Garage sale day and what threatened to be a slow trickle of customers
really picked up toward noon so that we had a very successful sale
(both Mommy and Grammy contributed stuff for sale and weren't
disappointed).
If you've seen the show, then you know what happens after the sale is
done and the winner crowned. Yep...the rest of it gets whisked away to
charity and that turned out to be two truck loads. Apparently the rest
of Clayton had garage sales as there were twelve trucks at the Goodwill
by the time I had finished unloading our first load of stuff. The
second load was decidedly smaller (and the place was a lot less busy!)
but hey, it's a tax deduction! :)
Of course, it would have been nice to have the Clean Sweep
crew clean up the rest of the house but alas, that was our job for the
next two days. I have to say that throughout the move, Nicholas has been
a real gem and we'd have been still cleaning round midnight on Sunday
were it not for him really being a good boy watching his Elmo videos and
generally staying out of the way.
It's been more than a little bit busy here at the house the last couple
of weeks since fleeing the wrath of Charley. It looks like Charley has
done his worst in the house with all of the boxes and stuff all over the
place.
But that changed this morning when our movers arrived to pack most of our
stuff into a huge 53' moving van. The living room (which rather reminded
me of the final scene from Raiders of the Lost Ark and the
government warehouse full of boxes!) was emptied rather quickly and the
furniture wasn't too far behind the boxes. They wrapped the furniture
with this cool stuff that looked like super-tough oversized Saran
wrap and the packing job was fantastic. I figured they'd need two of
those huge trucks but we barely made it halfway. The crew was polite,
each strong as an ox, and very diligent...so much so that the entire
operation was completed in a little over six hours.
Ah, but that was the easy part...now it was time to collect and pack the
stuff they didn't take and get it out of the house as well as starting
the clean-up process. That's the way to know true pain...you don't
really appreciate how much requires cleaning until you have to clean the
house for the new owners. We decided to stay overnight (camping style
sans the tent...i.e. sleep on the floor!) for the garage sale the next
day.
And if you didn't know pain before, sleeping on the floor if you're not
used to it is a quick way to get an introduction! :(
But we still had time to call Gram and wish her a happy birthday. We
won't divulge the age...unless the bribes are awfully good! Unfortunately
it wasn't the happiest of occasions as Lee had to undergo emergency
surgery on the colon for a condition discovered not long after he
returned from Iowa. Here's hopes for a speedy recovery...so don't be a
bad patient like Admiral Halsey, eh? :)
After having a good time on holiday at Ocean Isle hanging out on the
beach and elsewhere, we had a bit of a surprise coming our way from
Florida in the form of Hurricane Charley. We had been watching his
progress through Florida and wishing the best for our family in Port Orange
(Gramps was hoping for a new roof but alas, even though the eye
passed right over his house...no such luck!).
The three of us had a fun day just lounging about watching some movies
and just enjoying the day at the beach whilst Grammy and the others had
headed south to Myrtle Beach.
Unfortunately for us, Sunset Beach and Ocean Isle were right close to
what would be Charley's second landfall right on the North Carolina /
South Carolina border. Horry County (Myrtle Beach) issued mandatory
evacations for everything east of US-17 (Business) in the evening and
Grammy and crew were on their way back to Ocean Isle. Mommy had the
foresight to envision the traffic on US-17 with a hurricane bearing down
on us so we agreed it was time to start packing and cleaning and head
back home a bit early. Grammy and crew arrived later in the evening and
also decided to come back home. So into the vehicles went the stuff and
the convoy ran up US-17 and then I-40 ahead of the storm. We got home
round about 0130 and then it was time for bed!
It turned out to be a good call as Ocean Isle was on the northeast side
of the eye as the storm came inland which is the worst side of the storm
to be. Besides, we had more than a little packing to do... :)
Yep, it's time for a bit of holiday down at the beach house Grammy rents
every year. We're sharing the house with Grammy as well as Uncle Patrick
and his family.
We made excellent time down to Ocean Isle which was aided by finding a
route through Wilmington that avoided Market Street (US-17). Of course,
Daddy lost all of the time gained by that routing by forgetting that
you have to go right to stay on US-17 which then immediately turns
left. It's rather amazing how that stretch of US-74/US-76 near
Leland is scenic...NOT!
Anywho, we arrived about 45 minutes ahead of everyone else which gave us
a chance to unload the Escape which was loaded! As in whole
lot of stuff loaded! It wasn't quite all of the house possessions
that haven't been packed by Mommy...but it seemed like we weren't all
that far off, either! Fortunately for us, our quarters are down below
behind the garage so the really heavy stuff didn't have to go up the
stairs to the second level. When everyone else showed up, it was time
to repeat the unloading process...except all of this stuff was going
upstairs. Ah, our aching backs...
Arrival day tends to be rather low-key as everyone is usually tired by
the time we get here. Except for a certain little one who decided to
find a big burst of energy and where it came from, we have no idea! He
definitely enjoyed his jaunt to the beach where he played in the sand,
in the water, but most of all loved playing the chase me game.
And we can't tell you how many buckets of sand we filled with mucky sand
and shells. Nicholas showed a particular fascination for holes and a
rather remarkable balance when he stepped into the hole. All in all,
a good day at the beach for him and he didn't even taste the sand once.
Way to go, little one!
Of course, on every trip, there is always something someone forgets. In
this case, it was Daddy forgetting that soap is a rather nice
thing to pack to the beach if he wants to get clean and not smell of
tangerines! So a raiding party set off for the local Food Lion
to get those last-minute essentials.
In today's lesson, we will learn that's not a real swift plan. You see,
pretty much everyone arrives in the area on Saturday! And guess
where they end up. Come on, three guesses and the first two don't count!
Yep...the local Food Lion. All at the same time. Queues that stretch
the length of the front of the store and make it rather impassable through
the aisles. And of course, it's not like the old commissary on Fort
Bragg where they have one queue and 30 to 40 checkout stations that were
always fully staffed...nope...half of the queues were shut. A memo to
the Sunset Beach Food Lion managers...offer bonuses to fully staff
Saturday nights during tourist season, eh!
Of course, Nicholas outlasted Daddy who went down below to put sheets on
the bed and inflate Nicholas' new inflatable Bob the Builder
instant sleeping bag air mattress. I'm sure they came in sometime later
but I couldn't really tell with all of the dreams of waves crashing
against the sea shore!