Friday, March 18, 2016

A Sale and A Toss and A Donation

Well, it sure doesn't take much to get into the mode of selling and tossing. I don't have to tell you that this process is a fun one, well I guess we all have different opinions on that matter! We are enjoying it.

With full time rv'ing beginning and this gem of a hot spot waiting for us, it is exciting that our adventure is just around the corner,
down the street and over the bridge on April 15th.  Bill and I are like a couple of Whirling Dervishes or Tasmanian devils at the very least!

When I can go from 2 full closets of clothes, 2 dressers, 2 coat closets to what you see here in the picture,                                                                                                                                                    
       

 I deserve the "Good job, dear, I'm proud of you" that my soul mate bestowed upon me last weekend. 
I can look at a lovely dress from my wardrobe, try it on if there is doubt and honestly decide that it isn't necessary. I call that progress especially when just mere weeks ago I looked at that dress and thought "I can't part with that one, it looks so nice on me". 

                                             Progress.

I will be participating in another friend's Clothing Swap on Apr. 3. Kim is hosting this time and I only hope that she won't be overwhelmed when I bring in my 6? 7? garbage bags full of clothing/shoes/accessories.



At least when all is said and done on that Sunday, we know she will be donating the remaining articles to a worthwhile shelter or church. I can't believe that I can see empty hangers and empty space!




 The drop place in Bill's airplane room looked like this when we were readying the house for sale. 
In February everything we decided  that we were keeping went into that room.
 Last weekend, we decided it was time to re-weed and re-sort so together we did a quick inventory. Results below.

Except for the boat, destination Mobile Suite

Destination: Ridge cabins

Destination: The Ridge this weekend

 It doesn't take us long since we both have the same goal in mind.  Now we have 3 piles. One to go in the Mobile Suite, one to go up to The Ridge soon (our summer location) and one to go to The Ridge NOW (meaning this weekend). Now it isn't so overwhelming.



With just a month to go before having to make the final decision of keeps or no keeps, close the door on the house and drive away, I was able to attack my 2 jewellery drawers. I have costume jewellery only, the only expensive pieces of bling are on my finger and around my neck. This meant my decision was made easy, I wasn't throwing hard earned money away. The need little containers I found at Avon hold a lot of jewellery and will store easily in our walk-in closet in the Suite. Two full drawers down to one. Again I say Progress!

It was a tiresome job, but when I realized that I could still carry many special pieces in the rv without taking up too much space or adding weight, I chose more freely. 

Again, a lot of donations to my friends are inevitable.

                                                    Progress.
When I started seeing Bill go through his clothes and adding to the Goodwill pile, I was impressed with his ruthlessness too. 
Bill's closet thinning out


Clemson has allowed me to purge some of his 'stuff' too, how many balls does a wee dog need? If you closely at the picture to the right you'll see him hiding with his stuffed husky, Sergei, trying not to get shoved into a bag!
The bottom line is that our excitement for this new adventure has taken control and we are able to sell or toss accordingly.
                                 

Most of our furniture has sold and been picked up, our living room sofa bed




and 5 pc. bedroom suite is spoken for with a pick up on April 10.
We have 3 family heirlooms to be delivered to daughters in West Lorne and Tavistock and my sister, Wendy in Owen Sound is getting my brother's antique metal bed.



The china dishes from this cabinet that have been passed down from generations will go to Krystal, a daughter in Milverton. 

The dollhouse I made from a kit will go to another daughter, Charlotte in London for her girls.


And my parent's beautiful library table that Bill refinished is going to my daughter, Bridgette.


        We hope to have one more garage sale like our fall one

but because it will be April 2, it will be an indoor sale in the hope that we can reap a few more dollars or at the very least give it to someone who wants it.  That makes it nice and easy for me, we can put all the remaining items in the dining room and entertain walk-ins. Maybe I'll bake cookies!

Thank you for joining us in this adventure. It is because a lot of you that we are taking these steps. A little bit of an idea is becoming a reality very quickly and we'll be into our 'new' digs on April 20th and couldn't be happier.
                         

Thursday, March 10, 2016

Toronto RV Show and new friends


Toronto RV Show working for CanAm and enjoying lots of perks.


