Waiting

Still doesn't seem like we are doing much :(  I am basing this on the fact that our house, upon initial viewing, looks, well, occupied. However a further more thorough look reveals that not to be the case. We have pretty much sorted through all of our clothes, everything is priced for the yard sale (more to add still) and organised into boxes in the garage, and all of the big items, including a car, are listed on craigslist.  Pretty much just waiting for buyers and the yard sale.  At which point hopefully we will look a bit more like we are leaving.

Have sent out invites for our going away BBQ. Did you get yours? Although still have a few more to deliver for people we don't have emails for.  I would imagine we will have well over 50 attendees, maybe 100.

We have decided, almost, to stop by the summer camp Mayzie and I met at in Pennsylvania and show the kids. It is pretty much on our route anyway (included in the route map posted earlier this week). It's been 14 years since we were there. Wonder how much it has changed? Guess we will find out.

Sick family

Yay, it's not been a week and we're posting again :)

It's been a sick household. Ryan was sick on Friday. Which was a shame as we had tickets to see the local baseball team followed by fireworks. Unfortunately he and Mayzie had to stay home. Tim and I had a good time. Tim did great, although it was a bit annoying every time he had to go pee (five times) and we left all our stuff and hiked through the stadium (those of you familiar with the Sky Sox will know that was a short hike). But the fireworks were great.

Tim proceeded to get sick on Sunday evening. This next bit might gross you out of a bit, sorry. So you know when you have an itchy nose you kind of rub it back and forth vigorously with the back of your hand? and you know when you are vomiting it sometimes comes out of your nose? well imagine both of those situations together and that was what I was greeted with when I went in to see Tim about 10:30 Sun evening. MUCH washing was done, even wiped the walls. Sorry all :).

Mayzie got the bug last night, so assuming the 48 hour time frame continues, I expect to get it tomorrow. Really hoping I am wrong. Although as long as I am better by the weekend as it is the boy's birthday parties.

On the plus side though. Dad arrived Saturday evening and Mum Monday evening. Is great to have them here, and not only so they can take six suitcases of our stuff home. This will be a little taste of what life will be like immediately following our arrival into the UK. They have graciously allowed us to stay with them while we get settled. We are hoping to get our own place fairly quickly in the UK, but without having jobs who knows how open to that any prospective landlords will be? Anyone out there know of a 3 bedroom 1 1/2 bathroom house for rent in Royston, let us know. Will be paying cash.

We have sold a few more items, including the entertainment console - probably our biggest sale to date. Have also listed our bedroom set as a potential buyer we had decided against it. Still have some dressers, and lamps to list but that will then be the big stuff listed on craigslist. Except the cars.  Am thinking we can list one of them now too. Since I am off work I don't think we need three, even with dad driving one. Four weeks and a few days left to sell it all!

Have also made many more reservations. Still planning on posting a route map, watch this space.

Cliff

Parents arrive

Another week down, I swear this was not meant to be a weekly thing, I will get better.

It’s now just five weeks till we leave Colorado and begin our road trip. So much still to do. Even though I have been out of work for a week now, almost nothing has been done. Doh. We also gave daycare our two weeks’ notice on Monday. The last day of daycare will also be Ryan’s last day of school. Then I have the kids at home with me. Maybe they can help me get organized? Because that’s the kind of help I need.:)

Dad arrived yesterday and Mum gets here tomorrow. They are herefor a couple of weeks. Since the kids are still in school/daycare for one more week, this needs to be a productive week, maybe we can start to look a bit more like we are leaving. If nothing else we can pack the suitcases with the stuff mum and dad are taking home with them, about five suitcases worth. Hopefully we cab shift the bigger items.

Getting a little tired of scammers offering to buy our larger items. Do people really succumb to these idiots? The more offers I get, the more …graphic, my responses get.

OK, my to do list: Lower the price and sell stuff. We need to make additional reservations Box up more for the yard/estate sale scheduled for a couple of weeks’ time.

Time will tell how much actually gets done

 
Cliff

Unemployed

Well what a week.

In a previous post I had mentioned my observation that when we leave I will be giving up some significant income. As it turns out that is now a moot point. On Friday I was laid off. I didn’t do anything wrong. The project I was working on was unexpectedly terminated and over 200 lost their jobs. So I no longer need to be concerned over my loss of income when we move, I just need to be concerned over my premature loss of income.:)

Since I was going to make June 15 my last day, we are now out about five weeks of income. It is pointless for me to take on another job now, especially when so much is still left to do. We will pull the kids from daycare and save that money. And I can focus on selling the remaining items we have to sell. We will definitely still be in a net loss financially, but I think it will be beneficial.

On a possible plus side, the last week of work we were in training and we were given a presentation on securitization. It appears to be something I may be interested in. It seems to fit well with my skill set, work experience and economics degree. The system in the UK is different than here, so I will need to do some research to see if it is even a viable option for me, but fortunately I now have some time on my hands.

On Saturday we sold our office furniture, and received the roof bag. (Not sure I mentioned we needed a roof bag for the car.) We will be hauling too much stuff to fit in the car, and a roof bag was the cheapest option. It is bigger than I imagined. We will just have to watch the weight. Since it just straps to the roof of the car (no roof rack) too much weight in the middle and the roof may bow. I think as long as we just put the camping stuff up there, sleeping bags, etc., we should be fine.

On Saturday evening I went out to dinner with three buddies. It was a good night. Thanks Will, Levi and Mike. I will miss you guys.


Cliff

Olympic Sized Dreams

Ever since I was a kid, I've dreamed of going to see an Olympic event.  Actually, first I dreamed of being an olympian - an equestrian olympian, to be exact.  Then, when I realized that my dream of riding a horse in the Olympics was never going to happen, I changed my dream to attending an Olympic event - any event.  I just wanted to go to the Olympics.

So, when we realized a few weeks ago that we were going to be landing in London the same day as the Opening Ceremonies I began dreaming about how to get tickets to an event.  Not only would going to an event be fulfilling a life-long dream for me, but it would be an AMAZING experience for the boys.

I told Cliff I wanted to do this.  He responded with the fact that all of the tickets were sold last year by lottery, completely dashing my dreams.  Thankfully, I try not to take everything he says as gospel, and did my own research. 

The day I went a'googling just so happened to be the very same day that the tickets for men's and women's soccer (sorry, football) opened up to the general public.  Now, there are many venues for the various games.  One of the venues that is being used, is Old Trafford in Manchester.  We have friends in Manchester - Luke and Cara.  I emailed Cara asking her if she and her family were planning on attending any of the games.  She had a similar response as Cliff's (negative nellies).  After I set her straight, and she said she thought it would be fun, I bought the tickets! 

In hindsight, I probably should've waited for Cara to respond with available dates for her, but I was so excited and I didn't want to miss the opportunity I just went for it.  Thankfully, it doesn't appear to be a problem for them to join us.  However, I must apologize again to Cara for such a quick turnaround.  But, on August 4th, I will be making a dream of mine come true when we go see the Men's Soccer Quarterfinal game in Manchester.  I was so excited after I bought the tickets I could burst. 

I'm still kind of buzzing.

- Mayzie