Coming Up For Air... it's been a long haul

I finished the last major leg of my lengthy journey to close our store Patina General... the garage sale at our home. Hubby's golf clubs are photo bombing this shot.

It's been an exhausting several weeks. Many people have asked me how it feels to be done with the store. My answer has always been the same, "I don't know yet". This steam engine has been roaring full speed ahead since the day we turned in our keys at the store.

A very large garage sale is now in the rear view mirror and all that's left is boxing up the remnants and sending them off to the auction and a non-profit organization. This is the most we've seen of our garage in years. That part is a breath of fresh air. Every time I came home and opened the garage door or took our dog outside, the mountain of stuff was staring me in the face. We live in a neighborhood and when our garage doors were open, the passer by-ers would look and probably thought we were a bunch of hoarders.

I held plenty of fun building supplies from the sale to keep for our personal projects for our home. There will be plenty of blog material for years to come.

The garage sale was fun(once the work was done and it was all set up and priced). The St. Cloud dealers were enjoying themselves, making piles and calling friends to come. One lady said she ran a few red lights to get here faster. People came back multiple times and found more treasures. I'm not sure who was happier, our customers for their fun finds, or our family to watch it leave the premises. Hubby took a few hours off of work to help with the morning rush of customers.

There's a small pile of wood remnants to take to the fire pit, but that's it.

Now it's time to move inside and deal with the piles. They are everywhere! I can honestly say I've never seen our home in a more chaotic state of disarray. 

Most homes get messy when you organize a garage sale, but our mess is multiplied exponentially with a store closing. Piles of business supplies and paperwork,

and piles of things I've kept from the store. 

Now the real work begins... going through our home room by room, every closet, cupboard and drawer. Deep cleaning! When you own your own store, things get a little neglected around your own home. Think I'll start by putting the apple blossoms and Mr. Bunny away that was part of my spring/Easter decor.

Lora and I have been trying to get our feet under us since closing the store, but we've both had family and extended family things come up lately. We are excited to continue the blog and bring you fresh ideas, so please be patient with us. We love our blog readers.

 

Comments

[Kristi Pohl]

I can feel your pain and exhaustion through your pictures...I am so happy that you are nearing the end and can see some light filtering through at the end of the tunnel. And I wish I could have made it up for your yard sale, it sounds like it was epic!

Hugs to you both, hang in there, you very nearly have your lives back : )