this blog who viewed the Wednesday night message from my iPhone:

Dog Ziggy and I have been holding out in a park for three showings of my house tonight. Started to rain and we just made a dash for the car. Realtor just sent me an email to my iPhone that the first prospect to see it are going to make an offer on it!! 

Ten comments followed. Folks, if all you do is read this blog, you might consider clicking on the above right link to Facebook where I do post a lot. 

Thursday the post hole diggers came to put the For Sale sign in. 

I can't believe we forgot Alison's sign, they remarked. 

I took off to see the movie "Still Alice" Thursday afternoon and then wrote on the Facebook Like page my brief review: Family wins out in this wonderful, realistic Alzheimer's movie. 

I added,  At the end of it [Still Alice]  I turned my iPhone back on at 4:39 pm and read this message from my realtor. 

"You received an offer today! Full price."

At 1:30 pm today, Friday, the 13th, I accepted the offer at Alison's office. 

When I came home, the above sign had been been put on that pole in my front yard. 

This afternoon a lady came by to inquire about the For Sale sign and wanted to see inside. I told her there is an offer I accepted and I couldn't let her in, as my realtor had advised, but I did sit on the front porch and chat with her and gave her Alison's card in case it went back on the market. After all, my poem that became my first rap is featured on this blog--Longing to Chat on the Front Porch With You HERE. 

BACK TO PACKING. 

Moving, Part Six

I have pointed out that during my caregiving days much else didn't happen. While my husband had been active in home repairs before 2008, I just held on and studied how to be a caregiver, not a manager of taking care of the home. After his death there have been a lot of repairs that have needed to happen inside and outside to put the house on the market.

First off was getting rid of rust stains and installing a new water softener.

Rust on right

Drip made it worse

During my husband's illness, I was not proactive about maintaining the water softener. The result was RUST in sinks, showers, on clothes and in dishes. A whole set of dishes will probably be thrown out.


Pharis had some tricks of the trade, however, to get everything back to normal. Pharis and my brother also got hair out of the drain so the water would go down better in the shower, as I had so worried about it spilling over onto the floor when I showered.

Paris was able to clean the tub and the shower with CLR first
and then the Fast Orange.

Quite a difference from before.  

Old garage door

The garage door was repaired before the first January garage sale and now it secures the next garage sale later in February.

New garage door works like a charm and
allows easy access for garage sale set up. 

Outside in addition to yard maintenance, Pharis has been painting. The house looks fresh.

Jose and John of Admiral Carpet Cleaning

Now for the rug cleaning. According to the realtor at first, the rug had to be torn out and the concrete painted. Then we came down to a compromise.  She recommended a rug cleaner, Admiral Carpet Cleaning (813-654-1397). My main task was to clear the den so it could be cleaned by February 7th when my brother scheduled them to come to the house.

Jose and John were very efficient and were out of the house in less than two hours; Ziggy hung out at Sally and Jake's house while the rug was cleaned and dried. Jake was at the Plant City Senior Center and Sally and I enjoyed a lunch in western Tampa with a $25 gift card I had given her for her birthday--at TGIF Fridays. I thought there was a close one when I selected this gift card, but I was wrong. We talked and talked and as I drove and drove. It would have been too hard for her to use it with Jake and I thoroughly understood remembering days with my husband. Mental note: be careful when you select gift cards for people. I will really miss Sally when I move, but at least she has learned to text now!

Now my rooms are very spacious with clean carpeting because large furniture has been sold and other furniture has been moved to the garage for the garage sale or the workshop for the move.







I have boxes and newspapers! I got them from Strawberry Crest High School where I substituted in January. The cafeteria ladies regularly gave me boxes to fit into my SUV. Those boxes are ready for me in the workshop--some packed and some ready to be packed or repacked and labeled. Of all the times I have moved before, this seems to be the most complicated, but there is a saying You can eat an elephant a bite at a time.

Meanwhile I have another challenge.

Can you teach an old dog new tricks? 

Before

It turns out with my busy caregiving days Ziggy has not taken advantage of two doggie doors in the house to go outside to do his business. John and Juan got out stains and the house smells great. But by a leg of the piano he did a horrible thing. When the piano was moved, it left this.

Admiral Carpet Cleaning did a magnificent job of the other stains, but the acid went to the concrete leaving a hole to the concrete.

After: less than an inch to the concrete that I have to re-carpet. 

Admiral Carpet Cleaning Recommends Club Soda

This morning I caught Ziggy! He peed on my cleaned carpet by that chair leg! He is getting retraining so I can keep this fresh carpet smell! Used that club soda this morning. 

