House 4 Sale: Not Foreclosure

After a year of talking about it, we finally put our house on the market. It wasn't a difficult decision: the difficult part is getting everything up to snuff for lookers! You know how piles of things and projects that might need some attention, become invisible after a while? They fall off the "Honey Do" list. We had a lot of blind spots inside and out! So then you have to find a reliable handy man to do the work...That's a challenge! Then there's the process of picking a price range. The realtor brings comps (comparing what other similar homes are selling for, usually based on square footage). You pour over them. I think the price is too high, my husband thinks it's not high enough. So we must be in the right range. Now we have a For Sale on the lawn.

Spruce up the outside, trim the palms, power wash the concrete...plant and pot a few flowers- DONE! Oh - now we have to keep it that way! Dust, straighten, mop. Dishes in the washer. No errant socks drying on the couch. Yikes! But it's not so bad when it is just the two of us, which is why we are trying to downsize into 2 instead of 5 bedrooms.

I run an eBay store and my warehouse/office is packed tightly into one room after moving, moving, moving inventory from one closet to another. I am not disciplined enough to keep an active selling and shipping area neat! The frustrating part is that no one has been to see the house since we listed it, but it's only been three weeks.

Interested in learning more about eBay? Click here for an informative, FREE newsletter by Skip McGrath, 10 year eBay seller and trainer. It's who I've turned to for reliable information.

Running for Breast Cancer Cure

You know how things come together at just the right time? I believe it's God working in my life, others think it's Fate, Karma, but some force that puts things together for our benefit. In May, my sister-in-law quietly admitted that she was training for a marathon. Not long after that, a dear friend's daughter-in-law lost her 14 year battle with breast cancer, leaving behind a devastated young family. So when I was squeezing myself into my "big" pants, I knew the time had come.


Being retired offers time to reflect on my own life, its purpose and all those other things I "didn't have time for" with an active family to care for. Here was an opportunity for me to help change myself and become a part of an effort greater than my weight loss!

So I joined the Galloway training for the National Marathon to Finish Breast Cancer in February 2011 here in Jacksonville. Be clear about this: I am not one of those “runners”. I have never run with a group. Phil and I “slogged” regularly in our 40’s. I did one 5 K in the mid-1970’s and one in Guam in 1998 or so, while visiting our daughter and husband. I also barely “beat the bus” in the 7 Mile Bridge Run in Marathon, FL in 2006. I haven't done anything but walk a little in the last 5 years.

The Galloway program is designed by Olympic champion, Jeff Galloway, who lives in Tallahassee and is familiar with the Florida heat and humidity. His goal is to ENJOY running! Who knew? According to the program, I started out walking for 5 minutes to warm up, then "shuffle-run" for 30 seconds and walk for 30 seconds. My feet barely left the sidewalk when I "ran", but, come on, 30 seconds! Easy, even during the hottest summer on record.

Yesterday I completed 12 miles in a bit over 3 hours. Who knew?