Busy Week

Nothing new in Mosaic Moments this week as both my writing and my blogging went on hold to get ready for my big "Moving" garage sale. With daughter Susie providing a large contingent of children's clothes & games, hamster cages, etc., as she too is moving & lives in a gated community. Lots of preparation over the last few weeks, plus three days non-stop - organizing, pricing, then selling, selling, selling. Susie deserted me several times to show her house and once to direct the Citrus Chorus in the National Anthem for a softball game at UCF. (I understand the girls were a big hit.) While I held forth alone, though with only one sour note when a family of three kept waving items at me from all sides, demanding in that awful sing-song: "What will you take for this?"!) 

Interestingly, I met and talked to more neighbors than I had in the eight years I've lived here, plus a lot of other interesting people. Including an immigrant from Peru who bought the furry 20" llama I originally purchased in Peru. And I sold tea bowls I purchased at a gift shop in an onion-domed mosque in Samarkand to a Muslim girl from Jordan. So definitely a fun two days - except for the family mentioned above who wanted to buy everything at one-tenth the garage-sale price. Oh yes - my piano went to a slim young man, who obviously really, really wanted it. But I worried that the friends he brought back to help move it might not be able to handle it (two were female). And then I saw Daddy. Twenty-four-inch biceps, I swear. I think he could have bench-pressed the piano all by himself.

All in all, the sale was worth the effort. As the saying goes, I'll be laughing all the way to the bank.

Below a few of the photos we managed to take over the past week.

Girl power - Making room for my garage sale by loading a U-haul of stuff  & taking it to my new house.

Susie, Hailey & Cassidy loaded the entire truck, drove it to Longwood & unloaded (though they had help from a male neighbor for the unload). Truly an amazing feat. Resulting in the not-so-surprising photo below. (Which Blogger absolutely refused to load in an upright position - sorry about that.)

On Thursday Mike flew to Lakeland (out of the Executive Airport) for the Sun 'n Fun airshow & took this photo as he passed over the Orlando Eye.

 

On Friday morning, I was rushing through the newspaper as I expected garage sale afficionados by 8:00 a.m., when I did a classic double-take as I skimmed the front page of the Local Section of The Orlando Sentinel. Cassidy in profile (on the right) and Riley peeking out between the two girls with hair bows. I knew the Citrus Singers had performed two patriotic numbers at the federal building for a citizenship ceremony for 200 the day before - after all, I drove our two there - but the photo on the front page was a big surprise. I understand the mothers of the children below bought out every Sentinel they could lay their hands on.

The odd twists of Garage Sales - would you believe no one bought that gorgeous doll or the cut-glass vase? The sewing machine, however, is headed to Colombia.

Female Power again - this time 3 seniors & Susie. Would you believe we loaded two three-drawer chests, a 4-drawer chest, and a full-length sofa into a pick-up all by ourselves? Brava, Girl Power! Susie also loaded a very heavy glass-topped table with wrought iron base for a customer this morning. Again, impressive! (Although I suspect her father would have been more horrified than proud.)

~ * ~

Grace Note:  Mosaic Moments will be sporadic over the next three months as I pack, move, get my computer set up, unpack & then re-pack up for a family cruise in the Mediterranean, plus four days in London. (Planned last summer before the big decision to move.)

I'll be updating my blog index on Writing & Editing articles, so hopefully readers can find useful blogs in Archives.

As always, thanks for stopping by.

Grace
 
For Grace's website, listing all books as Blair Bancroft, click here.

For a brochure for Grace's editing service, Best Foot Forward, click here.