We are in an interesting place. And, if we were to put a name on this place, we'd call it "In Transition".
In Transition things are a bit amiss. We get a bill from our roofer that our insurance won't accept as a claim. It'll cost much more than we originally thought. Work is this place where we go every work day. Stuff around our house we thought we had an emotional attachment to surprises us and we sell it in a heartbeat. Space is being created. Boxes are being packed. A dream is coming closer.
We're not afraid. We're affirmed. We're excited. The sunrises and sunsets between here and there aren't coming quite as quickly as we'd like. And, sometimes that's a good thing, especially because we have lots to do between now and then -- roofs to repair, gastroenterologists to meet.
Sometimes the last few steps to reaching a dream come slowly. We need to be patient.
Right now, we are definitely in transition.
We'll get there, soon. Very soon.
At a time when we have more on our "to do" list than we have time to do any of it, I (Natasha) discovered something that looks, on the surface anyway, like it could rob me of any spare minutes.
I've been simultaneously curious about and repelled by Facebook. I've heard reports from several fellow RVers about how entertaining it is. And, I've read about what a "time suck" it can be. In the end, curiosity won, and I decided to log in.
Within four seconds of logging on, I discovered our own "godfadda" Gordon online. I asked him to be my friend and he obliged. Not exactly sure what I was doing, I fired off a couple more invitations to familiar faces. Hembree was quick to accept, and she extended an invitation to me to join her yoville crew. Without a clue of what that meant, I happily accepted.
This morning I checked my email and happily discovered (and confirmed) several Facebook invites from RVing friends. What a way to start the day!
I may have no idea what I'm doing. But, I know one thing. It's 8:45 AM on a workday and I'm still at home playing on the computer. I have to go to work!
This could be very dangerous.
People Pay Us Money
We're basking in the Sunday night afterglow of one very productive weekend. The guest room is basically vacant. (Guess we can't really call it a guest room anymore.) With four pieces of furniture gone, and three boxes of books packed to be hauled off to charity (and just two boxes of books headed for storage) we are feeling good about our progress.
Everything we've done to prepare up to this point seems like it's child's play. When belongings you paid significant dollars for start walking out the door, your future as a fulltimer becomes very, very real.
Boris is feeling especially good about our accomplishments this weekend. In fact, he's a bit amazed.
"People pay us money," he has repeated more than once, "to haul our stuff away."
Sweet!
We're already plotting exactly what's going on Craigslist next weekend: a couple of chairs, a small refrigerator, two bookcases and several yards of decorator fabric. It should be lots of fun.
Three Cheers for Craigslist!
After all of the frivolity last night with the gastroenterologist, we're down to serious business at our house this fine Saturday. One of the first items on our agenda was to post a few things on Craigslist in hopes of clearing out our guest room to make room for the stuff we're packing up for storage.
We've searched for all kinds of things on Craigslist, but never bought. Nor have we ever sold. Don't know why, exactly. It just always seemed like it would be a hassle. But, today, we thought we'd dip our toe into selling on Craigslist. By 11:00 AM we'd posted our futon, a small dresser and a Clavinova. Minutes later I checked email and was amazed to see eager responses for two items.
Turns out Boris and I make quite the Craigslist selling team. My strength is copywriting, photography and correspondence; His is salesmanship and negotiation.
Three hours later, the Clavinova has found a good home with an aspiring music student. The futon and dresser are spoken for by a taxi driver who is setting up house for his family coming from Nepal. With that story, we threw in a small coffee table for free! The table is gone and he left a deposit for the rest, which he'll pick up by tomorrow.
With that taste of success, we are Craigslist newbies no more! In fact, we're rethinking the whole idea of having an estate sale. We just may sell everything on Craigslist...one posting at a time.
We've searched for all kinds of things on Craigslist, but never bought. Nor have we ever sold. Don't know why, exactly. It just always seemed like it would be a hassle. But, today, we thought we'd dip our toe into selling on Craigslist. By 11:00 AM we'd posted our futon, a small dresser and a Clavinova. Minutes later I checked email and was amazed to see eager responses for two items.
Turns out Boris and I make quite the Craigslist selling team. My strength is copywriting, photography and correspondence; His is salesmanship and negotiation.
Three hours later, the Clavinova has found a good home with an aspiring music student. The futon and dresser are spoken for by a taxi driver who is setting up house for his family coming from Nepal. With that story, we threw in a small coffee table for free! The table is gone and he left a deposit for the rest, which he'll pick up by tomorrow.
With that taste of success, we are Craigslist newbies no more! In fact, we're rethinking the whole idea of having an estate sale. We just may sell everything on Craigslist...one posting at a time.
ROFL!
It's well into Friday night around our house and Boris and I are still chuckling over this one.
Why? I got a call from my gastroenterologist.
Let me set the stage here. It's 8:00 PM on this Friday night. Boris and I are enjoying our first (or maybe second) happy hour cocktail. Boris is surfing on the Mac, and I'm chatting in the RV Dreams Chatroom. Both cats are happily sleeping nearby. All is happy and mellow.
Then, the phone rings.
Boris checks the caller ID and notices it's from Dr. C, a gastroenterologist I've never met who I just scheduled an appointment with today. As part of our pre-fulltiming efforts, we're getting all of our health care needs taken care of - including this not-so-little test that comes highly recommended after a person turns 50. When I visited my primary care doc for my annual physical a couple of weeks ago, she recommended I see Dr. C for a consultation about "the procedure". So, I called today to schedule the appointment, which is set for Monday afternoon.
Well, when a Doctor calls your house on a Friday evening, what do you do? You answer the phone. Boris handed me the phone and I said hello.
