SECOND WEEK: Yard Sale to be continued...

Well, after three gruelling days of yard sale and house clean out we have discovered that we still haven't uncovered everything and brought it out of the house. The problem is that with the water-damage it was hard to find saleable items and by the time we sifted through a lot of it, the weekend was over. We fell short of our fund-raising goal by half and now realize it is unlikely to get as much as we had hoped but we do have tons of books, clothes, records and little things that we hope to sell on Saturday of next weekend to get us a bit closer.

STILL IN SHOCK
I know my dad had started buying books a lot but I had no clue of the sheer massive numbers, they were the most popular items at the yard sale and even after selling half of what we found there are still, quite literally, THOUSANDS left. If I had the capital I would have kept the books and opened a used book store with a full stock!

A lot of items were ruined by the water-damage caused by a vandal. Our hopes of raising enough money to jump start our work was faltering quickly. At this point we figured we will walk away with enough to rent a trash container but not much more.

HURTING BAD

After working hard-core on the house Thursday night, all day Friday, all day Saturday and Sunday into dark. We are exhausted! Luckily the eleven year old got to spend one of the nights at a friends house but for Chris, Jax and I this weekend meant working on the house all day and sleeping on a neighbors floor each night. (Thank goodness she had really nice, cushioned carpet but it is still hard on a body no longer youthful.) Between a couple of recent injuries and the pain of CFS this weekend has left me painfully exhausted. If it weren't for the brief break to hang out with some good friends and enjoy some drumming I think I would have cracked on Sunday. My husband kept going lifting incredibly heavy items, often without help, hour after hour, day after day without complaint.

CONDITION OF THE HOUSE

Dead HVAC

During the weekend we had visits from friends who had contracting experience take a look at the condition of the house in greater depth. Prognosis: Great property, great redwood "bones" to the house but a massive amount of work that needed to be done.

Our friends Roger and Shannon K. arranged for a HVAC guy (Alex) to come out and take a look at the systems. The HVAC was not only dead but so out-dated it was a waste of money to try and rebuild it. Alex promised to write up estimates on several options of what we could do with the place but it sounds like this winter will be all about the space heater.

The water damage destroyed many items in the house and the carpet and basement insulating as well as most of the items stored in the basement would have to be thrown out. Very little was salvageable but we may be able to put work into the wood floors and make that part livable.

The plumbing and wiring was old and weird. Full of mysteries and dead-ends. It was usable for the moment but must be replaced soon. Plumbing doesn't bother me too much but having to work on electrical freaks me out. Not something I feel amateurs should mess with but on our budget I guess I had better learn quick and well.

The laundry room is a complete rotted out mess and should be taken out right away. Probably means replacing the stairs as well. As this is where our water-heater is stored it makes it even more of a challenge. I got that familiar wave of "Should we be even attempting this?" but all the neighbors and our friends all agree that it is worth the risk. I hope they are right.

WEEK TWO HEROES
So many people helped us get through this weekend:

* My husband. I am blessed to be married to a man that I can call my hero!

* Our neighbors for letting us crash at their place.

* The family next door (that we just met last week) for offering to let us use their trash and green waste containers; letting use use their bathroom while we tried to fix the broken toilet, allowing my toddler son to play with their toddler daughter and their older daughter and their kinds words of support. They are genuinely kind people and only reconfirms our decision to move back.

Jax drumming his heart out!

* My good friends who hosted a drum circle and showered us with love and healing energy and fun.

* My Tai Chi student for his upbeat attitude, his incredible energy, strong back and arms and his genuine kindness to me and my family.

* The folks who visited us Sunday morning and gave us the idea to start a volunteer sign up sheet and then signed themselves up to help when and where and how they could. Stranger who care! They DO exist!

* The gang at Corti's on Sunday night. They had just locked the doors when we drove up and when they saw our dejected faces, re-opened so we could grab a much needed dinner in the form of the most famous Corti Bros. sandwiches!

* I am sure my exhausted mind has forgotten someone so THANK YOU ALL!

So that is all I have time for right now. I did find a lot of old pictures of the house I can scan and will post soon. I am thinking of creating a gallery for the main website. We will let you know when it is up!

An unusual sight right in the middle of the yard sale on Sunday morning.
A pair of mating Mantii (Is that how you make it plural?).

LEARN MORE ABOUT WHAT WE ARE DOING AND SEE MORE PICTURES OF THE PROJECT AT OUR WEBSITE: WWW.GROVETRIBE.COM