Another Day 42: Life Goes On

 

Holidays and weekends don't count, so I'm holding at 28 days unemployed. Considering I'm getting paid, am I really unemployed ? I guess so. It's going to continue to be a scary place until I have a job and unless the Accenture job comes through, I don't know when that's going to happen. For now, I consider this time off to be an extended vacation. Friday marked 6 weeks without a job. I haven't been unemployed since 1985, so this is a hard adjustment.

Today was the auction of Bill's house ... and DOUG WON !!!! He bid $116k and no one overbid that. Bidding started at $50k and Doug didn't bid until it got over $100k. I was getting nervous because I didn't hear his name mentioned as the bids came in. He stopped by as he was leaving the auction and it turns out his daughter and her 6 kids are moving in. She'll probably become friends with Ashley across the street that has 4 kids and 2 dogs. I had a sneaking suspicion Doug was buying the house for her as he had mentioned she was going through a divorce and couldn't afford to keep her house. Hopefully her kids are not tiny terrors. Doug did say he's going to close up the fence, as she has a dog, so that was good news. Hopefully the dog doesn't freak out when he sees the stray cats. Doug also said he might sell his house and move into the apartment in the upstairs of the garage. I thought there was an apartment in there but it wasn't mentioned in the listing, so I'm thinking it's not a legal unit. The stairs would be an issue, so he'd need some sort of chair lift if he did move in. I'll bet you one of the kids will want that space, if they're teens. Anyhow, at least someone I know is moving in and his daughter Rachael seems nice. It'll be at least 60 days before they close so she won't be moving in anytime soon. 

I started my day chasing away 2 cars from the auction people that were parked in my yard. I also had to chase away an old guy that later tried to park in my yard. WTF is wrong with people ? I didn't say anything when an Amish family showed up with their horse and buggy. The guy saw me looking out the window while he was searching for a place to tie the horse and he ended up taking it into the woods behind Bill's fence. His buggy was probably partially in my yard but I wasn't going to chase them away. Doug's daughter said there was a ton of "stuff" to auction off and I heard the auctioneer tell people they were having pizza delivered at 12:30, so hopefully that'll be wrapped up and the street cleared by 2 or so.

I managed to get the dishes washed while I was policing my yard .. lol .. so at least I was productive. It was so hot yesterday I couldn't do anything but sit in front of the fan. I also ran the dishwasher. I noticed there was mold on the stuff that had been sitting in there so I had to hand wash some of the silverware. Everything else came out perfect. Oh well. I use paper plates & bowls and plastic silverware most of the time, so there is no need to run the dishwasher. Going forward I need to, once again, try harder to keep up with the dishes on a daily basis. I bought the spray bottle of dish soap for that exact purpose !

It seemed like more people came for the auction of the house contents as I only heard a few bidders mentioned for the house. I heard the names Danielle, Karen, Brian and Jericho. I think they also had some people bidding online, but obviously they didn't want to pay much. On top of the $116k Doug bid there is a 10% fee to the auctioneer, so he actually paid $127,600. This is actually over the estimated value of nearly $125k. In today's crazy market it's a "good deal" but in its current state it is not worth that, in my opinion. I have to question the wisdom of buying a house with 2-3 bedrooms and one bathroom when you have 6 children. I think she mentioned only 5 live with her, but that is still a lot. I remember growing up we only had 1 bathroom for 6 people and it sucked at times. Sometimes you had to "hold it" and showering could be tricky because you had to wait for hot water. This is why I LOVE my on demand hot water ! I could shower for 2 hours and never run out ! Maybe they'll be able to install a half bath in the downstairs, like they did in my house. Rachael mentioned the house she lives in now is 4500 square feet and Bill's house is only 1862 square feet. That is quite a downsizing for a large family ! Hopefully they are happy in the new house. The yard isn't huge but I think there's plenty of space for kids and dogs to enjoy. 

It's good to have the auction done and over. My mind is at ease ! Now if I could just nail down the Accenture job my life would be amazing !

Today wasn't as hot as yesterday but it's still humid. We had some rain during the night and I got lucky there. I checked my phone after I went to bed and saw that rain was coming. I had to go downstairs and close the kitchen and porch windows and by the time I got back upstairs it had started raining. Talk about luck ! We didn't get a ton of rain, which probably disappointed the farmers as it's been a bit dry. Have no fear though, there is rain in the forecast Tuesday through Thursday. Rain rolled in today just before 4 pm but it didn't last long. Just enough to get everything wet but the ground soaked it right up. By 5 the sun was back out.

