Adventures With Patti

Here is a load of stuff I donated to the Courage Center today. I’m able to get a tax deduction of almost $400 for this--and it’s not going into the landfill. Yay! I feel lighter already!

We got about 4 inches of snow. Spicy stayed out overnight—notice the paw prints near his house. I will have to shovel before taking more stuff up to the garage. Or just wait a few hours for the sun to come out. 

Emilio, who’s in Germany, specifically requested pictures of rooms in our house as we empty it out. So here are a few more.

Gauss arrived in Menlo Park on Friday afternoon, March 4. He doesn't have Internet hookup at the cottage yet, so his posts will be spotty.

Little green arrow shows the location of the cottage in Menlo Park. Gauss' office is about 12 miles north in San Mateo. Click on the map for a larger view.

Some pix of the house on Paragon getting cleared out. Gauss working in the garage; the dressing room off our master bedroom now that the loveseat is gone—it's basically storage for art; Our closet, after Gauss packed (his clothes were on the top rod); Emilio's basement bedroom minus bed and nightstand; Furnace room minus map file, which I sold on Craigslist.

Luca moved out to his new apartment on Sunday. Gauss left for California Tuesday morning, so now it’s just me and the animals. Spicy ended up sleeping on the bed with me last night—amazingly social for him! Half the furniture is missing from many rooms, and there are still piles of crud to sort through. It’s kind of a depressing existence, but good motivation for me to sort and toss as quickly as I can. I have found a company that takes worn-out clothes and shoes and turns them into carpet padding, so tomorrow I’m going to drop off a load. The next day I’ll pick up a ton of little boxes from Sam’s Club so I can package up books to donate.  Whee! I love getting rid of crap!

We spent all day Sunday clearing stuff out of the garage and listing on Craigslist. Amazing what people will come and buy!  I have buyers for two old trolley car bench seats, a folding bamboo shelf that I bought when I was 23 years old, a quilt frame, and an assortment of ancient VW parts.  Here's Gauss cleaning up the storage area in the garage.