November 2023 Island Trip – Day 10

The day started slowly. I didn’t want to get rolling and stayed in bed reading. Then took a shower, Then breakfast, then a phone call from my neighbor to the east who strongly encouraged me to hire a housekeeper to deal with what was left undone with the house. She was very supportive, and was also concerned that my move-out cleaning schedule wasn’t specific enough to address the condition of the house. She was worried that the tenants might take me to small claims court should I adhere to my schedule of cleaning fees rather than hiring someone who will clean the entire house for less. She was persuasive. I have 76-photos of uncleaned pieces of house.

The house keeper, recommended by my Island real estate broker, will clean over the weekend. I finished projects I was in the middle of, and did other tasks I could complete, leaving a detailed note for the house keeper. Intellectually, I know this is the right thing to do. Emotionally, I’m still working on it.

The locksmith relieved me of 24 keys! Why so many? Most of them were house keys that wandered back my way after mom moved into care. I had two sets of property keys (10), the tenants had keys… Now there is a master key that opens everything, and the tenants will have a key that only opens the house and pump room. And he was able to rekey the mailbox. It’s like magic! And it alleviates a measure of my stress.

I have a very finite number of items to do regarding the house tomorrow, and the rest will be about closing up Stella, and heading home. This has probably been one of the most stressful trips since I had to move mom off the Island. It’s time to retreat and regroup for a little bit.