Happily Ever After Cafe discussion

Hi, all!

You may – or may not – have wondered where I am. I’ve been getting my house on the market. Yes, I know I thought I was done, but that isn’t what the inspectors and Realtors think. I’ve also been packing and organizing…and cleaning. (Why is there so much laundry during a move?)

Two pack-rats sure collected a lot of stuff over 29 years. Though I’ve been getting the help of friends and family and a few paid helpers, it is a lot of work – especially hard is deciding to keep something or not, or to give it away – and if so, to whom? Of course, giving up the gazillion books I have slows things down, too. I’ve tossed more than one book in the give-away pile, only to sneak back a pull it out later.

In addition, I’ve been off house-hunting. The good news about all this is I’ve purchased a beautiful new home, single story, and more the size of my current needs. Yay! However, it is being built. As the new house takes four to six months to build, I will have to decide where to rent in the interim. Decisions, decisions, decisions.

Needless to say, all this has taken a toll on my GoodReads time. (And reading time!) With regards to GRs, my first priority will be in keeping up with updating the members who have completed or joining challenges in the various groups where I Mod, but you might not see me participating much in the other threads, especially “buddy reads.” Which is killing me. **sniffle** My next priority will be to do the newsletters when it is my turn at rotation. Hopefully, I can start updating in a week or two. Thanks to the other Mods who are stepping in while I’m swamped.

Soon all this craziness will slow down and fade away, and I’ll be back at full participation. Until then, please bear with me.

Thanks!

~Lisa Kay


**Psst! Clicking on pic will take you to the hints.**

Good luck Lisa! Hope you get everything sorted out soon:)

Thanks, Share❤!

I know what you're going through, Lisa Kay. We've been in our new home for two years in March. It was so much fun seeing it come to completion, but I'm still throwing stuff away and organizing.

All the best in your new home, and hurry back!

Lisa Kay... you have been missed. I was thinking about you this morning wondering how it was all going. Crazy isn't it how we're never likely to meet in person but as Goodreads addicts we start to really care about our online friends. The power of the internet... for good.

Take all the time you need and thank you to your Mod buddies for picking up the slack. And now you have the fun of building, everything brand new and exactly how you dream of it. All the very best and see you back full time real soon. xxx

Lisa - (Aussie Girl) wrote: "Lisa Kay... you have been missed. I was thinking about you this morning wondering how it was all going. Crazy isn't it how we're never likely to meet in person but as Goodreads addicts we start to ..."

Well said Lisa:)

Good luck, LK! Don't worry about us. We will muddle through but we'll miss you!

Lisa Kay wrote: "Hi, all!

You may – or may not – have wondered where I am. I’ve been getting my house on the market..."

Congratulations on finding a new home, Lisa Kay, and good luck with packing and selling your house. I've moved so often with my husband's career that we're pretty pared down ourselves, but my parents faced quite a challenge when they left the house they'd been in for 35 years to move into an apartment.

Thanks, Groovy, Lisa (well said about GRs friends), Pamela, and Cathy.

Yes, Cathy, frequent moving will do that. When I was young and single I moved so often that I was pretty pared down, too. Now, however, my possessions seem to own me.

I hear you Lisa! I will be packing up my stuff and moving westward in August! We're headed to Big Sky country where there is lots of western romance love!

Good luck, Constance!

Did you start your move, Constance?

I am decluttering at the moment before I put the house on the market. Last time I moved, I had close to 30 giant book boxes, about 9 years ago. I haven't even touched my books, music and movie collection yet. Even though I have been getting most of my books electronically the last 4 years, there is the smell and feel of a physical book that can never be duplicated.

Very, very true, Tishke.

I am not moving, (yet), but spend a large part of my time daydreaming about the new house we will someday own. (Currently renting in Seattle-- the market here is BANANAS). We're in a condo now with 3 kiddos... learned to love the space... and will attempt to buy a house in the neighborhood we are in now which will probably have less square footage than we have now. I'm always looking for tips to declutter/minimize..the stuff just GATHERS, you know? Our garage right now is frightening. We're a one car family, something we're very proud of with a crew of 5!--but half of the two car garage is full of well, crap, from our last house in central IL where we had more spacious digs. I can barely park the truck without scratching up the side-- it's insane! I want to call Junk Guys and just have them take it all away- without looking at any of it. I will say though- none of those are book boxes.:) Those were the first to unpack....into bookshelves in my kitchen-- which I would now never want to change- big fan of the kitchen library!:)

Some things to really be proud of there, Katie. Yay!

I need to work on my garage. I'm of the age that I'm just going to have to face up to the fact, if I can't reach it, then I need to get rid of it; the item does me no good if I can't get to it. I'm going to have to hire someone to organize. It was hard to downsize to the house I'm in now, but looks like I need to purge again.

I like to watch the shows about the tiny houses but I have to admit I honestly don't think I could ever downsize enough to move into one of those. If it wasn't for my books - maybe.

Pamela(AllHoney) wrote: "I like to watch the shows about the tiny houses but I have to admit I honestly don't think I could ever downsize enough to move into one of those. If it wasn't for my books - maybe."

I would need a separate tiny house just for my books;) I'm with you though-- people do such cool things with an itty bitty space! So jealous-- I have yet to see one with a family of 5-- I'm sure they're out there- it has to be possible...gypsy caravan maybe?

I did see one with a couple who had at least 2 children. They might have had 3 but I'm not sure. Anyway, they got a tiny place and all I could think of was when those children got to be older there was going to be problems. They had girl and boy I know.

Katie wrote: "I would need a separate tiny house just for my books;) "

**hee hee**

I've got to find that show and record it.