I don't need anything at the grocery store so there was no trip to Walmart today. I finished the macaroni salad after I did the dishes as I wanted to wash the bowl. It came out so good and I enjoyed every bite. I did stir in a bit more mayo yesterday as the pasta tends to soak it up. I will definitely make that again as people seem to prefer it over potato salad, which is a lot heavier. I may go to the store during the week to get salad produce. I am not buying any more ice cream and candy. I am also not buying any more pizza supplies once the 3 bottles of pizza sauce are gone. It's long past time to get back on my diet and get my fat ass on the treadmill. Monday is the drop dead date. Since I didn't "ease in" to the treadmill this past week I'll be going hard starting Monday with a goal of using it twice a day. I do need to give my feet some attention so I'll probably do that tomorrow. It's going to be a couple degrees cooler and hopefully less humid. Good day for a foot soak and callous shaving ! I can use my new tools: a loofah scrubber and a lotion applicator on a long handle. It's so weird - I have no trouble spreading lotion on my right foot, but getting it on the left is nearly impossible. I can't seem to rotate my hip enough to bend the leg up. This has always been an issue for me, regardless of my weight. 

Once the auction hubbub died down I was able to relax and enjoy the day. I put Post 10 on YouTube, wrote my blog to this point and then got out my tablet to play Cookie Jam. Unfortunately the lull with the auction didn't last long. It ended up going until after 6 pm and they hadn't packed up and left until nearly 7 ! They sold all the big ticket items first and then moved on to selling the smaller stuff like decor and dishes. I am glad it's finally over ! I was surprised by the number of people that showed up. I know a lot of people love estate sales but I see it as picking the bones of the deceased person and I just cannot do that. We didn't sell any of my mom's stuff. We kept what we wanted, discarded some and most of it went to the donation bins. The furniture we didn't want was included with the house, so I don't see that as having been sold. I have the cabinets my mom had in the utility room and office. I also have her living room lamps. I think she would be happy about that ! I have some Christmas stuff too, like the animated Mr. & Mrs. Santa and the ceramic tree that Jean gave her. We kept the special things and let the rest go. I also have my dad's snow blower, but I doubt I'll ever use it. We all took toilet paper, as my mom had a lifetime supply. It was a long running joke for years and we were able to laugh about it when we divvied it up. I'm not much for puzzles but I kept a couple for sentimental reasons. My mom had a ton of them and they all went to the donation bins. I also have a couple diamond paintings she did, some plastic canvas craft items she made and some dish clothes she crocheted. Those things are special and mean a lot to me.

I'll be interested to see what work they do on Bill's house. The interior is so dated. I'd want to replace the kitchen floor (it's hideous, like mine was !), redo the bathroom (it's beige and dark wood), put a fresh coat of paint on the walls and then lay carpet. I don't like old wood floors, but they could be beautiful if you have them professionally refinished. With time and money it could be a beautiful home. With 5 or 6 kids to support, I'm not sure Doug's daughter has the money to make improvements. Doug is the one buying the house and he had said she couldn't afford to keep the house she has. He had said it needs a roof, so we'll see when that happens. Hopefully she gets a few years from the furnace and hot water heater since those are big ticket items. Not sure if there is a washer but I think the auctioneer mentioned the dryer in the basement doesn't work, so she may need to buy a washer & dryer. The kitchen stove is an old electric Jennair style grill and I'd want that gone too. I'm spoiled now since everything in my house is new. If not for the fire my house would be a disaster on the inside. I feel like this new house might be a big adjustment for the kids, so I hope it all works out for them. While searching on Google for the house they live in now (she said a brick house on Scenic) I only found 2 possibilities and neither are 4500 square feet. I must have misheard the square footage she mentioned. One of the 2 brick houses I found is for sale so that might be the one. It used to be the old American Legion and then it was converted to a 2 family house. The real estate listing says the current owners opened it up to be a single family but also says it could easily be switched back. It has 2 bedrooms/2 bath upstairs and the same downstairs ... so it makes sense that might be the one if they have/had 6 kids. There is also a kitchen on both levels. I'll have to take a ride down scenic and get a look at it. The real estate listing says sale pending, so it looks to have been sold. The photos in the listing don't show much. No photo's of kitchens or bedrooms or living spaces. Just a bathroom, a stairway and the exterior. It looks like it needs work, though there is a pretty new 2 car garage in the back. If that is her house all I can say is wow .. imagine going from 4 bathrooms to one. Very sad what divorce does to families.