We now have an empty house except for a couple of chairs, tables for our laptops and a table to eat on and play cribbage and an inflatable air mattress. Last week was a blur!
Estate Sale
The estate went well, but we ended up with a garage full of stuff—some major pieces. So this is what we did!
Monday
It was a down day supposedly, but Lin kept taking stuff out to the garage from the house. We had our 75” TV, entertainment center and sound bar in the living room left from the sale. Also, we still had a couch of mine and a matching glider-rocker. So we still could watch TV and relax.
But I immediately put the TV, entertainment center and sound bar on Facebook Marketplace for a ridiculously low price and added some of the bigger items to sell. The TV outfit sold quickly.
Tuesday
Eric Bender and Branch , his assistance, from Cambridge Partners Estate Sales, came with boxes to box up the remaining stuff, but we ran out of boxes quickly! Yes, he had too much. And Lin kept taking stuff out to the garage—it seemed to multiple!
Wednesday
Eric and Branch returned to box up more and also helped move larger pieces of furniture out to the garage. Sadly, two pieces couldn’t move from their resting place.
Lin put a sofa sleeper in a spare bedroom we dubbed “The Library” fourteen years ago by himself. These three men could not get it through the door. So the only choice: Lin destroyed it with a sludge hammer.
My computer desk was the other piece of furniture we had trouble with, besides it was in the loft. We couldn’t get it a part, so they couldn’t carry it down the stairs. I have had it for over twenty years, and the locking screws would not release. So, Lin took a sludge hammer to it, and surprisingly I did not shed a tear.
I said to Lin, “That’s where I wrote my nine books!” yet it felt okay to let it go!
While this was going on, we had all our windows professional washed to prepare for selling the house. They were so accommodating with all the activity going on.
Later in the afternoon, neighbors who have an association with SARANAM came and picked up two truckloads of furniture. They took the sofa and matching glider-rocker. We had our whole guest room left, so they took a bed and two antique dressers. The estate sales person, Eric, said people don’t want antiques anymore, these were all antiques—sad, but SARANAM is great, so they went to a great home. This is a fantastic agency that helps people get back on their feet.
Thursday
Lin took a sludge hammer to the sofa sleeper and methodically removed the wood and material parts, then we carried out the sleeper bed framework. The trash outside grew and grew!
In the afternoon, I took five big bags of clothes to Bethel Community Storehouse in Moriarty, New Mexico. They welcomed me warmly and said bring your things here instead of Albuquerque.
Friday—The House is Empty!
Our estate sales company was fantastic. Eric came in the morning and hauled off in one load all the torn-up furniture. Lin said he kept piling things in the back of his truck and when he left he looked like Pa Kettle.
Also Friday, we had our house cleaners come and deep clean the house. Oh, my! I had left the oven a mess and they took care of it! And much, much more!
A truck from Big Brothers & Big Sisters came around noon, the driver loaded up all the rest of the stuff except for a few exceptions: Lin’s roll top computer desk, a mattress and a small refrigerator. What a delightful man Victor was—he visited with us and we had a great time with him!
We did keep out one little storage unit I built in 2008 from a kit because we had so much interest in it on Facebook Marketplace, and it sold.
So the house is empty except for an air mattress our realtor lent us that is super-comfortable and tables and chairs for computing, eating and playing cribbage.
Monday the carpet cleaner comes. Thursday, we have pictures taken in the morning and the house goes on the market Thursday night or Friday.
Empty house echoes—it’s our possession that fill a house with love and soul.
Finally,
Here’s a haiku I wrote about our house now.
The house echoes now.
Its emptiness sounds hollow.
It awaits the new.
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