64th Birthday Day

Shannon got tickets for us to go to the Rocky Mountain Quilt Museum.

I was expecting antique quilts, but these quilts were made by 

The National Association of Certified Quilt Judges.

I've seen lots of quilts and never anything as intricate as these. 

The docent took at least a 1/2 walking us through and talking about each quilt.

I didn't take many pictures because she said I couldn't post them on social media.

I don't feel like my blog gets much traffic so I'm posting them here for memory's sake.

These are the birthday cards that the kids made for me.

I think you can tell which one each child made. 

 For my birthday dinner we went to a Mexican Restaurant with Shannon and Brian. We stopped at Village Inn and bought two pies. It was pretty much about food.

Kitchen progress

This is a view of what was the kitchen before Fred started ripping it out.

Carpet has been pulled up.

The process of ripping out the old cabinets.

Getting tools staged.

Painters paint marking studs and cabinet placement and countertop height.

We asked the missionaries to come and help bring in the cabinets from the garage. 

Old cabinets in the livingroom now.

Here are most of the upper cabinets and our new motorized kitchen window blind.

I have to admit I quit taking pictures. The progress was just so stilted and slow. Very discouraging for me to watch. It felt that each step was fraught with complications. We didn't accomplish as much as we had hoped during the month we spent there. I admit I probably added to it by wanting to get new bedroom furniture. But in my defense, that means less big pieces of furniture to move here. Not that the new furniture arrived, but it did require a trip to IKEA and Fred putting together a couple pieces so we could see if they would work out. 

Fred was busy the entire time. I was pretty engaged during the 10 days that Shannon and Brian were on their cruise and I was a full time mom again, but after I didn't feel like I had much to do. Shannon and I did get out to stores and she took me to a quilt museum and lunch on my birthday. I did get a haircut with a new gal and I think she will work out great. I watched a lot of tv and read books which is pretty normal for me, but when not in your own home it just feels different. I walked almost every morning through the neighborhood. It's a great place for walking. I think because I knew the progress downstairs was going slow it made me want to go home and wait until Fred was done. With the sale of the house in the back of our minds and knowing that the market is slowing down, it creates another facet of stress.

Knowing that there is still so much to do when we move there puts a damper on my mood about everything. I just want to be done with all this work and begin the next phase of our lives. You know, retirement where we can enjoy doing stuff together that is, I don't know, recreational and enjoyable instead of work work work worry worry and work some more.

I've been up since 4 am - so I'm not in the best of moods. I'm discouraged and anxious about selling our house. What if no one wants it? I have to admit it doesn't look great. We still have two bedrooms that are a mess. Filled with stuff. Our master closet is a mess of stuff. It seems like our prep work in Bremerton was so much more efficient. We were ready to show the house. Here we are not ready. Well we will know this weekend because we are putting out the For Sale sign no matter what. Good Luck to us.

 

Our road to remodel

I suggested to Fred that we drive both cars to Colorado so we can leave one there and trailer the other one when we move. I said I could do the drive in two days, not one. I'm good for about 5 hours driving long distance. We decided that was a good idea. It also gave us more room for hauling tools, materials and stuff we need for a month at Shannon's. 

We made it to our hotel in pretty good time, but we parked under a tree. The next morning Fred wanted to get both cars washed to get the tree sap off.

There was a mudslide along I-70 so we had to divert our course. It added on hours. I didn't sign up for a 7 or 8 hour day which it turned into. It was pretty miserable. We drove up through beautiful scenery, but at one point the road was two lane, no barriers on the roadway and the drop off. I was kind of freaking out. I couldn't look to the right of the lane. I kept my vision stuck on the center lane lines. 

It was just pouring rain. We got to one length of road that just came to a halt for what seemed miles to me, but later found out it was only a couple. I was so tired by then and it felt like we were never going to get there. Fred had us pull off for gas not knowing how long we were going to be stuck. Well just up ahead the road jam opened up and off we went.

This Welcome Sign was posted on their garage door It was very sweet

Lots of cars parked here for now.

