Fire Sale!

Wow! I haven't blogged in a while, I guess with some recent traveling and hitting the wire with the move there's less and less time! So we had our "We're Not Dead Yet" estate sale on Saturday morning with great success. Lots of neighbors and friends of friends actually showed up to peruse the assortment of items that we're not taking to Switzerland, everything from our 50" TV with surround sound stereo down to cookie sheets that don't fit in tiny Swiss ovens. Virtually every object in the house was marked with a sticky note, either green for "It's yours!" or red for "Hands off, it's still ours!"

Amazingly, every large item that we really needed to sell actually sold. Our family room couch and matching chair, three tables, flat screen TV with stereo receiver and speakers, 72" dining room table, a humongous credenza--all of it! And some smaller but bulky kitchen items, too, including a griddle, waffle maker, ice cream maker, coffee maker, cake decorating supplies (!), pizza stone, etc., etc.

As with so much else with our pending move, the event brought some mixed feelings. On one hand, we feel quite liberated (and suddenly quite cash rich too!) getting rid of so much stuff . But on the other hand, watching people walk out the door with items we've owned and used and enjoyed for years brought the first true deep pang that we're actually leaving.

The only caveat along with our slashed prices was that all furniture items must remain until October 25th, when the movers come, so that we can continue to show the house furnished to potential buyers. Speaking of which, after the sale we had exactly one hour to prepare for a 1-3pm open house showing that afternoon. Our realtor showed up Saturday morning to briefly observe the chaos and departed with genuine fear in her eyes, but we had the place sparkling again by her return at 12:55pm. Steph and I are so efficient these days it's scary..!