Moving on from stuff

 I am continuing the work of purging my house and I am having such great success at my free zone at the end of the driveway.This morning, I hauled out a good load with lots of plastic boxes and just a hodgepodge of other things. 

About an hour later, I went out to put some trash out and a couple were loading up everything.  They yelled thank you and bunch of times.  I asked if she wanted the ironing board but she said no. 

I loaded up the table again.  This time,  it was from Dad's stuff.  Cabinet maker stuff and the odd tools. That same couple came back and took most of that and they took the ironing board.  

Happy trails to Betty's ironing board. 

💪🏼💪🏼💪🏼

The big success today was getting the laundry basket rack out of the guest room closet and into my car.  It took some swearing. 🤬  But I'm delighted because this is what I'm using instead of a dresser in my new bedroom. 

I built this is 2011, little did I know that I would need it now.  💪🏼

Grandpas Glenn & Bruce

 Last night, 9/26/2025, the Baldwin Blackhawks played their Homecoming game against the Ellsworth Panthers.

In the stands were two grandfathers of two of the players on the Baldwin team, both grandfathers are Luck alumni.

Glenn, Dana & Jake Johansen and Brody, Bruce & Justin Everts

Grandpa Glenn & Jake, Brody & Grandpa Bruce

Grandfather of Brody Everts, Bruce & Grandfather of Jake Johansen, Glenn.

These two grandfathers played for Luck High School on the 1965 St. Croix Valley Championship football team. 60 years ago.

The 1965 Luck football team defeated conference teams, which were St. Croix Falls, Oceola, Unity and Amery, along with Grantsburg, Webster, Frederic and nonconference Cumberland.

The Luck Cardinals of 1965 outscored their opponents 221 to 52. 

The grandfathers and their grandsons were recognized at the Baldwin game last night. Baldwin won 48 to 8.

Narrative by Glenn Johansen, photos by Erin Johansen

Friday into Saturday

 I had to take Friday off to rest my knee.  Minimal effort in the house.  

Saturday,  I restocked the free zone. Getting into the weeds with Dad old tool boxes, boxes of screws and bits, added to an old chair & a cat tower.  The ironing board is a slow moving item.  I set it up now,  maybe that will help. 

I'm moving full totes and boxes into the guest room and am starting to feel good about my progress. 

😃

Packing

 Yes, I'm getting very, very sick of this.  But empty cupboards are 🔥! 

There was some supervision today as Casey, my helper extraordinaire!, and I packed up the kitchen cabinets. 

The free pile is slowly disappearing. 

I had sent the 5 big planters over to Luck with Bruce,  but today he brought them back at my request.  I changed my mind about having them in Luck and thought I should add them to my free zone.

Most are already gone. 

The garage is getting closer,  it's not necessary to have it empty by moving day,  and I'll organize the totes and boxes that go to Luck before then. 

Now we rest. 

More freebies

 I'm not sure if anyone goes 'picking' on Wednesday afternoon.  But I rolled the table down to the end of the driveway anyway, loaded with valuable items.

I have an interested party for the oak cabinet.  

Whether he shows up,  or not,  is tbd.

Warren came to pick up the cabinet.   Said he was a cabinet maker too.  This guy was missing 4 fingers on his left hand.  Said he cut them off with a table saw on his 17th birthday. 

Just for the record,  Dad had all his fingers for all his 92 years.  👀 

😵‍💫

14 days until the movers come.

😬

Ansgar's barn moves to Big Moon Lake

 Glenn and Kathy came to help me today.   We took down the cabinet that was on the wall in the dining room.  That wall cabinet came with me from Colorado. Dad put an oak kitchen in my Arvada house and put this bank of cabinetry under the bar, on the kitchen side.  

Eventually,  I lowered the bar to table height and so I moved those cabinets to the bedroom.  And then,  I moved them to Wisconsin.  

But, they are not moving to Luck. I'm hoping someone on Facebook Marketplace will want them. 🤞🏻

The glass alone is worth something. 

🪟 🪟 🪟 

Today was also moving day for Ansgar's barn.

I built the little replica barn out of wood & windows from Grandpa's barn. Even the roof came from that old barn. 

Here is it loaded in the back of Glenn's van, on its way to a place of honor at the Johansen Cottage on Big Moon Lake.

Here it is when it was newly constructed.

Other moving / packing progress continues.

🚚 

Tomorrow,  I am taking a load to Hayward to give to Mary for the Dog Shop.

A full load,  hopefully will make lots of donations for the Chequamegon Humane Society.

🐕 🐈 

PS. No sign of 'The Rapture' 🤷‍♀️

First Showing

 Tomorrow, Monday,  I have the first showing of my house.  Let's hope it is love-at-first-sight!

❤️ 🏠 💙 🏠 💜 🏠 💖 🏠 💗 

I put a sign on the front door, as I'm a little uncomfortable with strangers coming in when Barley is here. 

Agents must be used to watching out for pets,  right? 

I had a half bag of 🌻 sunflower seed bird feed left and I tossed it off the deck onto the front yard, thinking birds & squirrels  & raccoons would eat them.  But it has been wet, and as of today, it looks like I had about 100% germination! 

