2WannaBRetireesinPanama: SOLD AND SETTLED!

Kudos to me and Ray for getting our house in Stafford in tip top shape, our belongings sold or moved to the lake house, our taxes done along the way, jobs tidied up, and paperwork signed at settlement yesterday! I will toast us tonight at dinner!

After we sold our TV on Friday, we went to see the movie "Divergent". I didn't really want to see it, since I thought it was a rip off of the movie "Hunger Games", but it is a 2 1/2 hour movie and was sure to kill some time for us later Friday night. We had done all we could with the house, so dinner and a movie were on the list of things to do to get our minds off the upcoming chore of moving on Saturday. We managed to get a comfortable nights sleep on our mattress, and Saturday morning had us out the door by eight am to pick up the rental truck. The computer at the service station was slow, paperwork seemed to take forever and even getting the truck from up the hill was a task for the young man, but once Ray was behind the wheel, we booked it back home to load up the truck. Neighbors came out to say "hi" and "goodbye" once last time, we put our gravity chairs on the truck to go back to the lake house, we put two pieces of antique furniture on the truck (my friend was unable to pick it up from Tennessee the week prior), we managed to get that antique rocking chair onto the truck (since rocking chairs didn't want to fit in Ray's Mini-Cooper), and we loaded it up with suitcases stuffed with clothing. Within forty-five minutes we were at the lake house quickly unloading the truck. I left my car behind, and off we went back to Stafford to wait for my two nephews to show up for the move to their mom's house with some furniture she was buying and taking from us. We had a good thirty minutes to sit on our porch soaking up the warm sunshine and taking a selfie in front of our soon to be sold house. More "goodbyes" to other neighbors, my nephews showed up to load up some heavier pieces of furniture (no way was I going to be of any help), and this time we drove north about thirty minutes to my sister's house. My sister and her boyfriend had just started the spring/summer season at a Farmers Market (my sister owns a bakery, and her boyfriend is the baker), so she was busy making some money while we unloaded dressers, mattresses, nightstands and tables into her house. Perfect timing for my sister to arrive home and help us make her new bed! The busy day had stirred up a huge appetite, and it was a late lunch/early dinner for the five of us. We lounged at "Not Your Average Joe's" restaurant eating great food and having even better conversation catching up with my nephews. Once Ray and I got back into the rental truck, we made one more trip to the house in Stafford and collected some refrigerator items and his car (which had been filled up once more earlier that morning). I followed Ray to the Home Depot in Fredericksburg which is where the rental truck had to be dropped off. Another long and arduous process of now trying to drop off the truck since the woman behind the register had never done a "truck rental drop off" before. It had been a long day. Back to the lake house we went longing for a really long and good nights sleep!

My sister's things loaded up on the truck.

Our just about emptied out garage (the cabinet is staying with the new owners)

Hate moving days.

In front of our soon to be sold house that we owned for eight years.

Sunday had Ray and I taking a five mile walk in the neighborhood, grabbing lunch at Chilis and grocery shopping. It was an uneventful day of shopping and trying to make room in our cluttered environment. All good things must come to an end though and on Monday I was lucky enough to start my forty-five mile commute one way to work. I left too early of course, but I didn't know what to expect (school buses, accidents on the highway, which exit would be the best to take) that first day. Monday through Thursday while I went to work, Ray was busy on the phone with Comcast cable company (one to one plus hour phone conversations trying to hook up Magic Jack, and making sure they didn't disconnect us again, and settling up our bill they had screwed up in the process of wrongly disconnecting us), registered our cars in this county of Spotsylvania, changed our address, cleaned up and straightened the garage some more, made sense of his things in the bedroom, sold two tables and a rocking chair on Craigslist (done with this!), made me dinner, brought home cupcakes, picked up his eyeglasses and delivered modems and boxes to the cable company. We also managed to walk three out of the four work nights. Yes, I had a tough first week going to work and leaving him to roll over in bed at 6:15 am. Yes, I aired my difficulties (big sigh here that I was whining a bit about not being retired with him), and yes, I am over it. Until this Monday. No, actually, my having three days off, my being in the quiet at the lake house today on a beautifully sunny and warm day with no one around, and my feeling huge satisfaction in all the we have done together these past two months to get ready for our goal of moving to Panama has brought me to a state of acceptance. I have twenty days of work left, and it will all be good. I do feel a sense of urgency that I won't have a lot of time this summer before I leave, but this is because I am still thinking like a working woman. I have to remember I will have seven days a week off and not just the weekends. Okay, back to all things good.

