I Heart Craigslist

Do you all Craigslist?  I've bought and sold on there several times in the last several years.  I won't bore you what I've bought and sold, but I'll share with you my most recent sale.

This sat at the moving sale for 2 days and only a few people asked about it.  It was crying out to be taken home and put back to work.

But after I put it on Craigslist??  Two days later I had $20!

Anyone know what it is??

Moving Sale

As I mentioned a few posts ago we had a moving sale at my Grandma's house.  It has been bittersweet.  It's the last house my Grandpa lived in.  It's the house my Mom died in.   It's the house I ate almost every Sunday brunch in when I was growing up.  It's where we celebrated Christmas and Easter. 

It's full of memories. 

And that's the reason Grandma is leaving.  For her the memories of grandpa are too strong.  And as she's getting older and wasn't driving as much.  And our local private college owns an assisted living place just a few blocks away. 

My aunt Pat spent weeks at the house after Grandma moved out organizing what was left and getting ready for the sale.  Then several other family members dumped their stuff off and messed up her wonderful organization.  Sorry!  But we stayed and helped for the two day sale so I think we're forgiven:)

I could tell you about the heat...or the lack of people...or the $52 worth of drinks the girls bought to resell to make pool paint money...or the amount of people that asked how much I'd sell the Eos for.  One guy even asked me to put the top up and down for him.  He was so cute.  About 70 and wearing his overalls.  I love old men:c) 

But instead I'll just show you two pictures that I took that are so simple, but mean so much.

I don't know if I ever heard this album played, but the cover was so cute I had to take a picture.  The memory it brought back was the stereo console that always sat in front of the window in the living room.  I can remember playing records on it or coming in and hearing the radio on.  Even after it wasn't used anymore, it was still a fixture in the living room.

And then there's this.  I cried.  I'm crying now.  Grandpa wore hats all the time.  He always wore the old guy 'snaps in the back to tighten' hats.  But this one, this one is special.  There's a local restaurant that had commercials with a guy named Earnest that always talked to 'Vern'.  Earnest went on to make movies.  But I'll always remember him from the commercials.  I don't know where Grandpa got the hat, but it's so perfect for Vernon.  

I put this photo on Facebook and a few people shared memories of my sweet Grandpa.  So I basically cried....off and on all day. 

So even though the house hasn't sold yet, Grandma has moved into her apartment and all the stuff is gone. 

But my memories will be with me forever.

Staging Adventures

While I was left alone for the week I had one day that I had to work.  Is it really considered work when your boss is such a good friend?  Well, in the Oklahoma heat it is.  After all, a house we staged a year ago was finally selling.  Apparently it was perfect in every way except for the one car garage.  Until a single mom saw it.  For her it was just right. 

Since Shawn and the girls had taken the Expedition to camp I couldn't be of much help with a house full of furniture.  So Lisa swapped her 4Runner for her husband's truck and we crossed our fingers. 

The first load was filled to the brim.

We had the back seat full as well.  And we still had more to do.

As if we weren't hot enough from loading it, we had to unload everything at the storage unit.  The pretty full storage unit.  That we had to organize as quickly as possible.  Quick is good in productivity, but bad in heat. 

After a trip to Goodwill we went back to the house to hope we could get everything else in a second load.  I stayed downstairs while Lisa went up.  I loaded what was there and went up to find her like this.

Really?  Must I do all the work??

The Surface of the Sun

Last year when we were deciding what week Shawn and the girls should go to camp we decided on the first week in June because it should be the coolest.  After all, in Oklahoma it only gets hotter the longer the summer goes.  Also since most Texas schools aren't out yet, the camp numbers are lower.  We did the same thing this year and I was pleased to hear the camp count was around 80.  The next week they expected 200. 

But on the weather...

we didn't have a chance.

Thanks the dear Lord we have a pool! 

And lots and lots of sunscreen.

Well Hail

Tuesday night we were all relaxing in the den when we heard something.  Being Okies we raced to the windows.  And saw a perfectly sunny sky...with hail falling out of it. 

So of course, being Okies, we ran out into it to grab some to photograph and upload to Facebook and Twitter. We had to share it with our friends! And let me say, just a few blocks away from us there was completely looking hail. Or none at all. Oklahoma never fails to impress.

It's actually pretty, isn't it.

Unless you've recently bought a third car and now have one sitting outside taking the hits.

I felt so guilty and sorry for the Taurus.  After the hail had stopped we went out to survey the damage and saw our neighbor doing the same.  To our car.  You know what?  It wasn't as bad as we'd thought it would be.  After all, we'd seen it bouncing off the car for at least 5 minutes.  When we asked our neighbor where his car was he said he'd put it in the garage of the vacant house across the street.  (It's okay.  He has been maintaining the yard and we all know the family.)  He also mentioned that there was more hail in the forecast.  And then he asked if we wanted to put the Taurus in with his van.  It's a two car garage...that had a storage room built into one side of it.  So it was about a 1 3/4 car garage now.  The Taurus went in fine...but there wasn't a lot of room for a 6'4" guy to open the door and get out.

No worries.  That's where the sunroof comes in. 

Never a dull moment around here!