Selling Home Part IV

13 June 2008

I think this will be the last in this series. The house is finally sold. It took a lot out of me. It was much harder than I expected and I was very upset about the closing being postponed because I pushed so hard to meet all the requirements on time. But alas, it’s all behind me now.

So, here I sit in my new apartment. I say new apartment but in reality it’s very old. I believe the house is over 100 years old. But it’s new to me. It’s a lot smaller than my house. It’s hard to go from owning your own house to renting an apartment. There’s a huge amount of having to swallow pride and pride doesn’t go down very easy. You gag all while you’re chewing it.

I am just about all unpacked although I still do have a couple of boxes and some bags left to unpack. I have basically been taking it easy because I got the bulk of it done and then we had a heat wave. I tried to buy an a/c but all the stores were sold out so I had to order one online. I ended up getting it at WalMart and it will be delivered to the local store. They will notify me when it’s in which is 7-10 business days and then I can go and pick it up. I tell you never living in an apartment and being on the top floor, man does it get hot up here. I was roasting. Seriously. I bet I lost 10 lbs just from sweating. I do have an a/c in the bedroom to sleep but it’s way too small to cool the apartment and I didn’t want to break it so I just used fans. In the evening I put on the bedroom a/c and then went and sat on my bed and started reading a book. That was the only way I could tolerate those hot evenings and nights. And when I talk about hot, I’m talking temperatures around 100 degrees F give or take a couple and very, very humid. And I honestly believe that the apartment got well above 100F, it’s my guess it was at least 120F up here.

I haven’t watched television in at least five years now, I believe longer but I’m not sure just how long. At any rate I ordered satellite television. I got Christian satellite and it ends up I do not need a dish or cable or anything. It’s new technology called IPTV and it comes in through the computer. You only need 1.5 mb download speed and I have five times the required amount so I should be all set. I need to get a wireless router and then plug a box to the television set and I’m off and running. I got the family package and it is much cheaper than cable or satellite and it is mostly Christian television so I don’t have to worry about getting hooked on any of those garbage shows. I hate watching garbage television. It is addicting when you watch a series because you want to know what happened next but it’s just not worth the hassle so I gave it up. But this way I won’t get the violence and sex which will be very nice. And being in an apartment I have much more time than I did in the house to watch television because I only have to care for such a small place it’s not hard to do. Plus I also have the computer set up behind the sofa so I can watch television while I’m sitting here. So I’m excited about that. I only hope and pray it’s as easy to set up as they claim it to be.

I have been very relentless about getting the word out about the genocide in Darfur and about asking folks to please go to the website and sign the petition. I do not know if I am aggravating people or not, but we seem to not mind passing around dirty jokes and chain letters I thought we could pass around a notice for folks to go and sign the petition. So while I’m getting ready to end this blog. I’m once again going to ask you to please take five minutes of your time and click on the link to the right of this blog and sign the petition. You do not need to give any money, you do not need to be a US Citizen and you will get a response from the White House and the United Nations. So please take the time to follow the link to sign the petition to help stop the genocide that is happening this very moment in Darfur. They truly need our help. Thank you.

So, for now…

Selling Home Part II

05/22/2008

Well, today is Thursday and I just learned that I have to move by Saturday! Nothing like loosing a week somewhere in there. I don’t know what happened but I thought I had an extra week. Now I feel screwed. I have two days to finish packing the rest of the house. This is exactly what I meant when I wrote the blog SWM, because I am single all the packing is left up to me and to me alone, I have no help. Well, that’s not true. I asked my nephew and he’s going to come help me for a few hours tomorrow. Joe and I moved over 20 boxes this morning. These are boxes that I had packed in advance, stuff that I don’t use very often. I should say Joe moved the boxes and I helped. I could not carry most of them up the stairs because I could not breathe and some of the boxes were just too heavy for me to lift. I can’t tell you how embarrassing it is to have a 66 year old man healthier than you are. I feel so bad. He kept telling me not to, but deep inside I was beating myself up. I felt so small standing there and watching him with some of those heavy boxes. This is what happens when you smoke for so long and come down with emphysema; the Lord is really showing me humility through all this. It is the first time in my life that I have had to depend on somebody else to do so much for me. And I don’t like it, but I cannot believe that God sent a man such as Joe into my life. If I did not have Joe I would still be sitting here thinking that I have to sell my house. But because of him the closing is next Friday. I can’t believe it. Of course it has not gone smoothly but nothing in my life goes smoothly and of course I had some very bad depression days but over all I think I’ve handled it all pretty good, so far. When all is said and done, I know I will sit down and have myself a good cry. This is all very emotional and I am blocking my emotions so that I can move ahead with whatever Joe tells me to do.

We managed to do everything that was requested of us. I did not haggle with this woman one bit. I gave in to all her requests. I just need to sell the house. But we ran into a huge snag with the painting. First my painter was not reliable, and then when he did show up he was being attacked by bees. So I had to call an exterminator which put off the painting a few more days. It all just turned into a huge mess. But Joe came to the rescue with his friend Dave. Dave was going to help out in getting me a painter, instead Dave is taking over and he is going to get the job done himself. I just wanted to cry but I can’t let him know how I really feel. I am not used to people being so nice to me. I really am not. It is so hard to accept. I am usually the giver and it feels awful being the receiver, I hate it. Yet, it is an amazing feeling that there are people out there willing to give up their time and energy to help me out.

I packed up the rest of the kitchen today in more boxes. Tomorrow I’m going to pack the bathroom and the linen closet in bags and hopefully I can get that done. If I can get those two done tomorrow I will be in good shape. The only real mess I still have is the attic and that is where I’m going to send my nephew. I hope he won’t mind, he’s a good kid and I know he’ll do a good job. I’m just going to give him the key to the apartment and have him take the stuff over there. I’ll have him use my car, it’s bigger, the seats lay down and it’s full of gas. I don’t want him to use up his gas. Sheesh! That’s a whole other blog in and of itself, these gas prices – aren’t they ridicules!!?? Anyway, that is where I stand on the sale of the house. We must, no choice, we MUST get the painting done by next Thursday. This is what you call stepping out in faith I am just trusting God with this one. I am sure Dave and his crew will beat the deadline and we will go ahead with the closing on Friday.

Everyone has been so good to me. There’s no way I’ll be able to repay any of them. Especially Joe, he’s an angel sent from heaven. I am sure, not a doubt in my heart, that he will get an extra blessing for this. Nobody is ever this nice to me, nobody.

Short blog for today.

So, for now…