We left work at 2 pm on Fri. Feb. 26.
Picked up the pooch and luggage for the weekend.
Arrived in good time on a good day of travel except we managed to time our arrival
right around the rush hour, woopsy.


At first glance, with my camera looking for jets, I spotted these little black dots.


Once we got closer and I was able to zoom in more, I realized they were pigeons, gathered to welcome us! They sure found a sunny warm spot to do it.



With a beautiful sky we approached our weekend hotel


so without further ado we checked in.


The 4th floor elevator lobby


4th floor walk to our room



Room 424.....home for 2 nights

After getting settled in our room, we grabbed a bite to eat in the dining room downstairs and headed 
over to lend a hand at the show for a couple of hours. 

I should have taken a picture of the exercise room where I walked on the treadmill for half hour but
I didn't. It was way too hot in that room and I didn't hang around!


Breakfast Saturday morning with Monica and Josee



CanAm was set up close to Gate 3 which meant close
to the Food Court and Washrooms. Bonus!



Two DRV Mobile Suites, end to end, the largest units in our display, impressive!


On Saturday, we met this little performer
Annaka aka Annie aka Shortcake aka Princess, Flower
and many other handles that I can't remember.



I found myself attached to this little angel from the 
first moment she smiled for my camera.
I was grateful for the laughter she provided with her stories.

Sorry Katie, I couldn't fix the glassy eyes but don't worry, you take
a gorgeous picture anyway!

Annie has a beautiful older sister Katie and an 
even older brother whom she fondly called...
....wait for it.........."Brother". I think she was stringing me a line
as I found out later his name was Alexander (I think).
















Saturday night
after the show, we all met at Jolly's Italian Restaurant. Believe me, after our drive there in our truck, we were ready for a good stiff drink so Bill and I had a Pina Colada and Marquerita pronto!

The menu is large and plentiful and we chose well. My chicken fettucini was creamy and delicious and as usual I had enough for lunch another day. Thank you CanAm for feeding us!

  It is always nice to get a couple of real hard workers to pose for me...........so I found the youngest sales person and Bill and told them to stand still for a minute. They were only too happy to oblige.


Sunday morning, I was too tired and lazy to visit the exercise room so we had our breakfast down in the lobby restaurant and headed over to the show. Another fun day waited for us!

Because we were at the show in plenty of time before start up, we walked around and peeked at a few units. This one was raved about by the CanAm crew so we had to check it out.






I don't recall the name of this park model but it is sure a step up from anything we've seen. A second storey with patio on the top level and solar panels. 

Beautiful! I was really impressed with their display.










And then after a long day it was closing time on Sunday at 4 and we began lifting the floor tiles to pack up our display.


No one intended for Bill and I to lend a hand but we had offered to take the 38' Mobile Suite back to London so figured why not make ourselves useful?
The tiles got loaded on the carts and rolled up into the cargo trailer. Everything in its place.

It was very interesting to me to see the 'tear down' of such a large project, not only from the group we were with but from other vendor displays around us. Watching the trucks hook up and pull the units out with such ease was impressive. It was a constant motion and all the while our team was bustling as well. I could only do so much without getting in the way so set about helping the girls empty the rv's of all the decor and then lifting tiles. That is back breaking work, let me tell you!

         
       


Everyone pitches in, packing up the display signs, monitors and sales boards.

Eventually, it started to look like it was emptying out but still a lot of our units hadn't budged. 

Time to rock and roll and get these Airstreams moving!



Our very own Katie pulling a Vanna White as she shows us a toy hauler filling up.

The pictures below show just how tough our CanAm team is. 
Other vendors use monster trucks and tractors to move their units out.........

We use sales people and volunteers!

Bill and Evan using some muscle

Andy pulling an Airstream


Dan pulling
Bill pushing
Okay, so we needed our lovely F350 dually to move this beast!




All in all it was another great weekend. We pulled out of the International Centre parking lot around 8 pm and dropped the unit above in their lot by 10:30. A job well done and the drive home was clear and uneventful, thank goodness.

Until the next one in October, thank you for stopping by!