We were recently referred to sellers who were moving back to their home country in Europe...and the move was more difficult than usual with a brand new baby and two other children under 5 in tow that occupied 99% of Mrs. Seller's time. That left Mr. Seller to deal with the details and execution of getting the family from point A to point B across the water. What to take...what to leave...I would have a difficult time deciding this moving to the next county...let alone another country so my heart went out to this man left to finish his business and execute all the details.
Mr. Seller agreed that we needed to get the house, "all dressed up and ready to show." We worked with the painter and selected colors and painted the whole interior of the house. We got our flooring person who replaced all the carpeting (with some installing on Sunday to get the home on the market...how cooool is that). We measured each window...some had window treatments that we had cleaned and pressed, others needed some and went off to my staging stores and decorated each room. They opted to leave some furniture...so some staging was around that...adding a lamp here and a table there, gracing the mantle, towels, rugs, candles in the baths...flower arrangements, "fruit" basket on the kitchen table...it will be purrrrrrfect as our cat Cosmo would "say."
AND THEN....there was a HUGE assortment of items that filled the 2.5 car garage...baby beds, beach towels, pots, pans, Christmas decorations.....everything and anything...it looked as though the whole neighborhood had gathered all their items for a rummage sale. Mr. Seller said, "Just call______(name whatever Not-For-Profit) and they'll pick this all up before you start the listing." Oh not....It had not occured to us that the energy crisis would influence the quantity and frequency of pick ups....oh Yicks !
We called every place we knew of and some we didn't....every one of them had only scheduled regular pickups weeks away in that neighborhood...oh yicks ! We spoke with a developer we work for any suggestions that he might have. Enter LAKE COUNTRY CARING. This organization was founded in 1995 and grew to its current location in the Hartland Industrial Park on Progress Drive. What an appropriate name ....this group has helped over 3,000 families with the able assistance of more than 100 dedicated volunteers. Their help is needed and varied...they provide gently used clothing, household goods, toys, furniture and appliances. Additionally, as funds are available health, hygiene, infant and laundry items are provided to clients in need. Check their website LAKE COUNTRY CARING for their hours, the donations they need most and how you can help.
Thank you LAKE COUNTRY CARING..for caring enough to help people in need when they need it most !
thought, then you could put a sign on the lawn once in a while on Sunday if there was nothing else to do and see if anyone wanted to come and see the house. 
When my Father began working at Millers, the Frederick Miller family owned the brewery. The family treated employees like family and gifted them when children were born, remembered birthdays...sponsored Christmas parties for families and summer picnics, The company grew and was sold several more times. Grace Company...more recently Phillip Morris and now Coors will merge with our own "home brew." It was always a first grade assignment to tell "what your Daddy did" for employment. My father told us that he got the gal in the moon dressed every morning...until he made it to show and tell and rapidly changed his job description. Milwaukee was the beer capital of the country then...Miller, Gentleman, Pabst, Schlitz....lots of Dads worked at Breweries.