Some steps

Some steps are bigger than others.

Some small steps don't seem to advance you very far, like a trip to the Goodwill store we made on the way to do the grocery shopping. A trunk full of clothes we won't wear when we head out permanently, a box of books that were just taking up space in the back room. A trip to the scrap yard to get rid of all the scrap steel that has built up over the last 8 years which only nets $9.
Those small steps don't seem significant at all until you suddenly realize that you cleaned out a whole room full of memories, junk, clutter, whatever you want to call it. It's all GONE and all the small steps just became a big step.

Then there are steps that you feel kind of tingly when you take them. We just signed up for our Medicare Supplement insurance which (Hopefully) will take care of our doctors bills etc. in retirement. It hits you that you won't have the security blanket of the medical insurance paid through the company anymore. You will have to pay for all of it yourself from now on. 

I have to admit to taking a swallow to get the lump out of my throat when I signed that piece of paper.

Listing some more stuff on e-bay and taking pictures of furniture for an ad on Craigslist seems so easy after that but they are more small steps taken. 

It's funny how listing things on Craigslist goes, some things you list and nobody calls. You list the same things a week or so later and there are dozens of calls.

Some people call wanting to know your lowest price BEFORE they even come and look at things. Other people come round and pay you full asking price without blinking, I just sold our old treadmill in 5 minutes and for the full asking price. Boy did the spare room look bare when that was gone.

The ones I really like are the people who call and ask what else you have and what you want for it. I mean, do they really expect you to trot off a list of things and give them a low-ball price when you don't even know whether they'll show up?

Then there are the ones that tell you they'll pay the full asking price if you'll hold it for a day/week etc. Really? I'll turn down somebody else's money for a vague promises of some guy who might show up sometime.

We did sell a patio furniture set to a lady who gave us the cash for it then asked if we could keep it for her for a few days. We YES! If she didn't show we could sell it again. In the event it was nearly 2 weeks before she managed to come get it, then she took it down to Tijuana and sold it in the flea market there!  

Even better are the people giving stuff away free on Craigslist. I get so much stuff that way. 
People tell me it's all a hoax there never is anything free. 
All I can say is that if you see something and it's been listed for more than 20 minutes then it's GONE. When I call I'm ready to pick it up immediately, I don't expect the owners to hold it just in case I happen to finally turn up. I just got a leather swiveling, reclining drivers seat for our RV for nothing,
Cool!

Never mind we're off to Balboa Park to cross off some San Diego Bucket List items. We have free tickets for the Living Artists Museum and the San Diego Art Museum is free on Super Bowl Sunday. Spanish Village the Art "Commune" for a better word is always free. Lunch in the park and dinner on the way home. Doesn't get much better than that.

My own contribution to the art world

A painting I finished this week of my buddy Ken on his Harley

I installed two count down timers on  my laptop. The top one gives days, hours, minutes and seconds to Barbara's retirement day. 

The second one to mine.

65 days, 17 hours, 15 minutes and 24 seconds

120 days, 5 hours, 41 minutes and 50 seconds

every second is a small step and every day a bigger one.

Kind of morbid at times!!

Finally we started the conversation with a Realtor today. That's a spooky feeling because now we are REALLY getting committed. I have to admit that I didn't return her call this afternoon, my excuse being that I wanted to talk to Barbara about it when she got home from work.