Stay tuned for further reports on my packing,  

retraining Ziggy and 

of course selling and moving! 

Moving, Part Three

Cecil is the professional who wanted the pool table for himself and had the expert muscle men help to move the heavy slate pool table. He will put it in his garage, much to his wife's chagrin because she was parking her car there. (He told her he will built her a car port for her car.) I think he does play pool professionally and he does buy, sell and trade pool tables as this sign suggests. Call him it you need one. 

Cecil decided against taking out the special red felt we had which apparently is hard to come by even for an expert. He wouldn't disassemble the table as I had been telling people needed to happen. Instead his crew carried it through the French doors out to a truck. 

The gentlemen also helped by raising the lights that hung over the pool table on their chains and then moved into my empty den a banquet table where I can pack boxes. 

The pool table rolled on down the street, and now with two large pieces of furniture removed (also sectional as I reported in Moving, Part Two), the carpet can be pulled up. I am ready for further adventures of moving, getting a new garage door installed, and having plumbing issues resolved. 

I am grateful for happy days my husband tried to teach me to play pool. I reflect on the great day my husband and Jake played pool together while their friend Bob had to keep score for the gentlemen because of the short-term memory of the players. I am grateful for being able to cut out quilts on it when it was covered. An era has passed out of my life. 

Quilt for oldest grandson
 I made for his wedding

Moving, Part One

I had three yard sales in October and got rid of my late husband's tools and I will have more yard sales because I am putting my house on the market.  I contacted a realtor, Alison Terry,  and she is like a real dutch uncle. The second day of January Alison put it to me:

You have too much stuff. 

Make each room look spacious. 

Take up the carpet and just paint the floor. 

I am thinking it will be like no one lives in the house. Where will I put the stuff I need when I move? If she's going to be my realtor, however, I better obey her!

My realtor. Alison,  is in my Toastmaster's club and she remembered when I did a speech on "The House That Cleans Itself".  She thought it would be all pretty when she came here. Wrong. I have clutter again after six months of being a widow and previously a hard year when my husband went downhill with dementia.  Plus the rug has bad stains that surfaced.

Just take the carpet up and paint the concrete. 

Now to take up the rug means I had to get rid of the large couch in the family room that stretched from the fireplace to the garage door. Where Ziggy is sitting in the picture is my late husband's "Archie Bucker" seat--his favorite place in the house.

Now you can't move the couch and the pool table outside for a regular yard sale. So I put both the couch and the pool table on three virtual yard sales on Facebook on January 3rd and have been so busy with FB messages since then. I decided that when I talked to someone, I would know; they needed to call me after I messaged them, not just comment on the Facebook group. I was asking $75 for the couch and $800 for the pool table. Within an hour I had a lot of interest with Facebook messages.   

Two couples called me from the laundromat and came by when a comforter was dry. They thought the two-piece couch had the third section in the middle and at one time it did, but my late husband and I had gotten rid of that piece. When they phoned, they asked it were curved and I said "yes" because I thought they meant the curving on top. So they didn't take it. I guess I misled them on the phone. 

But these two couples did thoughtfully help me. They put that couch in the garage for the next person. Then they helped me move furniture. First they moved the living room couch to the adjoining family room. 

Coincidentally the big TV my husband watched in that family room went dead the same day.

They took the big TV to the curve and when I returned from church on Sunday it was gone along with the remote control and instruction manual I also put with it.  I gave them the big TV stand--such nice young folk. And of course I rapped for them! Only I didn't remind them to secure the garage which is getting a new door on January 20th.

So now remembrances of my husband's favorite "Archie Bunker" spot where he watched that TV are gone. See HERE for how this spot was his favorite spot.

After that it continued to be an adventure discovering who would take the couch now in the garage along with the pool table. One husband came by when I was at church and opened the garage with my not being there. 

Breaking and entering--ya think? 

He told his wife it had holes and rips, which wasn't accurate and didn't take it, after she had told me she was first and scolded me for not letting her get a chance before the above lovely group.

I had Pharis come over and secure the property after that gentleman entered the garage while I wasn't there.

Sunday night another wife came by. She would send an email to her husband and they would decide. He said "no".

So it was offered to a family of four who decided to take it. The dad tied it down while the son showed me some karate moves. Nice family! Of course I did rap for them as well.

Meanwhile, several people are interested in the the pool table. Now a pool table is a huge project to move. It involves setting it up at another location. Stay tuned.

Selling the house and moving is indeed an adventure.