Time out with the girls

We did get a chance to go out to lunch with the 'girls' shortly after Roses' arrival. If we had known how hard we were going to be working we might have stayed out longer.

As it was, we had lunch at 'Houston's' with Mary and Vicky. Rose enjoyed her first ever 'Veggie Burger' then continued on to another establishment for a glass or two of wine.

Fun was had by all.

...the packers learn

The first task Rose and I took on was determining out how to pack all of our pictures and canvases for safe travel and storage. Mark had wisely asked that I save the dunnage from Dell computer boxes I obtained from work prior to retirement. The Styrofoam came in very handy along with the shrink wrap he bought but I thought we 'did not need'. (Now, where is the crow I need to eat....again?)

Notice the house goes to 'trashed' status...again as the packing begins.

Rose to the rescue

Much to my delight my sister-in-law, Rose offered to fly to Dallas to help us move. In fact, Rose said she would only come if or when we had some work to be done. I jumped on that offer like a duck on a June bug. She flew in on July 29 and left August 9 - 65 packed boxes and 35 crated canvases later. Needless to say she was a god-send.

Time out for a tooth ache

I put off seeing about a needed root canal and one Thursday my tooth began to show signs of distress. Popping ibuprofen 3 at a time all weekend by Monday morning my face was swollen so I showed up at the dentists' office without an appointment. When I got home with 2 prescriptions and orders to come back on Tuesday all I wanted was my bed...

Much to my surprise, the stuffed animals all had toothache bandages wrapped around their heads.....even in pain I had to laugh.

Bilge work continues....

Most of the time I am flat on my stomach drilling holes. Did you know that it is impossible to drill through fiberglass when you have the Makita driver drill in reverse? Also, I am really glad that I cleaned and painted all the bilges a few years back!

Bilge work

My wonderful neighbor Angie and I celebrated with a bottle of White Star Champaign the day the varnish booth in the upstairs bedroom was dismantled. Too bad I did not get a picture of that happy hour! We signed the contract to put the house on the market on July 11. I told the agent that I needed until the 15th to have the house ready for showing....well, darn it all wouldn't you know they showed it one day early (much to my near panic, but my other dear neighbor Megan came to my rescue thank heavens). And, the first lady that saw it made and offer and bought it! So much for my worry about the real estate market.

Now that we have 95% of the wood projects done we start on the plumbing for air conditioners AND getting ready to move. Here I am in the bilge cutting holes thru the bulkheads and epoxying the same for the copper tubing runs.

Table installed (open)

For your viewing pleasure, here is the table in the open (aka dinner party) position. Though truth be told it has been installed about 2 months now and guess what? It has been in the closed position the entire time unless we are showing it to one of our sailing buddies....who woulda thought?