This is the cause of the detour off on I70. Mudslide near Glenwood Canyon. Rotten timing for our trip. I think we will find an alternate route when we go back home.

What is the best detour route? 

CDOT recommends taking a combination of state highways north through Meeker, Craig, Steamboat Springs and Kremmling. That adds about two-and-a-half hours to a trip from Grand Junction to Denver. A southern route through Montrose and Gunnison is now viable after a construction project there was suspended until I-70 is open again. 

Final Garage Sale

We held what I hope and believe to be our LAST garage sale.

As expected, there was a lot of time in preparation for the big day.

We got up at 5am so we could get everything set up.

I think we set it up really nice. 

Grouped things by category and tried to put everything out in good visibility.

The only Princess House pieces that didn't sell were the hurricane candle holders.

I haven't used any of it in years!!!

Games and toys. Most of that sold too.

We placed things in aisles so people could walk through.

No more room for silk plants. The majority of our wall decor was sold also. I'm only hanging pictures that are sentimental to me. Like our family!

Extra pot and pans, luggage, camping gear - so much stuff.

My Dad had notebooks with 100 plastic sheets filled with letters. 

I thought those were a good deal for someone to pick up.

Fred sold his bicycle that he got when he was about 15 years old. We will look for a cruiser style bicycle to buy him when we get moved.

We had quite a bit of electronics. Most of that sold. 

I won't be displaying my collection of water pitchers anymore.  I want our new place to be clutter free.

A lady bought that quiet book I made when Corinne was a baby. Our duplos that our kids played with. 

Fred had so many packages of unused tools. I think all his tools sold.

Multiples of so many things. 

Gas grill sold. All that fencing and chicken wire sold. 

We sold the majority of stuff within the first hour and a half. It was slow after that. 

 These are pictures after we rearranged the remaining items.

A large portion of the items went to about three different people. One couple came back to pick up the grill and then bought the security camera system of Fred's. It was amazing to watch the people as they shopped. 

Our day was successful. We had to take two loads to DI and one load to Habitat of Humanity. Done. 

Now our house looks kind of sad inside, but that was the goal.

Just a few things in July

This is the phonograph that Fred's Grandpa Howes ordered from Sears and Roebok a zillion years ago. Fred said it was old when he saw it as a little boy.

It was left out in a covered patio at his Grandpa's house in Junction.

Fred was able to get this after his parent's passed away.

We found a friend who restores antiques.

The back panel was in the worse shape.

You can how it is peeling away.

This is the same piece after restoration.

It's a beautiful accent piece now.

We'll put it in our living room in our new home in Colorado.

We met with Corinne's family for our scheduled week at Park City. 

Sunday through Sunday.

Here we are directing traffic in the parking garage.

I didn't take many pictures this time because we pretty much do the same thing when we are together. All the pictures look the same. I decided just to live in the moment instead of behind the camera.

 

Fred purchased some cards for the boys to play in the game room. 

It was a so so activity. Lots of frustrations.

We spend most of the time in the pool or in the room playing games. 

Eating is also an activity we enjoy together.

Corinne and Ben did the cooking. 

We did have a nice time together. They left Thursday morning for a day at Lagoon.

Fred and I rode the gondola in downtown Park City. It ended up not being a very fun experience.

It was so hot and the ride kept stopping. What should have been an hour round trip, turned out to be 1 and 1/2 hours. It broke down for about 20 minutes. I thought I was going to have heat stroke.Thank goodness we stopped and bought this hat for me. I don't think I would have survived without it.

When I wasn't dwelling on how hot I was, it really was beautiful up there.

Here is the sunburn I got. I had on capri pants and flip flops.

Fred and I took a day to drive over to Farmington to visit with his cousin Jim and his wife Candace. Also toured his son Greg's new very fancy home. After that we drove over to see Jay and Carolyn is uncle. Very nice to spend time with them. 

On the way home on Sunday we met my brother Craig and his wife Lynette for lunch. 

It was nice to get home.