It’s a big project to move out of the country…but things are proceeding pretty well. Just this week I realized that I’m not as tense as I was since more and more of my tasks are either completed or planned.

Our garage sale is this weekend, and we have a pretty good feeling about how it will go. Our pet sitters and my hair stylist have passed the word, and I have put up advertisements and an ad in the paper. We really hope it doesn’t rain, although the forecast calls for it. I think people might be ready for the first garage sale of the season!

Mr. Mike (the handyman) comes Monday to install cabinets in the laundry room. These are off the shelf cabinets that we’re having installed since our house was built without a linen closet! He’s also putting in a new laundry sink and changing out the light fixtures. When he’s all done, I’ll paint. He is also re-installing the bench seat in the kitchen that we removed to make a parrot nook. Then I will make a new cushion and repaint in there, too.

Landscapers come Monday also to put in a bunch of Nandina next to the foundation and to clean out a bed that has been bothering me a lot. We are also having them put a thick layer of play chips on our garden paths in between the raised beds. I worked out there all day yesterday and will be back at it today to clean up the raised beds, and divide some of the perennials. I have a lot of knifofia (red hot pokers) now to plant somewhere else and also some daylillies and alliums. Paul and I still have a lot of wood chips to spread around.

The painters will be here in late April. They’ll paint all our interior ceilings and also a couple of rooms.

In May the floor refinishers arrive. When we get back from Mazatlan we should be ready to list the house.