Gone

After a Bob Evans breakfast with me, her parents, her son and his girlfriend, Maria bade us all a tearful goodbye and headed for Arkansas and her new job.
I'm left with the finishing touches on the kitchen paint job and the coordinating of work to get our house ready to market.
This place feels surprisingly empty and lonely this afternoon. I phoned her a few minutes ago as she drove south on I-57 through south-central Illinois. She seemed to be in good spirits, but realized she had forgotten to give me some keys and had gone off without some of her laundry, including all of her clean underwear. No problem. They sell underwear in Jonesboro and she'll enjoy shopping at Dillard's this evening.
I'm glad we spent the last several days watching HGTV off and on and picking up valuable pointers on how to "stage" a house for potential buyers. That, combined with suggestions from our Realtors, makes my task seem a lot less daunting.
Even so, it will be weeks before we're ready to list it.
The dogs have been quiet - almost lethargic - but I expect they'll perk up any minute now when Harold Patterson shows up in his pickup truck to collect the mini-fridge I offered on the BMW Club e-mail list. No takers yet on the 18.5 cubic foot Maytag refrigerator that stands in our driveway.