First, I need to mention that our orchid society voted to host the national organization's spring show for 2011. I voted against this as did several others---we who are the worker bees. However, the vote carried by two votes. This occurred about 1 1/2 yrs. ago; the AOS (American Orchid Society whom we were hosting) recommends that a society start 3 - 4 yrs. in advance to raise the necessary money, make plans, etc. Did our society heed this advice? Of course not. Therefore, we have worked our buns off to bring all this about including monthly meetings of the "show committee" which I will testify were not all that much fun and were always at the time one would normally be eating supper. I left on several occasions because I had done my part and was too hungry to sit there any longer listening to the same thing we'd heard for four months running and the re-hashing of the same arguments over rather inconsequential "stuff."
We did bring it all together, and the show was a huge success according to all those who came from out of town. Here's a picture of our society members filling "goodie bags" for the registrants.
What was in the bags? Three strands of Mardi gras beads, decks of cards from the casinos as well as a pair of dice, little Tabasco bottles, a little vacuum bag of coffee from Community Coffee, a 2 oz. jar of Pepper Jelly made by one of our members, a little orchid plant ready for planting, and the usual note pads, pens, emery boards, etc. It was a nice collection of stuff. We did this loading about 2 1/2 weeks before the show. The bags are nice for "green shopping"; I've already used mine.
Dagromm, my Texas son, gave me two nights at the Hilton, the hotel adjacent to the Convention Center where the show was. I think being able to just go there, bathe, and fall down kept me going through the early part of the show. It was wonderful, because I really was too tired to drive the four miles home, much less get up early enough to make it back downtown for the next morning's early activities. Mack stayed with Chill and Jaz through the whole thing, and I'm grateful for that.
There was drama behind the scenes resulting in losing more members, adding to those we lost by deciding to host the show to begin with. So, was it worth it? I'm still undecided, but my inclination is to say "No." We'll see how it all plays out; however, I am not taking on any more responsibilities. Period.
On the Wednesday after the show the Interfaith Pharmacy where I volunteer moved from its tiny location to a much, much larger facility. We really needed to move, and I'm very thankful that it worked out. However, spending five hours cleaning the old place and organizing a portion of the new space put me right back to where I was at the end of the AOS show. . . needing to sleep for about two days straight.
In addition to this I decided about eight months ago that it was time to downsize and have less responsibility for home and yard. My plan was to sell the house and move to an apt. so that I wouldn't be responsible for plumbing, A/C, yard, whatever. I just can't do all of it anymore, and it is too costly. Then Chillax & Jaz suggested that I take the money from the sale of my house and use it as a down payment on something where we could all live, along with Oyster, of course. Initially, they would take up the payments on the new place, and when we balanced, I would kick in a portion. Well, that suited me just fine because as I age I'm occasionally frightened of being undiscovered in an emergency situation. My big stipulation is that we have separate living quarters and that I have my own kitchen; we have different hours, food choices, etc.
So, the big cleaning up, de-cluttering, sprucing began. Right now I have to say that my closets are the best portion of my house. Sorry, Goo, but the revered Pilgrimage shoes, went the way of the trash a couple of months ago, but I did take a memorial picture.
This was probably more traumatic for me than for you. C'est la vie.
The realtor whom I have decided to use for the sale of the house gave me pointers on getting ready to go "on the market." One of those was certain loan appraisers don't want to see any peeling paint. Well, my storage area behind the carport definitely had some peeling paint, and after power washing it (one of my orchid society buddies did that) it looked even worse.
Grim, isn't it?
So, in addition to the big show preparations, I was faced with de-cluttering and painting. Well, I have wound up painting about 85-90% of the carport and storage area as well as about half of all the window frames (outside). The deterioration is due to weather and sun. You don't really realize you're living in a dump until you want to sell it. Then the realtor gently slides the reality glasses on your nose.
Here's the storage wall now.
Jaz has been helping me take things to the storage unit I rented three months ago to hold things I'm either keeping or selling depending on where we wind up. She has also helped with grooming the yard, and I'm counting on her for the "final cleaning." That means the cleaning before the realtor comes to take pictures to go on the web. Selling a house has become very scary. It used to be that people knew how many bedrooms, bathrooms, sq. footage was available, and then they could come look and decide if this was the place for them. Now, they can look on-line and if they aren't really smitten they won't even come look. This was not the way I wanted to make my entertainment debut.
I'm doing the best I can, and I'll let you know the website if you want to see the house at its best. But you have to ask. Sorry, but I don't want you burdened with more than you want.
Take care, everyone, and understand that I have been thinking about you. I've just been swamped and still am. Keep your fingers crossed for me and the house sale.
