Today we will do our best to sell Mom’s house by way of a real estate auction. The house will have been in our family for nearly 30 years, and I believe I can speak for all of my siblings when I say it’s very sad to see it go. The unfortunate reality, though, is that it’s not a project any of us is willing or able to undertake at this point in our lives. The years ahead may reveal whether any of us will end up residing in Paxton once more, but until then, we’re just hoping this house can become a good home for someone else. We shall see, soon enough.
We did an estate sale at Mom’s house in mid-September, around the same time that she was initially diagnosed with breast cancer last year. These are just some of the things that were left over after a very successful 4-day sale.We are very happy with the sale and everything worked out perfectly.We used sedonalakes.com pearland homes for sale to sell the house and everything was ok with them.I strongly recommend them.
Mom sure took advantage of the space she had in that house. Image gallery after the jump
Two weeks ago, I fashioned myself a crude pinhole viewer using two small pieces of paper to watch the annular eclipse that was taking place. On June 4th, I’ll try to get outdoors around moonset to see a partial lunar eclipse. And then on June 5th, I’ll see if I can’t find some #14 welder’s glasses to check out the Transit of Venus.
I just got back from another nice weekend up north, hanging with the Ferrara clan. We had fun watching the final Yankees game for the AA season, and then Savino and Marco both had their first playoff games on Tuesday evening, so I stuck around for those before getting on the road back home. (335 miles in 4 hours 35 minutes Tuesday night. Not claiming I didn’t bend a couple traffic laws along the way.)
Now I’m back in LA, for the first time in months having no plans to head out again all that soon. That could change, of course!
I commented to some friends today that I’ve just reached the quadruple digits on the repayment for my car. Sounds kinda cool, until you do the math.
I’ve owned this car for four years. Rounding down to $300/month for payments for 48 months, that’s just shy of $15 grand, which was roughly the sticker price of the car when I bought it. The blue book value of the car today is right on par with what I still owe.
In other news, this is the three-year anniversary of my first marriage. I guess I got out cheap?
About a week and a half ago, I decided that it is once again time to get started taking better care of myself. I liked the simplicity and gradual nature of the “Couch to 5K” plan, and so it seemed worthy of a second shot. While it seemed before like night running might be the best approach, the inconsistencies in my nightly schedules seemed like enough of a potential deterrent that this time I’ve opted for a morning routine. Every day except Saturdays, I get up and ride my bicycle (yes, I finally got my bike fixed up and in good working condition!) to the park a mile from my apartment, where I either run or walk for 20+ minutes. While the couch to 5k plan only calls for 3 runs a week, to keep myself in the habit I’ve been going on the off days just to walk. It seems to help. I’ve gone to the park 10 of the last 12 days, and I’m a subscriber to the “object in motions stays in motion” philosophy. I’ll be sure to check back in and let you know how things are going.
Another new development is that I’ve started teaching an online composition class. I’m really excited! I’m still not certain how I feel about the proliferation of for-profit educational institutions and how that could be contributing to the growing student loan debt menace. At the very least, I may be able to help some students improve their writing skills as I gain some valuable teaching experience that could be useful down the road.
As of today, the first phone number I ever knew/had is being shut off. That phone number was active in Paxton, Illinois, for the better part of three decades—and yes, we did have a rotary phone there when I was a kid. Back then, we only had to dial five digits for an in-town call. When the lifeguards at the Paxton Pool or the secretary at Clara Pete asked for our number to call for our ride home, we’d just say, “2-2798.”