What a day yesterday was, and it was another long one. Ray and I jumped in the car by seven thirty yesterday morning to head up the highway to Costco. I have had this "clicking" sound in my right hearing aid every time I am in the car with the radio on. Call it a click, a crick or a crack, it has been an annoyance, and it disturbs my holding a good pitch when singing (yeah right, don't ask me to sing) at the top of my lungs with the convertible top down (did I write how gorgeous it has been these past few days?). First, I wanted to see my house one last time. Pulling up to the house we noticed the future owners had put black shutters on the front of the house, and they had the front door painted black (we had just had a fresh coat of dark green painted on it this past fall). In the garage were all of the kitchen appliances. In the kitchen were brand new stainless steel appliances. They were busy folk! New ceiling fans, new electrical outlets, painting completed, new carpeting, and new shelving in the closets were all noticed and make an impressive mark on the house. And in about eight hours it would not be our house anymore. We bumped into the neighbors walking their elementary school aged children to the bus stop, bumped into the future owner who had told us the movers had backed out of the job, and she was now hustling to get new movers to the house for today, and then we were on our way to Costco. Once that task was completed (and yes, with the loaner aid, I realize it is the aid and not me "hearing things"), Ray and I went to the Apple Store to have my laptop evaluated once more. The screen likes to come up blue sometime. A new drive would be ordered and installed, and I was satisfied to hear that I am not the cause of the computer malfunctioning. Seems there have been some quality control issues with the 2012 Macbook Air models So not my fault here either fortunately, since I have had trouble in the past with laptops.

Lunch time was once we made it to Stafford County. It is spring break, and, of course, I-95 needs even more of a reason at twelve thirty in the afternoon to be congested and clogged. Wings and a salad along with some yummy Buffalo Chicken Dip were ordered, and our bellies were full. But we still had some time to kill before our settlement time at four pm. We shopped at Target, had chai tea at Starbucks and off we went to the attorney's office. What a nice two hours at settlement. It couldn't have gone any smoother. The attorney is a patient of mine, and the soon to be owners of our house know her very well, also. Ray and I were to sign just a few papers, the deed to the house was signed, keys and remote controls to the garage were passed over, and the new owners of our old house brought champagne to toast! They thought we would finish together, but they still had many more papers to sign. The attorney said it would be no problem for us to drink champagne while they completed their paperwork, and so we did! We spent another twenty or so minutes drinking champagne and watching them sign all the necessary documents, and once there was a lull, we were out of there! Hugs and promises were then made to get together for dinner one weekend before we leave for Panama and also to see them at their annual Christmas party. And off we went home to Lake Anna. How odd is it to write that. What a feeling and sense of accomplishment! Ray and I arrived to the lake house ready to eat the remaining cupcakes from the night before (the flavors were blueberry pancake--so good!--and chocolate peanut butter--sort of predictable, but still quite good), and to just veg in front of the TV. That felt good, too! It had been a long day, along with quite a few long weeks!

Today Ray woke up to drive to his dad's house in Louisa County. His dad has been having many yard sales to try and sell off an extensive collection of things in his shop and garage. He will be moving to Georgia once his house sells, and he hasn't broken down to selling on Craigslist yet. Ray was another set of eyes to watch over those eager to spend money on his dad's "stuff". I, on the other hand, not retired yet and having ONLY three days off a week (haha) stayed behind at the lake house to take a leisurely five mile walk and wash my car. I walked to the newly reopened Barn store to get a newspaper (I have missed my morning newspaper), but the delivery has not started of the one I usually read. I bought The Central Virginian instead, and I discovered it is too annoying of a paper to continue to read in the future. The paper was lacking in content and the writing style was unsatisfactory. I turned to a People magazine instead. There, that was better! And sat on the deck to read with the birds going to town talking and singing. Let me mute those hearing aids! One roomie was coming to the house this morning and made it to the lake house at around two pm in record breaking time of three hours (twice the time it should take), and Ray arrived about thirty minutes later. We had plans for dinner and a play at The University of Mary Washington, so off we went at around four thirty to meet our friends that were also driving from Northern Virginia. We drove farther north, changing restaurants, in order to give them ample time to eat dinner. Traffic. The play we saw was "Lysistrata", and I am still confused and perplexed by it. An odd play for a college theater. Just an odd show altogether. But like my lake house roomie said, it's always good to get out and do different things. This was definitely different.

Tomorrow Ray will leave for his mom's house once more. He will drop off two suitcases and ten bags of clothing. And he will return the next day. Then retirement for Ray should begin. We can start daydreaming again about Panama and house hunting can continue. Now that we own one third of a house, we can look forward to renting a house for a while in Panama. Amazing how selling a house and unloading all of that "stuff" lifts so much off our shoulders. Even though we seem to have more days together in the future, it seems like those days will be full of activity and adventure. Here's to more warm, sunny days sitting on the deck mindlessly reading entertainment magazines and lackluster newspapers preparing for our future move to Panama.