Closing a chapter. . .

When we first started fulltiming, we were owners/managers of 10 apartments, five duplexes to be accurate. One we didn't rent, but stored some stuff there and let the kids hangout there when they were in the area visiting family.

Over the last few years, we have sold four of the duplexes, but held on to the last one which is where Terry's parents lived for the last years of their lives. Today we signed a contract on that last home and we have been in the process of getting it emptied out since we have been here. Actually I started the process last summer, while Terry was sick, and got lots of stuff boxed up. We have had a few garage sales and more to come, but Terry's health has again changed somewhat and he hasn't been able to help much of late. That's okay, because I had 50 years of records/taxes/papers of his parents to shred and 40 years of ours. Why did we keep this stuff so long?

I had been shredding regularly and burned up my large shredder, so I bought Walmart's heaviest duty one. It did not last a day. I returned it and bought a Bonsai Shredder off Amazon and it was delivered the next day. It performed flawlessly and with a 60-minute run time, it never shut down on me. I actually have another much smaller shredder which is about 15 years old and it continues to run, so I could alternate between the two. All told, I took about 33 bags of shredded paper of 33-50 gallons each. I know I could have taken the boxes of papers to a commercial shredder, but I found Terry's parent's marriage license and Terry's original birth certificate, so I wanted to go through it all. Proud to say I finished the other day and we took all those bags to recycling, so now I can concentrate on other things.

Some of the furniture was promised for pickup after the kids all left and the families came and picked up all their stuff. I still have several pieces of furniture to go and I'm hoping to get it outside at my next sale. I have several offers of help to do that so I don't think it will be a problem.

We will be having to put a small amount of stuff in storage and we planned to get a unit big enough for Li'l Red as well. MinnieMee is already safely tucked into storage. If we buy a house elsewhere (and Florida is sounding pretty good), it will have to have space for all the "stuff." Are we buying a house? Not yet. We have decided if we do, it will be in Florida because that is where son Brandon is and they have some good heart hospitals there. Since Terry cannot breathe in cold air, we couldn't choose Virginia, where our daughter lives; but we will be able to visit and they can always come to Florida to visit us! Indianapolis is just not some place we want to be in the winter even though Terry's doctors are there. He needs warm air year around. We have some decisions to make. But. . .one step at a time.

We are doing well. Terry tried that new heart drug Entresto and they won't be calling him to give a glowing review. One of those "rarely mentioned" side effects laid him up pretty good and he had to quit it. So now he is trying to get back to his "normal" and that is taking some time. He is sleeping better than he has in two years and once he is rid of the side effects, we are hoping for his "normal" to return.

Till next time. . .

Dale