One Week To Go

Today is the first of August. This month will be full of changes for me. The estate sale will be Friday, Saturday and Sunday, August 8, 9 and 10, from 10-4. Tell all your friends and come yourself. Some friends have already come by and all have made purchases. The liquidators have said that they've never seen an estate sale like this one - we have the equivalent of 3-4 houses. It's unbelievable. I knew we had a lot of stuff, but it really hits home when you see it all displayed. Every night I fall into bed totally exhausted, and then I wake up in the morning and get back to work. Right now I'm working on the office, tossing out old files, finding treasures (all of Larry Negri's recipes!), creating a landfill of paper. I'll be working on this all weekend. I have to get the office, the closet in the guest bathroom and the kitchen totally finished by Sunday night, so that when they come on Monday they can finish pricing everything. I'm getting a little nervous - I don't know how I'll get it all done in time, but I know I will. I'm hoping to move some of my things to the carriage house beforehand. I've put red dots on everything I'm keeping, but I've been warned that people who shop at estate sales don't respect red dots. If they really want it, they remove the dot. So I'll have to hide all my smaller items, either in the shed or a closet or by taking it to Carla's. I'm also going to make a list of the furniture I'm keeping for the staff to have, just in case. The company I'm using has been really great. They're trying to sell the high end, unique items before the estate sale, thus getting higher prices. They had their CD/book buyer come in a few days ago and he paid $2,000 for what he took, which is really very good for used CDs and books. They took the entire jade and ivory collection into San Francisco to a gallery and have already sold most of the ivory and some of the jade. I also gave John some of my good jewelry to sell in the city. Bonnie, who is arranging and pricing the clothing, took a whole bunch of it home with her to try to sell in private appointments, and she's going to have buyers come to the house to see the fur coats. They're doing their best to make sure I get the most money possible out of this, and they've also been very understanding and sensitive.

The other change in August is, of course, my move. I can't wait. When I go to sleep at night, I imagine I'm in my new bedroom in the carriage house. I've changed my email address to laureldruce@gmail.com. This way I never have to change it again, even if I end up moving somewhere else.