I decided on the one on the first floor. I will be signing the rental agreement this afternoon. I will also be revising the move estimate because not everything I thought I could take will fit into the apartment. So I have to find homes for some of my larger pieces of furniture and for two of my cats.
My house will close escrow the end of May. I'm planning to move on May 19th, but I might move in stages. I can't fit as much in the apartment as I planned to take, but I've been moving some things into a storage unit at Extra Space Storage. I'm not sure what to do with the extra furniture that I can't take. I may donate it to Good Will or the Salvation Army.
I also have a collection of original artworks but not enough wall space for all of them. My mother has been asking for one back that I wanted to keep, but I'll send it back to her. I purchased a new leather recliner online from Macy's, but I'm not sure I will have room for it. While I know I have too much stuff, it is hard to let some of it go.
After I was laid off from my Tech Writing job at the end of 2002, I did some freelance writing, and contract work. I briefly took over as President of the local chapter of the Society for Technical Communication for a year. By 2006 I was primarily teaching online for University of Phoenix and writing my San Ramon Observer blog. Now I'm just writing the blog. I have been a virtual hermit for the last three years. It's time I came out from hiding behind my computer.
One of my neighbors said I should just stay in my house. I have a reverse mortgage and could have stay indefinitely, but I signed the sales agreement and it will close escrow in two weeks. The house is messy, cluttered, but bigger than I need right now. The apartment may be a little smaller than I want, but I need to downsize. I also need more structure and interaction with other people. Eventually I plan to move to my mother's place in Maine. That's very similar to Villa San Ramon with nice apartments, housekeeping, and meals.
UPDATE: I just came back from the Villa where I signed a dozen forms or more to reserve Room 177 on the first floor. I will be moving in by the end of May.