Oops.

🌻 🌻 🌻 

New Digs

 Okay, a few photos, of the new apartment. My first visit to pick up keys & talk about paint color.

I ordered this cabinet to sit next to the refrigerator.   I like it for all the stuff that normally would be on the counter top.

New paint and carpets will be cleaned next week. 

Moving day is 10.8

Casey is a life saver

 Another afternoon with Casey, packing & purging.  I can't lie, she wears me out, but the progress is remarkable.  She has good legs, is tall, and a very hard worker.  

Today, we emptied the dining room cabinet, the closet with the Christmas village, and the wall of family photos.

I'm not sure if empty walls are good, probably does make the room look bigger.

The easiest thing to pack was the Christmas Village. Those blue moving bags were made for those boxes. That will be their off-season storage, for sure. 

Now, we are starting to have the problem of tubs & boxes sitting around. The boxes are all going to the thrift and I'll probably load up my car this weekend to get those out from underfoot.

I struggled with whether to take the bank of cabinets that came from my kitchen in Colorado. 

Dad made me an oak kitchen for my Colorado house, this section made the trip to Sconny. But, it is done now.  I've never really loved it here, so Glenn is coming on Tuesday to help me take it down.  I've made my peace with that.  I'm only taking things I love to the new place. 

The Gammeldanske bottle did not make the cut either.  We have had many laughs about this Danish 'treat'.

Also, not going along, a watch fob made of great grandmother's hair. This always kind of gave me the creeps. 

Plenty of other artifacts are going,  including Grandpa Ansgar's shovel, which is still hanging on the wall, in the top photo.

22 days to moving day.

😵‍💫🫨😱

Jab for Fall

 I got my flu shot & my covid booster today. I need to be well, no time to be sick, so got the 💉

The agent called today, said showings are slow right now.   

By this weekend,  I'll be very ready to show this house. 

I rolled the big pots to the ditch to dump, the flowers were looking like weeds. 

Laila said that they look like turkey butter. 🦃 😆 

I met up with quilter friend,  Sue, for breakfast.  We had a nice chat about all things sewing.  A nice start to my day. 

The sky was pretty tonigh.  I'll miss this country living with no street lights to pollute the stars.

The International Space Station went over twice.  It seemed close so I tried a photo. 

More packing tomorrow. 

Get the jab!

The sewing room

 This sewing room has needed a good purge for a couple of years (or more 😵‍💫).  I've been meaning to do it,  but now,  I have to do it. 

Yesterday, I got through all the fabric stored in the closet and today I am sorting kits, precuts, yardage and projects into 4 totes.  I'm never buying another precut charm pack, jelly roll or layer cake again!

I am discarding a lot too. If I can distill my sewing room down to 5 or 6 totes,  I'll be satisfied.   I'll never miss any of the discarded fabric.  (Pieces and scraps... I'm not tossing any yardage,  I might drop some of at Goodwill tho)

I also have several drawers of CDs that are going to the trash can.  Many are photos,  but folks,  I'm living in the present now and I'll never, ever look through those old pictures.  

So,  here's the photo the listing agent took. 

 And here is the photo at the end of work today. 

Better, I think.

The tubs of fabric are full, but I did not have to add another tub. 

I call that a win. 

The guest room is getting full tho.

Progress. By the end of work tomorrow,  the sewing room WILL be packed. 

1 day on, 1 day off

 It seems like I need a day to recharge my batteries after a good work day,  so today all I did was a couple of loads of laundry.

My realtor came and put up a new,  fancier sign by my driveway,  and repositioned the original sign out on County Road SS.  Many more eyes will see the signs now 👍. 

The pumpkin patch,  Harvest Hills West, is in full swing right during September & October, so the normal traffic pattern is increased too.  I am hoping for a showing this weekend 🤞🏻 !

A buyer is supposed to come tomorrow for the kick sled,  I'm always skeptical until they pull in the drive way, but I am hopeful,  he seemed to want it. 

 🤨

Today was a terribly violent day in our country.   Another school shooting,  this time in Evergreen,  CO. I have not yet heard if there were fatalities. I did hear that there were injuries.  And of course, the murder of Charlie Kirk.  I stayed away from Charlie Kirk's business, as he and I traveled on widely different paths of thought.  Political violence is never acceptable.  Murder is never ever okay.  The hate in our country is very disturbing.  I'm not sure what will ever happen to reduce the animosity and encourage tolerance.  I hope I am still on this earth long enough to witness constructive dialogue & debate again. 

 ☮️ 

Day 1 with a helper

 My housekeeper came to help me today.  We worked together for about 2.5 hours.  I'm pleased with our progress. 

Everything in the hutch now will move to the new house. 

I should have taken a before photo.  

The hutch was full. 

The guest room is going to fill up as we pack bags & boxes.

The Dog Shop in Ashland is going to get a big donation soon.  5 boxes,  so far. 

Casey will be back next Tuesday for another shift of helping me pack.  It's fun to have someone here to talk to and she's a huge help too. And... she took home a stash of goodies.  

Progress, 4 weeks to go.  

⏰️