As the RV Dreams chatter dialogue filled my computer screen, I listened to the good doctor as he introduced himself, informed me that our Monday afternoon appointment would be delayed by 30 minutes, and proceeded to give me the lowdown on what to expect for my appointment...and THE PROCEDURE.
Geez! Just moments ago I was chilling with my husband and virtual friends, enjoying a cocktail or two, shaking off the ill effects of an unsatisfying workweek. Now, I'm getting the Reader's Digest version of "Everything You Wanted To Know About Your First Colonoscopy But Were Afraid To Ask"...on a Friday night!!!
Too, too, TOO much.
Keep in mind, this all happened after 8:00 on a Friday night!
That said, I was impressed to get a phone call from an actual physician. And, that he was willing to take 20 minutes of his Friday night to help me understand what will transpire on Monday afternoon actually impressed the hell out of me. The fact that I had had a cocktail or two before he called made it all just a little too funny.
In the language of the chatters, I was definitely ROFL!
Why? I got a call from my gastroenterologist.
Let me set the stage here. It's 8:00 PM on this Friday night. Boris and I are enjoying our first (or maybe second) happy hour cocktail. Boris is surfing on the Mac, and I'm chatting in the RV Dreams Chatroom. Both cats are happily sleeping nearby. All is happy and mellow.
Then, the phone rings.
Boris checks the caller ID and notices it's from Dr. C, a gastroenterologist I've never met who I just scheduled an appointment with today. As part of our pre-fulltiming efforts, we're getting all of our health care needs taken care of - including this not-so-little test that comes highly recommended after a person turns 50. When I visited my primary care doc for my annual physical a couple of weeks ago, she recommended I see Dr. C for a consultation about "the procedure". So, I called today to schedule the appointment, which is set for Monday afternoon.
Well, when a Doctor calls your house on a Friday evening, what do you do? You answer the phone. Boris handed me the phone and I said hello.
As the RV Dreams chatter dialogue filled my computer screen, I listened to the good doctor as he introduced himself, informed me that our Monday afternoon appointment would be delayed by 30 minutes, and proceeded to give me the lowdown on what to expect for my appointment...and THE PROCEDURE.
Geez! Just moments ago I was chilling with my husband and virtual friends, enjoying a cocktail or two, shaking off the ill effects of an unsatisfying workweek. Now, I'm getting the Reader's Digest version of "Everything You Wanted To Know About Your First Colonoscopy But Were Afraid To Ask"...on a Friday night!!!
Too, too, TOO much.
Keep in mind, this all happened after 8:00 on a Friday night!
That said, I was impressed to get a phone call from an actual physician. And, that he was willing to take 20 minutes of his Friday night to help me understand what will transpire on Monday afternoon actually impressed the hell out of me. The fact that I had had a cocktail or two before he called made it all just a little too funny.
In the language of the chatters, I was definitely ROFL!
Our First Six Months
As the reality of fulltiming in the very near future begins to sink in around our house, we've found ourselves thinking about our future as fulltimers. We're asking questions like "Will our moose be big enough?" and "Will we want to work on the road?" or "Will we really like fulltiming?"
We're not worried at all about not liking fulltiming. We're more worried about the first two questions: that we'll be inclined to buy a 40-foot diesel pusher and/or go to work shortly after getting ourselves on the road.
So, we've reached a very important agreement: We will make no significant decisions on the road for at least six months.
With that, Bullwinkle will be our first fulltiming rig. We will not work. And, if we don't like fulltiming then we'll just have to wait awhile.
We're ready to give it all a shot!
And, we'll check in six months later.
We're not worried at all about not liking fulltiming. We're more worried about the first two questions: that we'll be inclined to buy a 40-foot diesel pusher and/or go to work shortly after getting ourselves on the road.
So, we've reached a very important agreement: We will make no significant decisions on the road for at least six months.
With that, Bullwinkle will be our first fulltiming rig. We will not work. And, if we don't like fulltiming then we'll just have to wait awhile.
We're ready to give it all a shot!
And, we'll check in six months later.
Moving Boxes
It's official, folks. We're moving!
Why so? Boris picked up a pile of moving boxes on the way home from work today. We have some serious packing to do this weekend and next. Then, we'll be loading up a moving/storage container and the stuff we want to keep will be on its way.
Wow! We're really gonna do this. How exciting!
While we'll be busy packing, things about the house are moving a bit slower than we've expected. We've had a bit of a setback: Our Roof. It's one of those things that wasn't right when we moved here, and nine years later - guess what - it's worse. We'll deal with it, though. And, we'll get the painters in here as soon as we can.
We got another dose of reality today when Natasha started checking for availability at our home for the interim - the Alameda County Fairgrounds. Seems that after June 22nd, there isn't much available there as the county fair gets underway about that time. What timing! Well, we have a backup or two, but the bottom line is it'd be great to have our place sold by then. That way, we're free to roam wherever.
We'd better get busy packing these boxes!
Why so? Boris picked up a pile of moving boxes on the way home from work today. We have some serious packing to do this weekend and next. Then, we'll be loading up a moving/storage container and the stuff we want to keep will be on its way.
Wow! We're really gonna do this. How exciting!
While we'll be busy packing, things about the house are moving a bit slower than we've expected. We've had a bit of a setback: Our Roof. It's one of those things that wasn't right when we moved here, and nine years later - guess what - it's worse. We'll deal with it, though. And, we'll get the painters in here as soon as we can.
We got another dose of reality today when Natasha started checking for availability at our home for the interim - the Alameda County Fairgrounds. Seems that after June 22nd, there isn't much available there as the county fair gets underway about that time. What timing! Well, we have a backup or two, but the bottom line is it'd be great to have our place sold by then. That way, we're free to roam wherever.
We'd better get busy packing these boxes!
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