Staying busy

We have been busy with a lot of different things.  Mostly, we have been divesting ourselves of a lot of "stuff" that we no longer need. Going through chests and cabinets, sorting out the clothes to go to Good Will. Opening boxes and deciding what to sell at a garage sale.  We still have a long way to go on the fifty or so boxes that we packed up after my wife's parents died, but some progress is being made.

The good news is that the parents' house sold as did the car. I also sold my old rowing shell and have put my first sail boat up for sale as well.  I have the great desire to get rid of a lot of superfluous things that I don't foresee we will use or need again. And somehow, I'm not feeling sad about it nor am I wanting to hold onto things that I no longer need.

We are painting the interior of the house, going room by room and changing the colors.  We are also renovating the mudroom, putting down new tile, new countertops, lights and sink.  After the downstairs is done, hopefully by Thanksgiving, we will tackle the upstairs where the original bathrooms will be renovated to make them more modern, yet still in keeping with the traditional look of the house.  I think that this will be our last renovation---hopefully. Thankfully, none are as daunting as the kitchen redo.

The renovation work will keep us busy for a while.  I plan to go on the boat when I can.  In December, we plan to take some time to go cruising.  There won't be anything to really keep us around over the holidays.  It seems that it will be better to spend time on the boat and make some new memories rather than thinking about who we have lost over the past year.

I hope that each of you has had a good weekend. We did manage to have a dinner and movie date, going to see the movie, "Captain Phillips", which was one of the best that I've seen in a while. I read the book about the Somalian pirates hijacking the Maersk Alabama but have to say that the movie was better than the book.

I'm off to go cook some dinner for a tired wife.